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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28,
+April 1893, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28, April 1893
+       An Illustrated Monthly
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: George Newnes
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2007 [EBook #20798]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STRAND
+
+AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY
+
+
+Vol. 5, Issue. 28.
+
+April 1893
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: SANDRINGHAM
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+
+
+
+_The Prince of Wales at Sandringham._
+
+     [_The Prince of Wales is, of course, precluded by his position from
+     granting interviews like private persons, but His Royal Highness
+     has been so good as to give us special permission to insert the
+     following extremely interesting article, which we are happy to be
+     able to present to our readers in place of the Illustrated
+     Interview for the present month. The next of the series of
+     Illustrated Interviews, by Mr. Harry How, will appear next month.
+     Sir Robert Rawlinson, the celebrated engineer, whose work saved so
+     many lives in the Crimea, has given Mr. How a most interesting
+     interview, with special illustrations._]
+
+
+"Far from the busy haunt of man" might be fitly applied to Sandringham;
+so quiet, and so secluded, is this favourite residence of the heir to
+England's throne and his beautiful and universally esteemed wife.
+
+Not an ancient castle with tower and moat, not a show place such as
+would charm a merchant prince, but beautiful in its simplicity and
+attractive in its homeliness; yet withal, clothed in the dignity
+inseparable from its owners and its associations; in short, a happy
+English home, inhabited by a typical English family.
+
+How often have we seen them in the country lanes all squeezed into one
+wagonette, looking like a jolly village squire and his family; or
+watched the young Princes and Princesses careering round the park on
+their favourite steeds, and listened to their merry laughing voices as
+they emulated each other to come in winner!
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+When at Sandringham, State and its duties, society and its requirements,
+are relegated to the dim past and shadowy future; and our Prince is a
+country gentleman, deep in agriculture and the welfare of his tenantry;
+and his wife and children pass their time in visiting the schools, the
+poor, and the sick, working in their dairy, or at their sketching, art
+and useful needle-work, etc.
+
+Fortunately, the estate is above seven miles from King's Lynn, its
+nearest town, so that the family are not subjected to the prying gaze of
+the curious. They have not, however, the inconvenience of this long
+drive from the railway station, as there is one at Wolferton, a little
+village of about forty houses, on the estate, and between two and three
+miles from the "House."
+
+In 1883 the Prince added a suite of waiting-rooms to the building
+already there: the addition consisting of a large entrance-hall,
+approached by a covered carriage way, with rooms on either side for the
+Prince and Princess. These rooms are handsomely and tastefully
+furnished, and are used not only as waiting-rooms, but occasionally for
+luncheon, when the Prince and his guests are shooting in the vicinity of
+Wolferton. The station lies in a charming valley, and emerging from its
+grounds, you have before you a picturesque drive along a well gravelled
+road, bordered with velvety turf, and backed with fir, laurel, pine and
+gorse.
+
+Rabbits in hundreds are popping hither and thither, pheasants are flying
+over your head, squirrels are scampering up and down trees, there are
+sounds of many feathery songsters in the branches: while if you pause
+awhile, you may catch the distant murmur of the sea--certainly you can
+feel its breezes; and you seem to get the beauty of the Highlands, the
+grandeur of the sea, and the very pick of English scenery, all in one
+extensive panorama. The view from the heights is beyond description: an
+uninterrupted outlook over the North Sea, and a general survey of such
+wide range, that on clear days the steeple or tower of Boston church
+(familiarly known as "Boston Stump") can be plainly seen.
+
+Proceeding on your way, you pass the park boundary wall, the residence
+of the comptroller, the rectory, the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, with its flag waving in the breeze denoting the family are in
+residence--take a sudden curve in the road, and find yourself in front
+of the Norwich gates, admitting to the principal entrance. A solitary
+policeman is here on guard, but he knows his business, and knows every
+member of the household by sight; and though his duty consists in merely
+opening and shutting the gates, you may be quite sure he will not open
+to the wrong one.
+
+These gates are worthy of more than a passing glance, for they are a
+veritable masterpiece of design and mechanism. They were, in fact, one
+of the features of the 1862 Exhibition, and were afterwards presented to
+the Prince by the County of Norwich. On the top is the golden crown,
+supported by the Prince's feathers. Underneath, held by bronzed
+griffins, are heraldic shields representing the various titles of the
+Prince, while the remainder is composed of flowers, sprays, and creeping
+vines. They are connected with the palisading by rose, shamrock and
+thistle. The maker was Barnard, of Norwich.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAIN ENTRANCE
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Although this is the chief entrance, it is necessary to proceed up the
+avenue and diverge to the left, before the front of the building comes
+into view; then it will be seen to be of modernized Elizabethan
+architecture; exterior, red brick, with Ketton-stone dressing. Over the
+door is a carved inscription as follows: "This house was built by Albert
+Edward Prince of Wales and Alexandra his wife, in the year of Our Lord,
+1870." As a matter of fact, the estate had been purchased nine years
+previous to that date, for a sum of £220,000, but the Old Manor House
+was in such a condition that, after vainly trying to patch up and add on
+to, it was found desirable to pull it all down, and build an entirely
+new residence. Not only did the mansion need re-building, but also the
+cottages of the tenants and labourers: and much to the honour of the
+Prince and Princess, these cottages were their first care, and were all
+re-built and several new ones erected before they took possession of
+their own home.
+
+An invitation to Sandringham is an honour which few would lightly
+regard: and if it is your first visit you are in a flutter of
+anticipation and expectation, making it somewhat difficult to preserve
+the calm exterior that society demands of you. Now there are two
+distinct sets invited there; one from Friday to Monday, and one from
+Monday or Tuesday to Friday; the former generally including a bishop,
+dean, or canon for the Sunday service, two or three eminent statesmen,
+and a sprinkling of musical, literary, and artistic celebrities. To this
+list I will suppose you to belong.
+
+You have found carriages and baggage vans awaiting what is known as the
+"Royal train"--a special run just when the Prince is in residence--and
+you and your fellow-visitors have driven up to the principal entrance.
+There you alight, and are ushered by the footmen into a spacious hall or
+saloon, where you are received with the distinguished grace and courtesy
+for which your Royal host and hostess are so justly celebrated.
+
+[Illustration: THE SALOON
+
+_From A Photo. By Bedford Lemere._]
+
+You have only time for a rapid glance at the massive oak carving and
+valuable paintings (chief of which is one portraying the family at
+afternoon tea, by Zichy) before you find yourself being conducted to the
+handsome suite of apartments you will occupy during your visit. A cup of
+tea and some light refreshment, and the dinner-hour being 7.30 it is
+time to prepare. If you have not been here before, let me give you a
+word of warning, or you will commit the dreadful sin of unpunctuality.
+Every clock on the place, from the loud-voiced one over the stables to
+the tiniest of continental masterpieces, is kept half an hour fast. The
+ringing-out of the hour thirty minutes before you expect it is startling
+in the extreme; and your maid or man has a bad time of it until you
+discover the discrepancy.
+
+At last, however, you are ready, and in due time find yourself amidst
+the company in the grand dining saloon, where dinner is served in state,
+although not with the frigid formality one is inclined to expect. A
+certain degree of nervousness _must_ be felt by all on the first
+occasion they dine with Royalty; but your host and hostess are so
+extremely affable, and have such a happy gift of putting people at their
+ease, that you insensibly forget their august position, and find
+yourself chatting with comfort and enjoyment. You will notice the
+splendid proportions of this saloon, and the priceless Spanish tapestry
+with which it is hung--this was the gift of the King of Spain to the
+Prince. There is also a magnificent display of plate, much of it
+presentation. The tables are oblong, the Prince and Princess facing each
+other at the centre; the floor--as are most of them--is of polished oak,
+this one being freely scattered with costly Turkish rugs. I may here
+mention that adjoining this saloon is a spacious ante-room, containing a
+fine collection of tigers' skins, elephants' tusks, etc.: a good record
+of the travels of His Royal Highness, of much interest to travellers and
+sportsmen.
+
+[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR LUNCHEON.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+When you presently adjourn to the drawing-rooms--of which there are a
+suite of small ones in addition to the large one--you will find there is
+no lack of entertainment and amusement; such, indeed, as must suit the
+most varied tastes. First, however, we will take some note of the rooms
+themselves. These (the drawing-rooms) are all connected with the
+entrance-hall by a broad corridor, which is ornamented with pieces of
+armour, ancient china, stuffed birds, etc.: they face the lakes, and are
+on the western or front of the building, opening on to the terrace.
+
+The large drawing-room is of beautiful construction, fitted with windows
+reaching from ceiling to floor. The walls are panelled with pink and
+blue, with mouldings of gold and cream. The furniture is upholstered in
+pale blue, with threads of deep crimson and gold; the hangings are of
+rich chenille; the floor of polished oak, with rich Indian rugs
+distributed here and there. A plentiful scattering of music and books
+gives it a home-like appearance, while hand embroidery, sketches,
+painting on china, and feather screens show the variety of talent and
+skill of the ladies of the family. In the very centre of the room is a
+large piece of rockwork, with a tasteful arrangement (carried out under
+the care of the Princess herself) of choice ferns and beautiful roses in
+bloom, while rising out of the midst is a marble figure of Venus. The
+principal conservatory opens from this room. It is rich in palms and
+ferns, and contains a monument of art to Madame Jerichau, the
+sculptress, in the shape of a group of bathing girls.
+
+Meanwhile, whatever amusement is to be the order has by this time
+commenced: perhaps it is music--the ladies of the family are all good
+musicians--perhaps it is _tableaux vivants_, or possibly a carpet dance.
+If your tastes do not lie in these directions, or after you have enjoyed
+them for a sufficient time, you have the choice of using the
+billiard-room, the American bowling alley, or the smoking-rooms. The
+billiard-room will interest you vastly: it is literally lined with arms
+of all descriptions. The tables, of course, are of the best.
+
+[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR DINNER.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+[Illustration: WITHDRAWING-ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Another room you may perhaps find your way to to-night is the "Serapis"
+room; it is half library and half smoking-room; in it you will see the
+entire fittings of the cabin the Prince occupied on his journey to
+India, in the vessel of the above name. One thing you may rest assured
+of--that neither on this evening nor at any other time while at
+Sandringham will you know a dull moment.
+
+[Illustration: THE CORRIDOR.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+In the morning you will find breakfast served at nine o'clock in the
+dining saloon. As, however, the Prince and Princess generally take
+theirs in their private apartments, there is no formality, and you do
+not feel bound to the punctuality imperative when you meet their Royal
+Highnesses.
+
+Perhaps you have letters to write; and I may as well here remark that
+the postal arrangements are first-rate. There is a post-office _inside_
+the house, which is also a money order office. Three deliveries per day
+come in that way, while mounted men meet the trains at Wolferton
+Station. There is also telegraphic communication with Central London,
+King's Lynn, and Marlborough House; and telephone to Wolferton Station,
+the stud farm, agents, bailiff, etc.
+
+Before proceeding to outdoor sights--which will not be possible very
+early, as your host has a multiplicity of business to get through--you
+had better take the opportunity of seeing some of the rare and beautiful
+treasures indoors. Of course, all are aware of the extensive travels of
+the Prince in many countries, and will, therefore, expect to find many
+mementos of the same in his home; but I think few are prepared to find
+them so numerous and so valuable. Not only does one see them here and
+there in various directions, but one room of considerable dimensions is
+set apart altogether for them, and a day could be profitably spent in
+their inspection. It is not only their costliness and their beauty, but
+the associations which make them of so much interest. This one was
+presented by the King of this place; this one by Prince So-and-so; this
+by such a town, and this by such an order or society, until the vision
+is quite dazzled with beauty.
+
+Perhaps as a strong contrast you may get a peep at the Prince's
+morning-room, a room plainly and usefully fitted and furnished in light
+oak. There you will see such a batch of correspondence that you will be
+inclined to wonder when it will be got through, but the Prince is a
+capital business man, and nothing is lost sight of.
+
+The libraries must not be overlooked: there are quite a suite of them,
+well stocked with English and French literature more particularly. A
+large number will be noticed as presentation volumes, in handsome and
+unique bindings. One of these rooms also contains many mementos of
+travel and sport in various climes.
+
+[Illustration: THE CONSERVATORY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Two additional stories have within the last few weeks been completed
+over the bowling alley and billiard-room, making a total of about
+eighteen apartments, henceforth to be known as "The Bachelors' Wing."
+
+[Illustration: THE BILLIARD SALOON
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+For some years the large hall at the entrance was made to do duty for a
+ball-room, and no mean one either; but the Prince thinking it not quite
+so commodious as he would wish, he, some nine years ago, had a new and
+larger one built. This, and one or two other rooms, really constitute a
+new wing. The turret of this wing has just been raised, in order to
+place therein a clock purchased by the local tradesmen as a memorial to
+the late Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The ball-room is of immense size
+and lofty construction, with fine bay windows at either end, and large
+alcoves on either side, one containing a magnificent fire-place, and the
+other windows. The walls are artistic triumphs, being finely painted in
+delicate colours, and on them arranged a fine collection of Indian
+trophies. The floor is of oak, and kept in such a condition of polish as
+to be a pitfall and snare to any dancer not in constant practice. More
+than one or two couples have been known to suddenly subside, even in the
+most select of the select circles there assembled.
+
+[Illustration: THE BOWLING ALLEY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Beford Lemere._]
+
+If during your visit one of the annual balls should take place, you are
+most fortunate. There are three of such--the "County," the "Tenants',"
+and the "Servants'," the first, of course, bringing the _élite_; but
+the two latter sometimes presenting a curious mixture. The tenants, I
+may say, are allowed to introduce a limited number of friends, a
+privilege highly valued, and much sought after by the most remote
+acquaintance of each and every tenant on the estate. A most wonderful
+display of colours distinguishes these Norfolkites, bright of hue, too,
+and more often than not dames of fifty got up in the style of damsels of
+eighteen.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRINCE'S BUSINESS ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+[Illustration: THE LIBRARY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+And what appetites these yeomen and cattle-dealers have got, to be sure!
+And if you had a few tramps across the "Broads" you would not wonder at
+it, for hunger is soon the predominant feeling. The dancing, too, is a
+study; country dances, reels, and jigs following each other in such
+quick succession, that the band in the gallery at the far end do not
+have any too easy a time of it. Through everything, the same kindly
+interest is displayed by the Royal host and hostess; their interest
+never wanes, and their courtesy never flags, but everyone is noticed,
+and made to feel as much at their ease as it is possible for them to be.
+
+Perhaps the servants' ball is as pretty a sight as one could see in the
+room--the toilettes of the Royal Family and their visitors, the rich
+state liveries of the footmen, the scattering of Highland costumes, the
+green and buff of the gamekeepers, and the caps of the maidservants, all
+blending into an ever-moving kaleidoscope, picturesque in the extreme.
+
+Few that are familiar with Sandringham can enter this room without
+thinking of the occasion when the proud and loving mother entered,
+leaning on the arm of her eldest boy, on the day he attained his
+majority. The fairest and bravest of all England were there assembled to
+do him honour; and from all parts of the world "happy returns" and long
+life were wished for he whom all regarded as their future King. Some of
+the associations of this home must of necessity be saddening, but on the
+other hand, much must remind of many little acts of kindness and loving
+attentions paid; and were this a biography of the late Prince, many
+little anecdotes of his great thoughtfulness for those around him might
+be told; but his monument will be in the memories of all who knew him.
+
+To return, however, to description. After the Prince has dispatched his
+necessary business, he generally takes his visitors round to view the
+park, gardens, model farm, stables, kennels, or whatever His Royal
+Highness thinks may interest them most. If you are an enthusiast in
+farming, you will be immensely interested in the 600 acres of land
+farmed on scientific principles. Every known improvement in machinery,
+etc., is introduced, with results of as near perfection as possible in
+crops. The Prince looks a genuine farmer, as he tramps through the
+fields in true Norfolk garb of tweed and gaiters; and it does not
+require much attention to find from his conversation that he quite
+understands what he is talking about; so it behoves one to rub up his
+weak points in this direction.
+
+In the stables all are disposed to linger; every one of (I think) sixty
+stalls being inhabited by first-rate steeds, many of them good racers.
+The prettiest sight of all is the Princess's stable--a smaller one
+adjoining; this is tiled white and green, with stalls ornamented in
+silver. Here are some charming ponies driven by Her Royal Highness, and
+her favourite mare Vera. On this mare, accompanied by her children on
+their mounts, the Princess may often be met in the lanes around
+Sandringham, occasionally also driving in a little pony carriage, and in
+both cases almost unattended.
+
+[Illustration: THE BALL-ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+The kennels come next in order: they contain dogs of every breed from
+all parts of the land. The younger members of the family especially have
+many pets--cats, dogs, and birds; indeed, one of the first things you
+notice on your arrival is a parrot in the entrance saloon, that
+invariably greets you with calling for "three cheers for the Queen!"
+
+It is now nearly luncheon time (1.30), and here you all meet again; some
+of the ladies perhaps having been honoured the first part of the day by
+spending some time with the Princess. Generally speaking, but not
+always, their Royal Highnesses join the party for lunch; but in any
+case, after that meal, forces are united, and the company entire start
+off, sometimes on foot, commencing with gardens, sometimes in carriages
+for a more distant inspection. To-day it is fine, and so we commence
+with emerging on to the west terrace, and into the western gardens.
+
+The terraces are very handsome, and many of the rooms open on to them
+from French windows or conservatories. First you will notice a Chinese
+joss-house or temple, made of costly metal, guarded on either side by
+two huge granite lions from Japan, all of them the gifts to the Prince
+of Admiral Keppel.
+
+The gardens are tastefully and artistically laid out, with such a
+wildness, yet with such a wealth of shrubs and pines, aided by
+artificial rockwork, a cave, and a rushing cascade, that one might well
+imagine one was in another country.
+
+The Alpine gardens contain flowers and ferns of the choicest; and you
+presently emerge on the shores of a lake of considerable size. Here
+boating in the summer and skating in the winter may be indulged in, the
+latter, especially by torchlight, being a most attractive sight. The
+illuminations in the trees around, the flaring torches, the lights fixed
+to the chairs as they glide about like will o' the wisps, and the
+villagers (who are always invited) standing around, make up a picture
+not easily forgotten. This lake has recently been supplemented by the
+excavation of another in the centre of the park, a running stream
+connecting the two.
+
+Chief, or almost chief, of the Sandringham outdoor sights is a famous
+avenue of trees. At some future time this avenue will be of even more
+interest than it is now, and will become, in fact, historical; for every
+tree there has been planted by some personage of note. On each one you
+will notice a neat label, stating name of planter and date of planting,
+chief of the names being Queen Victoria and the Empress Frederick.
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The model dairy is a picture; but here again the preference must be
+given to that owned by the Princess. It is a Swiss cottage, containing
+five rooms, one of the five being a very pretty tea-room, and here Her
+Royal Highness sometimes favours her friends with the "cup that cheers,"
+often, too, cutting bread and butter and cake with her own fair hands.
+Moreover, the same hands have often made the butter that is used--as
+each of the ladies of the family is skilled in dairy management, and
+capable of turning out a good honest pat of creamy Norfolk. Merry times
+they have had in this cottage, arrayed in apron and sleeves, doing the
+real _work_, not merely giving directions.
+
+You would not be in any of the villages long before you saw some of the
+children attending some one of the various schools, clad in their
+scarlet and Royal blue; they look very comfortable and picturesque.
+There is a first-rate technical school, in addition to the ordinary ones
+of each village. The first was founded by the Princess herself, and in
+each of them Her Royal Highness and her children take a deep interest;
+often visiting them, taking classes, and asking questions. These
+schools, then, are shown you this afternoon; and, as a matter of course,
+you proceed from there to the Working Men's Club--one of which is
+established in each village. These are open to men above the age of
+fourteen.[A] Billiards, bagatelle, draughts, etc., are provided, and
+there is a good stock of newspapers and books. Refreshments may be
+obtained of good quality, and for a small outlay; and everything is done
+that can be done to make the men comfortable. Does it keep them from the
+public-house? you ask. Well--_there is not such a thing known as a
+public-house on the Prince's estate_. A man can get his glass of ale at
+the club--good in quality and low in figure--but he cannot get enough to
+send him home the worse for coming; so drunkenness is unknown in the
+villages.
+
+[A] Small men; but is an actual extract from the printed rules
+hanging in the clubs.
+
+On Sunday morning everybody goes to the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, in the park. The Prince and Princess set the example by their
+regular and punctual attendance--the Princess and ladies generally
+driving, the Prince and gentlemen walking by private footway. A quiet,
+peaceful spot it is, entered by a lych-gate and surrounded by a small
+"God's acre." If you are wise, you have come early enough to look round.
+Simplicity is stamped on everything, there not being a single imposing
+monument there. Several stones have been erected by the Prince in memory
+of faithful servants of the household, and there are also several placed
+there by the former proprietors of the estate. To what you are most
+attracted is the resting-place of the third Royal son. No costly
+sepulchre, but a simple grassy mound, surrounded by gilt iron railings
+with a plain headstone, recording the name and date of birth and death
+of the infant Prince, and the words "Suffer little children to come unto
+Me" added.
+
+The church itself is of ancient date, and has been twice restored and
+enlarged by the Prince. It has a font of early times, and some
+half-dozen stained glass windows. The Prince has caused several
+monuments, busts, etc., to be placed there, conspicuous being busts to
+the late Princess Alice and the Emperor Frederick, a medallion to the
+late Duke of Albany, a stained glass window to the infant Prince, and
+monuments to the Revs. W. L. Onslow and G. Browne. The most noticeable
+of anything there, however, is a very handsome brass lectern, placed by
+the Princess as a thank-offering for the recovery of the Prince from his
+dangerous illness of typhoid fever. The event is within the memory of
+most of us, and needs only a brief notice to recall the national anxiety
+that was displayed on the occasion. The lectern bears the following
+inscription: "To the glory of God. A thank-offering for His mercy, 14th
+December, 1871. 'When I was in trouble, I called upon the Lord, and He
+heard me.'"
+
+The space for worshippers is limited, and is generally quite filled by
+the household. The Royal Family occupy carved oak seats in the nave. The
+organ is a very fine one, particularly sweet in tone, and is situated in
+the rear of the building; it is presided over by a very able musician,
+who is also responsible for the choir--this consisting of school
+children, grooms, gardeners, etc. The singing is really good.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRINCESS OF WALES' BOUDOIR.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+I have heard down there of a former organist, who was _not_ a great
+musician, and, in fact, was more at home in the village shop, of which
+he was proprietor. Sunday after Sunday he made the most awful mistakes,
+and, in consequence, was continually warned of his probable dismissal.
+The Princess, with her invariable kindness, had been the cause of his
+staying so long as he had; but one Sunday the climax was reached and the
+Royal patience fairly exhausted. Mr. Gladstone (then in office) was on a
+visit, and his solemn, grim countenance as he stood in the church quite
+frightened the poor man, inasmuch as he lost his head completely. The
+organ left off in the chants, persisted in playing in the prayers, and
+altogether acted in such an erratic manner, that it was no wonder that
+anger was depicted on one countenance, sorrow on another, and amusement
+on a few of the more youthful ones! The old institution had to give way
+to a new, however, and a repetition of such performances was thus
+avoided.
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA AND H.R.H. PRINCESS MAUD OF
+WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The Sunday afternoon is quietly spent in the house or grounds; then in
+the evening some may, perhaps, drive to West Newton or Wolferton
+Church--the Prince, Princess and family often do--while others may
+prefer to stay in for music or reading.
+
+On your way to either place you cannot but notice the prosperous look of
+the villages and villagers, pointing unmistakably to the certainty of a
+good landlord. Had you longer time here, you would hear many an anecdote
+of the kindness and generosity of the Prince and the goodness of the
+Princess and her daughters. Hardly a cottager but has some anecdote to
+tell you of the family: how the Princess visits the sick and afflicted,
+talking to them, reading to them, and helping them in their needs. Every
+child seems to know and to love the "beautiful lady," and every man and
+woman seems almost to worship her; and if you heard the anecdotes I have
+heard there, you would not wonder at it. "Think o' they R'yal
+Highnesses"--they would say--"making o' things wi' their own 'ands fer
+sich as us! Did yew ever heerd tell o' sich, says I; none o' yer frames
+and frimmirks (airs and graces) wi' they." And then they would go on
+with their "says I" and "says she," and tell you all about summer flower
+shows for villagers, treats on Royal birthdays, invitations to see
+sights in the park, how the family have given a wedding present to this
+one, what they have brought or sent the other one when ill; and so on,
+and so on, until you come to think what a pity it is a few land-owners,
+with their wives and families, cannot come here for the lessons so many
+need, and see how well this family interpret the words: "Am I my
+brother's keeper?"
+
+[Illustration: THE DUKE OF YORK.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+Sandringham has saddening associations for its owners, but "Joy cometh
+in the morning," and as we take our farewell of this favourite residence
+of the Prince and Princess, we will wish them a bright future and
+continuance of good health to enjoy their Norfolk home.
+
+
+
+
+_Shafts from an Eastern Quiver._
+
+X.--THE HUNTED TRIBE OF THREE HUNDRED PEAKS.
+
+BY CHARLES J. MANSFORD, B.A.
+
+
+I.
+
+"Are you awake, sahibs?" questioned Hassan, our guide, as he eagerly
+roused us from sleep one night. "The Hunted Tribe of Three Hundred Peaks
+is about its deadly work: Listen!"
+
+[Illustration: "LISTEN!"]
+
+We sat up and leant forward as he spoke, straining our ears to catch the
+slightest sound. Across the plain which stretched before us came at
+intervals a faint cry, which sounded like the hoot of a night bird.
+
+"That is their strange signal," continued the Arab.
+
+We rose, and, going to the door of the tent, scanned the wide plain, but
+could see no human being crossing it.
+
+"You are mistaken this time, Hassan," said Denviers. "What you heard was
+an owl hooting."
+
+"The sahib it is who misjudges," answered the Arab, calmly. "I have
+heard the warning note of the tribe before."
+
+"It seems to come from the direction of Ayuthia," I interposed, pointing
+to where the faint outlines of the spires of its pagodas rose like
+shadows under the starlit sky.
+
+"It comes from beyond Ayuthia," responded Hassan, whose keen sense of
+hearing was so remarkable; "and is as far away as the strange city built
+on the banks round a sunken ship, which we saw as we floated down the
+Meinam. Hist! I hear the signal again!"
+
+Once more we listened, but that time the cry came to us from a different
+direction.
+
+"It is only an owl hooting," repeated Denviers, "which has now flown to
+some other part of the plain and is hidden from us by one of the ruined
+palaces, which seem to rise up like ghosts in the moonlight. If Hassan
+means to wake us up every time he hears a bird screech we shall get
+little enough rest. I'm going to lie down again." He entered the tent,
+followed by us, and stretching himself wearily was asleep a few minutes
+after this, while Hassan and I sat conversing together, for the strange,
+bird-like cry prevented me from following Denviers' example.
+
+"_Coot! Coot!_" came the signal again, and in spite of my companion's
+opinion I felt forced to agree with the Arab that there was something
+more than a bird hooting, for at times I plainly heard an answering cry.
+
+After our adventure in the northern part of Burmah we had travelled
+south into the heart of Siam, where we parted with our elephant, and
+passed down the Meinam in one of the barges scooped out of a tree trunk,
+such as are commonly used to navigate this river. Disembarking at
+Ayuthia we had visited the ruins of the ancient city, and afterwards
+continued on our way towards the mouth of the river. While examining the
+colossal images which lie amid the other relics of the city's past
+greatness, Hassan had told us a weird story, to which, however, at that
+time we paid but scant attention.
+
+On the night when our Arab guide had roused us so suddenly, our tent was
+pitched at some distance from the bank of the river, where a fantastic
+natural bridge of jagged white limestone spanned the seething waters of
+the tumbling rapids below, and united the two parts of the great plain.
+Sitting close to the entrance of the tent with Hassan, I could see far
+away to the west the tops of the great range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+beyond the plain. Recollecting that Hassan had mentioned them in his
+story, I was just on the point of asking him to repeat it when I heard
+the strange cry once more. A moment after the Arab seized me by the arm
+and pointed towards the plain before us.
+
+I looked in the direction which Hassan indicated, and my eyes rested on
+the dismantled wall of a ruined palace. I observed nothing further for a
+few minutes, then a dusky form seemed to be hiding in the shadow of the
+wall. "_Coot!_" came the signal again, striking upon the air softly as
+if the one who uttered it feared to be discovered. The cry had
+apparently been uttered by someone beyond the river bank, for the man
+lurking in the shadow of the ruin stepped boldly out from it into the
+moonlit plain. He stood there silent for a moment, then dropped into the
+high grass, above which we saw him raise his head and cautiously return
+the signal.
+
+"What do you think he is doing there, Hassan? " I asked the Arab, in a
+whisper, as I saw his hand wander to the hilt of his sword.
+
+"The hill-men have seen our tent while out on one of their expeditions,"
+he responded, softly. "I think they are going to attempt to take us by
+surprise, but by the aid of the Prophet we will outwit them."
+
+I felt no particular inclination to place much trust in Mahomet's help,
+as the danger which confronted us dawned fully upon my mind, so instead
+I moved quickly over to Denviers, and awoke him.
+
+[Illustration: "THE SWARTHY FACE OF A TURBANED HILL-MAN."]
+
+"Is it the owl again?" he asked, as I motioned to him to look through
+the opening of the tent. Immediately he did so, and saw the swarthy face
+of a turbaned hill-man raised above the rank grass, as its owner made
+slowly but steadily towards our tent, worming along like a snake, and
+leaving a thin line of beaten-down herbage to show where his body had
+passed. Denviers drew from his belt one of the pistols thrust there, for
+we had taken the precaution at Rangoon to get a couple each, since our
+own were lost in our adventure off Ceylon. I quietly imitated his
+example, and, drawing well away from the entrance of the tent, so that
+our watchfulness might not be observed, we waited for the hill-man to
+approach. Half-way between the ruined palace wall and our tent he
+stopped, and then I felt Hassan's hand upon my arm again as, with the
+other, he pointed towards the river bank.
+
+We saw the grass moving there, and through it came a second hill-man,
+who gradually drew near to the first. On reaching him the second comer
+also became motionless, while we next saw four other trails of
+beaten-down grass, marking the advance of further foes. How many more
+were coming on behind we could only surmise, as we watched the six
+hill-men who headed them get into a line one before the other, and then
+advance, keeping about five yards apart as they came on. From the
+position in which our tent was pitched it was impossible for an attack
+to be made upon us in the rear, and this circumstance fortunately
+allowed of undivided attention to the movements of the hill-men whom we
+saw creeping silently forward.
+
+"Wait till the first one of them gets to the opening of our tent,"
+whispered Denviers to me; "and while I deal with him shoot down the
+second. Keep cool and take a steady aim as he rises from the grass, and
+whatever you do, don't miss him."
+
+[Illustration: "HE SULLENLY FLUNG HIS PONIARD DOWN."]
+
+I held my pistol ready as we waited for them to come on, and each second
+measured with our eyes the distance which still separated us. Twenty
+yards from the tent the foremost of the hill-men took the kris or bent
+poniard with which he was armed from between his teeth, and held it
+aloft in his right hand as he came warily crawling on a foot at a time
+followed by the others, each with his weapon raised as though already
+about to plunge it into our throats. It was not a very cheering
+spectacle, but we held our weapons ready and watched their advance
+through thy grass, determined to thrust them back.
+
+I felt my breath come fast as the first hill-man stopped when within
+half-a-dozen yards of the tent and listened carefully. I could have
+easily shot him down as he half rose to his feet, and his fierce eyes
+glittered in his swarthy face. Almost mechanically I noticed the loose
+shirt and trousers which he wore, and saw the white turban lighting up
+his bronzed features as he crept right up to our tent and thrust his
+head in, confident that those within it were asleep. The next instant he
+was down, with Denviers' hand on his throat and a pistol thrust into his
+astonished face, as my companion exclaimed:--
+
+"Drop your weapon or I'll shoot you!"
+
+The hill-man glared like a tiger for a moment, then he saw the advantage
+of following Denviers' suggestion. He sullenly flung his poniard down,
+gasping for breath, just as I covered the second of our enemies with my
+pistol and fired. The hill-man raised his arms convulsively in the air,
+gave a wild cry, and fell forward upon his face, dead!
+
+The third of those attacking us dashed forward, undaunted at the fate of
+the one he saw shot down, only to be flung headlong on the grass the
+next instant before the tent, with Hassan kneeling on his chest and the
+point of the Arab's sword at his throat.
+
+The rest of the enemy did not wait to continue the combat, but rose from
+the grass and dispersed precipitately over the plain, making for the
+limestone bridge across the river. I rushed forward to Hassan's
+assistance, and bound the captive's arms, while the Arab held him down
+as I knotted tightly the sash I had taken from my waist. Then I made for
+the tent, to find that Denviers had already secured the first prisoner
+by lashing about him a stout piece of tent rope. My companion forced his
+captive from the tent into the open plain, where we held a whispered
+conversation as to whether the two prisoners should live or die. The
+safer plan was undoubtedly to shoot them, for we both agreed that at any
+moment our own position might become a critical one if the rest of the
+horde made another attempt upon us, as we fully expected would be done.
+
+However, we finally decided to spare their lives, for a time at all
+events, and while Hassan and Denviers led the captives across the plain,
+I brought from the tent part of a long coil of rope which we had and
+followed them. As soon as we neared the river bank we selected two
+suitable trees from a clump growing there and lashed the prisoners
+securely to them, threatening instant death if they attempted to signal
+their whereabouts to any of the hill-men who might be lurking about.
+
+"Get our rifles and ammunition, Hassan," said Denviers to the Arab. Then
+turning to me, he continued: "We shall have some tough fighting I expect
+when those niggers return, but we are able to hold our own better out of
+the tent than in it." Hassan brought our weapons, saying as he handed
+them to us:--
+
+"The sahibs are wise to prepare for another attack, since the enemy must
+return this way. They have not gone off towards the far mountain peaks,
+but crossed yonder limestone bridge instead."
+
+"What do you understand from that movement?" Denviers asked Hassan.
+
+"The sound which we heard at first came from the strange city of which I
+spoke," he replied. "Some of the fierce hill-men have made a night
+attack upon it, and will soon return this way. Those we have beaten off
+have gone to meet them and to speak of the failure to surprise us. What
+they are doing in the city round the sunken ship will shortly be
+apparent. The whole band is a terrible scourge to the cities of the
+Meinam, for, by Allah, as I told the sahibs at Ayuthia, the Hunted Tribe
+has a weird history indeed."
+
+Trailing our rifles, we walked through the rank grass, then resting upon
+a fallen column, where the shadow of the ruined palace wall concealed us
+from the view of the enemy if they crossed the bridge, we listened to
+Hassan's story. At the same time we kept a careful watch upon the jagged
+limestone spanning the river, ready at a moment's notice to renew the
+struggle, and it was well for us that we did so.
+
+
+II.
+
+"It is a strange, wild story which the sahibs shall again hear of the
+Hunted Tribe and of its leader," began Hassan, as he rested at our feet
+with his sword gripped in his hand ready to wield it in our service at
+any moment; "and thus ye will know why the band is out to-night on its
+fell errand. Years ago, before the Burmese had overrun Siam, and while
+Ayuthia was its capital, so famous for its pagodas and palaces, Yu Chan
+became head of the bonzes or priests of the royal monastery.
+
+"Who the great bonze was by birth none knew, although it was whispered
+through the kingdom that he sprang from a certain illustrious family
+which urged his claim to the position to which the ruler reluctantly
+appointed him. The subject bonzes looked darkly upon him, for he was but
+young, while many of them were bowed with age and aspired to hold the
+high office to which Yu Chan had been appointed. Oft they drew together
+in the gloomy cloisters, and when he swept past in silence, raised their
+hands threateningly at his disappearing form, though before his lofty,
+stern-set face they bowed in seeming humility as they kissed the hem of
+his magnificent robe.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY RAISED THEIR HANDS THREATENINGLY AT HIS
+DISAPPEARING FORM."]
+
+"Among these bonzes was one who especially resented Yu Chan's rule over
+him, for he was more learned in the subtile crafts of the East than the
+rest, and the potency of his spells was known and feared throughout
+Siam. An unbending ascetic, indeed, was the grey-bearded Klan Hua, and
+the ruler of the country had already promised to him that he should
+become the head of the bonzes whenever the office was vacated. So much
+was this ruler influenced by Klan Hua that he built a covered way from
+his palace by which he might pass at night into the bonze's rude cell to
+hear the interpretation of his dreams, or learn the coming events of his
+destiny. Yet, in spite of all this, when the chief bonze died, the ruler
+of Siam, after much hesitation, gave the coveted office to Yu Chan.
+Judge, then, of the fierce hatred which this roused in Klan Hua's
+breast, and ye will understand the reason of the plot which he formed
+against the one who held the position he so much desired."
+
+"Never mind about the quarrels of these estimable bonzes, Hassan,"
+interrupted Denviers. "Go on and tell us of these hill-men, or you won't
+get that yarn finished before they return, in which case we may never
+have the chance to hear the end of it."
+
+"The sahib is always impatient," answered the Arab gravely; then he
+continued, quite heedless of Denviers' suggestion: "On the nights when
+the ruler went not to Klan Hua's cell, the latter gathered there several
+of the other bonzes, and they sat darkly plotting till morning came.
+Then they crept stealthily back to their own cells, to shift their eyes
+nervously each time that the stern glance of Yu Chan fell upon them, as
+he seemed to read there their guilty secret.
+
+"They planned to poison him, but he left the tampered food untasted.
+Then they drew lots to assassinate him as he slept, but the one whose
+tablet was marked with a poniard was found lifeless the next day, with
+his weapon still clutched in his stiffened fingers, and none knew how he
+died. That day the eyes of Yu Chan grew sterner set than ever, as he
+gazed searchingly into the face of each bonze as they passed in a long
+procession before him, while the conspirators grew livid with fear and
+baffled rage at the cold smile with which he seemed to mock at the
+failure of their schemes. Then they made one last effort a few days
+after, and ye shall hear how it ended.
+
+"The stately Meinam, which glitters before us under the midnight sky,
+yearly overflows and renders the earth about it productive. Far as the
+history of Siam is recorded in the traditions of the race, it has been
+the custom to perform a strange ceremony, intended to impress the common
+people with awe for the ruler. Even now the King of Siam, he who sends
+the silver tree to China in token of subjection, still adheres to it,
+and on the day when the waters of the Meinam have reached their highest
+point he sends a royal barge down the swollen waters manned by a hundred
+bonzes, who command the turbid stream to rise no higher. So then it
+happened that the rise of the river took place, and Klan Hua, who was
+learned in such things, counted to the hour when the barge should be
+launched, even as he had done for many years. When the ruler visited him
+one eventful night he declared that the turbid waters would be at their
+full on the morrow, and so the command to them to cease rising could
+then safely be given.
+
+"Accordingly the royal barge was launched, amid the cries of the people,
+whereupon the ruler soon entered it and, fanned by a female slave, leant
+back upon the sumptuous cushions under a canopy of crimson silk, while
+by his side was the chief bonze--Yu Chan. Near the ruler was the
+grey-bearded Klan Hua, with an evil smile upon his face as he saw his
+rival resting on the cushions in the place which he had hoped so long to
+fill.
+
+"Out into the middle of the swollen river the royal barge went; then
+half way between bank and bank the rhythmic music of the oars as they
+dipped together into the water ceased, and the rowers rested. From his
+seat Yu Chan arose, and uttered in the priestly tongue the words which
+laid a spell upon the stream and bade it cease to rise. Scarcely had he
+done so and sunk back again upon the cushions when Klan Hua threw
+himself at the monarch's feet and petitioned to utter a few words to
+him. The ruler raised the bonze, and bade him speak. Holding one hand
+aloft, the plotting Klan Hua pointed with the other towards the
+astonished Yu Chan, as he fiercely cried:--
+
+"'Thou false-tongued traitor, thou hast insulted thy monarch to his
+face!'
+
+"The ruler bent forward from his cushions and looked in surprise from
+the accuser to the accused.
+
+"'Speak!' he cried to Klan Hua; 'make good thy unseemly charge, or, old
+as thou art, thy head shall roll from thy shoulders!'
+
+"'Great Ruler of Siam and Lord of the White Elephant,' exclaimed the
+accuser, giving the monarch his strange but august title, 'I declare to
+thee that the chief bonze has doomed the country to destruction. Taking
+advantage of the language in which the exorcism is pronounced, he has
+done what never the greatest prince under thee would dare to do. This
+man, the head of our order, has spoken words which will make the people
+scorn thee and this ceremony, if his command comes to pass. Yu Chan, the
+traitor, has bidden the waters _to rise_!'
+
+"The monarch crimsoned with anger, as he turned to Yu Chan, who had
+already regained his composure, and sat with crossed arms, smiling
+scornfully at his accuser, and then asked:--
+
+"'Hast thou so misused thy power? Speak!'
+
+"'How can'st thou doubt me, knowing my great descent?' cried Yu Chan,
+bitterly. 'Even at thy bidding I will not answer a question which casts
+so much shame upon me.'
+
+"'Thou can'st not deny this charge!' exclaimed the infuriated monarch.
+
+"'Not so,' replied the chief bonze, 'I will not! If thou carest to
+believe the slanderous words which Klan Hua has uttered, and such that
+not one in this barge will dare to repeat, so be it!'
+
+"Yu Chan withdrew from his seat at the monarch's side, and taking his
+rival's place pointed to the one he had himself vacated.
+
+"'There rest thyself, and be at last content,' he said, scornfully:
+'thou false bonze, whisper thence more of thy malicious words into the
+ears of the great ruler of Siam!'
+
+"The monarch was disconcerted for a moment, then motioning one of the
+other bonzes forward, he exclaimed:--
+
+"'Yu Chan declares that no one in this barge will support his accuser's
+words. Thou who wert near, tell me, what am I to believe?'
+
+"'Alas!' answered the bonze, with simulated grief, 'Klan Hua spoke
+truly, great monarch; thy trust in Yu Chan has been sorely abused.'
+
+"One after another the bonzes near came before the monarch and gave the
+same testimony, for the crafty Klan Hua had so placed the plotters for
+the furtherance of their subtle scheme. The ruler gazed angrily at Yu
+Chan, then summoning his rival to his side, bade him rest there.
+
+"'Henceforth thou art chief bonze,' he said; then added threateningly to
+the fallen one: 'Thou shalt be exiled from this hour, and if the waters
+rise to-morrow, as thou hast bidden them, I will have thee hunted down,
+hide where thou mayest, and thy head shall fall.'
+
+"The barge reached the shore, and the people drew back amazed to see the
+monarch pass on, attended closely by Klan Hua, while he who was as they
+thought chief bonze flung off his great robe of purple-embroidered silk,
+and idly watched the bonzes disembark, then moved slowly away across the
+great plain.
+
+[Illustration: "KLAN HUA WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS CELL."]
+
+"Two days afterwards Klan Hua was found dead in his cell covered with
+the robes of his newly-acquired office, and the ruler of Siam had
+dispatched a body of soldiers to hunt down Yu Chan and to take him alive
+or dead to Ayuthia. The Meinam had risen still higher the day after the
+ceremony, not, as the startled monarch thought, because of the deposed
+one's power, but owing to Klan Hua's deception in regard to the real
+time when he knew the water would reach its limit.
+
+"Then began the strange events which made the name of Yu Chan so
+memorable. For some years a band of marauders had taken possession of
+the far range known as the Three Hundred Peaks, but hitherto their raids
+in Burmah and Siam had attracted scant attention, while in Ayuthia few
+knew of their existence. To them the bonze went, and when the
+half-savage troops sent in search of him were encamped on the edge of
+the plain the mountaineers unexpectedly swooped down upon them. The
+remnant which escaped hastened back to the monarch with strange stories
+of the prowess of the enemy, and especially of Yu Chan, the exile, whom
+they averred led on the foe to victory. The ruler of Siam, deeply
+chagrined at their non-success, ordered the vanquished ones to be
+decapitated for their failure to bring back the bonze or his lifeless
+body.
+
+"A second expedition was sent against them, but the mountaineers held
+their fastnesses so well that, in despair of conquering them, the few
+who survived their second onslaught slew themselves rather than return
+to Ayuthia to suffer a like fate to that which the monarch had awarded
+the others. Maddened at these repeated defeats, the ruler himself headed
+a large army and invested the passes, cutting off the supplies of the
+mountaineers, in the hope of starving them into subjection. So deeply
+was he roused against Yu Chan that he offered to pardon the rebels on
+condition that they betrayed their leader.
+
+"They scornfully rejected such terms, and withdrew to the heart of the
+mountains to endure all the horrors of famine with a courage which was
+heroic. At times the brave band made desperate efforts to break through
+the wall of men which girded them about, and each onset, in which they
+were beaten back, inspired them to try yet again.
+
+"The Malay who told me their story declared they were reduced to such
+straits at last that for one dreadful month they lived upon their dead.
+Never once did they waver from their allegiance to Yu Chan, whose
+stern-set face inspired them to resist to the last, for well he knew
+that the monarch's promise could not be trusted, and that surrender for
+them meant death. Often would they be repulsed at sunset in an attempt
+to break through the cordon which held them, and yet before nightfall,
+at the entrance of some precipitous pass, far remote from that spot,
+swift and sudden the gaunt and haggard band appeared, led on by Yu Chan,
+sword in hand, as he hewed down those who dared to face him.
+
+"Just when they were most oppressed relief came to the band of a quite
+unexpected kind, for the Burmese on the border overran Siam, and the
+soldiers were withdrawn to meet the new enemy. So, for a time, the band
+was left unmolested; but still none, save their leader, ventured to
+leave their wild haunts. Before he had been appointed chief of the
+bonzes who brought about his exile, Yu Chan had been the lover of a
+maiden of Ayuthia, but the high office which had been bestowed on him
+kept them apart. No sooner had the robes which he wore as a bonze been
+exchanged for those of a mountaineer than Yu Chan determined to see this
+maiden again. On the departure of their enemies he prepared to visit
+Ayuthia, although strongly counselled not to do so by his devoted band.
+He was, however, obdurate, and set forth on his perilous enterprise
+alone.
+
+"Yu Chan crossed the great plain of Siam, and then, resting in a
+thatched hut upon the bank of the Meinam, dispatched a Malay, who
+chanced to dwell there, with a message to his beloved to visit him, for
+he thought it useless to attempt to enter Ayuthia if he wished to live.
+At nightfall the Malay returned from the island in the middle of the
+bend of the Meinam, whereon ye know the city is built. He thrust a
+tablet into Yu Chan's hand, whereon was a desire that the latter would
+wait the maiden's coming at a part of the bank where often the boat of
+the lovers had touched at before. Soon the exile beheld the slight craft
+making for the shore, manned by six rowers muffled in their cloaks, for
+the night was cold. Happy indeed would it have been for the lovers if
+the maiden had scanned closely the features of those who ferried her
+across the river, for the treacherous Malay had recognised Yu Chan, and
+six of the monarch's soldiers were the supposed boatmen, hurriedly
+gathered to take the exile or to slay him.
+
+"The maiden stepped from the boat, and, with a glad cry, flung her arms
+about Yu Chan, who had passed down the narrow path to meet her. Together
+they climbed up the steep way that led to the plain above the high bank,
+followed by the muffled soldiers, who lurked cautiously in the shadows
+of the limestone, through which wound the toilsome path. Once, as they
+passed along, a slight sound behind them arrested the footsteps of the
+lovers, and Yu Chan turned and glanced back searchingly, then on they
+went again. For an hour or more they wandered together over the plain,
+then, with many a sigh, turned to descend the path once more. Again they
+heard a sound, and that time on looking round quickly Yu Chan saw the
+boatmen, whom he had thought awaited the maiden's return by the river
+brink, stealing closely after him, their faces shrouded in their black
+cloaks.
+
+"At once his suspicions were aroused, and hastily unsheathing his sword
+he confronted them just as they flung off their cloaks and the fierce
+faces of six of the half-savage soldiery of the monarch were revealed to
+Yu Chan. Slowly the latter retreated till he was a little way down the
+path with his back to the protecting limestone, then stood at bay to
+defend the maiden and himself from the advancing foes. Warily they came
+on, for well they knew the deadly thrusts which he could deal with his
+keen sword. Yu Chan in fighting at such desperate odds more than once
+failed to beat down the weapons lunged at him, but though severely
+wounded he did not flinch from the combat. Three of his assailants lay
+dead at his feet, when the leader of the monarch's soldiery twisted the
+sword from Yu Chan's hand, and then the three surviving foes rushed upon
+the defenceless man. With a cry that pierced the air the maiden flung
+herself before her lover--to fall dead as her body was thrust through
+and through by the weapons intended for the heart of Yu Chan!
+
+[Illustration: "THE MAIDEN FLUNG HERSELF BEFORE HER LOVER."]
+
+"Like a boarhound the mountain chief leapt upon his nearest assailant,
+wrenched the sword dripping with the maiden's blood from his hand, and
+almost cleaved him in half with one resistless stroke. He turned next
+upon the remaining two, but they fled headlong down the path, Yu Chan
+following with a fierce cry at their heels. Into the boat they leapt,
+nor dared to look behind till they were out in mid-stream; then they saw
+the wounded chief slowly dragging himself back to where the maiden lay
+lifeless.
+
+"Yu Chan bent despairingly over her as he saw the fatal stains which
+dyed her garments and reddened some of the fragrant white flowers fallen
+from her hair, which lay in masses framing her white, still face. Taking
+up his own sword, he sheathed it; then he raised the maiden gently in
+his arms, and, covered himself with gaping wounds, he set out to cross
+the great plain to the Three Hundred Peaks, where his followers awaited
+his return. On he struggled for two weary days with his lifeless burden;
+then at last he reached the end of his journey, and as the mountaineers
+gathered hastily about him and shuddered to see the ghastly face of
+their chief, Yu Chan tottered and fell dead in their midst!
+
+"Round the two lifeless forms the hunted tribe gathered, and, looking
+upon them, knew that they had been slain by their remorseless foes. One
+by one the mountaineers pressed forward, and amid the deathly silence of
+the others, each in turn touched the sword of their slain chief and
+sternly swore the blood-revenge. Fierce, indeed, as are such outbreaks
+in many eastern lands, that day marked the beginning of dark deeds of
+requitement that have made all others as nothing in comparison to them.
+The Burmese came down upon Siam and swept over fair Ayuthia, leaving
+nothing but the ruins of the city; yet, even in that national calamity,
+the fierce instinct of murder so fatally roused in the breasts of the
+mountaineers never paused nor seemed dulled. While the magnificent city
+lay despoiled, the once hunted tribe fell upon the others about the
+Meinam, and long after peace reigned throughout the country, still their
+deeds of pillage and massacre went on, as they do even to this day, so
+remote from the one when their leader was slain.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY SWORE THE BLOOD-REVENGE."]
+
+"For months the tribe will be unheard of, and lulled by a false sense of
+security the inhabitants of one of these cities will make preparations
+for one of their recurring festivals. Even in the midst of such the
+strange cry of the hunted tribe will be heard, and the coming day will
+reveal to the awe-struck people the evidence of a night attack, in which
+men and women have been slain or carried off suddenly to the Three
+Hundred Peaks."
+
+"The present descendants of the avengers of Yu Chan's death are a
+cowardly lot, at all events," commented Denviers, as the Arab finished
+his recital: "they attacked us without reason, and have consequently got
+their deserts. If they come upon us again----"
+
+"Hist, sahib," Hassan whispered cautiously, as he pointed with his sword
+towards the fantastic bridge of limestone; "the hunted tribe is
+returning from its raid, see!" We looked in the direction in which he
+motioned us, and saw that the mountaineers bore a captive in their
+midst! Immediately one of the prisoners lashed to the trees gave a
+warning cry, regardless of the threats which Denviers had uttered.
+Hassan sprang to his feet, and stood by my side as we raised our rifles,
+still hidden as we were in the shadow of the ruined palace wall.
+
+
+III.
+
+"Hassan," whispered my companion to the Arab; "go over to the prisoners
+there, and if they cry out again shoot them. I don't think that first
+cry has been heard by the others." As he spoke Denviers thrust a pistol
+into Hassan's hand and motioned to him to move through the grass towards
+them. We watched our guide as he neared them and raised the pistol
+threateningly--a silent admonition which they understood, and became
+quiet accordingly.
+
+From our position in the shadow of the ruined palace wall we saw a
+number of the hunted tribe slowly wind over the bridge with their
+captive, and noticed that in addition they had plenty of plunder with
+them. Noiselessly they moved towards our tent, and completely surrounded
+it, only to find it empty. They were evidently at a loss what to do,
+when one of their number stumbled over the dead mountaineer whom I had
+shot down as he joined in the attack upon us. A fierce exclamation
+quickly caused the rest to gather about him, and for some minutes they
+held a brief consultation. We judged from their subsequent actions that
+they considered we had made good our escape from the plain, for they
+made no further search for us, but apparently determined to avenge their
+comrade's death by slaying their captive. While the rest of the band
+moved away over the plain, two of their number returned towards the
+limestone bridge spanning the river. Guessing their fell purpose,
+Denviers and I crept through the tall grass, and under cover of the
+trees by the bank moved cautiously towards them.
+
+From tree to tree we advanced with our rifles in our hands, then just
+when within twenty yards of them we stopped aghast at the movements of
+the two mountaineers, who were forcing their struggling captive slowly
+towards the edge of the jagged limestone bridge!
+
+We looked down at the angry waters of the rapid, swirling twenty feet
+below in the deep bed of the river, which was slowly rising each day,
+for the time of its inundation was near at hand. For a moment I saw a
+woman's horror-stricken face in the moonlight and heard her agonizing
+cry, then the sharp crack of Denviers' rifle rang out, and one of her
+assailants relaxed his grasp. Before Denviers could take a shot at the
+second mountaineer, he seized the captive woman and deliberately thrust
+her over the rocky bridge!
+
+"Quick! To the river!" exclaimed Denviers, as we heard the sound of her
+body striking the waters below. Down the steep bank we scrambled,
+steadying ourselves by grasping the lithe and dwarfed trees which grew
+in its rocky crevices. For one brief moment we scanned the seething
+torrent, and then, right in its midst, we saw the face and floating hair
+of the woman as she was tossed to and fro in the rapid, while she vainly
+tried to cling to the huge boulders rising high in the stream through
+which her fragile form was hurried.
+
+"Jump into the boat and wait for me to be carried down to you!" cried
+Denviers, and before I fully realized what he was about to do, he flung
+his rifle down and plunged headlong into the foaming waters. I saw him
+battling against the fierce current with all his might, for the rocks in
+mid-stream prevented the woman from being floated down to us and
+threatened to beat out her life, as she was borne violently against
+them. I ran madly towards where our boat had been drawn up, and pushing
+it into the river strained my eyes eagerly in the wild hope of seeing
+Denviers alive when his body should be floated down towards me.
+
+[Illustration: "OVER THE ROCKY BRIDGE."]
+
+I pulled hard against the stream and managed to keep the rude craft from
+being carried away with the current. A few minutes afterwards I saw that
+my companion had succeeded in dragging the woman from the grinding
+channels between the rocks, and was being swept on to where I anxiously
+awaited him with his burden. The water dashed violently against the boat
+as I put it across the middle of the rushing stream, then dropped the
+oars as he was flung towards me. I stretched out my arms over the side
+in order to relieve him of his burden, and, although he was exhausted,
+Denviers made one last effort and thrust the woman towards me. I dragged
+her into the boat just as her rescuer sank back. With a quick but steady
+grip I caught my companion and hauled him in too, and before long had
+the happiness to see both become conscious once more.
+
+Leaving the boat to float down the stream, I merely steered it clear of
+the rocky sides of the river channel, then, seeing some distance ahead a
+favourable place to land, drew in to the shore with a few swift strokes
+from the oars. Denviers remained with the woman he had rescued, while I
+climbed the steep bank again and found that the mountaineers had,
+fortunately, not returned, although we had fully expected the report of
+Denviers' rifle to cause them to do so. I thereupon signalled to my
+companion below that all was safe, and he toiled up to the plain
+supporting the woman, who was a Laos, judging from her garments and
+slight, graceful form.
+
+Spreading for her a couch of skins, we left her reclining wearily in the
+tent, to which Denviers conducted her, then hastened towards Hassan,
+whom we found still keeping guard over our two captives. The Arab, when
+he heard of the hazardous venture which Denviers had made, stoutly urged
+us to put our prisoners to death, as a warning to the hunted tribe that
+their misdeeds could not always be carried on with impunity. For reply
+Denviers quietly took the pistol from the Arab's hand, and then we
+returned towards the tent, outside which we rested till day dawned.
+
+The woman within the tent then arose and came towards us, thanking
+Denviers profusely for saving her from such a death as had confronted
+her. She told us that her betrothal to a neighbouring prince had taken
+place only a few days before, but although every precaution had been
+taken to keep the affair secret, the news was conveyed to the hunted
+tribe by some one of the many supporters of the mountaineers. As she was
+a woman of high rank, this seemed to them a suitable opportunity to
+strike further terror into the hearts of the people inhabiting the
+cities about the Meinam. Their plans had been thoroughly successful, for
+they had despoiled several of the richest citizens, slaying those who
+opposed them, then snatching the woman up, began to carry her off to
+live among their tribeswomen, and to become one of them, when we
+fortunately saved her from that fate. We promised to conduct her to the
+city whence she had been stolen, which we eventually did, but before
+setting out for that purpose we visited our prisoners again.
+
+"Hassan," said Denviers, "release the men from the trees." The Arab most
+reluctantly did so, stoutly maintaining that after Mahomet had helped us
+so strangely and successfully, we would be wiser either to shoot them or
+leave them bound till someone discovered and dealt with our prisoners as
+they deserved.
+
+The ropes were accordingly unbound which fastened them to the trees;
+then Denviers pointed to the distant range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+and bade them begone. The two prisoners set forward at a run, being not
+a little surprised at our clemency. When they had at last disappeared in
+the distance, we moved towards the city beyond Ayuthia to restore the
+princess to her people, who had, by our means, been snatched from the
+power of the hunted tribe.
+
+
+
+
+Weathercocks and Vanes
+
+by Warrington Hogg.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The picturesque quality and almost endless variety of vanes--from the
+modest arrow to the richly-gilt and imposing heraldic monster--which
+meet the eye as one wanders through quiet village, busy market town, or
+sleepy cathedral city, and the traditions which are associated with
+these distinctly useful, time-honoured, and much consulted adjuncts to
+church or home, make me hope that the following brief notes and sketches
+of a few of the many types one sees may not be without interest to some
+of the numerous readers of THE STRAND MAGAZINE.
+
+That eminent authority on things architectural--the late John Henry
+Parker, F.S.A.--tells us that vanes were in use in the time of the
+Saxons, and in after ages were very extensively employed, there being
+notable development during the prevalence of the Perpendicular and
+Elizabethan styles.
+
+To anyone vane-hunting--or health-hunting, for the matter of that--I
+would recommend them to tramp, sketch or note book in hand, over that
+stretch of country which occupies the most southerly corner of Kent,
+known as Romney Marsh; and beginning, say, at Hythe--one of the old
+Cinque Ports, and still a place of considerable importance--they will
+there find several vanes worthy of note, specially perhaps the one which
+surmounts the Town Hall, in the High Street. It is in excellent
+condition, and is contemporary with the building itself, which was
+erected in 1794.
+
+[Illustration: At Hythe.]
+
+The country between Hythe and Dymchurch has quite a plethora of rustic
+vanes--many crippled and others almost defunct--sketches of a few of
+which I give my readers. Note the one, carved out of a piece of wood and
+rudely shaped like a bottle, which is stuck on an untrimmed bough of a
+tree and spliced to a clothes-prop: could anything be more naïve? (in
+justice I would add that this is _not_ at the inn); or the one that is
+noted just below it--an axe poised on the roof of the local
+wheelwright's workshop, which aforesaid roof still bears unmistakable
+evidence of election turmoil. Nevertheless, this original type of vane
+seemed well fitted to do good service, for one noted that it answered to
+the slightest breath of wind. The old patched one, too, on the quaint
+little Norman church at Dymchurch seemed to me to be of interest in many
+ways, specially when I realized that it looked down on a row of graves,
+kept in beautiful order, of the nameless dead which the angry sea had
+given into the keeping of these sturdy village folk.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+Vanes near Dymchurch, Romney Marsh, Kent.]
+
+Working westward past Ivychurch, with its fine Perpendicular tower and
+beacon-turret, Old and New Romney, Lydd (which was attached to the
+Cinque Port of Romney), with its dignified Perpendicular church, of
+which Cardinal Wolsey was once vicar, we come to Rye, which is just over
+the border-land into Sussex, another of the towns annexed to the Cinque
+Ports, though, sad to say, like Sandwich and Winchelsea, its prosperity
+departed when the sea deserted it.
+
+At Rye one cannot help but linger, there is so much to interest; its
+unique position, its ancient standing, the almost incredible changes in
+its surroundings owing to the receding of the sea, its chequered
+history, its delightful, old-world look, and its venerable church of St.
+Nicholas, all combine to arrest one's attention. Let us look for a few
+moments at the church itself, which crowns the hill, and upon the tower
+of which stands the vane depicted in my sketch. It was built towards the
+close of the twelfth century, and Jeake, the historian, says of it that
+it was "the goodliest edifice of the kind in Kent or Sussex, the
+cathedrals excepted." Its first seven vicars were priests of the Church
+of Rome, and in the church records there are some curious entries, which
+look as though Passion plays were once performed in Rye. Here is one
+dated 1522:--
+
+"Paid for a coate made when the Resurrection was played at Easter, for
+him that in playing represented the part of Almighty God, 1s.; ditto for
+making the stage, 3s. 4d." During the reign of Edward VI. an entry is
+made, which reads: "Expended for cleaning the church from Popery, £1
+13s. 4d."
+
+[Illustration: On Rye Chvrch]
+
+If tradition be true, Queen Elizabeth (who once visited Rye) gave the
+clock, which is said to be the oldest clock actually going in England.
+Now for the weather-vane, which I venture to think is worthy of its
+surroundings: it is simple in form, stately in proportion, and in
+excellent preservation. Through the metal plate of the vane itself are
+cut boldly, stencil fashion, the letters "A. R." (I was unable to find
+out to whom they referred--presumably a churchwarden), and immediately
+below them, the date 1703. The pointer is very thick and richly
+foliated, and the wrought ironwork which supports the arms, which
+indicate the four cardinal points of the compass, is excellent in
+design.
+
+[Illustration: On Winchelsea Chvrch.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892]
+
+[Illustration: S. Eanswythe's Folkestone
+
+W. Hogg 1892]
+
+Two miles further west we come to dear old Winchelsea. The church (built
+between 1288-1292), of which only the choir and chancel, with some
+portions of the transepts, now remain, was originally dedicated to St.
+Thomas à Becket, but in the present day is called after St. Thomas the
+Apostle. It possesses an exceptionally fine vane, perched on a curiously
+squat, barn-like structure, which does duty for a tower. With its
+creeper-covered dormer windows and a somewhat convivial-looking
+chimney-pot sticking up out of one of them on the south side, it looks
+more picturesque than ecclesiastical; but the beauty of the vane itself
+at once arrests attention. I think it is one of the most elaborate
+specimens of wrought ironwork, applied to such a purpose, that I have
+met with; against a sunny sky it is like so much beautiful filigree--the
+metal wind-plate is apparently a much later restoration, and is
+perforated with the letters "W. M." and the date 1868. From the vane you
+could almost jump into the old tree beneath which John Wesley preached
+his last sermon. Eastward, but very little beyond the shadow of the
+vane, is Tower Cottage, Miss Ellen Terry's country retreat. Mr. Harry
+How, in a recent number of THE STRAND MAGAZINE, has told us in
+one of his interesting "Interviews" of the quiet home life of the great
+actress when staying here. What a glorious outlook the old vane has--on
+the one hand quaint, sleepy Rye and the flat stretches of Romney Marsh;
+to the north the great Weald of Kent; to the westward beautiful Sussex,
+and straight in front the open sea of the English Channel.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Folkestone makes a capital centre from which to go a-hunting vanes, but
+before we start it is well worth while to glance for a few moments at
+the modern one on the Parish Church of St. Eanswythe. It was designed,
+about fifteen years ago, by Mr. S. S. Stallwood, the architect, of
+Reading, who, by-the-bye, is, too, responsible for the fine west window.
+The vane is of dark metal throughout, save for the gilt arrow, and
+stands on a turret to the south-west of the Perpendicular embattled
+tower. It is in excellent condition, notwithstanding its very exposed
+position to the Channel storms. Down on the harbour jetty, surmounting
+the lighthouse and hard by where the Boulogne mail-boats come in day by
+day, is a vane with scrolly arms, well worth noting; and, again, on a
+house out toward Shorncliffe, are a couple of "fox" vanes, one of which
+blustering Boreas has shorn of its tail; poor Reynard, in consequence,
+is ever swirling round and round--a ludicrous object--apparently ever
+seeking and never finding the aforesaid tail.
+
+[Illustration: On Cheriton Chvrch Tovver]
+
+[Illustration: Near Cheriton. W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+About a mile inland, near the Old Hall Farm, on an outhouse or piggery,
+is the subject of the accompanying sketch. It has certainly seen much
+better days, and is rather a quaint specimen of the genus weather-vane.
+It will be noted that rude winds have carried away, almost bodily,
+three out of the four letters which denote the compass-points, but have
+in mercy spared poor piggy's curly tail.
+
+[Illustration: At Newington. W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+A mile or so further on is a daintily-designed but very simple vane,
+which stands on the north-east corner of the tower of the ancient church
+of St. Martin at Cheriton. Canon Scott Robertson, the well-known
+antiquarian, pronounces this tower to be of unusual interest. He tells
+us that it is probably pre-Norman, but certainly was erected before the
+end of the 11th century. Traces of characteristic, rough, wide-jointed
+masonry and a small, round-headed doorway should be specially noted. Let
+us linger in the church itself for a few moments. In the north Chantry
+(13th century) we shall find an interesting mural tablet thus
+inscribed:--
+
+"Here lieth Interred the Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Raleigh, Grand Daughter
+of the FAMED Sr Walter Raleigh, who died at the Enbrook, 26 day of
+October, 1716, aged 30 years."
+
+It stands close to a finely carved pulpit four hundred years old. The
+north porch is a memorial to the _first_ Lord Justice of England--Sir
+James Lewis Knight-Bruce, who with his wife lies buried almost within
+its shadow. On an old house close by is a "cow" vane--when I made the
+sketch given, pigeons by the score from a neighbouring cote kept
+perching on it in a very friendly and picturesque fashion. Two miles
+further in the same direction brings us to the village of Newington,
+which possesses one of the quaintest little churches in Kent. Among
+other things it boasts some seventeen brasses--some dating back to the
+15th and 16th centuries--an ancient dial, on oaken shaft fast mouldering
+away--and a picturesque wooden belfry surmounted by a vigorously
+modelled gilt weathercock in capital preservation.
+
+[Illustration: At Sevington.]
+
+On Sevington spire, near Ashford, is a daintily designed vane, dated
+1866. Some storm has given it--as the sailors say--a list to port, but
+that seems somehow not to take away from but to add to its charm. It is
+interesting to note that not far from here is the house where once
+resided Dr. Harvey, the famous discoverer of the circulation of the
+blood.
+
+[Illustration: At Orlestone]
+
+[Illustration: At Sandgate]
+
+[Illustration: At Maidstone]
+
+A mile on brings us to Hinxhill--a dear, old-world place--its
+picturesque little church, with ivy-covered walls, moss-grown roof,
+quaint open-timbered chancel, and fine stained-glass, all go to make a
+never-to-be-forgotten picture. On the little Early English spire is set
+a vane simple and good in treatment, and thoroughly in accord with its
+surroundings.
+
+At Sandgate is a well designed "horse and jockey" vane on a flagstaff,
+in a garden about fifty yards from where the ill-fated sailing ship, the
+_Benvenue_, went ashore and sank, and which was blown up by order of the
+Admiralty only last autumn.
+
+Dover, too, has its share of interesting vanes; perhaps the one
+belonging to St. Mary the Virgin is the best. It is attached to an old
+lead-covered spire surmounting a decorated Norman tower with rich
+exterior arcading, practically untouched by the unloving hand of the
+so-called "restorer"; but there are several others in the older streets
+of the town well worth noting.
+
+The seeker for vanes, quaint and ancient, must on no account miss going
+down the High Street of Tonbridge. There are three within a stone's
+throw of each other which must be noted, specially the one locally known
+as "The Sportsman"--he stands over a dormer window in the red-tiled roof
+of an old house of the Sheraton period, immediately opposite the famous
+"Chequers Inn." The house itself is very interesting; it has evidently
+been, in its early days, of considerable pretension, but has been an
+ironmonger's shop since 1804. On going within to make inquiries about
+the vane, I gathered that it is at least 120 years old, probably much
+more, the oldest part of the house being contemporary with the
+"Chequers." The vane is cut out of thick sheet copper and strengthened
+with stout wire in several places to keep it rigid, and the whole is
+painted in colours (a very unusual feature), in imitation of the
+costume of the period; and I was shown a curious old print of Tonbridge
+in the time when the well-to-do farmers wore top-hats and swallow-tailed
+coats, in which the vane is represented just as it appears at present.
+Vane number two is a much weathered and discoloured one, almost within
+touch, on a wooden turret surmounting the Town Hall--a typical Georgian
+building, lately threatened with demolition, and for the further life of
+which I noted a vigorous pleading in the pages of _The Graphic_ of
+November 4th, 1892. Number three is a fox, rudely cut out of flat metal,
+with a "ryghte bushie tayle," fixed on a house gable overlooking the
+street.
+
+[Illustration: The Sportsman Tonbridge]
+
+[Illustration: At Rochester]
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: High St. Tonbridge]
+
+The Orlestone sketch represents a type of vane practically never to be
+met with, save on the oast-houses in the hop-growing districts of Kent.
+The particular one noted stands at the bottom of a garden belonging to
+an Elizabethan timbered house hard by the church. It will be remarked
+that the animal, which is about 2 ft. long, is very crude in shape; it
+represents a fox, and the obvious way Mr. Reynard's tail is joined on is
+very enjoyable.
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall Rochester.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: On Medway Brewery. Maidstone.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+Rochester admittedly possesses one of the finest vanes to be found all
+England over; it is in the main street on the Town Hall (temp. James
+I.), and surmounts a wooden bell-tower perched on the roof. On the
+south-west side of the building facing into the street is a tablet,
+which tells us that "This building was erected in the year 1687. John
+Bryan, Esquire, then Mayor"; and in quaint numerals the same date is
+repeated just below the tablet base. The vane is in the form of a ship,
+in gilt metal: a complete ship in miniature--cordage, blocks, twenty-six
+cannon, small spars, even a daintily-modelled figurehead: all are there.
