Year: 1877

drug had oeen dropped INTO lhe glass
of water which had drank &? l had
no doubt of it now. I listened more
intently-tor my mind was still active,
although my body seemed held as by
a lethargy. | heard a pressure upon
the book case. 1t swung quietly
apace, and in another moment / was
seized by strong hands, my clothing
stripped from me, and | was borne in
to the secret room. l closed my eyes,
with feelings Of horror, as the terrible
conviction flashed upon my mind that
l was to be hurled into deep vault,
beneath the trap | had discovered a
little while before. | heard some one
raise the trap; in another moment l
was hurled through, with the words :
'Dead folks tell no tales !" ringing in
my head. Down, down, down l went
until l reached--the floor OF my bed.
room, tor had been visited by the
nightmare. "God be praised y ex-
claimed, as | surveyed the room by
the aid of the moon which was now
looking in upon us. This portion OF
my story was non reality, hideous
dream but we were still in danger,
and | felt that the dream had possibly
been only Revealing of what was to
come unless we should get away from
there.


looked at my watch. 1t marked
the hour of four. | listened at the door
leading from the kitchen. The labor
ed breathing of its occupants showed
that they were asleep. To escape
from their clutches was the first idea,
tor I had overheard a remark-after |
had left them-to the effect that they
would attend to us ia the morning /;
and as they would naturally wish to
have the job off their hands at as early
an hour as possible, felt we had no
time to spare. How could We best
escape without arousing them? l
had plan. The window, at the foot
of the bed! l examined the same
and found that it would serve us per-
fectly as a means of egress The
horse had not had his grain but
that could be righted further along.


We got safely away from the prem,
ises. My purpose was to drive to the
nearest town and have some officers
dispatched for the immediate arrest of
the occupants of the den we had left.
We had gone about two miles, and
were now in wood patch, when we
heard the rattling Of wheels behind
us. The road was straight for long
distance, and, looking around, be-
held, driving at full speed, the ped
dler, beside whom sat our late land
lord. They were ''halloing" loudly to
us. In the upraised hand Of the land
lord was something which we suppos-
ed to be revolver.


"Good Heavens !" cried my wife.
"He is about to fire upon US !! What
shall we do :"


"Keep perfectly cool, my dear, and
leave the matter with me-" replied.
now feeling perfectly at ease, in the
settled determination TO give them a
race as the first alternative, and that
failing, to make the best tight" l
could. That they did not wish to
hazard fire upon us at their present
distance, seemed quite apparent. So
l urged oar. horse to his greatest eft.
tort, and for a moment seemed to dis
tance our pursuers, who were redoub-
ling their efforts to overtake US. We
were nearing a bend Of the road, and
l was urging the horse to strain every
nerve that we might reach this, when
a wheel Of our carriage struck a rock
by the roadside, and we were over
turned. | held 10 the reins and soon
stopped the horse. The carriage was
readily adjusted, and l was about to
help my wife and our child into the
seat when our pursuers reined up by
our side. Wife gave a little scream,
and was putting myself in readiness
for the expected struggle when the
landlord held up his hand and said:


81 think you must have dropped
this wallet last evening. Hearing
you depart at an early hour this morn
ing l Immediately went to the door
and called after you; but could not
make you hear. So we hitched up
and came in pursuit"


The reversal of feelings which l
experienced at this moment, l will
leave the reader to imagine. With
extreme modification | took the wal.
let and hastily examined its contents,