The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-01-02
AGiveaway
By WALTER c. RADCLIFFE

While making u tour In Spain I stop.
ped one evening ut u little hostelry In
the province Ut ('OrdOva. 1t wax quite
dark before ! ate my supper. and the
table was dimly lighted by n couple Of
candles Rut behind me- WAS IN open
door through which streamed 4 bright
light from u kerosene lamp hanging in
the hall. During the evening I xat at
the supper table reading. being alone.
with no one to talk to. I spent the time
book and pushed back my chair pre-
paratory to going to my and to
he'd.
Just az ! did no I saw on the white
wall before me a shadow of a figure.
The head and shoulders only were de-
tell whether the person behind me was
man or O"a I sat looking ut 1t be-
fore turning to see who 1t was. for 1t
was immOvabIe. and ! fancied that II
was watrhing me. One thing about 1t
arrested my attention The shadow Of
Tue utdu va ~ SuulvI az J." WV IAINC
me that either the face or the back was
turned directly toward me. That which
I noticed ps,'e tally was that while n
ear east a shadow the other did not. |
was sI,eculnting how this could he
when I saw the shadow Of an arm
slowly raised. In the hand was some
thing. either club or knife.
did not stop to consider whether l
was about to make myself ridiculous: I
instinctively ducked under the table.
There | remained a few minutes and.
herring no sound. peeped from under
the cloth. Seeing no e l slowly
crawled out. keeping an EYE open for
any one who might he laying for me
GrduaIly strengthening mp. ] stood and
looked about me. The shadow had
Disappeared: | was alone. Looking
downward. l saw something red on my
trousers. | put my hand on it. 1t was
wet: there was q slit In the cloth. l
pulled up my trousers and saw that
the calf of my leg had been slit by
some sharp instrument. The wound
was still bleeding.
had a problem to decide. and quick
ly. Some one had intended to muir
der me. doubtless with q view to ap-
propriating my effects. but the attempt
had been foiled by my quick duck.
was still in danger. What should ! do?
Go out into the darkness or remain
where l was? l decided that my best
chance was to pretend to be undis-
turbed till l could get at my revolver.
which was in my roOm.
Landlord" ! called. "A light. l
am going tn bed"
Isl. senor." and he brought me a
candle.
II fell asleep over my book and
dreamed that some one was going to
murder me. | ducked under the ia
BILE. Wasn't it ridiculous?"
"RidicuIous! Yes. certainly"
"Well. good night"
MY first act on reaching my room
was to lock the door. the second to ex-
anime my wound. 1t was some two
inches long and about a quarter Of an
inch deep.
After deliberation | concluded to re-
main where | was till morning. Quite
possibly the would be murderer was
that he had cut me. and the
landlord might have been deceived by
my story Of a dream. kept awake
all night. with my revolver cooked in
my hand. In the morning | mussed
the bedclothing. and after making such
sounds as one would make in dressing
! softly opened my door and looked
carefully out into the hall. Seeing no
enemy. l went downstairs. R~eassured
at the ordinary appearance of those
getting breakfast. determined to
keep up my stimulation. and. taking a
seat at the breakfast table with my
back to the wall. where ! had e e the
shadow. ! deliberately partook OF the
meal. then went out. paid my bill and
departed.
II the persons in that house had
known what was in my mind-tn other
words, If had not deceived them-l
would never have been permitted to
DEPART. I went to the city Of Cordova
and straight to a police station. where
I told my experience to an officer. He
was much interested In my story and
when I had finished said:
There are bandits in the mountains
near where you were Judged. and we
have for some time suspected that the
landlord Of the inn ia in league with
them. Persons have been missed.
traced to that place. after which moth
ing has been learned concerning them.
We will now set q trap for them"
remained in Cordova several weeks
awaiting the results Of the trapping.
One day the landlord and half \ dozen
Ill favored men who had been caught
red handed were marched into the
town to the police station. Went
there and looked them over. The chief
police officer inspected them and. 60
ing tn one villsinous looking man
whose hair fell over his earS. pulled II
aside and exposed a place where IN
ear should he. hat II was not there.
"Hah-JOee Madrillo: SO you have