The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-11
,bought / I ould get board with you Cor

"tJim's friends are mine, he said,
with asidelong glance. Come on
'sThis was much easier than I had en-
pected. Jerry, on Ole Hoss. was none
other than the man I was after.
'tAs we emerged from the wood into
the clearing a lank, slabsided specimen
of humanity approached. He was about
to speak to Jerry when his eyes fell upon
me, and be suddenly turned away.
There was something familiar i'm his
features. but I could not place him.
"Ole Hoss passed on, and / followed
| him into his cabin. It was O small affair
with two rooms.
"'One we uns lives i'm. he explained,
an the wimmen sleeps i'm t'other.'
"'Where do the men sleep?' / in
quired.
"'Oh, we uns hunks down thar in
| Their corner
1.-THE 'wimmen folks retired early
that night, and ! sought rest ON q blan-
ket that had evidently seen several. sum-
mers and innumerable hard frosts. ]
was very tired, and though / intended
to rise when all was quiet and take o
view of the premises I fell asleep.
II was awakened by the pressure OF
something cold against my forehead,
and opening my eyes looked into the
muzzle of a revolver, while the voice Of
my host said:
"'Ef You I'M moves o hand, off goes
yer topknoti'
"'What does this mean?' / demanded
in my sternest tones.
LIT means that we uns are onter
you IN. That's ALL
Several other figures now stood over
my couch, and my genial host said:
WAL, shall we uns finish him now
or wait
"'Let's take him outside, one sug-
gested.
AFTER they had bound me hand and
foot I was carried into the open air. A
short consultation was held, and I caught
the words, down ter tho hut
NAV, said one brawny fellow, 'he
amt bad ez that Besides Pete may be
mistaken y
"His objections were received with
murmurs of d%isapproyal.
ct amt too much, asserted my
host, It's jest what he deserves, and
it'll prove an example to the others
"There was some more discussion.
Then / was informed that ON my arrival
Pete Sanford, a member of the gang,
whose still I had aided in destroying
some time previously, but who had es-
capped from the officers, had recognized
me as a detective who had come under
the guise of friendship to land them all
in prison, and that / was to be left in
the hut. =
This failed to strike terror to my
soul, However, as / supposed they would
merely leave me there overnight, and I
should then have a possible chance of
escape. Had / known the true nature of
my punishment / would have begged my
captors to mercifully put a bullet
through my brain.
They carried me to the hut, and one
of the men carefully opened the door
and peered in. He took torch and thor
oughly inspected every nook before N
tering. Finally, bound hand and foot, I
was laid ON a pile of husks in one cor
ner. Then the men departed without
even closing the door. i was highly
alated at this oversight and lay en-
deavoring to muster strength to break
my bonds when / heard a rustling,
gliding sound in one corner of the
Gould it be that some other human
creature was imprisoned with me? No,
it must be the wind outside. Then from
the long, dark opening used as a fire.
place came q similar sound, another
md another. What was it? What could
this rccanl
Suddenly / felt something glide
ocross my legs as they lay bound on the
fo2t of the bed, and the awful horror Of
the situation that my prosecutors had
devised dawned on me. / was in q den
of snakes. If / moved, / was a dead
man. Sick with terror, / became un-
conscious.
II awoke lying beside the road. The
moon was shining full in my face, and
bending over me was the girl / had
met in the afternoon.
'Twar a clus call for you I'm, she
said. i heered pap'n the fellers a-talkin
ez haeow they left yer here, an when /
got or chance / come to yon un.
How did You do itF / gasped.
Huh? I'm used to snakes, but
but
The girl began to sob.
What is it? / asked, moved by
her distress. y
I'll dassent go hum, fur dad will
! kill me-
That's how my hair got white, "
said the major.
But the girl?'' said /.
"Oh, she is IN the next room with
the childrenl She's my wife. "-Ex-
change.
A Story of the Duke Of York.