Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-04-23
amt brother and sister.


cased in a strange nightshirt, one of the
late lamented's, and, if he had not been
disturbed, would have continued sleeping
till morning. As it was he was awakened
little after midnight by noise in the next
room. Listening, he heard what seemed
to be blows upon some hard substance.
Instantly he thought of the safe The next
instant he slid quietly out of bed and started
upon tour of investigation.
He moved noiselessly toward the door
connecting his room with the outer cham
Der and stood upon the threshold a num-
Der of seconds, watching what was tran
spring in the outer room, before the
persons who were working there were
aware of his presence. He saw two men,
one of whom was gray whiskered and ap-
parently so years old, engaged with ham
mer and chisal upon the safe. The gray
whiskered man was the first to take cog
nizance of Barker, and he no sooner saw
him than, with loud shrek, he threw
down his tools and started on the run for
the door leading into the hall.
"Quick, Joer' he called back to his
younger mate. 'tQuick, Joe; don't you see
Rufe Haley's ghost there in the doorway
The younger man ran after the elder one,
and after the two ran Barker, still in his
borrowed nightshirt and nothing else,
carrying one of the burglars hammers in
one hand and their lamp in the other. He
followed the men down stairs and into the
sitting room, but he did not leap after them
out of the window. Probably he would
not have done that under any circum-
stances, clad as he was, but there was one
overpowering circumstance in the case
which made him understand that the
sphere of his duty was inside the house.
Something which he saw after he had en-
tered the sitting room stopped him short
in his pursuit of the burglars, and for a
second or two riveted him motionless to the
floor.
He saw three bedgowned, bare toed wo-
men sitting in row of chairs placed
against side of the room, bound hand
and foot and made mutes of by something
crammed into their mouths, each staring
at him with widely distended eyes. Barker
recognized in the three women the widow,
the widows daughter and the woman who
had scalded him with her pudding gravy.
His first impulse was Immediately to set
the three women loose, and acting under
this impulse he placed hammer and lamp
upon the floor and moved toward the
bandaged group.
But he quickly changed his mind, the
thought suddenly occurring to him that
he was not confronted by life or death
condition, and that the call upon him was
not so imperative that he would be justi-
fed in answering it while he was so scanti-
ly clothed.
Pardon me, ladies'" he said, II was not
aware that you were in this room or I
should not have followed those gentlemen
in here If you will excuse me for a mo-
ment | will-'see you later"
He whisked out of the room, rushed up
the stairs, three at time, dived into his
bedchamber, grabbed his trousers, got
into them fireman fashion on the way
down stairs, and within minute from the
time of his departure from the room where
the women were he had returned to it, and
was ready to begin the work of emancipa-
ton. When he had finished it he retired
to complete his toilet, promising to return
very soon.
When he reappeared he found the widow
alone; no. not alone, for she was sitting
with double barreled gun over hel
shoulder, gazing fXedlY at the windows
through which the burglars had made their
exits.
''Ididn't know but that they might come
back ag'in," she said.
81 guess not" said Barker. "But give
me the gun and go to bed yourself. rIIHe
down here on the lounge and keep guard,
and if any burglar tries to enter here FL
blow his head off,"
eff [ can get near enough to hit him."
he added soto voce, calling to mind the
fact that he had never fired gun in his
life. "But where were the hired menu" he
asked, after pause. Cor did they kill the
hired men outright"
1.-The hired men," answered the widow;
'the hired men is over to Eliot to we'd
din. That's why we women was left
alone"
weddings are bad things" said Barker
But Of course he spoke jokingly, for he
knew that he himself was to be married
the very next week to my daughter. He
told the widow the following day about the
wedding. She had just sug-
gested to him the possibility of a union
with her daughter.
"I'm sudden sort of woman" she
had said. Il amt one Of them who be-
lieves in deliberatin' an prayin'. 1 make
up my mind shot off where I want to go,
an | git there as quick as l kin. | only
knoWed my husband twenty-four hours
before l was married to him, and | didn't
make no mistake, nuther. Now, l want
to ask you a question: How would you like
to marry my daughter%
The average man, in Barker's place,
would have been stunned by a proposition
like this, but Barker answered to it with
out the least hesitation.
Nothing would suit me BETTER" he
said; "but I've been pre-empted by another
and she takes possession of me
next Friday"
Barker in all human probability will
never see the Haleys again, but he has GER
tainly made an impression upon their
minds which is destined to last. Neither
mother nor daughter ever looks at the
photograph of the late lamented Rufus
Haley without recalling that another man
one day stood in front of it, who, though
$50 far as they knew he had not drop of
Haley blood in him, was Rufus Haley all
over again.-New York Times.