+With the aid of a couple of stalwart constables I clambered up on to the
+leaden roof, so that I might examine more closely and carefully this
+splendid example of vane-craft. The ship itself, from the bottom of keel
+to the top of mainmast, measures over 6 ft., and from jib to spanker
+boom the total length is 9 ft. It is 18 in. in width, weighs 7-1/2 cwt.,
+and revolves quite easily pivoted on a large bull's-eye of glass. It may
+be interesting to note that my sketch was made from one of the
+upper-most windows of the "Bull Inn" (the place where Charles Dickens
+once lived, and which he has immortalized in the pages of "Pickwick"),
+which is immediately opposite. A little higher up the street is a large
+vane, richly decorated in red and gold, on the Corn Exchange. An
+inscription on its south-west face tells us that "This present building
+was erected at the sole charge and expense of Sir Cloudsley Shovel,
+Knight, A.D. 1706. He represented this city in three Parliaments in the
+reign of King William the Third, and in one Parliament in the reign of
+Queen Anne."
+
+[Illustration: On ye Church]
+
+Maidstone, too, is rich in vanes. There is one specially you can see
+from all parts of the town. It is on the Medway Brewery, and represents
+an old brown jug and glass; its dimensions, to say the least of it, are
+somewhat startling. The jug alone (which is made of beaten copper plate)
+is 3 ft. 6 in. in height, and in its fullest part 3 ft. in diameter,
+with a holding capacity of 108 gallons, or three barrels. The
+glass--also made of copper--is capable of holding some eight gallons.
+The vane revolves on ball bearings, its height above the roof is 12 ft.,
+its arms extend nearly 7 ft., the whole, I am told, standing 80 ft. from
+the ground.
+
+On the observatory connected with the Maidstone Museum (which latter was
+once Chillington Manor House) is a modern vane, much discoloured by
+damp, but very apt in design; note the perforated sun, moon and stars,
+and the three wavy-looking pointers, which I take to represent rays of
+light. Mr. Frederick James, the courteous curator, called my attention
+to a singularly fine wrought-iron vane, now preserved in the Museum,
+about which but little is known, but which may possibly have surmounted
+the place in the olden days--when Chillington Manor was the seat of the
+great Cobham family.
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall]
+
+[Illustration: At Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+Space forbids my more than just calling attention to the nondescript
+gilt monster, with its riveted wings and forked tongue and tail, which
+glares down on us from its perch above the Town Hall, in the High
+Street; or to a "cigar" vane (over 2 ft. long and as thick as a
+bludgeon), large enough to give Verdant Green's famous "smoke" many
+points, hoisted over an enterprising tobacconist's a little lower down;
+or to the skewered and unhappy-looking weathercock on the Parish Church;
+or the blackened griffin in Earl Street, all head and tail, which does
+duty on an old dismantled Gothic building, once called "The Brotherhood
+Hall" (it belonged to the fraternity of Corpus Christi, about 1422, and
+was suppressed in 1547), then afterwards used as a grammar school, and
+now--tell it not in Gath!--a hop store; or, lastly, the
+ponderous-looking elephant, painted a sickly blue, if I remember
+rightly, on a great building on the banks of the Medway.
+
+[Illustration: In Museum. Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: On Observatory. Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+These rambling notes but touch the fringe--as it were--of a wide and
+ever-widening subject. A lengthy paper might be written on the different
+types (and some of great interest) of vanes in and around London alone;
+but I trust I may be allowed to express the hope that what has been said
+may haply enlist further interest in these silent, faithful, but
+somewhat neglected friends of ours, who, "courted by all the winds that
+hold them play," look down from their "coigne of vantage" upon the
+hurrying world below.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+A DARK TRANSACTION
+
+BY MARIANNE KENT.
+
+
+If had described myself when I first started in life, it would simply
+have been as John Blount, commercial traveller. I was employed by a firm
+of merchants of very high standing, who only did business with large
+houses. My negotiations took me to all parts of the United Kingdom, and
+I enjoyed the life, which was full of change and activity. At least I
+enjoyed it in my early bachelor days, but while I was still quite
+young--not more than five-and-twenty--I fell in love and married; and
+then I found that my roving existence was certainly a drawback to
+domestic happiness. My wife, Mary, was a bright little creature, always
+ready to make the best of things, but even she would declare
+pathetically that she might as well have married a sailor as a landsman
+who was so seldom at home! Still, as I said, she was one to put a bright
+face on things, and she and my sister made their home together.
+
+It was in the second year after my marriage, when I had been away on my
+travels for some weeks, that I heard from my sister that a fever had
+broken out in the neighbourhood of our home, and that Mary was down with
+it. Kitty wrote hopefully, saying it was a mild attack, and she trusted
+by the time I was home her patient would be quite convalescent. I had
+unbounded faith in Kitty, so that I accepted her cheerful view of
+things. But, a few evenings later, after a long, tiring day, I returned
+to the hotel where I was then staying, and found a telegram awaiting me.
+My heart stood still as I saw the ominous yellow envelope, for I knew my
+sister would not have sent for me without urgent need. The message was
+to say that, although Kitty still hoped for the best, a serious change
+had taken place, and I should return at once.
+
+"Don't delay an hour; come off immediately," she said.
+
+I was not likely to delay. I paid up my reckoning at the hotel, directed
+that my baggage should be sent on next day, and in less than half an
+hour from the time I had opened the telegram I rushed, heated and
+breathless, into the primitive little railway station--the only one
+which that part of the country boasted for miles round. I gained the
+platform in time to see the red light on the end of the departing train
+as it disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel a few hundred yards down
+the line. For a moment I was unable to realize my ill fortune. I stood
+gazing stupidly before me in a bewildered way. Then the station-master,
+who knew me by sight, came up, saying sympathetically:--
+
+"Just missed her, sir, by two seconds!"
+
+"Yes," I answered briefly, beginning to understand it all now, and
+chafing irritably at the enforced delay. "When is the next train?"
+
+"Six five in the morning, sir. Nothing more to-night."
+
+"Nothing more to-night!" I almost shouted. "There must be! At any rate,
+there is the evening express from the junction; I have been by it scores
+of times!"
+
+"Very likely, sir; but that's a through train, it don't touch
+here--never stops till it reaches the junction."
+
+The man's quiet tone carried conviction with it. I was silent for a
+moment, and then asked when the express left the junction.
+
+"Nine fifteen," was the answer.
+
+[Illustration: "THE STATION-MASTER CAME UP."]
+
+"How far is the junction from this by road; could I do it in time?"
+
+"Out of the question, sir. It would take one who knew the road the best
+part of three hours to drive."
+
+I looked away to my left, where the green hill-side rose up steep and
+clear against the evening sky. It was one of the most mountainous
+quarters of England, and the tunnel that pierced the hill was a triumph
+of engineering skill, even in these days when science sticks at nothing.
+Pointing to the brick archway I said, musingly:--
+
+"And yet, once through the tunnel, how close at hand the junction
+station seems."
+
+"That's true enough, sir; the other side the tunnel it is not half a
+mile down the line."
+
+"What length is it?"
+
+"The tunnel, sir? Close upon three miles, and straight as a dart."
+
+There was another pause, then I said, slowly:--
+
+"Nothing more goes down the line until the express has passed?"
+
+"Nothing more, sir."
+
+"Anything on the up line?" was my next inquiry.
+
+"No, sir, not for some hours, except, maybe, some trucks of goods, but I
+have had no notice of them yet."
+
+As the station-master made this last answer he looked at me curiously,
+no doubt wondering what the object of all these questions could be; but
+he certainly had no notion of what was passing in my mind, or he would
+not have turned into his office as he did, and left me there alone upon
+the platform.
+
+I was young and impetuous, and a sudden wild determination had taken
+possession of me. In my intense anxiety to get back to my sick wife, the
+delay of so many hours seemed unendurable, and my whole desire was to
+catch the express at the junction; but how was that to be accomplished?
+One way alone presented itself to me, and that was through the tunnel.
+At another time I should have put the notion from me as a mad
+impossibility, but now I clung to it as a last resource, reasoning
+myself out of all my fears. Where was the danger, since nothing was to
+come up or down the line for hours? A good level road, too, of little
+more than three miles, and a full hour and a half to do it in. And what
+would the darkness matter? There was no fear of missing the way; nothing
+to be done but to walk briskly forward. Yes, it could be, and I was
+resolved that it should be done.
+
+I gave myself no more time for reflection. I walked to the end of the
+platform and stepped down upon the line, not very far from the mouth of
+the tunnel. As I entered the gloomy archway I wished devoutly that I had
+a lantern to bear me company, but it was out of the question for me to
+get anything of the kind at the station; as it was, I was fearful each
+moment that my intentions would be discovered, when I knew for a
+certainty that my project would be knocked on the head, and, for this
+reason, I was glad to leave daylight behind me and to know that I was
+unseen.
+
+I walked on, at a smart pace, for fully ten minutes, trying not to
+think, but feeling painfully conscious that my courage was ebbing fast.
+Then I paused for breath. Ugh! how foul the air smelt! I told myself
+that it was worse even than the impenetrable darkness--and that was bad
+enough. I recalled to mind how I had gone through tunnels--this very one
+among others--in a comfortable lighted carriage, and had drawn up the
+window, sharply and suddenly, to keep out the stale, poisonous air; and
+this was the atmosphere I was to breathe for the next hour! I shuddered
+at the prospect. But it was not long before I was forced to acknowledge
+that it was the darkness quite as much as the stifling air which was
+affecting me. I had never been fond of the dark in my earliest days,
+and now it seemed as if the strange, wild fancies of my childhood were
+forcing themselves upon me, and I felt that, if only for an instant, I
+must have light of some sort; so, standing still, I took from my pocket
+a box of vestas, and struck one. Holding the little match carefully,
+cherishing it with my hand, I gazed about me. How horrible it all
+looked! Worse, if possible, in reality than in imagination. The outline
+of the damp, mildewy wall was just visible in the feeble, flickering
+light. On the brickwork close to me I could see a coarse kind of fungus
+growing, and there was the silver, slimy trace of slugs in all
+directions; I could fancy, too, the hundred other creeping things that
+were about. As the match died out, a noise among the stones near the
+wall caused me hastily to strike another, just in time to see a large
+rat whisk into its hole.
+
+[Illustration: "HOLDING THE LITTLE MATCH CAREFULLY, I GAZED ABOUT ME."]
+
+A miner, a plate-layer--in fact, anyone whose avocations took them
+underground--would have laughed to scorn these childish fears; but the
+situation was so new to me, and also I must confess that I am naturally
+of a nervous, imaginative turn of mind. Still, I was vexed with myself
+for my cowardly feelings, and started on my walk again, trying not to
+think of these gloomy surroundings, but drew a picture of my home,
+wondering how Mary was, if she was well enough to be told of my coming,
+and was looking out for me. Then I dwelt upon the satisfaction with
+which I should enter the express, at the junction, feeling that the
+troubles of the evening had not been in vain. After a while, when these
+thoughts were somewhat exhausted, and I felt my mind returning to the
+horrors of the present moment, I tried to look at it all from a
+different point of view, telling myself that it was an adventure which I
+should live to pride myself upon. Then I recalled to mind things I had
+read of subterranean passages, and naturally stories of the Catacombs
+presented themselves to me, and I thought how the early Christians had
+guided themselves through those dim corridors by means of a line or
+string; the fantastic notion came to me that I was in a like
+predicament, and the line I was to follow was the steel rail at my feet.
+For awhile this thought gave me courage, making me realize how straight
+the way was, and that I had only to go on and on until the goal was
+reached.
+
+I walked for, perhaps, twenty minutes or half an hour, sometimes passing
+a small grating for ventilation; but they were so choked by weeds and
+rubbish that they gave little light and less air. Walking quickly
+through a dark place, one has the feeling that unseen objects are close
+at hand, and that at any moment you may come in sharp contact with them.
+It was this feeling, at least, which made me as I went along continually
+put out my hand as if to ward off a blow, and suddenly, while my right
+foot still rested on the smooth steel rail, my left hand struck against
+the wall of the tunnel. As my fingers grated on the rough brick a new
+terror took possession of me--or at least, if not a new terror, one of
+the fears which had haunted me at the outset rushed upon me with
+redoubled force.
+
+I had faced the possibility of the station-master's having been
+mistaken, and of a train passing through the tunnel while I was still
+there, but I told myself I had only to stand close in to the wall, until
+the train had gone on its way; now, however, I felt, with a sinking
+horror at my heart, that there was little room to spare. Again and again
+I tested it, standing with my foot well planted on the rail and my arm
+outstretched until my fingers touched the bricks. There was a
+fascination in it--much as in the case of a timid swimmer who cannot
+bear to think he is out of depth and must keep putting down his foot to
+try for the bottom, knowing all the while he is only rendering himself
+more nervous. During the next ten minutes I know I worked myself into a
+perfect agony of mind, imagining the very worst that could happen.
+Suppose that the up and the down trains should cross in the tunnel, what
+chance should I then have? The mere thought was appalling! Retreat was
+impossible, for I must have come more than half way by this time, and
+turning back would only be going to meet the express. But surely in the
+thickness of the wall there must be here and there recesses? I was sure
+I had seen one, some little time back, when I had struck a light. This
+was a gleam of hope. Out came the matches once more, but my hands were
+so shaky that I had scarcely opened the box when it slipped from my
+fingers and its precious contents were scattered on the ground. This was
+a new trouble. I was down upon my knees at once, groping about to find
+them. It was a hopeless task in the dark, and, after wasting much time,
+I was forced to light the first one I found to look for the others, and,
+when that died out, I had only four in my hand, and had to leave the
+rest and go on my way for the time was getting short and my great desire
+was to find a recess which should afford me shelter in case of need.
+But, although I grudgingly lit one match after another and walked for
+some distance with my hand rubbing against the wall, I could find
+nothing of the kind.
+
+At length, I don't know what time it was, or how far I had walked, I saw
+before me, a long, long way off, a dim speck of light. At first I
+thought, with a sudden rush of gladness, that it was daylight, and that
+the end of the tunnel was in sight; then I remembered that it was now
+evening and the sun had long set, so that it must be a lamp; and it was
+a lamp. I began to see it plainly, for it was coming nearer and nearer,
+and I knew that it was an approaching train. I stood still and looked at
+it, and it was at that instant that the whole ground beneath me seemed
+to be shaken. The rail upon which one of my feet was resting thrilled as
+if with an electric shock, sending a strange vibration through me, while
+a sudden rush of wind swept down the tunnel, and I knew that the express
+was upon me!
+
+I shall never forget the feeling that took possession of me: it seemed
+as if, into that one moment, the experiences of years were
+crowded--recollections of my childhood--tender thoughts of my
+wife--dreams of the future, in which I had meant to do so much, all
+thronged in, thick and fast upon me. Could this be death? I gave a wild,
+despairing cry for help. I prayed aloud that God would not let me die. I
+had lost all presence of mind; no thought of standing back against the
+wall came to me. I rushed madly forward in a frenzy of despair. The
+sound of my voice, as it echoed through that dismal place, was drowned
+in an instant by the sharp, discordant scream of the express. On I
+dashed, right in front of the goods train; the yellow light of the
+engine shone full upon me; death was at hand. It seemed that nothing
+short of a miracle could save me, and, to my thinking, it was a miracle
+that happened.
+
+Only a few yards from the engine and, as I struggled blindly on, a
+strong hand seized me with a grasp of iron, and I was dragged on one
+side. Even in my bewilderment I knew that I was not against the wall,
+but in one of those very recesses I had searched for in vain. I sank
+upon the ground, only half conscious, yet I saw the indistinct blur of
+light as the trains swept by.
+
+I am not given to swooning, so that, after the first moment, I was quite
+alive to my exact situation. I knew that I was crouching on the ground,
+and that that iron-like grasp was still on my collar. Presently the hand
+relaxed its hold and a gruff, but not unkindly, voice said:--
+
+"Well, mate, how are you?"
+
+This inquiry unlocked my tongue, and I poured forth my gratitude. I
+hardly know what I said; I only know I was very much in earnest. I told
+him who I was and how I came to be there, and in return asked him his
+name.
+
+"That does not signify," was the answer; "you can think of me as a
+friend."
+
+"That I shall," I returned, gratefully; "for God knows you have been a
+friend in need to me!"
+
+"Ah!" he said, musingly, "your life must be very sweet, for you seemed
+loath enough to part with it!"
+
+I admitted the truth of this--indeed, I had felt it more than once
+during the last hour. I had been one of those who, in fits of
+depression, are wont to say that life is not worth living--that we shall
+be well out of it, and the rest; yet, when it seemed really slipping
+from my grasp, I had clung to it with a tenacity which surprised myself.
+And now, with the future once more before me, in which so much seemed
+possible, I was filled with gratitude to God and to my unknown friend,
+by whose means I had been saved. There was a short silence; then I
+asked, rather doubtfully, if there were not some way in which I could
+prove my gratitude.
+
+[Illustration: "A STRONG HAND SEIZED ME."]
+
+"You speak as if you were sincere," my strange companion said, in his
+gruff, downright way; "so I will tell you frankly that you can do me a
+good turn if you have a mind to. I don't want your money, understand;
+but I want you to do me a favour."
+
+"What is it?" I asked, eagerly; "believe me, if it is in my power it
+shall be done!"
+
+"I would rather you passed your word before I explain more," he said
+coolly. "Say my request shall be granted. I take it you are not a man to
+break your promise."
+
+Here was a predicament! Asked to pledge my word for I knew not what! To
+be in the dark in more senses than one; for I could not even see my
+mysterious deliverer's face to judge what manner of man he was. And yet,
+how could I refuse his request? At last I said, slowly:--
+
+"If what you ask is honest and above-board, you have my word that it
+shall be done, no matter what it may cost me."
+
+He gave a short laugh. "You are cautious," he said, "but you are right.
+No, there is nothing dishonest about my request; it will wrong no one,
+though it may cause you some personal inconvenience."
+
+"That is enough," I said, hastily, ashamed of the half-hearted way in
+which I had given my promise. "The instant we are out of this place I
+will take steps to grant your request, whatever it may be."
+
+"But that won't do," he put in, quickly; "what I want must be done here
+and now!"
+
+I was bewildered, as well I might be, and remained silent while he went
+on:--
+
+"There is no need to say much about myself, but this you must know. I am
+in great trouble. I am accused of that which makes me amenable to the
+law. I am innocent, but I cannot prove my innocence, and my only chance
+of safety is in flight. That is the reason of my being here: I am hiding
+from my pursuers."
+
+The poor creature paused, with a deep-drawn sigh, as if he at least had
+not found his life worth the struggle. I was greatly shocked by his
+story, and warmly expressed my sympathy; then, on his telling me he had
+been for two days and nights in the tunnel with scarcely a bit of food,
+I remembered a packet of sandwiches that had been provided for my
+journey, and offered them to him. It made me shudder to hear the
+ravenous manner in which they were consumed. When this was done there
+was another silence, broken by his saying, with evident hesitation, that
+the one hope he had was in disguising himself in some way, and thus
+eluding those who were watching for him. He concluded with:--
+
+"The favour I have to ask is that you will help me in this by allowing
+me to have your clothes in exchange for mine!"
+
+There was such an odd mixture of tragedy and comedy in the whole thing
+that for a moment I hardly knew how to answer him. The poor fellow must
+have taken my silence for anything but consent, for he said, bitterly:--
+
+"You object! I felt you would, and it is my only chance!"
+
+"On the contrary," I returned, "I am perfectly willing to do as you
+wish--indeed, how could I be otherwise when I have given you my word? I
+was only fearing that you built too much upon this exchange. Remember,
+it is no disguise!--the dress of one man is much like that of another."
+
+"That is true enough, as a general rule," was the answer, "but not in
+this case. I was last seen in a costume not common in these parts. A
+coarse, tweed shooting-dress, short coat, knee-breeches, and rough
+worsted stockings--so that an everyday suit is all I want."
+
+After that there was nothing more to be said, and the change was
+effected without more ado.
+
+It seemed to me that my invisible companion had the advantage over me as
+far as seeing went, for whereas I was sensible of nothing but touch and
+sound, his hands invariably met and aided mine whenever they were at
+fault. He confessed to this, saying that he had been so long in the dark
+that his eyes were growing accustomed to it.
+
+I never felt anything like the coarseness of those stockings as I drew
+them on. The shoes, too, were of the clumsiest make; they were large for
+me, which perhaps accounted for their extreme heaviness. I was a bit of
+a dandy; always priding myself upon my spick and span get-up. No doubt
+this made me critical, but certainly the tweed of which the clothes were
+made was the roughest thing of its kind I had ever handled. I got into
+them, however, without any comment, only remarking, when my toilet was
+finished, that I could find no pocket.
+
+My companion gave another of those short laughs.
+
+"No," he said, "that suit was made for use, not comfort!"
+
+From his tone and manner of expressing himself, I had taken him to be a
+man fairly educated, and when he had declared that he did not require my
+money, I naturally fancied he was not in want of funds; but the style of
+his clothes made me think differently, and I decided that he should have
+my watch--the most valuable thing I had about me. It had no particular
+associations, and a few pounds would get me another. He seemed pleased,
+almost touched, by the proposal, and also by my suggesting that the
+money in my pockets should be divided between us. It was not a large
+sum, but half of it would take me to my journey's end, I knew. He seemed
+full of resource, for when I was wondering what to do with my loose
+change, in my pocketless costume, he spread out my handkerchief, and
+putting my money and the small things from my pockets into it, knotted
+it securely up and thrust it into my breast. Then, as we stood facing
+each other, he took my hand in farewell. I proposed our going on
+together, but this he would not hear of.
+
+"No," he said, with his grim laugh, "the sooner I and that suit of
+clothes part company, the better!"
+
+So we wished each other God-speed, and turned on our different ways--he
+going back through the tunnel, and I keeping on.
+
+[Illustration: "WE WISHED EACH OTHER GOD-SPEED."]
+
+The experiences of the last few hours had made a great impression on me,
+and, although I felt awed and somewhat shaken, my heart was light with
+the gladness of one who rejoices in a reprieve. The express that I had
+been so anxious to catch had long since gone on its way; still, in my
+present hopeful frame of mind, that did not trouble me. I felt a
+conviction that Mary was mending, that I should find her better, and,
+comforted by this belief, I walked briskly on; at least, as briskly as
+my clumsy shoes would allow me, but even in spite of this hindrance, it
+was not long before I reached the end of the tunnel. The moonlight
+streaming down upon the rails was a pleasant sight, and showed me, some
+time before I reached it, that my goal was at hand. When I left the last
+shadow behind me and stood out under the clear sky I drew a sigh of
+intense thankfulness, drinking in the sweet fresh air.
+
+I walked down the country road, thinking that I would rest for a few
+hours at the station hotel and be ready for the first train in the
+morning. But my adventures were not yet over. As I glanced at my
+clothes, thinking how unlike myself I looked and felt, something on the
+sleeve of my coat attracted my attention; it must be tar, which I or the
+former wearer of the clothes must have rubbed off in the tunnel. But,
+no. I looked again--my eyes seemed riveted to it--it was unmistakable.
+There, on the coarse grey material of the coat, was a large broad-arrow.
+
+In an instant the whole truth had flashed upon me. No need to examine
+those worsted stockings and heavy shoes--no need to take off the coat
+and find upon the collar the name of one of Her Majesty's prisons, and
+the poor convict's number. As my eyes rested on the broad-arrow I
+understood it all.
+
+At first I was very indignant at the position I was in. I felt that a
+trick had been practised upon me, and I naturally resented it. I sat
+down by the roadside and tried to think. The cool air blew in my face
+and refreshed me. I had no hat; the convict--I was beginning to think of
+him by that name--had given me none, saying he had lost his cap in the
+tunnel. After a while, when my anger had somewhat subsided, I thought
+more pitifully of the man whose clothes I wore. Poor wretch, without
+doubt he had had a hard time of it; what wonder that he had seized upon
+the first opportunity of escape! He had said that the favour he required
+would entail personal inconvenience on myself, and that was exactly what
+it did. I looked at the matter from all sides; I saw the dilemma I was
+in. It would not do to be seen in this branded garb--the police would
+lay hands on me at once; nothing would persuade them that I was not the
+convict. Indeed, who was likely to believe the improbable story I had to
+tell? I felt that I could expect few to credit it on my mere word, and I
+had nothing to prove my identity, for I remembered now that my
+pocket-book and letters were in my coat; I had never given them a
+thought when making the exchange of clothes. So, as things were, it
+might take some days for me to establish my real personality, and even
+when that were done I should still be held responsible for conniving at
+the prisoner's escape.
+
+All things considered, therefore, I resolved not to get into the hands
+of the police. But this was no easy matter. There was nothing for it but
+to walk. I could not face the publicity of railway travelling or of any
+other conveyance: indeed, it was impossible for me to buy food for
+myself.
+
+I had many narrow escapes from detection, but by dint of hiding through
+the day and walking at night, and now and then bribing a small child to
+buy me something to eat, I contrived to get slowly on my way. It was on
+the evening of the third day that I reached home. I often thought,
+somewhat bitterly, of my short cut through the tunnel and all the delay
+it had caused!
+
+[Illustration: "BRIBING A SMALL CHILD TO BUY ME SOMETHING TO EAT."]
+
+When I actually stood outside the little cottage which I called home,
+and looked up at the windows, the hope that had buoyed me up for so long
+deserted me, and I dreaded to enter. At last, however, I opened the gate
+and walked up the garden. There was a light in the small sitting-room;
+the curtains were not drawn, and I could see my sister Kitty seated by
+the table. She had evidently been weeping bitterly, and as she raised
+her face there was an expression of such hopeless sorrow in her eyes
+that my heart seemed to stop beating as I looked at her. Mary must be
+very ill. Perhaps--but no, I could not finish the sentence even in
+thought. I turned hastily, lifted the latch and went in.
+
+"Kitty!" I said, with my hand on the room door; "it's I, Jack! don't be
+frightened."
+
+She gave a little scream, and, it seemed to me, shrank back from me, as
+if I had been a ghost; but the next instant she sprang into my arms with
+a glad cry of, "Jack, Jack! is it really you?"
+
+"Yes, Kitty, who else should it be?" I said, reassuringly. "But tell
+me--how is she? How is Mary? Let me hear the truth."
+
+Kitty looked up brightly: "Mary! oh, she is better, much better, and now
+that you are here, Jack, she will soon be well!"
+
+I drew a breath of intense relief. Then, touching my little sister's
+pale, tear-stained face, I asked what had so troubled her.
+
+"Oh! Jack," she whispered, "it was you! I thought you were dead!" She
+handed me an evening paper, and pointed out a paragraph which stated
+that a fatal accident had occurred in the Blank Tunnel. A man named John
+Blount, a commercial traveller, had been killed; it was believed while
+attempting to walk through the tunnel to the junction station. The body
+had been found, early the previous morning, by some plate-layers at work
+on the line. The deceased was only identified by a letter found upon
+him.
+
+And so, poor fellow, he had met his fate in the very death from which he
+had saved me! In the midst of my own happiness my heart grew very
+sorrowful as I thought of him, my unknown friend, whose face I had never
+seen!
+
+
+
+
+_The Royal Humane Society_
+
+[Illustration: THE MEDAL OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.]
+
+
+Few Institutions appeal more strongly to popular sympathy than the Royal
+Humane Society. The rewards which it bestows upon its members, who are
+distinguished for a self-forgetting bravery which thrills the blood to
+read of, are merely the outward tokens of admiration which is felt by
+every heart. Those members include persons of all ranks of life: men,
+women, and children; nay, even animals are not excepted, and a dog wore
+the medal with conscious pride. We have selected the following examples
+out of thousands, not because they are more deserving of admiration than
+the rest, but because they are fair specimens of the acts of
+self-devotion which have won the medals of the Society in recent years.
+
+
+[Illustration: CAPTAIN JAMES DE HOGHTON.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+LIEUTENANT J. DE HOGHTON.
+
+"On Thursday, the 10th September, 1874, at 9.30 p.m., in the gateway
+between the outer and inner harbour at Lowestoft, Suffolk, James Dorling
+fell overboard from the yacht _Dart_ whilst she was making for the inner
+harbour in a strong half-flood tideway, the night very dark, blowing and
+raining hard, and going about five and a half knots. Lieutenant (now
+Captain) J. de Hoghton, 10th Foot, jumped overboard, swam to Dorling,
+and supported him in the water for about a quarter of an hour in the
+tideway, between narrow high pilework, without crossbeams or side chains
+to lay hold of, and the head of the pilework 12ft. or 15ft. above the
+water--the yacht being carried away into the inner harbour, and no other
+vessel or boat in the gateway to lend assistance; the darkness prevented
+any immediate help being obtained from the shore. The length of the
+gateway was about 350 yards, width 15 to 20 yards, depth 10 ft. to 15
+ft. Lieutenant de Hoghton and Dorling were ultimately drawn up the
+pilework by ropes from the shore."
+
+
+[Illustration: SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE R.A.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. and D. Downey._]
+
+SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE, R.A.
+
+"On a dark night, 6th April, 1877, H.M.S. _Immortalité_ was under sail,
+going four-and-a-half knots before the wind, the sea rough for swimming,
+and abounding with sharks, when T. E. Hocken, O.S., fell overboard.
+Sub-Lieut. R. A. F. Montgomerie, R.A., jumped overboard from the bridge,
+a height of twenty-five feet, to his assistance, swam to him, got hold
+of the man, and hauled him on to his back, then swam with him to where
+he supposed the life-buoy would be; but, seeing no relief, he states
+that after keeping him afloat some time, he told the man to keep himself
+afloat whilst he took his clothes off. He had got his coat and shirt
+off, and was in the act of taking off his trousers when Hocken, in
+sinking, caught him by the legs and dragged him down a considerable
+depth. His trousers luckily came off clear, and he swam to the surface,
+bringing the drowning man with him. Hocken was now insensible. He was
+eventually picked up by a second boat that was lowered, after having
+been over twenty-one minutes in the water, the first boat having missed
+him. The life-buoy was not seen."
+
+
+[Illustration: LIEUT. LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N.
+
+_From a Photo. by Henry Wayland, Blackheath._]
+
+LIEUTENANT LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N. (Now Commander De Wintz.)
+
+"On the 19th December, 1877, H.M.S. _Raleigh_ was running before a fresh
+breeze at the rate of seven knots an hour off the Island of Tenedos,
+when James Maker fell from aloft into the sea. Lieutenant Lewis E. Wintz
+immediately jumped overboard and supported the man for twenty minutes at
+considerable risk (not being able to reach the life-buoy). The man must
+undoubtedly have been drowned (being insensible and seriously injured)
+had it not been for the bravery of this officer."
+
+
+[Illustration: CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS.
+
+_From a Photo. by Deneulain, Strand._]
+
+CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS. (E Division, Metropolitan Police
+Force.)
+
+"Constable John Jenkins was on duty on Waterloo Bridge at 2.45 a.m., on
+the 14th July, 1882, when he saw a man mount the parapet and throw
+himself into the river. Without hesitation, the constable unfastened his
+belt, and jumped from the bridge after him. Notwithstanding a determined
+resistance on the part of the would-be suicide, Constable Jenkins
+succeeded in seizing the man and supporting him above water until both
+were picked up some distance down the river by a boat, which was
+promptly sent from the Thames Police Station. The danger incurred in
+this rescue may be fairly estimated when it appears that the height
+jumped was forty-three feet, the tide was running out under the arches
+at the rate of six miles an hour, and a thick mist covered the river, so
+much so as to render it impossible to see any object in the centre of
+the river from either side. The place where the men entered the water
+was a hundred and seventy yards from shore."
+
+
+[Illustration: WALTER CLEVERLEY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. J. Robinson, Landport._]
+
+WALTER CLEVERLEY.
+
+"On the 13th September, 1883, the steamship _Rewa_ was proceeding
+through the Gulf of Aden, when a Lascar fell overboard. Being unable to
+swim, he drifted astern rapidly. Mr. Walter Cleverley, a passenger,
+promptly jumped overboard, swam to the man--then fifty yards from the
+ship--and assisted him to a life-buoy, which was previously thrown. The
+vessel was going thirteen knots an hour. Captain Hay, commanding the
+ship, states: 'The danger incurred was incalculable, as the sea
+thereabouts is infested with sharks. The salvor was forty minutes in the
+water, supporting the man. Cleverley jumped off top of the poop, a
+height of thirty feet to the surface of the water.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON R.N.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bassano._]
+
+LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON, R.N.
+
+"On the 29th August, 1884, off Beyrout, H.M.S. _Alexandra_ was steaming
+at the rate of four knots an hour, when a man fell overboard. Lieut. the
+Hon. William Grimston dropped from his port into the sea, and succeeded
+in holding the man on the surface of the water until two seamen (who had
+jumped overboard) came to his assistance. The special danger in this
+rescue is brought to the Society's notice by Captain Rawson, R.N.,
+commanding the ship. The port through which the officer had to drop is
+very small, and situated just before the double screw, which was then
+revolving: in fact, the salvor passed through the circle made by it."
+
+
+[Illustration: ALFRED COLLINS. HOSKINGS.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hawke, Plymouth._]
+
+ALFRED COLLINS, aged 21, Fisherman.
+
+"The fishing lugger _Water Nymph_, of Looe, was seven or eight miles
+east-south-east of the 'Eddystone,' on the night of the 16th December,
+1884, when a boy named Hoskings fell overheard, and was soon about
+eighty feet astern. The captain of the boat, Alfred Collins, immediately
+jumped in to the rescue, carrying the end of a rope with him; he was
+clothed in oilskins and sea-boots. After a great deal of difficulty
+Hoskings was reached and pulled on board. At the time this gallant act
+was performed there was a gale of wind blowing, with heavy rain, and the
+night was dark. The Silver Medal was voted to Alfred Collins on the 20th
+January, 1885."
+
+
+[Illustration: CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE.
+
+_From a Photo. by Winter, Muneer._]
+
+CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE, 45th (Rattray's) Sikhs (assisted by
+Captain H. Holmes).
+
+"At 5 a.m. on the 5th October, 1886, a trumpeter of the Royal Artillery
+was crossing the compound of Captain Holmes's bungalow at Rawal Pindi,
+when he fell into a well. On hearing the alarm, Captain Holmes, Captain
+McRae, and Lieutenant Taylor proceeded to the spot. On arriving they
+found that Mr. Grose had preceded them, and had let down a well-rope,
+which was of sufficient length to reach the soldier and capable of
+sustaining him for a time. Both Captain McRae and Captain Holmes
+volunteered to go down, but as the former was a light-weight it was
+decided that he should make the trial, Captain Holmes demurring, as he
+wished to undertake the risk himself. The rope being very weak, it could
+not possibly have borne Captain Holmes's great weight. Captain McRae was
+accordingly let down by means of a four-strand tent rope, and on
+reaching the water found the soldier practically insensible; he
+therefore decided to go up with him. Captain Holmes was at the head of
+the rope, and his strength enabled him to lift both completely. At every
+haul, the amount gained was held in check by the other persons above.
+After hauling up about 10 ft. or 15 ft., the rope broke, precipitating
+Captain McRae and his charge to the bottom of the well. A second attempt
+was then made, and both were brought to the surface. The depth of the
+well was 88 ft., of which 12 ft. was water. It was quite dark at the
+time. Very great personal risk was incurred by Captain McRae. The Silver
+Medal was unanimously voted to him."
+
+
+[Illustration: MR. JAMES POWER.
+
+_From a Photo. by Lawrence, Dublin._]
+
+MR. JAS. POWER.
+
+"On the 16th August, 1890, about 12.30 p.m., two ladies had a narrow
+escape from drowning whilst bathing at Tramore, Co. Waterford. Mr. Jas.
+Power, who ran out from an adjacent hotel on hearing the alarm, saw a
+young man with a life-buoy struggling in the sea about 150 yards from
+shore; further out, and fully 250 yards from the beach, two ladies
+appeared to be in imminent danger, being rapidly carried out by the
+strong ebb tide. Mr. Power first swam to the young man, but finding
+that he was unable to swim and could not dispense with the life-buoy, he
+turned on his back and towed the man with the life-buoy out to where the
+ladies were, and then with the aid of the buoy he brought the three
+safely to land. The Silver Medal was voted to Mr. Jas. Power."
+
+
+[Illustration: JOHN CONNELL.
+
+_From a Photo. by Amey, Landport._]
+
+JOHN CONNELL, Boatman, Coastguard Service.
+
+"About 4 a.m. on the 19th October, 1890, the sailing vessel _Genesta_,
+of Grimsby, became stranded on the Yorkshire coast near Withernsea.
+Three of the crew were safely landed in the breeches buoy, after
+communication had been effected by means of the rocket apparatus, but
+one man, who had taken refuge in the crosstrees, was unable from
+exhaustion to avail himself of the means afforded. The ship's mate
+attempted to get him clear of the rigging, but the man seemed powerless
+to help himself, yet equal to holding on tenaciously at his post. In
+this position the man was left until John Connell gallantly went off to
+the vessel and rescued him at considerable personal risk. The ship was
+bumping, and might have gone to pieces at any moment. The weather was so
+bad that one man died in the rigging from exhaustion. The Silver Medal
+was awarded to John Connell."
+
+
+[Illustration: CONSTABLE WILLIAM PENNETT.
+
+_From a Photo. by Wright, Whitechapel._]
+
+POLICE-CONSTABLE WM. PENNETT.
+
+"About one o'clock a.m., on the 25th November, 1890, Constable Pennett,
+being on duty at Tower Hill, saw a man throw himself into the Thames,
+apparently with the intention of committing suicide. He at once divested
+himself of lamp and belt, and without waiting to take off his uniform,
+jumped into the river, seized hold of the struggling man, and gallantly
+rescued him. The night was dark. The magistrate who investigated the
+case strongly commended the constable's courage and presence of mind.
+The Silver Medal was awarded to Constable Wm. Pennett."
+
+
+[Illustration: SULEIMAN GIRBY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Sabungi, Jaffa._]
+
+SULEIMAN GIRBY.
+
+(Chief Boatman to Messrs. Thos. Cook and Son, at Jaffa.)
+
+"The Russian steamer _Ichihatchoff_ was wrecked on the rocks of Jaffa on
+the 18th February, 1891. More than twenty passengers had been swept away
+before anything was done to save life. At 6.30 a.m., on the 19th
+February, Girby and his brothers launched a boat, and proceeded to the
+vessel, from whence they brought off a number of the passengers and
+landed them. In making a second attempt their boat was smashed against
+the inner reef, and it was found impossible to launch another.
+
+"Girby then swam backwards and forwards to the vessel fifteen times,
+bringing someone with him to shore each time. The Silver Medal was voted
+to Suleiman Girby."
+
+"At 8 p.m. on the 26th April, 1891, the French frigate _Seignelay_
+parted anchors, and was carried on to the rocks at Jaffa. It was blowing
+a heavy gale at the time, and none of the natives, excepting Girby,
+would offer the slightest assistance. Girby volunteered to swim to the
+ship and deliver a letter to the captain from the Governor. The ship was
+half a mile from shore, but he accomplished the work after a two hours'
+swim in a heavy sea. After doing this he dived under the ship and
+examined the hull, reporting her sound. He then swam ashore, taking a
+message from the captain. Towards morning, when the sea got higher, the
+captain signalled, and Suleiman again swam out, and brought back the
+captain's wife fastened on his back. The Silver Clasp was voted to
+Suleiman Girby."
+
+
+[Illustration: EDITH BRILL.
+
+_From a Photo. by Cobb & Keir, Plumstead Road._]
+
+EDITH BRILL.
+
+"Edith Brill, age ten, saved Frank Hill, two and a half years old, at
+6.45 p.m., 6th June, 1882, at the Graving Dock, Royal Dockyard,
+Woolwich. The child Hill was pulled into the water by a boy who had
+stumbled in some very foul and deep water. Little Edith Brill pluckily
+ran down the deep steps of the dock and went up to her neck in the
+water, and held the child up until John Hill helped her out. The boy
+Whorley who had fallen in was drowned."
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+_A Strange Reunion._
+
+
+BY T. G. ATKINSON.
+
+In a poor little house in a wretched little town on a miserable day in
+November, two men sat by a small wood fire, warming their hands at the
+tiny blaze and silently watching the flicker of the flames. They were
+both young men; the elder was not more than twenty-six or seven and the
+younger was perhaps a year behind.
+
+[Illustration: "TWO MEN SAT BY A SMALL WOOD FIRE."]
+
+One of them was plain Charlie Osborne; the other rejoiced in the more
+aristocratic sobriquet of Eustace Margraf. But it mattered little by
+what different names they were called, since Fortune had forgotten to
+call on both alike. In short, they were "broke"--almost "stony broke."
+There had been a lock-out at the works at which they were both employed,
+and although they had neither of them joined the combination, they were
+none the less out of a job, and the fact of their former employment at
+the works that had locked them out told heavily against their chance of
+procuring other work in the town.
+
+Neither was there much likelihood of their going back to the works, for
+the owners were rich men who could afford a long struggle, and the men
+were obstinate; and even if the strikers ever got back, Osborne and
+Margraf were in the awkward positions of being blacklegs. Thus it was
+that Fortune had forgotten these two young men who sat by their little
+fire, doggedly silent, too low-hearted even to curse Fortune.
+
+"I shall go to London, Charlie," said the elder, suddenly, without
+looking up.
+
+"What shall we do there?" growled the other. Osborne and Margraf had
+been more inseparable than brothers since the death of each of their
+parents ten years ago. Therefore it was that, when the latter announced
+his intention of going to London, the former instantly assumed his own
+share in the venture, and asked:--
+
+"What shall _we_ do in London?"
+
+"Don't know till I get there," answered Margraf, who, be it observed,
+did not encourage the first person plural. First person singular was a
+good deal more in his line. Yet he loved his chum, too, in his own way;
+but it was not the best way.
+
+"What's the use of going, then?"
+
+"What's the use of staying in this d---- show? What's the use of tramping
+round day and night after a job that never comes? What's the use of
+anything? I'm tired of mill work; it isn't what I was made for. I'm
+going to try my luck at something better. You needn't come."
+
+But because Charlie Osborne was accustomed to be led by his comrade, he
+too gave out his intention to try his fortunes in London. This was not
+quite what Margraf wanted. He evidently had a scheme in contemplation
+in which he would prefer to be alone.
+
+"I'll tell you what, Charlie, old fellow," he said after awhile. "I've
+got a plan I want you to help carry out. I want you and me to separate
+for three years--only three years--and try our luck alone. At the end of
+the three years we will meet again and see how each has got on, and
+divide takings."
+
+"Not see each other at all?" asked Charlie, ruefully. His love for his
+chum was of the better kind; the second person singular species.
+
+"No, not at all," answered the other, firmly, as though he were laying
+down a painful but apparent duty. "Not have any communication with each
+other except in case of extreme necessity. In that case we can put an
+advertisement in the _Daily Telegraph_. We will make a point of always
+seeing that paper."
+
+After a longer demur than he was accustomed to raise to any scheme of
+Margraf's, however wild and chimerical, Charlie at last let his usual
+submission, and a vague suspicion that his companionship might be
+dragging Margraf back from attaining a position more worthy of that
+gentleman's talents, get the better of him. He made a hard fight for the
+privilege of exchanging letters during the three years, but Eustace
+remained obdurate. There was to be no communication except under the
+circumstances and in the manner named. Each was to take care to see the
+_Daily Telegraph_ every morning in case of such communications; and at
+the exact expiration of the three years, that is, on the 15th November,
+188-, they were to meet at twelve o'clock noon at Charing Cross station.
+
+So these two men divided up their little stock of belongings and smaller
+capital of money, took a third-class ticket each to London, went
+together to Charing Cross to verify the scene of their future reunion,
+and shook hands.
+
+"We meet here in three years from to-day."
+
+"We do, all being well. Good-bye, Charlie."
+
+"Good-bye, old fellow."
+
+Thus they parted, each on his separate quest for fortune.
+
+[Illustration: "GOOD-BYE, OLD FELLOW."]
+
+On the evening of the 14th November, 188-, Eustace Margraf, Esq.,
+Director and Chairman of the Anglican Debenture Corporation, Ltd., eke
+of the General Stock and Shareholders' Protective Union, Ltd., and
+various other like speculative companies, sat in the luxurious
+dining-room of his well-appointed residence in Lewisham Park. He had
+finished his sumptuous but solitary meal, and, reclining in a spacious
+armchair, sipped his rare old wine. It was three years all but a day
+since he had parted from Charlie Osborne on Charing Cross Station, and
+set out with eighteenpence in his pocket to seek his fortune. In that
+brief time he had rapidly risen to wealth and distinction. Three years
+ago he was a penniless mechanic, forsaken by Fortune and discontented
+with his life; to-day he was a rich man, smiled on and courted by
+Fortune and envied by all her minions, and still he was discontented
+with his life.
+
+It was strange that he should cherish this discontent, for Eustace
+Margraf, mindful of the fact that he was made for something better than
+mill work, had matriculated and graduated at the World's University in
+the Department of Forgery and Theft. He had taken the highest diplomas
+in fraud; he had passed with honours the test of an accomplished
+swindler; and in the intricacies of embezzlement he was Senior Wrangler.
+Yet he was not content; some men are never satisfied.
+
+This evening, as he sat sampling his '18 Oporto, with the daily paper at
+his elbow, he actually felt some amount of regret that he had entered
+the course for such distinctions--which, by the way, his modesty forbade
+him publishing to the world at large. Only a select few knew the extent
+of his accomplishments.
+
+In the paper at his side there was a little paragraph which had given
+his memory a rather unpleasant jog. It was in the personal column, and
+ran as follows: "E. M.--Don't forget to-morrow, noon, C. C.
+Station.--Charlie." He wanted to see Charlie, for he still loved him
+after his old fashion; but the memories which the advertisement called
+up, and a doubt as to whether Charlie would appreciate his
+accomplishments, made him fidgety; and the recollection of all that must
+pass between now and noon to-morrow filled him with uneasiness. For
+to-night he was to stake everything in one tremendous venture. If he
+succeeded he would need to do nothing more all his life; if he
+failed----
+
+To-night, at eight o'clock, the Continental mail train would start from
+Charing Cross Station with seventy-five thousand pounds worth of bullion
+for the Bank of France. If Eustace Margraf succeeded in his enterprise,
+it would reach Paris with the same weight of valueless shot in the
+strong iron boxes.
+
+Everything had been nicely and minutely arranged. The shot had been
+carefully weighed to a quarter of a grain, and portioned into three
+equal lots to match the cases of bullion, which would be weighed on
+leaving London, again at Dover, once more at Calais, and finally on
+arrival at Paris. A key to fit the cases had been secretly made from a
+wax impression of the original, how obtained none but Margraf knew. This
+key he would hand to his confederates this evening at Charing Cross
+Station, after which he would go down by the seven o'clock train
+preceding the mail.
+
+The stoker of the mail, an old railway hand, had been bribed, together
+with the guard in whose compartment the bullion would travel. It had
+been thought desirable to deal differently with the front guard and the
+driver; a specially prepared and powerful drug was to be given them in a
+pint of beer just before starting, which would take effect about an hour
+after administration and last till the sleepers should be aroused by
+brandy. During their slumber the stoker would pull up at convenient
+places on the line to allow the robbers to enter the guard's carriage
+and leave it with their booty, when they would make off to where Margraf
+had arranged to meet them; he would manage the rest. The front guard and
+the driver, meanwhile, would for their own sakes be glad enough to say
+nothing about their long slumber.
+
+All these arrangements had been made with great nicety, and told over
+twice; and yet Margraf was uneasy and nervous as he thought of all the
+risk he ran. Twice he stretched out his hand for the bell-rope for
+telegram forms to stay the whole business; once he went so far as to
+ring the bell, but he altered his mind by the time the servant answered
+it, and ordered hot brandy instead. It was now six o'clock; in another
+hour he must hand over the duplicate key to his accomplices and board
+the train for Dover.
+
+Every moment he grew more nervous, his hand became so shaky that brandy
+failed to steady it; his face grew pale and haggard; his nerves were
+strung to a painful tension; and all sorts of possibilities of failure
+in his scheme haunted him till he could have cried out from sheer
+nervousness.
+
+[Illustration: "A LIFE LIKE THIS WOULD KILL ME!"]
+
+"God!" he exclaimed, as he drained a glass of brandy and water and rose
+to go. "A life like this would kill me. Well, this shall be the last
+risk. If it turns out all right--as it must--I shall give this kind of
+business up. I shall have plenty then, and old Charlie will go off and
+live quietly and comfortably."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The rear guard of the seven o'clock Continental finished his last cup of
+tea, put on his thick winter coat, kissed his wife and baby girl, and
+took up his lantern preparatory to joining his train. He reached the
+station as the great engine was being coupled and gave the driver a
+cheery salute, which that official acknowledged with a surly growl.
+
+"Something put Jimmy out to-night," he laughed to the fireman, a young,
+inexperienced fellow, making his trial trip, and passed on to make his
+inspection of things in general before starting.
+
+At the last moment a richly-dressed gentleman, wearing a long fur coat,
+and carrying a large travelling rug, entered a first-class smoking
+compartment. This gentleman, whom numerous people on the platform
+recognised as he passed and saluted respectfully, was Eustace Margraf,
+Esq. The carriage he got into was an empty one, and, lying full length
+on the seat, covered with his rug, he lit a cigar and composed himself
+to make the best of a long and tiresome railway journey. The guard blew
+his whistle, the great engine reproduced it in a loud, deep tone, and
+the train steamed slowly out of the station, twenty minutes late in
+starting.
+
+Left to his own reflections, which were none of the liveliest, and
+lulled by the motion of the train, our traveller soon fell into a fitful
+sleep, wherein he was haunted by dreams that wrought upon his brain
+until he was almost as nervous as he had been in his own room some hours
+before.
+
+He awoke suddenly, with a vague sense that the train was travelling at a
+most unusual and unaccountable speed: and, as he leapt to his feet in a
+half-dazed fright, they shot through Tunbridge--a place at which they
+were timed to make a ten minutes' stop--and he was conscious of seeing,
+as in a flash, a crowd of frightened and awe-struck faces looking at the
+train from the platform. He sank back on the cushioned seat, seized with
+a nameless terror. Time and space seemed to his overwrought nerves to be
+filled with tokens of some approaching calamity which he was powerless
+to prevent; the terrific speed and violent swaying of the train, the
+shrill howl of the ceaseless whistle, the terrible darkness and silence
+of everything outside his immediate surroundings, and the recollection
+of that crowd of terrified faces, all seemed to thrill him with a sense
+of impending horror, and the wretched man sat terror-stricken on his
+seat, a mere mass of highly-strung and delicate nerves.
+
+[Illustration: "SUDDENLY A FACE PASSED THE WINDOW."]
+
+Suddenly, as he looked into the black night, a face passed the window,
+as of someone walking along the footboard to the engine; a stern-set
+face, as of one going to certain danger and needing all the pluck he
+possessed to carry him through: and at the apparition the traveller
+fairly shrieked aloud; but the face passed on and was gone.
+
+In another moment there was a sudden shout--a terrific crash--a wild
+chaos of sight and sound--and our traveller knew no more.
+
+When next he found his senses, he was lying among cushions and rugs in
+the waiting-room at Tunbridge Wells Station. He awoke with a faint
+shiver, and tried to raise himself, but found to his astonishment that
+he could not so much as lift a finger. As a matter of fact, he was among
+those whom the busy surgeons had given up as a desperate case; and,
+after doing all in their power to ease him, abandoned in favour of more
+hopeful subjects; but this he did not know.
+
+Several of the passengers whose injuries were only very slight were
+discussing the accident in an animated manner, and, as usual in such
+cases, many wild and fanciful conjectures were passed about as truth. At
+last one said:--
+
+"Does anyone know the rights of the matter?"
+
+"Yes, I do," volunteered a young man with an arm in a sling; and Margraf
+lay silently listening, unable to move or speak.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"Just after we passed Grove Park, the fireman was on the front of the
+engine oiling, when he felt the locomotive increasing in speed till it
+became so appalling that he grew terrified and could not get back. He is
+a young fellow, and this is his trial trip. At length he managed to
+crawl back to the cab, where he found the driver lying, as he supposed,
+dead. This so increased his terror that he was only able to open the
+whistle and pull the cord communicating with the rear guard, and then
+fell in a swoon across the tender.
+
+"The rear guard, a plucky young fellow of about six-and-twenty, twigging
+the situation, came, as we all know, along the footboard to the
+engine"--Margraf listened with all his remaining strength--"in order to
+stop the train before it ran into the Ramsgate express, but apparently
+was too late."
+
+"But what was up with the driver, and where was the front guard in the
+meanwhile?"
+
+"Well, it appears from what the front guard says--marvellous how he
+escaped with hardly a scratch--both these men had been drugged, and as
+they were both of them to have run the mail train to the Continent
+to-night, things look very fishy."
+
+Margraf nearly fainted in his efforts to listen more intensely.
+
+"They were changed on to this train at the last moment, and hence this
+accident. The rear guard, poor fellow, was shockingly mangled. Stone
+dead, of course; and leaves, I understand, a wife and child. There will
+no doubt be a collection made for him. He was a plucky fellow."
+
+"Does anyone know his name?" asked one.
+
+"Yes; his name was Charlie Osborne."
+
+There was a heartrending groan from the cushions and rugs.
+
+"Here," cried a young medical student among the party to a passing
+surgeon, "you'd better come and have a look at this poor chap. He isn't
+as dead as you thought he was."
+
+[Illustration: THE SURGEON CAME AND LOOKED AT MARGRAF.]
+
+The surgeon came and looked at Margraf.
+
+"Isn't he?" he said, in his cool, professional way. "He is a good deal
+farther gone than I thought. He couldn't be gone much farther."
+
+
+
+
+_From Behind the Speaker's Chair._
+
+IV.
+
+(VIEWED BY HENRY W. LUCY.)
+
+
+ABOUT INDENTED HEADINGS.
+
+I suppose if anyone has a right to indulge in the convenience of
+indented headings when writing a discursive article, I may claim a share
+in the privilege. When I retired from the editorship of a morning
+newspaper, a not obtrusively friendly commentator wrote that my chief
+claim to be remembered in that connection was that I had invented
+sign-posts for leading articles. But he was careful to add, lest I
+should be puffed up, this was not sufficient to establish editorial
+reputation.
+
+It is true; but it is interesting to observe how the way thus adventured
+upon has grown crowded. The abstentions indicate a curious and
+interesting habitude ingrained in the English Press. Whilst most of the
+weekly papers, not only in the provinces but in London, have adopted the
+new fashion, no daily paper in London, and in the country only one here
+and there, has followed it. That is a nice distinction, illustrating a
+peculiarity of our honoured profession. As it was a daily paper that
+made the innovation, weekly papers may, without loss of dignity, adopt
+the custom as their own. But it is well known that, in London at least,
+there is only one daily paper, and that is the "We" speaking from a
+particular address, located somewhere between Temple Bar and St. Paul's.
+
+Argal, it is impossible that this peculiarly situated entity should
+borrow from other papers. Yet I once heard the manager of what we are
+pleased to call the leading journal confess he envied the _Daily News'_
+side-headings to its leaders, and regretted the impossibility of
+adapting them for his own journal. That was an opinion delivered in
+mufti. In full uniform, no manager--certainly no editor--of another
+morning paper is aware of the existence of the _Daily News_; the _Daily
+News_, on its part, being courageously steeped in equally dense
+ignorance of the existence of other journals.
+
+[Illustration: INDENTED HEADINGS.]
+
+Few things are so funny as the start of surprise with which a London
+journal upon rare occasion finds itself face to face with a something
+that also appears every morning at a price varying from a penny to
+threepence. Nothing will induce it to give the phenomenon a name, and it
+distantly alludes to it as "a contemporary." This is quite peculiar to
+Great Britain, and is in its way akin to the etiquette of the House of
+Commons, which makes it a breach of order to refer to a member by his
+proper name. It does not exist in France or the United States, and there
+are not lacking signs that the absurd lengths to which it has hitherto
+been carried out in the English Press are being shortened.
+
+[Illustration: "CONTEMP(T)ORARIES."]
+
+
+SIR WALTER BARTTELOT.
+
+But that is an aside, meant only to introduce an old friend in a new
+place. I was going to explain how it came about that, in the
+mid-February issue of THE STRAND MAGAZINE, the name of Sir
+Walter Barttelot should appear in the list of members of the present
+House of Commons who had seats in the House in 1873, and that another
+number of the Magazine has been issued without the correction, widely
+made elsewhere, being noted. It is due simply to the fact of the
+phenomenal circulation of a magazine which, in order to be out to date,
+requires its contributors to send in their copy some two months in
+advance.
+
+It is not too late to say a word about the late member for Sussex, a
+type rapidly disappearing from the Parliamentary stage. He entered the
+House thirty-three years ago, when Lord Palmerston was Premier, Mr.
+Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Cornewall Lewis
+was at the Home Office, and Lord John Russell looked after Foreign
+Affairs.
+
+The House of Commons was a different place in those days, the heritage
+of the classes, a closed door against any son of the masses. Sir Walter
+was born a country gentleman, his natural prejudices not being smoothed
+down by a term of service in the Dragoon Guards. He was not a brilliant
+man, nor, beyond the level attainments of a county magistrate, an able
+one. But he was thoroughly honest; suspected himself of ingrained
+prejudice, and always fought against it. He suffered and learnt much
+during his long Parliamentary life.
+
+One of the earliest shocks dealt him was the appearance in the House of
+Mr. Chamberlain, newly elected for Birmingham. It is difficult at this
+time of day to realize the attitude in which the gentlemen of England
+sixteen years ago stood towards the statesman who is now proudly
+numbered in their ranks. When he presented himself to be sworn in, it
+was one of the jokes of the day that Sir Walter Barttelot expected he
+would approach the Table making "a cart-wheel" down the floor, as ragged
+little boys disport themselves along the pavement when a drag or omnibus
+passes. Sir Walter was genuinely surprised to find in the fearsome
+Birmingham Radical a quietly-dressed, well-mannered, almost
+boyish-looking man, who spoke in a clear, admirably pitched voice, and
+opposed the Prisons Bill, then under discussion, on the very lines from
+which Sir Walter had himself attacked it when it was brought in during
+the previous Session.
+
+[Illustration: "ANTICIPATION."]
+
+It was characteristic of this fine old English gentleman that, having
+done a man an injustice by unconsciously forming a wrong opinion about
+him, he hastened forthwith to make amends.
+
+[Illustration: "REALITY."]
+
+"If," he said, when Mr. Chamberlain had resumed his seat, "the hon.
+member for Birmingham will always address the House with the same
+quietness, and with the same intelligence displayed on this occasion, I
+can assure him the House of Commons will always be ready to listen to
+him."
+
+This is delicious, looking back over the years, watching Mr.
+Chamberlain's soaring flight, and thinking of the good county member
+thus loftily patronizing him. But it was a bold thing to be said at that
+time of Mr. Chamberlain by Sir Walter Barttelot, and some friends who
+sat near him thought his charity had led him a little too far.
+
+The Sussex squire was of a fine nature--simple, ever ready to be moved
+by generous impulses. There were two men coming across the moonlight
+orbit of his Parliamentary life whose conduct he detested, and whose
+influence he feared. One was Mr. Parnell, the other Mr. Bradlaugh. Yet
+when the Commission acquitted Mr. Parnell of the charges brought against
+him by the forged letters, Sir Walter Barttelot sought him out in the
+Lobby, publicly shook hands with him, and congratulated him upon the
+result of the inquiry. When Mr. Bradlaugh lay on his death-bed, on the
+very night the House of Commons was debating the resolution to expunge
+from the Order Book the dictum that stood there through eleven years,
+declaring him ineligible either to take the oath or to make affirmation,
+Sir Walter Barttelot appealed to the House unanimously to pass the
+motion, concluding his remarks with emphatic expression of the hope that
+"God would spare Mr. Bradlaugh's life."
+
+[Illustration: "SHADOWS."]
+
+Sir Walter never recovered from the blow dealt by the death of his son
+in Africa, aggravated as the sorrow was by the controversy which
+followed. Of late years he spoke very little; but in the Parliaments of
+1874-80 and 1880-85 he was a frequent participator in debate. He was no
+orator, nor did he contribute original ideas to current discussion.
+Moreover, what he had to say was so tortured by the style of delivery
+that it lost something of whatever force naturally belonged to it.
+
+I have a verbatim note taken fifteen years ago of a speech delivered in
+the House of Commons by Sir Walter, which faintly echoes an oratorical
+style whose master is no longer with us. It lacks the inconsequential
+emphasis, the terrific vigour of the gesture, and the impression
+conveyed by the speaker's intense earnestness, that really, by-and-by,
+he would say something, which compelled the attention of new members and
+strangers in the gallery. But if the reader imagines portentous pauses
+represented by the hyphens, and the deepening to tragic tones of the
+words marked in italics, he may in some measure realize the effect.
+
+The speech from which this passage was taken was delivered in debate
+upon a resolution moved by Mr. Forster on the Cattle Plague Orders.
+Whenever in the passage Mr. Forster is personally alluded to it is
+necessary, in order to full realization of the scene, to picture Sir
+Walter shaking a minatory forefinger, sideways, at the right hon.
+gentleman, not looking at him, but pointing him out to the scorn of
+mankind and the reprobation of country gentlemen: "Yet _he knows_ [here
+the finger wags]--and--_knows full well_--in the--position he
+occupies--making a proposal of this kind--must be one--which--must
+be--fatal--to--the Bill. _No one knows better_ than the right hon.
+gentleman--that when--he--raises a great question _of this kind_--upon a
+Bill _of this sort_--_namely_ upon the second reading--of--this
+Bill--that that proposal--that he makes--is absolutely against the
+principle--of--the Bill. Now, I--de--ny that the principle--of--this
+Bill--is confined--and _is to be found_--in the 5th Schedule--of--the
+Bill."
+
+A few minutes later an illustration occurred to the inspired orator, and
+was thus brought under the notice of the entranced House:--
+
+"Now, Denmark--it is a _remark_--able country, is _Den_--mark--for--we
+have little--or no--dis--ease from _Den_--mark. The importation--from
+_Den_--mark--is something like fifty-six--thousand--cattle--_and the_
+curious part of it is this, that _nine_teen--thousand--of
+these--were--cows--and _these cows_ came--to--this country--and--had
+been allowed to go--_all over_--this country--and--I have never yet
+heard--that these cows that--have so--gone over _this country_--have
+spread any disease--in this country--."
+
+This was a mannerism which amused the House at the time, but did nothing
+to obscure the genuine qualities of Sir Walter, or lessen the esteem in
+which he was held. It cannot be said that the House of Commons was
+habitually moved by his argument in debate. But he was held in its
+warmest esteem, and his memory will long be cherished as linked with the
+highest type of English country gentleman.
+
+
+THE PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.
+
+At this time of writing there is talk in the House about payment of
+members. A private member has placed on the paper a resolution affirming
+the desirability of adopting the principle, and it is even said--(which
+I take leave to doubt)--that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has a card
+up his sleeve intended to win this game. It would be rash to predict
+stubborn resistance on the part of a body that has so often proved
+itself open to conviction as has the House of Commons. But I should say
+that to secure this end it would need a tussle quite as prolonged and as
+violent as has raged round Home Rule. Lowering and widening the suffrage
+has done much to alter the personal standard of the House of Commons.
+Nothing achieved through these sixty years would in its modifying effect
+equal the potency of the change wrought by paying members.
+
+[Illustration: "A PERSONAL STANDARD."]
+
+One illustration is found in the assertion, made with confidence, that
+under such a system the House would know no more men of the type of Sir
+Walter Barttelot. He was not the highest form of capacity, knowledge, or
+intelligence. But he was of the kind that gives to the House of Commons
+the lofty tone it speedily regains even after a paroxysm of
+post-prandial passion. The House of Commons is unique in many ways. I
+believe the main foundation of the position it holds among the
+Parliaments of the world is this condition of volunteered unremunerated
+service.
+
+In spite of sneers from disappointed or flippant persons, a seat in the
+House of Commons still remains one of the highest prizes of citizen
+life. When membership becomes a business, bringing in say £6 a week, the
+charm will be gone. As things stand, there is no reason why any
+constituency desiring to do so may not return a member on the terms of
+paying him a salary. It is done in several cases, in two at least with
+the happiest results. It would be a different thing to throw the whole
+place open with standing advertisement for eligible members at a salary
+of, £300 a year, paid quarterly. The horde of impecunious babblers and
+busybodies attracted by such a bait would trample down the class of men
+who compose the present House of Commons, and who are, in various ways,
+at touch with all the multiform interests of the nation.
+
+[Illustration: A SURPRISE.]
+
+
+HATS AND SEATS.
+
+The great hat question which agitated the House of Commons at the
+commencement of the new Session, even placing Home Rule in a secondary
+position, has subsided, and will probably not again be heard of during
+the existence of the present Parliament. Whilst yet to the fore it was
+discussed with vigour and freshness; but it is no new thing. With the
+opening Session of every Parliament the activity and curiosity of new
+members lead to inconvenient crowding of a chamber that was not
+constructed to seat 670 members. In the early days of the 1880
+Parliament the hat threatened to bring about a crisis. One evening Mr.
+Mitchell Henry startled the House by addressing the Speaker from a side
+gallery. This of itself was regarded as a breach of order, and many
+members expected the Speaker would peremptorily interfere. But Mr.
+Mitchell Henry, an old Parliamentary hand, knew he was within his right
+in speaking from this unwonted position. The side galleries as far down
+as the Bar are as much within the House as is the Treasury Bench, and
+though orators frequenting them would naturally find a difficulty in
+catching the Speaker's eye, there is no other reason why they should
+not permanently occupy seats there.
+
+Mr. Mitchell Henry explained that he spoke from this place because he
+could not find any other. He had come down in ordinarily good time to
+take his seat, and found all the benches on the floor appropriated by
+having hats planted out along them. In each hat was fixed a card,
+indicating the name of the owner. What had first puzzled Mr. Henry, and
+upon reflection led him to the detection of systematic fraud, was
+meeting in remote parts of the House, even in the street, members who
+went about wearing a hat, although what purported to be their headgear
+was being used to stake out a claim in the Legislative Chamber. Mr.
+Henry made the suggestion that only what he called "the working hat"
+should be recognised as an agent in securing a seat.
+
+[Illustration: THE NON-WORKING HAT--UNIONIST.]
+
+The strict morality of this arrangement was acquiesced in, and its
+adoption generally approved. But nothing practical came of it.
+By-and-by, in the ordinary evolution of things, the pressure of
+competition for seats died off, and the supernumerary hat disappeared
+from the scene. This Session the ancient trouble returned with increased
+force, owing to the peculiar circumstances in which political parties
+are subdivided. The Irish members insisting upon retaining their old
+seats below the gangway to the left of the Speaker, there was no room
+for the Dissentient Liberals to range themselves in their proper
+quarters on the Opposition side. They, accordingly, moved over with the
+Liberals, and appropriated two benches below the gangway, thus driving a
+wedge of hostile force into the very centre of the Ministerial ranks. It
+was the Radical quarter that was thus invaded, and its occupants were
+not disposed tamely to submit to the incursion. The position was to be
+held only by strategy. Hence the historic appearance on the scene on the
+first day of the Session of Mr. Austen Chamberlain with relays of hats,
+which he set out along the coveted benches, and so secured them for the
+sitting. On the other side of the House a similar contest was going
+forward between the Irish Nationalist members, represented by Dr.
+Tanner, and their Ulster brethren, who acknowledge a leader in Colonel
+Saunderson.
+
+[Illustration: THE NON-WORKING HAT--IRISH.]
+
+These tactics are made possible by the peculiar, indeed unique,
+arrangement by which seats are secured in the House of Commons. In all
+other Legislative Assemblies in the world each member has assigned to
+him a seat and desk, reserved for him as long as he is a member. That
+would be an impossible arrangement in the House of Commons, for the
+sufficient reason that while there are 670 duly returned members, there
+is not sitting room for much more than half the number. When a member of
+the House of Commons desires to secure a particular seat for a given
+night he must be in his place at prayer time, which on four days a week
+is at three o'clock in the afternoon. On the fifth day, Wednesday,
+prayers are due at noon. At prayer time, and only then, there are
+obtainable tickets upon which a member may write his name, and, sticking
+the pasteboard in the brass frame at the back of the seat, is happy for
+the night.
+
+Where, what Mr. Mitchell Henry called, the non-working hat comes in is
+in the practice of members gathering before prayer time and placing
+their hats on the seat they desire to retain. That is a preliminary that
+receives no official recognition. "No prayer, no seat," is the axiom,
+and unless a member be actually present in the body when the Chaplain
+reads prayers, he is not held to have established a claim. Thus his
+spiritual comfort is subtly and indispensably linked with his material
+comfort.
+
+
+A NEW THING IN SYNDICATES.
+
+There is nothing new under the glass roof of the House of Commons, not
+even the balloting syndicates, of which so much has been heard since the
+Session opened. Fifteen or sixteen years ago the Irish members
+astonished everybody by the extraordinary luck that attended them at the
+ballot. The ballot in this sense has nothing to do with the electoral
+poll, being the process by which precedence for private members is
+secured. When a private member has in charge a Bill or resolution, much
+depends on the opportunity he secures for bringing it forward.
+Theoretically, Tuesday, Wednesday, and (in vanishing degree) a portion
+of Friday are appropriated to his use. On Tuesday he may bring on
+motions; on Wednesday advance Bills; and on Friday raise miscellaneous
+questions on certain stages of Supply. On days when notices of motion
+may be given there is set forth on the Table a book with numbered lines,
+on which members write their names. Say there are fifty names written
+down--or four hundred, as was the melancholy case on the opening night
+of the Session--the Clerk at the Table places in a box a corresponding
+number of slips of paper. When all is ready for the ballot, the Speaker
+having before him the list of names as written down, the Clerk at the
+Table plunges his hand into the lucky-box and taking out, at random, one
+of the pieces of paper, calls aloud the number marked upon it.
+
+[Illustration: BALLOT.]
+
+Say it is 365. The Speaker, referring to the list he holds in his hand,
+finds that Mr. Smith has written his name on line 365. He thereupon
+calls upon Mr. Smith, who has the first chance, and selects what in his
+opinion is the most favourable day, _ceteris paribus_, the earliest at
+liberty. So the process goes through till the last paper in the
+ballot-box has been taken out and the list is closed.
+
+It is at best a wearisome business, a criminal waste of time, useless
+for practical purposes. It was well enough when Parliament was not
+overburdened with work, and when the members balloting for places rarely
+exceeded a score. But when, as happened on the opening day of the
+Session, two of the freshest hours of the sitting are occupied by the
+performance, it is felt that a change is desirable. This could easily be
+effected, there being no reason in the world why the process of
+balloting for places on the Order Book should not be carried out as was
+the balloting for places in the Strangers' Galleries on the night Mr.
