The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-06-08

WINDOWS muncnlng the candy, YankO
went out Of the room to get drink
Of water. He had been with us SO
long that he was quite at home, and we
thought no more Of him until we heard
the street door click Then Yanko
came into the hail with two Villain
ous-looking men whom I had never
seen before.
Willie, he called to me, these are
friends of mine. Il am going to show
them the house, Then without fur
Their ceremony he took them up stairs.
You may think that 1 ought to have.
made some objection to this, but I
thought it quite natural that he should
wish to show his friends what 4 nice
house he had been living in; SO Johnny
and I sat eating the candy and watch
ing the ship, which was creeping inch
by inch around the point on which
our house was built.
Pretty soon Var ko called to Johnny
from the top Of the stairs. Johnny ran
to see what was wanted. I followed
out of curiosity. 81
Johnny" said Yanko, speaking in
Greek in rather low tone, where is
that silver tea set? I should like to
show it to my friends
Why" said Johnny, 'it's down. -
Don't tell .Johnnyn' I cried in Eng
ish. Mamma said we Were never to
| answer questions about that"
"Nonsense!' said Yanko, who could
understand some English. ..Your
| mother would not mind me. NY
friends are merchants. I only wanted
to let them see what pretty things
they make in your country"
| NO" said I. "Come when mother
is here, and if she wants to show it
to your friends she may. think that
you had better go now
/ Never mind" replied Yanko; 1--WE
i are just going"
This request to see the silver made
me feel anxious and troubled. A lit
tie while before father had found
marks on some of the silver pieces
which looked as if some one had been
testing them to see if they were real.
mis- was just before he had sent
Yanko away.
Afterward had heard him talking to
mother about the danger Of having the
silver stolen. Then he had q safe put
into the wall OF the store-room which
opened out of the library, and there
the silver was kept. The iron door
of the safe was hidden behind map
that hung on the wall. We had both
| DCOA tOAA ACfCl W CuSW0I QuSSllOuS
about the place where the silver was
kept. ...
was frightened now. felt for the
first time how entirely we were separ-
ated from all the neighbors, and I
saw how improper it was for these
strangers to be in the house and wan
dering all over it. Lid. .~
The three men were whispering to-
gether at the top Of the stairs, and I
heard the words, ''Kato einai'. ut is
below. Then all three Of them came
down stairs, looking so threatening that
poor eight-year-old Johnny began to
cry, without knowing why. All that
I could do was to say to Yanko, "You
must go away now!'' ...-
YES" said Yanko, "we are going
But first want to help you catch an
other pelamid. The ship has gone
now"
So saying, he went toward the gar
den door, while his two friends stopped
at the foot Of the staircase
NO." said I, II don't want to fish
any more, Drawing Johnny with me,
I went toward the parlor doorway.
Gail right" said Yanko in Greek,
looking at the men, eve are going now.
But come, want to tell you what to
say to your father and mother from
me-" s. s
He came into the parlor with us, and
sitting down on the sofa, took Johnny
on his knee, and began to tell us things
to say to mother; about how much he
/ loved us all, and how much he wanted
to come back and live with us again,
and so on.
A slight noise, which seemed to come
from the library, made me turn around.
The men were no longer in the hall.
They must have gone into the library,
where the door Of the store-room was.
where are the men?'' asked, try
ing to escape from Yanko. II want to
see what they are doing!"
"Oh, they are out there. Perhaps
they have gone into the garden. We
are just going away now. Some day
am coming to take you and Johnny
out in boat to fish for mackerel."
| But Yanko did not let me pull away
from him when tried to see what the
men were doing.
| Pretty soon the men came into the
room. They looked so ferocious and
excited that we both crowded up
against Yanko for protection. The
biggest of the men jerked Johnny off
Yanko's knee, and said in a fierce
voice:
'Look here! I want to know where
that silver is! If you do not tell me
quickly will whip you.''
Don't you ten!' cried I, trying to
pull the mans hand away from Johnny
The fellow struck me in the face with
force enough to make me fall on the
floor, and said to his companion, Hold
that young donkey!'
''Yanko, Yanko!'' cried poor Johnny
'take him away! Don't let him hurt
me!".
1T seems that they are bad men,
said Yanko Il cannot do anything
; You had better tell, or they will hurt
YOU
.'Wen!Are you going to tell?" roared
the ruffian, twisting Johnny's arm.
Johnny pluckily held his tongue
though he looked piteously at me, anf
set up howl, at which the robbel
boxed his ears. Upon this johnny
howl changed into a series Of piercing
ShriekS. and he drODDed on his back OF