Year: 1865

|


it in the ordinary way; and then by piline


against it several chairs and other light ar


ticles of bedroom furniture, such as hel


limited strength permitted her to lift She
was well aware that even then it was 9
protection which few minutes would suf


flee to demolish but every minute was q
gain in her desperate strait her only hope
lay in prolonging the struggle as much as
possible--help p might come, she knew not
how or whence, when least expected.


"Outside, everything remained quiet
Could it be possible that they. would, after
all, go away without attacking the house
With this bic ssed hope beating warmly il
her heart, Madge ran back to the window
of her own room, and peeped through Alas


no--both of them were still there. They were
STOPPING over heap of sleepers deposited
close at hand for the purpose Of relaying
the line; and having selected one, they
lifted it on to their shoulders, and brought
it thus to the door of the house At the
first stroke of this novel but powerful bat
teringram Madge gave little shriek and
sank, white and trembling, to the floor all
her little stock of courage had vanished
and she seemed for the first time, to real
ize the dangers of her position. Like the
blows of a pavior's rammer came the shocks
against the door down stairs, and to each
of them Madge's heart beat with respons-
i've throb. Suddenly with a great crash,
the door gave way, and with yell Of tri-
umph Kulp burst into the house, followed
by his silent companion. Madge started
up, and double-locked her bedroom door
and then rushed to the window determined
to leap out at any cost, and forgetting for
the moment that the window, small in itself,
was still further secured by bar Of iron
running across its centre sufficient to pre-
vent even her little body from squeezing
| through


| "With a cry of despair she turned away
from the window, and then, moment after,
almost laughed at herself-so sudden are
the alterations of feeling at such time
to think that she had forgotten all about
the little loft over the bedrooms. Surely
there of all places in the house, since it
was evident that from the house itself there
was no escape, she would be most secure
1t was a mere cock-loft. open to the sloping
rafters Of the roof, and lighted by a sky
| light composed of single pane of glass ::
it was used by David as for storehouse
for his onions, seeds, and various kinds of
rubbish put away at odd times by the old
man, as never likely to be wanted again ;
but to Madge, in that hour other extremity
it seemed very harbor of refuge The
short broken ladder by which David gained
| access to it was always kept behind his
bedroom door. She unlocked the door of
her own room, got the ladder, and placed
it against the wall under the opening into
| the loft, which showed black and grim above
her head, there being no door to it or fas-
| tening of any kind.


Madge paused for minute before 60
ing up the ladder After feeling that the
money was still safe in the bosom of her
dress, she went lightly into her fathers
room, and blew out the candle, which had
been burned there since first taken out of
her own room she next locked the doors
of both rooms, put the keys in her pocket,
and then stood to listen, with one foot on
the ladder ready to ascend. From the mo-
ment the front door was burst i'll to that III
which Madge stood thus not more than two
minutes had elapsed, sufficient, however, for
the two men down stairs to ranSack every
corner, and so make sure, before proceeding
further, that Madge was hidden nowhere
below. The door at the foot of the stairs
was tried next {: and the moment Madge
heard this she mounted the ladder noiseles-
sly, and creeping through the opening into
.he loft with the agility of a cat, reached
down with one hand, drew up the ladder
after her, and then sat down by the edge
of the opening to await, with heart that
beat almost to bursting, whatever might
happen next The door not yielding easily,
the battering-ram was applied to it. and
balf
it off its hinges. The furniture piled up
behind it was quickly dragged down by


he interchangeable Kulp, and the way to the
bedrooms was then clear Madge, listen
ing intently, heard Kulp melting Dick to
drink out of his brandy-1ask; after which
he went in search of matches and candle,
for all their work hitherto had been done
by the light of the clouded moon Having
procured light, after a delay of some
minutes, during which he relieved his mind
by large amount of swearing, Mr.. Kulp
advanced cautiously up stairs. Having
reached the bedroom doors in safety. and
finding both of them to be locked, Dick
and he held brief consultation. Dick
was inclined to break into the old mans
room FIRST, being well aware lhat the money
was always put there overnight but Mr.
kulp, whose quick, restless eyes had
caught sight of the opening into the loft,
gave it as his opinion emphasized with nu-
merous oaths, that both bird and money
would be found snugly hid away in that
little nest at the top Of tho house SO it
was agreed that he should explore the loft
while Bick effected an entrance into David's
room Mr. Kulp's first task was to fetch
couple of chairs up stairs, and having
fixed one of them upon the other, he pro
ceeded to climb carefully to the top, Just as
Dick succeeded in breaking open the bed
! room door.


"Madse, il her halfhiding' place, sat
quite motionless, with straining eyes fixed
on the opening in the hoor, through which
she momently expected to see Mr.. Kulp's
ugly head protrude. The clouds had partly
| cleared away by this time, and sufficient of
the moons light came through the little
skylight to enable her to distinguish the
| objects about her with tolerable clearness.
! She heard Mr.. Kulp climbing laboriously on
the chairs, and thought to herself that
few seconds now would surely end all, for
she never doubted that he would murder
her when once he got her into his power
The first part of Mr.. Kulp's person that
aHa r.