The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14

returning to his love. The moon struggled
from a wrac1 Of clouds and fell full upon
US both.
Harold, am here, 1t is l."
"Beat-icei Beloved! How has the news
reached your
We were in each others rms At that
moment / felt as though he had never been
away. After n few minutes | was able 10
speak again-to tell him the peril which
menaced him.
five of them. They have come to rob you
of your pearls
Pearls, What DO they know; what do
they know? Darling. l come back TO you a
rich man. Ny pearls | have sold for a
great sum: but the best l have here for my
lOve-my BRIDE L was coming with them
10 you, my darling. How did you know?
You must come another way. Harold.
They are lying in wait for you there l
win tell YOU all another time. Now you
must come with me. l will take you by the
field path home"
He set me on his horse; he walked beside
ne. He told me of the fever. which had
seized him in those Southern seas. and how.
whilst he lay sick and nigh 70 death the
typhC0n must have swept over the seas and
dashed his vessel to pieces. lie had been
picked up by South Sea Islanders, bound to
a floating mast. They had tended him ana
come to love him; had made him a sort OF
king. Ships seldom passed that way; but
he had lived in hope, and meantime had
discovered pearls in great numbers on the
~ C " lllaL IdAA a ga ~ o.
cred what he knew would mean a great
fortune should he ever come home again.
Il used TO dream always or you. darllng.
walking with me up and down those coral
strands. 1t was those dreams that helped
to make the time or weary waiting pass
and l always felt l should return 10 you.
God had not saved my life to mock me with
lifelong Punishment from her l loved. The
ship came at last-out OF her course-to
take in water. 1 came away with my
treasure. L reached London a few days
-. o,nI ,oo1n f0nafrx- for Won WHIST i
was negotiating the sale OF my pearls. L
found out where you were, and have come
as fast as the state of roads would let
me. And | find you here waiting Tor mt
and. my secret knowni What does 1t mean,
darling? Tell me your story
But / had no time TO tell il then. From
my vantage point on the back o. Ine
creeping toward us. / guessed instantly
what had happened. One man had peen
posted as a scout. and he, having ooseINeu
the travellers change OF route, mad given
notice TO his comrades. Even now we
were only two TO fve-and one a woman.
But i felt the blood leap up in my VEINS;
| whipped the pistol from my pocket anu
leveled the barrel in the moonlight, ana
L called aloud TO the nearest creeping FORM:
Come ten yards nearer, ana L Ire.
Harold stopped short in sudden dlsmay;
his own pistol was out in a moment We
had eight shots before reloadlng,, ana there
were only five men. L knew. They Would
there was no more skulking behind hedges.
Would they care for a nghl upon SUCH
terms?
They did. it seemed. Evidently they were
desperate characters, and the prize was
one worth some risk. The next moment
we saw them all rushing upon. US. dafol9
waited a few moments, and then empueu
both his barrels in rapid succession. one
man fell; another gave a yell of rage, Dut
continued bounding UPWARDS. Then l hred.
1 had never thought to turn my weapon
against a fellow-creature, and L tred 10
hit him in the leg. L did this, and he. too,
fell. Almost at the same moment Harold
disabled a third, but by that time the re-
naming two were upon us. They had tred
also, and L knew that the poor horse had
a bullet somewhere in him, by MS WIG
leap and snort of pain. Next moment Har-
old's right arm dropped helpless. l knew
that a bullet had found its billet there, and
in an access of rage and desperation L
pointed my weapon at the advancing giant,
and cried out:
One step more, and you are a dead
mani
Harold had shifted his second pistol to
his left hand and had it full upon the re-
naming man. Both paused. Their shots
had all been spent, and, as they were rum
ming as they fired, most of their balls had
gone wide of the mark, or our guardian
angels had detected their course-Who
knows? Our barrels cleaned cold and
threatening in the moonlight. Suddenly L
spoke again:
You are the men that plotted this rob
berry in Mr.. Thesiger's house last night.
You may wear masks now, but your faces
have been seen. You can be identified if
ever you dare show yourselves in this part
of the world againi"
These words seemed to brighten them
more than any threat to shoot. Instantly
the fellows turned tail and fled. They had
the grace to pause beside their comrades,
help them to their feet. and, half carrying,
half leading them. to beat "A rapid retreat
toward the Sheltering woods. But plainly
their one idea now was flight, and Harold
turned to me and said:
You have saved my life twice over to-
night, my brave darling, though you have
risked your own to do IT,
L had got my Harold back as from the
grave. What did anything else matter? Let
all besides go, l thought, in the joy of that
reunion. There came a day when the mis-
creants being taken, / was called upon to
identify them as the men | had seen in the
deserted tower room. This place, it seemed,
had long been a haunt for bad characters,
the secret way and the key of the door
being handed down and passed from hand
to hand for many generations. So that the
mystery of the haunted room was thus eX-
planned; but what of that other mystery,
of which Harold and / sometimes talk in
whisper-that dream-that call-that sud-
den certainty which possessed me that Har-
old was near, and that il was his life which
was threatened?
All, well, those are things which we must
leave, my dears. We need not pry too curl
ously into them; but we may be thankful
for these glimpses which are now and then
afforded US of that mysterious working of
Providence, which shows how the circle of
our lives is spanned and guarded, and that
we are protected in fashions of which we
little dream.
So, my dears. that is the story of how
L slept in a haunted room, and saw strange
sights there, and how on New Years eve
/ brought Harold home, to begin New Year
together, with no fear of future parting
clouding our spirits.
Copyright, 1904