New York ledger vol. 26 no. 51

              LIFE IN SALT LAKE CITY;
OR, 
A Visit to the Mormons. 
By LEON LEWIS, 
AUTHOR OF “THE GIRL HERMIT," "THE BOY MA-
GICIAN," "THE BROKEN HOME," "RED KNIFE," 
ETC., ETC., ETC. 
CHAPTER XV. 
BISHOP COULTER'S VILLAINY. 
Why, here's a villain 
Able to corrupt a thousand by example. 
MASSINGER. 
Now, where was Dr. Burton ? Where was Mrs. Barton? 
We have seen how the physician, on going to Bishop Coulter's house, in response to the de-mand which had been made for his services, had found himself entrapped, and been informed of the close watch which had for some time been kept upon him.
That conversation, it will be remembered, was closed by the Bishop's summoning three armed men he had in waiting and ordering them to take away the prisoner.
We will now continue this branch of our nar-rative from that point. 
"One moment. Bishop!" exclaimed the phy-sician, waving off the three armed men and re-treating to the wall. 
"Well, sir?" queried Coulter, ordering his minions by a gesture to suspend proceedings. 
"Allow me to say," declared the Doctor, with the calm energy of a soul inaccessible to fear, "that I am not ‘ready' for the fate you have de-signed for me, and that you will not find it an easy task to 'away' with me!" 
As he spoke, the physician drew his revolver, placing himself in a defensive attitude.
At this demonstration Coulter uttered an oath with the freedom and fierceness characteristic of a Mormon Bishop. 
"You will not be such a fool as to use that thing!" he ejaculated. 
"Yes, I shall be just such a fool as that!" 
"But think of the indictments already hang-ing over you!" 
"That thought cannot prevent me from de-fending myself." 
"Think of the twenty-three thousand four hundred dollars of your money in my posses-sion!" 
"Money is of little account in comparison with one's liberty." 
"Then think of your own well-being. If you kill one of us, your life will as certainly be taken as there is a sky above us!" 
"I am ready to lose it in such a cause," was the calm answer. 
"But why didn't you take this course when you first came here? Why did you wait until now to offer resistance?" 
"Partly because I wished to hear what you had to say to me, and partly because I was loth to proceed to these extremities until they should be absolutely forced upon me." 
"Better be wise in time," muttered Coulter grimly. "We are four to one, you see!"
"You'll be less before I am conquered!" 
"You will fight, then?" 
"To the last extremity!" 
Smiling mockingly, the Bishop made a gesture that was almost unnoticeable, and at that in-stant the physician felt his hands seized firmly from behind. 
"You see?" said Coulter. " You can't even master one of us, letting alone the four others." 
It is quite possible that the Bishop was right in this declaration. The fact was. Dr. Burton had been taken at a terrible disadvantage. His hands were held as in a vice. His form was weighed down by the massive figure which had leaped upon him. His bones fairly cracked under the pressure of the arms inclosing his sides. 
"Stick to him, Beetle !" commanded Coulter. 
"We are coming to your aid!" 
He advanced accordingly, and his three men with him. The doctor was soon overpowered, without much noise, and without any injuries to any one save the victim. 
"I foresaw that you might be troublesome," said the victorious Bishop, "and took my meas-ures accordingly, posting a man in this closet be-hind you. All successes in this world depend upon this sort of foresight." 
By this time Dr. Burton was disarmed. 
"Bind him securely," added Coulter, "and take him to the place already named and pro-vided. You, Mink, and you, Hawk, will take him in charge. Be off at once!"
Without a word, the two men named tied the hands of the prisoner behind him. and conducted him from the apartment, proceeding toward the rear of the house. 
"And you, Beetle, and you. Grasshopper," continued the Bishop, "you may post yourselves now, as soon as you please, in the place hereto-fore mentioned." 
The couple thus addressed hurriedly took their departure by the front entrance, and Coulter was left alone. 
"And so far good!" he muttered, throwing himself into a chair. "The doctor is in safe cus-tody; and now for Mrs. Burton." 
He touched the bell on his table again, when a little wicket at one side of the door communi-cating with the hall was opened, and the face of the man Krebbling appeared at the opening. 
"Keep a sharp look-out at the front entrance, Krebbling," ordered the Bishop. 
"Yes, sir." 
