The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1891-04-25

| Creeping forward, so that | mi1h
look into the lower chamber where
had Killed the bloodhound, | listened
| Presently | heard the voices of men
One was coarse, rough and authorita.
tive, and was launching vile curses OF
abuse. The other was apologize and
| eXpostulatiye.
recognized the voices. The coarse
one was Brownlow's or, as he was
known in Southwest Missouri, ssOzark
Bill. - The other was the man | had
'eft bound i'll the outer cave.
| The men soon came in sight, and
from lantern they were carrying,
saw there were three of them; but the
third man was carrying his arm in Il
sling, as if wounded.
The men moved with great caution
for the way they were coming was full
of small pitfalls.
When they reached the foot of the
stairway ! could see that ssBill'' had an
| ugly wound on the side of his face, as
If Il bullet had ploughed deep furrow
there. lie looked uneasy and was bad
| y tagged out. bidding the other men
stay where they We're, he began immG-
diately the ascent of the spiral stair
Determined to dispute his way,
drew my knife and stood on the landing
and awaited his coming
So intently was | watching Brown
low climbing along his perilous way,
| that | did not observe black figure
creeping stealthily upon me from the
| rear.
Up, still up, slowly, painfully clam
nearer came the black liend creeping
up behind me.
IL was the negro dwarf. He had
seen me the day | hau first entered the
cave, and had successfully cluded my
search for him. He was too cowardly
to attack me alone, but has recognized
his masters signal and heard his voice.
He sees me standing watching the rob-
ber with knife in hand, and instinct
lively knows | mean him harm.
Not less dangerous was the robbeI
chieftain who was coming on in my
front mot less dangerous was the crouch
ing bloodhound, which had confrontedmC
three days before, than this ill-shaped,
brutal and cunning dwarf, crawling
serpent like TO attack me.
He is not ten feet distant, and n
cleaning knife is carried between his
teeth.
The man in front of me has now at
tanned two-thirds of his way up the
dangerous ladder, and will soon be be-
yond the most difficult point.
Now third actor appears upon the
scene. 1t is Edward Anderson. Hear
ing the voices that came from below,
he had crept to the entrance of the hall
way that led TO the spiral stair. BY the
dim glimmer of the light that Brown
low was carrying, he had seen me
standing in waiting; and, creeping
upon me, the dim outline of the negro.
He is unarmed, but withal Il man of
indomitable courage. As stealthy as
are the movements of my enemy in the
rear no less wary are those of the old
man, us he proposes to defeat the fell
purpose of the dwarf.
In few minutes more Brownlow is
on the landing and stand facing him
with my trusty knife in my hand.
Only for II moment he confronts me.
Swinging his long arms apart he makes
rush, trying to again grapple me in
that death embrace | had received once
too often. This time | was on my
guard, and was prepared for the attack,
and ere he could close his arms around
me, had buried the blade of the knife
deep into his foul heart; and, with a
wild agonized groan, he fell over the
edge of the landing, and ! heard his
body falling down-down-down into
the black, fathomless abyss below.
Thus ended the career of Bill Brown
low, alias "Ozark Bill,'' one of the
most desperate men of his class. lie
had been highwayman, moonshiner,
train and bank robber and murderer.
He had stopped at no crime to
accomplish his purpose, or to satisfy
his desires. Though but thirty years
old, he had long been a leader among
the lawless, and had been one of the
most dangerous criminals the govern
ment had to deal with.
At the instant of Brownlow's onset,
the dwarf made spring at me, but
found himself hurled backward with Il
giant force. Instantly the long, strong
fingers of Edward Anderson were at his
throat.
Awaiting only an instant to hear the
falling body of the bandit chief as it
plunged down the dark depths, | turn
ed to ascertain the cause of the struggle
behind me. Anderson was still clutch
ing the dwarf, who was already nearly
dead from strangulation.
quickly slipped pair of handouts
on his wrists and permitted him to get
up. found him so utterly frightened,
that he was willing to do anything that
| bade him.
l asked him if he could let us out.
''Ges, massa, | let's you out. Dis
nigga do anything you wants him to do. -
| then ordered hm to lead the way to
his room, where doubted not was the
mechanism by which the waters in the
lower cave were managed-and | was
right.
Stepping to dark niche in the wall,
and entering one of the passages de-
scribed above, the dwarf pushed aside Il
curtain, colored to look like u part of
the wall, and entering Il new passage
thus revealed, passed along 4 descend
ing plane, and soon stood over the place
where the waters went plunging under
the archway connecting the two lower
caves.
SEEING tho handle of windlass, he
began slowly TO wind stout rope.
1 1 I -
this on the windlass he said:
"Now de big stone am up and masSa
can go out fru de way he done come"
The thing was simple enough.
One day, while Brownlow or some
other shrewd rascal was seeking II safe
retreat he found the outer cave. Look
ing for Il passage way 10 the cavcrns,
he discovered the low archway. Pass
ing under this he saw II volume of water
pouring down through an opening in
the stone floor to II lower channel, and
the plan of covering this hole
with rock, and sending the waters
under the arch, as they had nj some
time in the past history of the cave
flowed.
BY dili%cnt Labor he had conSumnat-
ed the work. a seam in the rock over
head admitted of the use of Il rod and
rope. The rod was fastened to the
stone hV Il staple paSSinH through and