Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1168 — page 1: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

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A sunpvep light shone from the windows of the 321 stone church of Woodvale, that stood on the road to Princeton, It was nothing uncommon to see a light there on Bunday nights; and to hear the voices of men and yer ay song to Heaven; but an ’ women ascending in this was on Fri nigh at the hour of twelve, The pound of voices was within; but they were nct cngaged in drayer and song, but in secret conclave. were pitched in-low, yet excited tones, A score of men stood around the altar, discussing the pro- gress of the Revolution, and rojoicing over the defeat of the American arms, They were Tories of the deepest dye; and had met in the old church to hold secret coun crilegi- ous conference in the sanctu- ary of God, that no one would roistrust their desi of evil. Outside, al 6 road, in and out of the moonshine and ghadows paced a sentinel with a@ musket on his shoulder and @ pistol in his belt. He moved as softly as a panther, with both eye and ear on the alert, for these were dangerous times. The church stood on the mar- gn of alitileclearing. Across 6 road rhe was a a dense woods, through whic the Stony river crept noiseless- ly as a nt. Half a mile beck from the church began the suprounding settlements, that numbered cam homes and hundreds of people. These le were representatives of erent nationalities, but all were striving in common to sae up homes in hoy oo orld—all worship oO ther at the Woodvale Chien: There were no disputes, no dif- ferences between them, until country ; vided. it was Patriot and Royalist. fome tried to maintain a strict neutrality, but these al- ways bore watching, for they were invariably found to be in sympathy with the crown. The Lowe on Woodvale church this class. ———-- — - _ - ~I1IVERS & CO., Publishers (JAMES SULLIVAN, PROPRIETOR), -—- i) - something coming down the road from the east. At least he thought he saw something—he thought it was a horseman, But he bent his head and'listened and heard nothing. He made an ear-trumpet of his hand, and listened with the same result, He stood his musket on the ground and pressed his ear upon the muzzle with no better success. He agdin glanced up the road, satisfied now that he had been laboring under an optical delusion. .But as sure as his name was Jeduthan Wool, there was a horseman, or some- thing that closely resembled one, approaching along the’road. To be more certain, however, that the misty moonlight was laying no freak with his eyes,he rub- bed them with his knuckles, then took another look. And, good heavens! it was no delusion! There came a horseman without a doubt; but not a sound did the animal’s hoofs make upon the nard, frozen earth. Jeduthan Wool was peperetiticus as a witch, and the absence of the sound of hoof-strokes and the hantom-like appearance thrown around the y the spectral white moonbeams, filled bir vague terror, , ré6 tha NA ~ AS 4 “Ny U4 4a ve . (fs / AS 444 dite AOA“ ~ ; Vid haa y fiji OM We AIF Ls Yi, My Lisusie 5 BG. . Vi MY ti if, Yy LIPS Z t rv af: i yi . Z j ‘. yr yp sr, JS o- 7h PRICE 5 CENTS. y 50c. a year. 0 . rr a er ee ee a cee << ea eee eee * Tt must be the ghoet of some dead Patriot to haunt us," the Tory thought, trembling with fear. The silent horseman approached with great rapid ity. Jeduthan Wool hecnne fascinated with terror. He crouched in the shadows of the fence, and with dilated eyes and chattering teeth, watched the ob- ject of his fear float past him and turn in towanil the church, But he did notsee that the horse's fees were muffied in great padded shoes of woolen max pa ig inclosed the entire hoof, confined at the ock-joint, The men in the church intrusted their safety to their friend Wool; and to prevent any one looking ta they had hung curtains over the lower half of windows. But the horseman, who must have an- ticipated this blinding of the windows, was pre for them, and riding upto one cf them, he stopped his horse, then ner to his feet stood up in the gad- die and gazed over the curtain into the building. Closely he scanned each face assembled around the altar. A glance at each one would have satiafled but he heard a mas in an excited tong and he could not resist the temptation to listen, “Men, our cause és just,” he heard him say; “ but whether it is or not, we must fight for our king; burn for our 3 kill for our king; and, w it is not known that we are royalists, we can easily sound the sympathies of our n bors, and when we find t they are rebels, let their homes, fr neat Ge. pay wie. Denali n y the pen ‘And —here his voice fell nA it wasinaudible to the listener, but in an excited w con tinued: * boys, true as there there’s a face at the The next moment the np of glass, against which the al- lent horseman’s face had beem press was the conve point of a score of bullets. was shattered to atoms; while the deep, murderous roar of the muskets rolled from altar to entrance, floor to belfry, as rd on tpn fa an outlet to the open air, The bullets passed out at the window over the head of the horseman as he dropped as tride of his horse and gallo away, silentas a shadow, ewil as a deer. Jeduthan Wool rallied from his stupor when he heard the boom of his friends’ , and trider Z se f d f Af YUU Ly Af Y,