+Gladstone introduced his Home Rule Bill. On that occasion the Speaker's
+Secretary, with the assistance of a clerk, and in the presence of as
+many members as cared to look on, arranged the ballot without a hitch or
+a murmur of complaint from anyone concerned. The sooner the public
+balloting is relegated to the same agency the better it will be for the
+dispatch of public business. With it should disappear the consequent
+wanton waste of time involved in members bodily bringing in their Bills,
+a performance that appropriated nearly half the sitting on the second
+day of the Session.
+
+The spread of the syndicate contrivance would happily hasten the
+inevitable end. It was by means of the syndicate, though it was not
+known by that name, or indeed at first known at all, that the Home Rule
+party managed in the Parliament of 1880-85 to monopolize the time
+pertaining to private members. Their quick eyes detected what is simple
+enough when explained--that the ballot system contained potentialities
+for increasing the chances of a Bill by twenty or thirty fold. Suppose
+they had ten Bills or motions they desired to bring forward. They
+usually had more, but ten is sufficient to contemplate. These were
+arranged in accordance with their claim to priority. Every member of the
+party wrote his name down in the ballot-book, thus securing an
+individual chance at the ballot. Whilst the ballot was in progress, each
+had in his hand a list of the Bills in their order of priority. The
+member whose name was first called by the Speaker gave notice of the
+most urgent Bill, the second and third taking the next favourable
+positions, and so on to the end.
+
+It will be seen that, supposing fifty or sixty members thus combined,
+their pet Bill would have fifty or sixty chances to one against the
+hapless private member with his solitary voice. The secret was long
+kept, and the Irish members carried everything before them at the
+ballot. Now the murder is out, and there are almost as many syndicates
+as there are private Bills. All can grow the flower now, for all have
+got the seed. But it naturally follows that competition is practically
+again made even. The advantage to be derived from the syndicate system
+has appreciably decreased, whilst its practice immeasurably lengthens
+the process of balloting.
+
+
+LOUIS JENNINGS.
+
+Mr. Louis Jennings, though he sat on the same side of the House as Sir
+Walter Barttelot, and within a week or two of his neighbour's departure
+likewise answered to the old Lobby cry, "Who goes home?" was of a
+different type of Conservative, was a man of literary training, generous
+culture, and wide knowledge of the world, and made his fame and fortune
+long before he entered the House of Commons. It was the late Mr. Delane
+whose quick eye discovered his journalistic ability, and gave him his
+first commission on the _Times_. He visited America in the service of
+that journal, and being there remained to take up the editorship of the
+_New York Times_, making himself and his journal famous by his
+successful tilting against what, up to his appearance in the list, had
+been the invincible Tweed conspiracy. He edited the "Croker Papers," and
+wrote a "study" of Mr. Gladstone--a bitterly clever book, to which the
+Premier magnanimously referred in the generous tribute he took occasion
+to pay to the memory of the late member for Stockport.
+
+Upon these two books Mr. Jennings's literary fame in this country
+chiefly rests. It would stand much higher if there were wider knowledge
+of another couple of volumes he wrote just before he threw himself into
+the turmoil of Parliamentary life. One is called "Field Paths and Green
+Lanes"; the other "Rambles Among the Hills." Both were published by Mr.
+Murray, and are now, I believe, out of print. They are well worth
+reproducing, supplying some of the most charming writing I know, full of
+shrewd observation, humorous fancy, and a deep, abiding sympathy with
+all that is beautiful in Nature. I thought I knew Louis Jennings pretty
+intimately in Parliamentary and social life, but I found a new man
+hidden in these pages--a beautiful, sunny nature, obscured in the
+ordinary relations of life by a somewhat brusque manner, and in these
+last eighteen months soured and cramped by a cruel disease. Jennings
+knew and loved the country as Gilbert White knew and loved Selborne. Now
+
+  His part in all the pomp that fills
+  The circuit of the summer hills
+      Is, that his grave is green.
+
+[Illustration: MR. LOUIS JENNINGS.]
+
+His Parliamentary career was checked, and, as it turned out, finally
+destroyed, by an untoward incident. After Lord Randolph Churchill threw
+up the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and assumed a position of
+independence on a back bench, he found an able lieutenant in his old
+friend Louis Jennings. At that time Lord Randolph was feared on the
+Treasury Bench as much as he was hated. For a Conservative member to
+associate himself with him was to be ostracised by the official
+Conservatives. A man of Mr. Jennings's position and Parliamentary
+ability was worth buying off, and it was brought to his knowledge that
+he might have a good price if he would desert Lord Randolph. He was not
+a man of that kind, and the fact that the young statesman stood almost
+alone was sufficient to attract Mr. Jennings to his side.
+
+[Illustration: AS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.]
+
+Up to an early date of the Session of 1890 the companionship, political
+and private, of Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Jennings was as intimate
+as had been any one of his lordship's personal connections with members
+of the Fourth Party. This alliance was ruptured under circumstances that
+took place publicly, but the undercurrent of which has never been
+fathomed. One Monday night, shortly after the opening of this Session of
+1890, there appeared on the paper a resolution standing in the name of
+Mr. Jennings, framed in terms not calculated to smooth the path of the
+Conservative Government, just then particularly troubled. That Mr.
+Jennings had prepared it in consultation with Lord Randolph Churchill
+was an open secret. Indeed, Lord Randolph had undertaken to second it.
+Before the motion could be reached a debate sprang up, in which Lord
+Randolph interposed, and delivered a speech which, in Mr. Jennings's
+view, entirely cut the ground from under his feet. He regarded this as
+more than an affront--as a breach of faith, a blow dealt by his own
+familiar friend. At that moment, in the House, he broke with Lord
+Randolph, tore up his amendment and the notes of his speech, and
+declined thereafter to hold any communion with his old friend.
+
+No one, as I had opportunity of learning at the time, was more surprised
+than Lord Randolph Churchill at the view taken of the event by Mr.
+Jennings. He had not thought of his action being so construed, and had
+certainly been guiltless of the motive attributed to him. There was
+somewhere and somehow a misunderstanding. With Mr. Jennings it was
+strong and bitter enough to last through what remained of his life.
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.]
+
+Whilst he did not act upon the first impulse communicated to one of his
+friends, and forthwith retire from public life, he with this incident
+lost all zest for it. Occasionally he spoke, choosing the level,
+unattractive field of the Civil Service Estimates. It was a high tribute
+to his power and capacity that on the few occasions when he spoke the
+House filled up, not only with the contingent attracted by the prospect
+of anything spicy, but by grave, financial authorities, Ministers and
+ex-Ministers, who listened attentively to his acute criticism. His
+public speaking benefited by a rare combination of literary style and
+oratorical aptitude. There was no smell of the lamp about his polished,
+pungent sentences. But they had the unmistakable mark of literary style.
+Had his physical strength not failed, and his life not been embittered
+by the episode alluded to, Louis Jennings would have risen to high
+position in the Parliamentary field.
+
+
+
+
+_Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives._
+
+
+MRS. BROWN-POTTER.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 4.
+
+_From a Photo. by Levitsky, Paris._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 18.
+
+_From a Photo. by Elmer & Chickering, Boston._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 24.
+
+_From a Photo. by Filk, Sydney._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Warneuke, Glasgow._]
+
+Cora Urquhart Potter was born in Louisiana, her father being Scotch and
+her mother partly Mexican. She was educated by her mother, and taught to
+act and recite from babyhood, her mother making her play on all
+occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. Her first appearance before
+friends was at the age of five years. She was married at seventeen. She
+never spoke English until fourteen, speaking entirely French and
+Spanish, She played all over the States as an amateur, and when the
+occasion came, and she was thrown on her own resources, she adopted the
+stage as a profession. She has played in every country and city where
+the English language is spoken. Mrs. Potter has, perhaps, the largest
+_répertoire_ of any living actress.
+
+
+H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. BORN 1841.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 3.
+
+_From a Painting by F. Winterhalter._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 17.
+
+_From a Photo. by Mayall._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 25.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 40.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The article on the home life of the Prince and Princess of Wales which
+we have the privilege of publishing in this number lends additional
+interest to the portraits of their Royal Highnesses at different ages.
+The accompanying portraits of the Prince represent him in his nursery;
+as an Oxford undergraduate; in Highland costume; in the uniform of a
+Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues); and finally, in an excellent
+likeness, at the present day.
+
+
+THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 17.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hansen, Copenhagen._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 19.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bingham, Paris._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 22.
+
+(With the DUKE OF YORK as a Baby.)
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 41.
+
+_From a Photo. by Lafayette, Dublin._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+Our first portrait of the Princess of Wales was taken in her native city
+nearly two years before her arrival in England; the second was taken at
+the time of her marriage; the third when her second son, the present
+Duke of York, was about a year old; and the fourth in her robes as
+Doctor of Music of the Royal University of Ireland in 1885. The
+difference in the fashion of the dresses in these portraits is striking,
+but not more so than the beauty of the Princess.
+
+
+THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
+
+BORN 1834.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 5.
+
+_From a Miniature._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 10.
+
+_From a Drawing._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 35.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hall, Wakefield._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 46.
+
+_From a Photo. by Barnes, Colchester._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, who has of late years won world-wide
+popularity as the writer of "Mehalah," "John Herring," and many other
+novels, was born at Exeter, and is the eldest son of Mr. Edward
+Baring-Gould, of Lew-Trenchard, Devon, where the family has resided for
+nearly 300 years, and of which place he is now the Rector. He is also
+Justice of the Peace for the County of Devon. He had written on various
+subjects of historical research before he took to novel-writing.
+
+
+LORD CHARLES BERESFORD.
+
+BORN 1846.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 14.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 20.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 40.
+
+_From a Photo. by Dickinson & Foster._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Merlin, Athens._]
+
+Lord Charles Beresford, son of the Marquis of Waterford, entered the
+Royal Navy at thirteen, served on several warships, and accompanied the
+Prince of Wales to India, in 1875, as Naval _Aide-de-Camp_. At the
+bombardment of Alexandria he was in command of the gunboat _Condor_, and
+his gallant conduct in bearing down on the Marabout batteries and
+silencing guns immensely superior to his own was so conspicuous that the
+Admiral's ship signalled: "Well done, _Condor_!" In 1884 he assisted
+Lord Wolseley in the Nile Expedition.
+
+
+JOHN ROBERTS.
+
+BORN 1847.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 2.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 16.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 26.
+
+_From a Photograph by Whitlock, Birmingham._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Alerts, Bombay._]
+
+John Roberts, the finest billiard player the world has ever seen, was
+born at Ardwick, Manchester. He commenced his career as a billiard
+player very early in life, for when only a child of eleven he assisted
+his father at the George Hotel, in Liverpool, his father at the time
+being universally considered the best in England, and, consequently, we
+find that he had in early life the very best model from which to study
+the game. Some thirty years ago, when Roberts's father was champion, a
+break of over 200 was a rare event, whereas now it is an every day
+occurrence with third-rate players. Roberts's highest all-round break is
+3,000. His superiority to those who rank next to him is unprecedented,
+as evinced by his recent victory over Peall, to whom he gave 9,000 in
+24,000. Roberts's style is simply perfect, and it is wonderful to watch
+the various strokes during a long break, consisting as they do of some
+requiring great execution and power of cue, and others showing the
+utmost delicacy of touch.
+
+
+
+
+_The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes._
+
+XVII.--THE ADVENTURE OF THE "GLORIA SCOTT."
+
+BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+"I have some papers here," said my friend, Sherlock Holmes, as we sat
+one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think,
+Watson, it would be worth your while to glance over. These are the
+documents in the extraordinary case of the _Gloria Scott_, and this is
+the message which struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with horror
+when he read it."
+
+He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing
+the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half sheet of
+slate-grey paper.
+
+"The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran.
+"Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders
+for fly-paper, and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life."
+
+As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message I saw Holmes
+chuckling at the expression upon my face.
+
+"You look a little bewildered," said he.
+
+"I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It seems
+to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise."
+
+"Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine,
+robust old man, was knocked clean down by it, as if it had been the
+butt-end of a pistol."
+
+"You arouse my curiosity," said I. "But why did you say just now that
+there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?"
+
+"Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged."
+
+I had often endeavoured to elicit from my companion what had first
+turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but I had never
+caught him before in a communicative humour. Now he sat forward in his
+armchair, and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit his
+pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over.
+
+"You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?" he asked. "He was the only
+friend I made during the two years that I was at college. I was never a
+very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms
+and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed
+much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I had few athletic
+tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the
+other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at all. Trevor was
+the only man I knew, and that only through the accident of his
+bull-terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I went down to
+chapel.
+
+"It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I
+was laid by the heels for ten days, and Trevor used to come in to
+inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his
+visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close friends.
+He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy, the
+very opposite to me in most respects; but we found we had some subjects
+in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as
+friendless as I. Finally, he invited me down to his father's place at
+Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for a month of
+the long vacation.
+
+"Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a J.P.
+and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to the
+north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an
+old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed, brick building, with a fine
+lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild duck
+shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
+library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a
+tolerable cook, so that it would be a fastidious man who could not put
+in a pleasant month there.
+
+"Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend was his only son. There had
+been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria while on a
+visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. He was a man of
+little culture, but with a considerable amount of rude strength both
+physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books, but he had travelled
+far, had seen much of the world, and had remembered all that he had
+learned. In person he was a thick-set, burly man, with a shock of
+grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten face, and blue eyes which were
+keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a reputation for kindness
+and charity on the country side, and was noted for the leniency of his
+sentences from the bench.
+
+[Illustration: "TREVOR USED TO COME IN TO INQUIRE AFTER ME."]
+
+"One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a glass of
+port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of
+observation and inference which I had already formed into a system,
+although I had not yet appreciated the part which they were to play in
+my life. The old man evidently thought that his son was exaggerating in
+his description of one or two trivial feats which I had performed.
+
+"'Come now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humouredly, 'I'm an
+excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.'
+
+"'I fear there is not very much,' I answered. 'I might suggest that you
+have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelve
+months.'
+
+"The laugh faded from his lips and he stared at me in great surprise.
+
+"'Well, that's true enough,' said he. 'You know, Victor,' turning to his
+son, 'when we broke up that poaching gang, they swore to knife us; and
+Sir Edward Hoby has actually been attacked. I've always been on my guard
+since then, though I have no idea how you know it.'
+
+"'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. 'By the inscription, I
+observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have taken
+some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole, so
+as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would not take such
+precautions unless you had some danger to fear.'
+
+"'Anything else?' he asked, smiling.
+
+"'You have boxed a good deal in your youth.'
+
+"'Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little out of
+the straight?'
+
+"'No,' said I. 'It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and
+thickening which marks the boxing man.'
+
+"'Anything else?'
+
+"'You have done a great deal of digging, by your callosities.'
+
+"'Made all my money at the gold-fields.'
+
+"'You have been in New Zealand.'
+
+"'Right again.'
+
+"'You have visited Japan.'
+
+"'Quite true.'
+
+"'And you have been most intimately associated with someone whose
+initials were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely
+forget.'
+
+"Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a
+strange, wild stare, and then pitched forward with his face among the
+nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.
+
+"You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were. His
+attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his collar and
+sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face, he
+gave a gasp or two and sat up.
+
+"'Ah, boys!' said he, forcing a smile. 'I hope I haven't frightened you.
+Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does not
+take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this, Mr.
+Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of fancy
+would be children in your hands. That's your line of life, sir, and you
+may take the word of a man who has seen something of the world.'
+
+"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
+with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the very
+first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be made out
+of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At the moment,
+however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my host to
+think of anything else.
+
+"'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you,' said I.
+
+"'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I ask
+how you know and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half jesting
+fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.
+
+"'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared your arm to draw
+that fish into the boat I saw that "J. A." had been tattooed in the bend
+of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear
+from their blurred appearance, and from the staining of the skin round
+them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them. It was obvious,
+then, that those initials had once been very familiar to you, and that
+you had afterwards wished to forget them.'
+
+"'What an eye you have!' he cried, with a sigh of relief. 'It is just as
+you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old
+loves are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a quiet
+cigar.'
+
+"From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of
+suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked it.
+'You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll never be
+sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He did not mean to
+show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his mind that it peeped
+out at every action. At last I became so convinced that I was causing
+him uneasiness, that I drew my visit to a close. On the very day,
+however, before I left an incident occurred which proved in the sequel
+to be of importance.
+
+"We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three of us,
+basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads, when the
+maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to see
+Mr. Trevor.
+
+"'What is his name?' asked my host.
+
+"'He would not give any.'
+
+"'What does he want, then?'
+
+"'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's
+conversation.'
+
+"'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a little
+wizened fellow, with a cringing manner and a shambling style of walking.
+He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red and
+black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly worn. His
+face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it,
+which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled hands
+were half-closed in a way that is distinctive of sailors. As he came
+slouching across the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make a sort of hiccoughing
+noise in his throat, and, jumping out of his chair, he ran into the
+house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a strong reek of brandy as
+he passed me.
+
+"'Well, my man,' said he, 'what can I do for you?'
+
+"The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the same
+loose-lipped smile upon his face.
+
+"'You don't know me?' he asked.
+
+"'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson!' said Mr. Trevor, in a tone of
+surprise.
+
+"'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. 'Why, it's thirty year and more
+since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still picking
+my salt meat out of the harness cask.'
+
+"'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried Mr.
+Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in a low
+voice. 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will get
+food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.'
+
+"'Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his forelock. 'I'm just off
+a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that, and I wants a
+rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. Beddoes or with you.'
+
+"'Ah!' cried Mr. Trevor, 'you know where Mr. Beddoes is?'
+
+"'Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the fellow,
+with a sinister smile, and slouched off after the maid to the kitchen.
+Mr. Trevor mumbled something to us about having been shipmates with the
+man when he was going back to the diggings, and then, leaving us on the
+lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when we entered the house we found
+him stretched dead drunk upon the dining-room sofa. The whole incident
+left a most ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not sorry next day
+to leave Donnithorpe behind me, for I felt that my presence must be a
+source of embarrassment to my friend.
+
+[Illustration: "'HUDSON IT IS, SIR,' SAID THE SEAMAN."]
+
+"All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation. I went
+up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a few
+experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was
+far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I received a telegram
+from my friend imploring me to return to Donnithorpe, and saying that he
+was in great need of my advice and assistance. Of course I dropped
+everything, and set out for the north once more.
+
+"He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance that
+the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin
+and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for which he had been
+remarkable.
+
+"'The governor is dying,' were the first words he said.
+
+"'Impossible!' I cried. 'What is the matter?'
+
+"'Apoplexy. Nervous shock. He's been on the verge all day. I doubt if we
+shall find him alive.'
+
+"I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news.
+
+"'What has caused it?' I asked.
+
+"'Ah, that is the point. Jump in, and we can talk it over while we
+drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you
+left us?'
+
+"'Perfectly.'
+
+"'Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?'
+
+"'I have no idea.'
+
+"'It was the Devil, Holmes!' he cried.
+
+"I stared at him in astonishment.
+
+"'Yes; it was the Devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour
+since--not one. The governor has never held up his head from that
+evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him, and his heart
+broken all through this accursed Hudson.'
+
+"'What power had he, then?'
+
+"'Ah! that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly, charitable,
+good old governor! How could he have fallen into the clutches of such a
+ruffian? But I am so glad that you have come, Holmes. I trust very much
+to your judgment and discretion, and I know that you will advise me for
+the best.'
+
+"We were dashing along the smooth, white country road, with the long
+stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light of the
+setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the high
+chimneys and the flagstaff which marked the squire's dwelling.
+
+"'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then, as
+that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house seemed
+to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
+The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language. The
+dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for the annoyance.
+The fellow would take the boat and my father's best gun and treat
+himself to little shooting parties. And all this with such a sneering,
+leering, insolent face, that I would have knocked him down twenty times
+over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell you, Holmes, I have had
+to keep a tight hold upon myself all this time, and now I am asking
+myself whether, if I had let myself go a little more, I might not have
+been a wiser man.
+
+"'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal, Hudson,
+became more and more intrusive, until at last, on his making some
+insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the
+shoulder and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid
+face, and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue
+could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after
+that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would mind
+apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my
+father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with
+himself and his household.
+
+"'Ah, my boy,' said he, 'it is all very well to talk, but you don't know
+how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you shall
+know, come what may! You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old father,
+would you, lad?' He was very much moved, and shut himself up in the
+study all day, where I could see through the window that he was writing
+busily.
+
+"'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release, for
+Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
+dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in the
+thick voice of a half-drunken man.
+
+"'I've had enough of Norfolk,' said he. 'I'll run down to Mr. Beddoes,
+in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I daresay.'
+
+"'You're not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,' said my
+father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.
+
+"'I've not had my 'pology," said he, sulkily, glancing in my direction.
+
+[Illustration: "'I'VE NOT HAD MY 'POLOGY,' SAID HE, SULKILY."]
+
+"'Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow
+rather roughly?' said the dad, turning to me.
+
+"'On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary
+patience towards him,' I answered.
+
+"'Oh, you do, do you?' he snarled. 'Very good, mate. We'll see about
+that!' He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the
+house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night after
+night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was recovering
+his confidence that the blow did at last fall.
+
+"'And how?' I asked, eagerly.
+
+"'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father
+yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My father read
+it, clapped both his hands to his head and began running round the room
+in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his senses. When
+I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and eyelids were all
+puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came
+over at once, and we put him to bed; but the paralysis has spread, he
+has shown no sign of returning consciousness, and I think that we shall
+hardly find him alive.'
+
+"'You horrify me, Trevor!' I cried. 'What, then, could have been in this
+letter to cause so dreadful a result?'
+
+"'Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was
+absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!'
+
+"As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in the
+fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. As we
+dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief, a
+gentleman in black emerged from it.
+
+"'When did it happen, doctor?' asked Trevor.
+
+"'Almost immediately after you left.'
+
+"'Did he recover consciousness?'
+
+"'For an instant before the end.'
+
+"'Any message for me?'
+
+"'Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.'
+
+"My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while I
+remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my
+head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was the
+past of this Trevor: pugilist, traveller, and gold-digger; and how had
+he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman? Why, too,
+should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials upon his
+arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingbridge? Then I
+remembered that Fordingbridge was in Hampshire, and that this Mr.
+Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit, and presumably to blackmail,
+had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter, then, might
+either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the
+guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come from Beddoes,
+warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was imminent. So far it
+seemed clear enough. But, then, how could the letter be trivial and
+grotesque, as described by the son? He must have misread it. If so, it
+must have been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one thing
+while they seem to mean another. I must see this letter. If there were a
+hidden meaning in it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For
+an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping
+maid brought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor,
+pale but composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in
+his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge of the
+table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as you see, upon a single
+sheet of grey paper. 'The supply of game for London is going steadily
+up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to
+receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen
+pheasant's life.'
+
+"I daresay my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when first
+I read this message. Then I re-read it very carefully. It was evidently
+as I had thought, and some second meaning must lie buried in this
+strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was a
+prearranged significance to such phrases as 'fly-paper' and 'hen
+pheasant'? Such a meaning would be arbitrary, and could not be deduced
+in any way. And yet I was loth to believe that this was the case, and
+the presence of the word 'Hudson' seemed to show that the subject of the
+message was as I had guessed, and that it was from Beddoes rather than
+the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the combination, 'Life pheasant's
+hen,' was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither
+'The of for' nor 'supply game London' promised to throw any light upon
+it. And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I
+saw that every third word beginning with the first would give a message
+which might well drive old Trevor to despair.
+
+[Illustration: "THE KEY OF THE RIDDLE WAS IN MY HANDS."]
+
+"It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my
+companion:--
+
+"'The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.'
+
+"Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands. 'It must he that, I
+suppose,' said he. 'This is worse than death, for it means disgrace as
+well. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and "hen
+pheasants"?
+
+"'It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal to us
+if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that he has
+begun by writing, "The ... game ... is," and so on. Afterwards he had,
+to fulfil the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words in each
+space. He would naturally use the first words which came to his mind,
+and if there were so many which referred to sport among them, you may be
+tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or interested in
+breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?'
+
+"'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember that my poor
+father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his preserves
+every autumn.'
+
+"'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I. 'It only
+remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor Hudson
+seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected
+men.'
+
+"'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried my
+friend. 'But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement
+which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from Hudson
+had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as he told the
+doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither the strength nor
+the courage to do it myself.'
+
+"These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and I will
+read them to you as I read them in the old study that night to him. They
+are indorsed outside, as you see: 'Some particulars of the voyage of the
+barque _Gloria Scott_, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th October,
+1855, to her destruction in N. lat. 15° 20´, W. long. 25° 14´, on
+November 6th.' It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this way:--
+
+"My dear, dear son,--Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken the
+closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty that it
+is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my position in the
+county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have known me, which
+cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you should come to
+blush for me--you who love me, and who have seldom, I hope, had reason
+to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls which is for ever
+hanging over me, then I should wish you to read this that you may know
+straight from me how far I have been to blame. On the other hand, if all
+should go well (which may kind God Almighty grant!), then if by any
+chance this paper should be still undestroyed, and should fall into
+your hands, I conjure you by all you hold sacred, by the memory of your
+dear mother, and by the love which has been between us, to hurl it into
+the fire, and to never give one thought to it again.
+
+"If, then, your eye goes on to read this line, I know that I shall
+already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or, as is more
+likely--for you know that my heart is weak--be lying with my tongue
+sealed for ever in death. In either case the time for suppression is
+past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth; and this I
+swear as I hope for mercy.
+
+"My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my younger
+days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to me a few weeks
+ago when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed to imply
+that he had surmised my secret. As Armitage it was that I entered a
+London banking house, and as Armitage I was convicted of breaking my
+country's laws, and was sentenced to transportation. Do not think very
+harshly of me, laddie. It was a debt of honour, so-called, which I had
+to pay, and I used money which was not my own to do it, in the certainty
+that I could replace it before there could be any possibility of its
+being missed. But the most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The money which
+I had reckoned upon never came to hand, and a premature examination of
+accounts exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently
+with, but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than
+now, and on my twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a felon
+with thirty-seven other convicts in the 'tween decks of the barque
+_Gloria Scott_, bound for Australia.
+
+"It was the year '55, when the Crimean War was at its height, and the
+old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the Black Sea.
+The Government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable
+vessels for sending out their prisoners. The _Gloria Scott_ had been in
+the Chinese tea trade, but she was an old-fashioned, heavy-bowed,
+broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her out. She was a
+500-ton boat, and besides her thirty-eight gaol-birds, she carried
+twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a captain, three mates, a
+doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly a hundred souls were in
+her, all told, when we set sail from Falmouth.
+
+"The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of being of
+thick oak, as is usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The
+man next to me upon the aft side was one whom I had particularly noticed
+when we were led down the quay. He was a young man with a clear,
+hairless face, a long thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws. He carried
+his head very jauntily in the air, had a swaggering style of walking,
+and was above all else remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't
+think any of our heads would come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that
+he could not have measured less than six and a half feet. It was strange
+among so many sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy
+and resolution. The sight of it was to me like a fire in a snowstorm. I
+was glad then to find that he was my neighbour, and gladder still when,
+in the dead of the night, I heard a whisper close to my ear, and found
+that he had managed to cut an opening in the board which separated us.
+
+"'Halloa, chummy!' said he, 'what's your name, and what are you here
+for?'
+
+"I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with.
+
+"'I'm Jack Prendergast,' said he, 'and, by God, you'll learn to bless my
+name before you've done with me!'
+
+"I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made an
+immense sensation throughout the country, some time before my own
+arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but of
+incurably vicious habits, who had, by an ingenious system of fraud,
+obtained huge sums of money from the leading London merchants.
+
+"'Ah, ha! You remember my case?' said he, proudly.
+
+"'Very well indeed.'
+
+"'Then maybe you remember something queer about it?'
+
+"'What was that, then?'
+
+"'I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?'
+
+"'So it was said.'
+
+"'But none was recovered, eh?'
+
+"'No.'
+
+"'Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?' he asked.
+
+"'I have no idea,' said I.
+
+"'Right between my finger and thumb,' he cried. 'By God, I've got more
+pounds to my name than you have hairs on your head. And if you've money,
+my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, you can do _anything_!
+Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do anything is going
+to wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hold of a rat-gutted,
+beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a China coaster? No, sir, such a man
+will look after himself, and will look after his chums. You may lay to
+that! You hold on to him, and you may kiss the Book that he'll haul you
+through.'
+
+"That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant nothing,
+but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in with all
+possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really was a plot to
+gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners had hatched it
+before they came aboard; Prendergast was the leader, and his money was
+the motive power.
+
+"'I'd a partner,' said he, 'a rare good man, as true as a stock to a
+barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at this
+moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship--the chaplain, no less! He
+came aboard with a black coat and his papers right, and money enough in
+his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main-truck. The crew are
+his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so much a gross with a cash
+discount, and he did it before ever they signed on. He's got two of the
+warders and Mercer the second mate, and he'd get the captain himself if
+he thought him worth it.'
+
+"'What are we to do, then?' I asked.
+
+"'What do you think?' said he. 'We'll make the coats of some of these
+soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.'
+
+"'But they are armed,' said I.
+
+"'And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every
+mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at
+our back, it's time we were all sent to a young Miss's boarding school.
+You speak to your mate on the left to-night, and see if he is to be
+trusted.'
+
+[Illustration: JACK PRENDERGAST.]
+
+"I did so, and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the
+same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was
+Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a rich
+and prosperous man in the South of England. He was ready enough to join
+the conspiracy, as the only means of, saving ourselves, and before we
+had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in
+the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust
+him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and could not be of any
+use to us.
+
+"From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us taking
+possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, specially
+picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort us,
+carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts; and so often did he
+come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot of our
+bed a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs. Two
+of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the second mate was his
+right-hand man. The captain, the two mates, two warders, Lieutenant
+Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and the doctor were all that we had
+against us. Yet, safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution,
+and to make our attack suddenly at night. It came, however, more quickly
+than we expected, and in this way:--
+
+"One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had come
+down to see one of the prisoners, who was ill, and, putting his hand
+down on the bottom of his bunk, he felt the outline of the pistols. If
+he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing; but he was a
+nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and turned so pale,
+that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized him. He was
+gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon the bed. He
+had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were through it in a
+rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a corporal who came
+running to see what was the matter. There were two more soldiers at the
+door of the state-room, and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for
+they never fired upon us, and they were shot while trying to fix their
+bayonets. Then we rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed
+open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay with
+his head on the chart of the Atlantic, which was pinned upon the table,
+while the chaplain stood, with a smoking pistol in his hand, at his
+elbow. The two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole
+business seemed to be settled.
+
+[Illustration: "THE CHAPLAIN STOOD WITH A SMOKING PISTOL IN HIS HAND."]
+
+"The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and flopped
+down on the settees all speaking together, for we were just mad with the
+feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers all round, and
+Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a
+dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the bottles, poured
+the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing them off, when in an
+instant, without warning, there came the roar of muskets in our ears,
+and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could not see across the
+table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles. Wilson and eight
+others were wriggling on the top of each other on the floor, and the
+blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me sick now when I think
+of it. We were so cowed by the sight that I think we should have given
+the job up if it had not been for Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull,
+and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels. Out
+we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant and ten of his men.
+The swing skylights above the saloon table had been a bit open, and they
+had fired on us through the slit. We got on them before they could load,
+and they stood to it like men, but we had the upper hand of them, and in
+five minutes it was all over. My God! was there ever a slaughter-house
+like that ship? Prendergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the
+soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard, alive
+or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded, and yet kept
+on swimming for a surprising time, until someone in mercy blew out his
+brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies
+except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.
+
+"It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of us
+who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had no wish
+to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the soldiers over
+with their muskets in their hands, and it was another to stand by while
+men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts and
+three sailors, said that we would not see it done. But there was no
+moving Prendergast and those who were with him. Our only chance of
+safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave
+a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It nearly came to our
+sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he said that if we wished
+we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the offer, for we were already
+sick of these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be worse
+before it was done. We were given a suit of sailors' togs each, a barrel
+of water, two casks, one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass.
+Prendergast threw us over a chart, told us that we were shipwrecked
+mariners whose ship had foundered in lat. 15° N. and long. 25° W., and
+then cut the painter and let us go.
+
+"And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son.
+The seamen had hauled the foreyard aback during the rising, but now as
+we left them they brought it square again, and, as there was a light
+wind from the north and east, the barque began to draw slowly away from
+us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth rollers, and
+Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party, were sitting in
+the sheets working out our position and planning what coast we should
+make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de Verds were about 500
+miles to the north of us, and the African coast about 700 miles to the
+east. On the whole, as the wind was coming round to north, we thought
+that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned our head in that direction,
+the barque being at that time nearly hull down on our starboard quarter.
+Suddenly as we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot
+up from her, which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky-line. A few
+seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke
+thinned away there was no sign left of the _Gloria Scott_. In an instant
+we swept the boat's head round again, and pulled with all our strength
+for the place where the haze, still trailing over the water, marked the
+scene of this catastrophe.
+
+[Illustration: "WE PULLED HIM ABOARD THE BOAT."]
+
+"It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared that we
+had come too late to save anyone. A splintered boat and a number of
+crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us
+where the vessel had foundered, but there was no sign of life, and we
+had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for help, and saw at some
+distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched across it. When
+we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to be a young seaman of the name
+of Hudson, who was so burned and exhausted that he could give us no
+account of what had happened until the following morning.
+
+"It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had
+proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners: the two warders
+had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had the third mate.
+Prendergast then descended into the 'tween decks, and with his own hands
+cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained the first
+mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw the convict approaching
+him with the bloody knife in his hand, he kicked off his bonds, which he
+had somehow contrived to loosen, and rushing down the deck he plunged
+into the after-hold.
+
+"A dozen convicts who descended with their pistols in search of him
+found him with a match-box in his hand seated beside an open powder
+barrel, which was one of a hundred carried on board, and swearing that
+he would blow all hands up if he were in any way molested. An instant
+later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it was caused by the
+misdirected bullet of one of the convicts rather than the mate's match.
+Be the cause what it may, it was the end of the _Gloria Scott_, and of
+the rabble who held command of her.
+
+"Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible
+business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the brig
+_Hotspur_, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty in
+believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had
+foundered. The transport ship, _Gloria Scott_, was set down by the
+Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked out as to
+her true fate. After an excellent voyage the _Hotspur_ landed us at
+Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way to the
+diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all nations, we
+had no difficulty in losing our former identities.
+
+"The rest I need not relate. We prospered, we travelled, we came back as
+rich Colonials to England, and we bought country estates. For more than
+twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that
+our past was for ever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in the
+seaman who came to us I recognised instantly the man who had been picked
+off the wreck! He had tracked us down somehow, and had set himself to
+live upon our fears. You will understand now how it was that I strove to
+keep peace with him, and you will in some measure sympathize with me in
+the fears which fill me, now that he has gone from me to his other
+victim with threats upon his tongue.
+
+"Underneath is written, in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible,
+'Beddoes writes in cipher to say that H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have
+mercy on our souls!'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor, and I
+think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one. The
+good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai tea
+planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor and
+Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on which
+the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and
+completely. No complaint had been lodged with the police, so that
+Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been seen lurking
+about, and it was believed by the police that he had done away with
+Beddoes, and had fled. For myself, I believe that the truth was exactly
+the opposite. I think that it is most probable that Beddoes, pushed to
+desperation, and believing himself to have been already betrayed, had
+revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from the country with as much
+money as he could lay his hands on. Those are the facts of the case,
+Doctor, and if they are of any use to your collection, I am sure that
+they are very heartily at your service."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ZIG-ZAGS AT THE ZOO
+
+By Arthur Morrison and J. A. Shepherd]
+
+X.--ZIG-ZAG OPHIDIAN.
+
+
+There is a certain coolness, almost to be called a positive want of
+cordiality, between snakes and human beings. More, the snake is never a
+social favourite among the animals called lower. Nobody makes an
+intimate friend of a snake. Popular natural history books are filled and
+running over with anecdotes of varying elegance and mendacity, setting
+forth extraordinary cases of affection and co-operation between a cat
+and a mouse, a horse and a hen, a pig and a cockroach, a camel and a
+lobster, a cow and a wheelbarrow, and so on; but there is never a snake
+in one of these quaint alliances. Snakes do not do that sort of thing,
+and the anecdote-designer's imagination has not yet risen to the feat of
+compelling them, although the stimulus of competition may soon cause
+it. The case most nearly approaching one of friendship between man and
+snake known to me is the case of Tyrrell, the Zoo snake keeper, and his
+"laidly worms." But, then, the friendship is mostly on Tyrrell's side,
+and, moreover, Tyrrell is rather more than human, as anyone will admit
+who sees him hang boa constrictors round his neck. Of course one often
+hears of boys making pets of common English snakes, but a boy is not a
+human creature at all; he is a kind of harpy.
+
+[Illustration: LANDLORD.]
+
+[Illustration: LODGER.]
+
+The prairie marmot and the burrowing owl come into neighbourly contact
+with the rattlesnake, but the acquaintance does not quite amount to
+friendship. The prairie marmot takes a lot of trouble and builds a nice
+burrow, and then the owl, who is only a slovenly sort of architect
+himself, comes along and takes apartments. It has never been quite
+settled whether or not the lodger and the landlord agree pleasantly
+together, but in the absence of any positive evidence they may be given
+credit for perfect amiability; because nobody has found traces of owl in
+a dead marmot's interior, nor of marmot in an owl's. But the rattlesnake
+is another thing. He waits till the residence has been made perfectly
+comfortable, and then comes in himself; not in the friendly capacity of
+a lodger, but as a sort of unholy writter--a scaly man-in-possession. He
+eats the marmot's family and perhaps the marmot himself: curling himself
+up comfortably in the best part of the drawing-room. The owl and his
+belongings he leaves severely alone; but whether from a doubt as to the
+legality of distraining upon the goods of a lodger, or from a certainty
+as to the lodger's goods including claws and a beak, naturalists do not
+say. Personally, I incline very much to the claw-and-beak theory, having
+seen an owl kill a snake in a very neat and workmanlike manner; and,
+indeed, the rattlesnake sometimes catches a Tartar even in the marmot.
+
+[Illustration: WRITTER.]
+
+[Illustration: IN POSSESSION.]
+
+It isn't terror of the snake that makes him unpopular; the most harmless
+snake never acquires the confidence of other creatures; and one
+hesitates to carry it in his hat. This general repugnance is something
+like backing a bill or paying a tailor--entirely a matter of form.
+Nothing else has sympathy with the serpent's shape. When any other
+animal barters away his legs he buys either fins or wings with them;
+this is a generally-understood law, invariably respected. But the snake
+goes in for extravagance in ribs and vertebræ; an eccentric, rakish, and
+improper proceeding; part of an irregular and raffish life. Nothing can
+carry within it affection, or even respect, for an animal whose tail
+begins nowhere in particular, unless it is at the neck; even if any
+creature may esteem it an animal at all that is but a tail with a mouth
+and eyes at one end. Dignify the mouth and eyes into a head, and still
+you have nothing wherewith to refute those who shall call the snake
+tribe naught but heads and tails; a vulgar and raffish condition of
+life, of pot-house and Tommy-Dod suggestion.
+
+[Illustration: AN EARLY WORM.]
+
+[Illustration: HOW'S THE GLASS?]
+
+[Illustration: THE FASCINATED RAT.]
+
+And this is why nothing loves a snake. It is not because the snake is
+feared, but because it is incomprehensible. The talk of its upas-like
+influence, its deadly fascination, is chiefly picturesque humbug. Ducks
+will approach a snake curiously, inwardly debating the possibility of
+digesting so big a worm at one meal; the moving tail-tip they will peck
+at cheerfully. This was the sort of thing that one might have observed
+for himself years ago, here at the Zoo; at the time when the snakes
+lived in the old house in blankets, because of the unsteadiness of the
+thermometer, and were fed in public. Now the snakes are fed in strict
+privacy lest the sight overset the morals of visitors; the killing of a
+bird, a rabbit, or a rat by a snake being almost a quarter as unpleasant
+to look upon as the killing of the same animal by a man in a farmyard or
+elsewhere. The abject terror inspired by the presence of a snake is such
+that an innocent rat will set to gnawing the snake's tail in default of
+more usual provender; while a rabbit placed with a snake near
+skin-shedding time will placidly nibble the loose rags of epidermis
+about the snake's sides.
+
+The pig treats the snake with disrespect, not to say insolence; nothing,
+ophidian or otherwise, can fascinate a pig. If your back garden is
+infested with rattlesnakes you should keep pigs. The pig dances
+contemptuously on the rattlesnake, and eats him with much relish,
+rattles and all. The last emotion of the rattlesnake is intense
+astonishment; and astonishment is natural, in the circumstances. A
+respectable and experienced rattlesnake, many years established in
+business, has been accustomed to spread panic everywhere within ear and
+eye shot; everything capable of motion has started off at the faintest
+rustle of his rattles, and his view of animal life from those
+expressionless eyes has invariably been a back view, and a rapidly
+diminishing one. After a life-long experience of this sort, to be
+unceremoniously rushed upon by a common pig, to be jumped upon, to be
+flouted and snouted, to be treated as so much swill, and finally to be
+made a snack of--this causes a feeling of very natural and painful
+surprise in the rattlesnake. But a rattlesnake is only surprised in this
+way once, and he is said to improve the pork.
+
+[Illustration: THE DISRESPECTFUL PIG.]
+
+As a _tour de force_ in the gentle art of lying, the snake-story is
+justly esteemed. All the records in this particular branch of sport are
+held in the United States of America, where proficiency at snakes is the
+first qualification of a descriptive reporter. The old story of the two
+snakes swallowing each other from the tail till both disappeared; the
+story of the snake that took its own tail in its mouth and trundled
+after its victim like a hoop; the story of the man who chopped a snake
+in half just as it was bolting a rat, so that the rat merely toddled
+through the foremost half and escaped--all these have been beaten out of
+sight in America. At present Brazil claims the record for absolute
+length of the snakes themselves; but the Yankee snake-story man will
+soon claim that record too. He will explain that each State pays a
+reward for every snake killed within its own limits; but that there are
+always disputes between the different States as to payment; because most
+of the snakes killed are rather large, crawling across several States at
+once.
+
+[Illustration: "HA!"]
+
+[Illustration: "HO!"]
+
+Here, among a number of viperine snakes of about the same size, is a
+snake that lives on eggs. He is about as thick as a lead pencil, but
+that doesn't prevent his swallowing a large pigeon's egg whole, nor even
+a hen's egg at a pinch. It dislocates his jaw, but that is a part of his
+professional system, and when the business is over he calmly joints up
+his jaw again and goes to sleep. He is eccentric, even for a snake, and
+wears his teeth on his backbone, where they may break the egg-shell so
+that he may spit it away. When he first stretched his head round an egg,
+the viperine snakes in the same case hastily assumed him to be a very
+large tadpole; and since tadpoles are regarded with gastronomical
+affection by viperine snakes, they began an instant chase, each prepared
+to swallow the entire phenomenon, because a snake never hesitates to
+swallow anything merely on account of its size. When finally the
+egg-swallower broke the egg, and presented to their gaze the crumpled
+shell, the perplexed viperines subsided, and retired to remote corners
+of the case to think the matter over and forget it--like the crowd
+dispersed by the circulating hat of the street-conjurer.
+
+[Illustration: "MINE!"]
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT!"]
+
+[Illustration: "LAWKS!"]
+
+Familiarity with the snake breeds toleration. He is a lawless sort of
+creature, certainly, with too many vertebræ and no eyelids; but he is
+not always so horrible as he is imagined. A snake is rather a pleasant
+thing to handle than otherwise. Warm, firm, dry, hard and smooth on the
+scales, rather like ivory to the touch. He is also a deal heavier than
+you expect. When for good behaviour I have been admitted to Tyrrell's
+inner sanctum here, and to the corridors behind the lairs, where hang
+cast skins like stockings on a line, I have handled many of his pets. I
+have never got quite as far as rattlesnakes, because rattlesnakes have a
+blackguardly, welshing look that I don't approve. But there is a Robben
+Island snake, about five feet long, with no poison, who is very pleasant
+company. It is a pity that these snakes have no pet names. I would
+suggest The Pirate as a suitable name for any snake from Robben Island.
+
+[Illustration: OLD CLO'.]
+
+[Illustration: WELSHERS.]
+
+For anybody who has been bitten by a cobra, or a rattlesnake, or a
+puff-adder, there are many remedies, but few people who can recommend
+them from personal experience. It is to be feared that most of them
+unfortunately die before writing their testimonials. Perhaps they were
+too long deciding which thing to take. The most famous of these
+remedies, and probably the best, on the whole, is to get excessively
+drunk. It is expensive to get drunk after a poisonous snake-bite,
+because something in the veins fortifies the head against the first
+bottle or two of whisky. Getting drunk before the bite won't do,
+although there would appear to be a very widely prevalent impression
+that it will, and a very common resolve to lay up a good store of cure
+against possible accidents in the future. This may be misdirected
+prudence, and nothing else, but there is often a difficulty in
+persuading a magistrate to think so.
+
+[Illustration: DRUNK TOO SOON.]
+
+[Illustration: RESULT.]
+
+The snake _will_ be eccentric, even in the matter of its eggs. Most
+snakes secure originality and independence in this matter by laying eggs
+like an elongated tennis-ball--eggs covered with a sort of white
+parchment or leather instead of shell. All the rest go further, and
+refuse to lay eggs at all.
+
+[Illustration: FIRST THIS TIME, I THINK!]
+
+[Illustration: LOR!]
+
+The snake insists on having his food fresh; you must let him do his own
+killing. Many carry this sort of fastidiousness so far as to prefer
+taking it in alive, and leaving it to settle matters with the digestive
+machinery as best it may. A snake of this sort has lost his dinner
+before now by gaping too soon; a frog takes a deal of swallowing before
+he forgets how to jump.
+
+[Illustration: THE SNAKE THAT GAPED: A MORAL LESSON.]
+
+It is well to remember what to do in case of attack by a formidable
+snake. If a boa constrictor or a python begin to curl himself about you,
+you should pinch him vigorously, and he will loosen his folds and get
+away from you. Some may prefer to blow his head off with a pistol, but
+it is largely a matter of taste, and one doesn't want to damage a good
+specimen. The anaconda, however, who is the biggest of the constrictors,
+won't let go for pinching; in this case the best thing is not to let him
+get hold of you at all. Tobacco-juice will kill a puff-adder. If you
+come across a puff-adder, you should open his mouth gently, remembering
+that the scratch of a fang means death in half an hour or so, and give
+him the tobacco-juice in a suitable dose; or you can run away as fast as
+possible, which is kinder to the snake and much healthier for yourself.
+
+By far the biggest snake here is the python, in the case opposite the
+door; he is more than twenty feet long, and is seriously thinking of
+growing longer still. Tyrrell picks him up unceremoniously by the neck
+and shoves him head first into a tank of water, when he seems to need a
+little stir and amusement. I think, perhaps, after all, the most
+remarkable being exhibited in the reptile house is Tyrrell. I don't
+think much of the Indian snake-charmers now. See a cobra raise its head
+and flatten out its neck till it looks like a demoniac flounder set on
+end; keep in mind that a bite means death in a few minutes; presently
+you will feel yourself possessed with a certain respect for a
+snake-charmer who tootles on a flute while the thing crawls about him.
+But Tyrrell comes along, without a flute--without as much as a
+jew's-harp--and carelessly grabs that cobra by the neck and strolls off
+with it wherever he thinks it ought to go, and you believe in the
+European after all. He is a most enthusiastic naturalist, is Tyrrell.
+He thinks nothing of festooning a boa constrictor about his neck and
+arms, and in his sanctum he keeps young crocodiles in sundry
+watering-pots, and other crawling things in unexpected places. You never
+quite know where the next surprise is coming from. I always feel
+doubtful about his pockets. I shouldn't recommend a pickpocket to try
+them, unless he really doesn't mind running against a casual
+rattlesnake. Tyrrell is the sort of man who is quite likely to produce
+something from his cap and say: "By-the-bye, this is a promising
+youngster--death adder, you know. And here," taking something else from
+his coat or vest pocket, "is a very fine specimen of the spotted
+coffin-filler, rather curious. It isn't _very_ poisonous--kills in an
+hour or so. Now, this," dragging another from somewhere under his coat,
+"_is_ rather poisonous. Deadly grave-worm--kills in three seconds.
+Lively little chap, isn't he? Feel his head." Whereat you would probably
+move on.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_Types of English Beauty._
+
+FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEX. BASSANO, 25, OLD BOND STREET, W.
+
+[Illustration: Lady CHARLES BERESFORD
+
+Miss ARCHER
+
+Miss BRANSON.]
+
+[Illustration: Miss Flo Beresford.
+
+Miss Nellie Simmons.
+
+Miss Ripley]
+
+[Illustration: Miss LLOYD.
+
+Mrs. BRATE.
+
+Miss DECIMA MOORE]
+
+
+
+
+THE NANKEEN JACKET
+
+(FROM THE FRENCH OF GUSTAVE GUESVILLER.)
+
+"The young are eager for martyrdom."
+
+A STORY FOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+My friends make fun of my weakness for the colour of _yellow_.
+
+I confess that I adore it, notwithstanding that I have good reason to
+detest it. Truly, human nature is a bundle of contradictions!
+
+I love yellow because of a certain episode in my life which occurred
+when I was but eight years of age. I love nankeen above all on account
+of a jacket of that material, which played in that episode an important
+part.
+
+Ah! that jacket of nankeen!
+
+How came it about that I was smitten with the insane desire of
+possessing such a thing? The cause is not far to seek. It was _Love_!
+
+Love in a child of eight? Why not? You will see presently that I speak
+without any exaggeration.
+
+At that now distant time we resided at Auxerre.
+
+I knew how to read, write, and count. For the further progress of my
+education I was sent to a small day-school, kept by two maiden
+ladies--humble, gentle souls, who in affectionate care for their pupils
+satisfied in some degree their instinct of maternal tenderness.
+
+Poor Demoiselles Dulorre!
+
+Our school, which had been placed under the pious patronage of Saint
+Elisabeth, was a mixed one. That is to say, up to the age of ten years,
+boys and girls worked and played together. In spite of occasional
+quarrels, the system, on the whole, worked very well.
+
+I had not been eight days at Saint Elisabeth's before I fell in love. Do
+not laugh! I loved with all the strength of my child-nature, with a love
+disinterested, simple, sincere.
+
+It was Georgette whom I loved, but, alas! Georgette did not love me.
+
+How much I suffered in consequence! I used to hide myself in corners,
+shedding many tears, and racking my brains to find some means of
+pleasing the obdurate fair one. Labour in vain, a thankless task, at
+eight years of age or at thirty!
+
+To distinguish myself in my studies, to win by my exemplary conduct the
+encomiums of the sisters Dulorre--all this made no impression upon cruel
+Georgette. She made no secret of her preference for a dull, idle,
+blustering fellow of nine years old, who won all the races, who could
+fling a ball farther than anyone else, carry two huge dictionaries under
+his arm, and administer terrible thumps.
+
+This hero was rightly nicknamed _Met-à-Mort_.
+
+I knew what his blows were like, having been the involuntary recipient
+of some of them. Some, do I say? I had received more than a dilatory
+donkey on the road to the fair!
+
+And Georgette had only laughed!
+
+[Illustration: "MY REDOUBTABLE RIVAL."]
+
+Obviously, it was absurd to think of employing physical force against my
+redoubtable rival, and intellectual superiority in this case availed me
+nothing. I determined, therefore, to annihilate _Met-à-Mort_ by my
+overpowering magnificence.
+
+Naturally, our parents did not send us to school attired in our best
+clothes. On the contrary, most of us wore there our oldest and shabbiest
+garments. Consequently, I opined that it would be no difficult
+achievement to outshine all my schoolfellows.
+
+I should have to coax my parents into loosening their purse-strings, and
+get them to buy me a beautiful new jacket.
+
+It took me a very long time to decide what colour this jacket should be.
+I mentally reviewed all the colours of the rainbow. Red tempted me; but
+I doubted whether a jacket of that colour would be attainable. Should it
+be blue, green, indigo, violet? No! Not one of these colours was
+sufficiently striking.
+
+I paused at yellow. That might do. It is a rich colour; there is
+something sumptuous and royal about it. Summer was approaching. I
+decided finally upon a jacket of nankeen.
+
+Without delay, I set to work on my school garments. It was a work of
+destruction, for I wanted to make them appear as disreputable as
+possible. I slyly enlarged the holes, wrenched off the buttons, and
+decorated my person lavishly with spots and stains of all kinds. Day by
+day I watched, with a secret joy, the rapid progress of this work of
+dilapidation.
+
+In what I judged to be an opportune moment, I timidly expressed my
+desire.
+
+I had to do more--much more than that--before I could obtain my will. I
+begged, stormed, grumbled, sulked. I became almost ill with hope
+deferred. At length, for the sake of peace, my parents granted my
+eccentric wish.
+
+It was a proud moment for me when, for the first time, I arrayed myself
+in that resplendent nankeen jacket, won at the cost of so many struggles
+and persevering efforts. Standing before the mirror, I surveyed myself
+admiringly for a full hour. I was grand! superb!
+
+"Ah! my Lord _Met-à-Mort_! You will find yourself ousted at last! My
+shining jacket will soon snatch from you the _prestige_ acquired by your
+stupid, brute force. Georgette, astonished, fascinated, dazzled, and
+delighted, will run towards me, for I shall now be the handsomest boy in
+the school. _Met-à-Mort_ will weep for chagrin, as I have so often wept
+for jealousy and mortification."
+
+Such were my complacent reflections as, with the stride of a conqueror,
+I entered the precincts of our school.
+
+Alas for my rose-coloured anticipations! I was greeted with a broadside
+of laughter. Even our gentle mistress, Ermance Dulorre, could not
+repress a smile, and, above all other voices, I heard that of Georgette,
+who cried mirthfully:--
+
+"Oh! look at him! Look at him! He is a canary-bird!"
+
+The word was caught up instantly. All the scholars shouted in chorus:
+"He is a canary! A canary!"
+
+Words fail me to describe my bitter disappointment, my burning shame and
+chagrin. I saw my folly now. But it was too late--the awful deed was
+done! Worse than all, in order to obtain this now odious jacket, I had
+spoiled all my other jackets, and had nothing else to wear! When, on the
+evening of that most miserable day, I told my troubles to my father and
+mother, they were merely amused, and said to me:--
+
+"It is entirely your own fault. You insisted upon having the jacket, and
+now you must put up with it!"
+
+Thus was I condemned to the perpetual wearing of my yellow jacket, which
+entailed upon me no end of petty miseries.
+
+Every day, at school, I was jeered at and insulted. Even the babies of
+three years--sweet, blue-eyed, golden-haired cherubs--pointed at me with
+their tiny fingers, and lisped, "Canary! Canary!"
+
+[Illustration: "I WAS JEERED AT AND INSULTED."]
+
+How was I to extricate myself from this extremely unpleasant situation?
+One upper garment still remained to me--an old, thick, heavy, winter
+mantle. The idea occurred to me that I might utilize this to conceal my
+too gorgeous plumage. We were now in the month of June, and the weather
+was tropical. No matter! In class and playground, I appeared buttoned up
+in my big cloak, bathed in perspiration, but happy in having hidden my
+shame.
+
+To Mademoiselle Ermance's expression of surprise, I answered that I had
+a cold. I did not deviate widely from the truth. Two days later, thanks
+to this over-heating, I had a very real one.
+
+The device did not serve me long. My parents found me out, and promptly
+deprived me of my protecting shell, thus obliging me to attend school
+again in the costume of a canary. The former annoyances re-commenced.
+
+Vacation time was at hand, and Georgette, of whom I was more enamoured
+than ever, remained still cold and indifferent.
+
+One day we were playing the game of brigands and gendarmes. I was one of
+the gendarmes, who were invariably beaten.
+
+_Met-à-Mort_ had nominated himself captain of the brigands, and chose
+Georgette for his _vivandière_.
+
+Presently, for a few minutes there was a suspension of hostilities.
+Brigands and gendarmes fraternized, as they quenched their thirst, and
+expatiated upon the joys of the fray. Suddenly Georgette, with her
+accustomed vivacity, broke in upon our little group. She bore in her
+hands a glass ink-bottle.
+
+"See!" said her sweet voice. "Whoever will drink this ink shall,
+by-and-by, be my little husband!"
+
+_Met-à-Mort_ and the rest exploded with laughter.
+
+When we resumed our game, I discovered that I had lost all interest in
+it. Georgette's words haunted me.
+
+Cries of joy arose from our camp. The enemy's _vivandière_ had been
+captured. I was told off to guard the prisoner; you may guess whether I
+was happy!
+
+Georgette tried bribery.
+
+"Oh! let me go! let me go! and I will give you ten pens."
+
+Much I cared for her pens!
+
+"Did you mean what you said just now, mademoiselle?" I timidly inquired.
+
+"What?"
+
+"That whoever would drink the ink should be your little husband?"
+
+"Yes, stupid! But let me go--"
+
+"Then it is true?"
+
+"Of course it is. Let me go!"
+
+She was growing impatient. For a moment I hesitated; then I said:--
+
+"Run away quickly! nobody can see us."
+
+She did not need telling twice. As swiftly as her feet could carry her,
+she ran off to the enemy's camp.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WAS GROWING IMPATIENT."]
+
+I was a double-dyed traitor. After conniving at my captive's escape I
+deserted.
+
+"Can it indeed be true?" I pondered. "Have I only to drain that phial of
+ink in order to become Georgette's husband some day? She said so, and
+she must know!"
+
+I went to look for the ink-bottle, which the child had carried
+back into the schoolroom. There I stood contemplating the black,
+uninviting-looking liquid.
+
+Not for a single moment did I dream of swallowing the loathsome stuff in
+the girl's presence. It did not occur to me that she ought to be a
+witness of my sacrifice, or that she had demanded it as a proof of love.
+My idea was rather that the beverage was a sort of love-philtre, such as
+I had read of in my book of fairy tales. She had said: "Whoever will
+drink the ink shall be my husband."
+
+Faugh! the bottle was full to overflowing. How nasty it looked! Never
+mind! So much the better! I should have liked it to have been nastier
+still.
+
+I closed my eyes, and raised the bottle to my lips.
+
+"What are you about, you dirty little thing?" exclaimed a voice from
+behind me, at the same instant that I received a smart blow upon my
+uplifted arm.
+
+Covered with confusion, I turned, and beheld Mademoiselle Ermance, who
+had surprised me in my singular occupation.
+
+"What is the meaning of this nonsense?" said she, with unwonted
+severity.
+
+I had no time to explain. Just at that moment my schoolfellows came
+trooping in. Georgette seeing me standing there, ink-stained and
+disgraced, and already--the coquette!--forgetful of her promise,
+exclaimed, with a face of disgust:--
+
+"Oh, the dirty boy! The nasty, dirty boy!"
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE?"]
+
+Everything, however, has its bright side. Mademoiselle Ermance's tap and
+my own start of surprise, had jerked the ink-bottle from my grasp; my
+yellow jacket was literally flooded! I was rid of it at last!
+
+It was to Georgette that I owed this happy deliverance. I thank her for
+it to-day! What has become, I wonder, of that lovely child? Does she
+ever think now of those old times? How often have I dreamed of her! I
+have forgiven her for the tears which she caused me to shed. Her
+charming face dwells always in my mind as a pure ray from the bygone
+light of youth. I am not her husband, and probably never shall be. I am
+resigned to my fate, which I richly deserve, because--
+
+_I did not drink the ink!_
+
+
+
+
+_The Queer Side of Things._
+
+OLD JOE'S PICNIC
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It was all old Joe Wilkings's notion, every ounce of it: you see, there
+never was anybody anywhere to compare with old Joe for "go." He _was_
+goey, was old Joe--but I'll tell you.
+
+Old Joe had been laid up with rheumatism and gout--ah! and asthma,
+that's more--for a matter of eleven weeks; pretty bad he'd been too, and
+everybody had said he would never pull through, being, you see,
+ninety-seven, and a wooden leg in, that he'd lost in the Crimean War; at
+least, not the wooden one, for he'd found that in the loft over the
+stable years ago and taken to it.
+
+Well, old Joe was sunning himself in his wicker chair in the front
+garden, propped up with pillows and things; and he'd just finished his
+beef-tea, when he begins to chuckle so, in an internal kind of manner,
+that the last drop going down got startled and separated from the others
+on ahead, and tried to turn back, and got in a panic, so that it nearly
+choked old Joe, who got purple in the face, and had to be thumped.
+
+He'd no sooner got right than he began to chuckle again, but luckily
+that last drop had got further down now, and wedged in among its
+comrades, so that it only heard the chuckles faintly, and kept quiet
+this time.
+
+"Whatever _is_ the matter, grandfather?" said Kate.
+
+"Matter?" said old Joe. "Nothing's the matter. You don't understand the
+ways of young 'uns, nor their methods neither. When youth chuckles, it's
+a sign of good spirits and healthy. If you _must_ know, I was thinking
+we might have a picnic--just like we used to have sixty years back--"
+
+"Ah! that _would_ be nice," said Kate.
+
+"Not _you_," said old Joe. "No young 'uns in it--they're too slow. No; I
+and Georgie Worble, and his aunt Susan, and her mother, and--"
+
+"Why," said Kate, "Mr. Worble hasn't walked from one room to another
+without assistance for--"
+
+"I know--seven years," said old Joe, "and he's seventy-six; and his aunt
+Susan's seventy-one; and his aunt Susan's mother's ninety-two, and
+bedridden--but I tell you what: it's all fudge and the undue influence
+of imagination--that's the whole story. Georgie W. can get up if he
+likes; and his aunt Susan's bronchitis and paralytic strokes are all
+fudge; and as to her mother being bedridden--pooh! we'll just see; and
+if she doesn't dance just as well as me----"
+
+"Dance!"
+
+"Ah--we'll have a dance, of course--we _used_ to have a dance always;
+finished up with a dance. I've been thinking--and I don't mind telling
+you--that this imagination and fudge is making us all old before our
+time; and I'm not going to stand any more of it, and that's all about
+it."
+
+With that old Joe Wilkings waved his stick and jumped up--that's what he
+did; and he ninety-seven years and nine weeks! Talk about greyness!
+
+Kate stared, and all the neighbours stared, and Mrs. Widdlcombe's pug
+next door stared so that its eyes nearly fell out, as old Joe trotted
+quickly out of the garden and down the street, and trotted up Mr.
+Worble's steps, and tapped at the door like a boy that means to run
+away; and when they opened the door, up he ran to old Worble's room, and
+toddled in.
+
+[Illustration: "OLD JOE TROTTED QUICKLY OUT OF THE GARDEN."]
+
+And now comes in old Joe Wilkings's other remarkable quality--his
+influence over others. It was all the outcome of his wonderful
+determination--the influence of mind over matter. He could bamboozle
+anyone, could Joe--it was for all the world like magic.
+
+Old Worble was drooping over the fire in his big chair, into which he
+had been put hours before.
+
+What did old Joe do but go right up and slap him on the back in that
+hearty way that old Worble went as near screaming as his weak state
+would let him!
+
+"Get up, Georgie Worble," shouted old Joe," and come round with me to
+Sam Waggs to arrange about that picnic!"
+
+Old Worble crooned and doddered, and feebly repeated "Picnic?"
+
+"Ah, picnic, young 'un; and you've just hit it. But GET UP, I say!"
+
+And, if you'll believe it, the third time old Joe Wilkings shouted "Get
+up" in that voice of his, a-staring straight at Worble all the time, old
+Worble _did_ slowly get up and stood, doddering, but without support.
+
+"Don't you stand a-doddering at me like that as if you were a decrepit
+old idiot instead of a boy; but just reach down your hat and bustle
+along," said old Joe; and if Worble, after looking feebly and hopelessly
+up at the hat on the high peg--the hat he had not worn for years--didn't
+hop up on a wooden chair and fetch it down, and dash it on his head, and
+then toddle downstairs and into the street arm-in-arm with old Joe!
+
+If people had stared when old Joe came out of his garden, what did they
+do _now_ when he and old Worble went dancing down the street arm-in-arm,
+both of 'em chuckling like mad and chattering like magpies?
+
+At the corner they met old Peter Scroutts in a bath-chair. Peter had a
+paralyzed leg, and was so feeble that he could hardly wink his eye, and
+so deaf that it was all he could do to hear with an ear-trumpet as big
+as the cornucopia belonging to the wooden young lady over the provision
+stores.
+
+"Just you step out and walk!" roared old Joe in the ear-trumpet. And the
+queer thing is that old Peter did begin to get out; and not only began,
+but went on; and stood on the pavement; and then took Joe's arm; and the
+three went careering down the street together!
+
+The whole place came out to stare open-mouthed at those three old boys
+bouncing down the street together.
+
+Half-way down old Joe Wilkings stopped with a jerk, and turned on old
+Peter.
+
+"What, in the name of goodness, _do_ you want with that trumpet
+machine?" he roared. "A young 'un like you! Lookee here--let's get rid
+of it." And Joe snatched the ear-trumpet out of his hand, and jerked it
+over a shed into the field behind. It was a good long jerk; and most of
+the young men of the place would have been proud to do it.
+
+"Can hear just as well as I can; that's what _you_ can do! Can't he,
+young George?"
+
+Old Peter looked dazed; but old Joe stood nodding at him so decisively
+that old George took it up and nodded decisively too; and they were so
+convincing about the matter that old Peter began to believe he _could_
+hear; and from that moment, if you'll believe me, he _did_ hear quite
+comfortably!
+
+[Illustration: "THE THREE WENT CAREERING DOWN THE STREET."]
+
+Then the inhabitants collected in little knots, and talked the matter
+over; and decided that there must be something wrong, in the witchcraft
+line; and shook their heads doubtfully; but those three old boys trotted
+into the "Bun and Bottle" and ordered--ah! and drank off--a pint of beer
+apiece; a thing they had not done those ten years. Drank it off at a
+draught, if you'll believe me.
+
+Well, then they went the round and beat up all the old folks of that
+place to bid them to the picnic. Those old people stared, and shook
+their heads, and scoffed; but old Joe Wilkings hadn't talked to them for
+five minutes before they were up on their feet and trotting about as if
+they were acrobats, though perhaps it's hard to believe.
+
+"We'll have a row on the river," said old Joe; "and then we'll picnic on
+the bank, and see who can climb trees best; and then we'll have a room
+at an hotel, and finish up with a dance, and just show 'em how it ought
+to be done."
+
+[Illustration: "AUNT SUSAN'S MOTHER."]
+
+I tell you he had to busy himself, had old Joe, to keep them up to it;
+for as soon as he had been away from any one of them a few hours that
+one would begin to collapse again, and think he or she was as weak as
+ever; but Joe wouldn't allow this; all day long he was here and there
+among them applying the spur, bullying them into getting up and dancing,
+and roaring with indignation at the idea of their being old. He made
+them practise their steps, and while those who possessed crutches were
+doing it, he sneaked off with the crutches and concealed them. He
+wouldn't even allow them sticks, wouldn't old Joe--not he.
+
+Old Worble's aunt Susan got quite young and skittish; and as for old
+Worble's aunt Susan's mother, who was bedridden, up she had to get on
+old Joe Wilkings's third visit, and had to toddle across the room. He
+drilled her--kept on at it; he was there twice a day; and every time she
+had to get out of bed and toddle across the room. Had to live in her
+dressing-gown, and could get no peace for the life of her; but, bless
+you, in ten days she had begun to believe that she had never been
+bedridden at all, and that it was all fancy! And all in consequence of
+that strange influence of old Joe Wilkings; that awful determination of
+his.
+
+Then there were the provisions to prepare for that picnic; and old Joe
+would insist upon the old folks preparing them. He wouldn't have any
+young people in it--not he. He was here, there, and everywhere,
+compelling them to superintend the cooking of the joints and pies--for
+he was not going to have any beef-tea or arrow-root or pap at the
+picnic, but all good solid food for robust people.
+
+Well, the eventful day came; and there were the old folks collected at
+the railway station with their hampers and bags. The whole population of
+younger folks had turned out to see them off; but not a single one of
+them was to go, for old Joe wouldn't have anyone under the age of
+sixty-five, as he said children were always a trouble at an outing. And,
+what's more, his word seemed to be law, and that was the long and the
+short of it.
+
+The young people shook their heads forebodingly, and said they didn't
+know what on earth would come of it all, that they didn't; and they only
+hoped uncle and aunt and grandfather would come back all right!
+
+But the train came in, and in hopped the old parties, and away they
+went.
+
+Old Joe Wilkings had his work cut out now, with a vengeance and all: for
+as soon as they had got away from the younger folks who usually took
+care of them, they began to think it was all over with them and to give
+way; but Joe Wilkings roared and shouted at them, and chuckled and
+threatened until he had brought them all round again. There wasn't to be
+a single bath-chair, or crutch, or even a stick.
+
+Then they got out at the station they had settled on; and old Joe
+insisted on their carrying the hampers among them down to the river:
+and, what's more, he chose a way across the fields where there were a
+lot of stiles to get over; and he made 'em do it, if you'll credit it.
+Old George Worble's aunt, Susan's mother, pretended she couldn't, and
+sat down and wept: but Joe Wilkings had her on her feet again in a
+twinkling; and over she had to go somehow.
+
+[Illustration: "OVER SHE HAD TO GO SOMEHOW."]
+
+Then old Peter Scroutts began to give way and grizzle for his bath-chair
+and ear-trumpet, but when old Joe threatened to fight him if he went on
+about that nonsense, why, he just had to behave himself.
+
+Our doctor had made up his mind that something dreadful was bound to
+come of the whole thing, and sneaked after them by the next train; but
+when Joe caught him following them, he was so angry and furious about
+it, that the doctor was afraid he would have an apoplectic fit unless he
+went away as Joe commanded him to. So he retired; and subsequently
+dressed himself as a rustic, and smeared his face so that he might not
+be recognised, and hung about the party, offering to carry things, and
+so on. But if old Joe Wilkings did not spot him after all; and got in
+such a rage that the doctor thought it best to retreat while he had a
+whole skin, and get back safely home.
+
+So you see old Joe was a terrible fellow, and that determined it's awful
+to think about.
+
+[Illustration: "VERY NEARLY DROWNED."]
+
+Well, they went on the river, and they rowed little races among
+themselves; and old Ben Jumper and old Tobias Budd upset their boat,
+skylarking--both of 'em being just turned eighty--and went in, and were
+very nearly drowned. However, they were hauled out and made to run
+about, and taken into a cottage, and rubbed down, and dressed up in
+borrowed clothes; and with a good jorum of brandy-and-water apiece, why,
+in half an hour they were as right as trivets, if you'll believe me!
