The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1896-03-27

with the house, and these doors were at
least is feet apart. The furniture was
not remarkable, except that it was de-
cidedly old-fashioned. The bedstead
was high four-poster. 1t stood with
its side close to the outer wall of the
| room, and at the foot of it was an iron
safe. 1t was comfortable bed, though,
however uninviting it's position, and
felt weary enough to sleep even in
strange place, SO retired after paying
due attention to the fastenings of the
outer door, which found Of massive
make and in good order, and, strange to
say, l fell asleep as soon as my head
touched the pillow and slept soundly
for some time.
How long the duration OF that sleep
was | never knew. I awoke with a
start from the self-same dream which /
had the preceding night, and amid what
appeared to be a babel of voices, one of
which heard say distinctly:
Not now until the 18TH"
There had been something strange
| about the dream of the preceding night.
While it left the impression of undue
unpleasantness and knew that it con-
cerned my father, / could not recall a
single incident of it. But now l could
remember that there was in it some ref
erence to the 5th. and that was all,
although | had evidently dreamed it
the second time. When had fully re-
covered my waking senses sat up and
tried to pierce the intense darkness of
the room. The voices had undoubtedly
been dream voices, for no one was in
the room. Yet the words had made
such an impression on me that they
had apparently fastened themselves in
my brain, for Not now until the 18th"
seemed to shine as if branded in fire on
| the deep gloom of my chamber.
The day before had been the 5th of
the month; ten days off was the 18th!
! What was to occur upon that date?
There is no need for one to say that
that night was full of horrors. Every
form of trouble and disaster paraded
before my mental vision, until the
darkness through which my eager eyes
could not pierce began to grow APP
palling to me, and the silence which
had succeeded to my disturbed dream
at that moment would have welcomed
any sound. however disagreeable.
l had sunk back upon my pillow,
after my first uneasy start, and now
raised myself once more to sitting po-
gition, resolved TO get out of bed and
procure light to dissolve my fancies,
when sound fell upon my strained
! sense of hearing, at first astonishing me,
later filling me with alarm and finally
| entirely removing from me any desire
to get out of bed, for the present, at
least. This sound was the rhythmical
breathing Of man, who was evidently
sunk in the profoundest slumber. To
| listen to the sound of snoring is not
pleasant at any time, but to hear the
whole scale run up and down the gamut
of sound from under ones bed is ap-
palling. AS soon as / had located the
| sound it robbed me of the last remnant
OF courage, while my late ghostly
| fancies gave way at once to fears.
| Could l have indeed heard voices out
side my dream? Was there a plot to
rob my brother, who, as postmaster,
had about this date considerable cash
or hand from the money order business.
Middleton being factory town, and
| numbers of non-residents working
there in the busy season and sending
home their earnings to family and
friends? What was to do? How was |
to act under the circumstances? /
can never describe the agony of terror
which endured as lay there, listening,
hardly daring to breathe myself, to
those unmusical sounds.
As | was compelled to hold my self
still and must think my terror grad
ually subsided little, and common
sense began once more to resume it's
sway. If the man under my bed was a
burglar. or was there for the purpose of
committing felony, was it at all likely
that he would calmly go to sleep?
This consideration awoke new terror.
What if the wretch was only feigning
sleep, waiting till my regular breathing
assured him that was locked in slum-
ber, and would not add to the difficult
ties OF his undertaking by compelling
him to commit murder in order to carry
out his scheme of robbing the United
States government?
When the first faint peep OF day came
creeping through the shutter Stats l
began to form my plan of reaching the
door. AS the bed was against the wall
had, of course, only one side to choose
from in getting out. But l thought if
could work my way toward the foot,
| should have at least a gain of a few
feet nearer the inside door in my favor.
Slowly and painfully | worked my way
through the bulging feathers, rejoicing