The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-06-26
The Boy at
B~eechenbrook
By N. QUAD
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright. 1914. by Associated lit
erary Press.


In q London bookstore and sent by
it to Beechenbrook. a large house a
little outside Of Manchester. ! was
to arrange In the library a large lot
the day ! arrived the owners wife and
daughter started for Scotland On II Wis
it. while Mr.. Markham himself depart
ed for Paris to attend to certain busi-
ness.
He had departed so suddenly that
plate and all other valuabies we're left
In the house. though he hired a private
Waterman to look after the house ut
night. This man was named Haynes,
and almost ut once | learned that he
was Il drinking man and had made
up his mind to take things very easy.
Something had gone wrong with the
drainage. and the pipes had been I'M
covered ut the back Of the house. Re
pairs had been made. but the ditch was
not to be filled in until Mr. Markham
returned.
Things along all right for a
week. and il any of the servants feared
a visit from burglars nothing had been
said to me about It About half I,ast
10 one NIGHT | suddenly awuEe In q
great fright. could not rrmrn:irr
that | hasl dreamed Of anything. nor
could | SIy thu: my slee., had been
broken by "A noise. My room was dark.
and outside there was a monOtonous
pour of a September rain. | had to
taunt myself with being a coward be-
fore l dared to get up and light my
candle. and. though l had little
age to spare. ever when | found moth
ing wrong | determined to 20 down
stairs and have a word with the
Waterman. I laid my hand on the
door to find it locked. l had never
locked my door at night and had never
seen a key OF either side Of 1t. To find
that some one had locked me in while
I slept frightened me badly for a few
minutes. | had been given a maids
room. and there was a door leading
into another bedroom This second
bedroom was an inside room. and a
door led into a third. which cornered
on the hall. The hall door of this last
room was not locked.
l hitched myself down the stairs an
inch ut Il time. and then on hands and
knees / began creeping across the par
Tor. | had been in this room a dozen
times and knew the location Of the
various pieces Of furniture. | had an
idea that the Waterman used this room
as his headquarters. as q leather COW
cred lounge had been wheeled into it
from the library. AS ! crept across
the room | heard a snore from the di-
rectiOn Of this lounge. and. deviating
from my course. | made for it to find
the Waterman stretched out at full
length and fast asleep.
| decided to get out of the house and
arouse the gardener and get the police
from the station. two miles away I
crept back to the hall, across into the
drawing room, and at the far end Of
the big room l raised the window and
stepped to the ground. Once out I
made my way to the stables. but there
a surprise awaited me. l found q
horse hitched to a car and the gar
dener and head groom standing be-
side the vehicle. The plumber was to
be carried of in that cart. and three
menservants were In league with the
robbers. 1t came to me like a fash
and in time to save myself. and ] drew
back and wondered what | should do.
l was all for preventing the robbery.
and pretty soon ! sknlked back to the
open window.
When | had re-entered the house and
crept back to the door leading into the
dining room the fellows were work.
ing Mt the plate room door with iron
bars. Five minutes later they had It
open. and then the groom passed out
piece after piece. while the robbers
deposited them in their sacks,
had been watching everything IN q
helpless way. having no plan and no
hope. and it was only when the men
.shouldered the sacks to carry them out
that | made a move. determined to
try the effect Of Il care. and as the
last of them stepped outdoors ! fred
my pistol into the sack on his back
and shouted ut the top OF my voice.
All three men started to RUIZ Tho
groom. threw down his sack. but tho
robbers chung to theirs. They all knew
about the ditch. but in the darkness
and confusion they made right for it
and tumbled in. One after the other.
As they went in | fred two shots In
the direction Of the stables. Both cut
the two men there so close that they
took t. their heels. and thus with
three shots and four yells l had scared
of the whole gang. | had even done
better. In falling into the ditch the
three fellows were badly knocked
about. and when it came to climbing
out they couldn't do it, especially as |
was there with my pistol in hand and
threatened to shoot the first man who
showed his head.
The row awakened the women. and
when they came to know what had
happened they took the horse and cart
md yer for the police. while ! con-
tinued to stand guard. In an hour we