Year: 1879

attempt itself.


The shotgun. Ali that was
a good idea. / would get the
gun and defend the mansion to
the bitter end. The shotgun /
had left in the parlor so as TO
have it within reach during the
long hours of the day when
tramps were as thick as huckle-
berries, and / had forgotten to
bring it upstairs that night.
My mind had been so much abb
sorbed by my carrier pigeon
that | had incautiously over
looked the making of my usual
preparations for self-defense.


l thought / would go down
and get it, and actually opened
my door for that purpose, when
| heard a loud crash below,
which told me as plain as words
could utter it, that the hall door
had been successfully forced,
and that the robbers were then
actually in the house.


I retreated to the shelter of
my little room, locked and bolt
ed the door, a prey to my worst
apprehensions. l remembered
the cruelty of the masked men,
and i knew if they did not MUIR
der me outright they would, by
binding and gagging, so tort
ure me to make even death it.
self desirable.


OF one thing | was satisfied,
that the safety of the robbers
depended upon my being secur-
ed, and to achieve that result
would be their first object. If
/ had a weapon, so that | could
have made an effort to preserve
my life, / would then have
been contcnted, but the idea of
an unarmed boy being thus left
to the mercy of these unfeeling|
ruffians, almost drove me to dis
traction.


| heard footsteps ascending
the stairs, and proceeded to bar
ricade the door, when thought
flashed across my brain. How
was it that it escaped me so
long? The carrier-pigeon that
I had just received from Uncle
Toby / would release it with a
message; it would return to I'm
Gle Toby's, and I would be saw
ed, and the robbers foiled in
their search for plunder.


[ wrote a message hurriedly,I
scurcd it to the bird, which Il
placed upon tho window sill,
when, after a moments hesita-
ton, it assembled skyward, and
when it passed from my sight
was flying like the wind IN the
direction of Uncle Toby's.


The MASSAGE read as follows:


Uncle Toby: The house has been enter
ed by six masked burglars. Come imme-
diately. Bon.


Scarcely had the bird started
on it's homeward flight when the
robbers reached my door and
tried TO force it; but / had push
ed my bedstead against the door,
and with my personal efforts to
prevent them from entering /
had improviscd a barricade that
promised to resist all attacks
made against it.


The prolonged defense / was
making incensed and exaspera-
ted the fellows to such degree
that they poured forth threats
of vengeance upon me. Their
patience became exhausted at
at last, and a pistol-sho., which
grazed my check, warned me
of the danger of my longer re-
manning in that position. 1t had
been fired through the door.


/ rushed to window and gaz-
ed out upon the lawn below.
The distance was great, and it'll
seemed to me that, while torture
awaited me if captured by the
robbers, there was certain death
in a leap fr0m the window.


What should / do9 The dis
ltance to Uncle Toby's house
was but five miles, which the
pigeon must have covered by
this time. But suppose the
bird should not be discovered?
Suppose Uncle Toby had gone
to his room for the night, and
my message would not be seen
and read before morning? The
very thought was SO agonizing
to me that I refused to enter
tain it.


All this time tho fellows
were working at the door. The
bolt was forced, and slowly but
surely the barricade was yield
ling to the power outside. /
saw a masked face peer through
the opening thus made. and the
iglimmer of the dark lantern
outside. ] could remain no
longer. Death itself seemed
preferable to the uncertainty of
my fate at the hands of these
desperate fellows.


I / rushed to the window and
without hesitation, i jumped.
1t seemed to me to be a lifetime
before T struck the ground. and.