302

LIFE OX THE MISSISSIPPI,

I struggled, but could not free myself from my bonds. I tried to
speak, but the gag was effective : I could not make a sound. I lis-
tened for my wife's voice and my child's—listened long and intently,
but no sound came from the other end of the room where their bed
was. This silence became more and more awful, more and more
ominous, every moment. Could you have endured an hour of it, do
you think ? Pity me, then, who had to endure three. Three hours— 3

THEY BUMMAGBD THE CABE?.

it was three ages 1
Whenever the clock
struck, it seemed as
if yeai's had gone by
since I had heard it
last. All this time I
was struggling in my
bonds; and at last,
about dawn, I got
myself free, and rose up and stretched my stiff limbs. I was able to
distinguish details pretty well. The floor was littered with things
thrown there by the robbers during their search for my savings. The
first object that caught my particular attention was a document of
mine which I had seen the rougher of the two ruffians glance at and
then cast away. It had blood on it! I staggered to the other end of
the room. Oh, poor unoffending, helpless ones, there they lay, their
troublas ended, mine begun ! '