The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-01-14

IT would bc a dark night
Shutting the window as softly az he
bad opened IT, Jim and his friend, each
taking short, weIl-worn pipe from bis
pocket, sat down To smoke From an
other pocket came flask. They made
themselves comfortable, aud seemed 10
forget ali about bed
A, any rate neither of them attempt
ed 10 go to it.. They sat on and smoked
and drank occasionally, and whispered
together IN hushrd tones. Az last tbs
clock struck two, One Of them rose
drew aside the window curtniu and
looked out.
suppressed shout Of eNultation
. broke from him "Wado. Wade! the
night has changed IT'S mining and
the moon IL gone. knew rain was
coming"
"Mau alive, don't make that row,
rrt0rtcd the other. eve don't want the
housc woke up"
Putting away their pipes and TASKS
they opened the window with crafty
gcn,I"ucss and dropped down on the
ground outHid" II, one after the other
The night WAS very dark; no light. nor
pilnuer Of #. was to be sren anywhere
Making their way round cautiously
10 the coach house aud stables, Jim pro.
durcd master key which uudid the
locks The stable door he undid was the
one that had the valuable horse in il,
.,,I 4, .t,,.,,,ig,,I "a, nd - II At
an easy lock It was. Then, while The
other man kept watch he hastily and
noiseicssly attached the horse TO their
own GIG, using the harness he had adj
mirrd so greatly. The rain was dash
ing down sInar'ly. which tended to
1endrn other sounds When all was
ready they cautiously led the horse
and gig out Of the yard aud to n dis
lance beyond it, and drove away at a
Spanking pace.
their nights work. and congratulated
themselves on the valuable prize they
had captured in the horse and harness
IT'S true the horse appeared to require
the whip pretty frequently, and jim
who was driving DID no, ts'lI to admin
lister It,
Lazy heggir! He has stuffed y m
self out With corn" cried he. YOU
shall fas all this day. my gentleman,
and Tat will bring you into working
order What pclt IL isl" docking up
The pouring rnin.) "Should say this
| Has the clearing shower"
"What1l the job bring MS in, Jim?"
"Twcnty pounds clear. reckon, And
nm old hack thrown in to complete the
bargain"
On the heath now, they began laugh,
'ng over the past nights adventure
there, as related to them by the land
lord. They had no fear Of the high.
wnymeu themselyes--not they; such
gentry do not prey upon one another.
"lInng it, jim, can't you drive
fnster?" cried Wade, suddenly.
Jim made no answer. He was begin
ming TO feel somewhat pnzzled; for, I'M
less he was greatly mistaken the beanti-
full horse betrayed unmistakable signs
of giving in. Their own wretched ami.
nal could do as well AS this, Presently
1t stopped stopped dead from eNhnus-
ton
"What the devils the matter with
him." demanded Wade.
"Be shot IL know, lie seems dead
beat. It's so dark one can see nothing.
Wish that moon would come out; the
rain has ceased
"Well, this is n pretty go'" exclaimed
the other. as the horse, in spite Of whip
and word, refused to move. brought
up before ones half beyond danger,
with a stolen horse You must have
been mistaken in the worth of the ami
NAL jim: never knew you mistake one
| before"
at beats me hollow" returned jim,
his crestfallen tone betraying some
alarm. AS to being mistaken in him
| know never wns--there! Something
extraordinary must all the horse"
He jumped out of the gig and began
feeling the animal with his hands. Al
the same moment the coy moon burst
out from behind the clouds and shont
down In all her splendor. Jim felt the
| horse, stared at 1t and stared again.
The other one in the gtgwas also gazing
curiously. Simultaneously shout OF
dismay, followed by an imprecation.
burst from both of them. They had
| stolen their own horse!
han -, nnauaI
Wade accusing Jim Of having made IA
mistake and opened the wrong stable,
Jim vowing by all that's blue that he
had opened the right one.
ANY way, we've got the harness."
pleaded jim.
The remark caused Wade to turn his
eyes on it; its silver points We're glitter
| ing In the moonlight. A closer glance.
and then another angry shout broke
from him.
"l.ook here. you fool. here's crest"
"lcy--what?" cried Jim, turning
round,
Sure enough; the silver-mounted har
ness bore a family crest with its Latin
| motto, and could no doubt be identified
anywhere. Certainly this nights an.
ticipated spoil was not lucky in any
way.
Next morning the landlord OF the inn
was intensely surprised at the disap-
pearance of the travellers and Mt the
| spiri,ing away Of some harness that be-
longcd to the young Viscount Dare. He
stood in the stable yard talking with his
| hostler.
but for me his lordship's boss would
ha' gone, too" cried the ostler, stolidly.
|"When | see one O. they two gents a.
poking and peering about here last
night under cover o the dusk and see
him gazing at the fine animal with hun.
cry eyes and next watched him a-fnger1
ing the stable lock, 1t struck me what
he might be after--the wanting to have
n try at changing their own sorry hack
for this one. So the last thing at night
before turning in changed the hosses,