I backed up into a corner of the hotel piazza,
laid my hand on an imaginary revolver, threatening to shoot, and was
defending myself with a whirling chair, when the sheriff's posse
rushed to my deliverance in the nick of time, and W---- was forced to
hand over my money.
He then made life unbearable by sending negroes at night in my absence
to annoy my family, who escaped injury only by the vigorous use of a
revolver by my wife who defended the little ones by numerous shots
which sent the tormentors flying to the woods. This unscrupulous
superintendent secured by his cunning a large amount of our funds; but
it was a curse to him for he squandered it in riotous living.
When he married he chartered a large steamer and brass band, took on
board a crowd of guests, champagne flowed like water, every luxury was
furnished liberally, and the excursion was a prolonged debauch.
To-day this fellow is a fugitive from justice, forsaken by wife and
fair weather friends, and thus really, if not literally, is fulfilled
the prophecy of the poet,
"Her dark wing shall the raven flap
O'er the false-hearted,
His warm blood the wolf shall lap
E'er life be parted,
Shame and dishonor sit
O'er his grave ever,
Blessing shall hallow it
Never, no never."
CHAPTER XXI.
A MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS WITH A ONE DOLLAR CAPITAL.
Soon after my encounter at S---- with the unspeakable W----, I met
Major St.
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