+
+The cold collation was a great success; and then the old boys had a
+smoke, and were all as jolly as sand-boys. But, suddenly, one of 'em
+looked round and said, "Why, where's old Joe Wilkings?" And after ten
+minutes, when old Joe did not turn up, all those old folks began to
+shake their heads doubtfully and dismally, and the old boys dropped
+their pipes, and the old ladies began to weep and whinnick.
+
+[Illustration: "OLD JOE WILKINGS--AFTER LUNCH."]
+
+For old Joe Wilkings, being wild-like with merriment, had gone in pretty
+heavily for the champagne and stuff, and had got a bit mixed, as you
+might say, and he had gone off a little way to get some dry wood to make
+a fire to boil the kettle over, and then he hadn't seemed to be able to
+recollect which was his way back; and had wandered and wandered off in
+quite the wrong direction; and at last he had got drowsy and fallen
+asleep in a dry ditch with his wooden leg on the lower rail of a fence;
+and then a local policeman who didn't know him had taken charge of him
+and trotted him off to Winklechurch, which was the nearest village.
+
+And those old people at the picnic got more and more depressed and
+feeble and helpless; and some of 'em broke down completely, and wept and
+doddered; for you see the influence of old Joe Wilkings's determination
+was rapidly giving out. And at last, after the doctor had waited
+anxiously at the railway station for them, and hour after hour went by
+without any signs of them, he decided to look them up at any cost; and
+at eleven that night he found them all sitting there on the bank of the
+river that depressed and helpless you can't imagine. Not a single one of
+them all had had the courage to move, and their fright and despair were
+perfectly fearful. And a nice trouble he had to get them home--had to
+send for flys, and bath-chairs, and litters, and goodness alone knows
+what all!
+
+Well, then they had to find old Joe Wilkings, and mighty anxious they
+were about him; and a nice tramp they had up hill and down dale before
+they discovered him; and when they did, they found him rolled up in a
+shawl on the policeman's hearthrug, for, of course, Mr. Podder, the
+policeman, was not going to lock up the likes of an old boy of his age.
+Joe Wilkings had recovered a bit now, and he was that pugnacious he
+wanted to fight Mr. Podder and all those that had come to find him; and
+what should he do but put his back against Mr. Podder's parlour-wall
+(smashing the glass of the chromo of "Little Red Riding-Hood" that was
+hanging up), and invite the lot to "Come on."
+
+However, they quieted him down and got him home at last; and when he'd
+got home he was that dismal and depressed from the reaction that he sat
+in his armchair all day and did nothing but grumble and burst into
+tears, for, you see, he'd overdone it, and it was bound to tell upon
+him. But after that all his natural pluck and determination got hold of
+him again, and if he wasn't mad to have that dance that they had been
+balked of!
+
+Out he went to beat up all the old folks again; but most of 'em were ill
+in bed--none the better for that picnic, I can tell you, though,
+luckily, it had been a lovely day and night, as warm as toast, so that
+they hadn't come to much harm beyond the exhaustion.
+
+The younger people of the houses where he called met him with black
+looks enough, you may be sure, but old Joe Wilkings wasn't the sort to
+be daunted by that sort of thing; and bless me if he didn't succeed in
+getting at most of those old parties again, and even getting some of
+them out of bed and putting them through their paces as before.
+
+[Illustration: DR. PILLIKIN. MR. SARME. MR. WEAZLE.]
+
+It was really getting serious, so Mr. Sarme, the vicar, and Mr. Weazle,
+the curate, and Doctor Pillikin (who lived in the house with the brown
+shutters then, before he moved next door to the stores) went and tried
+to get him out of the houses and make him keep quiet; but old Joe roared
+at them that way that they were glad to get away home again in despair.
+
+Ah, he _was_ a plucky one, was old Joe!
+
+Well, he persevered and kept at it until he had persuaded all those old
+parties to get up a dance in the schoolroom; they were to have printed
+programmes, and champagne, and everything in style--for Joe had a bit of
+money, and was as free as you like with it, and meant to stand a good
+deal more than his share of the expenses.
+
+Then the vicar and Doctor Pillikin consulted with the squire--the squire
+and the vicar being justices of the peace--whether they hadn't better
+give old Joe in charge and lock him up out of harm's way; for he was
+getting a regular firebrand, don't you see; and they were afraid he'd be
+the death of those old folks. But, after they'd consulted, they couldn't
+hit on any legal excuse for charging him--(not that that little obstacle
+mostly stands in the way of justices of the peace)--and they had to give
+that up.
+
+When the day arrived for the ball--for they called it a "ball" now,
+bless you--all the young people agreed together to lock the old parties
+in their rooms to prevent them going; but bless me if old Peter Scroutts
+and old George Worble, and one or two other desperate characters didn't
+manage to get out somehow, being so under the influence of Joe; and when
+the hour came for the dance, there they were at the schoolroom!
+
+And they--about nine of them--began dancing too, and a regular strange
+kind of a hobble it was, as ever was seen: but at last the squire and
+the vicar and Doctor Pillikin went down with the sergeant and a
+constable and pretended that a new Act had been passed making it illegal
+to dance after nine o'clock, and cleared the hall, with Joe dinging away
+at 'em the whole time, and made the old folks go home.
+
+Next day Joe Wilkings was going to do all manner of things--going up to
+London to consult a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn, and appeal to the High
+Courts, and give the squire and the rest of 'em penal servitude at
+Botany Bay, and all manner; but he'd caught such a cold at that ball
+that he had to take to his bed again, in spite of all his determination;
+and when he got up again after three weeks he had lost the use of his
+one leg, and was so weak he hadn't the heart to do anything. He was in a
+bad way for a long time, but they say he's getting better again now; and
+I've heard tell that the squire and that lot are beginning to get
+nervous again, as there's no knowing when he'll break out.
+
+[Illustration: "GETTING BETTER AGAIN."]
+
+He's a tough one, is old Joe Wilkings, and, if you'll believe me, he'll
+make it hot for 'em yet!
+
+J. F. SULLIVAN.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration:
+
+THE HORSE & ITS
+
+Polo Pony
+
+Heavy Cavalry Charger
+
+Light Cavalry
+
+Brougham
+
+Artillery
+
+Weight Carrying Cob
+
+Shetland Pony]
+
+
+[Illustration:
+
+OCCUPATIONS
+
+Racer
+
+Cart
+
+Park Hack
+
+HUNTER
+
+Funeral
+
+The Well Known Hunter of JOHN HATCHELERE.]
+
+
+[Illustration: TWO PROFILE VIEWS OF A REMARKABLE POTATO.]
+
+
+[Illustration: A POTATO MASHER.
+
+Found at Preston, and Photographed by Mr. Luke Berry, of Chorley.]
+
+
+[Illustration: The above Photograph of a curious potato was taken by the
+late Mr. Fox, and sent to us by Mr. J. S. Clarke, of New Wandsworth.]
+
+VEGETABLE ODDITIES.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue
+28, April 1893, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 20798-8.txt or 20798-8.zip *****
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strand Magazine, Strand - Vol. 5, No. 28, April 1893.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28,
+April 1893, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28, April 1893
+       An Illustrated Monthly
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: George Newnes
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2007 [EBook #20798]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>THE</h1>
+
+<h1>STRAND MAGAZINE</h1>
+
+<h3>AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY</h3>
+
+<h3>Vol. 5, Issue. 28.</h3>
+
+<h3>April 1893</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#The_Prince_of_Wales_at_Sandringham">The Prince of Wales at Sandringham.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Shafts_from_an_Eastern_Quiver">Shafts from an Eastern Quiver.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Weathercocks_and_Vanes">Weathercocks and Vanes</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_DARK_TRANSACTION">A Dark Transaction</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#The_Royal_Humane_Society">The Royal Humane Society</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_Strange_Reunion">A Strange Reunion.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#From_Behind_the_Speakers_Chair">From Behind the Speaker's Chair.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Portraits_of_Celebrities_at_Different_Times_of_their_Lives">Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes">The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Illustration_ZIG-ZAGS_AT_THE_ZOO">Zig-Zags at the Zoo.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Types_of_English_Beauty">Types of English Beauty.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#Illustration_THE_NANKEEN_JACKET">The Nankeen Jacket.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#The_Queer_Side_of_Things">The Queer Side of Things.</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image327-1.jpg" width="700" height="446"
+             alt="SANDRINGHAM" /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />SANDRINGHAM.
+    </div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="The_Prince_of_Wales_at_Sandringham" id="The_Prince_of_Wales_at_Sandringham"></a><i>The Prince of Wales at Sandringham.</i></h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>The Prince of Wales is, of course, precluded by his position from
+granting interviews like private persons, but His Royal Highness
+has been so good as to give us special permission to insert the
+following extremely interesting article, which we are happy to be
+able to present to our readers in place of the Illustrated
+Interview for the present month. The next of the series of
+Illustrated Interviews, by Mr. Harry How, will appear next month.
+Sir Robert Rawlinson, the celebrated engineer, whose work saved so
+many lives in the Crimea, has given Mr. How a most interesting
+interview, with special illustrations.</i>]</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.5em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapf.jpg" alt="F" title="" /></div><p>ar from the busy haunt of man" might be fitly applied to Sandringham;
+so quiet, and so secluded, is this favourite residence of the heir to
+England's throne and his beautiful and universally esteemed wife.</p>
+
+<p>Not an ancient castle with tower and moat, not a show place such as
+would charm a merchant prince, but beautiful in its simplicity and
+attractive in its homeliness; yet withal, clothed in the dignity
+inseparable from its owners and its associations; in short, a happy
+English home, inhabited by a typical English family.</p>
+
+<p>How often have we seen them in the country lanes all squeezed into one
+wagonette, looking like a jolly village squire and his family; or
+watched the young Princes and Princesses careering round the park on
+their favourite steeds, and listened to their merry laughing voices as
+they emulated each other to come in winner!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image328.jpg" width="280" height="400"
+             alt="THE PRINCE OF WALES" /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
+</div>
+
+<p>When at Sandringham, State and its duties, society and its requirements,
+are relegated to the dim past and shadowy future; and our Prince is a
+country gentleman, deep in agriculture and the welfare of his tenantry;
+and his wife and children pass their time in visiting the schools, the
+poor, and the sick, working in their dairy, or at their sketching, art
+and useful needle-work, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, the estate is above seven miles from King's Lynn, its
+nearest town, so that the family are not subjected to the prying gaze of
+the curious. They have not, however, the inconvenience of this long
+drive from the railway station, as there is one at Wolferton, a little
+village of about forty houses, on the estate, and between two and three
+miles from the "House."</p>
+
+<p>In 1883 the Prince added a suite of waiting-rooms to the building
+already there: the addition consisting of a large entrance-hall,
+approached by a covered carriage way, with rooms on either side for the
+Prince and Princess. These rooms are handsomely and tastefully
+furnished, and are used not only as waiting-rooms, but occasionally for
+luncheon, when the Prince and his guests are shooting in the vicinity of
+Wolferton. The station lies in a charming valley, and emerging from its
+grounds, you have before you a picturesque drive along a well gravelled
+road, bordered with velvety turf, and backed with fir, laurel, pine and
+gorse.</p>
+
+<p>Rabbits in hundreds are popping hither and thither, pheasants are flying
+over your head, squirrels are scampering up and down trees, there are
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>sounds of many feathery songsters in the branches: while if you pause
+awhile, you may catch the distant murmur of the sea&mdash;certainly you can
+feel its breezes; and you seem to get the beauty of the Highlands, the
+grandeur of the sea, and the very pick of English scenery, all in one
+extensive panorama. The view from the heights is beyond description: an
+uninterrupted outlook over the North Sea, and a general survey of such
+wide range, that on clear days the steeple or tower of Boston church
+(familiarly known as "Boston Stump") can be plainly seen.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding on your way, you pass the park boundary wall, the residence
+of the comptroller, the rectory, the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, with its flag waving in the breeze denoting the family are in
+residence&mdash;take a sudden curve in the road, and find yourself in front
+of the Norwich gates, admitting to the principal entrance. A solitary
+policeman is here on guard, but he knows his business, and knows every
+member of the household by sight; and though his duty consists in merely
+opening and shutting the gates, you may be quite sure he will not open
+to the wrong one.</p>
+
+<p>These gates are worthy of more than a passing glance, for they are a
+veritable masterpiece of design and mechanism. They were, in fact, one
+of the features of the 1862 Exhibition, and were afterwards presented to
+the Prince by the County of Norwich. On the top is the golden crown,
+supported by the Prince's feathers. Underneath, held by bronzed
+griffins, are heraldic shields representing the various titles of the
+Prince, while the remainder is composed of flowers, sprays, and creeping
+vines. They are connected with the palisading by rose, shamrock and
+thistle. The maker was Barnard, of Norwich.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image329.jpg" width="550" height="433"
+             alt="THE MAIN ENTRANCE." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE MAIN ENTRANCE.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Although this is the chief entrance, it is necessary to proceed up the
+avenue and diverge to the left, before the front of the building comes
+into view; then it will be seen to be of modernized Elizabethan
+architecture; exterior, red brick, with Ketton-stone dressing. Over the
+door is a carved inscription as follows: "This house was built by Albert
+Edward Prince of Wales and Alexandra his wife, in the year of Our Lord,
+1870." As a matter of fact, the estate had been purchased nine years
+previous to that date, for a sum of &pound;220,000, but the Old Manor House
+was in such a condition that, after vainly trying to patch up and add on
+to, it was found desirable to pull it all down, and build an entirely
+new residence. Not only did the mansion need re-building, but also the
+cottages of the tenants and labourers: and much to the honour of the
+Prince and Princess, these cottages were their first care, and were all
+re-built and several new ones erected before they took possession of
+their own home.</p>
+
+<p>An invitation to Sandringham is an honour which few would lightly
+regard: and if it is your first visit you are in a flutter of
+anticipation and expectation, making it somewhat difficult to preserve
+the calm exterior that society demands of you. Now there are two
+distinct sets invited there; one from Friday to Monday, and one from
+Monday or Tuesday to Friday; the former generally including a bishop,
+dean, or canon for the Sunday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> service, two or three eminent statesmen,
+and a sprinkling of musical, literary, and artistic celebrities. To this
+list I will suppose you to belong.</p>
+
+<p>You have found carriages and baggage vans awaiting what is known as the
+"Royal train"&mdash;a special run just when the Prince is in residence&mdash;and
+you and your fellow-visitors have driven up to the principal entrance.
+There you alight, and are ushered by the footmen into a spacious hall or
+saloon, where you are received with the distinguished grace and courtesy
+for which your Royal host and hostess are so justly celebrated.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image330.jpg" width="550" height="432"
+             alt="THE SALOON" /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE SALOON.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>You have only time for a rapid glance at the massive oak carving and
+valuable paintings (chief of which is one portraying the family at
+afternoon tea, by Zichy) before you find yourself being conducted to the
+handsome suite of apartments you will occupy during your visit. A cup of
+tea and some light refreshment, and the dinner-hour being 7.30 it is
+time to prepare. If you have not been here before, let me give you a
+word of warning, or you will commit the dreadful sin of unpunctuality.
+Every clock on the place, from the loud-voiced one over the stables to
+the tiniest of continental masterpieces, is kept half an hour fast. The
+ringing-out of the hour thirty minutes before you expect it is startling
+in the extreme; and your maid or man has a bad time of it until you
+discover the discrepancy.</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, you are ready, and in due time find yourself amidst
+the company in the grand dining saloon, where dinner is served in state,
+although not with the frigid formality one is inclined to expect. A
+certain degree of nervousness <i>must</i> be felt by all on the first
+occasion they dine with Royalty; but your host and hostess are so
+extremely affable, and have such a happy gift of putting people at their
+ease, that you insensibly forget their august position, and find
+yourself chatting with comfort and enjoyment. You will notice the
+splendid proportions of this saloon, and the priceless Spanish tapestry
+with which it is hung&mdash;this was the gift of the King of Spain to the
+Prince. There is also a magnificent display of plate, much of it
+presentation. The tables are oblong, the Prince and Princess facing each
+other at the centre; the floor&mdash;as are most of them&mdash;is of polished oak,
+this one being freely scattered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> with costly Turkish rugs. I may here
+mention that adjoining this saloon is a spacious ante-room, containing a
+fine collection of tigers' skins, elephants' tusks, etc.: a good record
+of the travels of His Royal Highness, of much interest to travellers and
+sportsmen.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image331.jpg" width="550" height="423"
+             alt="THE PRINCE OF WALES" /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR LUNCHEON.
+    </div>
+
+<p>When you presently adjourn to the drawing-rooms&mdash;of which there are a
+suite of small ones in addition to the large one&mdash;you will find there is
+no lack of entertainment and amusement; such, indeed, as must suit the
+most varied tastes. First, however, we will take some note of the rooms
+themselves. These (the drawing-rooms) are all connected with the
+entrance-hall by a broad corridor, which is ornamented with pieces of
+armour, ancient china, stuffed birds, etc.: they face the lakes, and are
+on the western or front of the building, opening on to the terrace.</p>
+
+<p>The large drawing-room is of beautiful construction, fitted with windows
+reaching from ceiling to floor. The walls are panelled with pink and
+blue, with mouldings of gold and cream. The furniture is upholstered in
+pale blue, with threads of deep crimson and gold; the hangings are of
+rich chenille; the floor of polished oak, with rich Indian rugs
+distributed here and there. A plentiful scattering of music and books
+gives it a home-like appearance, while hand embroidery, sketches,
+painting on china, and feather screens show the variety of talent and
+skill of the ladies of the family. In the very centre of the room is a
+large piece of rockwork, with a tasteful arrangement (carried out under
+the care of the Princess herself) of choice ferns and beautiful roses in
+bloom, while rising out of the midst is a marble figure of Venus. The
+principal conservatory opens from this room. It is rich in palms and
+ferns, and contains a monument of art to Madame Jerichau, the
+sculptress, in the shape of a group of bathing girls.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, whatever amusement is to be the order has by this time
+commenced: perhaps it is music&mdash;the ladies of the family are all good
+musicians&mdash;perhaps it is <i>tableaux vivants</i>, or possibly a carpet dance.
+If your tastes do not lie in these directions, or after you have enjoyed
+them for a sufficient time, you have the choice of using the
+billiard-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>room, the American bowling alley, or the smoking-rooms. The
+billiard-room will interest you vastly: it is literally lined with arms
+of all descriptions. The tables, of course, are of the best.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image332-1.jpg" width="550" height="325"
+             alt="THE PRINCE OF WALES" /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR DINNER.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image332-2.jpg" width="550" height="434"
+             alt="DRAWING-ROOM." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />DRAWING-ROOM.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Another room you may perhaps find your way to to-night is the "Serapis"
+room; it is half library and half smoking-room; in it you will see the
+entire fittings of the cabin the Prince occupied on his journey to
+India,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> in the vessel of the above name. One thing you may rest assured
+of&mdash;that neither on this evening nor at any other time while at
+Sandringham will you know a dull moment.</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image333.jpg" width="550" height="432"
+             alt="THE CORRIDOR." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE CORRIDOR.
+    </div>
+
+<p>In the morning you will find breakfast served at nine o'clock in the
+dining saloon. As, however, the Prince and Princess generally take
+theirs in their private apartments, there is no formality, and you do
+not feel bound to the punctuality imperative when you meet their Royal
+Highnesses.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you have letters to write; and I may as well here remark that
+the postal arrangements are first-rate. There is a post-office <i>inside</i>
+the house, which is also a money order office. Three deliveries per day
+come in that way, while mounted men meet the trains at Wolferton
+Station. There is also telegraphic communication with Central London,
+King's Lynn, and Marlborough House; and telephone to Wolferton Station,
+the stud farm, agents, bailiff, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Before proceeding to outdoor sights&mdash;which will not be possible very
+early, as your host has a multiplicity of business to get through&mdash;you
+had better take the opportunity of seeing some of the rare and beautiful
+treasures indoors. Of course, all are aware of the extensive travels of
+the Prince in many countries, and will, therefore, expect to find many
+mementos of the same in his home; but I think few are prepared to find
+them so numerous and so valuable. Not only does one see them here and
+there in various directions, but one room of considerable dimensions is
+set apart altogether for them, and a day could be profitably spent in
+their inspection. It is not only their costliness and their beauty, but
+the associations which make them of so much interest. This one was
+presented by the King of this place; this one by Prince So-and-so; this
+by such a town, and this by such an order or society, until the vision
+is quite dazzled with beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps as a strong contrast you may get a peep at the Prince's
+morning-room, a room plainly and usefully fitted and furnished in light
+oak. There you will see such a batch of correspondence that you will be
+inclined to wonder when it will be got through, but the Prince is a
+capital business man, and nothing is lost sight of.</p>
+
+<p>The libraries must not be overlooked: there are quite a suite of them,
+well stocked with English and French literature more particularly. A
+large number will be noticed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> as presentation volumes, in handsome and
+unique bindings. One of these rooms also contains many mementos of
+travel and sport in various climes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image334-1.jpg" width="550" height="425"
+             alt="THE CONSERVATORY." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE CONSERVATORY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>Two additional stories have within the last few weeks been completed
+over the bowling alley and billiard-room, making a total of about
+eighteen apartments, henceforth to be known as "The Bachelors' Wing."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image334-2.jpg" width="550" height="434"
+             alt="THE BILLIARD SALOON." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE BILLIARD SALOON.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>For some years the large hall at the entrance was made to do duty for a
+ball-room, and no mean one either; but the Prince thinking it not quite
+so commodious as he would wish, he, some nine years ago, had a new and
+larger one built. This, and one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> or two other rooms, really constitute a
+new wing. The turret of this wing has just been raised, in order to
+place therein a clock purchased by the local tradesmen as a memorial to
+the late Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The ball-room is of immense size
+and lofty construction, with fine bay windows at either end, and large
+alcoves on either side, one containing a magnificent fire-place, and the
+other windows. The walls are artistic triumphs, being finely painted in
+delicate colours, and on them arranged a fine collection of Indian
+trophies. The floor is of oak, and kept in such a condition of polish as
+to be a pitfall and snare to any dancer not in constant practice. More
+than one or two couples have been known to suddenly subside, even in the
+most select of the select circles there assembled.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image335-1.jpg" width="550" height="441"
+             alt="THE BOWLING ALLEY." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE BOWLING ALLEY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>If during your visit one of the annual balls should take place, you are
+most fortunate. There are three of such&mdash;the "County," the "Tenants',"
+and the "Servants'," the first, of course, bringing the <i>&eacute;lite</i>; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>but
+the two latter sometimes presenting a curious mixture. The tenants, I
+may say, are allowed to introduce a limited number of friends, a
+privilege highly valued, and much sought after by the most remote
+acquaintance of each and every tenant on the estate. A most wonderful
+display of colours distinguishes these Norfolkites, bright of hue, too,
+and more often than not dames of fifty got up in the style of damsels of
+eighteen.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image335-2.jpg" width="550" height="375"
+             alt="THE PRINCE'S BUSINESS ROOM." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE PRINCE'S BUSINESS ROOM.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image336.jpg" width="550" height="437"
+             alt="THE LIBRARY." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE LIBRARY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>And what appetites these yeomen and cattle-dealers have got, to be sure!
+And if you had a few tramps across the "Broads" you would not wonder at
+it, for hunger is soon the predominant feeling. The dancing, too, is a
+study; country dances, reels, and jigs following each other in such
+quick succession, that the band in the gallery at the far end do not
+have any too easy a time of it. Through everything, the same kindly
+interest is displayed by the Royal host and hostess; their interest
+never wanes, and their courtesy never flags, but everyone is noticed,
+and made to feel as much at their ease as it is possible for them to be.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the servants' ball is as pretty a sight as one could see in the
+room&mdash;the toilettes of the Royal Family and their visitors, the rich
+state liveries of the footmen, the scattering of Highland costumes, the
+green and buff of the gamekeepers, and the caps of the maidservants, all
+blending into an ever-moving kaleidoscope, picturesque in the extreme.</p>
+
+<p>Few that are familiar with Sandringham can enter this room without
+thinking of the occasion when the proud and loving mother entered,
+leaning on the arm of her eldest boy, on the day he attained his
+majority. The fairest and bravest of all England were there assembled to
+do him honour; and from all parts of the world "happy returns" and long
+life were wished for he whom all regarded as their future King. Some of
+the associations of this home must of necessity be saddening, but on the
+other hand, much must remind of many little acts of kindness and loving
+attentions paid; and were this a biography of the late Prince, many
+little anecdotes of his great thoughtfulness for those around him might
+be told; but his monument will be in the memories of all who knew him.</p>
+
+<p>To return, however, to description. After the Prince has dispatched his
+necessary business, he generally takes his visitors round to view the
+park, gardens, model farm, stables, kennels, or whatever His Royal
+Highness thinks may interest them most. If you are an enthusiast in
+farming, you will be immensely interested in the 600 acres of land
+farmed on scientific principles. Every known improvement in machinery,
+etc., is introduced, with results of as near perfection as possible in
+crops. The Prince looks a genuine farmer, as he tramps through the
+fields in true Norfolk garb of tweed and gaiters; and it does not
+require much attention to find from his conversation that he quite
+understands what he is talking about; so it behoves one to rub up his
+weak points in this direction.</p>
+
+<p>In the stables all are disposed to linger; every one of (I think) sixty
+stalls being inhabited by first-rate steeds, many of them good racers.
+The prettiest sight of all is the Princess's stable&mdash;a smaller one
+adjoining;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> this is tiled white and green, with stalls ornamented in
+silver. Here are some charming ponies driven by Her Royal Highness, and
+her favourite mare Vera. On this mare, accompanied by her children on
+their mounts, the Princess may often be met in the lanes around
+Sandringham, occasionally also driving in a little pony carriage, and in
+both cases almost unattended.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image337.jpg" width="550" height="429"
+             alt="THE BALL-ROOM." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE BALL-ROOM.
+    </div>
+
+<p>The kennels come next in order: they contain dogs of every breed from
+all parts of the land. The younger members of the family especially have
+many pets&mdash;cats, dogs, and birds; indeed, one of the first things you
+notice on your arrival is a parrot in the entrance saloon, that
+invariably greets you with calling for "three cheers for the Queen!"</p>
+
+<p>It is now nearly luncheon time (1.30), and here you all meet again; some
+of the ladies perhaps having been honoured the first part of the day by
+spending some time with the Princess. Generally speaking, but not
+always, their Royal Highnesses join the party for lunch; but in any
+case, after that meal, forces are united, and the company entire start
+off, sometimes on foot, commencing with gardens, sometimes in carriages
+for a more distant inspection. To-day it is fine, and so we commence
+with emerging on to the west terrace, and into the western gardens.</p>
+
+<p>The terraces are very handsome, and many of the rooms open on to them
+from French windows or conservatories. First you will notice a Chinese
+joss-house or temple, made of costly metal, guarded on either side by
+two huge granite lions from Japan, all of them the gifts to the Prince
+of Admiral Keppel.</p>
+
+<p>The gardens are tastefully and artistically laid out, with such a
+wildness, yet with such a wealth of shrubs and pines, aided by
+artificial rockwork, a cave, and a rushing cascade, that one might well
+imagine one was in another country.</p>
+
+<p>The Alpine gardens contain flowers and ferns of the choicest; and you
+presently emerge on the shores of a lake of considerable size. Here
+boating in the summer and skating in the winter may be indulged in, the
+latter, especially by torchlight, being a most attractive sight. The
+illuminations in the trees around, the flaring torches, the lights fixed
+to the chairs as they glide about like will o' the wisps, and the
+villagers (who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> are always invited) standing around, make up a picture
+not easily forgotten. This lake has recently been supplemented by the
+excavation of another in the centre of the park, a running stream
+connecting the two.</p>
+
+<p>Chief, or almost chief, of the Sandringham outdoor sights is a famous
+avenue of trees. At some future time this avenue will be of even more
+interest than it is now, and will become, in fact, historical; for every
+tree there has been planted by some personage of note. On each one you
+will notice a neat label, stating name of planter and date of planting,
+chief of the names being Queen Victoria and the Empress Frederick.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image338.jpg" width="274" height="400"
+             alt="H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>The model dairy is a picture; but here again the preference must be
+given to that owned by the Princess. It is a Swiss cottage, containing
+five rooms, one of the five being a very pretty tea-room, and here Her
+Royal Highness sometimes favours her friends with the "cup that cheers,"
+often, too, cutting bread and butter and cake with her own fair hands.
+Moreover, the same hands have often made the butter that is used&mdash;as
+each of the ladies of the family is skilled in dairy management, and
+capable of turning out a good honest pat of creamy Norfolk. Merry times
+they have had in this cottage, arrayed in apron and sleeves, doing the
+real <i>work</i>, not merely giving directions.</p>
+
+<p>You would not be in any of the villages long before you saw some of the
+children attending some one of the various schools, clad in their
+scarlet and Royal blue; they look very comfortable and picturesque.
+There is a first-rate technical school, in addition to the ordinary ones
+of each village. The first was founded by the Princess herself, and in
+each of them Her Royal Highness and her children take a deep interest;
+often visiting them, taking classes, and asking questions. These
+schools, then, are shown you this afternoon; and, as a matter of course,
+you proceed from there to the Working Men's Club&mdash;one of which is
+established in each village. These are open to men above the age of
+fourteen.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> Billiards, bagatelle, draughts, etc., are provided, and
+there is a good stock of newspapers and books. Refreshments may be
+obtained of good quality, and for a small outlay; and everything is done
+that can be done to make the men comfortable. Does it keep them from the
+public-house? you ask. Well&mdash;<i>there is not such a thing known as a
+public-house on the Prince's estate</i>. A man can get his glass of ale at
+the club&mdash;good in quality and low in figure&mdash;but he cannot get enough to
+send him home the worse for coming; so drunkenness is unknown in the
+villages.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Small men; but is an actual extract from the printed rules
+hanging in the clubs.</p></div>
+
+<p>On Sunday morning everybody goes to the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, in the park. The Prince and Princess set the example by their
+regular and punctual attendance&mdash;the Princess and ladies generally
+driving, the Prince and gentlemen walking by private footway. A quiet,
+peaceful spot it is, entered by a lych-gate and surrounded by a small
+"God's acre." If you are wise, you have come early enough to look round.
+Simplicity is stamped on everything, there not being a single imposing
+monument there. Several stones have been erected by the Prince in memory
+of faithful servants of the household, and there are also several placed
+there by the former proprietors of the estate. To what you are most
+attracted is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> the resting-place of the third Royal son. No costly
+sepulchre, but a simple grassy mound, surrounded by gilt iron railings
+with a plain headstone, recording the name and date of birth and death
+of the infant Prince, and the words "Suffer little children to come unto
+Me" added.</p>
+
+<p>The church itself is of ancient date, and has been twice restored and
+enlarged by the Prince. It has a font of early times, and some
+half-dozen stained glass windows. The Prince has caused several
+monuments, busts, etc., to be placed there, conspicuous being busts to
+the late Princess Alice and the Emperor Frederick, a medallion to the
+late Duke of Albany, a stained glass window to the infant Prince, and
+monuments to the Revs. W. L. Onslow and G. Browne. The most noticeable
+of anything there, however, is a very handsome brass lectern, placed by
+the Princess as a thank-offering for the recovery of the Prince from his
+dangerous illness of typhoid fever. The event is within the memory of
+most of us, and needs only a brief notice to recall the national anxiety
+that was displayed on the occasion. The lectern bears the following
+inscription: "To the glory of God. A thank-offering for His mercy, 14th
+December, 1871. 'When I was in trouble, I called upon the Lord, and He
+heard me.'"</p>
+
+<p>The space for worshippers is limited, and is generally quite filled by
+the household. The Royal Family occupy carved oak seats in the nave. The
+organ is a very fine one, particularly sweet in tone, and is situated in
+the rear of the building; it is presided over by a very able musician,
+who is also responsible for the choir&mdash;this consisting of school
+children, grooms, gardeners, etc. The singing is really good.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image339.jpg" width="550" height="427"
+             alt="H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere.</i><br />THE PRINCESS OF WALES' BOUDOIR.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>I have heard down there of a former organist, who was <i>not</i> a great
+musician, and, in fact, was more at home in the village shop, of which
+he was proprietor. Sunday after Sunday he made the most awful mistakes,
+and, in consequence, was continually warned of his probable dismissal.
+The Princess, with her invariable kindness, had been the cause of his
+staying so long as he had; but one Sunday the climax was reached and the
+Royal patience fairly exhausted. Mr. Gladstone (then in office) was on a
+visit, and his solemn, grim countenance as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> stood in the church quite
+frightened the poor man, inasmuch as he lost his head completely. The
+organ left off in the chants, persisted in playing in the prayers, and
+altogether acted in such an erratic manner, that it was no wonder that
+anger was depicted on one countenance, sorrow on another, and amusement
+on a few of the more youthful ones! The old institution had to give way
+to a new, however, and a repetition of such performances was thus
+avoided.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image340-1.jpg" width="380" height="550"
+             alt="H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES." /><br />
+         <i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA AND H.R.H. PRINCESS MAUD OF
+WALES.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>The Sunday afternoon is quietly spent in the house or grounds; then in
+the evening some may, perhaps, drive to West Newton or Wolferton
+Church&mdash;the Prince, Princess and family often do&mdash;while others may
+prefer to stay in for music or reading.</p>
+
+<p>On your way to either place you cannot but notice the prosperous look of
+the villages and villagers, pointing unmistakably to the certainty of a
+good landlord. Had you longer time here, you would hear many an anecdote
+of the kindness and generosity of the Prince and the goodness of the
+Princess and her daughters. Hardly a cottager but has some anecdote to
+tell you of the family: how the Princess visits the sick and afflicted,
+talking to them, reading to them, and helping them in their needs. Every
+child seems to know and to love the "beautiful lady," and every man and
+woman seems almost to worship her; and if you heard the anecdotes I have
+heard there, you would not wonder at it. "Think o' they R'yal
+Highnesses"&mdash;they would say&mdash;"making o' things wi' their own 'ands fer
+sich as us! Did yew ever heerd tell o' sich, says I; none o' yer frames
+and frimmirks (airs and graces) wi' they." And then they would go on
+with their "says I" and "says she," and tell you all about summer flower
+shows for villagers, treats on Royal birthdays, invitations to see
+sights in the park, how the family have given a wedding present to this
+one, what they have brought or sent the other one when ill; and so on,
+and so on, until you come to think what a pity it is a few land-owners,
+with their wives and families, cannot come here for the lessons so many
+need, and see how well this family interpret the words: "Am I my
+brother's keeper?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image340-2.jpg" width="316" height="450"
+             alt="SUDDENLY A FACE PASSED THE WINDOW." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />THE DUKE OF YORK.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Sandringham has saddening associations for its owners, but "Joy cometh
+in the morning," and as we take our farewell of this favourite residence
+of the Prince and Princess, we will wish them a bright future and
+continuance of good health to enjoy their Norfolk home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Shafts_from_an_Eastern_Quiver" id="Shafts_from_an_Eastern_Quiver"></a><i>Shafts from an Eastern Quiver.</i></h2>
+
+<h3>X.&mdash;THE HUNTED TRIBE OF THREE HUNDRED PEAKS.</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By Charles J. Mansford, B.A.</span></h4>
+
+
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapa.jpg" alt="A" title="" /></div><p>re you awake, sahibs?" questioned Hassan, our guide, as he eagerly
+roused us from sleep one night. "The Hunted Tribe of Three Hundred Peaks
+is about its deadly work: Listen!"</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image341.jpg" width="400" height="369"
+             alt="LISTEN!" /><br />
+         "LISTEN!"
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>We sat up and leant forward as he spoke, straining our ears to catch the
+slightest sound. Across the plain which stretched before us came at
+intervals a faint cry, which sounded like the hoot of a night bird.</p>
+
+<p>"That is their strange signal," continued the Arab.</p>
+
+<p>We rose, and, going to the door of the tent, scanned the wide plain, but
+could see no human being crossing it.</p>
+
+<p>"You are mistaken this time, Hassan," said Denviers. "What you heard was
+an owl hooting."</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib it is who misjudges," answered the Arab, calmly. "I have
+heard the warning note of the tribe before."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to come from the direction of Ayuthia," I interposed, pointing
+to where the faint outlines of the spires of its pagodas rose like
+shadows under the starlit sky.</p>
+
+<p>"It comes from beyond Ayuthia," responded Hassan, whose keen sense of
+hearing was so remarkable; "and is as far away as the strange city built
+on the banks round a sunken ship, which we saw as we floated down the
+Meinam. Hist! I hear the signal again!"</p>
+
+<p>Once more we listened, but that time the cry came to us from a different
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>"It is only an owl hooting," repeated Denviers, "which has now flown to
+some other part of the plain and is hidden from us by one of the ruined
+palaces, which seem to rise up like ghosts in the moonlight. If Hassan
+means to wake us up every time he hears a bird screech we shall get
+little enough rest. I'm going to lie down again." He entered the tent,
+followed by us, and stretching himself wearily was asleep a few minutes
+after this, while Hassan and I sat conversing together, for the strange,
+bird-like cry prevented me from following Denviers' example.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Coot! Coot!</i>" came the signal again, and in spite of my companion's
+opinion I felt forced to agree with the Arab that there was something
+more than a bird hooting, for at times I plainly heard an answering cry.</p>
+
+<p>After our adventure in the northern part of Burmah we had travelled
+south into the heart of Siam, where we parted with our elephant, and
+passed down the Meinam in one of the barges scooped out of a tree trunk,
+such as are commonly used to navigate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> this river. Disembarking at
+Ayuthia we had visited the ruins of the ancient city, and afterwards
+continued on our way towards the mouth of the river. While examining the
+colossal images which lie amid the other relics of the city's past
+greatness, Hassan had told us a weird story, to which, however, at that
+time we paid but scant attention.</p>
+
+<p>On the night when our Arab guide had roused us so suddenly, our tent was
+pitched at some distance from the bank of the river, where a fantastic
+natural bridge of jagged white limestone spanned the seething waters of
+the tumbling rapids below, and united the two parts of the great plain.
+Sitting close to the entrance of the tent with Hassan, I could see far
+away to the west the tops of the great range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+beyond the plain. Recollecting that Hassan had mentioned them in his
+story, I was just on the point of asking him to repeat it when I heard
+the strange cry once more. A moment after the Arab seized me by the arm
+and pointed towards the plain before us.</p>
+
+<p>I looked in the direction which Hassan indicated, and my eyes rested on
+the dismantled wall of a ruined palace. I observed nothing further for a
+few minutes, then a dusky form seemed to be hiding in the shadow of the
+wall. "<i>Coot!</i>" came the signal again, striking upon the air softly as
+if the one who uttered it feared to be discovered. The cry had
+apparently been uttered by someone beyond the river bank, for the man
+lurking in the shadow of the ruin stepped boldly out from it into the
+moonlit plain. He stood there silent for a moment, then dropped into the
+high grass, above which we saw him raise his head and cautiously return
+the signal.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think he is doing there, Hassan? " I asked the Arab, in a
+whisper, as I saw his hand wander to the hilt of his sword.</p>
+
+<p>"The hill-men have seen our tent while out on one of their expeditions,"
+he responded, softly. "I think they are going to attempt to take us by
+surprise, but by the aid of the Prophet we will outwit them."</p>
+
+<p>I felt no particular inclination to place much trust in Mahomet's help,
+as the danger which confronted us dawned fully upon my mind, so instead
+I moved quickly over to Denviers, and awoke him.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image342.jpg" width="270" height="300"
+             alt="THE SWARTHY FACE OF A TURBANED HILL-MAN." /><br />
+         "THE SWARTHY FACE OF<br /> A TURBANED HILL-MAN."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"Is it the owl again?" he asked, as I motioned to him to look through
+the opening of the tent. Immediately he did so, and saw the swarthy face
+of a turbaned hill-man raised above the rank grass, as its owner made
+slowly but steadily towards our tent, worming along like a snake, and
+leaving a thin line of beaten-down herbage to show where his body had
+passed. Denviers drew from his belt one of the pistols thrust there, for
+we had taken the precaution at Rangoon to get a couple each, since our
+own were lost in our adventure off Ceylon. I quietly imitated his
+example, and, drawing well away from the entrance of the tent, so that
+our watchfulness might not be observed, we waited for the hill-man to
+approach. Half-way between the ruined palace wall and our tent he
+stopped, and then I felt Hassan's hand upon my arm again as, with the
+other, he pointed towards the river bank.</p>
+
+<p>We saw the grass moving there, and through it came a second hill-man,
+who gradually drew near to the first. On reaching him the second comer
+also became motionless, while we next saw four other trails of
+beaten-down grass, marking the advance of further foes. How many more
+were coming on behind we could only sur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>mise, as we watched the six
+hill-men who headed them get into a line one before the other, and then
+advance, keeping about five yards apart as they came on. From the
+position in which our tent was pitched it was impossible for an attack
+to be made upon us in the rear, and this circumstance fortunately
+allowed of undivided attention to the movements of the hill-men whom we
+saw creeping silently forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait till the first one of them gets to the opening of our tent,"
+whispered Denviers to me; "and while I deal with him shoot down the
+second. Keep cool and take a steady aim as he rises from the grass, and
+whatever you do, don't miss him."</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image343.jpg" width="400" height="292"
+             alt="HE SULLENLY FLUNG HIS PONIARD DOWN." /><br />
+         "HE SULLENLY FLUNG HIS PONIARD DOWN."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>I held my pistol ready as we waited for them to come on, and each second
+measured with our eyes the distance which still separated us. Twenty
+yards from the tent the foremost of the hill-men took the kris or bent
+poniard with which he was armed from between his teeth, and held it
+aloft in his right hand as he came warily crawling on a foot at a time
+followed by the others, each with his weapon raised as though already
+about to plunge it into our throats. It was not a very cheering
+spectacle, but we held our weapons ready and watched their advance
+through thy grass, determined to thrust them back.</p>
+
+<p>I felt my breath come fast as the first hill-man stopped when within
+half-a-dozen yards of the tent and listened carefully. I could have
+easily shot him down as he half rose to his feet, and his fierce eyes
+glittered in his swarthy face. Almost mechanically I noticed the loose
+shirt and trousers which he wore, and saw the white turban lighting up
+his bronzed features as he crept right up to our tent and thrust his
+head in, confident that those within it were asleep. The next instant he
+was down, with Denviers' hand on his throat and a pistol thrust into his
+astonished face, as my companion exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Drop your weapon or I'll shoot you!"</p>
+
+<p>The hill-man glared like a tiger for a moment, then he saw the advantage
+of following Denviers' suggestion. He sullenly flung his poniard down,
+gasping for breath, just as I covered the second of our enemies with my
+pistol and fired. The hill-man raised his arms convulsively in the air,
+gave a wild cry, and fell forward upon his face, dead!</p>
+
+<p>The third of those attacking us dashed forward, undaunted at the fate of
+the one he saw shot down, only to be flung headlong on the grass the
+next instant before the tent, with Hassan kneeling on his chest and the
+point of the Arab's sword at his throat.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the enemy did not wait to continue the combat, but rose from
+the grass and dispersed precipitately over the plain, making for the
+limestone bridge across the river. I rushed forward to Hassan's
+assistance, and bound the captive's arms, while the Arab held him down
+as I knotted tightly the sash I had taken from my waist. Then I made for
+the tent, to find that Denviers had already secured the first prisoner
+by lashing about him a stout piece of tent rope. My companion forced his
+captive from the tent into the open plain, where we held a whispered
+conversation as to whether the two prisoners should live or die. The
+safer plan was undoubtedly to shoot them, for we both agreed that at any
+moment our own position might become a critical one if the rest of the
+horde made another attempt upon us, as we fully expected would be done.</p>
+
+<p>However, we finally decided to spare their lives, for a time at all
+events, and while Hassan and Denviers led the captives across the plain,
+I brought from the tent part of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> long coil of rope which we had and
+followed them. As soon as we neared the river bank we selected two
+suitable trees from a clump growing there and lashed the prisoners
+securely to them, threatening instant death if they attempted to signal
+their whereabouts to any of the hill-men who might be lurking about.</p>
+
+<p>"Get our rifles and ammunition, Hassan," said Denviers to the Arab. Then
+turning to me, he continued: "We shall have some tough fighting I expect
+when those niggers return, but we are able to hold our own better out of
+the tent than in it." Hassan brought our weapons, saying as he handed
+them to us:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The sahibs are wise to prepare for another attack, since the enemy must
+return this way. They have not gone off towards the far mountain peaks,
+but crossed yonder limestone bridge instead."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you understand from that movement?" Denviers asked Hassan.</p>
+
+<p>"The sound which we heard at first came from the strange city of which I
+spoke," he replied. "Some of the fierce hill-men have made a night
+attack upon it, and will soon return this way. Those we have beaten off
+have gone to meet them and to speak of the failure to surprise us. What
+they are doing in the city round the sunken ship will shortly be
+apparent. The whole band is a terrible scourge to the cities of the
+Meinam, for, by Allah, as I told the sahibs at Ayuthia, the Hunted Tribe
+has a weird history indeed."</p>
+
+<p>Trailing our rifles, we walked through the rank grass, then resting upon
+a fallen column, where the shadow of the ruined palace wall concealed us
+from the view of the enemy if they crossed the bridge, we listened to
+Hassan's story. At the same time we kept a careful watch upon the jagged
+limestone spanning the river, ready at a moment's notice to renew the
+struggle, and it was well for us that we did so.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+<p>"It is a strange, wild story which the sahibs shall again hear of the
+Hunted Tribe and of its leader," began Hassan, as he rested at our feet
+with his sword gripped in his hand ready to wield it in our service at
+any moment; "and thus ye will know why the band is out to-night on its
+fell errand. Years ago, before the Burmese had overrun Siam, and while
+Ayuthia was its capital, so famous for its pagodas and palaces, Yu Chan
+became head of the bonzes or priests of the royal monastery.</p>
+
+<p>"Who the great bonze was by birth none knew, although it was whispered
+through the kingdom that he sprang from a certain illustrious family
+which urged his claim to the position to which the ruler reluctantly
+appointed him. The subject bonzes looked darkly upon him, for he was but
+young, while many of them were bowed with age and aspired to hold the
+high office to which Yu Chan had been appointed. Oft they drew together
+in the gloomy cloisters, and when he swept past in silence, raised their
+hands threateningly at his disappearing form, though before his lofty,
+stern-set face they bowed in seeming humility as they kissed the hem of
+his magnificent robe.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image344.jpg" width="400" height="384"
+             alt="THEY RAISED THEIR HANDS THREATENINGLY AT HIS
+DISAPPEARING FORM." /><br />
+         "THEY RAISED THEIR HANDS THREATENINGLY <br />AT HIS
+DISAPPEARING FORM."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"Among these bonzes was one who especially resented Yu Chan's rule over
+him, for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> was more learned in the subtile crafts of the East than the
+rest, and the potency of his spells was known and feared throughout
+Siam. An unbending ascetic, indeed, was the grey-bearded Klan Hua, and
+the ruler of the country had already promised to him that he should
+become the head of the bonzes whenever the office was vacated. So much
+was this ruler influenced by Klan Hua that he built a covered way from
+his palace by which he might pass at night into the bonze's rude cell to
+hear the interpretation of his dreams, or learn the coming events of his
+destiny. Yet, in spite of all this, when the chief bonze died, the ruler
+of Siam, after much hesitation, gave the coveted office to Yu Chan.
+Judge, then, of the fierce hatred which this roused in Klan Hua's
+breast, and ye will understand the reason of the plot which he formed
+against the one who held the position he so much desired."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind about the quarrels of these estimable bonzes, Hassan,"
+interrupted Denviers. "Go on and tell us of these hill-men, or you won't
+get that yarn finished before they return, in which case we may never
+have the chance to hear the end of it."</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib is always impatient," answered the Arab gravely; then he
+continued, quite heedless of Denviers' suggestion: "On the nights when
+the ruler went not to Klan Hua's cell, the latter gathered there several
+of the other bonzes, and they sat darkly plotting till morning came.
+Then they crept stealthily back to their own cells, to shift their eyes
+nervously each time that the stern glance of Yu Chan fell upon them, as
+he seemed to read there their guilty secret.</p>
+
+<p>"They planned to poison him, but he left the tampered food untasted.
+Then they drew lots to assassinate him as he slept, but the one whose
+tablet was marked with a poniard was found lifeless the next day, with
+his weapon still clutched in his stiffened fingers, and none knew how he
+died. That day the eyes of Yu Chan grew sterner set than ever, as he
+gazed searchingly into the face of each bonze as they passed in a long
+procession before him, while the conspirators grew livid with fear and
+baffled rage at the cold smile with which he seemed to mock at the
+failure of their schemes. Then they made one last effort a few days
+after, and ye shall hear how it ended.</p>
+
+<p>"The stately Meinam, which glitters before us under the midnight sky,
+yearly overflows and renders the earth about it productive. Far as the
+history of Siam is recorded in the traditions of the race, it has been
+the custom to perform a strange ceremony, intended to impress the common
+people with awe for the ruler. Even now the King of Siam, he who sends
+the silver tree to China in token of subjection, still adheres to it,
+and on the day when the waters of the Meinam have reached their highest
+point he sends a royal barge down the swollen waters manned by a hundred
+bonzes, who command the turbid stream to rise no higher. So then it
+happened that the rise of the river took place, and Klan Hua, who was
+learned in such things, counted to the hour when the barge should be
+launched, even as he had done for many years. When the ruler visited him
+one eventful night he declared that the turbid waters would be at their
+full on the morrow, and so the command to them to cease rising could
+then safely be given.</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly the royal barge was launched, amid the cries of the people,
+whereupon the ruler soon entered it and, fanned by a female slave, leant
+back upon the sumptuous cushions under a canopy of crimson silk, while
+by his side was the chief bonze&mdash;Yu Chan. Near the ruler was the
+grey-bearded Klan Hua, with an evil smile upon his face as he saw his
+rival resting on the cushions in the place which he had hoped so long to
+fill.</p>
+
+<p>"Out into the middle of the swollen river the royal barge went; then
+half way between bank and bank the rhythmic music of the oars as they
+dipped together into the water ceased, and the rowers rested. From his
+seat Yu Chan arose, and uttered in the priestly tongue the words which
+laid a spell upon the stream and bade it cease to rise. Scarcely had he
+done so and sunk back again upon the cushions when Klan Hua threw
+himself at the monarch's feet and petitioned to utter a few words to
+him. The ruler raised the bonze, and bade him speak. Holding one hand
+aloft, the plotting Klan Hua pointed with the other towards the
+astonished Yu Chan, as he fiercely cried:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou false-tongued traitor, thou hast insulted thy monarch to his
+face!'</p>
+
+<p>"The ruler bent forward from his cushions and looked in surprise from
+the accuser to the accused.</p>
+
+<p>"'Speak!' he cried to Klan Hua; 'make good thy unseemly charge, or, old
+as thou art, thy head shall roll from thy shoulders!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Great Ruler of Siam and Lord of the White Elephant,' exclaimed the
+accuser, giving the monarch his strange but august title, 'I declare to
+thee that the chief bonze has doomed the country to destruction. Taking
+advantage of the language in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> the exorcism is pronounced, he has
+done what never the greatest prince under thee would dare to do. This
+man, the head of our order, has spoken words which will make the people
+scorn thee and this ceremony, if his command comes to pass. Yu Chan, the
+traitor, has bidden the waters <i>to rise</i>!'</p>
+
+<p>"The monarch crimsoned with anger, as he turned to Yu Chan, who had
+already regained his composure, and sat with crossed arms, smiling
+scornfully at his accuser, and then asked:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Hast thou so misused thy power? Speak!'</p>
+
+<p>"'How can'st thou doubt me, knowing my great descent?' cried Yu Chan,
+bitterly. 'Even at thy bidding I will not answer a question which casts
+so much shame upon me.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thou can'st not deny this charge!' exclaimed the infuriated monarch.</p>
+
+<p>"'Not so,' replied the chief bonze, 'I will not! If thou carest to
+believe the slanderous words which Klan Hua has uttered, and such that
+not one in this barge will dare to repeat, so be it!'</p>
+
+<p>"Yu Chan withdrew from his seat at the monarch's side, and taking his
+rival's place pointed to the one he had himself vacated.</p>
+
+<p>"'There rest thyself, and be at last content,' he said, scornfully:
+'thou false bonze, whisper thence more of thy malicious words into the
+ears of the great ruler of Siam!'</p>
+
+<p>"The monarch was disconcerted for a moment, then motioning one of the
+other bonzes forward, he exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Yu Chan declares that no one in this barge will support his accuser's
+words. Thou who wert near, tell me, what am I to believe?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Alas!' answered the bonze, with simulated grief, 'Klan Hua spoke
+truly, great monarch; thy trust in Yu Chan has been sorely abused.'</p>
+
+<p>"One after another the bonzes near came before the monarch and gave the
+same testimony, for the crafty Klan Hua had so placed the plotters for
+the furtherance of their subtle scheme. The ruler gazed angrily at Yu
+Chan, then summoning his rival to his side, bade him rest there.</p>
+
+<p>"'Henceforth thou art chief bonze,' he said; then added threateningly to
+the fallen one: 'Thou shalt be exiled from this hour, and if the waters
+rise to-morrow, as thou hast bidden them, I will have thee hunted down,
+hide where thou mayest, and thy head shall fall.'</p>
+
+<p>"The barge reached the shore, and the people drew back amazed to see the
+monarch pass on, attended closely by Klan Hua, while he who was as they
+thought chief bonze flung off his great robe of purple-embroidered silk,
+and idly watched the bonzes disembark, then moved slowly away across the
+great plain.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image346.jpg" width="300" height="234"
+             alt="KLAN HUA WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS CELL." /><br />
+         "KLAN HUA WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS CELL."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"Two days afterwards Klan Hua was found dead in his cell covered with
+the robes of his newly-acquired office, and the ruler of Siam had
+dispatched a body of soldiers to hunt down Yu Chan and to take him alive
+or dead to Ayuthia. The Meinam had risen still higher the day after the
+ceremony, not, as the startled monarch thought, because of the deposed
+one's power, but owing to Klan Hua's deception in regard to the real
+time when he knew the water would reach its limit.</p>
+
+<p>"Then began the strange events which made the name of Yu Chan so
+memorable. For some years a band of marauders had taken possession of
+the far range known as the Three Hundred Peaks, but hitherto their raids
+in Burmah and Siam had attracted scant attention, while in Ayuthia few
+knew of their existence. To them the bonze went, and when the
+half-savage troops sent in search of him were encamped on the edge of
+the plain the mountaineers unexpectedly swooped down upon them. The
+remnant which escaped hastened back to the monarch with strange stories
+of the prowess of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> enemy, and especially of Yu Chan, the exile, whom
+they averred led on the foe to victory. The ruler of Siam, deeply
+chagrined at their non-success, ordered the vanquished ones to be
+decapitated for their failure to bring back the bonze or his lifeless
+body.</p>
+
+<p>"A second expedition was sent against them, but the mountaineers held
+their fastnesses so well that, in despair of conquering them, the few
+who survived their second onslaught slew themselves rather than return
+to Ayuthia to suffer a like fate to that which the monarch had awarded
+the others. Maddened at these repeated defeats, the ruler himself headed
+a large army and invested the passes, cutting off the supplies of the
+mountaineers, in the hope of starving them into subjection. So deeply
+was he roused against Yu Chan that he offered to pardon the rebels on
+condition that they betrayed their leader.</p>
+
+<p>"They scornfully rejected such terms, and withdrew to the heart of the
+mountains to endure all the horrors of famine with a courage which was
+heroic. At times the brave band made desperate efforts to break through
+the wall of men which girded them about, and each onset, in which they
+were beaten back, inspired them to try yet again.</p>
+
+<p>"The Malay who told me their story declared they were reduced to such
+straits at last that for one dreadful month they lived upon their dead.
+Never once did they waver from their allegiance to Yu Chan, whose
+stern-set face inspired them to resist to the last, for well he knew
+that the monarch's promise could not be trusted, and that surrender for
+them meant death. Often would they be repulsed at sunset in an attempt
+to break through the cordon which held them, and yet before nightfall,
+at the entrance of some precipitous pass, far remote from that spot,
+swift and sudden the gaunt and haggard band appeared, led on by Yu Chan,
+sword in hand, as he hewed down those who dared to face him.</p>
+
+<p>"Just when they were most oppressed relief came to the band of a quite
+unexpected kind, for the Burmese on the border overran Siam, and the
+soldiers were withdrawn to meet the new enemy. So, for a time, the band
+was left unmolested; but still none, save their leader, ventured to
+leave their wild haunts. Before he had been appointed chief of the
+bonzes who brought about his exile, Yu Chan had been the lover of a
+maiden of Ayuthia, but the high office which had been bestowed on him
+kept them apart. No sooner had the robes which he wore as a bonze been
+exchanged for those of a mountaineer than Yu Chan determined to see this
+maiden again. On the departure of their enemies he prepared to visit
+Ayuthia, although strongly counselled not to do so by his devoted band.
+He was, however, obdurate, and set forth on his perilous enterprise
+alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yu Chan crossed the great plain of Siam, and then, resting in a
+thatched hut upon the bank of the Meinam, dispatched a Malay, who
+chanced to dwell there, with a message to his beloved to visit him, for
+he thought it useless to attempt to enter Ayuthia if he wished to live.
+At nightfall the Malay returned from the island in the middle of the
+bend of the Meinam, whereon ye know the city is built. He thrust a
+tablet into Yu Chan's hand, whereon was a desire that the latter would
+wait the maiden's coming at a part of the bank where often the boat of
+the lovers had touched at before. Soon the exile beheld the slight craft
+making for the shore, manned by six rowers muffled in their cloaks, for
+the night was cold. Happy indeed would it have been for the lovers if
+the maiden had scanned closely the features of those who ferried her
+across the river, for the treacherous Malay had recognised Yu Chan, and
+six of the monarch's soldiers were the supposed boatmen, hurriedly
+gathered to take the exile or to slay him.</p>
+
+<p>"The maiden stepped from the boat, and, with a glad cry, flung her arms
+about Yu Chan, who had passed down the narrow path to meet her. Together
+they climbed up the steep way that led to the plain above the high bank,
+followed by the muffled soldiers, who lurked cautiously in the shadows
+of the limestone, through which wound the toilsome path. Once, as they
+passed along, a slight sound behind them arrested the footsteps of the
+lovers, and Yu Chan turned and glanced back searchingly, then on they
+went again. For an hour or more they wandered together over the plain,
+then, with many a sigh, turned to descend the path once more. Again they
+heard a sound, and that time on looking round quickly Yu Chan saw the
+boatmen, whom he had thought awaited the maiden's return by the river
+brink, stealing closely after him, their faces shrouded in their black
+cloaks.</p>
+
+<p>"At once his suspicions were aroused, and hastily unsheathing his sword
+he confronted them just as they flung off their cloaks and the fierce
+faces of six of the half-savage soldiery of the monarch were revealed to
+Yu Chan. Slowly the latter retreated till he was a little way down the
+path with his back to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> the protecting limestone, then stood at bay to
+defend the maiden and himself from the advancing foes. Warily they came
+on, for well they knew the deadly thrusts which he could deal with his
+keen sword. Yu Chan in fighting at such desperate odds more than once
+failed to beat down the weapons lunged at him, but though severely
+wounded he did not flinch from the combat. Three of his assailants lay
+dead at his feet, when the leader of the monarch's soldiery twisted the
+sword from Yu Chan's hand, and then the three surviving foes rushed upon
+the defenceless man. With a cry that pierced the air the maiden flung
+herself before her lover&mdash;to fall dead as her body was thrust through
+and through by the weapons intended for the heart of Yu Chan!</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image348.jpg" width="377" height="400"
+             alt="THE MAIDEN FLUNG HERSELF BEFORE HER LOVER." /><br />
+         "THE MAIDEN FLUNG HERSELF BEFORE HER LOVER."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"Like a boarhound the mountain chief leapt upon his nearest assailant,
+wrenched the sword dripping with the maiden's blood from his hand, and
+almost cleaved him in half with one resistless stroke. He turned next
+upon the remaining two, but they fled headlong down the path, Yu Chan
+following with a fierce cry at their heels. Into the boat they leapt,
+nor dared to look behind till they were out in mid-stream; then they saw
+the wounded chief slowly dragging himself back to where the maiden lay
+lifeless.</p>
+
+<p>"Yu Chan bent despairingly over her as he saw the fatal stains which
+dyed her garments and reddened some of the fragrant white flowers fallen
+from her hair, which lay in masses framing her white, still face. Taking
+up his own sword, he sheathed it; then he raised the maiden gently in
+his arms, and, covered himself with gaping wounds, he set out to cross
+the great plain to the Three Hundred Peaks, where his followers awaited
+his return. On he struggled for two weary days with his lifeless burden;
+then at last he reached the end of his journey, and as the mountaineers
+gathered hastily about him and shuddered to see the ghastly face of
+their chief, Yu Chan tottered and fell dead in their midst!</p>
+
+<p>"Round the two lifeless forms the hunted tribe gathered, and, looking
+upon them, knew that they had been slain by their remorseless foes. One
+by one the mountaineers pressed forward, and amid the deathly silence of
+the others, each in turn touched the sword of their slain chief and
+sternly swore the blood-revenge. Fierce, indeed, as are such outbreaks
+in many eastern lands, that day marked the beginning of dark deeds of
+requitement that have made all others as nothing in comparison to them.
+The Burmese came down upon Siam and swept over fair Ayuthia, leaving
+nothing but the ruins of the city; yet, even in that national calamity,
+the fierce instinct of murder so fatally roused in the breasts of the
+mountaineers never paused nor seemed dulled. While the magnificent city
+lay despoiled, the once hunted tribe fell upon the others about the
+Meinam, and long after peace reigned throughout the country, still their
+deeds of pillage and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> massacre went on, as they do even to this day, so
+remote from the one when their leader was slain.</p>
+
+
+<p>"For months the tribe will be unheard of, and lulled by a false sense of
+security the inhabitants of one of these cities will make preparations
+for one of their recurring festivals. Even in the midst of such the
+strange cry of the hunted tribe will be heard, and the coming day will
+reveal to the awe-struck people the evidence of a night attack, in which
+men and women have been slain or carried off suddenly to the Three
+Hundred Peaks."</p>
+
+<p>"The present descendants of the avengers of Yu Chan's death are a
+cowardly lot, at all events," commented Denviers, as the Arab finished
+his recital: "they attacked us without reason, and have consequently got
+their deserts. If they come upon us again&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hist, sahib," Hassan whispered cautiously, as he pointed with his sword
+towards the fantastic bridge of limestone; "the hunted tribe is
+returning from its raid, see!" We looked in the direction in which he
+motioned us, and saw that the mountaineers bore a captive in their
+midst! Immediately one of the prisoners lashed to the trees gave a
+warning cry, regardless of the threats which Denviers had uttered.
+Hassan sprang to his feet, and stood by my side as we raised our rifles,
+still hidden as we were in the shadow of the ruined palace wall.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image349.jpg" width="372" height="450"
+             alt="THEY SWORE THE BLOOD-REVENGE." /><br />
+         "THEY SWORE THE BLOOD-REVENGE."
+    </div>
+<p>"Hassan," whispered my companion to the Arab; "go over to the prisoners
+there, and if they cry out again shoot them. I don't think that first
+cry has been heard by the others." As he spoke Denviers thrust a pistol
+into Hassan's hand and motioned to him to move through the grass towards
+them. We watched our guide as he neared them and raised the pistol
+threateningly&mdash;a silent admonition which they understood, and became
+quiet accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>From our position in the shadow of the ruined palace wall we saw a
+number of the hunted tribe slowly wind over the bridge with their
+captive, and noticed that in addition they had plenty of plunder with
+them. Noiselessly they moved towards our tent, and completely surrounded
+it, only to find it empty. They were evidently at a loss what to do,
+when one of their number stumbled over the dead mountaineer whom I had
+shot down as he joined in the attack upon us. A fierce exclamation
+quickly caused the rest to gather about him, and for some minutes they
+held a brief consultation. We judged from their subsequent actions that
+they considered we had made good our escape from the plain, for they
+made no further search for us, but apparently determined to avenge their
+comrade's death by slaying their captive. While the rest of the band
+moved away over the plain, two of their number returned towards the
+limestone bridge spanning the river. Guessing their fell purpose,
+Denviers and I crept through the tall grass, and under cover of the
+trees by the bank moved cautiously towards them.</p>
+
+<p>From tree to tree we advanced with our rifles in our hands, then just
+when within twenty yards of them we stopped aghast at the movements of
+the two mountaineers, who were forcing their struggling captive slowly
+towards the edge of the jagged limestone bridge!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We looked down at the angry waters of the rapid, swirling twenty feet
+below in the deep bed of the river, which was slowly rising each day,
+for the time of its inundation was near at hand. For a moment I saw a
+woman's horror-stricken face in the moonlight and heard her agonizing
+cry, then the sharp crack of Denviers' rifle rang out, and one of her
+assailants relaxed his grasp. Before Denviers could take a shot at the
+second mountaineer, he seized the captive woman and deliberately thrust
+her over the rocky bridge!</p>
+
+<p>"Quick! To the river!" exclaimed Denviers, as we heard the sound of her
+body striking the waters below. Down the steep bank we scrambled,
+steadying ourselves by grasping the lithe and dwarfed trees which grew
+in its rocky crevices. For one brief moment we scanned the seething
+torrent, and then, right in its midst, we saw the face and floating hair
+of the woman as she was tossed to and fro in the rapid, while she vainly
+tried to cling to the huge boulders rising high in the stream through
+which her fragile form was hurried.</p>
+
+<p>"Jump into the boat and wait for me to be carried down to you!" cried
+Denviers, and before I fully realized what he was about to do, he flung
+his rifle down and plunged headlong into the foaming waters. I saw him
+battling against the fierce current with all his might, for the rocks in
+mid-stream prevented the woman from being floated down to us and
+threatened to beat out her life, as she was borne violently against
+them. I ran madly towards where our boat had been drawn up, and pushing
+it into the river strained my eyes eagerly in the wild hope of seeing
+Denviers alive when his body should be floated down towards me.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image350.jpg" width="363" height="450"
+             alt="OVER THE ROCKY BRIDGE." /><br />
+         "OVER THE ROCKY BRIDGE."
+    </div>
+
+<p>I pulled hard against the stream and managed to keep the rude craft from
+being carried away with the current. A few minutes afterwards I saw that
+my companion had succeeded in dragging the woman from the grinding
+channels between the rocks, and was being swept on to where I anxiously
+awaited him with his burden. The water dashed violently against the boat
+as I put it across the middle of the rushing stream, then dropped the
+oars as he was flung towards me. I stretched out my arms over the side
+in order to relieve him of his burden, and, although he was exhausted,
+Denviers made one last effort and thrust the woman towards me. I dragged
+her into the boat just as her rescuer sank back. With a quick but steady
+grip I caught my companion and hauled him in too, and before long had
+the happiness to see both become conscious once more.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the boat to float down the stream, I merely steered it clear of
+the rocky sides of the river channel, then, seeing some distance ahead a
+favourable place to land, drew in to the shore with a few swift strokes
+from the oars. Denviers remained with the woman he had rescued, while I
+climbed the steep bank again and found that the mountaineers had,
+fortunately, not returned, although we had fully expected the report of
+Denviers' rifle to cause them to do so. I thereupon signalled to my
+companion below that all was safe, and he toiled up to the plain
+supporting the woman, who was a Laos, judging from her garments and
+slight, graceful form.</p>
+
+<p>Spreading for her a couch of skins, we left her reclining wearily in the
+tent, to which Denviers conducted her, then hastened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> towards Hassan,
+whom we found still keeping guard over our two captives. The Arab, when
+he heard of the hazardous venture which Denviers had made, stoutly urged
+us to put our prisoners to death, as a warning to the hunted tribe that
+their misdeeds could not always be carried on with impunity. For reply
+Denviers quietly took the pistol from the Arab's hand, and then we
+returned towards the tent, outside which we rested till day dawned.</p>
+
+<p>The woman within the tent then arose and came towards us, thanking
+Denviers profusely for saving her from such a death as had confronted
+her. She told us that her betrothal to a neighbouring prince had taken
+place only a few days before, but although every precaution had been
+taken to keep the affair secret, the news was conveyed to the hunted
+tribe by some one of the many supporters of the mountaineers. As she was
+a woman of high rank, this seemed to them a suitable opportunity to
+strike further terror into the hearts of the people inhabiting the
+cities about the Meinam. Their plans had been thoroughly successful, for
+they had despoiled several of the richest citizens, slaying those who
+opposed them, then snatching the woman up, began to carry her off to
+live among their tribeswomen, and to become one of them, when we
+fortunately saved her from that fate. We promised to conduct her to the
+city whence she had been stolen, which we eventually did, but before
+setting out for that purpose we visited our prisoners again.</p>
+
+<p>"Hassan," said Denviers, "release the men from the trees." The Arab most
+reluctantly did so, stoutly maintaining that after Mahomet had helped us
+so strangely and successfully, we would be wiser either to shoot them or
+leave them bound till someone discovered and dealt with our prisoners as
+they deserved.</p>
+
+<p>The ropes were accordingly unbound which fastened them to the trees;
+then Denviers pointed to the distant range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+and bade them begone. The two prisoners set forward at a run, being not
+a little surprised at our clemency. When they had at last disappeared in
+the distance, we moved towards the city beyond Ayuthia to restore the
+princess to her people, who had, by our means, been snatched from the
+power of the hunted tribe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Weathercocks_and_Vanes" id="Weathercocks_and_Vanes"></a>Weathercocks and Vanes</h2>
+
+<h3>by Warrington Hogg.</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft t" style="width: 600px;">
+             <img src="images/image352-1a.jpg" alt="Weathercocks and Vanes" height="287" width="600"/>
+
+    </div>
+<div class="figleft b" style="width: 249px;">
+             <img src="images/image352-1b.jpg" alt="Weathercocks and Vanes" height="174" width="249"/>
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p style="margin-top: 330px;">picturesque quality and almost endless variety of vanes&mdash;from the
+modest arrow to the richly-gilt and imposing heraldic monster&mdash;which
+meet the eye as one wanders through quiet village, busy market town, or
+sleepy cathedral city, and the traditions which are associated with
+these distinctly useful, time-honoured, and much consulted adjuncts to
+church or home, make me hope that the following brief notes and sketches
+of a few of the many types one sees may not be without interest to some
+of the numerous readers of <span class="smcap">The Strand Magazine</span>.</p>
+
+<p>That eminent authority on things architectural&mdash;the late John Henry
+Parker, F.S.A.&mdash;tells us that vanes were in use in the time of the
+Saxons, and in after ages were very extensively employed, there being
+notable development during the prevalence of the Perpendicular and
+Elizabethan styles.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image352-2.jpg" width="298" height="400"
+             alt="Weathercocks and Vanes" /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>To anyone vane-hunting&mdash;or health-hunting, for the matter of that&mdash;I
+would recommend them to tramp, sketch or note book in hand, over that
+stretch of country which occupies the most southerly corner of Kent,
+known as Romney Marsh; and beginning, say, at Hythe&mdash;one of the old
+Cinque Ports, and still a place of considerable importance&mdash;they will
+there find several vanes worthy of note, specially perhaps the one which
+surmounts the Town Hall, in the High Street. It is in excellent
+condition, and is contemporary with the building itself, which was
+erected in 1794.</p>
+
+
+<p>The country between Hythe and Dymchurch has quite a plethora of rustic
+vanes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>&mdash;many crippled and others almost defunct&mdash;sketches of a few of
+which I give my readers. Note the one, carved out of a piece of wood and
+rudely shaped like a bottle, which is stuck on an untrimmed bough of a
+tree and spliced to a clothes-prop: could anything be more na&iuml;ve? (in
+justice I would add that this is <i>not</i> at the inn); or the one that is
+noted just below it&mdash;an axe poised on the roof of the local
+wheelwright's workshop, which aforesaid roof still bears unmistakable
+evidence of election turmoil. Nevertheless, this original type of vane
+seemed well fitted to do good service, for one noted that it answered to
+the slightest breath of wind. The old patched one, too, on the quaint
+little Norman church at Dymchurch seemed to me to be of interest in many
+ways, specially when I realized that it looked down on a row of graves,
+kept in beautiful order, of the nameless dead which the angry sea had
+given into the keeping of these sturdy village folk.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image353.jpg" width="436" height="700"
+             alt="Vanes near Dymchurch, Romney Marsh, Kent." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<h4>Vanes near Dymchurch, Romney Marsh, Kent.</h4>
+
+<p>Working westward past Ivychurch, with its fine Perpendicular tower and
+beacon-turret, Old and New Romney, Lydd (which was attached to the
+Cinque Port of Romney), with its dignified Perpendicular church, of
+which Cardinal Wolsey was once vicar, we come to Rye, which is just over
+the border-land into Sussex, another of the towns annexed to the Cinque
+Ports, though, sad to say, like Sandwich and Winchelsea, its prosperity
+departed when the sea deserted it.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image354.jpg" width="205" height="400"
+             alt="On Rye Chvrch." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>At Rye one cannot help but linger, there is so much to interest; its
+unique position, its ancient standing, the almost incredible changes in
+its surroundings owing to the receding of the sea, its chequered
+history, its delightful, old-world look, and its venerable church of St.
