The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-04-18

few seconds Of profound silence. during
which Robin stood over the opening
with uplifted weapon, ready to strike
down the next Tory who might be bold
enough to show his head. Then the
stiffness was broken by hoarse voice.
! mingling strange oaths with direful
threats
1t was the voice Of Claudius Smith.
"Out of my wayt Make room!" he
roared, pushing his comrades to the
right and left as he strobe toward the
steps
One Of the Tories pointed to the open
ing into the attic.
There's an armed devil yonder.'
be said. land ye'd better not go near
him."
"Cowardl Poltroonl" shrieked bis
chieftain, beside himself with fury
Dye think fear man. God, or devil7"
Blind with rage he leaped upon the
steps and mounted them with the agili-
ty of tiger, As his head came through
the floor Robin struck at it savagely
with his saber.
Steel rang against steel sparks scin-
tillated in the darkness. and the weapon
few cut Of Robins hand. 1t had
glanced off the blade of the saber with
which the outlaw had been shrswd
enough to cover his attack.
The Tory ehieftain sprang into the
attic triumphant, He saw in the gloom
the ferns Of a. man crouching away
from him and raised his saber aloft to
deal a dsathblow. The next. instant
the blade cut cleaning swath in the
air and descended swiftly.
The blow was well intended; never
theless it missed its mark, for as be
WAS N the act Of delivering it Tory
rushed precipitately into the attic and
jostled against him. At the same in
stant the sharp report of firearms, the
clash of swords, cries Of terror sand
shouts Of triumph arose in deafening
tumult from below Another Tory came
tulnbling into the loft
"We are betrayedp' he shouted in
tones that quavered with fear Run.
captain. run, for the Americans have
surrounded the housed"
Then he and his comrade scurried
away in the darkness and concealed
themselves in the lumber that Uttered
the attic. Their chief stood at the head
of the stairs, looking down upon the
tumultuous scene below like one petri-
fed. The light of the torches, borne
hither and thither by his men as they
fought to escape from their assailants,
threw fitful CLEANS upon his counte-
nance, and Robin could see that it had
turned a hideous. ivid hue from baffied
rage and despair.
Presently a deep voice Numbered
above tho din.
"Claudius Smith is in the loftl Up
and at him. men! Give the outlaw no
quarterl"
At this Claudius uttered a defiant
laugh.
"Aye, but ye must catch me first, ye
blarsted rebels" he growled between
his teeth.
Then he turned and ran quickly to-
ward one of the dormer windows.
Scarcely had he reached it when there
was an onrush Of footsteps on the mar
row stairs, and number of furious |
frontiersmen sprang one after another !
into the loft, where they scattered and
began searching the lumber and rubbish
for the bandit chief. Presently one Of |
them caught sight of him as he was in
the act of crawling through the dormer
window With shout of exultation he |
hurried after him, arriving at the win
dow just in time to see the fugitive !
scramble nimbly down the sloping roof
to the gutter. swing himself to the
veranda below, slide down one Of it's /
pillars and escape across the lawn to
the place where his horse was tethered.
In the meantime Robin had narrow
ly escaped death at the hands of the |
other assailants On their first coming
into the attic they had passed him by
unnoticed, and he had since been too
much bewildered by the strange events
transpiring before him to pay much
heed to their movements Indeed while
they were searching the loft for the
Tory chief he was engaged in admins
tering to zadie, who had relapsed into
when Claudius swung
his saber at her defender. The from
tiersmen came upon him while he was
chatting the hands and temples of the
girl with the idea of restoring her to
her senses and setting upon him furi-
ously, would have dispatched him in
the darkness had he not warned them
quickly that be was not an enemy
"Hold. my fine fellows!" he cried
Would you slay true American
At this they dropped their weapons,
and one Of them lit torch and held it
close to his face. For moment he
the young mans counte-
nance keenly. Then he broke out into a
cry Of amazement:
''By the powers above. it's Edward
Roblinr'
The young man glanced quickly at
the speaker, and his heart sank within
MIN, for he found himself face to face
with his relentless prosecutor, Farmer
Price