Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-10-07


d him for givin' us so much
trouble. we'll fix him now"
l thought about as the burglar did,
but as 1 tried to get up / found was
in a boat drawn half way up on the
sand.
[ almost shouted with Joy when
made this discovery. 1t was theiI
boat and once in it and on 1.-THE watel
l was safe! By this time could hear
their footsteps along the shore, which
was quite rocky and rough here, ex.
cept the little bit of beach where the
boat lay, and they could not make
such Roadway as l 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 I tried to shove it into the
water. But it would scarcely bulge.
Again and again tugged; the blood
almost bursting through my ears by
the exertion and the skin tearing
| from hands and bare arms.
So near 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 burg
lars fell over 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 burg
lars dashed down through the dark
ness to where they heard the noise,
the boat shot out into the water and
I was safe.
They might have shot ME from the
shore, but they had either left their
revolvers in the house or had none,
the revolver being too noisy weapon
for burglars as a rule
Whatever the cause, they did not
fire, and I did not wait for it, at
least that close A hundred feet out,
I began to be myself once more and l
stopped rowing.
why don't you come 0n?" l
shouted back, halt Historically.
"Hold on" they yelled, and I could
hear them running up and down the
shore in the darkness.
''Oh, you're all right" I laughed
shrillY. I'll come back and take you
off in the course of a few hours" and
then fearful that they might get
their guns. 1 Iowed away as fast as l
could for the mainland.
/ think ] made that three miles in
half the record, and when I found
the first policeman, he was for run
ming me in as lunatic or sleep
walker, but he knew me, and as 1
told my story, force Of ten men
boarded tug and we returned TO the
Island. BY this time the first gray
streaks of dawn were showing in the
summer sky, and as we cautiously
ran up to my wharf, it was almost
light enough to see the house.
We saw no burglars however, nor
any signs Of them, though I knew L
had them penned up on the island
and escape was impossible. We
waited until daylight, and then, de-
ployed as skirm1shers, the policemen
began TO move across the island, ex-
pecting any moment to flush a burg
lar or get shot from ambush.
'As we came up to the house one
of the burglars appeared in the door
way and was covered on the instant
by dozen guns.
"NCome in, gentlemen, come right
in, he said cheerily. we were ex-
pecting YOU and we've got nice
breakfast ready"
THE mans GOODNESS almost gave
me the Mysteries, for know by the
sound Of his voice that he was the
fellow who wanted to fix me.
but he was uttering the truth
they did have nice breakfast for US
(out Of my larder( aud 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 it so well that
he is alive to-day with only an ugly
scare on his neck as a memento.
There were four in the lot and |
we soon had them handcufied, and |
then we sat down to breakfast and |
enjoyed 1t, though must confess |
that by this time the condition 1 was
In physically was not pleasant
"'You're queer gang said the |
of police to the leader,
who had invited US to breakfast
What did you do this for?'
"The breakfast, you mean?'
":And all the rest of it, said the |
officer.
"'Well, cap'n,' he replied, it's 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 conclu-
sion that we had better git out the
best way we could. The one we
thought was dead only needed re-
pairs, so We repaired him, and we
knowed you'd be here bimeby to look
fer US, and PROBABLY COMM out so
early In the morning you might be
hungry. So, Begin the gents par
don fer trespassin', we turned In and
fixed you up nice breakfast Now,
wasn't that about the white thing to
do?'