+Nicholas, all combine to arrest one's attention. Let us look for a few
+moments at the church itself, which crowns the hill, and upon the tower
+of which stands the vane depicted in my sketch. It was built towards the
+close of the twelfth century, and Jeake, the historian, says of it that
+it was "the goodliest edifice of the kind in Kent or Sussex, the
+cathedrals excepted." Its first seven vicars were priests of the Church
+of Rome, and in the church records there are some curious entries, which
+look as though Passion plays were once performed in Rye. Here is one
+dated 1522:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image355-1.jpg" width="232" height="400"
+             alt="On Winchelsea Chvrch." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>"Paid for a coate made when the Resurrection was played at Easter, for
+him that in playing represented the part of Almighty God, 1s.; ditto for
+making the stage, 3s. 4d." During the reign of Edward VI. an entry is
+made, which reads: "Expended for cleaning the church from Popery, &pound;1
+13s. 4d."</p>
+
+
+<p>If tradition be true, Queen Elizabeth (who once visited Rye) gave the
+clock, which is said to be the oldest clock actually going in England.
+Now for the weather-vane, which I venture to think is worthy of its
+surroundings: it is simple in form, stately in proportion, and in
+excellent preservation. Through the metal plate of the vane itself are
+cut boldly, stencil fashion, the letters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> "A. R." (I was unable to find
+out to whom they referred&mdash;presumably a churchwarden), and immediately
+below them, the date 1703. The pointer is very thick and richly
+foliated, and the wrought ironwork which supports the arms, which
+indicate the four cardinal points of the compass, is excellent in
+design.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image355-2.jpg" width="205" height="400"
+             alt="S. Eanswythe's Folkestone" /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Two miles further west we come to dear old Winchelsea. The church (built
+between 1288-1292), of which only the choir and chancel, with some
+portions of the transepts, now remain, was originally dedicated to St.
+Thomas &agrave; Becket, but in the present day is called after St. Thomas the
+Apostle. It possesses an exceptionally fine vane, perched on a curiously
+squat, barn-like structure, which does duty for a tower. With its
+creeper-covered dormer windows and a somewhat convivial-looking
+chimney-pot sticking up out of one of them on the south side, it looks
+more picturesque than ecclesiastical; but the beauty of the vane itself
+at once arrests attention. I think it is one of the most elaborate
+specimens of wrought ironwork, applied to such a purpose, that I have
+met with; against a sunny sky it is like so much beautiful filigree&mdash;the
+metal wind-plate is apparently a much later restoration, and is
+perforated with the letters "W. M." and the date 1868. From the vane you
+could almost jump into the old tree beneath which John Wesley preached
+his last sermon. Eastward, but very little beyond the shadow of the
+vane, is Tower Cottage, Miss Ellen Terry's country retreat. Mr. Harry
+How, in a recent number of <span class="smcap">The Strand Magazine</span>, has told us in
+one of his interesting "Interviews" of the quiet home life of the great
+actress when staying here. What a glorious outlook the old vane has&mdash;on
+the one hand quaint, sleepy Rye and the flat stretches of Romney Marsh;
+to the north the great Weald of Kent; to the westward beautiful Sussex,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> straight in front the open sea of the English Channel.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image356-1.jpg" width="252" height="300"
+             alt="Untitled." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image356-2.jpg" width="169" height="350"
+             alt="On Cheriton Chvrch Tovver." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>Folkestone makes a capital centre from which to go a-hunting vanes, but
+before we start it is well worth while to glance for a few moments at
+the modern one on the Parish Church of St. Eanswythe. It was designed,
+about fifteen years ago, by Mr. S. S. Stallwood, the architect, of
+Reading, who, by-the-bye, is, too, responsible for the fine west window.
+The vane is of dark metal throughout, save for the gilt arrow, and
+stands on a turret to the south-west of the Perpendicular embattled
+tower. It is in excellent condition, notwithstanding its very exposed
+position to the Channel storms. Down on the harbour jetty, surmounting
+the lighthouse and hard by where the Boulogne mail-boats come in day by
+day, is a vane with scrolly arms, well worth noting; and, again, on a
+house out toward Shorncliffe, are a couple of "fox" vanes, one of which
+blustering Boreas has shorn of its tail; poor Reynard, in consequence,
+is ever swirling round and round&mdash;a ludicrous object&mdash;apparently ever
+seeking and never finding the aforesaid tail.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image356-3.jpg" width="208" height="350"
+             alt="Near Cheriton." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p>About a mile inland, near the Old Hall Farm, on an outhouse or piggery,
+is the subject of the accompanying sketch. It has certainly seen much
+better days, and is rather a quaint specimen of the genus weather-vane.
+It will be noted that rude winds have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> carried away, almost bodily,
+three out of the four letters which denote the compass-points, but have
+in mercy spared poor piggy's curly tail.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image357-1.jpg" width="305" height="400"
+             alt="At Newington." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>A mile or so further on is a daintily-designed but very simple vane,
+which stands on the north-east corner of the tower of the ancient church
+of St. Martin at Cheriton. Canon Scott Robertson, the well-known
+antiquarian, pronounces this tower to be of unusual interest. He tells
+us that it is probably pre-Norman, but certainly was erected before the
+end of the 11th century. Traces of characteristic, rough, wide-jointed
+masonry and a small, round-headed doorway should be specially noted. Let
+us linger in the church itself for a few moments. In the north Chantry
+(13th century) we shall find an interesting mural tablet thus
+inscribed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here lieth Interred the Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Raleigh, Grand Daughter
+of the FAMED Sr Walter Raleigh, who died at the Enbrook, 26 day of
+October, 1716, aged 30 years."</p>
+
+<p>It stands close to a finely carved pulpit four hundred years old. The
+north porch is a memorial to the <i>first</i> Lord Justice of England&mdash;Sir
+James Lewis Knight-Bruce, who with his wife lies buried almost within
+its shadow. On an old house close by is a "cow" vane&mdash;when I made the
+sketch given, pigeons by the score from a neighbouring cote kept
+perching on it in a very friendly and picturesque fashion. Two miles
+further in the same direction brings us to the village of Newington,
+which possesses one of the quaintest little churches in Kent. Among
+other things it boasts some seventeen brasses&mdash;some dating back to the
+15th and 16th centuries&mdash;an ancient dial, on oaken shaft fast mouldering
+away&mdash;and a picturesque wooden belfry surmounted by a vigorously
+modelled gilt weathercock in capital preservation.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image357-2.jpg" width="235" height="350"
+             alt="At Sevington." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p>On Sevington spire, near Ashford, is a daintily designed vane, dated
+1866. Some storm has given it&mdash;as the sailors say&mdash;a list to port, but
+that seems somehow not to take away from but to add to its charm. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> is
+interesting to note that not far from here is the house where once
+resided Dr. Harvey, the famous discoverer of the circulation of the
+blood.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p>A mile on brings us to Hinxhill&mdash;a dear, old-world place&mdash;its
+picturesque little church, with ivy-covered walls, moss-grown roof,
+quaint open-timbered chancel, and fine stained-glass, all go to make a
+never-to-be-forgotten picture. On the little Early English spire is set
+a vane simple and good in treatment, and thoroughly in accord with its
+surroundings.</p>
+
+
+<p>At Sandgate is a well designed "horse and jockey" vane on a flagstaff,
+in a garden about fifty yards from where the ill-fated sailing ship, the
+<i>Benvenue</i>, went ashore and sank, and which was blown up by order of the
+Admiralty only last autumn.</p>
+
+<p>Dover, too, has its share of interesting vanes; perhaps the one
+belonging to St. Mary the Virgin is the best. It is attached to an old
+lead-covered spire surmounting a decorated Norman tower with rich
+exterior arcading, practically untouched by the unloving hand of the
+so-called "restorer"; but there are several others in the older streets
+of the town well worth noting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image358.jpg" width="415" height="600"
+             alt="At Orlestone, At Sandgate, At Maidstone." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>The seeker for vanes, quaint and ancient, must on no account miss going
+down the High Street of Tonbridge. There are three within a stone's
+throw of each other which must be noted, specially the one locally known
+as "The Sportsman"&mdash;he stands over a dormer window in the red-tiled roof
+of an old house of the Sheraton period, immediately opposite the famous
+"Chequers Inn." The house itself is very interesting; it has evidently
+been, in its early days, of considerable pretension, but has been an
+ironmonger's shop since 1804. On going within to make inquiries about
+the vane, I gathered that it is at least 120 years old, probably much
+more, the oldest part of the house being contemporary with the
+"Chequers." The vane is cut out of thick sheet copper and strengthened
+with stout wire in several places to keep it rigid, and the whole is
+painted in colours (a very unusual feature), in imita<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>tion of the
+costume of the period; and I was shown a curious old print of Tonbridge
+in the time when the well-to-do farmers wore top-hats and swallow-tailed
+coats, in which the vane is represented just as it appears at present.
+Vane number two is a much weathered and discoloured one, almost within
+touch, on a wooden turret surmounting the Town Hall&mdash;a typical Georgian
+building, lately threatened with demolition, and for the further life of
+which I noted a vigorous pleading in the pages of <i>The Graphic</i> of
+November 4th, 1892. Number three is a fox, rudely cut out of flat metal,
+with a "ryghte bushie tayle," fixed on a house gable overlooking the
+street.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image359.jpg" width="461" height="700"
+             alt="The Sportsman Tonbridge, At Rochester, On Town Hall,  High St. Tonbridge." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>The Orlestone sketch represents a type of vane practically never to be
+met with, save on the oast-houses in the hop-growing districts of Kent.
+The particular one noted stands at the bottom of a garden belonging to
+an Elizabethan timbered house hard by the church. It will be remarked
+that the animal, which is about 2 ft. long, is very crude in shape; it
+represents a fox, and the obvious way Mr. Reynard's tail is joined on is
+very enjoyable.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image360-1.jpg" width="246" height="430"
+             alt="On Town Hall Rochester." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image360-2.jpg" width="177" height="350"
+             alt="On Medway Brewery. Maidstone." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Rochester admittedly possesses one of the finest vanes to be found all
+England over; it is in the main street on the Town Hall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> (temp. James
+I.), and surmounts a wooden bell-tower perched on the roof. On the
+south-west side of the building facing into the street is a tablet,
+which tells us that "This building was erected in the year 1687. John
+Bryan, Esquire, then Mayor"; and in quaint numerals the same date is
+repeated just below the tablet base. The vane is in the form of a ship,
+in gilt metal: a complete ship in miniature&mdash;cordage, blocks, twenty-six
+cannon, small spars, even a daintily-modelled figurehead: all are there.
+With the aid of a couple of stalwart constables I clambered up on to the
+leaden roof, so that I might examine more closely and carefully this
+splendid example of vane-craft. The ship itself, from the bottom of keel
+to the top of mainmast, measures over 6 ft., and from jib to spanker
+boom the total length is 9 ft. It is 18 in. in width, weighs 7-1/2 cwt.,
+and revolves quite easily pivoted on a large bull's-eye of glass. It may
+be interesting to note that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> my sketch was made from one of the
+upper-most windows of the "Bull Inn" (the place where Charles Dickens
+once lived, and which he has immortalized in the pages of "Pickwick"),
+which is immediately opposite. A little higher up the street is a large
+vane, richly decorated in red and gold, on the Corn Exchange. An
+inscription on its south-west face tells us that "This present building
+was erected at the sole charge and expense of Sir Cloudsley Shovel,
+Knight, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1706. He represented this city in three
+Parliaments in the reign of King William the Third, and in one
+Parliament in the reign of Queen Anne."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image361.jpg" width="407" height="600"
+             alt="On ye Church, On Town Hall, At Maidstone." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Maidstone, too, is rich in vanes. There is one specially you can see
+from all parts of the town. It is on the Medway Brewery, and represents
+an old brown jug and glass; its dimensions, to say the least of it, are
+somewhat startling. The jug alone (which is made of beaten copper plate)
+is 3 ft. 6 in. in height, and in its fullest part 3 ft. in diameter,
+with a holding capacity of 108 gallons, or three barrels. The
+glass&mdash;also made of copper&mdash;is capable of holding some eight gallons.
+The vane revolves on ball bearings, its height above the roof is 12 ft.,
+its arms extend nearly 7 ft., the whole, I am told, standing 80 ft. from
+the ground.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image362-1.jpg" width="239" height="380"
+             alt="In Museum. Maidstone" /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image362-2.jpg" width="242" height="350"
+             alt="On Observatory. Maidstone" /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<p>On the observatory connected with the Maidstone Museum (which latter was
+once Chillington Manor House) is a modern vane, much discoloured by
+damp, but very apt in design; note the perforated sun, moon and stars,
+and the three wavy-looking pointers, which I take to represent rays of
+light. Mr. Frederick James, the courteous curator, called my attention
+to a singularly fine wrought-iron vane, now preserved in the Museum,
+about which but little is known, but which may possibly have surmounted
+the place in the olden days&mdash;when Chillington Manor was the seat of the
+great Cobham family.</p>
+
+
+<p>Space forbids my more than just calling attention to the nondescript
+gilt monster, with its riveted wings and forked tongue and tail,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> which
+glares down on us from its perch above the Town Hall, in the High
+Street; or to a "cigar" vane (over 2 ft. long and as thick as a
+bludgeon), large enough to give Verdant Green's famous "smoke" many
+points, hoisted over an enterprising tobacconist's a little lower down;
+or to the skewered and unhappy-looking weathercock on the Parish Church;
+or the blackened griffin in Earl Street, all head and tail, which does
+duty on an old dismantled Gothic building, once called "The Brotherhood
+Hall" (it belonged to the fraternity of Corpus Christi, about 1422, and
+was suppressed in 1547), then afterwards used as a grammar school, and
+now&mdash;tell it not in Gath!&mdash;a hop store; or, lastly, the
+ponderous-looking elephant, painted a sickly blue, if I remember
+rightly, on a great building on the banks of the Medway.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p>These rambling notes but touch the fringe&mdash;as it were&mdash;of a wide and
+ever-widening subject. A lengthy paper might be written on the different
+types (and some of great interest) of vanes in and around London alone;
+but I trust I may be allowed to express the hope that what has been said
+may haply enlist further interest in these silent, faithful, but
+somewhat neglected friends of ours, who, "courted by all the winds that
+hold them play," look down from their "coigne of vantage" upon the
+hurrying world below.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="trans-note">
+           Transcriber's Note: All illustrations in this article are by W Hogg. 1892.
+      </div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="A_DARK_TRANSACTION" id="A_DARK_TRANSACTION"></a>A DARK TRANSACTION</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image363.jpg" width="600" height="290"
+             alt="A DARK TRANSACTION" /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<h3><span class="smcap">By Marianne Kent.</span></h3>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapi.jpg" alt="I" title="" /></div><p>f had described myself when I first started in life, it would simply
+have been as John Blount, commercial traveller. I was employed by a firm
+of merchants of very high standing, who only did business with large
+houses. My negotiations took me to all parts of the United Kingdom, and
+I enjoyed the life, which was full of change and activity. At least I
+enjoyed it in my early bachelor days, but while I was still quite
+young&mdash;not more than five-and-twenty&mdash;I fell in love and married; and
+then I found that my roving existence was certainly a drawback to
+domestic happiness. My wife, Mary, was a bright little creature, always
+ready to make the best of things, but even she would declare
+pathetically that she might as well have married a sailor as a landsman
+who was so seldom at home! Still, as I said, she was one to put a bright
+face on things, and she and my sister made their home together.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the second year after my marriage, when I had been away on my
+travels for some weeks, that I heard from my sister that a fever had
+broken out in the neighbourhood of our home, and that Mary was down with
+it. Kitty wrote hopefully, saying it was a mild attack, and she trusted
+by the time I was home her patient would be quite convalescent. I had
+unbounded faith in Kitty, so that I accepted her cheerful view of
+things. But, a few evenings later, after a long, tiring day, I returned
+to the hotel where I was then staying, and found a telegram awaiting me.
+My heart stood still as I saw the ominous yellow envelope, for I knew my
+sister would not have sent for me without urgent need. The message was
+to say that, although Kitty still hoped for the best, a serious change
+had taken place, and I should return at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't delay an hour; come off immediately," she said.</p>
+
+<p>I was not likely to delay. I paid up my reckoning at the hotel, directed
+that my baggage should be sent on next day, and in less than half an
+hour from the time I had opened the telegram I rushed, heated and
+breathless, into the primitive little railway station&mdash;the only one
+which that part of the country boasted for miles round. I gained the
+platform in time to see the red light on the end of the departing train
+as it disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel a few hundred yards down
+the line. For a moment I was unable to realize my ill fortune. I stood
+gazing stupidly before me in a bewildered way. Then the station-master,
+who knew me by sight, came up, saying sympathetically:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Just missed her, sir, by two seconds!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I answered briefly, beginning to understand it all now, and
+chafing irritably at the enforced delay. "When is the next train?"</p>
+
+<p>"Six five in the morning, sir. Nothing more to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more to-night!" I almost shouted. "There must be! At any rate,
+there is the evening express from the junction; I have been by it scores
+of times!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, sir; but that's a through train, it don't touch
+here&mdash;never stops till it reaches the junction."</p>
+
+<p>The man's quiet tone carried conviction with it. I was silent for a
+moment, and then asked when the express left the junction.</p>
+
+<p>"Nine fifteen," was the answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image364.jpg" width="314" height="450"
+             alt="THE STATION-MASTER CAME UP." /><br />
+"THE STATION-MASTER CAME UP."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"How far is the junction from this by road; could I do it in time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Out of the question, sir. It would take one who knew the road the best
+part of three hours to drive."</p>
+
+<p>I looked away to my left, where the green hill-side rose up steep and
+clear against the evening sky. It was one of the most mountainous
+quarters of England, and the tunnel that pierced the hill was a triumph
+of engineering skill, even in these days when science sticks at nothing.
+Pointing to the brick archway I said, musingly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And yet, once through the tunnel, how close at hand the junction
+station seems."</p>
+
+<p>"That's true enough, sir; the other side the tunnel it is not half a
+mile down the line."</p>
+
+<p>"What length is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tunnel, sir? Close upon three miles, and straight as a dart."</p>
+
+<p>There was another pause, then I said, slowly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more goes down the line until the express has passed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything on the up line?" was my next inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, not for some hours, except, maybe, some trucks of goods, but I
+have had no notice of them yet."</p>
+
+<p>As the station-master made this last answer he looked at me curiously,
+no doubt wondering what the object of all these questions could be; but
+he certainly had no notion of what was passing in my mind, or he would
+not have turned into his office as he did, and left me there alone upon
+the platform.</p>
+
+<p>I was young and impetuous, and a sudden wild determination had taken
+possession of me. In my intense anxiety to get back to my sick wife, the
+delay of so many hours seemed unendurable, and my whole desire was to
+catch the express at the junction; but how was that to be accomplished?
+One way alone presented itself to me, and that was through the tunnel.
+At another time I should have put the notion from me as a mad
+impossibility, but now I clung to it as a last resource, reasoning
+myself out of all my fears. Where was the danger, since nothing was to
+come up or down the line for hours? A good level road, too, of little
+more than three miles, and a full hour and a half to do it in. And what
+would the darkness matter? There was no fear of missing the way; nothing
+to be done but to walk briskly forward. Yes, it could be, and I was
+resolved that it should be done.</p>
+
+<p>I gave myself no more time for reflection. I walked to the end of the
+platform and stepped down upon the line, not very far from the mouth of
+the tunnel. As I entered the gloomy archway I wished devoutly that I had
+a lantern to bear me company, but it was out of the question for me to
+get anything of the kind at the station; as it was, I was fearful each
+moment that my intentions would be discovered, when I knew for a
+certainty that my project would be knocked on the head, and, for this
+reason, I was glad to leave daylight behind me and to know that I was
+unseen.</p>
+
+<p>I walked on, at a smart pace, for fully ten minutes, trying not to
+think, but feeling painfully conscious that my courage was ebbing fast.
+Then I paused for breath. Ugh! how foul the air smelt! I told myself
+that it was worse even than the impenetrable darkness&mdash;and that was bad
+enough. I recalled to mind how I had gone through tunnels&mdash;this very one
+among others&mdash;in a comfortable lighted carriage, and had drawn up the
+window, sharply and suddenly, to keep out the stale, poisonous air; and
+this was the atmosphere I was to breathe for the next hour! I shuddered
+at the prospect. But it was not long before I was forced to acknowledge
+that it was the darkness quite as much as the stifling air which was
+affecting me. I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> never been fond of the dark in my earliest days,
+and now it seemed as if the strange, wild fancies of my childhood were
+forcing themselves upon me, and I felt that, if only for an instant, I
+must have light of some sort; so, standing still, I took from my pocket
+a box of vestas, and struck one. Holding the little match carefully,
+cherishing it with my hand, I gazed about me. How horrible it all
+looked! Worse, if possible, in reality than in imagination. The outline
+of the damp, mildewy wall was just visible in the feeble, flickering
+light. On the brickwork close to me I could see a coarse kind of fungus
+growing, and there was the silver, slimy trace of slugs in all
+directions; I could fancy, too, the hundred other creeping things that
+were about. As the match died out, a noise among the stones near the
+wall caused me hastily to strike another, just in time to see a large
+rat whisk into its hole.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image365.jpg" width="233" height="400"
+             alt="HOLDING THE LITTLE MATCH CAREFULLY, I GAZED ABOUT ME." /><br />
+"HOLDING THE LITTLE MATCH CAREFULLY,<br />I GAZED ABOUT ME."
+    </div>
+
+<p>A miner, a plate-layer&mdash;in fact, anyone whose avocations took them
+underground&mdash;would have laughed to scorn these childish fears; but the
+situation was so new to me, and also I must confess that I am naturally
+of a nervous, imaginative turn of mind. Still, I was vexed with myself
+for my cowardly feelings, and started on my walk again, trying not to
+think of these gloomy surroundings, but drew a picture of my home,
+wondering how Mary was, if she was well enough to be told of my coming,
+and was looking out for me. Then I dwelt upon the satisfaction with
+which I should enter the express, at the junction, feeling that the
+troubles of the evening had not been in vain. After a while, when these
+thoughts were somewhat exhausted, and I felt my mind returning to the
+horrors of the present moment, I tried to look at it all from a
+different point of view, telling myself that it was an adventure which I
+should live to pride myself upon. Then I recalled to mind things I had
+read of subterranean passages, and naturally stories of the Catacombs
+presented themselves to me, and I thought how the early Christians had
+guided themselves through those dim corridors by means of a line or
+string; the fantastic notion came to me that I was in a like
+predicament, and the line I was to follow was the steel rail at my feet.
+For awhile this thought gave me courage, making me realize how straight
+the way was, and that I had only to go on and on until the goal was
+reached.</p>
+
+<p>I walked for, perhaps, twenty minutes or half an hour, sometimes passing
+a small grating for ventilation; but they were so choked by weeds and
+rubbish that they gave little light and less air. Walking quickly
+through a dark place, one has the feeling that unseen objects are close
+at hand, and that at any moment you may come in sharp contact with them.
+It was this feeling, at least, which made me as I went along continually
+put out my hand as if to ward off a blow, and suddenly, while my right
+foot still rested on the smooth steel rail, my left hand struck against
+the wall of the tunnel. As my fingers grated on the rough brick a new
+terror took possession of me&mdash;or at least, if not a new terror, one of
+the fears which had haunted me at the outset rushed upon me with
+redoubled force.</p>
+
+<p>I had faced the possibility of the station-master's having been
+mistaken, and of a train passing through the tunnel while I was still
+there, but I told myself I had only to stand close in to the wall, until
+the train had gone on its way; now, however, I felt, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> a sinking
+horror at my heart, that there was little room to spare. Again and again
+I tested it, standing with my foot well planted on the rail and my arm
+outstretched until my fingers touched the bricks. There was a
+fascination in it&mdash;much as in the case of a timid swimmer who cannot
+bear to think he is out of depth and must keep putting down his foot to
+try for the bottom, knowing all the while he is only rendering himself
+more nervous. During the next ten minutes I know I worked myself into a
+perfect agony of mind, imagining the very worst that could happen.
+Suppose that the up and the down trains should cross in the tunnel, what
+chance should I then have? The mere thought was appalling! Retreat was
+impossible, for I must have come more than half way by this time, and
+turning back would only be going to meet the express. But surely in the
+thickness of the wall there must be here and there recesses? I was sure
+I had seen one, some little time back, when I had struck a light. This
+was a gleam of hope. Out came the matches once more, but my hands were
+so shaky that I had scarcely opened the box when it slipped from my
+fingers and its precious contents were scattered on the ground. This was
+a new trouble. I was down upon my knees at once, groping about to find
+them. It was a hopeless task in the dark, and, after wasting much time,
+I was forced to light the first one I found to look for the others, and,
+when that died out, I had only four in my hand, and had to leave the
+rest and go on my way for the time was getting short and my great desire
+was to find a recess which should afford me shelter in case of need.
+But, although I grudgingly lit one match after another and walked for
+some distance with my hand rubbing against the wall, I could find
+nothing of the kind.</p>
+
+<p>At length, I don't know what time it was, or how far I had walked, I saw
+before me, a long, long way off, a dim speck of light. At first I
+thought, with a sudden rush of gladness, that it was daylight, and that
+the end of the tunnel was in sight; then I remembered that it was now
+evening and the sun had long set, so that it must be a lamp; and it was
+a lamp. I began to see it plainly, for it was coming nearer and nearer,
+and I knew that it was an approaching train. I stood still and looked at
+it, and it was at that instant that the whole ground beneath me seemed
+to be shaken. The rail upon which one of my feet was resting thrilled as
+if with an electric shock, sending a strange vibration through me, while
+a sudden rush of wind swept down the tunnel, and I knew that the express
+was upon me!</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the feeling that took possession of me: it seemed
+as if, into that one moment, the experiences of years were
+crowded&mdash;recollections of my childhood&mdash;tender thoughts of my
+wife&mdash;dreams of the future, in which I had meant to do so much, all
+thronged in, thick and fast upon me. Could this be death? I gave a wild,
+despairing cry for help. I prayed aloud that God would not let me die. I
+had lost all presence of mind; no thought of standing back against the
+wall came to me. I rushed madly forward in a frenzy of despair. The
+sound of my voice, as it echoed through that dismal place, was drowned
+in an instant by the sharp, discordant scream of the express. On I
+dashed, right in front of the goods train; the yellow light of the
+engine shone full upon me; death was at hand. It seemed that nothing
+short of a miracle could save me, and, to my thinking, it was a miracle
+that happened.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few yards from the engine and, as I struggled blindly on, a
+strong hand seized me with a grasp of iron, and I was dragged on one
+side. Even in my bewilderment I knew that I was not against the wall,
+but in one of those very recesses I had searched for in vain. I sank
+upon the ground, only half conscious, yet I saw the indistinct blur of
+light as the trains swept by.</p>
+
+<p>I am not given to swooning, so that, after the first moment, I was quite
+alive to my exact situation. I knew that I was crouching on the ground,
+and that that iron-like grasp was still on my collar. Presently the hand
+relaxed its hold and a gruff, but not unkindly, voice said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mate, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>This inquiry unlocked my tongue, and I poured forth my gratitude. I
+hardly know what I said; I only know I was very much in earnest. I told
+him who I was and how I came to be there, and in return asked him his
+name.</p>
+
+<p>"That does not signify," was the answer; "you can think of me as a
+friend."</p>
+
+<p>"That I shall," I returned, gratefully; "for God knows you have been a
+friend in need to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he said, musingly, "your life must be very sweet, for you seemed
+loath enough to part with it!"</p>
+
+<p>I admitted the truth of this&mdash;indeed, I had felt it more than once
+during the last hour. I had been one of those who, in fits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> of
+depression, are wont to say that life is not worth living&mdash;that we shall
+be well out of it, and the rest; yet, when it seemed really slipping
+from my grasp, I had clung to it with a tenacity which surprised myself.
+And now, with the future once more before me, in which so much seemed
+possible, I was filled with gratitude to God and to my unknown friend,
+by whose means I had been saved. There was a short silence; then I
+asked, rather doubtfully, if there were not some way in which I could
+prove my gratitude.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image367.jpg" width="387" height="500"
+             alt="A STRONG HAND SEIZED ME." /><br />
+"A STRONG HAND SEIZED ME."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"You speak as if you were sincere," my strange companion said, in his
+gruff, downright way; "so I will tell you frankly that you can do me a
+good turn if you have a mind to. I don't want your money, understand;
+but I want you to do me a favour."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" I asked, eagerly; "believe me, if it is in my power it
+shall be done!"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather you passed your word before I explain more," he said
+coolly. "Say my request shall be granted. I take it you are not a man to
+break your promise."</p>
+
+<p>Here was a predicament! Asked to pledge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> my word for I knew not what! To
+be in the dark in more senses than one; for I could not even see my
+mysterious deliverer's face to judge what manner of man he was. And yet,
+how could I refuse his request? At last I said, slowly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If what you ask is honest and above-board, you have my word that it
+shall be done, no matter what it may cost me."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a short laugh. "You are cautious," he said, "but you are right.
+No, there is nothing dishonest about my request; it will wrong no one,
+though it may cause you some personal inconvenience."</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough," I said, hastily, ashamed of the half-hearted way in
+which I had given my promise. "The instant we are out of this place I
+will take steps to grant your request, whatever it may be."</p>
+
+<p>"But that won't do," he put in, quickly; "what I want must be done here
+and now!"</p>
+
+<p>I was bewildered, as well I might be, and remained silent while he went
+on:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There is no need to say much about myself, but this you must know. I am
+in great trouble. I am accused of that which makes me amenable to the
+law. I am innocent, but I cannot prove my innocence, and my only chance
+of safety is in flight. That is the reason of my being here: I am hiding
+from my pursuers."</p>
+
+<p>The poor creature paused, with a deep-drawn sigh, as if he at least had
+not found his life worth the struggle. I was greatly shocked by his
+story, and warmly expressed my sympathy; then, on his telling me he had
+been for two days and nights in the tunnel with scarcely a bit of food,
+I remembered a packet of sandwiches that had been provided for my
+journey, and offered them to him. It made me shudder to hear the
+ravenous manner in which they were consumed. When this was done there
+was another silence, broken by his saying, with evident hesitation, that
+the one hope he had was in disguising himself in some way, and thus
+eluding those who were watching for him. He concluded with:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The favour I have to ask is that you will help me in this by allowing
+me to have your clothes in exchange for mine!"</p>
+
+<p>There was such an odd mixture of tragedy and comedy in the whole thing
+that for a moment I hardly knew how to answer him. The poor fellow must
+have taken my silence for anything but consent, for he said, bitterly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You object! I felt you would, and it is my only chance!"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary," I returned, "I am perfectly willing to do as you
+wish&mdash;indeed, how could I be otherwise when I have given you my word? I
+was only fearing that you built too much upon this exchange. Remember,
+it is no disguise!&mdash;the dress of one man is much like that of another."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true enough, as a general rule," was the answer, "but not in
+this case. I was last seen in a costume not common in these parts. A
+coarse, tweed shooting-dress, short coat, knee-breeches, and rough
+worsted stockings&mdash;so that an everyday suit is all I want."</p>
+
+<p>After that there was nothing more to be said, and the change was
+effected without more ado.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to me that my invisible companion had the advantage over me as
+far as seeing went, for whereas I was sensible of nothing but touch and
+sound, his hands invariably met and aided mine whenever they were at
+fault. He confessed to this, saying that he had been so long in the dark
+that his eyes were growing accustomed to it.</p>
+
+<p>I never felt anything like the coarseness of those stockings as I drew
+them on. The shoes, too, were of the clumsiest make; they were large for
+me, which perhaps accounted for their extreme heaviness. I was a bit of
+a dandy; always priding myself upon my spick and span get-up. No doubt
+this made me critical, but certainly the tweed of which the clothes were
+made was the roughest thing of its kind I had ever handled. I got into
+them, however, without any comment, only remarking, when my toilet was
+finished, that I could find no pocket.</p>
+
+<p>My companion gave another of those short laughs.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said, "that suit was made for use, not comfort!"</p>
+
+<p>From his tone and manner of expressing himself, I had taken him to be a
+man fairly educated, and when he had declared that he did not require my
+money, I naturally fancied he was not in want of funds; but the style of
+his clothes made me think differently, and I decided that he should have
+my watch&mdash;the most valuable thing I had about me. It had no particular
+associations, and a few pounds would get me another. He seemed pleased,
+almost touched, by the proposal, and also by my suggesting that the
+money in my pockets should be divided between us. It was not a large
+sum, but half of it would take me to my journey's end, I knew. He seemed
+full of resource, for when I was wondering what to do with my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> loose
+change, in my pocketless costume, he spread out my handkerchief, and
+putting my money and the small things from my pockets into it, knotted
+it securely up and thrust it into my breast. Then, as we stood facing
+each other, he took my hand in farewell. I proposed our going on
+together, but this he would not hear of.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said, with his grim laugh, "the sooner I and that suit of
+clothes part company, the better!"</p>
+
+<p>So we wished each other God-speed, and turned on our different ways&mdash;he
+going back through the tunnel, and I keeping on.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image369.jpg" width="400" height="291"
+             alt="WE WISHED EACH OTHER GOD-SPEED." /><br />
+"WE WISHED EACH OTHER GOD-SPEED."
+    </div>
+
+<p>The experiences of the last few hours had made a great impression on me,
+and, although I felt awed and somewhat shaken, my heart was light with
+the gladness of one who rejoices in a reprieve. The express that I had
+been so anxious to catch had long since gone on its way; still, in my
+present hopeful frame of mind, that did not trouble me. I felt a
+conviction that Mary was mending, that I should find her better, and,
+comforted by this belief, I walked briskly on; at least, as briskly as
+my clumsy shoes would allow me, but even in spite of this hindrance, it
+was not long before I reached the end of the tunnel. The moonlight
+streaming down upon the rails was a pleasant sight, and showed me, some
+time before I reached it, that my goal was at hand. When I left the last
+shadow behind me and stood out under the clear sky I drew a sigh of
+intense thankfulness, drinking in the sweet fresh air.</p>
+
+<p>I walked down the country road, thinking that I would rest for a few
+hours at the station hotel and be ready for the first train in the
+morning. But my adventures were not yet over. As I glanced at my
+clothes, thinking how unlike myself I looked and felt, something on the
+sleeve of my coat attracted my attention; it must be tar, which I or the
+former wearer of the clothes must have rubbed off in the tunnel. But,
+no. I looked again&mdash;my eyes seemed riveted to it&mdash;it was unmistakable.
+There, on the coarse grey material of the coat, was a large broad-arrow.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant the whole truth had flashed upon me. No need to examine
+those worsted stockings and heavy shoes&mdash;no need to take off the coat
+and find upon the collar the name of one of Her Majesty's prisons, and
+the poor convict's number. As my eyes rested on the broad-arrow I
+understood it all.</p>
+
+<p>At first I was very indignant at the position I was in. I felt that a
+trick had been practised upon me, and I naturally resented it. I sat
+down by the roadside and tried to think. The cool air blew in my face
+and refreshed me. I had no hat; the convict&mdash;I was beginning to think of
+him by that name&mdash;had given me none, saying he had lost his cap in the
+tunnel. After a while, when my anger had somewhat subsided, I thought
+more pitifully of the man whose clothes I wore. Poor wretch, without
+doubt he had had a hard time of it; what wonder that he had seized upon
+the first opportunity of escape! He had said that the favour he required
+would entail personal inconvenience on myself, and that was exactly what
+it did. I looked at the matter from all sides; I saw the dilemma I was
+in. It would not do to be seen in this branded garb&mdash;the police would
+lay hands on me at once; nothing would persuade them that I was not the
+convict. Indeed, who was likely to believe the improbable story I had to
+tell? I felt that I could expect few to credit it on my mere word, and I
+had nothing to prove my identity, for I remembered now that my
+pocket-book and letters were in my coat; I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> never given them a
+thought when making the exchange of clothes. So, as things were, it
+might take some days for me to establish my real personality, and even
+when that were done I should still be held responsible for conniving at
+the prisoner's escape.</p>
+
+<p>All things considered, therefore, I resolved not to get into the hands
+of the police. But this was no easy matter. There was nothing for it but
+to walk. I could not face the publicity of railway travelling or of any
+other conveyance: indeed, it was impossible for me to buy food for
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>I had many narrow escapes from detection, but by dint of hiding through
+the day and walking at night, and now and then bribing a small child to
+buy me something to eat, I contrived to get slowly on my way. It was on
+the evening of the third day that I reached home. I often thought,
+somewhat bitterly, of my short cut through the tunnel and all the delay
+it had caused!</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image370.jpg" width="353" height="400"
+             alt="BRIBING A SMALL CHILD TO BUY ME SOMETHING TO EAT." /><br />
+"BRIBING A SMALL CHILD TO<br />BUY ME SOMETHING TO EAT."
+    </div>
+
+<p>When I actually stood outside the little cottage which I called home,
+and looked up at the windows, the hope that had buoyed me up for so long
+deserted me, and I dreaded to enter. At last, however, I opened the gate
+and walked up the garden. There was a light in the small sitting-room;
+the curtains were not drawn, and I could see my sister Kitty seated by
+the table. She had evidently been weeping bitterly, and as she raised
+her face there was an expression of such hopeless sorrow in her eyes
+that my heart seemed to stop beating as I looked at her. Mary must be
+very ill. Perhaps&mdash;but no, I could not finish the sentence even in
+thought. I turned hastily, lifted the latch and went in.</p>
+
+<p>"Kitty!" I said, with my hand on the room door; "it's I, Jack! don't be
+frightened."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a little scream, and, it seemed to me, shrank back from me, as
+if I had been a ghost; but the next instant she sprang into my arms with
+a glad cry of, "Jack, Jack! is it really you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Kitty, who else should it be?" I said, reassuringly. "But tell
+me&mdash;how is she? How is Mary? Let me hear the truth."</p>
+
+<p>Kitty looked up brightly: "Mary! oh, she is better, much better, and now
+that you are here, Jack, she will soon be well!"</p>
+
+<p>I drew a breath of intense relief. Then, touching my little sister's
+pale, tear-stained face, I asked what had so troubled her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Jack," she whispered, "it was you! I thought you were dead!" She
+handed me an evening paper, and pointed out a paragraph which stated
+that a fatal accident had occurred in the Blank Tunnel. A man named John
+Blount, a commercial traveller, had been killed; it was believed while
+attempting to walk through the tunnel to the junction station. The body
+had been found, early the previous morning, by some plate-layers at work
+on the line. The deceased was only identified by a letter found upon
+him.</p>
+
+<p>And so, poor fellow, he had met his fate in the very death from which he
+had saved me! In the midst of my own happiness my heart grew very
+sorrowful as I thought of him, my unknown friend, whose face I had never
+seen!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="The_Royal_Humane_Society" id="The_Royal_Humane_Society"></a><i>The Royal Humane Society</i></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image371-1.jpg" width="596" height="268"
+             alt="THE MEDAL OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY." /><br />
+THE MEDAL OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.
+    </div>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapf.jpg" alt="F" title="" /></div><p>ew Institutions appeal more strongly to popular sympathy than the Royal
+Humane Society. The rewards which it bestows upon its members, who are
+distinguished for a self-forgetting bravery which thrills the blood to
+read of, are merely the outward tokens of admiration which is felt by
+every heart. Those members include persons of all ranks of life: men,
+women, and children; nay, even animals are not excepted, and a dog wore
+the medal with conscious pride. We have selected the following examples
+out of thousands, not because they are more deserving of admiration than
+the rest, but because they are fair specimens of the acts of
+self-devotion which have won the medals of the Society in recent years.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Lieutenant J. de Hoghton.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image371-2.jpg" width="360" height="550"
+             alt="CAPTAIN JAMES DE HOGHTON." /><br />
+<i>From a Photograph.</i><br />CAPTAIN JAMES DE HOGHTON.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On Thursday, the 10th September, 1874, at 9.30 p.m., in the gateway
+between the outer and inner harbour at Lowestoft, Suffolk, James Dorling
+fell overboard from the yacht <i>Dart</i> whilst she was making for the inner
+harbour in a strong half-flood tideway, the night very dark, blowing and
+raining hard, and going about five and a half knots. Lieutenant (now
+Captain) J. de Hoghton, 10th Foot, jumped overboard, swam to Dorling,
+and supported him in the water for about a quarter of an hour in the
+tideway, between narrow high pilework, without crossbeams or side chains
+to lay hold of, and the head of the pilework 12ft. or 15ft. above the
+water&mdash;the yacht being carried away into the inner harbour, and no other
+vessel or boat in the gateway to lend assistance; the darkness prevented
+any immediate help being obtained from the shore. The length of the
+gateway was about 350 yards, width 15 to 20 yards, depth 10 ft. to 15
+ft. Lieutenant de Hoghton and Dorling were ultimately drawn up the
+pilework by ropes from the shore."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Sub-Lieut. R. A. F. Montgomerie, R.A.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image372-1.jpg" width="383" height="500"
+             alt="SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE R.A." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by W. and D. Downey.</i><br />SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE R.A.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On a dark night, 6th April, 1877, H.M.S. <i>Immortalit&eacute;</i> was under sail,
+going four-and-a-half knots before the wind, the sea rough for swimming,
+and abounding with sharks, when T. E. Hocken, O.S., fell overboard.
+Sub-Lieut. R. A. F. Montgomerie, R.A., jumped overboard from the bridge,
+a height of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> twenty-five feet, to his assistance, swam to him, got hold
+of the man, and hauled him on to his back, then swam with him to where
+he supposed the life-buoy would be; but, seeing no relief, he states
+that after keeping him afloat some time, he told the man to keep himself
+afloat whilst he took his clothes off. He had got his coat and shirt
+off, and was in the act of taking off his trousers when Hocken, in
+sinking, caught him by the legs and dragged him down a considerable
+depth. His trousers luckily came off clear, and he swam to the surface,
+bringing the drowning man with him. Hocken was now insensible. He was
+eventually picked up by a second boat that was lowered, after having
+been over twenty-one minutes in the water, the first boat having missed
+him. The life-buoy was not seen."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Lieutenant Lewis E. Wintz</span>, R.N. (Now Commander De Wintz.)</h3>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image372-2.jpg" width="380" height="550"
+             alt="LIEUT. LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Henry Wayland, Blackheath.</i><br />LIEUT. LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On the 19th December, 1877, H.M.S. <i>Raleigh</i> was running before a fresh
+breeze at the rate of seven knots an hour off the Island of Tenedos,
+when James Maker fell from aloft into the sea. Lieutenant Lewis E. Wintz
+immediately jumped overboard and supported the man for twenty minutes at
+considerable risk (not being able to reach the life-buoy). The man must
+undoubtedly have been drowned (being insensible and seriously injured)
+had it not been for the bravery of this officer."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Constable John Jenkins.</span> (E Division, Metropolitan Police
+Force.)</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image372-3.jpg" width="386" height="550"
+             alt="CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Deneulain, Strand.</i><br />CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"Constable John Jenkins was on duty on Waterloo Bridge at 2.45 a.m., on
+the 14th July, 1882, when he saw a man mount the parapet and throw
+himself into the river. Without hesitation, the constable unfastened his
+belt, and jumped from the bridge after him. Notwithstanding a determined
+resistance on the part of the would-be suicide, Constable Jenkins
+succeeded in seizing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> man and supporting him above water until both
+were picked up some distance down the river by a boat, which was
+promptly sent from the Thames Police Station. The danger incurred in
+this rescue may be fairly estimated when it appears that the height
+jumped was forty-three feet, the tide was running out under the arches
+at the rate of six miles an hour, and a thick mist covered the river, so
+much so as to render it impossible to see any object in the centre of
+the river from either side. The place where the men entered the water
+was a hundred and seventy yards from shore."</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Walter Cleverley</span>.</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image373-1.jpg" width="381" height="550"
+             alt="WALTER CLEVERLEY." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by W. J. Robinson, Landport.</i><br />WALTER CLEVERLEY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On the 13th September, 1883, the steamship <i>Rewa</i> was proceeding
+through the Gulf of Aden, when a Lascar fell overboard. Being unable to
+swim, he drifted astern rapidly. Mr. Walter Cleverley, a passenger,
+promptly jumped overboard, swam to the man&mdash;then fifty yards from the
+ship&mdash;and assisted him to a life-buoy, which was previously thrown. The
+vessel was going thirteen knots an hour. Captain Hay, commanding the
+ship, states: 'The danger incurred was incalculable, as the sea
+thereabouts is infested with sharks. The salvor was forty minutes in the
+water, supporting the man. Cleverley jumped off top of the poop, a
+height of thirty feet to the surface of the water.'"</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Lieut. the Hon. William Grimston, R.N.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image373-2.jpg" width="320" height="550"
+             alt="LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON R.N." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Bassano.</i><br />LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON R.N.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On the 29th August, 1884, off Beyrout, H.M.S. <i>Alexandra</i> was steaming
+at the rate of four knots an hour, when a man fell overboard. Lieut. the
+Hon. William Grimston dropped from his port into the sea, and succeeded
+in holding the man on the surface of the water until two seamen (who had
+jumped overboard) came to his assistance. The special danger in this
+rescue is brought to the Society's notice by Captain Rawson, R.N.,
+commanding the ship. The port through which the officer had to drop is
+very small, and situated just before the double screw, which was then
+revolving: in fact, the salvor passed through the circle made by it."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Alfred Collins</span>, aged 21, Fisherman.</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image374-1.jpg" width="390" height="550"
+             alt="ALFRED COLLINS. HOSKINGS." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Hawke, Plymouth.</i><br />ALFRED COLLINS. HOSKINGS.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"The fishing lugger <i>Water Nymph</i>, of Looe, was seven or eight miles
+east-south-east of the 'Eddystone,' on the night of the 16th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> December,
+1884, when a boy named Hoskings fell overheard, and was soon about
+eighty feet astern. The captain of the boat, Alfred Collins, immediately
+jumped in to the rescue, carrying the end of a rope with him; he was
+clothed in oilskins and sea-boots. After a great deal of difficulty
+Hoskings was reached and pulled on board. At the time this gallant act
+was performed there was a gale of wind blowing, with heavy rain, and the
+night was dark. The Silver Medal was voted to Alfred Collins on the 20th
+January, 1885."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Captain H. N. McRae</span>, 45th (Rattray's) Sikhs (assisted by
+Captain H. Holmes).</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image374-2.jpg" width="330" height="500"
+             alt="CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Winter, Muneer.</i><br />CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"At 5 a.m. on the 5th October, 1886, a trumpeter of the Royal Artillery
+was crossing the compound of Captain Holmes's bungalow at Rawal Pindi,
+when he fell into a well. On hearing the alarm, Captain Holmes, Captain
+McRae, and Lieutenant Taylor proceeded to the spot. On arriving they
+found that Mr. Grose had preceded them, and had let down a well-rope,
+which was of sufficient length to reach the soldier and capable of
+sustaining him for a time. Both Captain McRae and Captain Holmes
+volunteered to go down, but as the former was a light-weight it was
+decided that he should make the trial, Captain Holmes demurring, as he
+wished to undertake the risk himself. The rope being very weak, it could
+not possibly have borne Captain Holmes's great weight. Captain McRae was
+accordingly let down by means of a four-strand tent rope, and on
+reaching the water found the soldier practically insensible; he
+therefore decided to go up with him. Captain Holmes was at the head of
+the rope, and his strength enabled him to lift both completely. At every
+haul, the amount gained was held in check by the other persons above.
+After hauling up about 10 ft. or 15 ft., the rope broke, precipitating
+Captain McRae and his charge to the bottom of the well. A second attempt
+was then made, and both were brought to the surface. The depth of the
+well was 88 ft., of which 12 ft. was water. It was quite dark at the
+time. Very great personal risk was incurred by Captain McRae. The Silver
+Medal was unanimously voted to him."</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Mr. Jas. Power.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image375-1.jpg" width="367" height="550"
+             alt="MR. JAMES POWER." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Lawrence, Dublin.</i><br />MR. JAMES POWER.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"On the 16th August, 1890, about 12.30 p.m., two ladies had a narrow
+escape from drowning whilst bathing at Tramore, Co. Waterford. Mr. Jas.
+Power, who ran out from an adjacent hotel on hearing the alarm, saw a
+young man with a life-buoy struggling in the sea about 150 yards from
+shore; further out, and fully 250 yards from the beach, two ladies
+appeared to be in imminent danger, being rapidly carried out by the
+strong ebb tide. Mr. Power first swam to the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> man, but finding
+that he was unable to swim and could not dispense with the life-buoy, he
+turned on his back and towed the man with the life-buoy out to where the
+ladies were, and then with the aid of the buoy he brought the three
+safely to land. The Silver Medal was voted to Mr. Jas. Power."</p>
+
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">John Connell</span>, Boatman, Coastguard Service.</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image375-2.jpg" width="363" height="550"
+             alt="JOHN CONNELL." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Amey, Landport.</i><br />JOHN CONNELL.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"About 4 a.m. on the 19th October, 1890, the sailing vessel <i>Genesta</i>,
+of Grimsby, became stranded on the Yorkshire coast near Withernsea.
+Three of the crew were safely landed in the breeches buoy, after
+communication had been effected by means of the rocket apparatus, but
+one man, who had taken refuge in the crosstrees, was unable from
+exhaustion to avail himself of the means afforded. The ship's mate
+attempted to get him clear of the rigging, but the man seemed powerless
+to help himself, yet equal to holding on tenaciously at his post. In
+this position the man was left until John Connell gallantly went off to
+the vessel and rescued him at considerable personal risk. The ship was
+bumping, and might have gone to pieces at any moment. The weather was so
+bad that one man died in the rigging from exhaustion. The Silver Medal
+was awarded to John Connell."</p>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Police-Constable Wm. Pennett.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image375-3.jpg" width="383" height="550"
+             alt="CONSTABLE WILLIAM PENNETT." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Wright, Whitechapel.</i><br />CONSTABLE WILLIAM PENNETT.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"About one o'clock a.m., on the 25th November, 1890, Constable Pennett,
+being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> on duty at Tower Hill, saw a man throw himself into the Thames,
+apparently with the intention of committing suicide. He at once divested
+himself of lamp and belt, and without waiting to take off his uniform,
+jumped into the river, seized hold of the struggling man, and gallantly
+rescued him. The night was dark. The magistrate who investigated the
+case strongly commended the constable's courage and presence of mind.
+The Silver Medal was awarded to Constable Wm. Pennett."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Suleiman Girby.</span><br />
+(Chief Boatman to Messrs. Thos. Cook and Son, at Jaffa.)</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image376-1.jpg" width="216" height="550"
+             alt="SULEIMAN GIRBY." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Sabungi, Jaffa.</i><br />SULEIMAN GIRBY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"The Russian steamer <i>Ichihatchoff</i> was wrecked on the rocks of Jaffa on
+the 18th February, 1891. More than twenty passengers had been swept away
+before anything was done to save life. At 6.30 a.m., on the 19th
+February, Girby and his brothers launched a boat, and proceeded to the
+vessel, from whence they brought off a number of the passengers and
+landed them. In making a second attempt their boat was smashed against
+the inner reef, and it was found impossible to launch another.</p>
+
+<p>"Girby then swam backwards and forwards to the vessel fifteen times,
+bringing someone with him to shore each time. The Silver Medal was voted
+to Suleiman Girby."</p>
+
+
+<p>"At 8 p.m. on the 26th April, 1891, the French frigate <i>Seignelay</i>
+parted anchors, and was carried on to the rocks at Jaffa. It was blowing
+a heavy gale at the time, and none of the natives, excepting Girby,
+would offer the slightest assistance. Girby volunteered to swim to the
+ship and deliver a letter to the captain from the Governor. The ship was
+half a mile from shore, but he accomplished the work after a two hours'
+swim in a heavy sea. After doing this he dived under the ship and
+examined the hull, reporting her sound. He then swam ashore, taking a
+message from the captain. Towards morning, when the sea got higher, the
+captain signalled, and Suleiman again swam out, and brought back the
+captain's wife fastened on his back. The Silver Clasp was voted to
+Suleiman Girby."</p>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Edith Brill.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image376-2.jpg" width="379" height="550"
+             alt="EDITH BRILL." /><br />
+<i>From a Photo. by Cobb &amp; Keir, Plumstead Road.</i><br />EDITH BRILL.
+    </div>
+
+<p>"Edith Brill, age ten, saved Frank Hill, two and a half years old, at
+6.45 p.m., 6th June, 1882, at the Graving Dock, Royal Dockyard,
+Woolwich. The child Hill was pulled into the water by a boy who had
+stumbled in some very foul and deep water. Little Edith Brill pluckily
+ran down the deep steps of the dock and went up to her neck in the
+water, and held the child up until John Hill helped her out. The boy
+Whorley who had fallen in was drowned."</p>
+
+<h5>(<i>To be continued.</i>)</h5><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_Strange_Reunion" id="A_Strange_Reunion"></a><i>A Strange Reunion</i>.</h2>
+
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">By T. G. Atkinson</span>.</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapi.jpg" alt="I" title="" /></div><p>n a poor little house in a wretched little town on a miserable day in
+November, two men sat by a small wood fire, warming their hands at the
+tiny blaze and silently watching the flicker of the flames. They were
+both young men; the elder was not more than twenty-six or seven and the
+younger was perhaps a year behind.</p>
+
+
+<p>One of them was plain Charlie Osborne; the other rejoiced in the more
+aristocratic sobriquet of Eustace Margraf. But it mattered little by
+what different names they were called, since Fortune had forgotten to
+call on both alike. In short, they were "broke"&mdash;almost "stony broke."
+There had been a lock-out at the works at which they were both employed,
+and although they had neither of them joined the combination, they were
+none the less out of a job, and the fact of their former employment at
+the works that had locked them out told heavily against their chance of
+procuring other work in the town.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image377.jpg" width="500" height="458"
+             alt="TWO MEN SAT BY A SMALL WOOD FIRE." /><br />
+TWO MEN SAT BY A SMALL WOOD FIRE.
+    </div>
+
+<p>Neither was there much likelihood of their going back to the works, for
+the owners were rich men who could afford a long struggle, and the men
+were obstinate; and even if the strikers ever got back, Osborne and
+Margraf were in the awkward positions of being blacklegs. Thus it was
+that Fortune had forgotten these two young men who sat by their little
+fire, doggedly silent, too low-hearted even to curse Fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall go to London, Charlie," said the elder, suddenly, without
+looking up.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do there?" growled the other. Osborne and Margraf had
+been more inseparable than brothers since the death of each of their
+parents ten years ago. Therefore it was that, when the latter announced
+his intention of going to London, the former instantly assumed his own
+share in the venture, and asked:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What shall <i>we</i> do in London?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't know till I get there," answered Margraf, who, be it observed,
+did not encourage the first person plural. First person singular was a
+good deal more in his line. Yet he loved his chum, too, in his own way;
+but it was not the best way.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of going, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of staying in this d&mdash;&mdash; show? What's the use of tramping
+round day and night after a job that never comes? What's the use of
+anything? I'm tired of mill work; it isn't what I was made for. I'm
+going to try my luck at something better. You needn't come."</p>
+
+<p>But because Charlie Osborne was accustomed to be led by his comrade, he
+too gave out his intention to try his fortunes in London. This was not
+quite what Margraf wanted. He evidently had a scheme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> in contemplation
+in which he would prefer to be alone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what, Charlie, old fellow," he said after awhile. "I've
+got a plan I want you to help carry out. I want you and me to separate
+for three years&mdash;only three years&mdash;and try our luck alone. At the end of
+the three years we will meet again and see how each has got on, and
+divide takings."</p>
+
+<p>"Not see each other at all?" asked Charlie, ruefully. His love for his
+chum was of the better kind; the second person singular species.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at all," answered the other, firmly, as though he were laying
+down a painful but apparent duty. "Not have any communication with each
+other except in case of extreme necessity. In that case we can put an
+advertisement in the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>. We will make a point of always
+seeing that paper."</p>
+
+<p>After a longer demur than he was accustomed to raise to any scheme of
+Margraf's, however wild and chimerical, Charlie at last let his usual
+submission, and a vague suspicion that his companionship might be
+dragging Margraf back from attaining a position more worthy of that
+gentleman's talents, get the better of him. He made a hard fight for the
+privilege of exchanging letters during the three years, but Eustace
+remained obdurate. There was to be no communication except under the
+circumstances and in the manner named. Each was to take care to see the
+<i>Daily Telegraph</i> every morning in case of such communications; and at
+the exact expiration of the three years, that is, on the 15th November,
+188-, they were to meet at twelve o'clock noon at Charing Cross station.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image378.jpg" width="373" height="500"
+             alt="GOOD-BYE, OLD FELLOW." /><br />
+"GOOD-BYE, OLD FELLOW."
+    </div>
+
+<p>So these two men divided up their little stock of belongings and smaller
+capital of money, took a third-class ticket each to London, went
+together to Charing Cross to verify the scene of their future reunion,
+and shook hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We meet here in three years from to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"We do, all being well. Good-bye, Charlie."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, old fellow."</p>
+
+<p>Thus they parted, each on his separate quest for fortune.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the 14th November, 188-, Eustace Margraf, Esq.,
+Director and Chairman of the Anglican Debenture Corporation, Ltd., eke
+of the General Stock and Shareholders' Protective Union, Ltd., and
+various other like speculative companies, sat in the luxurious
+dining-room of his well-appointed residence in Lewisham Park. He had
+finished his sumptuous but solitary meal, and, reclining in a spacious
+armchair, sipped his rare old wine. It was three years all but a day
+since he had parted from Charlie Osborne on Charing Cross Station, and
+set out with eighteenpence in his pocket to seek his fortune. In that
+brief time he had rapidly risen to wealth and distinction. Three years
+ago he was a penniless mechanic, forsaken by Fortune and discontented
+with his life; to-day he was a rich man, smiled on and courted by
+Fortune and envied by all her minions, and still he was discontented
+with his life.</p>
+
+<p>It was strange that he should cherish this discontent, for Eustace
+Margraf, mindful of the fact that he was made for something better than
+mill work, had matriculated and graduated at the World's University in
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> Department of Forgery and Theft. He had taken the highest diplomas
+in fraud; he had passed with honours the test of an accomplished
+swindler; and in the intricacies of embezzlement he was Senior Wrangler.
+Yet he was not content; some men are never satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>This evening, as he sat sampling his '18 Oporto, with the daily paper at
+his elbow, he actually felt some amount of regret that he had entered
+the course for such distinctions&mdash;which, by the way, his modesty forbade
+him publishing to the world at large. Only a select few knew the extent
+of his accomplishments.</p>
+
+<p>In the paper at his side there was a little paragraph which had given
+his memory a rather unpleasant jog. It was in the personal column, and
+ran as follows: "E. M.&mdash;Don't forget to-morrow, noon, C. C.
+Station.&mdash;Charlie." He wanted to see Charlie, for he still loved him
+after his old fashion; but the memories which the advertisement called
+up, and a doubt as to whether Charlie would appreciate his
+accomplishments, made him fidgety; and the recollection of all that must
+pass between now and noon to-morrow filled him with uneasiness. For
+to-night he was to stake everything in one tremendous venture. If he
+succeeded he would need to do nothing more all his life; if he
+failed&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>To-night, at eight o'clock, the Continental mail train would start from
+Charing Cross Station with seventy-five thousand pounds worth of bullion
+for the Bank of France. If Eustace Margraf succeeded in his enterprise,
+it would reach Paris with the same weight of valueless shot in the
+strong iron boxes.</p>
+
+<p>Everything had been nicely and minutely arranged. The shot had been
+carefully weighed to a quarter of a grain, and portioned into three
+equal lots to match the cases of bullion, which would be weighed on
+leaving London, again at Dover, once more at Calais, and finally on
+arrival at Paris. A key to fit the cases had been secretly made from a
+wax impression of the original, how obtained none but Margraf knew. This
+key he would hand to his confederates this evening at Charing Cross
+Station, after which he would go down by the seven o'clock train
+preceding the mail.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image379.jpg" width="346" height="450"
+             alt="A LIFE LIKE THIS WOULD KILL ME!" /><br />
+"A LIFE LIKE THIS WOULD KILL ME!"
+    </div>
+<p>The stoker of the mail, an old railway hand, had been bribed, together
+with the guard in whose compartment the bullion would travel. It had
+been thought desirable to deal differently with the front guard and the
+driver; a specially prepared and powerful drug was to be given them in a
+pint of beer just before starting, which would take effect about an hour
+after administration and last till the sleepers should be aroused by
+brandy. During their slumber the stoker would pull up at convenient
+places on the line to allow the robbers to enter the guard's carriage
+and leave it with their booty, when they would make off to where Margraf
+had arranged to meet them; he would manage the rest. The front guard and
+the driver, meanwhile, would for their own sakes be glad enough to say
+nothing about their long slumber.</p>
+
+<p>All these arrangements had been made with great nicety, and told over
+twice; and yet Margraf was uneasy and nervous as he thought of all the
+risk he ran. Twice he stretched out his hand for the bell-rope for
+telegram forms to stay the whole business; once he went so far as to
+ring the bell, but he altered his mind by the time the servant answered
+it, and ordered hot brandy instead. It was now six o'clock; in another
+hour he must hand over the duplicate key to his accomplices and board
+the train for Dover.</p>
+
+<p>Every moment he grew more nervous, his hand became so shaky that brandy
+failed to steady it; his face grew pale and haggard; his nerves were
+strung to a painful tension; and all sorts of possibilities of failure
+in his scheme haunted him till he could have cried out from sheer
+nervousness.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"God!" he exclaimed, as he drained a glass of brandy and water and rose
+to go. "A life like this would kill me. Well, this shall be the last
+risk. If it turns out all right&mdash;as it must&mdash;I shall give this kind of
+business up. I shall have plenty then, and old Charlie will go off and
+live quietly and comfortably."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The rear guard of the seven o'clock Continental finished his last cup of
+tea, put on his thick winter coat, kissed his wife and baby girl, and
+took up his lantern preparatory to joining his train. He reached the
+station as the great engine was being coupled and gave the driver a
+cheery salute, which that official acknowledged with a surly growl.</p>
+
+<p>"Something put Jimmy out to-night," he laughed to the fireman, a young,
+inexperienced fellow, making his trial trip, and passed on to make his
+inspection of things in general before starting.</p>
+
+<p>At the last moment a richly-dressed gentleman, wearing a long fur coat,
+and carrying a large travelling rug, entered a first-class smoking
+compartment. This gentleman, whom numerous people on the platform
+recognised as he passed and saluted respectfully, was Eustace Margraf,
+Esq. The carriage he got into was an empty one, and, lying full length
+on the seat, covered with his rug, he lit a cigar and composed himself
+to make the best of a long and tiresome railway journey. The guard blew
+his whistle, the great engine reproduced it in a loud, deep tone, and
+the train steamed slowly out of the station, twenty minutes late in
+starting.</p>
+
+<p>Left to his own reflections, which were none of the liveliest, and
+lulled by the motion of the train, our traveller soon fell into a fitful
+sleep, wherein he was haunted by dreams that wrought upon his brain
+until he was almost as nervous as he had been in his own room some hours
+before.</p>
+
+<p>He awoke suddenly, with a vague sense that the train was travelling at a
+most unusual and unaccountable speed: and, as he leapt to his feet in a
+half-dazed fright, they shot through Tunbridge&mdash;a place at which they
+were timed to make a ten minutes' stop&mdash;and he was conscious of seeing,
+as in a flash, a crowd of frightened and awe-struck faces looking at the
+train from the platform. He sank back on the cushioned seat, seized with
+a nameless terror. Time and space seemed to his overwrought nerves to be
+filled with tokens of some approaching calamity which he was powerless
+to prevent; the terrific speed and violent swaying of the train, the
+shrill howl of the ceaseless whistle, the terrible darkness and silence
+of everything outside his immediate surroundings, and the recollection
+of that crowd of terrified faces, all seemed to thrill him with a sense
+of impending horror, and the wretched man sat terror-stricken on his
+seat, a mere mass of highly-strung and delicate nerves.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image380.jpg" width="500" height="466"
+             alt="SUDDENLY A FACE PASSED THE WINDOW." /><br />
+"SUDDENLY A FACE PASSED THE WINDOW."
+    </div>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as he looked into the black night, a face passed the window,
+as of someone walking along the footboard to the engine; a stern-set
+face, as of one going to certain danger and needing all the pluck he
+possessed to carry him through: and at the apparition the traveller
+fairly shrieked aloud; but the face passed on and was gone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In another moment there was a sudden shout&mdash;a terrific crash&mdash;a wild
+chaos of sight and sound&mdash;and our traveller knew no more.</p>
+
+<p>When next he found his senses, he was lying among cushions and rugs in
+the waiting-room at Tunbridge Wells Station. He awoke with a faint
+shiver, and tried to raise himself, but found to his astonishment that
+he could not so much as lift a finger. As a matter of fact, he was among
+those whom the busy surgeons had given up as a desperate case; and,
+after doing all in their power to ease him, abandoned in favour of more
+hopeful subjects; but this he did not know.</p>
+
+<p>Several of the passengers whose injuries were only very slight were
+discussing the accident in an animated manner, and, as usual in such
+cases, many wild and fanciful conjectures were passed about as truth. At
+last one said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Does anyone know the rights of the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," volunteered a young man with an arm in a sling; and Margraf
+lay silently listening, unable to move or speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just after we passed Grove Park, the fireman was on the front of the
+engine oiling, when he felt the locomotive increasing in speed till it
+became so appalling that he grew terrified and could not get back. He is
+a young fellow, and this is his trial trip. At length he managed to
+crawl back to the cab, where he found the driver lying, as he supposed,
+dead. This so increased his terror that he was only able to open the
+whistle and pull the cord communicating with the rear guard, and then
+fell in a swoon across the tender.</p>
+
+<p>"The rear guard, a plucky young fellow of about six-and-twenty, twigging
+the situation, came, as we all know, along the footboard to the
+engine"&mdash;Margraf listened with all his remaining strength&mdash;"in order to
+stop the train before it ran into the Ramsgate express, but apparently
+was too late."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was up with the driver, and where was the front guard in the
+meanwhile?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it appears from what the front guard says&mdash;marvellous how he
+escaped with hardly a scratch&mdash;both these men had been drugged, and as
+they were both of them to have run the mail train to the Continent
+to-night, things look very fishy."</p>
+
+<p>Margraf nearly fainted in his efforts to listen more intensely.</p>
+
+<p>"They were changed on to this train at the last moment, and hence this
+accident. The rear guard, poor fellow, was shockingly mangled. Stone
+dead, of course; and leaves, I understand, a wife and child. There will
+no doubt be a collection made for him. He was a plucky fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"Does anyone know his name?" asked one.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; his name was Charlie Osborne."</p>
+
+<p>There was a heartrending groan from the cushions and rugs.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," cried a young medical student among the party to a passing
+surgeon, "you'd better come and have a look at this poor chap. He isn't
+as dead as you thought he was."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image381.jpg" width="500" height="403"
+             alt="THE SURGEON CAME AND LOOKED AT MARGRAF." /><br />
+THE SURGEON CAME AND LOOKED AT MARGRAF.
+    </div>
+
+<p>The surgeon came and looked at Margraf.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he?" he said, in his cool, professional way. "He is a good deal
+farther gone than I thought. He couldn't be gone much farther."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="From_Behind_the_Speakers_Chair" id="From_Behind_the_Speakers_Chair"></a><i>From Behind the Speaker's Chair.</i></h2>
+
+<h3>IV.</h3>
+
+<h4>(VIEWED BY HENRY W. LUCY.)</h4>
+
+<p class="sidenote">ABOUT INDENTED <br />HEADINGS.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose if anyone has a right to indulge in the convenience of
+indented headings when writing a discursive article, I may claim a share
+in the privilege. When I retired from the editorship of a morning
+newspaper, a not obtrusively friendly commentator wrote that my chief
+claim to be remembered in that connection was that I had invented
+sign-posts for leading articles. But he was careful to add, lest I
+should be puffed up, this was not sufficient to establish editorial
+reputation.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image382-1.jpg" width="350" height="225"
+             alt="INDENTED HEADINGS." /><br />
+        INDENTED HEADINGS.
