Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-12-24

the man turned the lamplight almost
out, and came into the sitting-room,
and made for the outside door. He
passed within foot of us, and why
the humping of my heart did not
catch his ear has always been wonder
to me. He unlocked the door, passed
out and softly closed it behind him,
and we heard him going down the
frozen path to the barn. was for
going upstairs for father, but Sam
drew me across to the side window,
pulled aside the curtain and said:
"He's got the watch and shawl and
is now after that span of horses"
Let me explain that about the first
of the month the Sheriff of our coun-
ty had taken possession of span of
fine horses, supposed to have been
stolen, and they were being cared for
in our stables until the owner should
turn up. The stables were in the
basement of the barn and half under
ground. The windows were very small
and the door a stout one. This door
had no lock, but fastened with hasp
and pin. We watched the man until
he opened the door and entered the
stables, and then Sam said:
"Yes, he's after the horses and I'm
going to do something"
ave must call father"
"1f we do, the man will kill him,
for he hasn't got nothing to fight with!
You stand right here and hold the
door little open for me-"
"What are you going to do?"
"Pm going to shut him in the
stable. Don't holler nor run away,
for I'll be back in minute"
Out into the snow and cold dashed
Sam. 1t was about 800 feet to the
barn and being in his stocking feet he
ran like q deer and as noiseless as a
cat. He found the door shut, and it
did not take him ten seconds to lift
up the hasp and slip the pin through
the staple. When he came back we
ran uptairs and aroused father and
mother, and just as we all got down,
we heard the man kicking on the
stable door. He had both horses
ready to bring out before he discovered
that he was locked in. From the
rumpus he made you would have
thought that he was tearing the whole
barn down, but it was useless to kick
against the door. In daylight he could
have made his way up through one of
the feed racks, but he had used his
last match and had to go slow in
the darkness. We routed out the
neighbors, sent for the Sheriff, and in
about an hour the door was unfastened
and the fellow invited to come out.
He had strapped mothers new shawl
OH one of the horses for q saddle, and
fathers Santa Claus watch was tick
ing away in his vest pocket. Why he
had no weapons never could under
stand, for he turned out to be pro-
fessional horse thief and desperate
man, but he had neither knife nor
pistol. He was marched off to Jail
while the roosters were Growing for
Christmas, and Sam and I were in
court later on when he was sent
to prison for five years.
"Boys," said my father after the
man had been taken away from the
stables and we returned to the house,
"boys, thank ye thousand times
over for this watch, which I've sorter
wanted for years, but let me jest tell
ye that ye both orter be taken out and
licked fer not tellin' me about that
robber till ye had him safely locked
up. Don't ye never do sich thing as
that ag'in as long as ye live on the
face of this airth."
"And, boys" added mother, with
tears in her eyes, as she hugged the
shawl and us, too. "I not only thank
ye as much as father does, but say ye
did jest right in not wakin' us up; I'd
have had a fit and father might have
tumbled downstairs, and there's no
tellin who'd busted up or who'd
tumbled into the cistern!