The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-12-29


trouble. II amt a-goin' Z be no Sun
day school. Eff they can, they re a
goin' L TEX us dead er live. IF they
ever TUX us we would MT be wuth
shucks, nuther on us, efter court-mar-
tial."
81 shall not permit you to CO." said
the baroness. "They may be here now,
about the house in the dark. They
would shoot you, they would stab you,
they would cause you to die as you
went No, l shall permit you not TO
go. There are four of them? Very
we'll; we shall fight here, we shall con-
quer We have a general, count, mil
liCnaire, a marquis, lawyer, an astron-
omer, a scout and" she added, pat
ting me on the shoulder, "le brave
capitaine! l have four guns and three
pistols, and M'sieur Bell has arms also.
We shall conquer. We shall make
them bite the dust"
Gums, did We say? Jerushy janet
Le' s hev EN-" said D'ri.
What did he call me? Mon Dieu!
Jerushy Jane! 1t is not |, said the
baroness.
Again l explained the difficulty.
"Ain't very proper-spoke," said D'ri,
apclogetically. Jest wan t. say ct
them air guns er likely t come handy
here most any minute. Give us guns,
n we II sock it to EN-"
1--WE shall sock it to them, we shall
indeed" said she, hurrying out of the
room. 1--WE shall make them to run
for their lives"
They were all in the dining room
the men of the party-save the gen
eral. W no could not be awakened. Guns
and pistols were loaded. | made
novel plan of defense that was unani-
mously approved. l posted a watch
a. every window A little after dawn
the baroness, from behind a curtain,
saw a squad of horsemen coming
through the grove.
lei! they have comet" said she, in
a loud whisper. There are not four;
there are many
| took my detail of six men above
stairs. Each had a strip of lumber we
had found in the shop, and each care
fully raised window, waiting the sig
nal. ! knew my peril, but was never
so cool in my life. If had been wiser,
possibly | should have felt it the more.
The horsemen promptly deployed,
covering every side of the mansion.
They stood close, mounted, pistol and
saber ready Suddenly l gave the sig
nal. Then each of us thrust out the
strip of lumber stealthily, prodding the
big drab cones on every side. Hornets
and wasps, great swarm of them,
sprang thick as seeds from the hand
of a sower 1t was my part to unhouse
a colony of the long, white-faced hor-
nets. Goaded by the ruin of their
nests, they saw the nodding heads be-
low them, and darted at man and
horse like a flight of arrows. They
Tut their hot spurs into flank and face
and neck. | saw them strike and fall;
they do hit hard, those big-winged
Vespae. 1t was terrible, the swift
charge of that winged battalion of the
air. | heard bowls of pain below me,
and the thunder of rushing feet. The
horses were rearing and plunging, the
men striking with their hats.
| heard D'ri shouting and laughing
at his window.
Give EN- hell, We little blue
devils!" he yelled; and there was all
evidence that they understood him.
Then, again, every man of us opened
his window and fired a volley at the
scurrying mass.
One horse, rearing and leaping on his
hind legs, came down across the back
of another, and the two fell heavily in
a rolling, convulsive heap. One, as if
blinded, bumped a tree, going over on
his withers, all tours flashing in the
air. Some tore off in the thickets,
as unmanageable as the wild horse.
More than half threw their riders
Not a man of them pulled a trigger;
they were busy enough, God knows.
Not one of them could have hit the sky
with any certainty. l never saw such
a torrent of horsehair and red caps.
"Whut! Been on the back O. one o.
'em hosses?" said D'ri, telling of it
long time after d ruther o. been
shet up n a barrel with lot o. cats
n rolled down hill. Good deal better
fer my health, an d "a luked more
like a human bein' when l come out.
Them fellers-they did mt LUX fit {
'sociate with nuthin' er nobody when
we led 'em up { the house-nut one
on EN-"
Only one Britisher was brought down
by our bullets, and he had been the
mark of D'ri; with him a rifle was
never a plaything. Five others lay
writing in the grass, bereft of horse,
deserted by their comrades. The
smudges were ready, and the nets.
D'ri and l put on the latter and ran
out, placing a smudge row on every
side of the Hermitage. The winged
fighters were quickly driven away. OF
the helpless enemy one had staggered
off in the brush; the others lay groan-
ing, their faces lumpy and one-sided.
A big sergeant had a nose of the look
and diameter of a goose-egg; one car
ried cheek as large and protuberant
as the jowl of a porker's head; and one
: had ears that stuck out like a pulled