+    </div>
+<p>It is true; but it is interesting to observe how the way thus adventured
+upon has grown crowded. The abstentions indicate a curious and
+interesting habitude ingrained in the English Press. Whilst most of the
+weekly papers, not only in the provinces but in London, have adopted the
+new fashion, no daily paper in London, and in the country only one here
+and there, has followed it. That is a nice distinction, illustrating a
+peculiarity of our honoured profession. As it was a daily paper that
+made the innovation, weekly papers may, without loss of dignity, adopt
+the custom as their own. But it is well known that, in London at least,
+there is only one daily paper, and that is the "We" speaking from a
+particular address, located somewhere between Temple Bar and St. Paul's.</p>
+
+
+<p>Argal, it is impossible that this peculiarly situated entity should
+borrow from other papers. Yet I once heard the manager of what we are
+pleased to call the leading journal confess he envied the <i>Daily News'</i>
+side-headings to its leaders, and regretted the impossibility of
+adapting them for his own journal. That was an opinion delivered in
+mufti. In full uniform, no manager&mdash;certainly no editor&mdash;of another
+morning paper is aware of the existence of the <i>Daily News</i>; the <i>Daily
+News</i>, on its part, being courageously steeped in equally dense
+ignorance of the existence of other journals.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image382-2.jpg" width="380" height="378"
+             alt="CONTEMP(T)ORARIES." /><br />
+        "CONTEMP(T)ORARIES."
+    </div>
+<p>Few things are so funny as the start of surprise with which a London
+journal upon rare occasion finds itself face to face with a something
+that also appears every morning at a price varying from a penny to
+threepence. Nothing will induce it to give the phenomenon a name, and it
+distantly alludes to it as "a contemporary." This is quite peculiar to
+Great Britain, and is in its way akin to the etiquette of the House of
+Commons, which makes it a breach of order to refer to a member by his
+proper name. It does not exist in France or the United States, and there
+are not lacking signs that the absurd lengths to which it has hitherto
+been carried out in the English Press are being shortened.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">SIR WALTER BARTTELOT.</div>
+
+<p>But that is an aside, meant only to introduce an old friend in a new
+place. I was going to explain how it came about that, in the
+mid-February issue of <span class="smcap">The Strand Magazine</span>, the name of Sir
+Walter Barttelot should appear in the list of members of the present
+House of Commons who had seats in the House in 1873, and that another
+number of the Magazine has been issued without the correction, widely
+made elsewhere, being noted. It is due simply to the fact of the
+phenomenal circulation of a magazine which, in order to be out to date,
+requires its contributors to send in their copy some two months in
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>It is not too late to say a word about the late member for Sussex, a
+type rapidly disappearing from the Parliamentary stage. He entered the
+House thirty-three years ago, when Lord Palmerston was Premier, Mr.
+Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Cornewall Lewis
+was at the Home Office, and Lord John Russell looked after Foreign
+Affairs.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image383-1.jpg" width="224" height="300"
+             alt="REALITY." /><br />
+        "REALITY."
+    </div>
+<p>The House of Commons was a different place in those days, the heritage
+of the classes, a closed door against any son of the masses. Sir Walter
+was born a country gentleman, his natural prejudices not being smoothed
+down by a term of service in the Dragoon Guards. He was not a brilliant
+man, nor, beyond the level attainments of a county magistrate, an able
+one. But he was thoroughly honest; suspected himself of ingrained
+prejudice, and always fought against it. He suffered and learnt much
+during his long Parliamentary life.</p>
+
+
+<p>One of the earliest shocks dealt him was the appearance in the House of
+Mr. Chamberlain, newly elected for Birmingham. It is difficult at this
+time of day to realize the attitude in which the gentlemen of England
+sixteen years ago stood towards the statesman who is now proudly
+numbered in their ranks. When he presented himself to be sworn in, it
+was one of the jokes of the day that Sir Walter Barttelot expected he
+would approach the Table making "a cart-wheel" down the floor, as ragged
+little boys disport themselves along the pavement when a drag or omnibus
+passes. Sir Walter was genuinely surprised to find in the fearsome
+Birmingham Radical a quietly-dressed, well-mannered, almost
+boyish-looking man, who spoke in a clear, admirably pitched voice, and
+opposed the Prisons Bill, then under discussion, on the very lines from
+which Sir Walter had himself attacked it when it was brought in during
+the previous Session.</p>
+
+
+<p>It was characteristic of this fine old English gentleman that, having
+done a man an injustice by unconsciously forming a wrong opinion about
+him, he hastened forthwith to make amends.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image383-2.jpg" width="152" height="350"
+             alt="ANTICIPATION." /><br />
+        "ANTICIPATION."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"If," he said, when Mr. Chamberlain had resumed his seat, "the hon.
+member for Birmingham will always address the House with the same
+quietness, and with the same intelligence displayed on this occasion, I
+can assure him the House of Commons will always be ready to listen to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>This is delicious, looking back over the years, watching Mr.
+Chamberlain's soaring flight, and thinking of the good county member
+thus loftily patronizing him. But it was a bold thing to be said at that
+time of Mr. Chamberlain by Sir Walter Barttelot, and some friends who
+sat near him thought his charity had led him a little too far.</p>
+
+<p>The Sussex squire was of a fine nature&mdash;simple, ever ready to be moved
+by generous impulses. There were two men coming across the moonlight
+orbit of his Parliamentary life whose conduct he detested, and whose
+influence he feared. One was Mr. Parnell, the other Mr. Bradlaugh. Yet
+when the Commission acquitted Mr. Parnell of the charges brought against
+him by the forged letters, Sir Walter Barttelot sought him out in the
+Lobby,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> publicly shook hands with him, and congratulated him upon the
+result of the inquiry. When Mr. Bradlaugh lay on his death-bed, on the
+very night the House of Commons was debating the resolution to expunge
+from the Order Book the dictum that stood there through eleven years,
+declaring him ineligible either to take the oath or to make affirmation,
+Sir Walter Barttelot appealed to the House unanimously to pass the
+motion, concluding his remarks with emphatic expression of the hope that
+"God would spare Mr. Bradlaugh's life."</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image384.jpg" width="233" height="250"
+             alt="SHADOWS." /><br />
+        "SHADOWS."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Sir Walter never recovered from the blow dealt by the death of his son
+in Africa, aggravated as the sorrow was by the controversy which
+followed. Of late years he spoke very little; but in the Parliaments of
+1874-80 and 1880-85 he was a frequent participator in debate. He was no
+orator, nor did he contribute original ideas to current discussion.
+Moreover, what he had to say was so tortured by the style of delivery
+that it lost something of whatever force naturally belonged to it.</p>
+
+<p>I have a verbatim note taken fifteen years ago of a speech delivered in
+the House of Commons by Sir Walter, which faintly echoes an oratorical
+style whose master is no longer with us. It lacks the inconsequential
+emphasis, the terrific vigour of the gesture, and the impression
+conveyed by the speaker's intense earnestness, that really, by-and-by,
+he would say something, which compelled the attention of new members and
+strangers in the gallery. But if the reader imagines portentous pauses
+represented by the hyphens, and the deepening to tragic tones of the
+words marked in italics, he may in some measure realize the effect.</p>
+
+<p>The speech from which this passage was taken was delivered in debate
+upon a resolution moved by Mr. Forster on the Cattle Plague Orders.
+Whenever in the passage Mr. Forster is personally alluded to it is
+necessary, in order to full realization of the scene, to picture Sir
+Walter shaking a minatory forefinger, sideways, at the right hon.
+gentleman, not looking at him, but pointing him out to the scorn of
+mankind and the reprobation of country gentlemen: "Yet <i>he knows</i> [here
+the finger wags]&mdash;and&mdash;<i>knows full well</i>&mdash;in the&mdash;position he
+occupies&mdash;making a proposal of this kind&mdash;must be one&mdash;which&mdash;must
+be&mdash;fatal&mdash;to&mdash;the Bill. <i>No one knows better</i> than the right hon.
+gentleman&mdash;that when&mdash;he&mdash;raises a great question <i>of this kind</i>&mdash;upon a
+Bill <i>of this sort</i>&mdash;<i>namely</i> upon the second reading&mdash;of&mdash;this
+Bill&mdash;that that proposal&mdash;that he makes&mdash;is absolutely against the
+principle&mdash;of&mdash;the Bill. Now, I&mdash;de&mdash;ny that the principle&mdash;of&mdash;this
+Bill&mdash;is confined&mdash;and <i>is to be found</i>&mdash;in the 5th Schedule&mdash;of&mdash;the
+Bill."</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later an illustration occurred to the inspired orator, and
+was thus brought under the notice of the entranced House:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Denmark&mdash;it is a <i>remark</i>&mdash;able country, is <i>Den</i>&mdash;mark&mdash;for&mdash;we
+have little&mdash;or no&mdash;dis&mdash;ease from <i>Den</i>&mdash;mark. The importation&mdash;from
+<i>Den</i>&mdash;mark&mdash;is something like fifty-six&mdash;thousand&mdash;cattle&mdash;<i>and the</i>
+curious part of it is this, that <i>nine</i>teen&mdash;thousand&mdash;of
+these&mdash;were&mdash;cows&mdash;and <i>these cows</i> came&mdash;to&mdash;this country&mdash;and&mdash;had
+been allowed to go&mdash;<i>all over</i>&mdash;this country&mdash;and&mdash;I have never yet
+heard&mdash;that these cows that&mdash;have so&mdash;gone over <i>this country</i>&mdash;have
+spread any disease&mdash;in this country&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>This was a mannerism which amused the House at the time, but did nothing
+to obscure the genuine qualities of Sir Walter, or lessen the esteem in
+which he was held. It cannot be said that the House of Commons was
+habitually moved by his argument in debate. But he was held in its
+warmest esteem, and his memory will long be cherished as linked with the
+highest type of English country gentleman.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">THE PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.</div>
+
+<p>At this time of writing there is talk in the House about payment of
+members. A private member has placed on the paper a resolution affirming
+the desirability of adopting the principle, and it is even said&mdash;(which
+I take leave to doubt)&mdash;that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has a card
+up his sleeve intended to win this game. It would be rash to predict
+stubborn resistance on the part of a body that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> has so often proved
+itself open to conviction as has the House of Commons. But I should say
+that to secure this end it would need a tussle quite as prolonged and as
+violent as has raged round Home Rule. Lowering and widening the suffrage
+has done much to alter the personal standard of the House of Commons.
+Nothing achieved through these sixty years would in its modifying effect
+equal the potency of the change wrought by paying members.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image385-1.jpg" width="265" height="400"
+             alt="A PERSONAL STANDARD." /><br />
+        "A PERSONAL STANDARD."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>One illustration is found in the assertion, made with confidence, that
+under such a system the House would know no more men of the type of Sir
+Walter Barttelot. He was not the highest form of capacity, knowledge, or
+intelligence. But he was of the kind that gives to the House of Commons
+the lofty tone it speedily regains even after a paroxysm of
+post-prandial passion. The House of Commons is unique in many ways. I
+believe the main foundation of the position it holds among the
+Parliaments of the world is this condition of volunteered unremunerated
+service.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of sneers from disappointed or flippant persons, a seat in the
+House of Commons still remains one of the highest prizes of citizen
+life. When membership becomes a business, bringing in say &pound;6 a week, the
+charm will be gone. As things stand, there is no reason why any
+constituency desiring to do so may not return a member on the terms of
+paying him a salary. It is done in several cases, in two at least with
+the happiest results. It would be a different thing to throw the whole
+place open with standing advertisement for eligible members at a salary
+of, &pound;300 a year, paid quarterly. The horde of impecunious babblers and
+busybodies attracted by such a bait would trample down the class of men
+who compose the present House of Commons, and who are, in various ways,
+at touch with all the multiform interests of the nation.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">HATS AND SEATS.</div>
+
+<p>The great hat question which agitated the House of Commons at the
+commencement of the new Session, even placing Home Rule in a secondary
+position, has subsided, and will probably not again be heard of during
+the existence of the present Parliament. Whilst yet to the fore it was
+discussed with vigour and freshness; but it is no new thing. With the
+opening Session of every Parliament the activity and curiosity of new
+members lead to inconvenient crowding of a chamber that was not
+constructed to seat 670 members. In the early days of the 1880
+Parliament the hat threatened to bring about a crisis. One evening Mr.
+Mitchell Henry startled the House by addressing the Speaker from a side
+gallery. This of itself was regarded as a breach of order, and many
+members expected the Speaker would peremptorily interfere. But Mr.
+Mitchell Henry, an old Parliamentary hand, knew he was within his right
+in speaking from this unwonted position. The side galleries as far down
+as the Bar are as much within the House as is the Treasury Bench, and
+though orators frequenting them would naturally find a difficulty in
+catching the Speaker's eye, there is no other reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> why they should
+not permanently occupy seats there.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image385-2.jpg" width="300" height="274"
+             alt="A SURPRISE." /><br />
+        "A SURPRISE."
+    </div>
+<p>Mr. Mitchell Henry explained that he spoke from this place because he
+could not find any other. He had come down in ordinarily good time to
+take his seat, and found all the benches on the floor appropriated by
+having hats planted out along them. In each hat was fixed a card,
+indicating the name of the owner. What had first puzzled Mr. Henry, and
+upon reflection led him to the detection of systematic fraud, was
+meeting in remote parts of the House, even in the street, members who
+went about wearing a hat, although what purported to be their headgear
+was being used to stake out a claim in the Legislative Chamber. Mr.
+Henry made the suggestion that only what he called "the working hat"
+should be recognised as an agent in securing a seat.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image386-1.jpg" width="276" height="350"
+             alt="THE NON-WORKING HAT--UNIONIST." /><br />
+        THE NON-WORKING HAT&mdash;UNIONIST.
+    </div>
+
+<p>The strict morality of this arrangement was acquiesced in, and its
+adoption generally approved. But nothing practical came of it.
+By-and-by, in the ordinary evolution of things, the pressure of
+competition for seats died off, and the supernumerary hat disappeared
+from the scene. This Session the ancient trouble returned with increased
+force, owing to the peculiar circumstances in which political parties
+are subdivided. The Irish members insisting upon retaining their old
+seats below the gangway to the left of the Speaker, there was no room
+for the Dissentient Liberals to range themselves in their proper
+quarters on the Opposition side. They, accordingly, moved over with the
+Liberals, and appropriated two benches below the gangway, thus driving a
+wedge of hostile force into the very centre of the Ministerial ranks. It
+was the Radical quarter that was thus invaded, and its occupants were
+not disposed tamely to submit to the incursion. The position was to be
+held only by strategy. Hence the historic appearance on the scene on the
+first day of the Session of Mr. Austen Chamberlain with relays of hats,
+which he set out along the coveted benches, and so secured them for the
+sitting. On the other side of the House a similar contest was going
+forward between the Irish Nationalist members, represented by Dr.
+Tanner, and their Ulster brethren, who acknowledge a leader in Colonel
+Saunderson.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image386-2.jpg" width="300" height="291"
+             alt="THE NON-WORKING HAT--IRISH." /><br />
+        THE NON-WORKING HAT&mdash;IRISH.
+    </div>
+
+<p>These tactics are made possible by the peculiar, indeed unique,
+arrangement by which seats are secured in the House of Commons. In all
+other Legislative Assemblies in the world each member has assigned to
+him a seat and desk, reserved for him as long as he is a member. That
+would be an impossible arrangement in the House of Commons, for the
+sufficient reason that while there are 670 duly returned members, there
+is not sitting room for much more than half the number. When a member of
+the House of Commons desires to secure a particular seat for a given
+night he must be in his place at prayer time, which on four days a week
+is at three o'clock in the afternoon. On the fifth day, Wednesday,
+prayers are due at noon. At prayer time, and only then, there are
+obtainable tickets upon which a member may write his name, and, sticking
+the pasteboard in the brass frame at the back of the seat, is happy for
+the night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Where, what Mr. Mitchell Henry called, the non-working hat comes in is
+in the practice of members gathering before prayer time and placing
+their hats on the seat they desire to retain. That is a preliminary that
+receives no official recognition. "No prayer, no seat," is the axiom,
+and unless a member be actually present in the body when the Chaplain
+reads prayers, he is not held to have established a claim. Thus his
+spiritual comfort is subtly and indispensably linked with his material
+comfort.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A NEW THING IN SYNDICATES.</div>
+
+<p>There is nothing new under the glass roof of the House of Commons, not
+even the balloting syndicates, of which so much has been heard since the
+Session opened. Fifteen or sixteen years ago the Irish members
+astonished everybody by the extraordinary luck that attended them at the
+ballot. The ballot in this sense has nothing to do with the electoral
+poll, being the process by which precedence for private members is
+secured. When a private member has in charge a Bill or resolution, much
+depends on the opportunity he secures for bringing it forward.
+Theoretically, Tuesday, Wednesday, and (in vanishing degree) a portion
+of Friday are appropriated to his use. On Tuesday he may bring on
+motions; on Wednesday advance Bills; and on Friday raise miscellaneous
+questions on certain stages of Supply. On days when notices of motion
+may be given there is set forth on the Table a book with numbered lines,
+on which members write their names. Say there are fifty names written
+down&mdash;or four hundred, as was the melancholy case on the opening night
+of the Session&mdash;the Clerk at the Table places in a box a corresponding
+number of slips of paper. When all is ready for the ballot, the Speaker
+having before him the list of names as written down, the Clerk at the
+Table plunges his hand into the lucky-box and taking out, at random, one
+of the pieces of paper, calls aloud the number marked upon it.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image387.jpg" width="274" height="300"
+             alt="BALLOT." /><br />
+        BALLOT.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>Say it is 365. The Speaker, referring to the list he holds in his hand,
+finds that Mr. Smith has written his name on line 365. He thereupon
+calls upon Mr. Smith, who has the first chance, and selects what in his
+opinion is the most favourable day, <i>ceteris paribus</i>, the earliest at
+liberty. So the process goes through till the last paper in the
+ballot-box has been taken out and the list is closed.</p>
+
+<p>It is at best a wearisome business, a criminal waste of time, useless
+for practical purposes. It was well enough when Parliament was not
+overburdened with work, and when the members balloting for places rarely
+exceeded a score. But when, as happened on the opening day of the
+Session, two of the freshest hours of the sitting are occupied by the
+performance, it is felt that a change is desirable. This could easily be
+effected, there being no reason in the world why the process of
+balloting for places on the Order Book should not be carried out as was
+the balloting for places in the Strangers' Galleries on the night Mr.
+Gladstone introduced his Home Rule Bill. On that occasion the Speaker's
+Secretary, with the assistance of a clerk, and in the presence of as
+many members as cared to look on, arranged the ballot without a hitch or
+a murmur of complaint from anyone concerned. The sooner the public
+balloting is relegated to the same agency the better it will be for the
+dispatch of public business. With it should disappear the consequent
+wanton waste of time involved in members bodily bringing in their Bills,
+a performance that appropriated nearly half the sitting on the second
+day of the Session.</p>
+
+<p>The spread of the syndicate contrivance would happily hasten the
+inevitable end. It was by means of the syndicate, though it was not
+known by that name, or indeed at first known at all, that the Home Rule
+party managed in the Parliament of 1880-85 to monopolize the time
+pertaining to private members. Their quick eyes detected what is simple
+enough when explained&mdash;that the ballot system contained potentialities
+for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> increasing the chances of a Bill by twenty or thirty fold. Suppose
+they had ten Bills or motions they desired to bring forward. They
+usually had more, but ten is sufficient to contemplate. These were
+arranged in accordance with their claim to priority. Every member of the
+party wrote his name down in the ballot-book, thus securing an
+individual chance at the ballot. Whilst the ballot was in progress, each
+had in his hand a list of the Bills in their order of priority. The
+member whose name was first called by the Speaker gave notice of the
+most urgent Bill, the second and third taking the next favourable
+positions, and so on to the end.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that, supposing fifty or sixty members thus combined,
+their pet Bill would have fifty or sixty chances to one against the
+hapless private member with his solitary voice. The secret was long
+kept, and the Irish members carried everything before them at the
+ballot. Now the murder is out, and there are almost as many syndicates
+as there are private Bills. All can grow the flower now, for all have
+got the seed. But it naturally follows that competition is practically
+again made even. The advantage to be derived from the syndicate system
+has appreciably decreased, whilst its practice immeasurably lengthens
+the process of balloting.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">LOUIS JENNINGS.</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Louis Jennings, though he sat on the same side of the House as Sir
+Walter Barttelot, and within a week or two of his neighbour's departure
+likewise answered to the old Lobby cry, "Who goes home?" was of a
+different type of Conservative, was a man of literary training, generous
+culture, and wide knowledge of the world, and made his fame and fortune
+long before he entered the House of Commons. It was the late Mr. Delane
+whose quick eye discovered his journalistic ability, and gave him his
+first commission on the <i>Times</i>. He visited America in the service of
+that journal, and being there remained to take up the editorship of the
+<i>New York Times</i>, making himself and his journal famous by his
+successful tilting against what, up to his appearance in the list, had
+been the invincible Tweed conspiracy. He edited the "Croker Papers," and
+wrote a "study" of Mr. Gladstone&mdash;a bitterly clever book, to which the
+Premier magnanimously referred in the generous tribute he took occasion
+to pay to the memory of the late member for Stockport.</p>
+
+<div style="width: 100%;">
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image388.jpg" width="312" height="350"
+             alt="MR. LOUIS JENNINGS." /><br />
+        MR. LOUIS JENNINGS.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image389-1.jpg" width="261" height="350"
+             alt="AS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER." /><br />
+        AS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.
+    </div></div>
+<p>Upon these two books Mr. Jennings's literary fame in this country
+chiefly rests. It would stand much higher if there were wider knowledge
+of another couple of volumes he wrote just before he threw himself into
+the turmoil of Parliamentary life. One is called "Field Paths and Green
+Lanes"; the other "Rambles Among the Hills." Both were published by Mr.
+Murray, and are now, I believe, out of print. They are well worth
+reproducing, supplying some of the most charming writing I know, full of
+shrewd observation, humorous fancy, and a deep, abiding sympathy with
+all that is beautiful in Nature. I thought I knew Louis Jennings pretty
+intimately in Parliamentary and social life, but I found a new man
+hidden in these pages&mdash;a beautiful, sunny nature, obscured in the
+ordinary relations of life by a somewhat brusque manner, and in these
+last eighteen months soured and cramped by a cruel disease. Jennings
+knew and loved the country as Gilbert White knew and loved Selborne. Now</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His part in all the pomp that fills</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The circuit of the summer hills</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Is, that his grave is green.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p>His Parliamentary career was checked, and, as it turned out, finally
+destroyed, by an untoward incident. After Lord Randolph Churchill threw
+up the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and assumed a position of
+independence on a back bench, he found an able lieutenant in his old
+friend Louis Jennings. At that time Lord Randolph was feared on the
+Treasury Bench as much as he was hated. For a Conservative member to
+associate himself with him was to be ostracised by the official
+Conservatives. A man of Mr. Jennings's position and Parliamentary
+ability was worth buying off, and it was brought to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> knowledge that
+he might have a good price if he would desert Lord Randolph. He was not
+a man of that kind, and the fact that the young statesman stood almost
+alone was sufficient to attract Mr. Jennings to his side.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image389-2.jpg" width="350" height="303"
+             alt="PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+        PRESENT DAY.
+    </div>
+
+<p>Up to an early date of the Session of 1890 the companionship, political
+and private, of Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Jennings was as intimate
+as had been any one of his lordship's personal connections with members
+of the Fourth Party. This alliance was ruptured under circumstances that
+took place publicly, but the undercurrent of which has never been
+fathomed. One Monday night, shortly after the opening of this Session of
+1890, there appeared on the paper a resolution standing in the name of
+Mr. Jennings, framed in terms not calculated to smooth the path of the
+Conservative Government, just then particularly troubled. That Mr.
+Jennings had prepared it in consultation with Lord Randolph Churchill
+was an open secret. Indeed, Lord Randolph had undertaken to second it.
+Before the motion could be reached a debate sprang up, in which Lord
+Randolph interposed, and delivered a speech which, in Mr. Jennings's
+view, entirely cut the ground from under his feet. He regarded this as
+more than an affront&mdash;as a breach of faith, a blow dealt by his own
+familiar friend. At that moment, in the House, he broke with Lord
+Randolph, tore up his amendment and the notes of his speech, and
+declined thereafter to hold any communion with his old friend.</p>
+
+<p>No one, as I had opportunity of learning at the time, was more surprised
+than Lord Randolph Churchill at the view taken of the event by Mr.
+Jennings. He had not thought of his action being so construed, and had
+certainly been guiltless of the motive attributed to him. There was
+somewhere and somehow a misunderstanding. With Mr. Jennings it was
+strong and bitter enough to last through what remained of his life.</p>
+
+
+<p>Whilst he did not act upon the first impulse communicated to one of his
+friends, and forthwith retire from public life, he with this incident
+lost all zest for it. Occasionally he spoke, choosing the level,
+unattractive field of the Civil Service Estimates. It was a high tribute
+to his power and capacity that on the few occasions when he spoke the
+House filled up, not only with the contingent attracted by the prospect
+of anything spicy, but by grave, financial authorities, Ministers and
+ex-Ministers, who listened attentively to his acute criticism. His
+public speaking benefited by a rare combination of literary style and
+oratorical aptitude. There was no smell of the lamp about his polished,
+pungent sentences. But they had the unmistakable mark of literary style.
+Had his physical strength not failed, and his life not been embittered
+by the episode alluded to, Louis Jennings would have risen to high
+position in the Parliamentary field.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Portraits_of_Celebrities_at_Different_Times_of_their_Lives" id="Portraits_of_Celebrities_at_Different_Times_of_their_Lives"></a><i>Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives.</i></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<h3>MRS. BROWN-POTTER.</h3>
+
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image390-1-tb.jpg" width="279" height="374"
+             alt="AGE 4." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image390-2-tb.jpg" width="335" height="400"
+             alt="AGE 18." /></td>
+
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Levitsky, Paris.</i><br />AGE 4.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Elmer &amp; Chickering, Boston.</i><br />AGE 18.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapc.jpg" alt="C" title="" /></div><p>ora Urquhart Potter was born in Louisiana, her father being Scotch and
+her mother partly Mexican. She was educated by her mother, and taught to
+act and recite from babyhood, her mother making her play on all
+occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. Her first appearance before
+friends was at the age of five years. She was married at seventeen. She
+never spoke English until fourteen, speaking entirely French and
+Spanish, She played all over the States as an amateur, and when the
+occasion came, and she was thrown on her own resources, she adopted the
+stage as a profession. She has played in every country and city where
+the English language is spoken. Mrs. Potter has, perhaps, the largest
+<i>r&eacute;pertoire</i> of any living actress.</p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image390-3-tb.jpg" width="342" height="400"
+             alt="AGE 24." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image390-4-tb.jpg" width="335" height="400"
+             alt="PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Elmer &amp; Chickering, Boston.</i><br />AGE 18.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Warneuke, Glasgow.</i><br />PRESENT DAY.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. <span class="smcap">Born</span> 1841.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image391-1-tb.jpg" width="667" height="650"
+             alt="AGE 3. AGE 17. AGE 25." /><br />
+            </div>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapt.jpg" alt="T" title="" /></div><p>he article on the home life of the Prince and Princess of Wales which
+we have the privilege of publishing in this number lends additional
+interest to the portraits of their Royal Highnesses at different ages.
+The accompanying portraits of the Prince represent him in his nursery;
+as an Oxford undergraduate; in Highland costume; in the uniform of a
+Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues); and finally, in an excellent
+likeness, at the present day.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image391-2-tb.jpg" width="372" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 40." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image391-3-tb.jpg" width="370" height="400"
+             alt="PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />AGE 40.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i><br />PRESENT DAY.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>THE PRINCESS OF WALES.</h2>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image392-1.jpg" width="338" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 17." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image392-2.jpg" width="333" height="400"
+             alt="AGE 19." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Hansen, Copenhagen.</i><br />AGE 17.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Bingham, Paris.</i><br />AGE 19.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapo.jpg" alt="O" title="" /></div><p>ur first portrait of the Princess of Wales was taken in her native city
+nearly two years before her arrival in England; the second was taken at
+the time of her marriage; the third when her second son, the present
+Duke of York, was about a year old; and the fourth in her robes as
+Doctor of Music of the Royal University of Ireland in 1885. The
+difference in the fashion of the dresses in these portraits is striking,
+but not more so than the beauty of the Princess.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image392-3.jpg" width="650" height="648"
+             alt="AGE 22. AGE 41. PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Born 1834.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapt.jpg" alt="T" title="" /></div><p>he Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, who has of late years won world-wide
+popularity as the writer of "Mehalah," "John Herring," and many other
+novels, was born at Exeter, and is the eldest son of Mr. Edward
+Baring-Gould, of Lew-Trenchard, Devon, where the family has resided for
+nearly 300 years, and of which place he is now the Rector. He is also
+Justice of the Peace for the County of Devon. He had written on various
+subjects of historical research before he took to novel-writing.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image393-900.jpg" width="549" height="900"
+             alt="AGE 22. AGE 41. PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<h4>AGE 5. <i>From a Miniature.</i></h4>
+<h4>AGE 10. <i>From a Drawing.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>AGE 35. <i>From a Photo. by Hall, Wakefield.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>AGE 46. <i>From a Photo. by Barnes, Colchester.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>PRESENT DAY. <i>From a Photo. by W. &amp; D. Downey.</i></h4>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>LORD CHARLES BERESFORD.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Born 1846.</span></h3>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image394-1.jpg" width="226" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 14." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image394-2.jpg" width="357" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 19." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photograph.</i><br />AGE 14.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photograph.</i><br />AGE 20.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapl.jpg" alt="L" title="" /></div><p>ord Charles Beresford, son of the Marquis of Waterford, entered the
+Royal Navy at thirteen, served on several warships, and accompanied the
+Prince of Wales to India, in 1875, as Naval <i>Aide-de-Camp</i>. At the
+bombardment of Alexandria he was in command of the gunboat <i>Condor</i>, and
+his gallant conduct in bearing down on the Marabout batteries and
+silencing guns immensely superior to his own was so conspicuous that the
+Admiral's ship signalled: "Well done, <i>Condor</i>!" In 1884 he assisted
+Lord Wolseley in the Nile Expedition.</p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image394-3.jpg" width="389" height="400"
+             alt="AGE 14." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image394-4.jpg" width="317" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 19." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Dickinson &amp; Foster.</i><br />AGE 40.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Merlin, Athens.</i><br />PRESENT DAY.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h2>JOHN ROBERTS.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Born 1847.</span></h3>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image395-1.jpg" width="332" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 2." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image395-2.jpg" width="396" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 16." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photograph.</i><br />AGE 2.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photograph.</i><br />AGE 16.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapj.jpg" alt="J" title="" /></div><p>ohn Roberts, the finest billiard player the world has ever seen, was
+born at Ardwick, Manchester. He commenced his career as a billiard
+player very early in life, for when only a child of eleven he assisted
+his father at the George Hotel, in Liverpool, his father at the time
+being universally considered the best in England, and, consequently, we
+find that he had in early life the very best model from which to study
+the game. Some thirty years ago, when Roberts's father was champion, a
+break of over 200 was a rare event, whereas now it is an every day
+occurrence with third-rate players. Roberts's highest all-round break is
+3,000. His superiority to those who rank next to him is unprecedented,
+as evinced by his recent victory over Peall, to whom he gave 9,000 in
+24,000. Roberts's style is simply perfect, and it is wonderful to watch
+the various strokes during a long break, consisting as they do of some
+requiring great execution and power of cue, and others showing the
+utmost delicacy of touch.</p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr valign='bottom'>
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image395-3.jpg" width="316" height="450"
+             alt="AGE 26." /><br />
+         </td>
+
+<td align='center'><img src="images/image395-4.jpg" width="340" height="450"
+             alt="PRESENT DAY." /><br />
+         </td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><i>From a Photograph by Whitlock, Birmingham.</i><br />AGE 26.</td><td align='center'><i>From a Photo. by Alerts, Bombay.</i><br />PRESENT DAY.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes" id="The_Adventures_of_Sherlock_Holmes"></a><i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.</i></h2>
+
+<h3>XVII.&mdash;THE ADVENTURE OF THE "GLORIA SCOTT."</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">By A. Conan Doyle.</span></h3>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapi.jpg" alt="I" title="" /></div><p> have some papers here," said my friend, Sherlock Holmes, as we sat
+one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think,
+Watson, it would be worth your while to glance over. These are the
+documents in the extraordinary case of the <i>Gloria Scott</i>, and this is
+the message which struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with horror
+when he read it."</p>
+
+<p>He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing
+the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half sheet of
+slate-grey paper.</p>
+
+<p>"The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran.
+"Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders
+for fly-paper, and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life."</p>
+
+<p>As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message I saw Holmes
+chuckling at the expression upon my face.</p>
+
+<p>"You look a little bewildered," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It seems
+to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine,
+robust old man, was knocked clean down by it, as if it had been the
+butt-end of a pistol."</p>
+
+<p>"You arouse my curiosity," said I. "But why did you say just now that
+there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged."</p>
+
+<p>I had often endeavoured to elicit from my companion what had first
+turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but I had never
+caught him before in a communicative humour. Now he sat forward in his
+armchair, and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit his
+pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over.</p>
+
+<p>"You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?" he asked. "He was the only
+friend I made during the two years that I was at college. I was never a
+very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms
+and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed
+much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I had few athletic
+tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the
+other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at all. Trevor was
+the only man I knew, and that only through the accident of his
+bull-terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I went down to
+chapel.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I
+was laid by the heels for ten days, and Trevor used to come in to
+inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his
+visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close friends.
+He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy, the
+very opposite to me in most respects; but we found we had some subjects
+in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as
+friendless as I. Finally, he invited me down to his father's place at
+Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for a month of
+the long vacation.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a J.P.
+and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to the
+north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an
+old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed, brick building, with a fine
+lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild duck
+shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
+library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a
+tolerable cook, so that it would be a fastidious man who could not put
+in a pleasant month there.</p>
+
+<p>"Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend was his only son. There had
+been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria while on a
+visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. He was a man of
+little culture, but with a considerable amount of rude strength both
+physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books, but he had travelled
+far, had seen much of the world, and had remembered all that he had
+learned. In person he was a thick-set, burly man, with a shock of
+grizzled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> hair, a brown, weather-beaten face, and blue eyes which were
+keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a reputation for kindness
+and charity on the country side, and was noted for the leniency of his
+sentences from the bench.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image397.jpg" width="550" height="379"
+             alt="TREVOR USED TO COME IN TO INQUIRE AFTER ME." /><br />
+        "TREVOR USED TO COME IN TO INQUIRE AFTER ME."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a glass of
+port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of
+observation and inference which I had already formed into a system,
+although I had not yet appreciated the part which they were to play in
+my life. The old man evidently thought that his son was exaggerating in
+his description of one or two trivial feats which I had performed.</p>
+
+<p>"'Come now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humouredly, 'I'm an
+excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I fear there is not very much,' I answered. 'I might suggest that you
+have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelve
+months.'</p>
+
+<p>"The laugh faded from his lips and he stared at me in great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, that's true enough,' said he. 'You know, Victor,' turning to his
+son, 'when we broke up that poaching gang, they swore to knife us; and
+Sir Edward Hoby has actually been attacked. I've always been on my guard
+since then, though I have no idea how you know it.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. 'By the inscription, I
+observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have taken
+some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole, so
+as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would not take such
+precautions unless you had some danger to fear.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Anything else?' he asked, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"'You have boxed a good deal in your youth.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little out of
+the straight?'</p>
+
+<p>"'No,' said I. 'It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and
+thickening which marks the boxing man.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Anything else?'</p>
+
+<p>"'You have done a great deal of digging, by your callosities.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Made all my money at the gold-fields.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You have been in New Zealand.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Right again.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You have visited Japan.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Quite true.'</p>
+
+<p>"'And you have been most intimately associated with someone whose
+initials were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely
+forget.'</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a
+strange, wild stare, and then pitched forward with his face among the
+nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.</p>
+
+<p>"You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were. His
+attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> collar and
+sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face, he
+gave a gasp or two and sat up.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah, boys!' said he, forcing a smile. 'I hope I haven't frightened you.
+Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does not
+take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this, Mr.
+Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of fancy
+would be children in your hands. That's your line of life, sir, and you
+may take the word of a man who has seen something of the world.'</p>
+
+<p>"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
+with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the very
+first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be made out
+of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At the moment,
+however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my host to
+think of anything else.</p>
+
+<p>"'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you,' said I.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I ask
+how you know and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half jesting
+fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared your arm to draw
+that fish into the boat I saw that "J. A." had been tattooed in the bend
+of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear
+from their blurred appearance, and from the staining of the skin round
+them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them. It was obvious,
+then, that those initials had once been very familiar to you, and that
+you had afterwards wished to forget them.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What an eye you have!' he cried, with a sigh of relief. 'It is just as
+you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old
+loves are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a quiet
+cigar.'</p>
+
+<p>"From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of
+suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked it.
+'You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll never be
+sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He did not mean to
+show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his mind that it peeped
+out at every action. At last I became so convinced that I was causing
+him uneasiness, that I drew my visit to a close. On the very day,
+however, before I left an incident occurred which proved in the sequel
+to be of importance.</p>
+
+<p>"We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three of us,
+basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads, when the
+maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to see
+Mr. Trevor.</p>
+
+<p>"'What is his name?' asked my host.</p>
+
+<p>"'He would not give any.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What does he want, then?'</p>
+
+<p>"'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's
+conversation.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a little
+wizened fellow, with a cringing manner and a shambling style of walking.
+He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red and
+black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly worn. His
+face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it,
+which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled hands
+were half-closed in a way that is distinctive of sailors. As he came
+slouching across the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make a sort of hiccoughing
+noise in his throat, and, jumping out of his chair, he ran into the
+house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a strong reek of brandy as
+he passed me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, my man,' said he, 'what can I do for you?'</p>
+
+<p>"The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the same
+loose-lipped smile upon his face.</p>
+
+<p>"'You don't know me?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson!' said Mr. Trevor, in a tone of
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. 'Why, it's thirty year and more
+since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still picking
+my salt meat out of the harness cask.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried Mr.
+Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in a low
+voice. 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will get
+food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his forelock. 'I'm just off
+a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that, and I wants a
+rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. Beddoes or with you.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah!' cried Mr. Trevor, 'you know where Mr. Beddoes is?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the fellow,
+with a sinister smile, and slouched off after the maid to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> kitchen.
+Mr. Trevor mumbled something to us about having been shipmates with the
+man when he was going back to the diggings, and then, leaving us on the
+lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when we entered the house we found
+him stretched dead drunk upon the dining-room sofa. The whole incident
+left a most ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not sorry next day
+to leave Donnithorpe behind me, for I felt that my presence must be a
+source of embarrassment to my friend.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image399.jpg" width="550" height="463"
+             alt="HUDSON IT IS, SIR' SAID THE SEAMAN." /><br />
+        "'HUDSON IT IS, SIR,' SAID THE SEAMAN."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation. I went
+up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a few
+experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was
+far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I received a telegram
+from my friend imploring me to return to Donnithorpe, and saying that he
+was in great need of my advice and assistance. Of course I dropped
+everything, and set out for the north once more.</p>
+
+<p>"He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance that
+the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin
+and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for which he had been
+remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>"'The governor is dying,' were the first words he said.</p>
+
+<p>"'Impossible!' I cried. 'What is the matter?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Apoplexy. Nervous shock. He's been on the verge all day. I doubt if we
+shall find him alive.'</p>
+
+<p>"I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news.</p>
+
+<p>"'What has caused it?' I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah, that is the point. Jump in, and we can talk it over while we
+drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you
+left us?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Perfectly.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?'</p>
+
+<p>"'I have no idea.'</p>
+
+<p>"'It was the Devil, Holmes!' he cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I stared at him in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes; it was the Devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour
+since&mdash;not one. The governor has never held up his head from that
+evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him, and his heart
+broken all through this accursed Hudson.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What power had he, then?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah! that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly, charitable,
+good old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> governor! How could he have fallen into the clutches of such a
+ruffian? But I am so glad that you have come, Holmes. I trust very much
+to your judgment and discretion, and I know that you will advise me for
+the best.'</p>
+
+<p>"We were dashing along the smooth, white country road, with the long
+stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light of the
+setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the high
+chimneys and the flagstaff which marked the squire's dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>"'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then, as
+that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house seemed
+to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
+The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language. The
+dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for the annoyance.
+The fellow would take the boat and my father's best gun and treat
+himself to little shooting parties. And all this with such a sneering,
+leering, insolent face, that I would have knocked him down twenty times
+over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell you, Holmes, I have had
+to keep a tight hold upon myself all this time, and now I am asking
+myself whether, if I had let myself go a little more, I might not have
+been a wiser man.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal, Hudson,
+became more and more intrusive, until at last, on his making some
+insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the
+shoulder and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid
+face, and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue
+could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after
+that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would mind
+apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my
+father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with
+himself and his household.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah, my boy,' said he, 'it is all very well to talk, but you don't know
+how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you shall
+know, come what may! You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old father,
+would you, lad?' He was very much moved, and shut himself up in the
+study all day, where I could see through the window that he was writing
+busily.</p>
+
+<p>"'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release, for
+Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
+dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in the
+thick voice of a half-drunken man.</p>
+
+<p>"'I've had enough of Norfolk,' said he. 'I'll run down to Mr. Beddoes,
+in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I daresay.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You're not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,' said my
+father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.</p>
+
+<p>"'I've not had my 'pology," said he, sulkily, glancing in my direction.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image400.jpg" width="430" height="450"
+             alt="'I'VE NOT HAD MY 'POLOGY,' SAID HE, SULKILY." /><br />
+        "'I'VE NOT HAD MY 'POLOGY,' SAID HE, SULKILY."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"'Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow
+rather roughly?' said the dad, turning to me.</p>
+
+<p>"'On the contrary, I think that we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> both shown extraordinary
+patience towards him,' I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, you do, do you?' he snarled. 'Very good, mate. We'll see about
+that!' He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the
+house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night after
+night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was recovering
+his confidence that the blow did at last fall.</p>
+
+<p>"'And how?' I asked, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father
+yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My father read
+it, clapped both his hands to his head and began running round the room
+in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his senses. When
+I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and eyelids were all
+puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came
+over at once, and we put him to bed; but the paralysis has spread, he
+has shown no sign of returning consciousness, and I think that we shall
+hardly find him alive.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You horrify me, Trevor!' I cried. 'What, then, could have been in this
+letter to cause so dreadful a result?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was
+absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!'</p>
+
+<p>"As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in the
+fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. As we
+dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief, a
+gentleman in black emerged from it.</p>
+
+<p>"'When did it happen, doctor?' asked Trevor.</p>
+
+<p>"'Almost immediately after you left.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Did he recover consciousness?'</p>
+
+<p>"'For an instant before the end.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Any message for me?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.'</p>
+
+<p>"My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while I
+remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my
+head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was the
+past of this Trevor: pugilist, traveller, and gold-digger; and how had
+he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman? Why, too,
+should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials upon his
+arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingbridge? Then I
+remembered that Fordingbridge was in Hampshire, and that this Mr.
+Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit, and presumably to blackmail,
+had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter, then, might
+either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the
+guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come from Beddoes,
+warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was imminent. So far it
+seemed clear enough. But, then, how could the letter be trivial and
+grotesque, as described by the son? He must have misread it. If so, it
+must have been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one thing
+while they seem to mean another. I must see this letter. If there were a
+hidden meaning in it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For
+an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping
+maid brought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor,
+pale but composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in
+his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge of the
+table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as you see, upon a single
+sheet of grey paper. 'The supply of game for London is going steadily
+up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to
+receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen
+pheasant's life.'</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when first
+I read this message. Then I re-read it very carefully. It was evidently
+as I had thought, and some second meaning must lie buried in this
+strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was a
+prearranged significance to such phrases as 'fly-paper' and 'hen
+pheasant'? Such a meaning would be arbitrary, and could not be deduced
+in any way. And yet I was loth to believe that this was the case, and
+the presence of the word 'Hudson' seemed to show that the subject of the
+message was as I had guessed, and that it was from Beddoes rather than
+the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the combination, 'Life pheasant's
+hen,' was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither
+'The of for' nor 'supply game London' promised to throw any light upon
+it. And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I
+saw that every third word beginning with the first would give a message
+which might well drive old Trevor to despair.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image402.jpg" width="500" height="350"
+             alt="THE KEY OF THE RIDDLE WAS IN MY HANDS." /><br />
+        "THE KEY OF THE RIDDLE WAS IN MY HANDS."
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my
+companion:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.'</p>
+
+<p>"Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands. 'It must he that, I
+suppose,' said he. 'This is worse than death, for it means disgrace as
+well. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and "hen
+pheasants"?</p>
+
+<p>"'It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal to us
+if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that he has
+begun by writing, "The ... game ... is," and so on. Afterwards he had,
+to fulfil the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words in each
+space. He would naturally use the first words which came to his mind,
+and if there were so many which referred to sport among them, you may be
+tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or interested in
+breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember that my poor
+father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his preserves
+every autumn.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I. 'It only
+remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor Hudson
+seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected
+men.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried my
+friend. 'But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement
+which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from Hudson
+had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as he told the
+doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither the strength nor
+the courage to do it myself.'</p>
+
+<p>"These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and I will
+read them to you as I read them in the old study that night to him. They
+are indorsed outside, as you see: 'Some particulars of the voyage of the
+barque <i>Gloria Scott</i>, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th October,
+1855, to her destruction in N. lat. 15&deg; 20&acute;, W. long. 25&deg; 14&acute;, on
+November 6th.' It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, dear son,&mdash;Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken the
+closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty that it
+is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my position in the
+county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have known me, which
+cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you should come to
+blush for me&mdash;you who love me, and who have seldom, I hope, had reason
+to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls which is for ever
+hanging over me, then I should wish you to read this that you may know
+straight from me how far I have been to blame. On the other hand, if all
+should go well (which may kind God Almighty grant!), then if by any
+chance this paper should be still undestroyed, and should fall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> into
+your hands, I conjure you by all you hold sacred, by the memory of your
+dear mother, and by the love which has been between us, to hurl it into
+the fire, and to never give one thought to it again.</p>
+
+<p>"If, then, your eye goes on to read this line, I know that I shall
+already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or, as is more
+likely&mdash;for you know that my heart is weak&mdash;be lying with my tongue
+sealed for ever in death. In either case the time for suppression is
+past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth; and this I
+swear as I hope for mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my younger
+days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to me a few weeks
+ago when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed to imply
+that he had surmised my secret. As Armitage it was that I entered a
+London banking house, and as Armitage I was convicted of breaking my
+country's laws, and was sentenced to transportation. Do not think very
+harshly of me, laddie. It was a debt of honour, so-called, which I had
+to pay, and I used money which was not my own to do it, in the certainty
+that I could replace it before there could be any possibility of its
+being missed. But the most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The money which
+I had reckoned upon never came to hand, and a premature examination of
+accounts exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently
+with, but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than
+now, and on my twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a felon
+with thirty-seven other convicts in the 'tween decks of the barque
+<i>Gloria Scott</i>, bound for Australia.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the year '55, when the Crimean War was at its height, and the
+old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the Black Sea.
+The Government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable
+vessels for sending out their prisoners. The <i>Gloria Scott</i> had been in
+the Chinese tea trade, but she was an old-fashioned, heavy-bowed,
+broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her out. She was a
+500-ton boat, and besides her thirty-eight gaol-birds, she carried
+twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a captain, three mates, a
+doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly a hundred souls were in
+her, all told, when we set sail from Falmouth.</p>
+
+<p>"The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of being of
+thick oak, as is usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The
+man next to me upon the aft side was one whom I had particularly noticed
+when we were led down the quay. He was a young man with a clear,
+hairless face, a long thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws. He carried
+his head very jauntily in the air, had a swaggering style of walking,
+and was above all else remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't
+think any of our heads would come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that
+he could not have measured less than six and a half feet. It was strange
+among so many sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy
+and resolution. The sight of it was to me like a fire in a snowstorm. I
+was glad then to find that he was my neighbour, and gladder still when,
+in the dead of the night, I heard a whisper close to my ear, and found
+that he had managed to cut an opening in the board which separated us.</p>
+
+<p>"'Halloa, chummy!' said he, 'what's your name, and what are you here
+for?'</p>
+
+<p>"I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with.</p>
+
+<p>"'I'm Jack Prendergast,' said he, 'and, by God, you'll learn to bless my
+name before you've done with me!'</p>
+
+<p>"I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made an
+immense sensation throughout the country, some time before my own
+arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but of
+incurably vicious habits, who had, by an ingenious system of fraud,
+obtained huge sums of money from the leading London merchants.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah, ha! You remember my case?' said he, proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Very well indeed.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Then maybe you remember something queer about it?'</p>
+
+<p>"'What was that, then?'</p>
+
+<p>"'I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?'</p>
+
+<p>"'So it was said.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But none was recovered, eh?'</p>
+
+<p>"'No.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'I have no idea,' said I.</p>
+
+<p>"'Right between my finger and thumb,' he cried. 'By God, I've got more
+pounds to my name than you have hairs on your head. And if you've money,
+my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, you can do <i>anything</i>!
+Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do anything is going
+to wear his breeches out sitting in the stink<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>ing hold of a rat-gutted,
+beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a China coaster? No, sir, such a man
+will look after himself, and will look after his chums. You may lay to
+that! You hold on to him, and you may kiss the Book that he'll haul you
+through.'</p>
+
+<p>"That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant nothing,
+but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in with all
+possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really was a plot to
+gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners had hatched it
+before they came aboard; Prendergast was the leader, and his money was
+the motive power.</p>
+
+<p>"'I'd a partner,' said he, 'a rare good man, as true as a stock to a
+barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at this
+moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship&mdash;the chaplain, no less! He
+came aboard with a black coat and his papers right, and money enough in
+his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main-truck. The crew are
+his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so much a gross with a cash
+discount, and he did it before ever they signed on. He's got two of the
+warders and Mercer the second mate, and he'd get the captain himself if
+he thought him worth it.'</p>
+
+<p>"'What are we to do, then?' I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"'What do you think?' said he. 'We'll make the coats of some of these
+soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But they are armed,' said I.</p>
+
+<p>"'And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every
+mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at
+our back, it's time we were all sent to a young Miss's boarding school.
+You speak to your mate on the left to-night, and see if he is to be
+trusted.'</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image404.jpg" width="227" height="450"
+             alt="JACK PRENDERGAST." /><br />
+        JACK PRENDERGAST.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>"I did so, and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the
+same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was
+Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a rich
+and prosperous man in the South of England. He was ready enough to join
+the conspiracy, as the only means of, saving ourselves, and before we
+had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in
+the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust
+him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and could not be of any
+use to us.</p>
+
+<p>"From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us taking
+possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, specially
+picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort us,
+carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts; and so often did he
+come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot of our
+bed a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs. Two
+of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the second mate was his
+right-hand man. The captain, the two mates, two warders, Lieutenant
+Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and the doctor were all that we had
+against us. Yet, safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution,
+and to make our attack suddenly at night. It came, however, more quickly
+than we expected, and in this way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had come
+down to see one of the prisoners, who was ill, and, putting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> his hand
+down on the bottom of his bunk, he felt the outline of the pistols. If
+he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing; but he was a
+nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and turned so pale,
+that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized him. He was
+gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon the bed. He
+had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were through it in a
+rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a corporal who came
+running to see what was the matter. There were two more soldiers at the
+door of the state-room, and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for
+they never fired upon us, and they were shot while trying to fix their
+bayonets. Then we rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed
+open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay with
+his head on the chart of the Atlantic, which was pinned upon the table,
+while the chaplain stood, with a smoking pistol in his hand, at his
+elbow. The two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole
+business seemed to be settled.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image405.jpg" width="450" height="377"
+             alt="THE CHAPLAIN STOOD WITH A SMOKING PISTOL IN HIS HAND." /><br />
+        "THE CHAPLAIN STOOD WITH A SMOKING PISTOL IN HIS HAND."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and flopped
+down on the settees all speaking together, for we were just mad with the
+feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers all round, and
+Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a
+dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the bottles, poured
+the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing them off, when in an
+instant, without warning, there came the roar of muskets in our ears,
+and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could not see across the
+table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles. Wilson and eight
+others were wriggling on the top of each other on the floor, and the
+blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me sick now when I think
+of it. We were so cowed by the sight that I think we should have given
+the job up if it had not been for Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull,
+and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels. Out
+we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant and ten of his men.
+The swing skylights above the saloon table had been a bit open, and they
+had fired on us through the slit. We got on them before they could load,
+and they stood to it like men, but we had the upper hand of them, and in
+five minutes it was all over. My God! was there ever a slaughter-house
+like that ship? Prendergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the
+soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard, alive
+or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded, and yet kept
+on swimming for a surprising time, until someone in mercy blew out his
+brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies
+except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of us
+who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> yet who had no wish
+to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the soldiers over
+with their muskets in their hands, and it was another to stand by while
+men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts and
+three sailors, said that we would not see it done. But there was no
+moving Prendergast and those who were with him. Our only chance of
+safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave
+a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It nearly came to our
+sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he said that if we wished
+we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the offer, for we were already
+sick of these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be worse
+before it was done. We were given a suit of sailors' togs each, a barrel
+of water, two casks, one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass.
+Prendergast threw us over a chart, told us that we were shipwrecked
+mariners whose ship had foundered in lat. 15&deg; N. and long. 25&deg; W., and
+then cut the painter and let us go.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son.
+The seamen had hauled the foreyard aback during the rising, but now as
+we left them they brought it square again, and, as there was a light
+wind from the north and east, the barque began to draw slowly away from
+us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth rollers, and
+Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party, were sitting in
+the sheets working out our position and planning what coast we should
+make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de Verds were about 500
+miles to the north of us, and the African coast about 700 miles to the
+east. On the whole, as the wind was coming round to north, we thought
+that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned our head in that direction,
+the barque being at that time nearly hull down on our starboard quarter.
+Suddenly as we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot
+up from her, which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky-line. A few
+seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke
+thinned away there was no sign left of the <i>Gloria Scott</i>. In an instant
+we swept the boat's head round again, and pulled with all our strength
+for the place where the haze, still trailing over the water, marked the
+scene of this catastrophe.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image406.jpg" width="450" height="345"
+             alt="WE PULLED HIM ABOARD THE BOAT." /><br />
+        "WE PULLED HIM ABOARD THE BOAT."
+    </div>
+
+<p>"It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared that we
+had come too late to save anyone. A splintered boat and a number of
+crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us
+where the vessel had foundered, but there was no sign of life, and we
+had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for help, and saw at some
+distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched across it. When
+we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to be a young seaman of the name
+of Hudson, who was so burned and exhausted that he could give us no
+account of what had happened until the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>"It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had
+proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners: the two warders
+had been shot and thrown overboard,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> and so also had the third mate.
+Prendergast then descended into the 'tween decks, and with his own hands
+cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained the first
+mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw the convict approaching
+him with the bloody knife in his hand, he kicked off his bonds, which he
+had somehow contrived to loosen, and rushing down the deck he plunged
+into the after-hold.</p>
+
+<p>"A dozen convicts who descended with their pistols in search of him
+found him with a match-box in his hand seated beside an open powder
+barrel, which was one of a hundred carried on board, and swearing that
+he would blow all hands up if he were in any way molested. An instant
+later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it was caused by the
+misdirected bullet of one of the convicts rather than the mate's match.
+Be the cause what it may, it was the end of the <i>Gloria Scott</i>, and of
+the rabble who held command of her.</p>
+
+<p>"Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible
+business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the brig
+<i>Hotspur</i>, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty in
+believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had
+foundered. The transport ship, <i>Gloria Scott</i>, was set down by the
+Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked out as to
+her true fate. After an excellent voyage the <i>Hotspur</i> landed us at
+Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way to the
+diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all nations, we
+had no difficulty in losing our former identities.</p>
+
+<p>"The rest I need not relate. We prospered, we travelled, we came back as
+rich Colonials to England, and we bought country estates. For more than
+twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that
+our past was for ever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in the
+seaman who came to us I recognised instantly the man who had been picked
+off the wreck! He had tracked us down somehow, and had set himself to
+live upon our fears. You will understand now how it was that I strove to
+keep peace with him, and you will in some measure sympathize with me in
+the fears which fill me, now that he has gone from me to his other
+victim with threats upon his tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Underneath is written, in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible,
+'Beddoes writes in cipher to say that H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have
+mercy on our souls!'</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor, and I
+think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one. The
+good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai tea
+planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor and
+Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on which
+the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and
+completely. No complaint had been lodged with the police, so that
+Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been seen lurking
+about, and it was believed by the police that he had done away with
+Beddoes, and had fled. For myself, I believe that the truth was exactly
+the opposite. I think that it is most probable that Beddoes, pushed to
+desperation, and believing himself to have been already betrayed, had
+revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from the country with as much
+money as he could lay his hands on. Those are the facts of the case,
+Doctor, and if they are of any use to your collection, I am sure that
+they are very heartily at your service."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><a name="Illustration_ZIG-ZAGS_AT_THE_ZOO" id="Illustration_ZIG-ZAGS_AT_THE_ZOO"></a></p>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table style="background: url(images/img408.jpg); height: 700px;" width="509"  summary="Fig. 198.">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><h3><span style="margin-left: 6em;">X.&mdash;ZIG-ZAG OPHIDIAN.</span><br /><span style="margin-left: 6em;">By Arthur Morrison and J. A. Shepher</span>d</h3></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image409-1.jpg" width="229" height="300"
+             alt="LANDLORD." /><br />
+         LANDLORD.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image409-3.jpg" width="300" height="252"
+             alt=" LODGER." /><br />
+         LODGER.
+    </div>
+
+
+<p>There is a certain coolness, almost to be called a positive want of
+cordiality, between snakes and human beings. More, the snake is never a
+social favourite among the animals called lower. Nobody makes an
+intimate friend of a snake. Popular natural history books are filled and
+running over with anecdotes of varying elegance and mendacity, setting
+forth extraordinary cases of affection and co-operation between a cat
+and a mouse, a horse and a hen, a pig and a cockroach, a camel and a
+lobster, a cow and a wheelbarrow, and so on; but there is never a snake
+in one of these quaint alliances. Snakes do not do that sort of thing,
+and the anecdote-designer's imagination has not yet risen to the feat of
+compelling them, although<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> the stimulus of competition may soon cause
+it. The case most nearly approaching one of friendship between man and
+snake known to me is the case of Tyrrell, the Zoo snake keeper, and his
+"laidly worms." But, then, the friendship is mostly on Tyrrell's side,
+and, moreover, Tyrrell is rather more than human, as anyone will admit
+who sees him hang boa constrictors round his neck. Of course one often
+hears of boys making pets of common English snakes, but a boy is not a
+human creature at all; he is a kind of harpy.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image409-2.jpg" width="300" height="193"
+             alt="WRITTER." /><br />
+         WRITTER.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image409-4.jpg" width="350" height="297"
+             alt="IN POSSESSION." /><br />
+         IN POSSESSION.
+    </div>
+<p>The prairie marmot and the burrowing owl come into neighbourly contact
+with the rattlesnake, but the acquaintance does not quite amount to
+friendship. The prairie marmot takes a lot of trouble and builds a nice
+burrow, and then the owl, who is only a slovenly sort of architect
+himself, comes along and takes apartments. It has never been quite
+settled whether or not the lodger and the landlord agree pleasantly
+together, but in the absence of any positive evidence they may be given
+credit for perfect amiability; because nobody has found traces of owl in
+a dead marmot's interior, nor of marmot in an owl's. But the rattlesnake
+is another thing. He waits till the residence has been made perfectly
+comfortable, and then comes in himself; not in the friendly capacity of
+a lodger, but as a sort of unholy writter&mdash;a scaly man-in-possession. He
+eats the marmot's family and perhaps the marmot himself: curling himself
+up comfortably in the best part of the drawing-room. The owl and his
+belongings he leaves severely alone; but whether from a doubt as to the
+legality of distraining upon the goods of a lodger, or from a certainty
+as to the lodger's goods including claws and a beak, naturalists do not
+say. Personally, I incline very much to the claw-and-beak theory, having
+seen an owl kill a snake in a very neat and workmanlike manner; and,
+indeed, the rattlesnake sometimes catches a Tartar even in the marmot.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>It isn't terror of the snake that makes him unpopular; the most harmless
+snake never acquires the confidence of other creatures; and one
+hesitates to carry it in his hat. This general repugnance is something
+like backing a bill or paying a tailor&mdash;entirely a matter of form.
+Nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> else has sympathy with the serpent's shape. When any other
+animal barters away his legs he buys either fins or wings with them;
+this is a generally-understood law, invariably respected. But the snake
+goes in for extravagance in ribs and vertebr&aelig;; an eccentric, rakish, and
+improper proceeding; part of an irregular and raffish life. Nothing can
+carry within it affection, or even respect, for an animal whose tail
+begins nowhere in particular, unless it is at the neck; even if any
+creature may esteem it an animal at all that is but a tail with a mouth
+and eyes at one end. Dignify the mouth and eyes into a head, and still
+you have nothing wherewith to refute those who shall call the snake
+tribe naught but heads and tails; a vulgar and raffish condition of
+life, of pot-house and Tommy-Dod suggestion.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image410-1.jpg" width="400" height="187"
+             alt="AN EARLY WORM." /><br />
+         AN EARLY WORM.
+    </div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image410-2.jpg" width="141" height="180"
+             alt="HOW'S THE GLASS?" /><br />
+         HOW'S THE GLASS?
+    </div>
+
+<p>And this is why nothing loves a snake. It is not because the snake is
+feared, but because it is incomprehensible. The talk of its upas-like
+influence, its deadly fascination, is chiefly picturesque humbug. Ducks
+will approach a snake curiously, inwardly debating the possibility of
+digesting so big a worm at one meal; the moving tail-tip they will peck
+at cheerfully. This was the sort of thing that one might have observed
+for himself years ago, here at the Zoo; at the time when the snakes
+lived in the old house in blankets, because of the unsteadiness of the
+thermometer, and were fed in public. Now the snakes are fed in strict
+privacy lest the sight overset the morals of visitors; the killing of a
+bird, a rabbit, or a rat by a snake being almost a quarter as unpleasant
+to look upon as the killing of the same animal by a man in a farmyard or
+elsewhere. The abject terror inspired by the presence of a snake is such
+that an innocent rat will set to gnawing the snake's tail in default of
+more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> usual provender; while a rabbit placed with a snake near
+skin-shedding time will placidly nibble the loose rags of epidermis
+about the snake's sides.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image410-3.jpg" width="400" height="95"
+             alt="THE FASCINATED RAT." /><br />
+         THE FASCINATED RAT.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image411-1.jpg" width="137" height="300"
+             alt="THE DISRESPECTFUL PIG." /><br />
+             </div>
+<p>The pig treats the snake with disrespect, not to say insolence; nothing,
+ophidian or otherwise, can fascinate a pig. If your back garden is
+infested with rattlesnakes you should keep pigs. The pig dances
+contemptuously on the rattlesnake, and eats him with much relish,
+rattles and all. The last emotion of the rattlesnake is intense
+astonishment; and astonishment is natural, in the circumstances. A
+respectable and experienced rattlesnake, many years established in
+business, has been accustomed to spread panic everywhere within ear and
+eye shot; everything capable of motion has started off at the faintest
+rustle of his rattles, and his view of animal life from those
+expressionless eyes has invariably been a back view, and a rapidly
+diminishing one. After a life-long experience of this sort, to be
+unceremoniously rushed upon by a common pig, to be jumped upon, to be
+flouted and snouted, to be treated as so much swill, and finally to be
+made a snack of&mdash;this causes a feeling of very natural and painful
+surprise in the rattlesnake. But a rattlesnake is only surprised in this
+way once, and he is said to improve the pork.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image411-2.jpg" width="400" height="162"
+             alt="THE DISRESPECTFUL PIG." /><br />
+         THE DISRESPECTFUL PIG.
+    </div>
+
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image412-1.jpg" width="174" height="250"
+             alt="HA." /><br />
+         "HA!"
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image412-3.jpg" width="192" height="250"
+             alt="HO." /><br />
+         "H0!"
+    </div>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br />As a <i>tour de force</i> in the gentle art of lying, the snake-story is
+justly esteemed. All the records in this particular branch of sport are
+held in the United States of America, where proficiency at snakes is the
+first qualification of a descriptive reporter. The old story of the two
+snakes swallowing each other from the tail till both disappeared; the
+story of the snake that took its own tail in its mouth and trundled
+after its victim like a hoop; the story of the man who chopped a snake
+in half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> just as it was bolting a rat, so that the rat merely toddled
+through the foremost half and escaped&mdash;all these have been beaten out of
+sight in America. At present Brazil claims the record for absolute
+length of the snakes themselves; but the Yankee snake-story man will
+soon claim that record too. He will explain that each State pays a
+reward for every snake killed within its own limits; but that there are
+always disputes between the different States as to payment; because most
+of the snakes killed are rather large, crawling across several States at
+once.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<p>Here, among a number of viperine snakes of about the same size, is a
+snake that lives on eggs. He is about as thick as a lead pencil, but
+that doesn't prevent his swallowing a large pigeon's egg whole, nor even
+a hen's egg at a pinch. It dislocates his jaw, but that is a part of his
+professional system, and when the business is over he calmly joints up
+his jaw again and goes to sleep. He is eccentric, even for a snake, and
+wears his teeth on his backbone, where they may break the egg-shell so
+that he may spit it away. When he first stretched his head round an egg,
+the viperine snakes in the same case hastily assumed him to be a very
+large tadpole; and since tadpoles are regarded with gastronomical
+affection by viperine snakes, they began an instant chase, each prepared
+to swallow the entire phenomenon, because a snake never hesitates to
+swallow anything merely on account of its size. When finally the
+egg-swallower broke the egg, and presented to their gaze the crumpled
+shell, the perplexed viperines subsided, and retired to remote corners
+of the case to think the matter over and forget it&mdash;like the crowd
+dispersed by the circulating hat of the street-conjurer.</p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr>
+<td><img src="images/image412-2.jpg" width="164" height="200"
+             alt="WHAT" /><br />
+         "WHAT!"</td>
+
+<td valign="bottom"><img src="images/image412-4.jpg" width="150" height="147"
+             alt="MINE" /><br />
+         "MINE!"</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image412-5.jpg" width="400" height="217"
+             alt="LAWKS" /><br />
+         "LAWKS!"
+    </div>
+
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image413-1.jpg" width="400" height="282"
+             alt="OLD CLO." /><br />
+         OLD CLO'.
+    </div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image413-4.jpg" width="180" height="96"
+             alt=" WELSHERS." /><br />
+          WELSHERS.
+    </div>
+<p>Familiarity with the snake breeds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> toleration. He is a lawless sort of
+creature, certainly, with too many vertebr&aelig; and no eyelids; but he is
+not always so horrible as he is imagined. A snake is rather a pleasant
+thing to handle than otherwise. Warm, firm, dry, hard and smooth on the
+scales, rather like ivory to the touch. He is also a deal heavier than
+you expect. When for good behaviour I have been admitted to Tyrrell's
+inner sanctum here, and to the corridors behind the lairs, where hang
+cast skins like stockings on a line, I have handled many of his pets. I
+have never got quite as far as rattlesnakes, because rattlesnakes have a
+blackguardly, welshing look that I don't approve. But there is a Robben
+Island snake, about five feet long, with no poison, who is very pleasant
+company. It is a pity that these snakes have no pet names. I would
+suggest The Pirate as a suitable name for any snake from Robben Island.</p>
+
+
+<p>For anybody who has been bitten by a cobra, or a rattlesnake, or a
+puff-adder, there are many remedies, but few people who can recommend
+them from personal experience. It is to be feared that most of them
+unfortunately die before writing their testimonials. Perhaps they were
+too long deciding which thing to take. The most famous of these
+remedies, and probably the best, on the whole, is to get excessively
+drunk. It is expensive to get drunk after a poisonous snake-bite,
+because something in the veins fortifies the head against the first
+bottle or two of whisky. Getting drunk before the bite won't do,
+although there would appear to be a very widely prevalent impression
+that it will, and a very common resolve to lay up a good store of cure
+against possible accidents in the future. This may be misdirected
+prudence, and nothing else, but there is often a difficulty in
+persuading a magistrate to think so.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image413-2.jpg" width="350" height="133"
+             alt="DRUNK TOO SOON." /><br />
+          DRUNK TOO SOON.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;RESULT.
+    </div>
+
+<p>The snake <i>will</i> be eccentric, even in the matter of its eggs. Most
+snakes secure originality and independence in this matter by laying eggs
+like an elongated tennis-ball&mdash;eggs covered with a sort of white
+parchment or leather instead of shell. All the rest go further, and
+refuse to lay eggs at all.<br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<p>The snake insists on having his food fresh; you must let him do his own
+killing. Many carry this sort of fastidiousness so far as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> prefer
+taking it in alive, and leaving it to settle matters with the digestive
+machinery as best it may. A snake of this sort has lost his dinner
+before now by gaping too soon; a frog takes a deal of swallowing before
+he forgets how to jump.</p>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="80%" cellspacing="0" summary="Fig 148/149">
+<tr>
+<td><img src="images/image413-3.jpg" width="250" height="107"
+             alt="FIRST THIS TIME, I THINK" /><br />
+         FIRST THIS TIME, I THINK!</td>
+<td><img src="images/image413-5.jpg" width="250" height="149"
+             alt=" LOR" /><br />
+          LOR!</td>
+
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image414-1.jpg" width="236" height="400"
+             alt="THE SNAKE THAT GAPED: A MORAL LESSON." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image414-2.jpg" width="400" height="69"
+             alt="THE SNAKE THAT GAPED: A MORAL LESSON." /><br />
+          THE SNAKE THAT GAPED: A MORAL LESSON.
+    </div>
+<p>It is well to remember what to do in case of attack by a formidable
+snake. If a boa constrictor or a python begin to curl himself about you,
+you should pinch him vigorously, and he will loosen his folds and get
+away from you. Some may prefer to blow his head off with a pistol, but
+it is largely a matter of taste, and one doesn't want to damage a good
+specimen. The anaconda, however, who is the biggest of the constrictors,
+won't let go for pinching; in this case the best thing is not to let him
+get hold of you at all. Tobacco-juice will kill a puff-adder. If you
+come across a puff-adder, you should open his mouth gently, remembering
+that the scratch of a fang means death in half an hour or so, and give
+him the tobacco-juice in a suitable dose; or you can run away as fast as
+possible, which is kinder to the snake and much healthier for yourself.</p>
+
+<p>By far the biggest snake here is the python, in the case opposite the
+door; he is more than twenty feet long, and is seriously thinking of
+growing longer still. Tyrrell picks him up unceremoniously by the neck
+and shoves him head first into a tank of water, when he seems to need a
+little stir and amusement. I think, perhaps, after all, the most
+remarkable being exhibited in the reptile house is Tyrrell. I don't
+think much of the Indian snake-charmers now. See a cobra raise its head
+and flatten out its neck till it looks like a demoniac flounder set on
+end; keep in mind that a bite means death in a few minutes; presently
+you will feel yourself possessed with a certain respect for a
+snake-charmer who tootles on a flute while the thing crawls about him.
