Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1919-01-10
The Light in the Clearing
CONTINUED from Page Two)

suppose that this little history would
never have been written. Quickly !
hurled the stone at the robber. l re-
member 1t was smallish stone about
the size of hens egg. saw 1t Craze
the side Of his head. I saw his hand
touch the place which the stone had
grazed. He reeled and nearly fell and
recovered himself and ran on, but the
little stone had put the mark of Cain
upon him.
The stranger lay still in the road.
lifted his head and dropped it quick
ly with a strange sickness. The feel
Of 1t and the way it fell back upon the
ground when let go scared me, for l
knew that he was dead. The dust
around him was wet ran down the
hill few steps >and stopped and
whistled to my FLY. could hear her
answering whinny far down the dusty
road and then her hoofs as she gal
lOped toward me. She came within a
few feet Of me and stood snOrtlng.
caught and mounted her and rode to
the nearest house for help. On the
way l saw why she had stopped A
number of horses were feeding on the
roadside near the log house where An
drew Champion lived. Andrew had
just unloaded some hay and was back
ing out of his barn. / hitched my
filly and jumped on the rack saying:
"Drive up the road as quick as you
can. A man has been murdered"
What fearful word 1t was that
had spoken! What panic it made In
the little dooryard! The man gasped
and jerked the reins and shouted to
his horses and began swearing. The
woman uttered little scream and the
children ran crying to her side.
The physical facts which are further
related to this tragedy are of little
moment to me now. The stranger was
dead and we took his body to our home
and my uncle set out for the constable.
Over and over again that night I told
the story of the shooting. We went to
the scene Of the tragedy with lanterns
and fenced it off and put some men
on guard there.
In the morning they found the rob-
ber's footprints in the damp dirt of
the road and measured them. The
whole countryside was afire with ex-
citement and searching the woods and
fields for the highwayman.
The stranger was buried. There was
nothing upon him to indicate his name
or residence. Weeks passed with no
news of the man who had slain him.
had told of the gun with piece Of
wood broken out Of it's stock, but no
one knew of any such weapon in or
near Lickitysplit.
One day Uncle Peabody and 1 drove
up to Grimshaw's to make a payment
Of money. l remember it was gold
and silver which we carried in little
sack. / asked where Amos was and
Mrs. GrimShaw-a timid, tired-lOOking,
bony little woman who was never seen
outside of her own hOuse-Said that |
he was working out on the farm of a
Mr.. Beekman near Plattsburg. He had |
gone over on the stage late in June |
to hire out for the haying observed
that my uncle looked very thoughtful
as we rode back home and had little
to say.
"You never had any idee who that
rObber was, did YEP" he asked by and
by.
"No-I could not see plain-it was
30 dusk" said.
The swift words, "Your money or
your life" came out of my memory
and rang in it. felt its likeness to
the scolding demands of Mr.. Grim
shaw, who was forever saying in eff.
feet:
"Your money or your home"
That was like demanding our lives,
because we couldn't live without our
home. Our all was in 1t. Mr.. Grim
'haw's gun was the power he had over
Is, and what a terrible weapon 1t
vas! 1 credit him with never realiz-
ng how terrible.
We came to the sandhills and then
Uncle Peabody broke the silence by
laying:
~ wouldn't give fifty cents for as
much o. this land as a bird could fly
around in a day"
Then for a long time I heard only
he sound of feet and wheels muffled
n the sand, while my uncle sat look
ng thOughtfully at the siding. When
spoke to him he seemed not to hear
ne.
Before we reached home 1 knew
what was in his mind, but neither
Jared speak of it.
People came from Canton and all
he neighboring villages to see and talk
With me, and among them were the