Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1900-05-10

Wlndhill
J III did, occasionally" said the re.
tired burglar to New York sun re-.
porter, strike little wmdfall; never
many, but now aud then one, and
this was one Sf them"
ut was u pretty ordinary sort of
II house and didn't find blessed
thing down stairs In IL that was
worth anything to me and Won
dered II ! should find any more up
stairs, ! got up there in the course
Of time, TO look and see, and took a
look into the front chamber, This
room had two windows at the front;
the door from the hall WIS In one
side OF the room, pretty close 10 the
back. The bed stood about midway
between the back and the front Of
the room, with Us head up against
the wall opposite the wall the door
was in So thcl looking IN from
the door, the front OF the bed was
toward you, II was just u plain iron
bedstead, with brass trimmings,
Against the side wall thut\the head
Of the bed WINS against and between
the bed and the front wall of the
room stood the bureau.
IAN these things picked up grad
unlly rom the door, with the aid
OF my lamp, and another thing that
picked up In the same manner was
that the bed was occupied 10y man
and that he was somewhat en-
tra0rdinOry sort Of Il mnn--nol a
giant, but the next thing 10 IL, and
! should say mo- than n giant for
strength. When ! struck the room
he was lying fiat and square on his
back and stretched out as straight
ns q man could he and with His
heels together and toes straight up,
! should say he wore 10 shoes, at
least, and he filed the bed from end
TO end. He must have been over six
feet tall and he was built in every
way on the same scale with his feet,
big and brOwny big legs and big
body, broad shoulders aud deep
chest n big man, I'm no chicken
myself, but If This man had ever got
his arms around me he could have
squo2c me into = lip.
"And now he was lying there fiat
on his back and sound asleep and
breathing regular and true. lie
wasn't snoring, but breathing that
loud sort Of breathing that people
often fall into when they are asleep,
that Is really more like gentle sort
OF an exhaust, and he was agoing Il
slow and strong and steady. ! only
hoped he'd keep on that way till
got through looking the room over
and then ] sailed in, around the foot
Of the bed and up along the side OF
1t, between IL and the front of the
house, for the bureau and got there
without crcnk md Just as smooth
and easy as could be. And after ]
got there found the bureau just as
clear MS the rest of the house, and
I'd turned around and faced toward
the door again and was standing
there, still, TO shake myself together
and start right, in no hurry, but
under absolute full control, when
man stopped breathing, that is, he
shut of, the way people often do
when they are about TO wake up, or
turn over or take fresh start
sleeping What he was going to do
Of course, ! couldn't tell, but knew
] wouldn't have long to wait to find
out, and | stopped breathing myself
for q little while and the room was
about as still MS death.
"Then the man turned in bed
toward me, still in that state when
he was ms liable TO wake up as TO
go on sleeping--you couldn't tell
which he w0s going to do But he
didn't wake up. He'd been lying on
his back--he turned on his right
side and settled down again, making
considerable splashing around in do
ing II, throwing his left arm over so
that 1t hung out of bed, stretching
his head back and then opening up
again with his regular breathing.
He'd settled down to sleep again, all
right and his breathing was good
and full, but il was n little different
sounding from before and not quite
so deep and knew the weight of
that arm over the edge Of the bed
must wake him up before long. But
he was all right now and now was
the time for me TO 60 and was
bending forward to start when |
heard something drop, just the soft
est kind Of a little sound. | don't
know but what I felt instead of
hearing it, but something had
dropped, and in an instant | guessed
what il was. The man was still
breathing awoy steady and regular,
but true, and I turned my lamp down
on the floor under the ovcrhangng
hand, II wns what ! expected, but
better than | cXpcctcd-.a ring that
had slipped Of one of his fingers Of
the outstrctchcd hand and dropped
TO the floor. and II was sparklcr
that looked back AT the bulls eve
in my lamp with n good bright light
of its own.
81 had to stoop and reach under
his hand to get II, but that was
easy, and that ring was one of my
few windrnlls."