+But Tyrrell comes along, without a flute&mdash;without as much as a
+jew's-harp&mdash;and carelessly grabs that cobra by the neck and strolls off
+with it wherever he thinks it ought to go, and you believe in the
+European after all. He is a most enthusiastic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> naturalist, is Tyrrell.
+He thinks nothing of festooning a boa constrictor about his neck and
+arms, and in his sanctum he keeps young crocodiles in sundry
+watering-pots, and other crawling things in unexpected places. You never
+quite know where the next surprise is coming from. I always feel
+doubtful about his pockets. I shouldn't recommend a pickpocket to try
+them, unless he really doesn't mind running against a casual
+rattlesnake. Tyrrell is the sort of man who is quite likely to produce
+something from his cap and say: "By-the-bye, this is a promising
+youngster&mdash;death adder, you know. And here," taking something else from
+his coat or vest pocket, "is a very fine specimen of the spotted
+coffin-filler, rather curious. It isn't <i>very</i> poisonous&mdash;kills in an
+hour or so. Now, this," dragging another from somewhere under his coat,
+"<i>is</i> rather poisonous. Deadly grave-worm&mdash;kills in three seconds.
+Lively little chap, isn't he? Feel his head." Whereat you would probably
+move on.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image415.jpg" width="406" height="550"
+             alt="Untitled." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Types_of_English_Beauty" id="Types_of_English_Beauty"></a><i>Types of English Beauty</i>.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">From Photographs by Alex. Bassano, 25, Old Bond Street, W.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image416.jpg" width="581" height="800"
+             alt="Types of English Beauty." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image417.jpg" width="559" height="800"
+             alt="Types of English Beauty." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image418.jpg" width="538" height="800"
+             alt="Types of English Beauty." /><br />
+
+    </div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><a name="Illustration_THE_NANKEEN_JACKET" id="Illustration_THE_NANKEEN_JACKET"></a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image419-1.jpg" width="700" height="564"
+             alt="THE NANKEEN JACKET" /><br />
+             </div>
+
+<h4>(<span class="smcap">From the French of Gustave Guesviller.</span>)</h4>
+
+<h4>"The young are eager for martyrdom."</h4>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">A Story for Children.</span></h3>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -1em; margin-right:  0em;"><img src="images/dropcapm.jpg" alt="M" title="" /></div><p>y friends make fun of my weakness for the colour of <i>yellow</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I confess that I adore it, notwithstanding that I have good reason to
+detest it. Truly, human nature is a bundle of contradictions!</p>
+
+<p>I love yellow because of a certain episode in my life which occurred
+when I was but eight years of age. I love nankeen above all on account
+of a jacket of that material, which played in that episode an important
+part.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! that jacket of nankeen!</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image420.jpg" width="234" height="350"
+             alt="MY REDOUBTABLE RIVAL." /><br />
+          "MY REDOUBTABLE RIVAL."
+             </div>
+<p>How came it about that I was smitten with the insane desire of
+possessing such a thing? The cause is not far to seek. It was <i>Love</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Love in a child of eight? Why not? You will see presently that I speak
+without any exaggeration.</p>
+
+<p>At that now distant time we resided at Auxerre.</p>
+
+<p>I knew how to read, write, and count. For the further progress of my
+education I was sent to a small day-school, kept by two maiden
+ladies&mdash;humble, gentle souls, who in affectionate care for their pupils
+satisfied in some degree their instinct of maternal tenderness.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Demoiselles Dulorre!</p>
+
+<p>Our school, which had been placed under the pious patronage of Saint
+Elisabeth, was a mixed one. That is to say, up to the age of ten years,
+boys and girls worked and played together. In spite of occasional
+quarrels, the system, on the whole, worked very well.</p>
+
+<p>I had not been eight days at Saint Elisabeth's before I fell in love. Do
+not laugh! I loved with all the strength of my child-nature, with a love
+disinterested, simple, sincere.</p>
+
+<p>It was Georgette whom I loved, but, alas! Georgette did not love me.</p>
+
+<p>How much I suffered in consequence! I used to hide myself in corners,
+shedding many tears, and racking my brains to find some means of
+pleasing the obdurate fair one. Labour in vain, a thankless task, at
+eight years of age or at thirty!</p>
+
+<p>To distinguish myself in my studies, to win<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> by my exemplary conduct the
+encomiums of the sisters Dulorre&mdash;all this made no impression upon cruel
+Georgette. She made no secret of her preference for a dull, idle,
+blustering fellow of nine years old, who won all the races, who could
+fling a ball farther than anyone else, carry two huge dictionaries under
+his arm, and administer terrible thumps.</p>
+
+<p>This hero was rightly nicknamed <i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I knew what his blows were like, having been the involuntary recipient
+of some of them. Some, do I say? I had received more than a dilatory
+donkey on the road to the fair!</p>
+
+<p>And Georgette had only laughed!</p>
+
+<p>Obviously, it was absurd to think of employing physical force against my
+redoubtable rival, and intellectual superiority in this case availed me
+nothing. I determined, therefore, to annihilate <i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i> by my
+overpowering magnificence.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, our parents did not send us to school attired in our best
+clothes. On the contrary, most of us wore there our oldest and shabbiest
+garments. Consequently, I opined that it would be no difficult
+achievement to outshine all my schoolfellows.</p>
+
+<p>I should have to coax my parents into loosening their purse-strings, and
+get them to buy me a beautiful new jacket.</p>
+
+<p>It took me a very long time to decide what colour this jacket should be.
+I mentally reviewed all the colours of the rainbow. Red tempted me; but
+I doubted whether a jacket of that colour would be attainable. Should it
+be blue, green, indigo, violet? No! Not one of these colours was
+sufficiently striking.</p>
+
+<p>I paused at yellow. That might do. It is a rich colour; there is
+something sumptuous and royal about it. Summer was approaching. I
+decided finally upon a jacket of nankeen.</p>
+
+<p>Without delay, I set to work on my school garments. It was a work of
+destruction, for I wanted to make them appear as disreputable as
+possible. I slyly enlarged the holes, wrenched off the buttons, and
+decorated my person lavishly with spots and stains of all kinds. Day by
+day I watched, with a secret joy, the rapid progress of this work of
+dilapidation.</p>
+
+<p>In what I judged to be an opportune moment, I timidly expressed my
+desire.</p>
+
+<p>I had to do more&mdash;much more than that&mdash;before I could obtain my will. I
+begged, stormed, grumbled, sulked. I became almost ill with hope
+deferred. At length, for the sake of peace, my parents granted my
+eccentric wish.</p>
+
+<p>It was a proud moment for me when, for the first time, I arrayed myself
+in that resplendent nankeen jacket, won at the cost of so many struggles
+and persevering efforts. Standing before the mirror, I surveyed myself
+admiringly for a full hour. I was grand! superb!</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my Lord <i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i>! You will find yourself ousted at last! My
+shining jacket will soon snatch from you the <i>prestige</i> acquired by your
+stupid, brute force. Georgette, astonished, fascinated, dazzled, and
+delighted, will run towards me, for I shall now be the handsomest boy in
+the school. <i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i> will weep for chagrin, as I have so often wept
+for jealousy and mortification."</p>
+
+<p>Such were my complacent reflections as, with the stride of a conqueror,
+I entered the precincts of our school.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for my rose-coloured anticipations! I was greeted with a broadside
+of laughter. Even our gentle mistress, Ermance Dulorre, could not
+repress a smile, and, above all other voices, I heard that of Georgette,
+who cried mirthfully:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! look at him! Look at him! He is a canary-bird!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The word was caught up instantly. All the scholars shouted in chorus:
+"He is a canary! A canary!"</p>
+
+<p>Words fail me to describe my bitter disappointment, my burning shame and
+chagrin. I saw my folly now. But it was too late&mdash;the awful deed was
+done! Worse than all, in order to obtain this now odious jacket, I had
+spoiled all my other jackets, and had nothing else to wear! When, on the
+evening of that most miserable day, I told my troubles to my father and
+mother, they were merely amused, and said to me:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is entirely your own fault. You insisted upon having the jacket, and
+now you must put up with it!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus was I condemned to the perpetual wearing of my yellow jacket, which
+entailed upon me no end of petty miseries.</p>
+
+<p>Every day, at school, I was jeered at and insulted. Even the babies of
+three years&mdash;sweet, blue-eyed, golden-haired cherubs&mdash;pointed at me with
+their tiny fingers, and lisped, "Canary! Canary!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image421.jpg" width="400" height="387"
+             alt="I WAS JEERED AT AND INSULTED." /><br />
+          "I WAS JEERED AT AND INSULTED."
+             </div>
+
+<p>How was I to extricate myself from this extremely unpleasant situation?
+One upper garment still remained to me&mdash;an old, thick, heavy, winter
+mantle. The idea occurred to me that I might utilize this to conceal my
+too gorgeous plumage. We were now in the month of June, and the weather
+was tropical. No matter! In class and playground, I appeared buttoned up
+in my big cloak, bathed in perspiration, but happy in having hidden my
+shame.</p>
+
+<p>To Mademoiselle Ermance's expression of surprise, I answered that I had
+a cold. I did not deviate widely from the truth. Two days later, thanks
+to this over-heating, I had a very real one.</p>
+
+<p>The device did not serve me long. My parents found me out, and promptly
+deprived me of my protecting shell, thus obliging me to attend school
+again in the costume of a canary. The former annoyances re-commenced.</p>
+
+<p>Vacation time was at hand, and Georgette, of whom I was more enamoured
+than ever, remained still cold and indifferent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One day we were playing the game of brigands and gendarmes. I was one of
+the gendarmes, who were invariably beaten.</p>
+
+<p><i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i> had nominated himself captain of the brigands, and chose
+Georgette for his <i>vivandi&egrave;re</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, for a few minutes there was a suspension of hostilities.
+Brigands and gendarmes fraternized, as they quenched their thirst, and
+expatiated upon the joys of the fray. Suddenly Georgette, with her
+accustomed vivacity, broke in upon our little group. She bore in her
+hands a glass ink-bottle.</p>
+
+<p>"See!" said her sweet voice. "Whoever will drink this ink shall,
+by-and-by, be my little husband!"</p>
+
+<p><i>Met-&agrave;-Mort</i> and the rest exploded with laughter.</p>
+
+<p>When we resumed our game, I discovered that I had lost all interest in
+it. Georgette's words haunted me.</p>
+
+<p>Cries of joy arose from our camp. The enemy's <i>vivandi&egrave;re</i> had been
+captured. I was told off to guard the prisoner; you may guess whether I
+was happy!</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image422.jpg" width="309" height="350"
+             alt="SHE WAS GROWING IMPATIENT." /><br />
+          "SHE WAS GROWING IMPATIENT."
+             </div>
+<p>Georgette tried bribery.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! let me go! let me go! and I will give you ten pens."</p>
+
+<p>Much I cared for her pens!</p>
+
+<p>"Did you mean what you said just now, mademoiselle?" I timidly inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"That whoever would drink the ink should be your little husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, stupid! But let me go&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is. Let me go!"</p>
+
+<p>She was growing impatient. For a moment I hesitated; then I said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Run away quickly! nobody can see us."</p>
+
+<p>She did not need telling twice. As swiftly as her feet could carry her,
+she ran off to the enemy's camp.</p>
+
+
+<p>I was a double-dyed traitor. After conniving at my captive's escape I
+deserted.</p>
+
+<p>"Can it indeed be true?" I pondered. "Have I only to drain that phial of
+ink in order to become Georgette's husband some day? She said so, and
+she must know!"</p>
+
+<p>I went to look for the ink-bottle, which the child had carried back into
+the schoolroom. There I stood contemplating the black,
+uninviting-looking liquid.</p>
+
+<p>Not for a single moment did I dream of swallowing the loathsome stuff in
+the girl's presence. It did not occur to me that she ought to be a
+witness of my sacrifice, or that she had demanded it as a proof of love.
+My idea was rather that the beverage was a sort of love-philtre, such as
+I had read of in my book of fairy tales. She had said: "Whoever will
+drink the ink shall be my husband."</p>
+
+<p>Faugh! the bottle was full to overflowing. How nasty it looked! Never
+mind! So much the better! I should have liked it to have been nastier
+still.</p>
+
+<p>I closed my eyes, and raised the bottle to my lips.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about, you dirty little thing?" exclaimed a voice from
+behind me, at the same instant that I received a smart blow upon my
+uplifted arm.</p>
+
+<p>Covered with confusion, I turned, and beheld Mademoiselle Ermance, who
+had surprised me in my singular occupation.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the meaning of this nonsense?" said she, with unwonted
+severity.</p>
+
+<p>I had no time to explain. Just at that moment my schoolfellows came
+trooping in. Georgette seeing me standing there, ink-stained and
+disgraced, and already&mdash;the coquette!&mdash;forgetful of her promise,
+exclaimed, with a face of disgust:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the dirty boy! The nasty, dirty boy!"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image423.jpg" width="450" height="409"
+             alt="WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE?" /><br />
+          "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE?"
+             </div>
+
+<p>Everything, however, has its bright side. Mademoiselle Ermance's tap and
+my own start of surprise, had jerked the ink-bottle from my grasp; my
+yellow jacket was literally flooded! I was rid of it at last!</p>
+
+<p>It was to Georgette that I owed this happy deliverance. I thank her for
+it to-day! What has become, I wonder, of that lovely child? Does she
+ever think now of those old times? How often have I dreamed of her! I
+have forgiven her for the tears which she caused me to shed. Her
+charming face dwells always in my mind as a pure ray from the bygone
+light of youth. I am not her husband, and probably never shall be. I am
+resigned to my fate, which I richly deserve, because&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>I did not drink the ink!</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="The_Queer_Side_of_Things" id="The_Queer_Side_of_Things"></a><i>The Queer Side of Things.</i></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image424.jpg" width="600" height="359"
+             alt="The Queer Side of Things." /><br />
+             </div>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Old Joe's Picnic</span></h4>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="margin-top:  -0.3em; margin-right:  0.2em;"><img src="images/dropcapi.jpg" alt="I" title="" /></div><p>t was all old Joe Wilkings's notion, every ounce of it: you see, there
+never was anybody anywhere to compare with old Joe for "go." He <i>was</i>
+goey, was old Joe&mdash;but I'll tell you.</p>
+
+<p>Old Joe had been laid up with rheumatism and gout&mdash;ah! and asthma,
+that's more&mdash;for a matter of eleven weeks; pretty bad he'd been too, and
+everybody had said he would never pull through, being, you see,
+ninety-seven, and a wooden leg in, that he'd lost in the Crimean War; at
+least, not the wooden one, for he'd found that in the loft over the
+stable years ago and taken to it.</p>
+
+<p>Well, old Joe was sunning himself in his wicker chair in the front
+garden, propped up with pillows and things; and he'd just finished his
+beef-tea, when he begins to chuckle so, in an internal kind of manner,
+that the last drop going down got startled and separated from the others
+on ahead, and tried to turn back, and got in a panic, so that it nearly
+choked old Joe, who got purple in the face, and had to be thumped.</p>
+
+<p>He'd no sooner got right than he began to chuckle again, but luckily
+that last drop had got further down now, and wedged in among its
+comrades, so that it only heard the chuckles faintly, and kept quiet
+this time.</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever <i>is</i> the matter, grandfather?" said Kate.</p>
+
+<p>"Matter?" said old Joe. "Nothing's the matter. You don't understand the
+ways of young 'uns, nor their methods neither. When youth chuckles, it's
+a sign of good spirits and healthy. If you <i>must</i> know, I was thinking
+we might have a picnic&mdash;just like we used to have sixty years back&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that <i>would</i> be nice," said Kate.</p>
+
+<p>"Not <i>you</i>," said old Joe. "No young 'uns in it&mdash;they're too slow. No; I
+and Georgie Worble, and his aunt Susan, and her mother, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," said Kate, "Mr. Worble hasn't walked from one room to another
+without assistance for&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know&mdash;seven years," said old Joe, "and he's seventy-six; and his aunt
+Susan's seventy-one; and his aunt Susan's mother's ninety-two, and
+bedridden&mdash;but I tell you what: it's all fudge and the undue influence
+of imagination&mdash;that's the whole story. Georgie W. can get up if he
+likes; and his aunt Susan's bronchitis and paralytic strokes are all
+fudge; and as to her mother being bedridden&mdash;pooh! we'll just see; and
+if she doesn't dance just as well as me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah&mdash;we'll have a dance, of course&mdash;we <i>used</i> to have a dance always;
+finished up with a dance. I've been thinking&mdash;and I don't mind telling
+you&mdash;that this imagination and fudge is making us all old before our
+time; and I'm not going to stand any more of it, and that's all about
+it."</p>
+
+<p>With that old Joe Wilkings waved his stick and jumped up&mdash;that's what he
+did; and he ninety-seven years and nine weeks! Talk about greyness!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Kate stared, and all the neighbours stared, and Mrs. Widdlcombe's pug
+next door stared so that its eyes nearly fell out, as old Joe trotted
+quickly out of the garden and down the street, and trotted up Mr.
+Worble's steps, and tapped at the door like a boy that means to run
+away; and when they opened the door, up he ran to old Worble's room, and
+toddled in.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image425.jpg" width="414" height="500"
+             alt="OLD JOE TROTTED QUICKLY OUT OF THE GARDEN." /><br />
+"OLD JOE TROTTED QUICKLY OUT OF THE GARDEN."
+             </div>
+
+
+<p>And now comes in old Joe Wilkings's other remarkable quality&mdash;his
+influence over others. It was all the outcome of his wonderful
+determination&mdash;the influence of mind over matter. He could bamboozle
+anyone, could Joe&mdash;it was for all the world like magic.</p>
+
+<p>Old Worble was drooping over the fire in his big chair, into which he
+had been put hours before.</p>
+
+<p>What did old Joe do but go right up and slap him on the back in that
+hearty way that old Worble went as near screaming as his weak state
+would let him!</p>
+
+<p>"Get up, Georgie Worble," shouted old Joe," and come round with me to
+Sam Waggs to arrange about that picnic!"</p>
+
+<p>Old Worble crooned and doddered, and feebly repeated "Picnic?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, picnic, young 'un; and you've just hit it. But GET UP, I say!"</p>
+
+<p>And, if you'll believe it, the third time old Joe Wilkings shouted "Get
+up" in that voice of his, a-staring straight at Worble all the time, old
+Worble <i>did</i> slowly get up and stood, doddering, but without support.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you stand a-doddering at me like that as if you were a decrepit
+old idiot instead of a boy; but just reach down your hat and bustle
+along," said old Joe; and if Worble, after looking feebly and hopelessly
+up at the hat on the high peg&mdash;the hat he had not worn for years&mdash;didn't
+hop up on a wooden chair and fetch it down, and dash it on his head, and
+then toddle downstairs and into the street arm-in-arm with old Joe!</p>
+
+<p>If people had stared when old Joe came out of his garden, what did they
+do <i>now</i> when he and old Worble went dancing down the street arm-in-arm,
+both of 'em chuckling like mad and chattering like magpies?</p>
+
+<p>At the corner they met old Peter Scroutts in a bath-chair. Peter had a
+paralyzed leg, and was so feeble that he could hardly wink his eye, and
+so deaf that it was all he could do to hear with an ear-trumpet as big
+as the cornucopia belonging to the wooden young lady over the provision
+stores.</p>
+
+<p>"Just you step out and walk!" roared old Joe in the ear-trumpet. And the
+queer thing is that old Peter did begin to get out; and not only began,
+but went on; and stood on the pavement; and then took Joe's arm; and the
+three went careering down the street together!</p>
+
+<p>The whole place came out to stare open-mouthed at those three old boys
+bouncing down the street together.</p>
+
+<p>Half-way down old Joe Wilkings stopped with a jerk, and turned on old
+Peter.</p>
+
+<p>"What, in the name of goodness, <i>do</i> you want with that trumpet
+machine?" he roared. "A young 'un like you! Lookee here&mdash;let's get rid
+of it." And Joe snatched the ear-trumpet out of his hand, and jerked it
+over a shed into the field behind. It was a good long jerk; and most of
+the young men of the place would have been proud to do it.</p>
+
+<p>"Can hear just as well as I can; that's what <i>you</i> can do! Can't he,
+young George?"</p>
+
+<p>Old Peter looked dazed; but old Joe stood nodding at him so decisively
+that old George took it up and nodded decisively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> too; and they were so
+convincing about the matter that old Peter began to believe he <i>could</i>
+hear; and from that moment, if you'll believe me, he <i>did</i> hear quite
+comfortably!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image426-1.jpg" width="500" height="390"
+             alt="THE THREE WENT CAREERING DOWN THE STREET." /><br />
+"THE THREE WENT CAREERING DOWN THE STREET."
+             </div>
+
+<p>Then the inhabitants collected in little knots, and talked the matter
+over; and decided that there must be something wrong, in the witchcraft
+line; and shook their heads doubtfully; but those three old boys trotted
+into the "Bun and Bottle" and ordered&mdash;ah! and drank off&mdash;a pint of beer
+apiece; a thing they had not done those ten years. Drank it off at a
+draught, if you'll believe me.</p>
+
+<p>Well, then they went the round and beat up all the old folks of that
+place to bid them to the picnic. Those old people stared, and shook
+their heads, and scoffed; but old Joe Wilkings hadn't talked to them for
+five minutes before they were up on their feet and trotting about as if
+they were acrobats, though perhaps it's hard to believe.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have a row on the river," said old Joe; "and then we'll picnic on
+the bank, and see who can climb trees best; and then we'll have a room
+at an hotel, and finish up with a dance, and just show 'em how it ought
+to be done."</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image426-2.jpg" width="500" height="421"
+             alt="AUNT SUSAN'S MOTHER." /><br />
+"AUNT SUSAN'S MOTHER."
+             </div>
+
+<p>I tell you he had to busy himself, had old Joe, to keep them up to it;
+for as soon as he had been away from any one of them a few hours that
+one would begin to collapse again, and think he or she was as weak as
+ever; but Joe wouldn't allow this; all day long he was here and there
+among them applying the spur, bullying them into getting up and dancing,
+and roaring with indignation at the idea of their being old. He made
+them practise their steps, and while those who possessed crutches were
+doing it, he sneaked off with the crutches and concealed them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> He
+wouldn't even allow them sticks, wouldn't old Joe&mdash;not he.</p>
+
+<p>Old Worble's aunt Susan got quite young and skittish; and as for old
+Worble's aunt Susan's mother, who was bedridden, up she had to get on
+old Joe Wilkings's third visit, and had to toddle across the room. He
+drilled her&mdash;kept on at it; he was there twice a day; and every time she
+had to get out of bed and toddle across the room. Had to live in her
+dressing-gown, and could get no peace for the life of her; but, bless
+you, in ten days she had begun to believe that she had never been
+bedridden at all, and that it was all fancy! And all in consequence of
+that strange influence of old Joe Wilkings; that awful determination of
+his.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image427.jpg" width="319" height="550"
+             alt="OVER SHE HAD TO GO SOMEHOW." /><br />
+"OVER SHE HAD TO GO SOMEHOW."
+             </div>
+<p>Then there were the provisions to prepare for that picnic; and old Joe
+would insist upon the old folks preparing them. He wouldn't have any
+young people in it&mdash;not he. He was here, there, and everywhere,
+compelling them to superintend the cooking of the joints and pies&mdash;for
+he was not going to have any beef-tea or arrow-root or pap at the
+picnic, but all good solid food for robust people.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the eventful day came; and there were the old folks collected at
+the railway station with their hampers and bags. The whole population of
+younger folks had turned out to see them off; but not a single one of
+them was to go, for old Joe wouldn't have anyone under the age of
+sixty-five, as he said children were always a trouble at an outing. And,
+what's more, his word seemed to be law, and that was the long and the
+short of it.</p>
+
+<p>The young people shook their heads forebodingly, and said they didn't
+know what on earth would come of it all, that they didn't; and they only
+hoped uncle and aunt and grandfather would come back all right!</p>
+
+<p>But the train came in, and in hopped the old parties, and away they
+went.</p>
+
+<p>Old Joe Wilkings had his work cut out now, with a vengeance and all: for
+as soon as they had got away from the younger folks who usually took
+care of them, they began to think it was all over with them and to give
+way; but Joe Wilkings roared and shouted at them, and chuckled and
+threatened until he had brought them all round again. There wasn't to be
+a single bath-chair, or crutch, or even a stick.</p>
+
+
+<p>Then they got out at the station they had settled on; and old Joe
+insisted on their carrying the hampers among them down to the river:
+and, what's more, he chose a way across the fields where there were a
+lot of stiles to get over; and he made 'em do it, if you'll credit it.
+Old George Worble's aunt, Susan's mother, pretended she couldn't, and
+sat down and wept: but Joe Wilkings had her on her feet again in a
+twinkling; and over she had to go somehow.</p>
+
+<p>Then old Peter Scroutts began to give way and grizzle for his bath-chair
+and ear-trumpet, but when old Joe threatened to fight him if he went on
+about that nonsense, why, he just had to behave himself.</p>
+
+<p>Our doctor had made up his mind that something dreadful was bound to
+come of the whole thing, and sneaked after them by the next train; but
+when Joe caught him following them, he was so angry and furious about
+it, that the doctor was afraid he would have an apoplectic fit unless he
+went away as Joe commanded him to. So he retired; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> subsequently
+dressed himself as a rustic, and smeared his face so that he might not
+be recognised, and hung about the party, offering to carry things, and
+so on. But if old Joe Wilkings did not spot him after all; and got in
+such a rage that the doctor thought it best to retreat while he had a
+whole skin, and get back safely home.</p>
+
+<p>So you see old Joe was a terrible fellow, and that determined it's awful
+to think about.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+             <img   src="images/image428-1.jpg" width="318" height="400"
+             alt="VERY NEARLY DROWNED." /><br />
+"VERY NEARLY DROWNED."
+             </div>
+
+<p>Well, they went on the river, and they rowed little races among
+themselves; and old Ben Jumper and old Tobias Budd upset their boat,
+skylarking&mdash;both of 'em being just turned eighty&mdash;and went in, and were
+very nearly drowned. However, they were hauled out and made to run
+about, and taken into a cottage, and rubbed down, and dressed up in
+borrowed clothes; and with a good jorum of brandy-and-water apiece, why,
+in half an hour they were as right as trivets, if you'll believe me!</p>
+
+<p>The cold collation was a great success; and then the old boys had a
+smoke, and were all as jolly as sand-boys. But, suddenly, one of 'em
+looked round and said, "Why, where's old Joe Wilkings?" And after ten
+minutes, when old Joe did not turn up, all those old folks began to
+shake their heads doubtfully and dismally, and the old boys dropped
+their pipes, and the old ladies began to weep and whinnick.</p>
+
+<div class="figright">
+             <img   src="images/image428-2.jpg" width="400" height="500"
+             alt="OLD JOE WILKINGS--AFTER LUNCH." /><br />
+"OLD JOE WILKINGS&mdash;AFTER LUNCH."
+             </div>
+
+<p>For old Joe Wilkings, being wild-like with merriment, had gone in pretty
+heavily for the champagne and stuff, and had got a bit mixed, as you
+might say, and he had gone off a little way to get some dry wood to make
+a fire to boil the kettle over, and then he hadn't seemed to be able to
+recollect which was his way back; and had wandered and wandered off in
+quite the wrong direction; and at last he had got drowsy and fallen
+asleep in a dry ditch with his wooden leg on the lower rail of a fence;
+and then a local policeman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> who didn't know him had taken charge of him
+and trotted him off to Winklechurch, which was the nearest village.</p>
+
+<p>And those old people at the picnic got more and more depressed and
+feeble and helpless; and some of 'em broke down completely, and wept and
+doddered; for you see the influence of old Joe Wilkings's determination
+was rapidly giving out. And at last, after the doctor had waited
+anxiously at the railway station for them, and hour after hour went by
+without any signs of them, he decided to look them up at any cost; and
+at eleven that night he found them all sitting there on the bank of the
+river that depressed and helpless you can't imagine. Not a single one of
+them all had had the courage to move, and their fright and despair were
+perfectly fearful. And a nice trouble he had to get them home&mdash;had to
+send for flys, and bath-chairs, and litters, and goodness alone knows
+what all!</p>
+
+<p>Well, then they had to find old Joe Wilkings, and mighty anxious they
+were about him; and a nice tramp they had up hill and down dale before
+they discovered him; and when they did, they found him rolled up in a
+shawl on the policeman's hearthrug, for, of course, Mr. Podder, the
+policeman, was not going to lock up the likes of an old boy of his age.
+Joe Wilkings had recovered a bit now, and he was that pugnacious he
+wanted to fight Mr. Podder and all those that had come to find him; and
+what should he do but put his back against Mr. Podder's parlour-wall
+(smashing the glass of the chromo of "Little Red Riding-Hood" that was
+hanging up), and invite the lot to "Come on."</p>
+
+<p>However, they quieted him down and got him home at last; and when he'd
+got home he was that dismal and depressed from the reaction that he sat
+in his armchair all day and did nothing but grumble and burst into
+tears, for, you see, he'd overdone it, and it was bound to tell upon
+him. But after that all his natural pluck and determination got hold of
+him again, and if he wasn't mad to have that dance that they had been
+balked of!</p>
+
+<p>Out he went to beat up all the old folks again; but most of 'em were ill
+in bed&mdash;none the better for that picnic, I can tell you, though,
+luckily, it had been a lovely day and night, as warm as toast, so that
+they hadn't come to much harm beyond the exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>The younger people of the houses where he called met him with black
+looks enough, you may be sure, but old Joe Wilkings wasn't the sort to
+be daunted by that sort of thing; and bless me if he didn't succeed in
+getting at most of those old parties again, and even getting some of
+them out of bed and putting them through their paces as before.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image429.jpg" width="500" height="438"
+             alt="DR. PILLIKIN. MR. SARME. MR. WEAZLE." /><br />
+"DR. PILLIKIN. MR. SARME. MR. WEAZLE."
+             </div>
+
+<p>It was really getting serious, so Mr. Sarme, the vicar, and Mr. Weazle,
+the curate, and Doctor Pillikin (who lived in the house with the brown
+shutters then, before he moved next door to the stores) went and tried
+to get him out of the houses and make him keep quiet; but old Joe roared
+at them that way that they were glad to get away home again in despair.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, he <i>was</i> a plucky one, was old Joe!</p>
+
+<p>Well, he persevered and kept at it until he had persuaded all those old
+parties to get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> up a dance in the schoolroom; they were to have printed
+programmes, and champagne, and everything in style&mdash;for Joe had a bit of
+money, and was as free as you like with it, and meant to stand a good
+deal more than his share of the expenses.</p>
+
+<p>Then the vicar and Doctor Pillikin consulted with the squire&mdash;the squire
+and the vicar being justices of the peace&mdash;whether they hadn't better
+give old Joe in charge and lock him up out of harm's way; for he was
+getting a regular firebrand, don't you see; and they were afraid he'd be
+the death of those old folks. But, after they'd consulted, they couldn't
+hit on any legal excuse for charging him&mdash;(not that that little obstacle
+mostly stands in the way of justices of the peace)&mdash;and they had to give
+that up.</p>
+
+<p>When the day arrived for the ball&mdash;for they called it a "ball" now,
+bless you&mdash;all the young people agreed together to lock the old parties
+in their rooms to prevent them going; but bless me if old Peter Scroutts
+and old George Worble, and one or two other desperate characters didn't
+manage to get out somehow, being so under the influence of Joe; and when
+the hour came for the dance, there they were at the schoolroom!</p>
+
+<p>And they&mdash;about nine of them&mdash;began dancing too, and a regular strange
+kind of a hobble it was, as ever was seen: but at last the squire and
+the vicar and Doctor Pillikin went down with the sergeant and a
+constable and pretended that a new Act had been passed making it illegal
+to dance after nine o'clock, and cleared the hall, with Joe dinging away
+at 'em the whole time, and made the old folks go home.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image430.jpg" width="440" height="500"
+             alt="GETTING BETTER AGAIN." /><br />
+"GETTING BETTER AGAIN."
+             </div>
+<p>Next day Joe Wilkings was going to do all manner of things&mdash;going up to
+London to consult a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn, and appeal to the High
+Courts, and give the squire and the rest of 'em penal servitude at
+Botany Bay, and all manner; but he'd caught such a cold at that ball
+that he had to take to his bed again, in spite of all his determination;
+and when he got up again after three weeks he had lost the use of his
+one leg, and was so weak he hadn't the heart to do anything. He was in a
+bad way for a long time, but they say he's getting better again now; and
+I've heard tell that the squire and that lot are beginning to get
+nervous again, as there's no knowing when he'll break out.</p>
+
+
+<p>He's a tough one, is old Joe Wilkings, and, if you'll believe me, he'll
+make it hot for 'em yet!</p>
+
+<p class='author'><span class="smcap">J. F. Sullivan.</span></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image431.jpg" width="512" height="800"
+             alt="THE HORSE." /><br />
+             </div>
+
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image432.jpg" width="519" height="800"
+             alt="OCCUPATIONS." /><br />
+             </div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image433-1.jpg" width="650" height="352"
+             alt="TWO PROFILE VIEWS OF A REMARKABLE POTATO." /><br />
+TWO PROFILE VIEWS OF A REMARKABLE POTATO.
+             </div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+             <img   src="images/image433-2.jpg" width="650" height="414"
+             alt="A POTATO MASHER." /><br />
+
+             </div>
+<h4>Left&mdash;A POTATO MASHER.<br />Found at Preston, and Photographed by Mr. Luke Berry, of Chorley.
+</h4>
+
+<h4>Right&mdash;The above Photograph of a curious potato was taken by the
+late Mr. Fox, and sent to us by Mr. J. S. Clarke, of New Wandsworth.</h4>
+
+<h3>VEGETABLE ODDITIES.</h3><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue
+28, April 1893, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
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@@ -0,0 +1,5670 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28,
+April 1893, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue 28, April 1893
+       An Illustrated Monthly
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: George Newnes
+
+Release Date: March 11, 2007 [EBook #20798]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STRAND
+
+AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY
+
+
+Vol. 5, Issue. 28.
+
+April 1893
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: SANDRINGHAM
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+
+
+
+_The Prince of Wales at Sandringham._
+
+     [_The Prince of Wales is, of course, precluded by his position from
+     granting interviews like private persons, but His Royal Highness
+     has been so good as to give us special permission to insert the
+     following extremely interesting article, which we are happy to be
+     able to present to our readers in place of the Illustrated
+     Interview for the present month. The next of the series of
+     Illustrated Interviews, by Mr. Harry How, will appear next month.
+     Sir Robert Rawlinson, the celebrated engineer, whose work saved so
+     many lives in the Crimea, has given Mr. How a most interesting
+     interview, with special illustrations._]
+
+
+"Far from the busy haunt of man" might be fitly applied to Sandringham;
+so quiet, and so secluded, is this favourite residence of the heir to
+England's throne and his beautiful and universally esteemed wife.
+
+Not an ancient castle with tower and moat, not a show place such as
+would charm a merchant prince, but beautiful in its simplicity and
+attractive in its homeliness; yet withal, clothed in the dignity
+inseparable from its owners and its associations; in short, a happy
+English home, inhabited by a typical English family.
+
+How often have we seen them in the country lanes all squeezed into one
+wagonette, looking like a jolly village squire and his family; or
+watched the young Princes and Princesses careering round the park on
+their favourite steeds, and listened to their merry laughing voices as
+they emulated each other to come in winner!
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+When at Sandringham, State and its duties, society and its requirements,
+are relegated to the dim past and shadowy future; and our Prince is a
+country gentleman, deep in agriculture and the welfare of his tenantry;
+and his wife and children pass their time in visiting the schools, the
+poor, and the sick, working in their dairy, or at their sketching, art
+and useful needle-work, etc.
+
+Fortunately, the estate is above seven miles from King's Lynn, its
+nearest town, so that the family are not subjected to the prying gaze of
+the curious. They have not, however, the inconvenience of this long
+drive from the railway station, as there is one at Wolferton, a little
+village of about forty houses, on the estate, and between two and three
+miles from the "House."
+
+In 1883 the Prince added a suite of waiting-rooms to the building
+already there: the addition consisting of a large entrance-hall,
+approached by a covered carriage way, with rooms on either side for the
+Prince and Princess. These rooms are handsomely and tastefully
+furnished, and are used not only as waiting-rooms, but occasionally for
+luncheon, when the Prince and his guests are shooting in the vicinity of
+Wolferton. The station lies in a charming valley, and emerging from its
+grounds, you have before you a picturesque drive along a well gravelled
+road, bordered with velvety turf, and backed with fir, laurel, pine and
+gorse.
+
+Rabbits in hundreds are popping hither and thither, pheasants are flying
+over your head, squirrels are scampering up and down trees, there are
+sounds of many feathery songsters in the branches: while if you pause
+awhile, you may catch the distant murmur of the sea--certainly you can
+feel its breezes; and you seem to get the beauty of the Highlands, the
+grandeur of the sea, and the very pick of English scenery, all in one
+extensive panorama. The view from the heights is beyond description: an
+uninterrupted outlook over the North Sea, and a general survey of such
+wide range, that on clear days the steeple or tower of Boston church
+(familiarly known as "Boston Stump") can be plainly seen.
+
+Proceeding on your way, you pass the park boundary wall, the residence
+of the comptroller, the rectory, the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, with its flag waving in the breeze denoting the family are in
+residence--take a sudden curve in the road, and find yourself in front
+of the Norwich gates, admitting to the principal entrance. A solitary
+policeman is here on guard, but he knows his business, and knows every
+member of the household by sight; and though his duty consists in merely
+opening and shutting the gates, you may be quite sure he will not open
+to the wrong one.
+
+These gates are worthy of more than a passing glance, for they are a
+veritable masterpiece of design and mechanism. They were, in fact, one
+of the features of the 1862 Exhibition, and were afterwards presented to
+the Prince by the County of Norwich. On the top is the golden crown,
+supported by the Prince's feathers. Underneath, held by bronzed
+griffins, are heraldic shields representing the various titles of the
+Prince, while the remainder is composed of flowers, sprays, and creeping
+vines. They are connected with the palisading by rose, shamrock and
+thistle. The maker was Barnard, of Norwich.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAIN ENTRANCE
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Although this is the chief entrance, it is necessary to proceed up the
+avenue and diverge to the left, before the front of the building comes
+into view; then it will be seen to be of modernized Elizabethan
+architecture; exterior, red brick, with Ketton-stone dressing. Over the
+door is a carved inscription as follows: "This house was built by Albert
+Edward Prince of Wales and Alexandra his wife, in the year of Our Lord,
+1870." As a matter of fact, the estate had been purchased nine years
+previous to that date, for a sum of L220,000, but the Old Manor House
+was in such a condition that, after vainly trying to patch up and add on
+to, it was found desirable to pull it all down, and build an entirely
+new residence. Not only did the mansion need re-building, but also the
+cottages of the tenants and labourers: and much to the honour of the
+Prince and Princess, these cottages were their first care, and were all
+re-built and several new ones erected before they took possession of
+their own home.
+
+An invitation to Sandringham is an honour which few would lightly
+regard: and if it is your first visit you are in a flutter of
+anticipation and expectation, making it somewhat difficult to preserve
+the calm exterior that society demands of you. Now there are two
+distinct sets invited there; one from Friday to Monday, and one from
+Monday or Tuesday to Friday; the former generally including a bishop,
+dean, or canon for the Sunday service, two or three eminent statesmen,
+and a sprinkling of musical, literary, and artistic celebrities. To this
+list I will suppose you to belong.
+
+You have found carriages and baggage vans awaiting what is known as the
+"Royal train"--a special run just when the Prince is in residence--and
+you and your fellow-visitors have driven up to the principal entrance.
+There you alight, and are ushered by the footmen into a spacious hall or
+saloon, where you are received with the distinguished grace and courtesy
+for which your Royal host and hostess are so justly celebrated.
+
+[Illustration: THE SALOON
+
+_From A Photo. By Bedford Lemere._]
+
+You have only time for a rapid glance at the massive oak carving and
+valuable paintings (chief of which is one portraying the family at
+afternoon tea, by Zichy) before you find yourself being conducted to the
+handsome suite of apartments you will occupy during your visit. A cup of
+tea and some light refreshment, and the dinner-hour being 7.30 it is
+time to prepare. If you have not been here before, let me give you a
+word of warning, or you will commit the dreadful sin of unpunctuality.
+Every clock on the place, from the loud-voiced one over the stables to
+the tiniest of continental masterpieces, is kept half an hour fast. The
+ringing-out of the hour thirty minutes before you expect it is startling
+in the extreme; and your maid or man has a bad time of it until you
+discover the discrepancy.
+
+At last, however, you are ready, and in due time find yourself amidst
+the company in the grand dining saloon, where dinner is served in state,
+although not with the frigid formality one is inclined to expect. A
+certain degree of nervousness _must_ be felt by all on the first
+occasion they dine with Royalty; but your host and hostess are so
+extremely affable, and have such a happy gift of putting people at their
+ease, that you insensibly forget their august position, and find
+yourself chatting with comfort and enjoyment. You will notice the
+splendid proportions of this saloon, and the priceless Spanish tapestry
+with which it is hung--this was the gift of the King of Spain to the
+Prince. There is also a magnificent display of plate, much of it
+presentation. The tables are oblong, the Prince and Princess facing each
+other at the centre; the floor--as are most of them--is of polished oak,
+this one being freely scattered with costly Turkish rugs. I may here
+mention that adjoining this saloon is a spacious ante-room, containing a
+fine collection of tigers' skins, elephants' tusks, etc.: a good record
+of the travels of His Royal Highness, of much interest to travellers and
+sportsmen.
+
+[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR LUNCHEON.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+When you presently adjourn to the drawing-rooms--of which there are a
+suite of small ones in addition to the large one--you will find there is
+no lack of entertainment and amusement; such, indeed, as must suit the
+most varied tastes. First, however, we will take some note of the rooms
+themselves. These (the drawing-rooms) are all connected with the
+entrance-hall by a broad corridor, which is ornamented with pieces of
+armour, ancient china, stuffed birds, etc.: they face the lakes, and are
+on the western or front of the building, opening on to the terrace.
+
+The large drawing-room is of beautiful construction, fitted with windows
+reaching from ceiling to floor. The walls are panelled with pink and
+blue, with mouldings of gold and cream. The furniture is upholstered in
+pale blue, with threads of deep crimson and gold; the hangings are of
+rich chenille; the floor of polished oak, with rich Indian rugs
+distributed here and there. A plentiful scattering of music and books
+gives it a home-like appearance, while hand embroidery, sketches,
+painting on china, and feather screens show the variety of talent and
+skill of the ladies of the family. In the very centre of the room is a
+large piece of rockwork, with a tasteful arrangement (carried out under
+the care of the Princess herself) of choice ferns and beautiful roses in
+bloom, while rising out of the midst is a marble figure of Venus. The
+principal conservatory opens from this room. It is rich in palms and
+ferns, and contains a monument of art to Madame Jerichau, the
+sculptress, in the shape of a group of bathing girls.
+
+Meanwhile, whatever amusement is to be the order has by this time
+commenced: perhaps it is music--the ladies of the family are all good
+musicians--perhaps it is _tableaux vivants_, or possibly a carpet dance.
+If your tastes do not lie in these directions, or after you have enjoyed
+them for a sufficient time, you have the choice of using the
+billiard-room, the American bowling alley, or the smoking-rooms. The
+billiard-room will interest you vastly: it is literally lined with arms
+of all descriptions. The tables, of course, are of the best.
+
+[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM, WITH TABLE SET FOR DINNER.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+[Illustration: WITHDRAWING-ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Another room you may perhaps find your way to to-night is the "Serapis"
+room; it is half library and half smoking-room; in it you will see the
+entire fittings of the cabin the Prince occupied on his journey to
+India, in the vessel of the above name. One thing you may rest assured
+of--that neither on this evening nor at any other time while at
+Sandringham will you know a dull moment.
+
+[Illustration: THE CORRIDOR.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+In the morning you will find breakfast served at nine o'clock in the
+dining saloon. As, however, the Prince and Princess generally take
+theirs in their private apartments, there is no formality, and you do
+not feel bound to the punctuality imperative when you meet their Royal
+Highnesses.
+
+Perhaps you have letters to write; and I may as well here remark that
+the postal arrangements are first-rate. There is a post-office _inside_
+the house, which is also a money order office. Three deliveries per day
+come in that way, while mounted men meet the trains at Wolferton
+Station. There is also telegraphic communication with Central London,
+King's Lynn, and Marlborough House; and telephone to Wolferton Station,
+the stud farm, agents, bailiff, etc.
+
+Before proceeding to outdoor sights--which will not be possible very
+early, as your host has a multiplicity of business to get through--you
+had better take the opportunity of seeing some of the rare and beautiful
+treasures indoors. Of course, all are aware of the extensive travels of
+the Prince in many countries, and will, therefore, expect to find many
+mementos of the same in his home; but I think few are prepared to find
+them so numerous and so valuable. Not only does one see them here and
+there in various directions, but one room of considerable dimensions is
+set apart altogether for them, and a day could be profitably spent in
+their inspection. It is not only their costliness and their beauty, but
+the associations which make them of so much interest. This one was
+presented by the King of this place; this one by Prince So-and-so; this
+by such a town, and this by such an order or society, until the vision
+is quite dazzled with beauty.
+
+Perhaps as a strong contrast you may get a peep at the Prince's
+morning-room, a room plainly and usefully fitted and furnished in light
+oak. There you will see such a batch of correspondence that you will be
+inclined to wonder when it will be got through, but the Prince is a
+capital business man, and nothing is lost sight of.
+
+The libraries must not be overlooked: there are quite a suite of them,
+well stocked with English and French literature more particularly. A
+large number will be noticed as presentation volumes, in handsome and
+unique bindings. One of these rooms also contains many mementos of
+travel and sport in various climes.
+
+[Illustration: THE CONSERVATORY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+Two additional stories have within the last few weeks been completed
+over the bowling alley and billiard-room, making a total of about
+eighteen apartments, henceforth to be known as "The Bachelors' Wing."
+
+[Illustration: THE BILLIARD SALOON
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+For some years the large hall at the entrance was made to do duty for a
+ball-room, and no mean one either; but the Prince thinking it not quite
+so commodious as he would wish, he, some nine years ago, had a new and
+larger one built. This, and one or two other rooms, really constitute a
+new wing. The turret of this wing has just been raised, in order to
+place therein a clock purchased by the local tradesmen as a memorial to
+the late Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The ball-room is of immense size
+and lofty construction, with fine bay windows at either end, and large
+alcoves on either side, one containing a magnificent fire-place, and the
+other windows. The walls are artistic triumphs, being finely painted in
+delicate colours, and on them arranged a fine collection of Indian
+trophies. The floor is of oak, and kept in such a condition of polish as
+to be a pitfall and snare to any dancer not in constant practice. More
+than one or two couples have been known to suddenly subside, even in the
+most select of the select circles there assembled.
+
+[Illustration: THE BOWLING ALLEY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Beford Lemere._]
+
+If during your visit one of the annual balls should take place, you are
+most fortunate. There are three of such--the "County," the "Tenants',"
+and the "Servants'," the first, of course, bringing the _elite_; but
+the two latter sometimes presenting a curious mixture. The tenants, I
+may say, are allowed to introduce a limited number of friends, a
+privilege highly valued, and much sought after by the most remote
+acquaintance of each and every tenant on the estate. A most wonderful
+display of colours distinguishes these Norfolkites, bright of hue, too,
+and more often than not dames of fifty got up in the style of damsels of
+eighteen.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRINCE'S BUSINESS ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+[Illustration: THE LIBRARY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+And what appetites these yeomen and cattle-dealers have got, to be sure!
+And if you had a few tramps across the "Broads" you would not wonder at
+it, for hunger is soon the predominant feeling. The dancing, too, is a
+study; country dances, reels, and jigs following each other in such
+quick succession, that the band in the gallery at the far end do not
+have any too easy a time of it. Through everything, the same kindly
+interest is displayed by the Royal host and hostess; their interest
+never wanes, and their courtesy never flags, but everyone is noticed,
+and made to feel as much at their ease as it is possible for them to be.
+
+Perhaps the servants' ball is as pretty a sight as one could see in the
+room--the toilettes of the Royal Family and their visitors, the rich
+state liveries of the footmen, the scattering of Highland costumes, the
+green and buff of the gamekeepers, and the caps of the maidservants, all
+blending into an ever-moving kaleidoscope, picturesque in the extreme.
+
+Few that are familiar with Sandringham can enter this room without
+thinking of the occasion when the proud and loving mother entered,
+leaning on the arm of her eldest boy, on the day he attained his
+majority. The fairest and bravest of all England were there assembled to
+do him honour; and from all parts of the world "happy returns" and long
+life were wished for he whom all regarded as their future King. Some of
+the associations of this home must of necessity be saddening, but on the
+other hand, much must remind of many little acts of kindness and loving
+attentions paid; and were this a biography of the late Prince, many
+little anecdotes of his great thoughtfulness for those around him might
+be told; but his monument will be in the memories of all who knew him.
+
+To return, however, to description. After the Prince has dispatched his
+necessary business, he generally takes his visitors round to view the
+park, gardens, model farm, stables, kennels, or whatever His Royal
+Highness thinks may interest them most. If you are an enthusiast in
+farming, you will be immensely interested in the 600 acres of land
+farmed on scientific principles. Every known improvement in machinery,
+etc., is introduced, with results of as near perfection as possible in
+crops. The Prince looks a genuine farmer, as he tramps through the
+fields in true Norfolk garb of tweed and gaiters; and it does not
+require much attention to find from his conversation that he quite
+understands what he is talking about; so it behoves one to rub up his
+weak points in this direction.
+
+In the stables all are disposed to linger; every one of (I think) sixty
+stalls being inhabited by first-rate steeds, many of them good racers.
+The prettiest sight of all is the Princess's stable--a smaller one
+adjoining; this is tiled white and green, with stalls ornamented in
+silver. Here are some charming ponies driven by Her Royal Highness, and
+her favourite mare Vera. On this mare, accompanied by her children on
+their mounts, the Princess may often be met in the lanes around
+Sandringham, occasionally also driving in a little pony carriage, and in
+both cases almost unattended.
+
+[Illustration: THE BALL-ROOM.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+The kennels come next in order: they contain dogs of every breed from
+all parts of the land. The younger members of the family especially have
+many pets--cats, dogs, and birds; indeed, one of the first things you
+notice on your arrival is a parrot in the entrance saloon, that
+invariably greets you with calling for "three cheers for the Queen!"
+
+It is now nearly luncheon time (1.30), and here you all meet again; some
+of the ladies perhaps having been honoured the first part of the day by
+spending some time with the Princess. Generally speaking, but not
+always, their Royal Highnesses join the party for lunch; but in any
+case, after that meal, forces are united, and the company entire start
+off, sometimes on foot, commencing with gardens, sometimes in carriages
+for a more distant inspection. To-day it is fine, and so we commence
+with emerging on to the west terrace, and into the western gardens.
+
+The terraces are very handsome, and many of the rooms open on to them
+from French windows or conservatories. First you will notice a Chinese
+joss-house or temple, made of costly metal, guarded on either side by
+two huge granite lions from Japan, all of them the gifts to the Prince
+of Admiral Keppel.
+
+The gardens are tastefully and artistically laid out, with such a
+wildness, yet with such a wealth of shrubs and pines, aided by
+artificial rockwork, a cave, and a rushing cascade, that one might well
+imagine one was in another country.
+
+The Alpine gardens contain flowers and ferns of the choicest; and you
+presently emerge on the shores of a lake of considerable size. Here
+boating in the summer and skating in the winter may be indulged in, the
+latter, especially by torchlight, being a most attractive sight. The
+illuminations in the trees around, the flaring torches, the lights fixed
+to the chairs as they glide about like will o' the wisps, and the
+villagers (who are always invited) standing around, make up a picture
+not easily forgotten. This lake has recently been supplemented by the
+excavation of another in the centre of the park, a running stream
+connecting the two.
+
+Chief, or almost chief, of the Sandringham outdoor sights is a famous
+avenue of trees. At some future time this avenue will be of even more
+interest than it is now, and will become, in fact, historical; for every
+tree there has been planted by some personage of note. On each one you
+will notice a neat label, stating name of planter and date of planting,
+chief of the names being Queen Victoria and the Empress Frederick.
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The model dairy is a picture; but here again the preference must be
+given to that owned by the Princess. It is a Swiss cottage, containing
+five rooms, one of the five being a very pretty tea-room, and here Her
+Royal Highness sometimes favours her friends with the "cup that cheers,"
+often, too, cutting bread and butter and cake with her own fair hands.
+Moreover, the same hands have often made the butter that is used--as
+each of the ladies of the family is skilled in dairy management, and
+capable of turning out a good honest pat of creamy Norfolk. Merry times
+they have had in this cottage, arrayed in apron and sleeves, doing the
+real _work_, not merely giving directions.
+
+You would not be in any of the villages long before you saw some of the
+children attending some one of the various schools, clad in their
+scarlet and Royal blue; they look very comfortable and picturesque.
+There is a first-rate technical school, in addition to the ordinary ones
+of each village. The first was founded by the Princess herself, and in
+each of them Her Royal Highness and her children take a deep interest;
+often visiting them, taking classes, and asking questions. These
+schools, then, are shown you this afternoon; and, as a matter of course,
+you proceed from there to the Working Men's Club--one of which is
+established in each village. These are open to men above the age of
+fourteen.[A] Billiards, bagatelle, draughts, etc., are provided, and
+there is a good stock of newspapers and books. Refreshments may be
+obtained of good quality, and for a small outlay; and everything is done
+that can be done to make the men comfortable. Does it keep them from the
+public-house? you ask. Well--_there is not such a thing known as a
+public-house on the Prince's estate_. A man can get his glass of ale at
+the club--good in quality and low in figure--but he cannot get enough to
+send him home the worse for coming; so drunkenness is unknown in the
+villages.
+
+[A] Small men; but is an actual extract from the printed rules
+hanging in the clubs.
+
+On Sunday morning everybody goes to the little church of St. Mary
+Magdalene, in the park. The Prince and Princess set the example by their
+regular and punctual attendance--the Princess and ladies generally
+driving, the Prince and gentlemen walking by private footway. A quiet,
+peaceful spot it is, entered by a lych-gate and surrounded by a small
+"God's acre." If you are wise, you have come early enough to look round.
+Simplicity is stamped on everything, there not being a single imposing
+monument there. Several stones have been erected by the Prince in memory
+of faithful servants of the household, and there are also several placed
+there by the former proprietors of the estate. To what you are most
+attracted is the resting-place of the third Royal son. No costly
+sepulchre, but a simple grassy mound, surrounded by gilt iron railings
+with a plain headstone, recording the name and date of birth and death
+of the infant Prince, and the words "Suffer little children to come unto
+Me" added.
+
+The church itself is of ancient date, and has been twice restored and
+enlarged by the Prince. It has a font of early times, and some
+half-dozen stained glass windows. The Prince has caused several
+monuments, busts, etc., to be placed there, conspicuous being busts to
+the late Princess Alice and the Emperor Frederick, a medallion to the
+late Duke of Albany, a stained glass window to the infant Prince, and
+monuments to the Revs. W. L. Onslow and G. Browne. The most noticeable
+of anything there, however, is a very handsome brass lectern, placed by
+the Princess as a thank-offering for the recovery of the Prince from his
+dangerous illness of typhoid fever. The event is within the memory of
+most of us, and needs only a brief notice to recall the national anxiety
+that was displayed on the occasion. The lectern bears the following
+inscription: "To the glory of God. A thank-offering for His mercy, 14th
+December, 1871. 'When I was in trouble, I called upon the Lord, and He
+heard me.'"
+
+The space for worshippers is limited, and is generally quite filled by
+the household. The Royal Family occupy carved oak seats in the nave. The
+organ is a very fine one, particularly sweet in tone, and is situated in
+the rear of the building; it is presided over by a very able musician,
+who is also responsible for the choir--this consisting of school
+children, grooms, gardeners, etc. The singing is really good.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRINCESS OF WALES' BOUDOIR.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bedford Lemere._]
+
+I have heard down there of a former organist, who was _not_ a great
+musician, and, in fact, was more at home in the village shop, of which
+he was proprietor. Sunday after Sunday he made the most awful mistakes,
+and, in consequence, was continually warned of his probable dismissal.
+The Princess, with her invariable kindness, had been the cause of his
+staying so long as he had; but one Sunday the climax was reached and the
+Royal patience fairly exhausted. Mr. Gladstone (then in office) was on a
+visit, and his solemn, grim countenance as he stood in the church quite
+frightened the poor man, inasmuch as he lost his head completely. The
+organ left off in the chants, persisted in playing in the prayers, and
+altogether acted in such an erratic manner, that it was no wonder that
+anger was depicted on one countenance, sorrow on another, and amusement
+on a few of the more youthful ones! The old institution had to give way
+to a new, however, and a repetition of such performances was thus
+avoided.
+
+[Illustration: H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA AND H.R.H. PRINCESS MAUD OF
+WALES.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The Sunday afternoon is quietly spent in the house or grounds; then in
+the evening some may, perhaps, drive to West Newton or Wolferton
+Church--the Prince, Princess and family often do--while others may
+prefer to stay in for music or reading.
+
+On your way to either place you cannot but notice the prosperous look of
+the villages and villagers, pointing unmistakably to the certainty of a
+good landlord. Had you longer time here, you would hear many an anecdote
+of the kindness and generosity of the Prince and the goodness of the
+Princess and her daughters. Hardly a cottager but has some anecdote to
+tell you of the family: how the Princess visits the sick and afflicted,
+talking to them, reading to them, and helping them in their needs. Every
+child seems to know and to love the "beautiful lady," and every man and
+woman seems almost to worship her; and if you heard the anecdotes I have
+heard there, you would not wonder at it. "Think o' they R'yal
+Highnesses"--they would say--"making o' things wi' their own 'ands fer
+sich as us! Did yew ever heerd tell o' sich, says I; none o' yer frames
+and frimmirks (airs and graces) wi' they." And then they would go on
+with their "says I" and "says she," and tell you all about summer flower
+shows for villagers, treats on Royal birthdays, invitations to see
+sights in the park, how the family have given a wedding present to this
+one, what they have brought or sent the other one when ill; and so on,
+and so on, until you come to think what a pity it is a few land-owners,
+with their wives and families, cannot come here for the lessons so many
+need, and see how well this family interpret the words: "Am I my
+brother's keeper?"
+
+[Illustration: THE DUKE OF YORK.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+Sandringham has saddening associations for its owners, but "Joy cometh
+in the morning," and as we take our farewell of this favourite residence
+of the Prince and Princess, we will wish them a bright future and
+continuance of good health to enjoy their Norfolk home.
+
+
+
+
+_Shafts from an Eastern Quiver._
+
+X.--THE HUNTED TRIBE OF THREE HUNDRED PEAKS.
+
+BY CHARLES J. MANSFORD, B.A.
+
+
+I.
+
+"Are you awake, sahibs?" questioned Hassan, our guide, as he eagerly
+roused us from sleep one night. "The Hunted Tribe of Three Hundred Peaks
+is about its deadly work: Listen!"
+
+[Illustration: "LISTEN!"]
+
+We sat up and leant forward as he spoke, straining our ears to catch the
+slightest sound. Across the plain which stretched before us came at
+intervals a faint cry, which sounded like the hoot of a night bird.
+
+"That is their strange signal," continued the Arab.
+
+We rose, and, going to the door of the tent, scanned the wide plain, but
+could see no human being crossing it.
+
+"You are mistaken this time, Hassan," said Denviers. "What you heard was
+an owl hooting."
+
+"The sahib it is who misjudges," answered the Arab, calmly. "I have
+heard the warning note of the tribe before."
+
+"It seems to come from the direction of Ayuthia," I interposed, pointing
+to where the faint outlines of the spires of its pagodas rose like
+shadows under the starlit sky.
+
+"It comes from beyond Ayuthia," responded Hassan, whose keen sense of
+hearing was so remarkable; "and is as far away as the strange city built
+on the banks round a sunken ship, which we saw as we floated down the
+Meinam. Hist! I hear the signal again!"
+
+Once more we listened, but that time the cry came to us from a different
+direction.
+
+"It is only an owl hooting," repeated Denviers, "which has now flown to
+some other part of the plain and is hidden from us by one of the ruined
+palaces, which seem to rise up like ghosts in the moonlight. If Hassan
+means to wake us up every time he hears a bird screech we shall get
+little enough rest. I'm going to lie down again." He entered the tent,
+followed by us, and stretching himself wearily was asleep a few minutes
+after this, while Hassan and I sat conversing together, for the strange,
+bird-like cry prevented me from following Denviers' example.
+
+"_Coot! Coot!_" came the signal again, and in spite of my companion's
+opinion I felt forced to agree with the Arab that there was something
+more than a bird hooting, for at times I plainly heard an answering cry.
+
+After our adventure in the northern part of Burmah we had travelled
+south into the heart of Siam, where we parted with our elephant, and
+passed down the Meinam in one of the barges scooped out of a tree trunk,
+such as are commonly used to navigate this river. Disembarking at
+Ayuthia we had visited the ruins of the ancient city, and afterwards
+continued on our way towards the mouth of the river. While examining the
+colossal images which lie amid the other relics of the city's past
+greatness, Hassan had told us a weird story, to which, however, at that
+time we paid but scant attention.
+
+On the night when our Arab guide had roused us so suddenly, our tent was
+pitched at some distance from the bank of the river, where a fantastic
+natural bridge of jagged white limestone spanned the seething waters of
+the tumbling rapids below, and united the two parts of the great plain.
+Sitting close to the entrance of the tent with Hassan, I could see far
+away to the west the tops of the great range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+beyond the plain. Recollecting that Hassan had mentioned them in his
+story, I was just on the point of asking him to repeat it when I heard
+the strange cry once more. A moment after the Arab seized me by the arm
+and pointed towards the plain before us.
+
+I looked in the direction which Hassan indicated, and my eyes rested on
+the dismantled wall of a ruined palace. I observed nothing further for a
+few minutes, then a dusky form seemed to be hiding in the shadow of the
+wall. "_Coot!_" came the signal again, striking upon the air softly as
+if the one who uttered it feared to be discovered. The cry had
+apparently been uttered by someone beyond the river bank, for the man
+lurking in the shadow of the ruin stepped boldly out from it into the
+moonlit plain. He stood there silent for a moment, then dropped into the
+high grass, above which we saw him raise his head and cautiously return
+the signal.
+
+"What do you think he is doing there, Hassan? " I asked the Arab, in a
+whisper, as I saw his hand wander to the hilt of his sword.
+
+"The hill-men have seen our tent while out on one of their expeditions,"
+he responded, softly. "I think they are going to attempt to take us by
+surprise, but by the aid of the Prophet we will outwit them."
+
+I felt no particular inclination to place much trust in Mahomet's help,
+as the danger which confronted us dawned fully upon my mind, so instead
+I moved quickly over to Denviers, and awoke him.
+
+[Illustration: "THE SWARTHY FACE OF A TURBANED HILL-MAN."]
+
+"Is it the owl again?" he asked, as I motioned to him to look through
+the opening of the tent. Immediately he did so, and saw the swarthy face
+of a turbaned hill-man raised above the rank grass, as its owner made
+slowly but steadily towards our tent, worming along like a snake, and
+leaving a thin line of beaten-down herbage to show where his body had
+passed. Denviers drew from his belt one of the pistols thrust there, for
+we had taken the precaution at Rangoon to get a couple each, since our
+own were lost in our adventure off Ceylon. I quietly imitated his
+example, and, drawing well away from the entrance of the tent, so that
+our watchfulness might not be observed, we waited for the hill-man to
+approach. Half-way between the ruined palace wall and our tent he
+stopped, and then I felt Hassan's hand upon my arm again as, with the
+other, he pointed towards the river bank.
+
+We saw the grass moving there, and through it came a second hill-man,
+who gradually drew near to the first. On reaching him the second comer
+also became motionless, while we next saw four other trails of
+beaten-down grass, marking the advance of further foes. How many more
+were coming on behind we could only surmise, as we watched the six
+hill-men who headed them get into a line one before the other, and then
+advance, keeping about five yards apart as they came on. From the
+position in which our tent was pitched it was impossible for an attack
+to be made upon us in the rear, and this circumstance fortunately
+allowed of undivided attention to the movements of the hill-men whom we
+saw creeping silently forward.
+
+"Wait till the first one of them gets to the opening of our tent,"
+whispered Denviers to me; "and while I deal with him shoot down the
+second. Keep cool and take a steady aim as he rises from the grass, and
+whatever you do, don't miss him."
+
+[Illustration: "HE SULLENLY FLUNG HIS PONIARD DOWN."]
+
+I held my pistol ready as we waited for them to come on, and each second
+measured with our eyes the distance which still separated us. Twenty
+yards from the tent the foremost of the hill-men took the kris or bent
+poniard with which he was armed from between his teeth, and held it
+aloft in his right hand as he came warily crawling on a foot at a time
+followed by the others, each with his weapon raised as though already
+about to plunge it into our throats. It was not a very cheering
+spectacle, but we held our weapons ready and watched their advance
+through thy grass, determined to thrust them back.
+
+I felt my breath come fast as the first hill-man stopped when within
+half-a-dozen yards of the tent and listened carefully. I could have
+easily shot him down as he half rose to his feet, and his fierce eyes
+glittered in his swarthy face. Almost mechanically I noticed the loose
+shirt and trousers which he wore, and saw the white turban lighting up
+his bronzed features as he crept right up to our tent and thrust his
+head in, confident that those within it were asleep. The next instant he
+was down, with Denviers' hand on his throat and a pistol thrust into his
+astonished face, as my companion exclaimed:--
+
+"Drop your weapon or I'll shoot you!"
+
+The hill-man glared like a tiger for a moment, then he saw the advantage
+of following Denviers' suggestion. He sullenly flung his poniard down,
+gasping for breath, just as I covered the second of our enemies with my
+pistol and fired. The hill-man raised his arms convulsively in the air,
+gave a wild cry, and fell forward upon his face, dead!
+
+The third of those attacking us dashed forward, undaunted at the fate of
+the one he saw shot down, only to be flung headlong on the grass the
+next instant before the tent, with Hassan kneeling on his chest and the
+point of the Arab's sword at his throat.
+
+The rest of the enemy did not wait to continue the combat, but rose from
+the grass and dispersed precipitately over the plain, making for the
+limestone bridge across the river. I rushed forward to Hassan's
+assistance, and bound the captive's arms, while the Arab held him down
+as I knotted tightly the sash I had taken from my waist. Then I made for
+the tent, to find that Denviers had already secured the first prisoner
+by lashing about him a stout piece of tent rope. My companion forced his
+captive from the tent into the open plain, where we held a whispered
+conversation as to whether the two prisoners should live or die. The
+safer plan was undoubtedly to shoot them, for we both agreed that at any
+moment our own position might become a critical one if the rest of the
+horde made another attempt upon us, as we fully expected would be done.
+
+However, we finally decided to spare their lives, for a time at all
+events, and while Hassan and Denviers led the captives across the plain,
+I brought from the tent part of a long coil of rope which we had and
+followed them. As soon as we neared the river bank we selected two
+suitable trees from a clump growing there and lashed the prisoners
+securely to them, threatening instant death if they attempted to signal
+their whereabouts to any of the hill-men who might be lurking about.
+
+"Get our rifles and ammunition, Hassan," said Denviers to the Arab. Then
+turning to me, he continued: "We shall have some tough fighting I expect
+when those niggers return, but we are able to hold our own better out of
+the tent than in it." Hassan brought our weapons, saying as he handed
+them to us:--
+
+"The sahibs are wise to prepare for another attack, since the enemy must
+return this way. They have not gone off towards the far mountain peaks,
+but crossed yonder limestone bridge instead."
+
+"What do you understand from that movement?" Denviers asked Hassan.
+
+"The sound which we heard at first came from the strange city of which I
+spoke," he replied. "Some of the fierce hill-men have made a night
+attack upon it, and will soon return this way. Those we have beaten off
+have gone to meet them and to speak of the failure to surprise us. What
+they are doing in the city round the sunken ship will shortly be
+apparent. The whole band is a terrible scourge to the cities of the
+Meinam, for, by Allah, as I told the sahibs at Ayuthia, the Hunted Tribe
+has a weird history indeed."
+
+Trailing our rifles, we walked through the rank grass, then resting upon
+a fallen column, where the shadow of the ruined palace wall concealed us
+from the view of the enemy if they crossed the bridge, we listened to
+Hassan's story. At the same time we kept a careful watch upon the jagged
+limestone spanning the river, ready at a moment's notice to renew the
+struggle, and it was well for us that we did so.
+
+
+II.
+
+"It is a strange, wild story which the sahibs shall again hear of the
+Hunted Tribe and of its leader," began Hassan, as he rested at our feet
+with his sword gripped in his hand ready to wield it in our service at
+any moment; "and thus ye will know why the band is out to-night on its
+fell errand. Years ago, before the Burmese had overrun Siam, and while
+Ayuthia was its capital, so famous for its pagodas and palaces, Yu Chan
+became head of the bonzes or priests of the royal monastery.
+
+"Who the great bonze was by birth none knew, although it was whispered
+through the kingdom that he sprang from a certain illustrious family
+which urged his claim to the position to which the ruler reluctantly
+appointed him. The subject bonzes looked darkly upon him, for he was but
+young, while many of them were bowed with age and aspired to hold the
+high office to which Yu Chan had been appointed. Oft they drew together
+in the gloomy cloisters, and when he swept past in silence, raised their
+hands threateningly at his disappearing form, though before his lofty,
+stern-set face they bowed in seeming humility as they kissed the hem of
+his magnificent robe.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY RAISED THEIR HANDS THREATENINGLY AT HIS
+DISAPPEARING FORM."]
+
+"Among these bonzes was one who especially resented Yu Chan's rule over
+him, for he was more learned in the subtile crafts of the East than the
+rest, and the potency of his spells was known and feared throughout
+Siam. An unbending ascetic, indeed, was the grey-bearded Klan Hua, and
+the ruler of the country had already promised to him that he should
+become the head of the bonzes whenever the office was vacated. So much
+was this ruler influenced by Klan Hua that he built a covered way from
+his palace by which he might pass at night into the bonze's rude cell to
+hear the interpretation of his dreams, or learn the coming events of his
+destiny. Yet, in spite of all this, when the chief bonze died, the ruler
+of Siam, after much hesitation, gave the coveted office to Yu Chan.
