The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-05-14

had gone, and q reaction set in that
composed my nerves for slumber.
Drowsiness was already approaching
when I was startled by the soft click
ing Of the gate latch. 1t was very un-
likely that the same burglar had return
ed and would have been extraordinary
if another had come. And yet try as
hard as I might to reason out some 9TH
er possibility there came the stealthy
footsteps of a thief on the boards Of the
outer passage. ! studied this step so in
tently and analytically that I was GER
tain the intruder was not the same as
the first. Then I began to wonder what
he would do.
Il was not surprised to hear him try
the door Of the lower porch and find 1t
strongly barred within, nor greatly to
hear him climb the lattice as the other
had done. was curious to know wheth-
er he would attack the door or the win
dow after he landed ON the porch. BY a
singular coincidence he chose the win
dow. I heard him try it and imagined
that he started upon discovering that
the latch had been broken. 1t was evil
dent that upon entering the room he
wa surprised and confused to see its
disorder. But he drew a sheet from the
bed. spread it on the floor and proceed
ed to ransack the room. Evidently his
bewilderment increased, and he must
have been discouraged to find SO little
worth taking.
HE vas not long in completing the
looting Of the room, and then he went
to the door and stood a moment in the
passage, listening intently. After that
he began carefully to descend the stairs.
His conduct thenceforward was exactly
a repetition Of his predecessors. He
passed my door, tinkled the plated sill
verware in the dining room, left it
alone, returned to the vestibule, stood a
moment listening at my open door, eau
tiously retraced his steps up stairs,
passed through the window, closed it,
dropped his parcel to the ground, clam
bered down the lattice and passed out,
closing the gate behind him.
1T may be supposed that the coin
cidences amazed me beyond measure.
This, more than anything else. seemed
to unnerve me all the more. All this
time I realized I had been acting the
part of q coward. Merely to have light
ed the gas in my room would have clear
ed the house Of the second burglar, but
I had not the courage to do that.
my alarm and became
SO great that I arose from bed and was
just about to strike a match with which
to light the gas in the chandelier when
I heard the gate latch click for the third
time. My match remained innsbruck. and
I listened with q fascinated intentness
to this last invasion. In all particulars
it was identical with the second, down
to the point when the burglar descended
the stairs and passed my open door ON
his way to the dining room. To light
the gas then would have been to place
the man in q corner and compel him to
fight. ] realized not only that it is tax
ing ones life in ones hands to cut of a
burglar retreat before attacking him
Gas a know ledge of a chance of escape
diverts his attention from the necessity
for self defense and renders him easier
to overcome), but that ! was now in a
condition in which I lacked both the
courage and the strength to make the at
tempt.
1.-THE position which I now occupied
in the room was half way between the
bed and the window. As I was so much
nearer the window than before, I could
hear sounds from without with much
more distinctness. While I stood there
listening to the third burglar tinkle the
plated ware ! was startled to hear the
gate latch click again and the football of
a fourth burglar ON the board paved
! passage. As he was climbing the lattice
q fifth burglar entered the gate, then a
sixth, then others, until burglars in an
endless procession were entering my
premises and rifing my house on n
common and unvarying plan.
1T is useless to say that an intelli-
gent man should not have entertained
such an idea for q moment. We know
| that I might have reasoned that perhaps
there had been only one, or, at most.
two, burglars after all, and that the
fright which they gave me caused me to
conjure up the others from a fear de-
ranged imagination. It might be profit
able to indulge in a great many other
speculations on this subject, but the
truth remains that I could not reason at
all
I'm simple desperation, perhaps moved
by a sort Of fascination, I crept to the
window in order to observe with idle
curiosity the procession Of burglars en-
tering the gate. ! turned the Stats Of a
lower blind and looked out. Not a soul
visible, and yet burglars were still pour
ing through the gatei
1.-THE explanation came like . shock
ing revelation. The wind was playing
with some loose blind Stats Immediately
above my head as I stood there, and out
Of that slight and varying sound my
imagination had constructed the phan.
tasy from beginning to end. No burglar
at all had invaded my house. I amused
and leased myself for some time after.
ward by compelling my attention te
leave the rafting Stats at intervals and
fill my house with burglars. San
Francisco Call.