The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-10-27
EBENSBURG. PA. FRIDAY. OCTOBER

! made this discovery II was their boat
and once in it and on the water / was
safe BY this time | could hear their
{, footsteps along the shore which was
| quite rocky and rough here, except the
| little bit of beach where the boat lay,
and they could not make such headway
as l did, as they dld not know the way
| through the rocks.
But they were coming fast enough
and cursing at every step, and with
| the energy of despair, l caught the
boat in my arms, and with a wild
! strain / tried to shove il into the water.
| But II would scarcely bulge. Again
and again l tugged, the blood almost
| bursting through my ears by the eXer-
tion and the skin tearing from my
| hands and bare arms.
So ne ar | thought to safety and still
! the danger increasing every second,
then as l heard an oath, more wicked
! than the others, as one of the bur
glars fell over a stone, ! felt the boat
move, and little wave rolled in and
lifted it, So that with one more push it
slid off into deep water. / jumped in,
caught the oars, and as the burglars
dashed down through the darkness to
where they heard the noise, the boat
shot out into the water and was safe.
They might have shot me from the
shore, but they had either left their re-
vo!vers in the house or had none. the
revolver being too noisy a weapon for
burglars u rule.
Whatever the cause they did not fire.
and did not wait for it, at least that
close. a hundred feet out began to be
myself once more and | stopped rowing.
''Why don't you come on?" | shouted
back, half hysterically.
Hold on" they yelled. and l could
hear them running up and down the
shore in the darkness.
''Oh, you're all right" l laughed
shrilly. III come and take you off in
the course of 4 few hours and then,
fearful that they might get their guns,
l rowed away as fast as | could for the
mainland.
think l made that three miles in
half the record, and when l found the
first policeman. he was for running me
in as a lunatic or a sleep-wallker but
he knew me, and as soon as | told my
story, a force Of ten men boarded a tug
and we returned to the island. BY this
time the first gray strealls of dawn were
showing in the summer sky. and as we
cautiously ran up To my wharf, il was
almost light enough to see the house
ft Sd" no however, nor
any signs of them, though knew had
them penned mp on the island and es-
cape was impossible. We waited until
daylight, and then, deployed as skir-
mishers, the policemen began to move
across the island, expecting any mo-
ment to flush burglar or get a shot
from ambush.
As we came up to the house one of
the burglars appeared in the doorway
and was covered on the instant by a
dozen guns.
Come in, gentlemen. come right in,"
he said, checrily. We We're expecting
you and we've got nice breakfast
ready"
The mans coolness almost gave me
the Mysteries. for / knew 10y the sound
of his voice that he was the fellow who
wanted to fix" me.
But he was uttcring the truth-they
did have Il nice breakfast for us tout of
my lardcr), and not that only, but they
had found that Henry was not dead,
and they had washed him and done
what they could in caring for him, and
had done il so well that he is alive to-
day with only an ugly scar on his neck
mementO.
TIL re were four in the lot and we
soon had them handcuffed, and then
we sat down To breakfast and enjoyed
it, though | must confess that by this
time the condition l was in physically
was not pleasant
You're queer gang" said the
lieutenant of police 10 the leader, who
had invited us TO breakfast. What did
you do this for?'
The breakfast, you meaE?"
nd all the rest of it said the
officer.
"Well cap'n, he replied, its like this:
We wuz here fer de swag. kill er no.
and we thought we had killed the fust
one, and, of course, the other one had
to go, to stop talk. Then when he got
away and had US penned up like rats
we came TO the conclusion that we had
better git ont the best way we could.
The one we thought was dead only
needed repairs, so we repaired him, and
we knowed you'd be here Dimcby To
look fer us, and probably coming ont
So early in the morning you might be
hungry. So, beggin' the gents pardon
fer trespassin, we turned in and fixed
you up "A nice breakfast. Now, wasn't
that about the white thing to do?"
had had enough to put most men in
a bad humor, but this candid statement
struclI my funny-bone somehow. and
laughed until the tears ran down NV
checks, and even the policeman smiled.
OF course. the burglars had done the
best thing possible for themselves and
the very unique plan they had adopted
of necessity was in their favor and
they only got ten years apiece, Henry
testifying earnestly to their polite
ness and care that that part of it was
t,.., III
But | can assure you | did not go
back to the island again. ! gave it To-
Henry, as il stood, and he lives there
with his wife, respected and admired, |
do believe, by every burglar in the
guild, for he holds them in the highest
esteem.
On, yes, / almost forgot When this
story came out in the papers, and my
part of it was set forth, as only report
ers know how to do such things, Isa-
bella. of course, heard of it. and one
moonlight night she said to me:
Major, | thought once you were not
the kind of a man for a woman to mar
ry, but I've changed my mind
l feel under obligations to those bur
glars myself.-W. j. Hampton, in De
troit Free Press.
The Photo-Cor-cctor.
4 London photographer has con-
s.ructed an Instrument to which he
gives the name of --photo-corrector'