Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-12-16

From time to time a head would fall heav- |
ily on the board, when the man, starting !
awake. would sit up. Berthine said to the
officer: "You may Just as well lie down
here before the fire. There's plenty of
room for six. I'm going up to my room
with my mother"
The two women went to the upper floor
The prussians stretched themselves on the
stone floor, their feet to the fire, their
head on the rolled up cloaks, and soon all
six were snoring They had certainly been
asleep for a considerable time when shot
sounded. and so loud that it seemed to be
fired close against the walls of tine house.
The soldiers sat up instantly. There were
two more shots, and then three more.
The door of the staircase opened hastily,
and the keepers wife appeared barefooted,
a short petticoat over her nghtdress, a
candle in her hand, and face of terror.
She vbisnered: 'TIere are the French-2O0
If them nj least. If thew find Won here
tbev will burn the house. Go down. quick,
into tbe collar and don't make noise If
Won mako n noise we are lost" The Off
Ger. scared, murmured: 81 will | will
Which wav do we 90 DOWN."
T rLon ""s Wv we ~ AZ. na;soa ,,,o
p,rroy sn,,ara trandoor and tb. men dis.
n,,,,,',,.od I,, tha ,,.irdir,, stoir ono oftor
another como UNDERGROUND backwards
s $3.50 20 eel s tLa sta,s ,yith'thair fest Rnt
r., t,,a ,,o;nt of the Iast helmet had dis.
o,,,,aanad Harthiro sh,,tt;no do,rn the
baa,,r oa,,an nIanI thicl as wall and
hard No steel tent in nlace nv cl,mns and
a nadloc. turned tho ,ev twice slowly
ond thar Looan to Iauab ty;th n l.u,b If
silent ranture and with n wild desire to
dance over the heads of her prisoners.
Pertbine at once reIiobted her fire mt
on her saucepan once more. and made more
SOM mnrmnriny. "Father will he tired
tonight Then she sat down and waited.
A distant barking reached her. She began
IN whistle like n huntsman and almost
Immediately two immense dogs loomed
throuph the shadows and iumped upon
her with SIGNS of ioy. She held them bv
the neck to keep them from running away
and called with all her might. "Hello. fla
therw
A voice still very distant answered, Hal
loa, Berthine!''
She waited some moments, then called
again, Hello, father! Don't pass in front
of the grating; there are Prussians in the
cellar"
All at once the black outline OF the man
showed on the left. He asked uneasiy:
"PrusSians in the cellar. What are they
The young woman began to laugh. 81
put them in the cellar to keep cool" And
she related the whole adventure-how she
had frightened them with shots of the re-
volver and shut them up in the cellar
The old man asked, What do you ex-
pect me to do with them at this time of
night"
She answered: go and fetch NJ. Lavigne
and his men. He'll take them prisoners,
+ and won't he be pleasedr'
A quarter of an hour later Pichou started
again. Berthine with her head in her
hands, waited.
The prisoners were moving about. They
shouted and called, and beat continually
with their guns on the immovabe trap
door of the cellar. Then they began to fire
their guns through the grating, hoping, nc
doubt, to be heard if any German detach.
ment were passing in the eighborhood.
The keepers wife did not stir, but all this
noise tried her nerves and irritated her.
An evil angcrawole in her; she would have
liked to kill them, the wretches, to keep
them quiet. Then, as her Impotence in
creased, she began to look at the clock and
count the minutes. At last the hands
marked the time which she had fixed for
their coming.
oue opeDeu tne uoor oucc nlore W IISten
for them. She perceived shadow moving
cautiously. She was frightened and
screamed. 1t was her father. lie said
"They sent me to see if there's any
change"
mo, nothing"
Then he in his turn gave long, strident
whistle into the darkness.
NJ. Lavigne, trembling with excitement
appeared with his men and posted them sc
as to surround the house on all sides. He
stamped his foot on the trap door and
called mr. Prussian officer!" The Ger
man did not reply.
The major repeated, "Mr. Prussan Off
cerr 1t was in vain. For whole twenty
minutes he summoned this silent officer tt
capitulate with arms and baggage prom
;sipg him life and military bonors for him
self and soldiers Rut he obtained no sign
of consent or of hostility The situation
was hecoming difficnlt
Naior oyi,,na annaared unon tho thrash
old Of tho teaner,s Iodge He had ms
framed his nlap Of attack and gave hi