Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-04-06

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1t from view.
Wedrell led the way to the vineyard.
There were six long arbors loaded
with trailing vines and luscious blue
black grapes. Beneath these arbors,
where a wilderness Of foliage hemmed
them in, it was blacker than the night
itself.
Barry was giving vent to his salts
faction with handful Of choice Ca
tawbas when it seemed that the arbor
became suddenly alive. No sound, no
cry; but figures, lurking. farther back
in the gloom, now closed in on the two
cadets. A furious struggle followed.
Wedrell and Barry struck out left and
right in the darkness, but five against
two proved irresistible odds.
During that wild scrimmage Wedrell
had been trying to figure out the af-
fair; this attack had been so sudden
and so unexpected that for the mo-
ment he was nonplussed. The methods
employed by these assailants were not
these generally popular with tramps,
and yet Wedrell could think of no one
else who might attempt this miserable
piece Of cowardice.
One thing struck him as particularly
SuSpiciOus-no word had been spoken
Sc far. The party preserved a perfect
silence, even when both he and his
companion were led, bound and
wriggling, down past the end Of the
vineyard to the deserted house.
Barry was indulging in a choice Sc
lection Of expletives and Wedrell could
hear him roundly scoring his captors,
but an outcry in this spot could not
avail to any visible extent.
Evidently the gang had some we'll
defined object in view, for it headed
in the direction of the broken doorway.
During all this time Wedrell had at
tempted to see enough of those about
him to distinguish their clothing or
features, but the darkness thwartea
him. Even when they were led down
to the last room-the kitchen-at the
back Of the old house, and a candle
lighted, the captors were clever enough
to tie heavy cloths over the eyes of the
two boys thus cutting off any loophoIe
Of escape or discovery.
Wedrell saw the dull glow of the
candle somewhere in the room; he
heard shutting feet within reach OF
his twitching legs as some one tried
malicicusly to pinch him.
"Ouch!" bawled an agonized voice.
Wedrell had kicked out with one
well-shod foot and caught the sneak
squarely in the stomach, doubling him
UP like jack-knife. At the same mo-
ment Wedrell exerted every whit of
strength in his back and shoulders; the
poorly tied cords snapped and in an
other minute he was free. the bandage
whipped from his burning eyes.
Fletcher! Nokes Daulton! Vloss!
Noddyp' he shouted, the last-named,
his spectacles awry on his nose, lay
wriggling and moaning on the floor
from the kick so lately administered.
Barry, still bound and blindfolded,
stood against the wall directly oppo-
site.
1t did not take Wedrell the flash Of
all eye to determine his course. While
the other boys were smarting under
their surprise, Wedrels knife, saving
upon the cord chat held Barry a pris-
oner, freed him before they recovered.
"Now, then, little Of their own
medicine, Barry" he roared, darling
out into the middle Of the floor. His
sweeping glance Of the kitchen took in
every detail, the tallow dip burning on
a window ledge, the one broken chair,
the long door that led down to cellar,
wide open at the other end Of the
apartment.
Barry was not sleepyhead; cadets
who knew anything about him at all
knew that he could throw the hammer
farther than any boy in the college,
except, perhaps, Wedrell himself, and
it was no child's play to face those
battering-ram arms.
Poor Noddy had not managed to
clear the floor; there were four against
two.
FLETCHER muttered Wedrel' in that
intensely exciting moment before the
two clashed I'm about to give you
good thrash ng if it's in me; think
you deserve t."
That WORTHY may or may not have
deserved it, b. the thrashing did come
and the big billy went in heap to the
floor, with one bruised eye that would
certainly be decorated with black on
the following day. Wedrells first hard
blow from the shoulder had caught
him in the right place.
Barry in the meanwhile had done
just what Wedrell could have wished
attacked one of the other boys, but
another came at him pellmell. In the
mad melee, which took all three to the
end of tie room before they knew it,
Barry pushed both forward and down
ward His adversaries lost their bal
ance and were tumbled feet first down
the open cellar doorway.
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