"If Mrs. Burton comes here to look for her husband, well and good—I will see her. If she does not come, she will be arrested by Elder True, at the same time that he arrests the daugh-ter. They are all equally guilty, you see. Look sharp for Mrs. Burton's coming, and continue to be as still as a mouse." 
Krebbling nodded understandingly, and re-tired noiselessly to his post of observation, while Coulter returned to his seat and waited, listening intently. 
How still was the night around him! 
"Wonder if the Elder is getting on in his share of the business as well as I am!" he mut-tered. "But he is, of course. The plan was well arranged between us. True is sure to suc-ceed." 
For a long time Coulter thus waited, with the patience and quietude of a spider. At length the little wicket was again opened, and Krebbling again presented himself.
"Mrs. Burton is here, sir," he announced. 
"Show her in," was the quick response. 
The next instant Krebbling opened the door, and Mrs. Burton, deathly pale, terribly anxious and excited, and panting with her rapid walk through the streets, tottered feebly past him into the presence of the Bishop. 
"Oh, Bishop Coulter!" she murmured, and then, as weak as a child, she sank into the chair he advanced for her use. 
At sight of her, Coulter's face flushed redly, and his eyes gleamed with the jubilance of a fiend. His whole frame shook with a sinister joy. 
"Why, what is this, Mrs. Burton?" he asked, smiling and bowing. "To what am I indebted for this wholly unexpected visit?" 
"My husband!" panted the lady. "Is he here ?" 
"No, Madam. He has been here, an hour or two since. My wife was taken suddenly ill, and I sent for Bromley. Not finding him, my man called upon your husband. The Doctor came here accordingly. But his treatment of my wife was so prompt and efficacious, that he was not required to stay long. In fact he stayed only a few minutes." 
The lady struggled to her feet, wringing her hands. 
"Then where can he be?" she ejaculated. 
"Why, hasn't he returned home?" 
"No—no!" 
"He ought to have done so. He has been gone from here more than an hour—perhaps nearly two hours, I couldn't say exactly how long. He seemed in a great hurry to get back, and even mentioned that he was anxious to re-turn immediately. And he has not returned, you say?" 
"Oh, no. I waited and waited—"She hesitated—partly because she still panted for breath, and partly because she had been on the verge of saving something that would have betrayed the project of flight she and the Doctor had formed. 
"This is strange," said Coulter, assuming a sympathizing voice and manner. "It must be that some accident has happened. The Doctor may have been garrotted by some street robber- assailed by some enemy—"
The lady interrupted him with a gesture as full of desperation as of sorrow. 
"I must look for him," she murmured—"in-quire on the streets—go at once!" 
She tottered toward the door, staggering wearily at every step. 
"I will have a horse hitched up to take you home, if you will wait a few minutes," said Coul-ter, simulating a spontaneous kindness. 
"I will not trouble you” was the response.
"You will at least permit me to accompany you through the streets ?" 
"Thank you; it is not necessary." 
And with this she took her departure. 
"Of course I shall follow her," muttered Coulter. "Get your lantern, Krebbling. Beetle and Grasshopper are waiting at the corner to carry out the plan agreed upon. We can't allow her to go home until the Eider has got off with Miss Winnie." 
Krebbling lighted a lantern promptly, and mas-ter and man, after locking up the house, hurried in the direction taken by Mrs. Burton. 
"That Cuppings has heard nothing," muttered Coulter, looking back at the dark and silent house with a villainous smile. "He is as simple as corn-meal, and as honest as Lancashire itself. He goes to bed with the chickens, and sleeps like a stone. He supposes me to have left town this morning, and to be at Heber. He doesn't even know that you exist, Krebbling, and still less that you are in my service." 
His villainous smile deepened. 
"Let 'em come here to inquire for the Doctor and his wife, or even for us," he added. "They'll get a straight story from Cuppings—ha! ha!—if they can make noise enough to rouse him from his slumbers." 
Thus went away Dr. Burton, in charge of Hawk and Mink, to what destination or fate he knew not. And thus went out into the night Mrs. Burton, equally ignorant of the two ruffians—Beetle and Grasshopper—who had preceded her along the silent street, and of the two other vil-lains—the Bishop and Krebbling—who were hurrying behind her. 
CHAPTER XVI. 
