The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-03-22

glrl could have nothing on earth to keep
her mt this hour And slowly there
dawned upon him Il dreadful doubt
Could 1t be that she had fooled him
ana was not coming ut all? He put the
thought from him. but only for II time
In the end he swore yehcmcntly and
would have turned away had not Il runr
or laughter suddenly arrested him Be
fore he could recover from his surprise
he was struggling in the midst of half
dozen men and Il moment later they
had overpowerod and bound him. put
tins, Il sag between his teeth
All this time they had not spoken Il
word. and it WAS still in utter silence
that he was compelled to march. Il man
at either arm. i'll the direction of the
cove Coffin did not doubt that he had
fallen into the hands of smugglcrs re-
solved TO revenge on him the recent in
juries to the traffic they carried OH lie
remembered hundred horrid tales OF
violence. and his heart Nuailed within
him
They led him onward until the sound
of the sea broke OH his ears. and soon
he was being led by n wild and danger
Gus path down to the little yellow
beach. His captors dealt none too gen
tly with him when they came to cross
the space of tumbled powders mt the
foot of the cliff. and when they had
gained the beach they led him to where
u tall. wooden post had been fixed in
an upright position in the sand One of
the men advanced and kicked it, 1t
Qulvcred. but otherwise was firm being
deeply sunk and having big stones
buried about its base And John Coffin
would have cried aloud for mercy had
| he been able
For lie realized what they were going
to do with him They raised him and
bound him against the wooden post.
and he looked desperately out to sea-
gagged. SO that he still could not speak
and wondered how long it would be
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 q
band and vanished in the blackncss of
the cliffs shadow. And John Coffin
was left alone TO watch the slow. re-
| lentlcSs advance of DOOM
There was no moon. The clear stnr-
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 heavy
| ground swell on. and lie knew that.
even if he had been able to shout, even
If any human being had chanced to ap-
proach this lonely region of the coast
after the fall of darkness. it would still
be i'll vain to hope for rescue, since his
voice would not be heard above the din
Of the tide
He did not 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 Il united coun-
| tryside-eyen. he had sometimes dimlv
suspected, against the local magnatcs
who should have been glad to cooper
! ate with him in the work And in that
work he had never been afraid He
knew that he risked 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-
citement. But to be bound to post on
a lonely beach and to wait in the dark
ness for death, whose laundering foot
| steps already deafened Linn, was an or
deal beyond what n man is made to
bear A cold fear froze his heart. They
might have taken away the gag. 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 trcachery had betrayed him
! And he had stopped to talk with Mag
| gle. Ill the first place. not because he
knew that she possessed valuable infor-
nation. but merely because hc had seen
no girl in all his life who was half SO
| pretty, no girl whom he would more
/ unwlliingly have vcHed And lie had
! endeavOred to learn the secrets with
which she was acquainted involuntarily
J and out Of habit
/ He had been ten minutes alone
though the time had seemed longer than
; the longest mighty to the man who is
tired and cannot sleep. Suddenly he
| heard footsteps close at hand.
The men had returned They had
mode of deepening the horror Of his
situation occurring to them, they had
returned. They did not speak word
One Of them took a big red handller-
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
and more near. The very minutes
| seemed interminable and so filled with
intolerable fear that he constantly fan
| cied he must lose his reason Immediate
ly. And suddenly shock of terror
threw the blood back upon his heart
A wave had broken close at hand The
| cold water had reached his feet
| He waited for the ncxt-waitcd, as
1t seemed to him. for many minutes.
Possibly. he thought the wave which