Bucholz and the Detectives | Page 8

him to take tea with us this evening; the poor man will be cold and
hungry."
"No use in asking him, mother," replied Samuel, "he wouldn't accept."
"It is pretty nearly time they were here," said Sadie, with a longing look
toward the inviting table.
"Well, if they do not come soon we will not wait for them," said Mrs.

Waring.
As she spoke a shrill, startled cry rose upon the air; the voice of a man,
and evidently in distress. Breathless they stopped to listen--the two
girls clinging to each other with blanched faces and staring eyes.
"Sammy! Sammy!" again sounded that frightened call.
Samuel Waring started to his feet and moved rapidly toward the door.
"It sounds like William!" he cried, "something must have happened."
He had reached the door and his hand was upon the latch, when it was
violently thrown open and Bucholz rushed in and fell fainting upon the
floor.
[Illustration: "Bucholz rushed in and fell fainting to the floor."]
He was instantly surrounded by the astonished family, and upon
examination it was discovered that his face was bleeding, while the
flesh was lacerated as though he had been struck with some sharp
instrument. He had carried in his hand the old satchel which contained
the wine purchased by Mr. Schulte, and which had been consigned to
his care on leaving the depot, and as he fell unconscious the satchel
dropped from his nerveless grasp upon the floor.
Recovering quickly, he stared wildly around. "What has happened,
William, what is the matter?" inquired Samuel.
"Oh, Mr. Schulte, he is killed, he is killed!"
"Where is he now?"
"Down in the woods by the railroad," cried Bucholz. "We must go and
find him."
Meanwhile the female members of the family had stood
wonder-stricken at the sudden appearance of Bucholz, and the fearful
information which he conveyed.

"How did it happen?" inquired Samuel Waring.
"Oh, Sammy," exclaimed Bucholz, "I don't know. When we left the
station, Mr. Schulte gave me the satchel to carry, and we walked along
the track. I was walking ahead. Then we came through the woods, and
just as I was about to climb over the stone wall by the field, I heard Mr.
Schulte call out, 'Bucholz!' 'Bucholz!' It was dark, I could not see
anything, and just as I turned around to go to Mr. Schulte, a man sprang
at me and hit me in the face. I jumped away from him and then I saw
another one on the other side of me. Then I ran home, and now I know
that Mr. Schulte is killed. Oh Sammy! Sammy! we must go and find
him."
Bucholz told his story brokenly and seemed to be in great distress.
"If I had my pistol I would not run," he continued, as if in reply to a
look upon Samuel Waring's face, "but I left it at home."
Sadie went up to him, and, laying her hand upon his arm, inquired
anxiously if he was much hurt.
"No, my dear, I think not, but I was struck pretty hard," he replied. "But
come," he continued, "while we are talking, Mr. Schulte is lying out
there in the woods. We must go after him."
Bucholz went to the place where he usually kept his revolver, and
placing it in his pocket, he announced his readiness to go in search of
his master.
"Wait till I get my gun," said Samuel Waring, going up-stairs, and soon
returning with the desired article.
Just as he returned, another attack of faintness overcame William, and
again he fell to the floor, dropping the revolver from his pocket as he
did so.
Sammy assisted him to arise, and after he had sufficiently recovered,
the two men, accompanied by the mother and two daughters, started

toward the house of the next neighbor, where, arousing old Farmer
Allen, and leaving the ladies in his care, they proceeded in the direction
where the attack was said to have been made.
On their way they aroused two other neighbors, who, lighting lanterns,
joined the party in their search for the body of Mr. Schulte.
Following the beaten path through the fields, and climbing over the
stone wall where Bucholz was reported to have been attacked, they
struck the narrow path that led through the woods. A short distance
beyond this the flickering rays of the lantern, as they penetrated into the
darkness beyond them, fell upon the prostrate form of a man.
The body lay upon its back; the clothing had been forcibly torn open,
and the coat and vest were thrown back as though they had been hastily
searched and hurriedly abandoned.
The man was dead. Those glassy eyes, with their look of horror, which
were reflected in the rays of the glimmering light; that