MRS. BURTON AND COULTER. 
What wit so sharp is found, in age or youth, 
That can distinguish truth from treachery? 
Falsehood puts on the face of simple truth, 
And masks in the habit of plain honesty, 
When she in heart intends most villainy. 
SACKVILLE. 
Mrs. Burton had scarcely left the house of Coulter out of sight, when, on turning a corner, she encountered two formidable personages, who appeared to be on their way to Coulter's. One of them was leading a horse. 
This couple were Beetle and Grasshopper, as they were called, in accordance with the system of names heretofore explained to the reader. 
"Mrs. Burton?" queried Beetle. 
The lady naturally halted. The darkness was such that she could see only the outlines of the two figures. A sudden dread shook her. 
"Mrs. Burton?" repeated the ruffian. 
Still the lady hesitated to answer. She tried to scan the face of the couple, and especially of her interlocutor, but the dark, grim night prevented. 
"Who are you?" she at length managed to ask. 
"A friend—if you are Mrs. Burton. We have news of your husband." 
"My husband!" she cried, with the quick energy of a tortured heart. "Where is he?" "You are Mrs. Burton, then?" 
The lady realized that the deep interest and excitement she had evinced had sufficiently be-trayed her identity, and she replied affirmatively, repeating: 
"Where is he?" 
"He has been seized by some men and taken to the mountains!” 
“Some men! What men, sir?" 
"Some woodmen!" 
"For what purpose?" 
"Why, you see, the Doctor has been burying a lot of money near Mountain Jack's cabin. You are aware of this fact, are you not ?" 
"Well?" 
"But sundry woodmen of that neighborhood having discovered the existence of this money, without knowing precisely where it is, have made bold to seize the Doctor, in order to ob-tain from him the secret of its whereabouts." 
"And these woodmen have carried the Doc-tor off to the mountains?" 
"Yes, Madam. They have been lurking about your house all the evening, watching for a chance to seize him." 
"Ah! we thought we heard footsteps," sighed Mrs. Burton. "We feared some one was lurk-ing about the place." 
"And the minute the Doctor left the house, to go to the Bishop's, he was followed by the wood-men in question. On account of the Bishop's man being along, however, they did not seize the Doctor while he was on his way to Coul-ter's. They waited until he was on his way home—until he was just beyond this corner, in fact— and then they suddenly assailed him from behind, taking him prisoner before he was fairly aroused to his danger." 
"And they have carried him to the moun-tains ?" 
"Yes, Madam." 
The lady again endeavored to scan the feat-ures before her, but in vain. 
"This is a strange story," she said. "How does it happen that you have brought it to me? In the first place, who are you?" 
"We are a couple of woodmen—the names are not of the least consequence. But we are not of the same kind as the others. We are honest !" 
"But why are you here ?" 
"The Doctor sent us." 
"The Doctor!" 
"Yes, Madam. He said we might find you at the Bishop's, if we were lively, as you would doubtless go there to inquire for him, and we were on our way there, as you may have no-ticed, at the moment we met you." 
That all this looked strange and suspicious to Mrs. Burton will be readily believed. Her whole soul shrank from the two men before her. 
"And what did the Doctor charge you to tell me ?" she demanded. 
"He told us to give you his seal ring, to begin with, to inspire you with confidence. Here it is." 
He placed a ring in her hand, which she at once accepted as her husband's. 
"You can tell by the feel that it is the Doc-tor's," resumed Beetle. "And now for what he told us to tell you. He said that you was to come with us to the mountains—" 
"To the mountains?" and the anxiety of the lady deepened to a positive terror. 
"Yes, Madam. He thinks there is a chance for you to save him. We have brought a horse, you see, all saddled and bridled—" 
"But how can I save him?" asked Mrs. Burton, who was too clear-sighted not to see that these communications were clearly the inventions of an inferior mind. 
"I don't know, I'm sure," replied Beetle. 
"But you are to come with us immediately. The Doctor will explain what is wanted of you when you see him. He said that his ring would tell you that we are acting in good faith—" 
"Well, it don't," interrupted Mrs. Burton, with a rising desperation. "The Doctor may have fallen into your hands, you, see—as I look at things. You maybe all the woodmen there are in the case. And having the Doctor in your hands, how easy for you to take the ring from him by force! Mind, I do not say that such is the case. I merely use this illustration to show you that the fact of your having the ring is not a guaran-tee of your good faith." 
