Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1895-05-31
That was the old deserted boathouse

49,
should again see the sunlight in the
fields, and the sails on the shining sea,
and Kate in her white gownl He
should again move back the straying
trcsses of golden hair from the fore.
head. -he should move back her stray
ing tresses with this same palm which
he vas now grinding against the harsh
wood of the oar, in desperate endeav-
or to tear his life from the trough Of
the water.
At last firm earth held his limbs and
body up! He no longer rocked and
swayed in all his body.
Drenched and sodden, he scrambled
up the slip. He made 20 effort to save
the punt. The moment he stepped
ashore she had been swept away.
81 must make that boat good to the
owner, though she has been nearly the
death OF me. Ill never put my foot
aboard another craft less than FIVE
tonner from this until die"
Oh, what hard work it had been to
keep ones feet when staggering up
that treacherous old slip to gain it's
place, with its shelter and its security,
from the mouths of the Tipping. raven
ing waters!
This boat-house was now used, they
said, by Black Billy, the gamekeeper,
as lair from which he might surprise
poachers by night. Poachers were
many and daring in this neighborhood.
Black Billy entertained a particular
hatred against them and they against
him. Pray heaven they might not
mistake him for Black Billy, or Black
Billy him for any one Of them.
No door on the boat-house. That
did not matter. 1t afforded plenty of
shelter, and that was what one now
needed, and 10! in the light Of a
match. heap of straw, a large heap
of straw, at the end fur from the door.
In his saturated condition to lie
down on the straw would be to secure
illness and invite death. II he walked
briskly up and down until he became
warm and then crept under the straw
a fellow would not only escape chill,
or rheumatism, but enjoy the ad-
vantages of hydropathic treatment.
Langley began pacing the floor as
rapidly as the limits of the building
and the darkness would permit. In
half au hour he had worked himself
into glow; then he crawled under
the straw, taking care to cover him
self completely with it.
The heat of the body increased to
such degree that he was sorely
tempted to creep forth again, but a
chill now would be disastrous, SO he
lay still AMI suffered. He listened to
the wind roaring in the wood, and to
the fails Of the rain tbrashing on tho
roof. Little by little the burning
heat OF his body subsided, and after
awhile he fell asleep.
He was awakened by voices. The
storm had ceased. and Langley was on
the point of struggling out and de-
claring himself when his ears caught
words which held him still.
"It's hanging job, Jim," said a
deep, grutf voice.
"Well, that's your affair. You
knocked him into the river" said a
high tenor voice.
"We were both of us in it, and
when he started on us twas you
clinched."
81 was only holding on by his gun,
and was holding on with my two hands
when you but-ended him and he tum.
bled in. I couldn't have struck the
blow for my two hands were on his
gun, Sam.
"And when I saw you in trouble
did turn tail and run away? Did II"
fiercely; cor did l shorten my piece
and let drive at him? And isn't the
dark look of his eyes turned on me
ever since?" Sans tone had become
subdued as he went on, and at the end
it had lost all its anger, and was not
addressed to Jim, but spoken to re-
lentless vacancy where the dead eyes
lived.
Langley felt cold shiver down his
back. He bad been listening to the
history by poachers of Black Billy's
last encounter with their fraternity.
The man with the high voice stood
SO close to Langley that his feet we're
IN the straw, and Langley could feel
the straw move when the man moved.
Yet Langley burst not stir an inch
away.
After pause, Sam, the more distant
man, the one with the rough voice,
the striker of the blow, recovered him
self, and said as if awaking from sleep
"What are we to do?'
'.otrike light and let us see what's
in this cursed hole"
"But any one could see light from
the river"
"And who would be on the river at
such an hour, and after such a night?'
Langley's heart stood still. Up to
this his only feeling was one of loath.
ing and horror of the presence OF two
men, red-handed from murder. Now
the fearful peril OF his own position
struck him. Hero were two desperate
men, fresh from the most awful crime,
with no other thought than, How shal
we escape the terrible consequences
They were armed, they were going t.
strike light. II they discovered him
He tried to lie still as log.
A match was struck.
The high voice said: "What heaI
of straw! / suppose it was his bed. l
looks moro like as if one hal beer
sleeping under rather than on it. Moth
, ing but the straw in the shanty. There
the match is out! What are we to do
Sam? 'frwill soon be day, and the
they'll find it in the water" With th'
going out of the match Jim's terror