Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-12-23

-Four or five of them obeyed at once,
two remaining on the road with the
formidable bcggar. There was pause,
tAen cry of surprise, and then voice
shouting from the house:
bills dead"
But the blind man swore at them
again for their delay.
Search him, some of you shirking
lubbers, and the rest of you aloft and
get the chest" he cried.
could hear their feet rattling up our
old stairs, so that the house must have
shaken with it. Promptly afterward,
fresh sounds of astonishment arose;
the window of the captains room was
thrown open with a slam and jingle
of broken glass; and man leaned out
into the moonlight, head and shoul-
ders, and addressed the blind beggar on
the road below him.
pew" he cried, they've been be-
fore us. Some ones turned the chest
out allow and aloft."
as it there?" roared Pew.
"The moneys there"
The blind man cursed the money.
"Flint's fist, l mean," he cried.
1--WE don't see ii here nohow," re-
turned the man.
"Here, you below here, is it on Biu?"
cried the blind man again.
At that another fellow, probably he
who had remained below to search the
captains body, came to the door of
the inn. Bills beer overhauled
o. Jv- ha sspofhiD' left ~
IT'S these people of the limits
that boy. l wish l had put his eyes
out!" cried the blind man, Pew. They
were here no time ago-they had the
door bolted when 1 tried it. Scatter.
lads, and find 'em."
"Sure enough, they left their glim
here" said the fellow from the window.
Scatter and find 'em! Rout the
house out!" reiterated Pew, striking
with his stick upon the road.
Then there followed a great to-do
through all our old inn, heavy feet
pounding to and fro, furniture all
thrown over, doors kicked in, until the
very rocks reechoed, and the men came
out again, one after another, on the
road, and declared that we were no
where to be found. And just then the
same whistle that had alarmed my
mother and myself over the dead cap
tain's money was once more clearly
audible through the night, but this
time twice repeated. / had thought 1t
to be the blind mans trumpet, SO to
speak, summoning his crew to the as
sault; but L now found that it was a
signal from the hillside toward the
hamlet, and, from its effect upon the
buccaneers, a signal - warn them OF
approaching danger.
There's Dirk again." said one.
''TwiceI Wen have to bulge, mates"
"Budge, you skulk!" cried Pew.
''Dirk was fool and coward from the
first-you wouldn't mind him. They
must be close by; they can't be far; you
have your hands on it. Scatter and look
for them, dogs. oh, shiver my soul"
he cried, "if had eyes!"
This appeal seemed toproduce some
effect, for two of the fellows began to
look here and there among the lumber,
but half heartedly, I thought, and with
half an eye to their own danger all the
time, while the rest stood irresolute on
the road.
"You have your hands on thousands,
you fools, and you hang leg! You'd
be as rich as kings If you could find 1t,
and you know it's here, and you stand
there malingering. There wasn't one
of you dared face Bill, and did it-a
blind man! And I'm to lose my chance
for you! I'm to be q poor, crawling
beggar, sponging for rum, when /
might be rolling in n coach! IF you had
the pluck of weevil in a biscuit, you
would catch them still"
Hang it, Pew, we've got the doub-
loons!" grumbled one.
''They might have hid the blessed
thing" said another. Take the
Georges, Pew, and don't stand here
squalling."
Squalling was the word for 1t. Pew's
anger rose so high at these objections,
till at last, his passion completely TAX
ing the upper hand, he struck at them
right and left in his blindness, and his
stick sounded heavily on more than
one.
III llLClI CoLSCu DoSh ~
the blind miscreant, threatened him in
horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch
the stick and wrest it from his grasp.
This quarrel was the saving of us;
for while it was still raging, another
sound came from the top of the hill
on the side of the hamlet-the tramp
of horses galloping. Almost at the
;eta IL hAt
port, came from the hedge side. And
that was plainly the last signal of
danger; for the buccaneers turned at
once and ran, separating in every di-
rection, one seaward along the cove,
one slant across the hill, and so on, 50
that in half minute not sign of them
remained but Pew. Him they had de-
serted, whether in sheer panic or out
of revenge for his i'll words and blows,
[ know not; but there he remained be-
hind, tapping up and down the road
in frenzy, and cropping and calling
for his comrades. Finally he took the
wrong turn and ran n few steps past
me, toward the hamlet, crying:
Johnny, Black Dog, DIRK" and other
names, you won't leave old Pew,
mates-not old Pew!"
Just then the noise of horses topped
the rise, and four or five riders came
in sight in the moonlight and swept
at full gallop down the slope.
At this Pew saw his error, turned
with scream and ran straight for the
ditch, into which he rolled. But he
was on his feet again in a second, and
made another dash, now utterly be-
wildered, right under the nearest of
the coming horses.
The rider tried to save him, but in
vain. Down went Pew with a cry that
rang high into the night; and the four
hoofs trampled and spurned him and
passed by. He fell on his aside. then