The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-03-22

of the fire was bnt faint light left in
the room
The sleeping man and the sleeping
girl were tired, very tired, and they
slept soundly If they had dreams, they
| were pleasant ones, and no thought of
danger entered into them The men
around the campfire had moved away
to the other side of the world and the
little cabin was peaceful for them, in
side and outside Sleeping thus, they
did not sec the men rise from the camp
fire and approach the hut, now yelled
i'll darkness which made such move
ment safe They reached the cabin
without alarm or sign from the
watcher who was not watching, and at
last the leader tried the shutter of the
window. He pried at it with his knife
aLd moved it little. Then he put his
ear to the crack and could hear nothing
within. Replacing his ear with his eye,
he could see the feeble glimner of the
fire and nothing more He was sure that
those whom he wished to take were
asleep, and he exulted, for fierce anger
mingled with his other desires to recap
ture both He pried again at the win
| dow, and with greater leverage it yield
ed further, ard wood scraped against
wood He stopped and listened again,
but the inmates of the cabin never
stirred
Putting his ear to the wide crack
that now lnUervened between the shut.
ter and the wall, he listened again and
heard the steady, regular breathing of
sonic one inside and below. He knew it
was the breathing of a sleeping man,
too loud and strong for woman, too
even for one awake, and he reached up
and pulled the shutter wide open Oh its
rude leather hinges Then he grasped
the edge of the window with both hands
and pulled himself up.
My sleep grew troubled at last and
then turned into a nightmare. Some
huge wild beast, after the fashion of
beasts Ill Nightmares, was sitting on my
chest and blowing his breath in my
face, while I had no power to move
muscle. was cold to the marrow and
waited for him to devour me, but in
stead he dwindled away and became
misty. With one great effort l threw
him off my chest and sprang to my feet.
My head struck against somebody else's
head as sprang up, and that somebody
else swore an oath that had the SAVIOR
neither OF nightmare nor dream, but
of reality
Cold air and moonlight rushed in at
the window, but most of the passage
was filed up by the shoulders and head
OF large man whose face could not
see owing to the imperfect light. He
held i'll his hand pistol which he fired
at me, but now the imperfect light was
to my advantage and not his, for his
bullet, avoiding me, buried itself with
chuck in the log walls, and the re-
port confined in the small room roared
like a cannon shot.
Moved more by impulse and instinct
than by thought, snatched out my
own pistol and fired at the head in the
window. The man uttered deep sigh;
the body dropped forward and swayed
there; heard the light drip drip of
something on the floor, and then the
body fell inside the room.
The girl, suddenly awakened by the
terrible sounds and half in maze, cried
out in fright and then began to ask in
a high, trembling voice what had hap
pened.
"The British have attacked us"
said Zone of them was in the shadow,
and threw him back. Stand out of the
range of the window % l did not want
her to see the thing lying on the floor
under the window. and showed the ta-
BILE in front of it.
She obeyed, for spoke the. last sen.
tence very sharply. The window was
wide open, and expecting to see another
face there l held my second pistol
ready. but none appeared, and l had
no doubt that they feared Crowder was
dead
Taking the risk, reached out an
arm, seized the shutter and slammed it
shut, securing it as best l could'wi
the leather strap and nail used as
fastening Then, with my ear near the
crevice, listened, but could not hear
our enemies. feared at first to look out
lest | should receive bullet, but still
hearing nothing applied my eye and
saw that the men had gone back to
their fire. They were all there-four.
counted them and knew that none was
missing. They were deliberating evil
IDENTIFY over the fall of their leader and
what next to do, and took an immedi-
ate resolution.
Light the candle" said to the
girl. Hold it to the fire. There's
enough heat left to start the wick to
burning"
She did SO and saw that something
lay behind the table.
"What is that?" she cried.
THE dancer and singer of last night, :"
| replied, seeing that i would have to
tell. 1.-The leader of those desperadoes
outside came into our fort, but he came
into his grave"
She retreated, shuddering, to the
farthest corner of the room
Nov. you do exactly as say"
continued. Remember that you are the
rank and file of this army, and am it's
commander.
II will obey you," she said.
quickly reloaded my pistol.
Then ! showed the table away again
and, overcoming my repulsion. dragged
the dead body to sitting position. A
chill struck into my marrow. but l
dragged off the red British coat and, hav-
ing thrown off my own, put it on. Then
/ gathered up the wallet of food and Old
D1nft hr,l 10 4 Doc ~ l.,