Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-11-14
BY JOHN FINNIMoRE.

saw for the first time that nau
brought the boots / had left behind IN
my flight. 1 thanked her and X her
TO leave them where she stood. / had
no iced Of them in the loft. and II
would be quieter work to scramble up
and down, IL need be, without them.
She went away, and / sat down at the
edge of the trap, my feet dangling, my
eyes fixed on the stair corner where
danger must first show Itself, n my
thoughts busy on the situation. AFTER
a while I remembered my empty pistol.
A bag of large swan shot stood close
at hand, and l loaded 1t from that:
Then I swung myself over the side or
the opening and dropped lightly to the
foor below. ; 1 advanced stealthily 10
the head Of the stairs and peered down.
The house lay as silent in the gathering
dusk as II / were the only living soul
in ii.
The silence was portentious, and in
splred me with caution not confidence.
1 slipped back and gently lifted the lad
der into place, that my way or retreat
might be clear, then returned TO the
stair head. It grew darker n darker,
and | ventured q few steps down 10 u
point where I could catch a glimpse Oh
the hall. No sign Of light. or sound, or
movement. / felt certain there was q
trap laid for me II / went further, so L
returned. My foot touched something
as / crept up again. ! put my hand
down and found hat n carbine had
been flung away on the stairs by one Oh
the fleeing band.
/ picked 1t up and carried 1t back with
me. Upon trial / found 1t was loaded,
and I propped IL handy against the
stair rail md resume my watch.
The night had now fallen as dark as
IL would be, yet of black darkness there
was none: for the sky was frosty clear
and filled with twinkling stars burning
their brightest, and sending through
the narrow easements a faint, gray
simmer. My eyes, too, were thorough
ly at home In the pale light, for 1 had
known no other since the night fell;
and when a silent, creeping figure came
slowly up the stairs from the hail., l
saw 1t. Another and another followed,
until a cluster OF five men stood In the
gallery.
1t is very likely that they had come
from a lighted room In a part of the
house out of my sight. and so believed
themselves surrounded by an impen-
etrable darkness. The while they gath
cred, q distant sound came to my ears.
II was a long, shrill, faint scream, ac-
companied by n hollow rapping. There
was a note Of warning In the sounds.
Luckily, l had no need OF it, for my
eye was fixed upon the group below.
Ny assailants stood several moments
cropping among one another, to be sure
that they had gathered together, n l
think that the silence and the gloom
fingered at their hearts even more
surely than they identified each other
by sense of touch.
1 had laid my hand on the carbine,
thinking to follow the shot with pistol
and sword, but l drew back. The five
slipped noiselessly forward and / saw
that the leader bore some long object.
/ made two bounds up the ladder to
the loft, took a double handf of swan
shot and returned. They were half way
up to me when / got back, but moving
very slowly and cautiously. Primed, as
I found out afterward, by promises and
drink, they had started out gaily
enough, and now the darkness and the
strain Of their secret advance were tell
ing. One Of them breathed out a long,
%quavering sigh, and two or three others
caught their breath in sympathy. /
leaned forward and tossed the two
handfuls Of shot plump upon the black
patch crawling up. An attack was
never more simply and surely repulsed.
The rain Of tinkling, patterlng, rolling
shot fetched out an instant cry, sharp,
short shrieks Of nervous terror.
A heavy body was dropped upon the
stairs and the five men bounded down
screaming as they ran. / had felt per-
fcctly certain that their quiVering
nerves needed but a prick to jar every
man out of tune, for 1 had learned to
know them n little, and l laughed aloud
as they ran. At once, as If a signal had
been given, the policy of silence was
thrown up. Lights dashed and voices
sounded in the hall below, threats
couched in very shaky English were
hurled up at me aud shots fired, the
bullets burying themselves harmlessly
In wall or ceiling. on the last flight OF
steps lay q light ladder, 1t a beer
carried by the leader Of the stormine
| party, to spare them lifting into place
as they expected, the clumsy n | had
flung down, and had been thrown aside
In the flight.
AS for me, / waited c~ontentedly in my
fortress, feeling perfectly certain tina
the coming night was to see some
strange things, and only longing to get
some glimpse of my dear mistress and
be sure that she was safe amid this
turmoil. Within five minutes this wish
was gratiied. / saw her sweep swift
~ into sight, turn along the gallery
and disappear. She went m the direc-
ton Of Owain's room, and l knew that
she was going to watch by him. She
| bore herself with a proud lift of the
| head, an air Of wounded dignity which
set my nostriIs quiverlng with the idea
that some one had offended her or Of
fered her insult.
She was, after an interval, followed
by Siani, and the latter was undis
| guisedly in a rage. shaking her fist anC
spluttering g%utturals which und
like threats at some one below.