Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-03-27

stances or his apprehension had Deen
so engrossing that no one had given
thought to Jonas, or to any other
part of the house. for that matter,
and he had been able to see every.
thing through the hangngs He was
a qulcl1-witted old negro. and he knew,
OF course, that there would be but one
verdict given by such a 2ourt-martial
rs had assembled. Now, the men
who composed the court would Of ne
cessity be detailed to carry out their
own sentence. The long room was
I filled with stacks of guns. Every sol.
der, even those under the command
of Corporal Matson in Arrelsford's de-
partment, had gone to the court-mar.
tial There was nothing else Of In
terest to attract them in the house
Every gun was there in that room. UNI
, guarded
recent capture OF battalion Of
| Federal rif1emeu had put the Confed-
crates into possession of few hun
dred breech-loading weapons, not OF
the latest and most approved pattern
for the cartridges In these guns were
]
than any the south possessed. These
rifles had been distributed to some OF
the companies in garrison at Rich
mond, and It so happened that the
men of the secret service squad and
! the provost guard had received most
of them. Every gun in the stacks was
OF this pattern.
! In his earlier days, Jonas had been
his young masters personal attend
ant his body-servant, and as such he
had often gone hunting with him.
During the war he had frequently Wis
tied him In camp. charged with mes
cages Of one sort or another, and he
knew all about weapons.
AS he stared into the long room
after the departing soldiers, he did
not know Edith Varney was still
there, nor could he gee her at all. for
she was on the other side Of the cur
tain. looking out of the window. and
Il seemed to him that tho room was
empty
Jonas was a very intelligent negro.
and while under any ordinary circum-
stances his devotion to his master and
mistress would have been absolutely
sure, yet he had become tinged with
the ideas OF freedom and liberty in
the air. He had assisted many and
many a Union prisoner. Captain
Thorne, by his pleasant ways and nice
address. had won his heart. And he
himself was deeply concerned person
ally that the young man should not be
punished for his attempt to bring
about the success OF the Union cause
which Jonas felt to be his own cause
Therefore he had q double motive to
secure the freedom of his principal
If 1t were IN any way possible.
AS he stared at the pyramids OF
guns, listening to the hum Of CONVEX
sation from the room across the hall
the door had been fortunately
closed--a thought came to him. He
pushed aside the portieres with which
he had concealed himself. and en-
tered the room by the back door.
He moved with cat-rke swiftness ir
the direction of the first stack OIL
rifles He knelt down by 1t, seized the
nearest gun. which lay across the 9th
er three, swiftly opened the breech
plug, drew out the cartridge. looked
at it a moment, put the end of it il
his mouth, and crunched his strong
white teeth down upon it. When he
finished, he had leaden bullet in hi:
mouth, and the cardboard shell in hi:
hand He replaced this latter In the
chamber and closed the breech-plug
A smile OF triumph irradiated his sa
BILE features. The gun could be
fired, but whatever or whoever stood
in front Of 1t would be unframed
He had not been quite sure thai
he could do this, but the result of his
| experiment convinced him. All the
, other guns were Of the same charac
ter, and, given the time, he could rem
= waste time in reflection, but started
In with the same process on the 9th
ers. He worked with furious haste
until every bullet had been bitten OF
every cartridge.
The noise of Jonas first entrance
had attracted the attention of Edit
= Varney. She had turned with the in
;, tention of going into the room, but
on second thought, she had concealed
y herself further behind the curtains
Between the wall and the edge Of thu
=. portieres was a little space. through
which she peered. She saw the who'll
y performance, and OWNED Instant,