The advocate., 1895-04-24

COnsCIOuB Oh Gne presence OF men IN Gne SneQ VINO
seemed to leave their horses there and emerge. Soon
others came, and flash of lightning showed her
that number of horses were stabbed about her,
while others were tied to trees outside. If the first
corners had noticed her horse at all in the darkness
they had evidently supposed it to belong to one of
their own number who had arrived before them,
and, thanks to the prudence of the lightning, her
presence had not yet been revealed.
But she became extremely anxious and timid
Who were these men assembling in that place at
such an hour and riding through such storm to
reach their rendezVousP Were they a band of rob-
bers waiting there for the coming of the stage? She
knew the stage must be due about that time; and
she settled upon it that she was in the meetingpace
Of bsndits-s Veritsble robbers den. What if they
should discover her there? But-hark Voices were
now plainly audible from the other side of the wall
The robbers had entered the building. Presently,
6relight shone through an aperture near where she
sat- Gertrude was of Womankind and could not re-
sst the temptation to peep into the robbers den.
She was rewarded by good view of the interior of
the barracks On one side q cheerful fire had been
started in huge fireplace, and it looked very tempt
ing to the summer.Clad girl in the shed; for the
weather had grown quite cold By the itful freight
she saw men marching around and around the large
hsll-like room she had seen soldiers march; and
she looked more intently still They had halted and
fixed bsyonets and now were going through the mo-
tons of a charge. BayOnetS were removed, and the
motions Of loading, priming, inspecting Aints, and
firing were gone through. Then the marching was
resumed and various eVolutions performed. The
men moved with the trained uniformity of soldiers
What did 1t mesnP Faces could not be distinguished
in the lickerng light, but once she had half dis
cerned the features of the commanding officer and
had noted that he seemed a determined, manly
young fellow; and she had made out that the march
ing men were mostly farmers. At length the guns
were STACKED" in the middle of the room, and the
men seated themselves upon logs which lay length
wise against the wall; while directly opposite the
aperture through which W0man's eye was gazing
upon the scene the young commander stood erect at
the farther extremity of the room near the door.
The freight now shone full upon his face, and Ger
trude, with beating heart, recognized beyond
doubt, Sydney Stone, the uninVited orator at the
Fourth of July celebration. The rain had almost
ceased but she had not observed the fact SO inter-
ested had she been in the weird spectacle of the
marching men in the half darkness, with bayonets
and gun.bsrrels rejecting the light from the fire.
What did it meanP But listen the young com.
mRnder speaks
Comrades, we have crossed the Rubicon. Fif.
teen hundred of our men marched into Northampton
and prevented the courts from sitting. The move
ment was a complete surprise, and not an attempt
was made at resistance. The lawyers fled and the
judges speedily adjourned and left town. So there
will be no judgments rendered there to take mems
homes from them or to thrust honest, poor men in
jsi-not for several months at least. Applause and
great enthusiasm. l have been inspecting detsch-
ments all day; and Of all our men but one has failed
to be present One young mani need not name
him-was married the other day, and has permitted
his girish wife to cry him into cowardiee. He has
deserted u.s."
Gertrude was intensely interested. This remark
about young man permitting his girlish wife 'to
cry him into cowsrdice" panied her; and she was
| Rlad when one of the older men arose and said: