The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-11-11

on the beach. They were near enough
to hear my fall, and one of them !;
shouted:
Here he is, Bill; we've got him; we'll
fix him now"
thought about as the burglar did,
but as tried to get mp found was
in boat drawn half way up on the
sand.
almost shouted with Joy when | /,
made this discovery. Itwas their boat |,
and once in it and on the water | was /
safe! BY this time / could hear their i
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 Roadway |
as did, as they did not know the way |
through the rocks.
But they were coming fast enough
and cursing at every step, and with
the energy of despair, ! caught the
boat in my arms, and with a wild |
strain tried to shove it into the water
But it would scarcely bulge. Again
and again I tugged, the blood almost
bursting through my ears by the exer-
ton and the skin tearing from my
hands and bare arms.
So nc 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 ana
| lifted it, SO that with one more push 1t
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 ont into the water and was safe.
They might have shot me from the
shore, but they had either left their re-
volvers in the house or had none, the
revolver being too noisy weapon for
burglars as 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 Historically. :.
Hold on" they yelled, and could
hear them running up and down the
shore in the darkness.
s.Oh, you're all right" ] laughed
shrilly. sI'll come and take you of in
the course of few hours" and then,
fearful that they might get their guns,
rowed away as fast as could Tor the
mainland.
I think l made that three miles in
half the record, and when l found the
!. first policeman, he was for running me
. in as lunatic or sleep-walker, but
he knew me, and as soon.as l told my
story, force of ten men boarded tug
and we returned to the island. BY Thu
|, time the first gray strcaks of dawn wer'
showing in the summer sky, and as W.
! cautiously ran up to my wharf. 1T wa'
: almost light enough to see the house.
=, We saw no burglars. however, no
. | any signs of them, though knew hat
, then, penned up on the island and cs
cape was impossible. We waited unit
! daylight, and then, deployed as Skin
! mishers, the policemen began to NOV
across the island, expecting any me
ment to flush burglar or get sho
from ambush.
: As we came up to the house one Q
the burglars appeared in the doorwa
a and was covered on the instant by
5 dozen guns.
!. Come in, gentlemen, come right in,
he said, cheerily. I'VE were expectin
YOU and we've got a nice breakfa.
|. ready"
= The mans GOODNESS almost gave N
the Mysteries, for knew by the SCUM
of his voice that he was the fellow WI
"a wanted to fix" me.
fl But he was uttering the truth-the
" did have nice breakfast for us tout
my larder), and not that only, but the
e had found that Henry was not dea
r. and they had washed him and dol
" what they could in caring for him, al
.. had done it so well that he is alive
l day with only an ugly scar on his ne'
We as a memento.
a There were four in the lot and '
n, soon had them handcuffed, and tn
n: we sat down to breakfast and enjoy
ut it, though / must confess that by tn
time the condition / was in physical
IT. was not pleasant.
you're queer gang" said t
ne lieutenant of police to the leader, W
nd had invited us to breakfast. "What
I'M you do this for?"
I'M 1.-THE breakfast. you meang
he "And all the rest Of it." said {
ad officer.
"Well cap'n, The replied, tits like tn
,er We wuz here fer de swag, kill or
on and we thought we had killed the II
,es one, and, of course, the other one b
nk to go, to stop talk Then when he G
nv away and had us penncd up like n
30. we came to the conclusion that we b
Ter better git out the best way we cou
The ono we thought was dead OF
no needed repairs, so we repaired him, a
Of VIC knowed you'd be here oimeby
look fer us, and probably coming
no. so early in the morning You might
or hungry. So, Begin the gents pard
NO fer trespassin', we turned in and Il,
ii YOU ND a nice breakfast. Now, was
that about the white thing to do?"
rht Ihad had enough to put most men
ter a bad humor, but this candid statem
rht struck my funny-bone somehow, an
he laughed until the tears ran down
cheeks, and even the policeman smil
ore OF course. the burglars had done
nat best thing possible for themselves
the the very unique plan they had adop
81. ....;t,, ,vas in their favor.