The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-11-06
!: Tanners H..
Daughter
-. By JOHN Y. :.ARN@

at a farmhouse at noontime and ex:
| changed some kitchen utensils for 4
dinner. The farmers wife did the
cooking. and, his daughter waited on
the table. Another stranger besides
myself partook Of the meaI-a short.
thiekaet man within br1shy beard r.
!. W.. peddlars arc. usually gifted with
a good. deal Of talk, which We, find, es-
sential In selling our goods. l ratified
| on at the farmer, and, be, appearing to
bA taciturn, i let. hy at the stra niger.
who sat opposite me, asking whers he
| had come from, where he was going.
| what, business he followed and other
questions usually attributed to the curl
GUS New Englanders. But this idiosyn-
Grassy was assumed. l having been born
and bred In Maryland. The truth is
! began by asking him which way he
was going, thinking that II his direc-
ton and mine were the same I would
give him a lift for company's sake. He
seemed to I've averse to telling me
Of his movements. and ] noticed that
his %reluctanre interested the farmers
daughter. who at the time was stand
ing behind him. On her account l pur-
SIZED my questions till the man abrupt
~ arose and Iet, the table. A few
minutes after this. looking through a
window. ] SAW him riding on horse
back the same way | intended to e.
I!",iE" finished ny dinner and turn
ed over in pa! MeI.t I" the farmers
wife Il ~washboard and Il dozen tin pie
plates, | get into NY wagon and drove
On About Il half hour after starting
l heard the sound of a horses hOOfS he
hind ME and. looking back. saw the
farmers daughter coming. She was
80 intent OH her own thoughts as she
passed me that b was not conscious
that l had dined at her home. Her gait
being faster than mine, |. jogging along
behind a pair OF horses drawing a
heavy load, was O0n left in her rear.
As l drove on l was thinking about
the mail bad questioned and the girls
interest in his answers. or want of
answers. and wondered If her coming
had anything to do with him. The
anxious look on her face both in the
farmhouse and on the road caused me
to think that he might be bent on
something she wished he wouldn't do.
saw nothing more Of either of them
during the afternoon. l stopped at
several houses. plying my trade, and
about dark, reaching a point where the
road passed within a hundred feet of
the ocean, l came upon a house in
which I thought I would ask for lodg-
ing during the night. But. unfortu-
nately. l found it closed. l was about
to drive on when it occurred to me
to see ii l could effect an entrance
to the barn. I pulled out a rusty sta
pie, thereby opening the barn door, and.
driving my team in, unhitched the
horses, fed them and went to the
house.
l had NO more %dificulty in getting
into the house than the barn.
l was awakened in the middle of
the night by a shot. l listened and
heard another and another. the sec
ond and third seeming to come from
directly above mi Then there was
another from the outside. Next
heard the sound of a pair Of heavy
boots, followed by a pair Of light ones.
rapidly descending a staircase from
the second floor and continuing down
into the cellar. Soon after this the
front door of the house was smashed
in, and several men rushed into the
room where l lay and flashed a bulls
eye on my face.
by thunder!' exclaimed one Of
them. IF it isn't that COMPOUNDED
Yankee peddler!'
! I recognized the voice of the man l
had questioned 80 closely at dinner
the previous day.
Are you one Of the gang?' he
asked.
What gangT =.
He told me that smuggling had been
going on at some point near where we
were. and they had located it in the
house we were in. I told him how ]
happened to be there, and he believed
m Then he explained to me that my
questions had annoyed him because
he wished to keep the object Of his
presence in the neighborhood a secret
Then it occurred to me that the farm
er's daughter was interested in the
smugglers, had suspected the mans er
rand and had ridden on to warn them
l hurriedly told him Of my having
heard footsteps going downstairs. and
the party rushed to the cellar expect
ing to find her quarry.
We found a lot of goods. but no liv'
ing person. Opening a door. we stood
in q tunnel which We followed and
came to a recess in the rocks On the
shore. Hearing the sound of ears, .
knew that the smugglers had escaped
l said nothing OF my suspicion Of the
farmers daughter. since I had no wish
to impiieate her. The next time
went her way l stopped and told bel
that J was In the house when the reve
n~ueaOffcers had attacked it. After
hal won her confidence she told
thatsthere was but one smuggler. hel
hrokArA oud ouuiru ~ INV Snu,,ivloo n,