"Isn't it ? Well, the Doctor said it would be, and he said, too, that you wouldn't hesitate a moment to come away with us. That is why we brought the horse—" 
"Is he saddled, did you say?" 
"Yes, Madam." 
"With a lady's saddle?" 
"Of course." 
More and more suspicious, the lady looked from one to the other of the ruflians, remaining momentarily silent. 
"Before I decide what course to take," she then observed. "I must go home. My daughter is awaiting my return, and—" 
"Well, since this is your mood," interrupted Beetle, "we may as we'll drop the mask, Madam! Fact is, I haven't got off my lingo quite as—quite as I expected. It don't sound, somehow, quite as I thought it would. Perhaps you are not to blame for not swallowing such coarse bait. In any case, since the truth must come out, permit me to inform you that we are the woodmen who have seized your husband, and that we must now seize you also!" 
Saying this, he threw one brawny arm around Mrs. Burton, and with his other hand endeavored to cover her mouth, so as to prevent her from calling for assistance. 
At this juncture, however, the rays of a lan-tern suddenly beamed upon the scene, coming around the corner, and the Bishop and Kreb-bling made their appearance, conversing quietly with each other about the extreme darkness of the night. 
"I reckon we shall get rain soon," said Coul-ter. 
"Or snow," returned Krebbling, with a shiver. The sight of the new-comers was a glad one for Mrs. Burton. The strength of a sudden hope inspired her. Making a desperate effort, she succeeded in freeing her mouth. 
"Help! help!" she screamed. 
Both the Bishop and his man seemed to be transformed into heroes by that cry. 
"Forward!" cried the former. " Here's a precious piece of villainy! I was afraid some harm would come to the lady. It is well we fol-lowed her." 
Thus exclaiming, the Bishop rushed to the as-sault of the lady's assailants, and with such ef-fect that, with Krebbling's assistance, they were soon put to flight. 
"Thank Heaven! you are not harmed?" cried Coulter, as he sustained the half-fainting lady. 
"Oh, no—thank you a thousand times!" was Mrs. Burton's grateful answer. 
"I am glad of that," said Coulter, with the simulated honesty he had previously exhibited. 
"And now, Mrs. Burton, after this experience, you will certainly allow us to accompany you through the streets?" 
"Certainly—with many thanks." 
She took the Bishop's proffered arm, and began to explain the situation of affairs, so far as she comprehended them, while she again set out for her dwelling, Krebbling leading the way with his lantern. 
The little party had not gone far, however, when a rush ol' heavy footsteps was heard near them. 
"Keep a sharp look-out," enjoined Coulter. 
"The rascals may not have been driven entirely off. They may rally to another effort." 
He had scarcely uttered these , words when one of the late assailants appeared, rushing vio-lently against Krebbling and hurling him to the ground, thus extinguishing the lantern. 
"Ah, here comes more of them!" cried Coul-ter, placing himself on the defensive. "Have no fear, Mrs. Burton. I—" 
He had no time to finish the observation, the enemy being again upon him. 
A terrible battle—terrible at least in appear-ance—immediately followed. And it was as quick as terrific. In less time than is required to record the fact, the Bishop and his servant were stricken to the ground, where they lay like dead men. And at that same moment Mrs. Bur-ton found herself a prisoner, held in the strong arms of one of the assailants, and prevented from speaking. 
"So, you haven't escaped," muttered Beetle, with a coarse chuckle. "We carry too many guns for your friends, after all." 
In a moment her hands were tied behind her, and a handkerchief was bound so tightly over her mouth as to prevent her from uttering the least cry. She realized, of course, in t his pos-ture of affairs, that resistance was useless, and accordingly became quiet. 
"And now to put her on the horse?" sug-gested the villain to his companion. 
This being done, Beetle led the horse away in a southerly direction, leaving Coulter and Kreb-bling lying upon the ground behind him. 
"Reckon we killed 'em!" muttered Grasshop-per, simulating a ferocity that was appalling. 
"I don't doubt it." was the rejoinder. “I put my knife through the heart of one of them, I'm certain." 
This was too much for the captive. She gave way to an emotion not far removed from despair. 
