ORIGINAL TALE

Tuapeka Times, Volume 1, Issue 41, 21 November 1868, Page 6

ORIGINAL TALE

!'! ' " ' A NIGHT * ADVENTURE.

I do not know if any of the readers of the "Tuapoka, Timer" are acquainted with Jack Brice ; if they are, I congratulate them on knowing a firsfcrate fellow. Well, Jack und I four years 1 ago started on a walking tour through Germany. Neither of us wore overburdened with funds* so we took advantage t»f- a- small brig bound, from Leith for Stettin, and arrived at that port after a tedious voyage of a< mouth. From Stettin we woiit to Berlin, from thenco to ,Weimar, and from Weimar we started to the Hartz Mountains, where we had the adven-i ture which lam about to relate. We trudged along, with our knapsackson our backs, through a country which gradually grow wilder and wilder," until at length no trace of human. 1 presence could be seen eayo the solitary.' nut pf somo charcoal burner. In a vain endeavour to make a short cut wo lost tho. track, and wandered about; until tho darkness warned us that we, must oi tiler make some dcsporat;e effort to find temporary shelter, 'or, camp out for tho night. , We had almost rcsolvod to accept the latter alternative when, on gaining tho summit of a small hillock, we saw a light in the distance Wo took its bearings, ajid in due time reached a long low building, which a dingy sign proclaimed to be the " Traveller's Joy," kept by Hans Bischoff,. AYe werfr not long in entering, and were received with a clumsy show of civility by a fat, sinis-ter-looking Sunbian,\yiiom wo surmised to be Hans Bischoff in person. Sauev kraut and sausages formed our suppor; but hunger is a . proverbially good sauce for meagro faro, and we tucked in like good 'uns. A glnss or two of oxecrablo corn schnapps followed, and then we desired, to be shown to our, bedroom. A slatternly wench led the way up a ricketty staircase to what once might have been a good hay -loft, but which now would hardly' havo served for a hen-roost. Large seams y awned in every quarter of the apology for a floor,, and tho loose boards crpaked in a" most alarming manner at each step wo made. Our ".beds " consisted of a few empty sacks covered by a sheepskin, but luckily wp were too tired to be particular, and soon tumbled in. Ido not know how long I may haye slept when I was wakened by Jack, who covered my mouth when I attempted to question him, and pointed downwards. I applied ray eye to a Beam in the flooring, and there saw a spectacle which caused my very hair to stand on end. " Our garret was right above the- kitchen, and there I saw a group pf stra-uge, ruffian-looking men with blackened faces standing round a white prostrate figure, which I hardly dared to look at. > I saw one of the villains raise a murderous-look-ing dagger and plunge it into the unhappy victim, whose dying scream still dwells in my ears. The blood gushed out in torrents, und I felt that if I gazed any longer I should go mad. " That ought* to settle him," I heard the red-handed murderer say in exulting tones. ' " Hush, hush," exclaimed another, " You will waken them," and he pointed up in our direction. -There ! was little enough doubt now, we were j in the haunt of a gang of murderers, and had just witnessed one of. then* bloody deeds. We carefully examined* the room, but there was no outlet save the door, and it, we discovered to our horror to be locked on the outside. We were evidently in the hands of men who thoroughly understood their business. There was nothing left for it but to prepare to sell our lives as dearly as possible. So we noiselessly proceeded to form a kind of breastwork with the sacks which formed our beds, and, cocking our revolvers, sat waiting our fate.- Twice or thrice through the night footsteps approached the door,' and threw us into ,an agony of terror; but no attempt was made to cut our precious throats. * At length the wished-for morning dawned, and Hans Bischoff entered, and with' welldissembled cordiality offered us our morning. Although we dreaded poison we darodnot'Tefuse;.'and-never was a nobbier more needed by us than on this occasion. r W& followed our host with fe*ar arid trembling to the breakfjwt r ro.om,.when he kindly asked us how We Bad' rested. *' '"OK; very well," we replied, with quavering voices which belied the truth of our statement. " I feared you might have been disturbed," said he, "for my white calf broke its leg, and 1 had to kill it in the kitchen last night." The mystery was explained, and' all our fears were driven away in a hearty burst of laughter, in which our host joined when he heard of our long watch. Bischoff turned out such a regular brick that we resolved to remain at his house, for a week, and that . same evening were introduced to the industrious charcoal' burners who had, acted the parts- of disguised murderers in oar midnight farce. We told our story to them that evening over a bowl of punch, and in return one of them narrated as follows : — (To be continued in ovr next.)

The Ward Brothers have addressed ! a note to the editor of " Bell's Life," proposing to -row any four English boatmen a race of five or six miles for $%OQQ arxifie; the race to takp place lin England or America,' as shall be' j agreed njxm,