Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1892-10-13

tramped the dry, hot country
roads, seekeing employment al
ri the various farmhouses along
III his way.
He was an industrious boy OF
fourteen, and his countenance bespoke a
manly, straightforward nature.
However, Dicks applications for work
had been steadily met with a refusal in
each instance.
town boy, who is supposed, as rule, to
possess far greater aptitude for mean
ness than the country boy.
Dick lived with his widowed mother
and little sister Carrie in neighboring
town. His father had died only two
months before, leaving the family in
very AFFECT circumstances.
Two days now the boy had been trying
to secure work on farm, which would
enable him to assist his mother in her
battle against poverty.
1t was now approaching night, and
Dick was far from home. Added to that
there was a dark cloud arising from the
northwest, and he suddenly realized the
nece ssity of looking for immediate
shelter if he would avoid the storm.
Some little distance down the road,
stood deserted old house, which had
d
rude storehouse for grain. Dick had
noticed it that morning in passing that
way, and towards the old building he
bent his tired steps.
As he hurried along, piece of paper,
blown by the wind accompanying the
coming storm, struck against his feet.
Dick picked it up, and seeing that it was
notice, read the bold type as he walked
rapidly forward.
''Attention Five Hundred Dollars
Reward. was what Dick saw fir t.
Then he read this -
Five hundred dollars reward will be
paid to any person who first furnishes q
Gle W which will lead to the arrest of the
persons who robbed the safe in the store
of McIntire and Brothers, of Paxton, on
the n ght of May oath.
Paxton was a large business town
about twenty-seven miles distant, and
once Dick had been thee with his father.
He remembered the fire double store of
the McIntire Brothers, for they had
done little trading there, and Dick had
carried home with him impressions of
the most wonderful store it had ever
been his good fortune to visit.
1t was with no small degree of eX-
element that the boy now read of the
y
fore!
There's a snug little fortune in that for
some lucky chap!' he exclaimed, "but
some fellow has already raked it in. no
doubt, for the whole country, l suppose,
is flooded with these notices. Well, |
hope the rascals will be caught and
brought to Justice"
Little he dreamed that his wish was to
be fulfilled so soon.
The first drops of the coming rain
struck him on the face, recalling him
from the thoughts which that notice had
put into his head
Dashing up to the old house, he dis
covered that the door had been nailed
shut. But board had been nailed
across the space where the window had
been, and was loose at one end.
Slipping it aside, Dick, with little diff
Guilty, was able to crawl into the dark
musty room.
A partition of rough boards divided
the room into two compartments, one of
which had been used for the storage of
corn and the other for wheat.
The grain, however, had been removed
and Dick found nothing in the part
which he had entered, save a few old
abandoned grain sacks.
Dick sank down upon those, tired, ex-
hausted, and listened to the wind sweep
by, while a hard downpour of rain and
and hail beat against the lonely old
building.
Presently the hail ceased, though the
rain kept on; listening to the sound of
the moDotonOus patter on the old
shingles which gave hum protection,
Dick fell into slumber.
He had not slept long, until noise on
the other side of the partition aroused
him.
The noise Increased, and in alarm the
boy cTept quietly up to the rough boards
and peered cautiously through small,
irregular crack in the siding.
In wild surprise, Dick could make out