What followed for the next hour was almost unknown to Mrs. Burton. She was only dimly conscious that her captors had left the city by the County Road—that they had left the Big Field behind them—and that they were journey-ing down the open valley in the direction of Cotton-wood Creek. 
"Reckon we shall make a good speculation, Bill," said Beetle, after a long silence. 
"I'm sure of it, Dick," replied Grasshopper. 
"The Doctor'll be sure to tell us where the money is, when he sees that his wife is in our hands." 
"If he don't, we can torture him! A little fire to the soles of his feet’ll bring out the se-cret." 
"If it don't, we can blister the lady's feet a little! He couldn't stand the sight of her dis-tress—you can stake your life on't." 
This conversation was so horrible that it acted like a shower of cold water upon the captive. She was startled—electrified! 
"Well, supposing we have good luck?" re-sumed Beetle. "Supposing we secure the money? What then?" 
"Why, we'll vacate, of course." 
"But where shall we go? To California?" 
"Anywheres, so that none of these Gentiles ever get track of us." 
"But what shall we do with the Doctor, when the money is in our hands? It seems to me that it will not do to set him free—to let him go, you know." 
"Why, of course it won't! I've no intention of letting him go!" 
"Then what shall we do with him?" 
"Why, we shall kill him, of course!" 
"And the woman, eh? What shall we do with the woman?" 
"Why, we'll kill her also!" 
"She may be dead now." 
"She's only in a faint. We’ll sprinkle her at the next brook, and that'll bring her to her senses." 
Again, by a natural revulsion of feeling Mrs. Burton became so faint that she would have fallen from the saddle, had not one of the ruf-fians maintained a strong hold upon one of her arms. 
Into what desperate, terrible hands had she and her husband fallen! 
For about half an hour longer the two men held to their course, talking only seldom, and then only of robbery and murder. 
"Must be most to the hut?" at last suggested Beetle. 
"I should say so." 
"Reckon we'll leave the woman there for the present." continued Beetle. "You can take charge of her, while I go back for her husband." 
"All right. That's the way we'll manage it." 
"Reckon the Doctor has got tired of his berth by this time," and he laughed. 
"Yes, he has," and Grasshopper also laughed heartily. "You noticed just what I did with him? After binding him and gagging him, I lowered him into the well, suspending him only a few inches above the water." 
It seemed to Mrs. Burton, as she listened to these horrors, that she must die on the spot, or at the least lose her reason. 
Into what desperate struggles her emotion might have betrayed her it is impossible to say, for at this moment came the clatter of horses' hoofs behind her. 
Merciful heavens! Was some one coming to her relief? 
It seemed so. A pursuit was unmistakably be-ing made, and this pursuit came unmistakably nearer. 
The two men suddenly halted. 
"You hear that?" cried Beetle. 
"Yes. What is it?" 
"Evidently that Bishop was not entirely done for. He must have recovered—guessed at our course—obtained assistance—" 
"Evidently. There are at least three or four of them. What shall we do?" 
"Fight, of course! But first we'll kill the woman! We'll make sure of her!" 
On hearing these words, the senses of the cap-tive cleared. A strange energy flooded her be-ing. She struggled with her bonds so resolute-ly as to free her hands. Then she tore at the handkerchief covering her mouth. Succeeding in moving it downward, thus freeing her mouth, she gave utterance to a wild cry for help. 
With a howl of apparent consternation, the ruffian who had been guarding her aimed a blow at her with a knife—taking good care, however, not to harm her. 
Then, struggling desperately, Mrs. Burton tore herself clear of the ruffian's grasp and leaped to the ground, again calling loudly for help. 
There was a quick response. The light of a couple of lanterns flashed suddenly upon the scene, as a rushing, thundering tread shook the air. 
"We come!" called a voice encouragingly. 
It was the voice of Coulter. 
"There are only two of them," cried Beetle, looking back. "Let's fight to the last!"
"Agreed. Death to the meddlers!" 
The scene that followed seemed a perfect tor-nado of battle to Mrs. Burton. She heard the clang of steel, the reports of numerous pistol shots, mingled with groans and curses—and then a shout of triumph. 
"We've fixed them!" cried Coulter, leaping from his horse. 
"Yes, they're down—both of them!" replied the Bishop's companion, who was now seen by Mrs. Burton to be Krebbling. "They are either dead or dying!" 
