The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-08-19
A NIGHT
TERROR
.-.OF...

=, of singing, many voices joined in what
seemed to be q drunken chorus.
Then Magdalena flung both arms
| tightly around Frau Herber's neck.
''They must be near, quite near" she
said.
Franz went up to the table; he had
cleaned the gun and loaded It. He
knew he could depend ON it. Frau
Herber pressed the girls cold hand In
her own.
He is nearer than they are" she
| said, "and those who trust in him
should not be COMPOUNDED"
But to Magdalena it seemed that the
| singing came nearer still, and her terror
almost conquered her trust.
".
Lorenz Imhoff had first gone back
to his fathers house in the Harren-
gasse to make sure that the doors were
securely fastened, and then he wan
dered about that quarter of the de-
serted town.
Ho wished to find a refuge between
the main ~thoroughfare and Magdalena's
house, so that he might give her timely
warning Of the approach of the French
and also mount guard before the door,
way. More than one house in the small
streets which led in this direction had
not been deserted-the Inhabitants
being either too poor or too infirm to
think of taking the long, cold journey.
Some, too, were utterly i~ncredulous.
The French had been for so many
years a bugbear that they believed this
was but another false alarm.
Lorenz talked to some of these unbe-
levers, but he refused their hospitality.
He shrank from finding himself shut
up with others. The deserted houses
had closed doors and windows; it vas
long before he could discover any place
to shelter in, and the snow had begun to
fall.
At last at the angle of a narrow alley
he saw a garden wall. The wall was
low and he easily climbed into the
garden. BY good fortune the open
courtyard of the house bounded the
garden on one side. below the over
hanging gallery of this hof he found a
small door left unlocked.
But when he had passed into the
room to which it led he found a range
of offices ending in a kitchen, barred off
from the actual house; the windows
looked over into the hof and garden
he was completely shut off from the
street. o..
However, the garden wall was close
by, and by itself he could reach the
street in a moment.
There was a fire still burning on the
hearth Of the first room he had en-
tered. He made this up, and then he
and down, straining his ears to listen
to the falling snowfiakes.
They fell thicker and thicker, faster
and faster, till they came upon him
| with such driving force that, stagger-
ing under the weight he now carried
he turned to seek shelter in doors.
The wind whirled the snow with. SO
much fury against the wall of the hof
that in the darkness Lorenz had some
trouble in finding the door by which
he had first entered, and when at last
he opened it, the snow followed him
in like a white phantom, in spite Of the
bulwark offered by the projecting gal
lery overhead. He was SO chilled that
he could scarcely move, but he heaped
more wood on the fire, shook his cloak
| with some difficulty free Of the snow
which covered it, and stamped to free
his boots from the huge clumps of
snow that almost prevented him from
moving; then he placed himself near
the window, though he knew that outer
sounds must be dulled before they
reached him. He was strangely tired,
but he felt too drowsy to allow him
self to rest. All at once it seemed to
him that he was turning into stone.
His limbs were stiff, his jaws chung
together and a strange stupor began
to steal over him.
With difficulty he dragged himself
near the fire which was now burning
fearfully, then he remembered that
he had taken no food since early
morning.
To Be Continued.