One night—it was toward the close of the war—I woke up out of a sodden lethargy, and found myself bound and gagged, and the air tainted with chloroform! I saw two men in the room, and one was saying to the other, in a hoarse whisper, 'I told her I would, if she made a noise, and as for the child—'
The other man interrupted in a low, half-crying voice—
'You said we'd only gag them and rob them, not hurt them; or I wouldn't have come.'
'Shut up your whining; had to change the plan when they waked up; you done all you could to protect them, now let that satisfy you; come, help rummage.'
Both men were masked, and wore coarse, ragged 'nigger' clothes; they had a bull's-eye lantern, and by its light I noticed that the gentler robber had no thumb on his right hand. They rummaged around my poor cabin for a moment; the head bandit then said, in his stage whisper—
'It's a waste of time—he shall tell where it's hid. Undo his gag, and revive him up.'
The other said—
'All right—provided no clubbing.'