"Then nothing more is to be said," exclaimed Coulter, whose arm had again encircled Mrs. Burton's form, sustaining her weak and totter-ing steps. "Thank God, Mrs. Burton! We are in time to save you. Are you injured ?" 
“Oh, no—no! But you?" 
She recoiled in wild alarm, seeing that her rescuers were bleeding. 
"It's nothing," protested the Bishop. "A ball through the arm, I believe, or a cut with a knife, I cannot yet tell which." 
"And a mere slash of the knife for me," cried Krebbling. "In any case, Mrs. Burton, you are safe. The villains will never trouble you again. They are dead." 
"Make sure of that," enjoined Coulter, flash-ing his light over them. "Give them each a ball through the head." 
Krebbling made a pretence of doing so. 
"And now for home, Mrs. Burton," said the Bishop. "Let's waste no time here. You shall explain everything as we dash back to the city. Permit me to assist you into the saddle." 
In a minute more the trio were riding swiftly toward the city. 
And as they thus retraced their steps, Mrs. Burton reported the conversation which had passed between her captors, and expressed her terrible anxieties. 
"From this," commented Coulter, "your hus-band is near the city. Suspended in a well? how horrible! Your first point, Mrs. Burton, is to go home. Your daughter must now be wild with alarm." 
The thought of Winnie was enough for the poor mother. She relapsed into silence, as did her companions, and they swept on at full gal-lop. 
The return to the city was accomplished in a third of the time consumed by the journey out of it. Straight to her home went Mrs. Burton ; quickly she dismounted; hurriedly she knocked for admittance. 
There was no answer, of course. 
And then, her fears increasing, Mrs. Burton effected an entrance, after some trouble, through one of the windows of the sitting-room, and made a hasty survey of the premises. 
As she had feared, and almost expected, the house was deserted. Winnie was gone.
And where? was the mother’s anxious thought. Possibly to a Gentile neighbor's. No, hardly, for in that case she would have left a friend on the watch for her parents. Unless, indeed, they were supposed to be in such deadly peril as to preclude the probability of an early return to their dwelling. 
A host of these agitating thoughts passed through the poor mother's soul, and she has-tened to ask the opinions and views of the Bishop. He had been so good to her, he had sympathized with her so deeply, he had fought for her so nobly, he had saved her from such a dreadful fate, that she had no less faith in him than respect for him. 
"You can take refuge with some neighbor, if you choose," he declared. "They are all asleep, to be sure, but we can call them up. Or, sup-pose you go home with me for a few hours? Krebbling and I will raise an alarm at once. We'll raise all the forces we can, both Saint and Gentile, and search widely and quickly for your husband." 
"But—do you suppose," asked Mrs. Burton hesitatingly—"do you suppose that any Saint is concerned in this outrage upon my husband? Elder True, for example ?"
"No. Mrs. Burton—a million times No! Neither Elder True nor any other respectable Saint is capable of harming a hair of the Doctor's head—and much less of this dreadful cruelty. Your husband has been seized by ruffians, who are neither Saint nor Gentle—such ruffians, in fact, as infest all new communities like ours. Possibly the two we have killed were alone in the business. Possibly they may have associates. In any case, I will head a party immediately to look for the Doctor, and if you will accept my hospitality for a few hours, you will have early news of him, I can promise you!" 
In her anguish and desolation, Mrs. Burton did not debate the question a moment. To go with the Bishop seemed a way of dispatching him quickly in quest of her husband—to go with him seemed a promise of getting speedy news of the Doctor. She accordingly accepted the Bishop's offer, with a brief but earnest expression of her gratefulness to him. 
"Let us be off, then," proposed the arch-plot-ter, with a strange gleam in his eyes. " The sooner we have seen you placed in safety at my house, the sooner I shall be looking for the Doc-tor." 
Without a word more, the trio hastened from the premises, and in five minutes more they were again at the Bishop's dwelling. 
And there, once more in his sitting-room, with candles lighted and a fire kindled, Coulter hast-ened to say: 
"You will make yourself comfortable here, I hope, dear Mrs. Burton. My wife is sleeping in the next room, and you are at liberty to awaken her, if you get lonely. How pale and tired you are! Let me help you to a glass of wine, at the same time that I take one, and then we'll be off." 
