Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-04-01

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There's good examples for that. =" But
at half past she was talking at the
cottage gate with the daughter Of
neighbor. nor did - quit her home
until more than an hour later. when
Jim Pcnlerrick turned mp and suggest
ed brief stroll He had manifestly
some jest to share with her.
Now. John Coffin had never doubted
as to the identity of the sender of the
message. Al half past precisely he be-
gan to mount the hilly lane. and when
lii pipe and waited. For a long time
no one came He began To grow more
and more impatient. knowing that the
girl could have nothing ON earth To keep
her at this hour And slowly there
dawned upon him dreadful doubt.
Could il he that she had fooled him
and was not coming ut ally He put the
Thought from him. hut only for time.
In the end he sworc vchcmently and
would have turned away had not roar
of laughter suddenly arrested him. Be
fore hc could recover from his surprise
he was STRUGGLING in the midst of half
a dozen men, and u moment later they
had ovcrpowcrcd and ound him. put
ting gag between his teeth.
All this time they had not spoken n
word aud il was still in utter silence
that hc WAS compelled To march. n man
NJ either arm. in the direction Of the
cove Coffin did not doubt that he had
fallen into the hands of smugglers re-
solved tu revenge On him the recent in
| iniics to the traffic they carried ON. He
remembered hundr, horrid tales Of
violence. and his heart quailcd within
him.
They led him onward until the sound
of the sea broke on his cars. and soon
he was hcing led ~ wild and danger
ous path down to the little yellow
beach. His captors dealt none too gen
tly with him when they came to cross
the space of tumhlod powders at the
foot of the cliff. and when they had
gained the beach they led him To where
tall. wooden post had been fixed in
an upright position in the sand. One of
the men advanced and kicked it II
quivered but otherwise was firm being
deeply sunk and having big stones
buried about its base And John Coffin
would have cried aloud foi mercy had
he been able
For he realized what they were going
to do with him. They raised him and
bound him against the wooden post.
and he looked desperately ont to sea
gagged. 50 that he still could not speak
nd x.-nnAarn1 h.vt- lu,,.r xx.ntrl1 ha
before the advancing tide would reach
him. The men moved about in silence.
testing all the knots with tremendous
vigilance before they moved away in
band and vanished in the blackness of
the cliffs shadow And John Coffin
was left alone to watch the slow. re-
lentless advance of doom.
There was no moon. The clear star
light quivered in lines of silver on the
dark plain of the sea. He could distin
guish through the gloom the glimmer
of the breakers There was n heavy
ground swell ON. and he knew that.
even if he had been able to shout even
if any human heing had chanced to ap-
proach this lonely region Of the coast
after the f;,il of darkness. IT would still
be in vain To hope for rescue. since his
voice would not be heard above the din
of the tide.
He did rot lack ccurage-as indeed
he had proved beyond dispute by the
conduct which had brought him into
his present predicament. for to- inter
! fere seriously with the smuggling was
To take up arms against II united coun-
tryside-even, he had sometimes dimly
suspected. against the local magnates
who should have been glad To cooper
ate with him III the work And in that
work he had never been afraid. He
knew that he rislsed his life but he
went armed. and the risk would never
have troubled him had he been free
man and AT liberty to fight for his life.
He would almost have enjoyed the ex-
citemcnt. But to be bound to a post on
| a lonely beach and to wait in the dark
ness for death. whose laundering foot
steps already deafened him. was an or
deal beyond what a man is made to
bear. A cold fear froZe his heart. They
might have taken away the ga;: and he
would still have lacked the power of
speech
He realized that this vengeance of the
| smugglers was not so much return
| fer his interferences with their actual
| trade as for the few words he had
spoken with Maggie Opie. and he knew
that her treachery had betrayed him.
And he had stopped to talk with Mag
| gle. in the first place. not because he
knew that she possessed valuable infor-
nation. but merely because he had seen
no girl in all his life who was half so
pretty. no girl whom he would more
unwillingly have vexed. And he had
endeavored to learn the secrets with
which she was acquainted involuntarily
and out of habit.
He had been ten minutes alone.
though the time had seemed longer than
the longest night to the man wiio Is
tired and cannot sleep. Suddenly he
heard footsteps close at hand.
The men had returned. They had
gained the top of the path. and then. a
mode of deepening the horror "f his
situation occurring to them. thcY had
returned They did not speak Il word.
| One of them took big red handler
chief from his pocket. folded it and
bound it tightly over Collins eyes.
| Then they once more left him alone.
The thunder of the sea grew louder
an, more near The very minutes
seemed ingerminab.e and so filled with
in: :olerable fear that he constantly fan
cicd he must lose his reason immediate
ly. And suddenly shock of terror
threw the blood lack upon his heart
4 wave had broken close mt hand. The
rold water had reac he'd his feet.
He waited for thu ncxt-waited. as
il seemed To him. for many minutes
Possibly, he thought the wave which
had reached his feet had been one of
those tremendous ninth waves with
which the sea kills men. when. with
the other eight. it has played with them
as cat plays with wretched mouse