Year: 1859

e On the third day after MS departur


from Vienna, horse dealer ahghted at a
, inn situated at the enlerance of little town


which to all appearance was respectabl
!, and quiet. He recommended his horse t.


the care of the landlord, dried bis cloths a
, the fire, and as soon as supper was ready
, sat down at the table with the host an(
his family, who appeared to be decent peo
pie. ~. 3


| During supper the traveller was asked
where he came from, and on answering
from Vienna they were all anxious to hea
some news from the capital. The horse
dealer told them all he knew.


j The landlady then asked him what bust
ness had taken him to Vienna, to which he
replied that he had been there to sell some
Of the very finest horses that had ever ap.
peared in that market there.


At these words the landlord looked very
significantly at the young man who sat op
poste him, and who appeared TO be his son
His expressive glances did not escape the
observation of the traveller, who, however
took no notice of it; yet he very soon af
forwards had cause to regret his want Of
caution. Being in want of repose he beg
ged the landlord. as soon as the supper was
finished, to show him his room. The land
lord took lamp and conducted the traveller
across the yard to detached building,
which contained two tolerabe neat rooms.
A bed was prepared at the farther end Of
the second.


As soon as the host retired, the travel
Ter having undressed himself unbuckled a
money belt containing considerable sum
of gold and took out his pocket book which
was full of Austrian bank notes.


Having convinced himself that his money
was all right, he placed both under his
pillow, extinguished the light, and soon
fell sleep, thanking God and all the saints
for the success of his journey.


He had slept but an hour or two; when
he was suddenly awakened by the opening
of the window, and Immediately felt the
night air blow upon him.


Startled at this unforeseen circumstance,
the traveller raised himself in bed, and per-
ceived, the head and shoulders of man,
who was struggling to get into the room /;
at the same time he heard the voices of
several persons who were standing under
the window.


A dreadful terror seized our traveller,
who gave himself up for lost, and scarcely
knowing what to do he crept under the
bed as quickly as possible.
1 1f.
heavily into the room, and staggered up to
the bed, supporting himself by the wall.
COMPOUNDED as the horse dealer was,
nevertheless he preceived that the intruder
was inebriated This circumstance, how
ever, gave him little hope, for he had prob
ably got intoxicated in order to summon
up courage for the contemplated crime
besides this the traveller had heard the
voices of persons outside, so that the mur-
derer in case of resistance, could count up
On the assistance of comrades. But how
great was his astonishment, when he saw
the unknown person throw his coat on the
floor, and stretch himself upon the bed
which he had just quit. A few moments
afterwards he heard him snore, and his ter
ror gradually gave way to reflection, al
though the whole affair was quite incom-
prehensible to him.


He was just preparing to quit his hiding
place in order to awaken the inmates of the
house, aud ask another bed in place of that
from which he had been so uncereinonious-
ly expelled, when new incident occurred.


He heard the outer door carefully open,
and on listening, the sound of cautious
footsteps reached his ear. In few mo-
ments the door gradually opened, and two
figures, those of the landlord and his son,
stood upon the Threshold.


"Keeb the light back" muttered the
father in suppressed tone.


"What have we to fear" said the young
man, tive are two against one; besides be
has only small knife with him, and is
sleeping soundly y-hear how he snores."


ado what tell you," said the father an
grily; do you wish to awake him ?--woud
you have his cries alarm the whole neigh
borhood? ai.L s'


The horse dealer was horfifed at the
spectacle. He remained motionless under
the bed scarcely daring to breathe. The
son shut the door after him, and the two
wretches approached the bed on tiptoe.


An instant afterwards the bed was shook
by convulsive motion, and a stifed cry of
pain confirmed the foreboding that the un-
happy man in the bed had his throat cut.
After pause of awful silence, the land
lord said, "it is now over, look for the mon
ey.", H s 'F "


81 have found it under the pillow said
the son, sit is in a leathern belt and pocket
book" l 's'.4,'-


The murderers vanished. y


Every thing being now quiet the trav-
eler crept cautiously from under the bed,
jumped out Of the window and hastened
to the adjoining town to inform the author
tiles of what had happened. 1ior


The Mayor Immediately assembled the
military, and in less than three quarters of
an hour the inn was surrounded with sol
diers, who had been summoned to arrest
the murderers. The whole house seemed
buried ia, profound silence, but on ap-
proaching the stable they hard noise
Tho door was Immediately broken in, and
the landlord and his son were seen busilv
digging apt. As soon as the murderers
saw the horse dealer, they uttered cry of
horror, covered their faces with ther hands