In her weakness and suffering, Mrs. Burton would have been glad to drink the wine offered her, had she taken deliberate thought of the matter; but now. when she was so preoccupied and excited, she drank it mechanically, as a mat-ter of course, with a thought only of getting the Bishop started immediately in search of her hus-band.
"You had better he down here," suggested Coulter, as he wheeled a handsome sofa in front of the lire. "You can't sleep, of course, in this state of excitement, but you can rest." 
The lady hastened to occupy the sofa, with a further expression of her thanks. 
"And now I am off to look for the Doctor," added the Bishop. "Keep up a stout heart un-til you see me again." 
And with this he departed. 
His departure, however, did not extend beyond his front hall, where he had left Kreb-bling, and where he now threw himself into a chair, rubbing his hands gleefully together, while his eyes glittered like those of a deadly serpent. 
"In five minutes she will be asleep," he whis-pered. "I have put something in her wine to quiet her nerves." 
"Altogether, then, the thing has turned to your satisfaction, sir?" asked Krebbling. "Perfectly, perfectly! It could hardly have turned better. In the first place, the lady sup-poses that her husband has been seized by sun-dry outside and unknown enemies." 
"Capital!" 
"And then she supposes that we have been fighting for her, Krebbling—that we are her friends!" 
"Beautiful!" 
"And here she is, in my house, and looking to me as a great present and future benefactor. The first great step in my project has been taken. True, it has cost us something to carry out our little scheme. Beetle, for instance, gave me a blow on the nose that made me see stars, besides drawing claret!" 
"And Grasshopper really carved me a little, with alike result as to bloodshedding." returned Krebbling. "But little accidents of that sort must be expected on such an occasion. They did us more good than harm, however, for they gave a grand air of reality to the whole perform-ance." 
"And so we humbugged Mrs. Burton com-pletely," said Coulter. "Poor woman! She don't suspect that all this cutting and slashing was got up, regardless of expense, to deceive her. But isn't it about time for Beetle and Grass-hopper to come?" 
Steps were heard at this junctnre, and in an-other moment the two men named were in their employer's presence. 
They had suffered some injury in the pre-tended battles, but had washed their faces at a brook, and now looked particularly happy. 
"That was a brilliant invention of yours, Bee-tle, about suspending the Doctor in a well," ob-served Coulter, after greetings had been ex-changed. "I shall pay you extra for that by and by. Meanwhile here is the sum I promised you for this night's performances." 
He gave to each of the men a handful of gold, which they quietly pocketed. 
"And now you may go to the Look-out," added Coulter. "I shall want nothing more of you just at present. Here is a demijohn of nice whiskey, of which I make you a present. Take it to the Look-out with you. Remember me to Mornington and Hilber—to Buffalo and all the boys, in fact, and hold yourself in readiness to serve me further." 
"All right. Bishop," said Beetle. "You can de-pend upon us." 
And with this they took their departure. 
"And now you may go to bed, Krebbling," said Coulter to his only remaining companion. "It's near morning, but we can make up for the night's business by sleeping in the daytime. You need not get up till noon." 
"Thank you—but I shall be ready to get up at any minute, if you should want me." And with this Krebbling also vanished. 
A moment thereafter Coulter continued to pace noiselessly to and fro in the hall, with a glow of satisfaction on his face, and then he proceeded to the room adjoining the parlor. 
"Reckon she's asleep," he said to himself. "I'll see." 
He opened the door a few inches, peering in upon the figure occupying the sofa.
"Yes, she's asleep!" was his mental ejacula-tion. "She don't suspect my wife's absence. And how successful I have been! Her hus-band—well, he is out of my way. She thinks me so good, too—such a friend! Truly, as I said, I have achieved a great triumph, and played the first act of a magnificent drama!" 
The contemplation of the noble beauty of the sleeper seemed to increase some terrible flame that had long been raging in the depths of Coul-ter's nature. His eyes gleamed evilly, his cheeks grew red with fierce emotions, and his form shook with thrills of sinister delight. 
"But sufficient for the night has been its tri-umphs," he muttered to himself, after closing the door. “She will sleep thus for hours. What better can I do than imitate her example?" 
He retired to an inner room of his house, where he lay down without undressing, and in a few minutes more he was fast asleep. 
[TO BE CONTINUED.]