+Judge, then, of the fierce hatred which this roused in Klan Hua's
+breast, and ye will understand the reason of the plot which he formed
+against the one who held the position he so much desired."
+
+"Never mind about the quarrels of these estimable bonzes, Hassan,"
+interrupted Denviers. "Go on and tell us of these hill-men, or you won't
+get that yarn finished before they return, in which case we may never
+have the chance to hear the end of it."
+
+"The sahib is always impatient," answered the Arab gravely; then he
+continued, quite heedless of Denviers' suggestion: "On the nights when
+the ruler went not to Klan Hua's cell, the latter gathered there several
+of the other bonzes, and they sat darkly plotting till morning came.
+Then they crept stealthily back to their own cells, to shift their eyes
+nervously each time that the stern glance of Yu Chan fell upon them, as
+he seemed to read there their guilty secret.
+
+"They planned to poison him, but he left the tampered food untasted.
+Then they drew lots to assassinate him as he slept, but the one whose
+tablet was marked with a poniard was found lifeless the next day, with
+his weapon still clutched in his stiffened fingers, and none knew how he
+died. That day the eyes of Yu Chan grew sterner set than ever, as he
+gazed searchingly into the face of each bonze as they passed in a long
+procession before him, while the conspirators grew livid with fear and
+baffled rage at the cold smile with which he seemed to mock at the
+failure of their schemes. Then they made one last effort a few days
+after, and ye shall hear how it ended.
+
+"The stately Meinam, which glitters before us under the midnight sky,
+yearly overflows and renders the earth about it productive. Far as the
+history of Siam is recorded in the traditions of the race, it has been
+the custom to perform a strange ceremony, intended to impress the common
+people with awe for the ruler. Even now the King of Siam, he who sends
+the silver tree to China in token of subjection, still adheres to it,
+and on the day when the waters of the Meinam have reached their highest
+point he sends a royal barge down the swollen waters manned by a hundred
+bonzes, who command the turbid stream to rise no higher. So then it
+happened that the rise of the river took place, and Klan Hua, who was
+learned in such things, counted to the hour when the barge should be
+launched, even as he had done for many years. When the ruler visited him
+one eventful night he declared that the turbid waters would be at their
+full on the morrow, and so the command to them to cease rising could
+then safely be given.
+
+"Accordingly the royal barge was launched, amid the cries of the people,
+whereupon the ruler soon entered it and, fanned by a female slave, leant
+back upon the sumptuous cushions under a canopy of crimson silk, while
+by his side was the chief bonze--Yu Chan. Near the ruler was the
+grey-bearded Klan Hua, with an evil smile upon his face as he saw his
+rival resting on the cushions in the place which he had hoped so long to
+fill.
+
+"Out into the middle of the swollen river the royal barge went; then
+half way between bank and bank the rhythmic music of the oars as they
+dipped together into the water ceased, and the rowers rested. From his
+seat Yu Chan arose, and uttered in the priestly tongue the words which
+laid a spell upon the stream and bade it cease to rise. Scarcely had he
+done so and sunk back again upon the cushions when Klan Hua threw
+himself at the monarch's feet and petitioned to utter a few words to
+him. The ruler raised the bonze, and bade him speak. Holding one hand
+aloft, the plotting Klan Hua pointed with the other towards the
+astonished Yu Chan, as he fiercely cried:--
+
+"'Thou false-tongued traitor, thou hast insulted thy monarch to his
+face!'
+
+"The ruler bent forward from his cushions and looked in surprise from
+the accuser to the accused.
+
+"'Speak!' he cried to Klan Hua; 'make good thy unseemly charge, or, old
+as thou art, thy head shall roll from thy shoulders!'
+
+"'Great Ruler of Siam and Lord of the White Elephant,' exclaimed the
+accuser, giving the monarch his strange but august title, 'I declare to
+thee that the chief bonze has doomed the country to destruction. Taking
+advantage of the language in which the exorcism is pronounced, he has
+done what never the greatest prince under thee would dare to do. This
+man, the head of our order, has spoken words which will make the people
+scorn thee and this ceremony, if his command comes to pass. Yu Chan, the
+traitor, has bidden the waters _to rise_!'
+
+"The monarch crimsoned with anger, as he turned to Yu Chan, who had
+already regained his composure, and sat with crossed arms, smiling
+scornfully at his accuser, and then asked:--
+
+"'Hast thou so misused thy power? Speak!'
+
+"'How can'st thou doubt me, knowing my great descent?' cried Yu Chan,
+bitterly. 'Even at thy bidding I will not answer a question which casts
+so much shame upon me.'
+
+"'Thou can'st not deny this charge!' exclaimed the infuriated monarch.
+
+"'Not so,' replied the chief bonze, 'I will not! If thou carest to
+believe the slanderous words which Klan Hua has uttered, and such that
+not one in this barge will dare to repeat, so be it!'
+
+"Yu Chan withdrew from his seat at the monarch's side, and taking his
+rival's place pointed to the one he had himself vacated.
+
+"'There rest thyself, and be at last content,' he said, scornfully:
+'thou false bonze, whisper thence more of thy malicious words into the
+ears of the great ruler of Siam!'
+
+"The monarch was disconcerted for a moment, then motioning one of the
+other bonzes forward, he exclaimed:--
+
+"'Yu Chan declares that no one in this barge will support his accuser's
+words. Thou who wert near, tell me, what am I to believe?'
+
+"'Alas!' answered the bonze, with simulated grief, 'Klan Hua spoke
+truly, great monarch; thy trust in Yu Chan has been sorely abused.'
+
+"One after another the bonzes near came before the monarch and gave the
+same testimony, for the crafty Klan Hua had so placed the plotters for
+the furtherance of their subtle scheme. The ruler gazed angrily at Yu
+Chan, then summoning his rival to his side, bade him rest there.
+
+"'Henceforth thou art chief bonze,' he said; then added threateningly to
+the fallen one: 'Thou shalt be exiled from this hour, and if the waters
+rise to-morrow, as thou hast bidden them, I will have thee hunted down,
+hide where thou mayest, and thy head shall fall.'
+
+"The barge reached the shore, and the people drew back amazed to see the
+monarch pass on, attended closely by Klan Hua, while he who was as they
+thought chief bonze flung off his great robe of purple-embroidered silk,
+and idly watched the bonzes disembark, then moved slowly away across the
+great plain.
+
+[Illustration: "KLAN HUA WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS CELL."]
+
+"Two days afterwards Klan Hua was found dead in his cell covered with
+the robes of his newly-acquired office, and the ruler of Siam had
+dispatched a body of soldiers to hunt down Yu Chan and to take him alive
+or dead to Ayuthia. The Meinam had risen still higher the day after the
+ceremony, not, as the startled monarch thought, because of the deposed
+one's power, but owing to Klan Hua's deception in regard to the real
+time when he knew the water would reach its limit.
+
+"Then began the strange events which made the name of Yu Chan so
+memorable. For some years a band of marauders had taken possession of
+the far range known as the Three Hundred Peaks, but hitherto their raids
+in Burmah and Siam had attracted scant attention, while in Ayuthia few
+knew of their existence. To them the bonze went, and when the
+half-savage troops sent in search of him were encamped on the edge of
+the plain the mountaineers unexpectedly swooped down upon them. The
+remnant which escaped hastened back to the monarch with strange stories
+of the prowess of the enemy, and especially of Yu Chan, the exile, whom
+they averred led on the foe to victory. The ruler of Siam, deeply
+chagrined at their non-success, ordered the vanquished ones to be
+decapitated for their failure to bring back the bonze or his lifeless
+body.
+
+"A second expedition was sent against them, but the mountaineers held
+their fastnesses so well that, in despair of conquering them, the few
+who survived their second onslaught slew themselves rather than return
+to Ayuthia to suffer a like fate to that which the monarch had awarded
+the others. Maddened at these repeated defeats, the ruler himself headed
+a large army and invested the passes, cutting off the supplies of the
+mountaineers, in the hope of starving them into subjection. So deeply
+was he roused against Yu Chan that he offered to pardon the rebels on
+condition that they betrayed their leader.
+
+"They scornfully rejected such terms, and withdrew to the heart of the
+mountains to endure all the horrors of famine with a courage which was
+heroic. At times the brave band made desperate efforts to break through
+the wall of men which girded them about, and each onset, in which they
+were beaten back, inspired them to try yet again.
+
+"The Malay who told me their story declared they were reduced to such
+straits at last that for one dreadful month they lived upon their dead.
+Never once did they waver from their allegiance to Yu Chan, whose
+stern-set face inspired them to resist to the last, for well he knew
+that the monarch's promise could not be trusted, and that surrender for
+them meant death. Often would they be repulsed at sunset in an attempt
+to break through the cordon which held them, and yet before nightfall,
+at the entrance of some precipitous pass, far remote from that spot,
+swift and sudden the gaunt and haggard band appeared, led on by Yu Chan,
+sword in hand, as he hewed down those who dared to face him.
+
+"Just when they were most oppressed relief came to the band of a quite
+unexpected kind, for the Burmese on the border overran Siam, and the
+soldiers were withdrawn to meet the new enemy. So, for a time, the band
+was left unmolested; but still none, save their leader, ventured to
+leave their wild haunts. Before he had been appointed chief of the
+bonzes who brought about his exile, Yu Chan had been the lover of a
+maiden of Ayuthia, but the high office which had been bestowed on him
+kept them apart. No sooner had the robes which he wore as a bonze been
+exchanged for those of a mountaineer than Yu Chan determined to see this
+maiden again. On the departure of their enemies he prepared to visit
+Ayuthia, although strongly counselled not to do so by his devoted band.
+He was, however, obdurate, and set forth on his perilous enterprise
+alone.
+
+"Yu Chan crossed the great plain of Siam, and then, resting in a
+thatched hut upon the bank of the Meinam, dispatched a Malay, who
+chanced to dwell there, with a message to his beloved to visit him, for
+he thought it useless to attempt to enter Ayuthia if he wished to live.
+At nightfall the Malay returned from the island in the middle of the
+bend of the Meinam, whereon ye know the city is built. He thrust a
+tablet into Yu Chan's hand, whereon was a desire that the latter would
+wait the maiden's coming at a part of the bank where often the boat of
+the lovers had touched at before. Soon the exile beheld the slight craft
+making for the shore, manned by six rowers muffled in their cloaks, for
+the night was cold. Happy indeed would it have been for the lovers if
+the maiden had scanned closely the features of those who ferried her
+across the river, for the treacherous Malay had recognised Yu Chan, and
+six of the monarch's soldiers were the supposed boatmen, hurriedly
+gathered to take the exile or to slay him.
+
+"The maiden stepped from the boat, and, with a glad cry, flung her arms
+about Yu Chan, who had passed down the narrow path to meet her. Together
+they climbed up the steep way that led to the plain above the high bank,
+followed by the muffled soldiers, who lurked cautiously in the shadows
+of the limestone, through which wound the toilsome path. Once, as they
+passed along, a slight sound behind them arrested the footsteps of the
+lovers, and Yu Chan turned and glanced back searchingly, then on they
+went again. For an hour or more they wandered together over the plain,
+then, with many a sigh, turned to descend the path once more. Again they
+heard a sound, and that time on looking round quickly Yu Chan saw the
+boatmen, whom he had thought awaited the maiden's return by the river
+brink, stealing closely after him, their faces shrouded in their black
+cloaks.
+
+"At once his suspicions were aroused, and hastily unsheathing his sword
+he confronted them just as they flung off their cloaks and the fierce
+faces of six of the half-savage soldiery of the monarch were revealed to
+Yu Chan. Slowly the latter retreated till he was a little way down the
+path with his back to the protecting limestone, then stood at bay to
+defend the maiden and himself from the advancing foes. Warily they came
+on, for well they knew the deadly thrusts which he could deal with his
+keen sword. Yu Chan in fighting at such desperate odds more than once
+failed to beat down the weapons lunged at him, but though severely
+wounded he did not flinch from the combat. Three of his assailants lay
+dead at his feet, when the leader of the monarch's soldiery twisted the
+sword from Yu Chan's hand, and then the three surviving foes rushed upon
+the defenceless man. With a cry that pierced the air the maiden flung
+herself before her lover--to fall dead as her body was thrust through
+and through by the weapons intended for the heart of Yu Chan!
+
+[Illustration: "THE MAIDEN FLUNG HERSELF BEFORE HER LOVER."]
+
+"Like a boarhound the mountain chief leapt upon his nearest assailant,
+wrenched the sword dripping with the maiden's blood from his hand, and
+almost cleaved him in half with one resistless stroke. He turned next
+upon the remaining two, but they fled headlong down the path, Yu Chan
+following with a fierce cry at their heels. Into the boat they leapt,
+nor dared to look behind till they were out in mid-stream; then they saw
+the wounded chief slowly dragging himself back to where the maiden lay
+lifeless.
+
+"Yu Chan bent despairingly over her as he saw the fatal stains which
+dyed her garments and reddened some of the fragrant white flowers fallen
+from her hair, which lay in masses framing her white, still face. Taking
+up his own sword, he sheathed it; then he raised the maiden gently in
+his arms, and, covered himself with gaping wounds, he set out to cross
+the great plain to the Three Hundred Peaks, where his followers awaited
+his return. On he struggled for two weary days with his lifeless burden;
+then at last he reached the end of his journey, and as the mountaineers
+gathered hastily about him and shuddered to see the ghastly face of
+their chief, Yu Chan tottered and fell dead in their midst!
+
+"Round the two lifeless forms the hunted tribe gathered, and, looking
+upon them, knew that they had been slain by their remorseless foes. One
+by one the mountaineers pressed forward, and amid the deathly silence of
+the others, each in turn touched the sword of their slain chief and
+sternly swore the blood-revenge. Fierce, indeed, as are such outbreaks
+in many eastern lands, that day marked the beginning of dark deeds of
+requitement that have made all others as nothing in comparison to them.
+The Burmese came down upon Siam and swept over fair Ayuthia, leaving
+nothing but the ruins of the city; yet, even in that national calamity,
+the fierce instinct of murder so fatally roused in the breasts of the
+mountaineers never paused nor seemed dulled. While the magnificent city
+lay despoiled, the once hunted tribe fell upon the others about the
+Meinam, and long after peace reigned throughout the country, still their
+deeds of pillage and massacre went on, as they do even to this day, so
+remote from the one when their leader was slain.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY SWORE THE BLOOD-REVENGE."]
+
+"For months the tribe will be unheard of, and lulled by a false sense of
+security the inhabitants of one of these cities will make preparations
+for one of their recurring festivals. Even in the midst of such the
+strange cry of the hunted tribe will be heard, and the coming day will
+reveal to the awe-struck people the evidence of a night attack, in which
+men and women have been slain or carried off suddenly to the Three
+Hundred Peaks."
+
+"The present descendants of the avengers of Yu Chan's death are a
+cowardly lot, at all events," commented Denviers, as the Arab finished
+his recital: "they attacked us without reason, and have consequently got
+their deserts. If they come upon us again----"
+
+"Hist, sahib," Hassan whispered cautiously, as he pointed with his sword
+towards the fantastic bridge of limestone; "the hunted tribe is
+returning from its raid, see!" We looked in the direction in which he
+motioned us, and saw that the mountaineers bore a captive in their
+midst! Immediately one of the prisoners lashed to the trees gave a
+warning cry, regardless of the threats which Denviers had uttered.
+Hassan sprang to his feet, and stood by my side as we raised our rifles,
+still hidden as we were in the shadow of the ruined palace wall.
+
+
+III.
+
+"Hassan," whispered my companion to the Arab; "go over to the prisoners
+there, and if they cry out again shoot them. I don't think that first
+cry has been heard by the others." As he spoke Denviers thrust a pistol
+into Hassan's hand and motioned to him to move through the grass towards
+them. We watched our guide as he neared them and raised the pistol
+threateningly--a silent admonition which they understood, and became
+quiet accordingly.
+
+From our position in the shadow of the ruined palace wall we saw a
+number of the hunted tribe slowly wind over the bridge with their
+captive, and noticed that in addition they had plenty of plunder with
+them. Noiselessly they moved towards our tent, and completely surrounded
+it, only to find it empty. They were evidently at a loss what to do,
+when one of their number stumbled over the dead mountaineer whom I had
+shot down as he joined in the attack upon us. A fierce exclamation
+quickly caused the rest to gather about him, and for some minutes they
+held a brief consultation. We judged from their subsequent actions that
+they considered we had made good our escape from the plain, for they
+made no further search for us, but apparently determined to avenge their
+comrade's death by slaying their captive. While the rest of the band
+moved away over the plain, two of their number returned towards the
+limestone bridge spanning the river. Guessing their fell purpose,
+Denviers and I crept through the tall grass, and under cover of the
+trees by the bank moved cautiously towards them.
+
+From tree to tree we advanced with our rifles in our hands, then just
+when within twenty yards of them we stopped aghast at the movements of
+the two mountaineers, who were forcing their struggling captive slowly
+towards the edge of the jagged limestone bridge!
+
+We looked down at the angry waters of the rapid, swirling twenty feet
+below in the deep bed of the river, which was slowly rising each day,
+for the time of its inundation was near at hand. For a moment I saw a
+woman's horror-stricken face in the moonlight and heard her agonizing
+cry, then the sharp crack of Denviers' rifle rang out, and one of her
+assailants relaxed his grasp. Before Denviers could take a shot at the
+second mountaineer, he seized the captive woman and deliberately thrust
+her over the rocky bridge!
+
+"Quick! To the river!" exclaimed Denviers, as we heard the sound of her
+body striking the waters below. Down the steep bank we scrambled,
+steadying ourselves by grasping the lithe and dwarfed trees which grew
+in its rocky crevices. For one brief moment we scanned the seething
+torrent, and then, right in its midst, we saw the face and floating hair
+of the woman as she was tossed to and fro in the rapid, while she vainly
+tried to cling to the huge boulders rising high in the stream through
+which her fragile form was hurried.
+
+"Jump into the boat and wait for me to be carried down to you!" cried
+Denviers, and before I fully realized what he was about to do, he flung
+his rifle down and plunged headlong into the foaming waters. I saw him
+battling against the fierce current with all his might, for the rocks in
+mid-stream prevented the woman from being floated down to us and
+threatened to beat out her life, as she was borne violently against
+them. I ran madly towards where our boat had been drawn up, and pushing
+it into the river strained my eyes eagerly in the wild hope of seeing
+Denviers alive when his body should be floated down towards me.
+
+[Illustration: "OVER THE ROCKY BRIDGE."]
+
+I pulled hard against the stream and managed to keep the rude craft from
+being carried away with the current. A few minutes afterwards I saw that
+my companion had succeeded in dragging the woman from the grinding
+channels between the rocks, and was being swept on to where I anxiously
+awaited him with his burden. The water dashed violently against the boat
+as I put it across the middle of the rushing stream, then dropped the
+oars as he was flung towards me. I stretched out my arms over the side
+in order to relieve him of his burden, and, although he was exhausted,
+Denviers made one last effort and thrust the woman towards me. I dragged
+her into the boat just as her rescuer sank back. With a quick but steady
+grip I caught my companion and hauled him in too, and before long had
+the happiness to see both become conscious once more.
+
+Leaving the boat to float down the stream, I merely steered it clear of
+the rocky sides of the river channel, then, seeing some distance ahead a
+favourable place to land, drew in to the shore with a few swift strokes
+from the oars. Denviers remained with the woman he had rescued, while I
+climbed the steep bank again and found that the mountaineers had,
+fortunately, not returned, although we had fully expected the report of
+Denviers' rifle to cause them to do so. I thereupon signalled to my
+companion below that all was safe, and he toiled up to the plain
+supporting the woman, who was a Laos, judging from her garments and
+slight, graceful form.
+
+Spreading for her a couch of skins, we left her reclining wearily in the
+tent, to which Denviers conducted her, then hastened towards Hassan,
+whom we found still keeping guard over our two captives. The Arab, when
+he heard of the hazardous venture which Denviers had made, stoutly urged
+us to put our prisoners to death, as a warning to the hunted tribe that
+their misdeeds could not always be carried on with impunity. For reply
+Denviers quietly took the pistol from the Arab's hand, and then we
+returned towards the tent, outside which we rested till day dawned.
+
+The woman within the tent then arose and came towards us, thanking
+Denviers profusely for saving her from such a death as had confronted
+her. She told us that her betrothal to a neighbouring prince had taken
+place only a few days before, but although every precaution had been
+taken to keep the affair secret, the news was conveyed to the hunted
+tribe by some one of the many supporters of the mountaineers. As she was
+a woman of high rank, this seemed to them a suitable opportunity to
+strike further terror into the hearts of the people inhabiting the
+cities about the Meinam. Their plans had been thoroughly successful, for
+they had despoiled several of the richest citizens, slaying those who
+opposed them, then snatching the woman up, began to carry her off to
+live among their tribeswomen, and to become one of them, when we
+fortunately saved her from that fate. We promised to conduct her to the
+city whence she had been stolen, which we eventually did, but before
+setting out for that purpose we visited our prisoners again.
+
+"Hassan," said Denviers, "release the men from the trees." The Arab most
+reluctantly did so, stoutly maintaining that after Mahomet had helped us
+so strangely and successfully, we would be wiser either to shoot them or
+leave them bound till someone discovered and dealt with our prisoners as
+they deserved.
+
+The ropes were accordingly unbound which fastened them to the trees;
+then Denviers pointed to the distant range of the Three Hundred Peaks
+and bade them begone. The two prisoners set forward at a run, being not
+a little surprised at our clemency. When they had at last disappeared in
+the distance, we moved towards the city beyond Ayuthia to restore the
+princess to her people, who had, by our means, been snatched from the
+power of the hunted tribe.
+
+
+
+
+Weathercocks and Vanes
+
+by Warrington Hogg.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The picturesque quality and almost endless variety of vanes--from the
+modest arrow to the richly-gilt and imposing heraldic monster--which
+meet the eye as one wanders through quiet village, busy market town, or
+sleepy cathedral city, and the traditions which are associated with
+these distinctly useful, time-honoured, and much consulted adjuncts to
+church or home, make me hope that the following brief notes and sketches
+of a few of the many types one sees may not be without interest to some
+of the numerous readers of THE STRAND MAGAZINE.
+
+That eminent authority on things architectural--the late John Henry
+Parker, F.S.A.--tells us that vanes were in use in the time of the
+Saxons, and in after ages were very extensively employed, there being
+notable development during the prevalence of the Perpendicular and
+Elizabethan styles.
+
+To anyone vane-hunting--or health-hunting, for the matter of that--I
+would recommend them to tramp, sketch or note book in hand, over that
+stretch of country which occupies the most southerly corner of Kent,
+known as Romney Marsh; and beginning, say, at Hythe--one of the old
+Cinque Ports, and still a place of considerable importance--they will
+there find several vanes worthy of note, specially perhaps the one which
+surmounts the Town Hall, in the High Street. It is in excellent
+condition, and is contemporary with the building itself, which was
+erected in 1794.
+
+[Illustration: At Hythe.]
+
+The country between Hythe and Dymchurch has quite a plethora of rustic
+vanes--many crippled and others almost defunct--sketches of a few of
+which I give my readers. Note the one, carved out of a piece of wood and
+rudely shaped like a bottle, which is stuck on an untrimmed bough of a
+tree and spliced to a clothes-prop: could anything be more naive? (in
+justice I would add that this is _not_ at the inn); or the one that is
+noted just below it--an axe poised on the roof of the local
+wheelwright's workshop, which aforesaid roof still bears unmistakable
+evidence of election turmoil. Nevertheless, this original type of vane
+seemed well fitted to do good service, for one noted that it answered to
+the slightest breath of wind. The old patched one, too, on the quaint
+little Norman church at Dymchurch seemed to me to be of interest in many
+ways, specially when I realized that it looked down on a row of graves,
+kept in beautiful order, of the nameless dead which the angry sea had
+given into the keeping of these sturdy village folk.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+Vanes near Dymchurch, Romney Marsh, Kent.]
+
+Working westward past Ivychurch, with its fine Perpendicular tower and
+beacon-turret, Old and New Romney, Lydd (which was attached to the
+Cinque Port of Romney), with its dignified Perpendicular church, of
+which Cardinal Wolsey was once vicar, we come to Rye, which is just over
+the border-land into Sussex, another of the towns annexed to the Cinque
+Ports, though, sad to say, like Sandwich and Winchelsea, its prosperity
+departed when the sea deserted it.
+
+At Rye one cannot help but linger, there is so much to interest; its
+unique position, its ancient standing, the almost incredible changes in
+its surroundings owing to the receding of the sea, its chequered
+history, its delightful, old-world look, and its venerable church of St.
+Nicholas, all combine to arrest one's attention. Let us look for a few
+moments at the church itself, which crowns the hill, and upon the tower
+of which stands the vane depicted in my sketch. It was built towards the
+close of the twelfth century, and Jeake, the historian, says of it that
+it was "the goodliest edifice of the kind in Kent or Sussex, the
+cathedrals excepted." Its first seven vicars were priests of the Church
+of Rome, and in the church records there are some curious entries, which
+look as though Passion plays were once performed in Rye. Here is one
+dated 1522:--
+
+"Paid for a coate made when the Resurrection was played at Easter, for
+him that in playing represented the part of Almighty God, 1s.; ditto for
+making the stage, 3s. 4d." During the reign of Edward VI. an entry is
+made, which reads: "Expended for cleaning the church from Popery, L1
+13s. 4d."
+
+[Illustration: On Rye Chvrch]
+
+If tradition be true, Queen Elizabeth (who once visited Rye) gave the
+clock, which is said to be the oldest clock actually going in England.
+Now for the weather-vane, which I venture to think is worthy of its
+surroundings: it is simple in form, stately in proportion, and in
+excellent preservation. Through the metal plate of the vane itself are
+cut boldly, stencil fashion, the letters "A. R." (I was unable to find
+out to whom they referred--presumably a churchwarden), and immediately
+below them, the date 1703. The pointer is very thick and richly
+foliated, and the wrought ironwork which supports the arms, which
+indicate the four cardinal points of the compass, is excellent in
+design.
+
+[Illustration: On Winchelsea Chvrch.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892]
+
+[Illustration: S. Eanswythe's Folkestone
+
+W. Hogg 1892]
+
+Two miles further west we come to dear old Winchelsea. The church (built
+between 1288-1292), of which only the choir and chancel, with some
+portions of the transepts, now remain, was originally dedicated to St.
+Thomas a Becket, but in the present day is called after St. Thomas the
+Apostle. It possesses an exceptionally fine vane, perched on a curiously
+squat, barn-like structure, which does duty for a tower. With its
+creeper-covered dormer windows and a somewhat convivial-looking
+chimney-pot sticking up out of one of them on the south side, it looks
+more picturesque than ecclesiastical; but the beauty of the vane itself
+at once arrests attention. I think it is one of the most elaborate
+specimens of wrought ironwork, applied to such a purpose, that I have
+met with; against a sunny sky it is like so much beautiful filigree--the
+metal wind-plate is apparently a much later restoration, and is
+perforated with the letters "W. M." and the date 1868. From the vane you
+could almost jump into the old tree beneath which John Wesley preached
+his last sermon. Eastward, but very little beyond the shadow of the
+vane, is Tower Cottage, Miss Ellen Terry's country retreat. Mr. Harry
+How, in a recent number of THE STRAND MAGAZINE, has told us in
+one of his interesting "Interviews" of the quiet home life of the great
+actress when staying here. What a glorious outlook the old vane has--on
+the one hand quaint, sleepy Rye and the flat stretches of Romney Marsh;
+to the north the great Weald of Kent; to the westward beautiful Sussex,
+and straight in front the open sea of the English Channel.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Folkestone makes a capital centre from which to go a-hunting vanes, but
+before we start it is well worth while to glance for a few moments at
+the modern one on the Parish Church of St. Eanswythe. It was designed,
+about fifteen years ago, by Mr. S. S. Stallwood, the architect, of
+Reading, who, by-the-bye, is, too, responsible for the fine west window.
+The vane is of dark metal throughout, save for the gilt arrow, and
+stands on a turret to the south-west of the Perpendicular embattled
+tower. It is in excellent condition, notwithstanding its very exposed
+position to the Channel storms. Down on the harbour jetty, surmounting
+the lighthouse and hard by where the Boulogne mail-boats come in day by
+day, is a vane with scrolly arms, well worth noting; and, again, on a
+house out toward Shorncliffe, are a couple of "fox" vanes, one of which
+blustering Boreas has shorn of its tail; poor Reynard, in consequence,
+is ever swirling round and round--a ludicrous object--apparently ever
+seeking and never finding the aforesaid tail.
+
+[Illustration: On Cheriton Chvrch Tovver]
+
+[Illustration: Near Cheriton. W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+About a mile inland, near the Old Hall Farm, on an outhouse or piggery,
+is the subject of the accompanying sketch. It has certainly seen much
+better days, and is rather a quaint specimen of the genus weather-vane.
+It will be noted that rude winds have carried away, almost bodily,
+three out of the four letters which denote the compass-points, but have
+in mercy spared poor piggy's curly tail.
+
+[Illustration: At Newington. W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+A mile or so further on is a daintily-designed but very simple vane,
+which stands on the north-east corner of the tower of the ancient church
+of St. Martin at Cheriton. Canon Scott Robertson, the well-known
+antiquarian, pronounces this tower to be of unusual interest. He tells
+us that it is probably pre-Norman, but certainly was erected before the
+end of the 11th century. Traces of characteristic, rough, wide-jointed
+masonry and a small, round-headed doorway should be specially noted. Let
+us linger in the church itself for a few moments. In the north Chantry
+(13th century) we shall find an interesting mural tablet thus
+inscribed:--
+
+"Here lieth Interred the Body of Mrs. Elizabeth Raleigh, Grand Daughter
+of the FAMED Sr Walter Raleigh, who died at the Enbrook, 26 day of
+October, 1716, aged 30 years."
+
+It stands close to a finely carved pulpit four hundred years old. The
+north porch is a memorial to the _first_ Lord Justice of England--Sir
+James Lewis Knight-Bruce, who with his wife lies buried almost within
+its shadow. On an old house close by is a "cow" vane--when I made the
+sketch given, pigeons by the score from a neighbouring cote kept
+perching on it in a very friendly and picturesque fashion. Two miles
+further in the same direction brings us to the village of Newington,
+which possesses one of the quaintest little churches in Kent. Among
+other things it boasts some seventeen brasses--some dating back to the
+15th and 16th centuries--an ancient dial, on oaken shaft fast mouldering
+away--and a picturesque wooden belfry surmounted by a vigorously
+modelled gilt weathercock in capital preservation.
+
+[Illustration: At Sevington.]
+
+On Sevington spire, near Ashford, is a daintily designed vane, dated
+1866. Some storm has given it--as the sailors say--a list to port, but
+that seems somehow not to take away from but to add to its charm. It is
+interesting to note that not far from here is the house where once
+resided Dr. Harvey, the famous discoverer of the circulation of the
+blood.
+
+[Illustration: At Orlestone]
+
+[Illustration: At Sandgate]
+
+[Illustration: At Maidstone]
+
+A mile on brings us to Hinxhill--a dear, old-world place--its
+picturesque little church, with ivy-covered walls, moss-grown roof,
+quaint open-timbered chancel, and fine stained-glass, all go to make a
+never-to-be-forgotten picture. On the little Early English spire is set
+a vane simple and good in treatment, and thoroughly in accord with its
+surroundings.
+
+At Sandgate is a well designed "horse and jockey" vane on a flagstaff,
+in a garden about fifty yards from where the ill-fated sailing ship, the
+_Benvenue_, went ashore and sank, and which was blown up by order of the
+Admiralty only last autumn.
+
+Dover, too, has its share of interesting vanes; perhaps the one
+belonging to St. Mary the Virgin is the best. It is attached to an old
+lead-covered spire surmounting a decorated Norman tower with rich
+exterior arcading, practically untouched by the unloving hand of the
+so-called "restorer"; but there are several others in the older streets
+of the town well worth noting.
+
+The seeker for vanes, quaint and ancient, must on no account miss going
+down the High Street of Tonbridge. There are three within a stone's
+throw of each other which must be noted, specially the one locally known
+as "The Sportsman"--he stands over a dormer window in the red-tiled roof
+of an old house of the Sheraton period, immediately opposite the famous
+"Chequers Inn." The house itself is very interesting; it has evidently
+been, in its early days, of considerable pretension, but has been an
+ironmonger's shop since 1804. On going within to make inquiries about
+the vane, I gathered that it is at least 120 years old, probably much
+more, the oldest part of the house being contemporary with the
+"Chequers." The vane is cut out of thick sheet copper and strengthened
+with stout wire in several places to keep it rigid, and the whole is
+painted in colours (a very unusual feature), in imitation of the
+costume of the period; and I was shown a curious old print of Tonbridge
+in the time when the well-to-do farmers wore top-hats and swallow-tailed
+coats, in which the vane is represented just as it appears at present.
+Vane number two is a much weathered and discoloured one, almost within
+touch, on a wooden turret surmounting the Town Hall--a typical Georgian
+building, lately threatened with demolition, and for the further life of
+which I noted a vigorous pleading in the pages of _The Graphic_ of
+November 4th, 1892. Number three is a fox, rudely cut out of flat metal,
+with a "ryghte bushie tayle," fixed on a house gable overlooking the
+street.
+
+[Illustration: The Sportsman Tonbridge]
+
+[Illustration: At Rochester]
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: High St. Tonbridge]
+
+The Orlestone sketch represents a type of vane practically never to be
+met with, save on the oast-houses in the hop-growing districts of Kent.
+The particular one noted stands at the bottom of a garden belonging to
+an Elizabethan timbered house hard by the church. It will be remarked
+that the animal, which is about 2 ft. long, is very crude in shape; it
+represents a fox, and the obvious way Mr. Reynard's tail is joined on is
+very enjoyable.
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall Rochester.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: On Medway Brewery. Maidstone.
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+Rochester admittedly possesses one of the finest vanes to be found all
+England over; it is in the main street on the Town Hall (temp. James
+I.), and surmounts a wooden bell-tower perched on the roof. On the
+south-west side of the building facing into the street is a tablet,
+which tells us that "This building was erected in the year 1687. John
+Bryan, Esquire, then Mayor"; and in quaint numerals the same date is
+repeated just below the tablet base. The vane is in the form of a ship,
+in gilt metal: a complete ship in miniature--cordage, blocks, twenty-six
+cannon, small spars, even a daintily-modelled figurehead: all are there.
+With the aid of a couple of stalwart constables I clambered up on to the
+leaden roof, so that I might examine more closely and carefully this
+splendid example of vane-craft. The ship itself, from the bottom of keel
+to the top of mainmast, measures over 6 ft., and from jib to spanker
+boom the total length is 9 ft. It is 18 in. in width, weighs 7-1/2 cwt.,
+and revolves quite easily pivoted on a large bull's-eye of glass. It may
+be interesting to note that my sketch was made from one of the
+upper-most windows of the "Bull Inn" (the place where Charles Dickens
+once lived, and which he has immortalized in the pages of "Pickwick"),
+which is immediately opposite. A little higher up the street is a large
+vane, richly decorated in red and gold, on the Corn Exchange. An
+inscription on its south-west face tells us that "This present building
+was erected at the sole charge and expense of Sir Cloudsley Shovel,
+Knight, A.D. 1706. He represented this city in three Parliaments in the
+reign of King William the Third, and in one Parliament in the reign of
+Queen Anne."
+
+[Illustration: On ye Church]
+
+Maidstone, too, is rich in vanes. There is one specially you can see
+from all parts of the town. It is on the Medway Brewery, and represents
+an old brown jug and glass; its dimensions, to say the least of it, are
+somewhat startling. The jug alone (which is made of beaten copper plate)
+is 3 ft. 6 in. in height, and in its fullest part 3 ft. in diameter,
+with a holding capacity of 108 gallons, or three barrels. The
+glass--also made of copper--is capable of holding some eight gallons.
+The vane revolves on ball bearings, its height above the roof is 12 ft.,
+its arms extend nearly 7 ft., the whole, I am told, standing 80 ft. from
+the ground.
+
+On the observatory connected with the Maidstone Museum (which latter was
+once Chillington Manor House) is a modern vane, much discoloured by
+damp, but very apt in design; note the perforated sun, moon and stars,
+and the three wavy-looking pointers, which I take to represent rays of
+light. Mr. Frederick James, the courteous curator, called my attention
+to a singularly fine wrought-iron vane, now preserved in the Museum,
+about which but little is known, but which may possibly have surmounted
+the place in the olden days--when Chillington Manor was the seat of the
+great Cobham family.
+
+[Illustration: On Town Hall]
+
+[Illustration: At Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+Space forbids my more than just calling attention to the nondescript
+gilt monster, with its riveted wings and forked tongue and tail, which
+glares down on us from its perch above the Town Hall, in the High
+Street; or to a "cigar" vane (over 2 ft. long and as thick as a
+bludgeon), large enough to give Verdant Green's famous "smoke" many
+points, hoisted over an enterprising tobacconist's a little lower down;
+or to the skewered and unhappy-looking weathercock on the Parish Church;
+or the blackened griffin in Earl Street, all head and tail, which does
+duty on an old dismantled Gothic building, once called "The Brotherhood
+Hall" (it belonged to the fraternity of Corpus Christi, about 1422, and
+was suppressed in 1547), then afterwards used as a grammar school, and
+now--tell it not in Gath!--a hop store; or, lastly, the
+ponderous-looking elephant, painted a sickly blue, if I remember
+rightly, on a great building on the banks of the Medway.
+
+[Illustration: In Museum. Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+[Illustration: On Observatory. Maidstone
+
+W. Hogg. 1892.]
+
+These rambling notes but touch the fringe--as it were--of a wide and
+ever-widening subject. A lengthy paper might be written on the different
+types (and some of great interest) of vanes in and around London alone;
+but I trust I may be allowed to express the hope that what has been said
+may haply enlist further interest in these silent, faithful, but
+somewhat neglected friends of ours, who, "courted by all the winds that
+hold them play," look down from their "coigne of vantage" upon the
+hurrying world below.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+A DARK TRANSACTION
+
+BY MARIANNE KENT.
+
+
+If had described myself when I first started in life, it would simply
+have been as John Blount, commercial traveller. I was employed by a firm
+of merchants of very high standing, who only did business with large
+houses. My negotiations took me to all parts of the United Kingdom, and
+I enjoyed the life, which was full of change and activity. At least I
+enjoyed it in my early bachelor days, but while I was still quite
+young--not more than five-and-twenty--I fell in love and married; and
+then I found that my roving existence was certainly a drawback to
+domestic happiness. My wife, Mary, was a bright little creature, always
+ready to make the best of things, but even she would declare
+pathetically that she might as well have married a sailor as a landsman
+who was so seldom at home! Still, as I said, she was one to put a bright
+face on things, and she and my sister made their home together.
+
+It was in the second year after my marriage, when I had been away on my
+travels for some weeks, that I heard from my sister that a fever had
+broken out in the neighbourhood of our home, and that Mary was down with
+it. Kitty wrote hopefully, saying it was a mild attack, and she trusted
+by the time I was home her patient would be quite convalescent. I had
+unbounded faith in Kitty, so that I accepted her cheerful view of
+things. But, a few evenings later, after a long, tiring day, I returned
+to the hotel where I was then staying, and found a telegram awaiting me.
+My heart stood still as I saw the ominous yellow envelope, for I knew my
+sister would not have sent for me without urgent need. The message was
+to say that, although Kitty still hoped for the best, a serious change
+had taken place, and I should return at once.
+
+"Don't delay an hour; come off immediately," she said.
+
+I was not likely to delay. I paid up my reckoning at the hotel, directed
+that my baggage should be sent on next day, and in less than half an
+hour from the time I had opened the telegram I rushed, heated and
+breathless, into the primitive little railway station--the only one
+which that part of the country boasted for miles round. I gained the
+platform in time to see the red light on the end of the departing train
+as it disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel a few hundred yards down
+the line. For a moment I was unable to realize my ill fortune. I stood
+gazing stupidly before me in a bewildered way. Then the station-master,
+who knew me by sight, came up, saying sympathetically:--
+
+"Just missed her, sir, by two seconds!"
+
+"Yes," I answered briefly, beginning to understand it all now, and
+chafing irritably at the enforced delay. "When is the next train?"
+
+"Six five in the morning, sir. Nothing more to-night."
+
+"Nothing more to-night!" I almost shouted. "There must be! At any rate,
+there is the evening express from the junction; I have been by it scores
+of times!"
+
+"Very likely, sir; but that's a through train, it don't touch
+here--never stops till it reaches the junction."
+
+The man's quiet tone carried conviction with it. I was silent for a
+moment, and then asked when the express left the junction.
+
+"Nine fifteen," was the answer.
+
+[Illustration: "THE STATION-MASTER CAME UP."]
+
+"How far is the junction from this by road; could I do it in time?"
+
+"Out of the question, sir. It would take one who knew the road the best
+part of three hours to drive."
+
+I looked away to my left, where the green hill-side rose up steep and
+clear against the evening sky. It was one of the most mountainous
+quarters of England, and the tunnel that pierced the hill was a triumph
+of engineering skill, even in these days when science sticks at nothing.
+Pointing to the brick archway I said, musingly:--
+
+"And yet, once through the tunnel, how close at hand the junction
+station seems."
+
+"That's true enough, sir; the other side the tunnel it is not half a
+mile down the line."
+
+"What length is it?"
+
+"The tunnel, sir? Close upon three miles, and straight as a dart."
+
+There was another pause, then I said, slowly:--
+
+"Nothing more goes down the line until the express has passed?"
+
+"Nothing more, sir."
+
+"Anything on the up line?" was my next inquiry.
+
+"No, sir, not for some hours, except, maybe, some trucks of goods, but I
+have had no notice of them yet."
+
+As the station-master made this last answer he looked at me curiously,
+no doubt wondering what the object of all these questions could be; but
+he certainly had no notion of what was passing in my mind, or he would
+not have turned into his office as he did, and left me there alone upon
+the platform.
+
+I was young and impetuous, and a sudden wild determination had taken
+possession of me. In my intense anxiety to get back to my sick wife, the
+delay of so many hours seemed unendurable, and my whole desire was to
+catch the express at the junction; but how was that to be accomplished?
+One way alone presented itself to me, and that was through the tunnel.
+At another time I should have put the notion from me as a mad
+impossibility, but now I clung to it as a last resource, reasoning
+myself out of all my fears. Where was the danger, since nothing was to
+come up or down the line for hours? A good level road, too, of little
+more than three miles, and a full hour and a half to do it in. And what
+would the darkness matter? There was no fear of missing the way; nothing
+to be done but to walk briskly forward. Yes, it could be, and I was
+resolved that it should be done.
+
+I gave myself no more time for reflection. I walked to the end of the
+platform and stepped down upon the line, not very far from the mouth of
+the tunnel. As I entered the gloomy archway I wished devoutly that I had
+a lantern to bear me company, but it was out of the question for me to
+get anything of the kind at the station; as it was, I was fearful each
+moment that my intentions would be discovered, when I knew for a
+certainty that my project would be knocked on the head, and, for this
+reason, I was glad to leave daylight behind me and to know that I was
+unseen.
+
+I walked on, at a smart pace, for fully ten minutes, trying not to
+think, but feeling painfully conscious that my courage was ebbing fast.
+Then I paused for breath. Ugh! how foul the air smelt! I told myself
+that it was worse even than the impenetrable darkness--and that was bad
+enough. I recalled to mind how I had gone through tunnels--this very one
+among others--in a comfortable lighted carriage, and had drawn up the
+window, sharply and suddenly, to keep out the stale, poisonous air; and
+this was the atmosphere I was to breathe for the next hour! I shuddered
+at the prospect. But it was not long before I was forced to acknowledge
+that it was the darkness quite as much as the stifling air which was
+affecting me. I had never been fond of the dark in my earliest days,
+and now it seemed as if the strange, wild fancies of my childhood were
+forcing themselves upon me, and I felt that, if only for an instant, I
+must have light of some sort; so, standing still, I took from my pocket
+a box of vestas, and struck one. Holding the little match carefully,
+cherishing it with my hand, I gazed about me. How horrible it all
+looked! Worse, if possible, in reality than in imagination. The outline
+of the damp, mildewy wall was just visible in the feeble, flickering
+light. On the brickwork close to me I could see a coarse kind of fungus
+growing, and there was the silver, slimy trace of slugs in all
+directions; I could fancy, too, the hundred other creeping things that
+were about. As the match died out, a noise among the stones near the
+wall caused me hastily to strike another, just in time to see a large
+rat whisk into its hole.
+
+[Illustration: "HOLDING THE LITTLE MATCH CAREFULLY, I GAZED ABOUT ME."]
+
+A miner, a plate-layer--in fact, anyone whose avocations took them
+underground--would have laughed to scorn these childish fears; but the
+situation was so new to me, and also I must confess that I am naturally
+of a nervous, imaginative turn of mind. Still, I was vexed with myself
+for my cowardly feelings, and started on my walk again, trying not to
+think of these gloomy surroundings, but drew a picture of my home,
+wondering how Mary was, if she was well enough to be told of my coming,
+and was looking out for me. Then I dwelt upon the satisfaction with
+which I should enter the express, at the junction, feeling that the
+troubles of the evening had not been in vain. After a while, when these
+thoughts were somewhat exhausted, and I felt my mind returning to the
+horrors of the present moment, I tried to look at it all from a
+different point of view, telling myself that it was an adventure which I
+should live to pride myself upon. Then I recalled to mind things I had
+read of subterranean passages, and naturally stories of the Catacombs
+presented themselves to me, and I thought how the early Christians had
+guided themselves through those dim corridors by means of a line or
+string; the fantastic notion came to me that I was in a like
+predicament, and the line I was to follow was the steel rail at my feet.
+For awhile this thought gave me courage, making me realize how straight
+the way was, and that I had only to go on and on until the goal was
+reached.
+
+I walked for, perhaps, twenty minutes or half an hour, sometimes passing
+a small grating for ventilation; but they were so choked by weeds and
+rubbish that they gave little light and less air. Walking quickly
+through a dark place, one has the feeling that unseen objects are close
+at hand, and that at any moment you may come in sharp contact with them.
+It was this feeling, at least, which made me as I went along continually
+put out my hand as if to ward off a blow, and suddenly, while my right
+foot still rested on the smooth steel rail, my left hand struck against
+the wall of the tunnel. As my fingers grated on the rough brick a new
+terror took possession of me--or at least, if not a new terror, one of
+the fears which had haunted me at the outset rushed upon me with
+redoubled force.
+
+I had faced the possibility of the station-master's having been
+mistaken, and of a train passing through the tunnel while I was still
+there, but I told myself I had only to stand close in to the wall, until
+the train had gone on its way; now, however, I felt, with a sinking
+horror at my heart, that there was little room to spare. Again and again
+I tested it, standing with my foot well planted on the rail and my arm
+outstretched until my fingers touched the bricks. There was a
+fascination in it--much as in the case of a timid swimmer who cannot
+bear to think he is out of depth and must keep putting down his foot to
+try for the bottom, knowing all the while he is only rendering himself
+more nervous. During the next ten minutes I know I worked myself into a
+perfect agony of mind, imagining the very worst that could happen.
+Suppose that the up and the down trains should cross in the tunnel, what
+chance should I then have? The mere thought was appalling! Retreat was
+impossible, for I must have come more than half way by this time, and
+turning back would only be going to meet the express. But surely in the
+thickness of the wall there must be here and there recesses? I was sure
+I had seen one, some little time back, when I had struck a light. This
+was a gleam of hope. Out came the matches once more, but my hands were
+so shaky that I had scarcely opened the box when it slipped from my
+fingers and its precious contents were scattered on the ground. This was
+a new trouble. I was down upon my knees at once, groping about to find
+them. It was a hopeless task in the dark, and, after wasting much time,
+I was forced to light the first one I found to look for the others, and,
+when that died out, I had only four in my hand, and had to leave the
+rest and go on my way for the time was getting short and my great desire
+was to find a recess which should afford me shelter in case of need.
+But, although I grudgingly lit one match after another and walked for
+some distance with my hand rubbing against the wall, I could find
+nothing of the kind.
+
+At length, I don't know what time it was, or how far I had walked, I saw
+before me, a long, long way off, a dim speck of light. At first I
+thought, with a sudden rush of gladness, that it was daylight, and that
+the end of the tunnel was in sight; then I remembered that it was now
+evening and the sun had long set, so that it must be a lamp; and it was
+a lamp. I began to see it plainly, for it was coming nearer and nearer,
+and I knew that it was an approaching train. I stood still and looked at
+it, and it was at that instant that the whole ground beneath me seemed
+to be shaken. The rail upon which one of my feet was resting thrilled as
+if with an electric shock, sending a strange vibration through me, while
+a sudden rush of wind swept down the tunnel, and I knew that the express
+was upon me!
+
+I shall never forget the feeling that took possession of me: it seemed
+as if, into that one moment, the experiences of years were
+crowded--recollections of my childhood--tender thoughts of my
+wife--dreams of the future, in which I had meant to do so much, all
+thronged in, thick and fast upon me. Could this be death? I gave a wild,
+despairing cry for help. I prayed aloud that God would not let me die. I
+had lost all presence of mind; no thought of standing back against the
+wall came to me. I rushed madly forward in a frenzy of despair. The
+sound of my voice, as it echoed through that dismal place, was drowned
+in an instant by the sharp, discordant scream of the express. On I
+dashed, right in front of the goods train; the yellow light of the
+engine shone full upon me; death was at hand. It seemed that nothing
+short of a miracle could save me, and, to my thinking, it was a miracle
+that happened.
+
+Only a few yards from the engine and, as I struggled blindly on, a
+strong hand seized me with a grasp of iron, and I was dragged on one
+side. Even in my bewilderment I knew that I was not against the wall,
+but in one of those very recesses I had searched for in vain. I sank
+upon the ground, only half conscious, yet I saw the indistinct blur of
+light as the trains swept by.
+
+I am not given to swooning, so that, after the first moment, I was quite
+alive to my exact situation. I knew that I was crouching on the ground,
+and that that iron-like grasp was still on my collar. Presently the hand
+relaxed its hold and a gruff, but not unkindly, voice said:--
+
+"Well, mate, how are you?"
+
+This inquiry unlocked my tongue, and I poured forth my gratitude. I
+hardly know what I said; I only know I was very much in earnest. I told
+him who I was and how I came to be there, and in return asked him his
+name.
+
+"That does not signify," was the answer; "you can think of me as a
+friend."
+
+"That I shall," I returned, gratefully; "for God knows you have been a
+friend in need to me!"
+
+"Ah!" he said, musingly, "your life must be very sweet, for you seemed
+loath enough to part with it!"
+
+I admitted the truth of this--indeed, I had felt it more than once
+during the last hour. I had been one of those who, in fits of
+depression, are wont to say that life is not worth living--that we shall
+be well out of it, and the rest; yet, when it seemed really slipping
+from my grasp, I had clung to it with a tenacity which surprised myself.
+And now, with the future once more before me, in which so much seemed
+possible, I was filled with gratitude to God and to my unknown friend,
+by whose means I had been saved. There was a short silence; then I
+asked, rather doubtfully, if there were not some way in which I could
+prove my gratitude.
+
+[Illustration: "A STRONG HAND SEIZED ME."]
+
+"You speak as if you were sincere," my strange companion said, in his
+gruff, downright way; "so I will tell you frankly that you can do me a
+good turn if you have a mind to. I don't want your money, understand;
+but I want you to do me a favour."
+
+"What is it?" I asked, eagerly; "believe me, if it is in my power it
+shall be done!"
+
+"I would rather you passed your word before I explain more," he said
+coolly. "Say my request shall be granted. I take it you are not a man to
+break your promise."
+
+Here was a predicament! Asked to pledge my word for I knew not what! To
+be in the dark in more senses than one; for I could not even see my
+mysterious deliverer's face to judge what manner of man he was. And yet,
+how could I refuse his request? At last I said, slowly:--
+
+"If what you ask is honest and above-board, you have my word that it
+shall be done, no matter what it may cost me."
+
+He gave a short laugh. "You are cautious," he said, "but you are right.
+No, there is nothing dishonest about my request; it will wrong no one,
+though it may cause you some personal inconvenience."
+
+"That is enough," I said, hastily, ashamed of the half-hearted way in
+which I had given my promise. "The instant we are out of this place I
+will take steps to grant your request, whatever it may be."
+
+"But that won't do," he put in, quickly; "what I want must be done here
+and now!"
+
+I was bewildered, as well I might be, and remained silent while he went
+on:--
+
+"There is no need to say much about myself, but this you must know. I am
+in great trouble. I am accused of that which makes me amenable to the
+law. I am innocent, but I cannot prove my innocence, and my only chance
+of safety is in flight. That is the reason of my being here: I am hiding
+from my pursuers."
+
+The poor creature paused, with a deep-drawn sigh, as if he at least had
+not found his life worth the struggle. I was greatly shocked by his
+story, and warmly expressed my sympathy; then, on his telling me he had
+been for two days and nights in the tunnel with scarcely a bit of food,
+I remembered a packet of sandwiches that had been provided for my
+journey, and offered them to him. It made me shudder to hear the
+ravenous manner in which they were consumed. When this was done there
+was another silence, broken by his saying, with evident hesitation, that
+the one hope he had was in disguising himself in some way, and thus
+eluding those who were watching for him. He concluded with:--
+
+"The favour I have to ask is that you will help me in this by allowing
+me to have your clothes in exchange for mine!"
+
+There was such an odd mixture of tragedy and comedy in the whole thing
+that for a moment I hardly knew how to answer him. The poor fellow must
+have taken my silence for anything but consent, for he said, bitterly:--
+
+"You object! I felt you would, and it is my only chance!"
+
+"On the contrary," I returned, "I am perfectly willing to do as you
+wish--indeed, how could I be otherwise when I have given you my word? I
+was only fearing that you built too much upon this exchange. Remember,
+it is no disguise!--the dress of one man is much like that of another."
+
+"That is true enough, as a general rule," was the answer, "but not in
+this case. I was last seen in a costume not common in these parts. A
+coarse, tweed shooting-dress, short coat, knee-breeches, and rough
+worsted stockings--so that an everyday suit is all I want."
+
+After that there was nothing more to be said, and the change was
+effected without more ado.
+
+It seemed to me that my invisible companion had the advantage over me as
+far as seeing went, for whereas I was sensible of nothing but touch and
+sound, his hands invariably met and aided mine whenever they were at
+fault. He confessed to this, saying that he had been so long in the dark
+that his eyes were growing accustomed to it.
+
+I never felt anything like the coarseness of those stockings as I drew
+them on. The shoes, too, were of the clumsiest make; they were large for
+me, which perhaps accounted for their extreme heaviness. I was a bit of
+a dandy; always priding myself upon my spick and span get-up. No doubt
+this made me critical, but certainly the tweed of which the clothes were
+made was the roughest thing of its kind I had ever handled. I got into
+them, however, without any comment, only remarking, when my toilet was
+finished, that I could find no pocket.
+
+My companion gave another of those short laughs.
+
+"No," he said, "that suit was made for use, not comfort!"
+
+From his tone and manner of expressing himself, I had taken him to be a
+man fairly educated, and when he had declared that he did not require my
+money, I naturally fancied he was not in want of funds; but the style of
+his clothes made me think differently, and I decided that he should have
+my watch--the most valuable thing I had about me. It had no particular
+associations, and a few pounds would get me another. He seemed pleased,
+almost touched, by the proposal, and also by my suggesting that the
+money in my pockets should be divided between us. It was not a large
+sum, but half of it would take me to my journey's end, I knew. He seemed
+full of resource, for when I was wondering what to do with my loose
+change, in my pocketless costume, he spread out my handkerchief, and
+putting my money and the small things from my pockets into it, knotted
+it securely up and thrust it into my breast. Then, as we stood facing
+each other, he took my hand in farewell. I proposed our going on
+together, but this he would not hear of.
+
+"No," he said, with his grim laugh, "the sooner I and that suit of
+clothes part company, the better!"
+
+So we wished each other God-speed, and turned on our different ways--he
+going back through the tunnel, and I keeping on.
+
+[Illustration: "WE WISHED EACH OTHER GOD-SPEED."]
+
+The experiences of the last few hours had made a great impression on me,
+and, although I felt awed and somewhat shaken, my heart was light with
+the gladness of one who rejoices in a reprieve. The express that I had
+been so anxious to catch had long since gone on its way; still, in my
+present hopeful frame of mind, that did not trouble me. I felt a
+conviction that Mary was mending, that I should find her better, and,
+comforted by this belief, I walked briskly on; at least, as briskly as
+my clumsy shoes would allow me, but even in spite of this hindrance, it
+was not long before I reached the end of the tunnel. The moonlight
+streaming down upon the rails was a pleasant sight, and showed me, some
+time before I reached it, that my goal was at hand. When I left the last
+shadow behind me and stood out under the clear sky I drew a sigh of
+intense thankfulness, drinking in the sweet fresh air.
+
+I walked down the country road, thinking that I would rest for a few
+hours at the station hotel and be ready for the first train in the
+morning. But my adventures were not yet over. As I glanced at my
+clothes, thinking how unlike myself I looked and felt, something on the
+sleeve of my coat attracted my attention; it must be tar, which I or the
+former wearer of the clothes must have rubbed off in the tunnel. But,
+no. I looked again--my eyes seemed riveted to it--it was unmistakable.
+There, on the coarse grey material of the coat, was a large broad-arrow.
+
+In an instant the whole truth had flashed upon me. No need to examine
+those worsted stockings and heavy shoes--no need to take off the coat
+and find upon the collar the name of one of Her Majesty's prisons, and
+the poor convict's number. As my eyes rested on the broad-arrow I
+understood it all.
+
+At first I was very indignant at the position I was in. I felt that a
+trick had been practised upon me, and I naturally resented it. I sat
+down by the roadside and tried to think. The cool air blew in my face
+and refreshed me. I had no hat; the convict--I was beginning to think of
+him by that name--had given me none, saying he had lost his cap in the
+tunnel. After a while, when my anger had somewhat subsided, I thought
+more pitifully of the man whose clothes I wore. Poor wretch, without
+doubt he had had a hard time of it; what wonder that he had seized upon
+the first opportunity of escape! He had said that the favour he required
+would entail personal inconvenience on myself, and that was exactly what
+it did. I looked at the matter from all sides; I saw the dilemma I was
+in. It would not do to be seen in this branded garb--the police would
+lay hands on me at once; nothing would persuade them that I was not the
+convict. Indeed, who was likely to believe the improbable story I had to
+tell? I felt that I could expect few to credit it on my mere word, and I
+had nothing to prove my identity, for I remembered now that my
+pocket-book and letters were in my coat; I had never given them a
+thought when making the exchange of clothes. So, as things were, it
+might take some days for me to establish my real personality, and even
+when that were done I should still be held responsible for conniving at
+the prisoner's escape.
+
+All things considered, therefore, I resolved not to get into the hands
+of the police. But this was no easy matter. There was nothing for it but
+to walk. I could not face the publicity of railway travelling or of any
+other conveyance: indeed, it was impossible for me to buy food for
+myself.
+
+I had many narrow escapes from detection, but by dint of hiding through
+the day and walking at night, and now and then bribing a small child to
+buy me something to eat, I contrived to get slowly on my way. It was on
+the evening of the third day that I reached home. I often thought,
+somewhat bitterly, of my short cut through the tunnel and all the delay
+it had caused!
+
+[Illustration: "BRIBING A SMALL CHILD TO BUY ME SOMETHING TO EAT."]
+
+When I actually stood outside the little cottage which I called home,
+and looked up at the windows, the hope that had buoyed me up for so long
+deserted me, and I dreaded to enter. At last, however, I opened the gate
+and walked up the garden. There was a light in the small sitting-room;
+the curtains were not drawn, and I could see my sister Kitty seated by
+the table. She had evidently been weeping bitterly, and as she raised
+her face there was an expression of such hopeless sorrow in her eyes
+that my heart seemed to stop beating as I looked at her. Mary must be
+very ill. Perhaps--but no, I could not finish the sentence even in
+thought. I turned hastily, lifted the latch and went in.
+
+"Kitty!" I said, with my hand on the room door; "it's I, Jack! don't be
+frightened."
+
+She gave a little scream, and, it seemed to me, shrank back from me, as
+if I had been a ghost; but the next instant she sprang into my arms with
+a glad cry of, "Jack, Jack! is it really you?"
+
+"Yes, Kitty, who else should it be?" I said, reassuringly. "But tell
+me--how is she? How is Mary? Let me hear the truth."
+
+Kitty looked up brightly: "Mary! oh, she is better, much better, and now
+that you are here, Jack, she will soon be well!"
+
+I drew a breath of intense relief. Then, touching my little sister's
+pale, tear-stained face, I asked what had so troubled her.
+
+"Oh! Jack," she whispered, "it was you! I thought you were dead!" She
+handed me an evening paper, and pointed out a paragraph which stated
+that a fatal accident had occurred in the Blank Tunnel. A man named John
+Blount, a commercial traveller, had been killed; it was believed while
+attempting to walk through the tunnel to the junction station. The body
+had been found, early the previous morning, by some plate-layers at work
+on the line. The deceased was only identified by a letter found upon
+him.
+
+And so, poor fellow, he had met his fate in the very death from which he
+had saved me! In the midst of my own happiness my heart grew very
+sorrowful as I thought of him, my unknown friend, whose face I had never
+seen!
+
+
+
+
+_The Royal Humane Society_
+
+[Illustration: THE MEDAL OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.]
+
+
+Few Institutions appeal more strongly to popular sympathy than the Royal
+Humane Society. The rewards which it bestows upon its members, who are
+distinguished for a self-forgetting bravery which thrills the blood to
+read of, are merely the outward tokens of admiration which is felt by
+every heart. Those members include persons of all ranks of life: men,
+women, and children; nay, even animals are not excepted, and a dog wore
+the medal with conscious pride. We have selected the following examples
+out of thousands, not because they are more deserving of admiration than
+the rest, but because they are fair specimens of the acts of
+self-devotion which have won the medals of the Society in recent years.
+
+
+[Illustration: CAPTAIN JAMES DE HOGHTON.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+LIEUTENANT J. DE HOGHTON.
+
+"On Thursday, the 10th September, 1874, at 9.30 p.m., in the gateway
+between the outer and inner harbour at Lowestoft, Suffolk, James Dorling
+fell overboard from the yacht _Dart_ whilst she was making for the inner
+harbour in a strong half-flood tideway, the night very dark, blowing and
+raining hard, and going about five and a half knots. Lieutenant (now
+Captain) J. de Hoghton, 10th Foot, jumped overboard, swam to Dorling,
+and supported him in the water for about a quarter of an hour in the
+tideway, between narrow high pilework, without crossbeams or side chains
+to lay hold of, and the head of the pilework 12ft. or 15ft. above the
+water--the yacht being carried away into the inner harbour, and no other
+vessel or boat in the gateway to lend assistance; the darkness prevented
+any immediate help being obtained from the shore. The length of the
+gateway was about 350 yards, width 15 to 20 yards, depth 10 ft. to 15
+ft. Lieutenant de Hoghton and Dorling were ultimately drawn up the
+pilework by ropes from the shore."
+
+
+[Illustration: SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE R.A.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. and D. Downey._]
+
+SUB-LIEUT. R. A. F. MONTGOMERIE, R.A.
+
+"On a dark night, 6th April, 1877, H.M.S. _Immortalite_ was under sail,
+going four-and-a-half knots before the wind, the sea rough for swimming,
+and abounding with sharks, when T. E. Hocken, O.S., fell overboard.
+Sub-Lieut. R. A. F. Montgomerie, R.A., jumped overboard from the bridge,
+a height of twenty-five feet, to his assistance, swam to him, got hold
+of the man, and hauled him on to his back, then swam with him to where
+he supposed the life-buoy would be; but, seeing no relief, he states
+that after keeping him afloat some time, he told the man to keep himself
+afloat whilst he took his clothes off. He had got his coat and shirt
+off, and was in the act of taking off his trousers when Hocken, in
+sinking, caught him by the legs and dragged him down a considerable
+depth. His trousers luckily came off clear, and he swam to the surface,
+bringing the drowning man with him. Hocken was now insensible. He was
+eventually picked up by a second boat that was lowered, after having
+been over twenty-one minutes in the water, the first boat having missed
+him. The life-buoy was not seen."
+
+
+[Illustration: LIEUT. LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N.
+
+_From a Photo. by Henry Wayland, Blackheath._]
+
+LIEUTENANT LEWIS E. WINTZ, R.N. (Now Commander De Wintz.)
+
+"On the 19th December, 1877, H.M.S. _Raleigh_ was running before a fresh
+breeze at the rate of seven knots an hour off the Island of Tenedos,
+when James Maker fell from aloft into the sea. Lieutenant Lewis E. Wintz
+immediately jumped overboard and supported the man for twenty minutes at
+considerable risk (not being able to reach the life-buoy). The man must
+undoubtedly have been drowned (being insensible and seriously injured)
+had it not been for the bravery of this officer."
+
+
+[Illustration: CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS.
+
+_From a Photo. by Deneulain, Strand._]
+
+CONSTABLE JOHN JENKINS. (E Division, Metropolitan Police
+Force.)
+
+"Constable John Jenkins was on duty on Waterloo Bridge at 2.45 a.m., on
+the 14th July, 1882, when he saw a man mount the parapet and throw
+himself into the river. Without hesitation, the constable unfastened his
+belt, and jumped from the bridge after him. Notwithstanding a determined
+resistance on the part of the would-be suicide, Constable Jenkins
+succeeded in seizing the man and supporting him above water until both
+were picked up some distance down the river by a boat, which was
+promptly sent from the Thames Police Station. The danger incurred in
+this rescue may be fairly estimated when it appears that the height
+jumped was forty-three feet, the tide was running out under the arches
+at the rate of six miles an hour, and a thick mist covered the river, so
+much so as to render it impossible to see any object in the centre of
+the river from either side. The place where the men entered the water
+was a hundred and seventy yards from shore."
+
+
+[Illustration: WALTER CLEVERLEY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. J. Robinson, Landport._]
+
+WALTER CLEVERLEY.
+
+"On the 13th September, 1883, the steamship _Rewa_ was proceeding
+through the Gulf of Aden, when a Lascar fell overboard. Being unable to
+swim, he drifted astern rapidly. Mr. Walter Cleverley, a passenger,
+promptly jumped overboard, swam to the man--then fifty yards from the
+ship--and assisted him to a life-buoy, which was previously thrown. The
+vessel was going thirteen knots an hour. Captain Hay, commanding the
+ship, states: 'The danger incurred was incalculable, as the sea
+thereabouts is infested with sharks. The salvor was forty minutes in the
+water, supporting the man. Cleverley jumped off top of the poop, a
+height of thirty feet to the surface of the water.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON R.N.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bassano._]
+
+LIEUT. THE HON. WILLIAM GRIMSTON, R.N.
+
+"On the 29th August, 1884, off Beyrout, H.M.S. _Alexandra_ was steaming
+at the rate of four knots an hour, when a man fell overboard. Lieut. the
+Hon. William Grimston dropped from his port into the sea, and succeeded
+in holding the man on the surface of the water until two seamen (who had
+jumped overboard) came to his assistance. The special danger in this
+rescue is brought to the Society's notice by Captain Rawson, R.N.,
+commanding the ship. The port through which the officer had to drop is
+very small, and situated just before the double screw, which was then
+revolving: in fact, the salvor passed through the circle made by it."
+
+
+[Illustration: ALFRED COLLINS. HOSKINGS.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hawke, Plymouth._]
+
+ALFRED COLLINS, aged 21, Fisherman.
+
+"The fishing lugger _Water Nymph_, of Looe, was seven or eight miles
+east-south-east of the 'Eddystone,' on the night of the 16th December,
+1884, when a boy named Hoskings fell overheard, and was soon about
+eighty feet astern. The captain of the boat, Alfred Collins, immediately
+jumped in to the rescue, carrying the end of a rope with him; he was
+clothed in oilskins and sea-boots. After a great deal of difficulty
+Hoskings was reached and pulled on board. At the time this gallant act
+was performed there was a gale of wind blowing, with heavy rain, and the
+night was dark. The Silver Medal was voted to Alfred Collins on the 20th
+January, 1885."
+
+
+[Illustration: CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE.
+
+_From a Photo. by Winter, Muneer._]
+
+CAPTAIN H. N. MCRAE, 45th (Rattray's) Sikhs (assisted by
+Captain H. Holmes).
+
+"At 5 a.m. on the 5th October, 1886, a trumpeter of the Royal Artillery
+was crossing the compound of Captain Holmes's bungalow at Rawal Pindi,
+when he fell into a well. On hearing the alarm, Captain Holmes, Captain
+McRae, and Lieutenant Taylor proceeded to the spot. On arriving they
+found that Mr. Grose had preceded them, and had let down a well-rope,
+which was of sufficient length to reach the soldier and capable of
+sustaining him for a time. Both Captain McRae and Captain Holmes
+volunteered to go down, but as the former was a light-weight it was
+decided that he should make the trial, Captain Holmes demurring, as he
+wished to undertake the risk himself. The rope being very weak, it could
+not possibly have borne Captain Holmes's great weight. Captain McRae was
+accordingly let down by means of a four-strand tent rope, and on
+reaching the water found the soldier practically insensible; he
+therefore decided to go up with him. Captain Holmes was at the head of
+the rope, and his strength enabled him to lift both completely. At every
+haul, the amount gained was held in check by the other persons above.
+After hauling up about 10 ft. or 15 ft., the rope broke, precipitating
+Captain McRae and his charge to the bottom of the well. A second attempt
+was then made, and both were brought to the surface. The depth of the
+well was 88 ft., of which 12 ft. was water. It was quite dark at the
+time. Very great personal risk was incurred by Captain McRae. The Silver
+Medal was unanimously voted to him."
+
+
+[Illustration: MR. JAMES POWER.
+
+_From a Photo. by Lawrence, Dublin._]
+
+MR. JAS. POWER.
+
+"On the 16th August, 1890, about 12.30 p.m., two ladies had a narrow
+escape from drowning whilst bathing at Tramore, Co. Waterford. Mr. Jas.
+Power, who ran out from an adjacent hotel on hearing the alarm, saw a
+young man with a life-buoy struggling in the sea about 150 yards from
+shore; further out, and fully 250 yards from the beach, two ladies
+appeared to be in imminent danger, being rapidly carried out by the
+strong ebb tide. Mr. Power first swam to the young man, but finding
+that he was unable to swim and could not dispense with the life-buoy, he
+turned on his back and towed the man with the life-buoy out to where the
+ladies were, and then with the aid of the buoy he brought the three
+safely to land. The Silver Medal was voted to Mr. Jas. Power."
+
+
+[Illustration: JOHN CONNELL.
+
+_From a Photo. by Amey, Landport._]
+
+JOHN CONNELL, Boatman, Coastguard Service.
+
+"About 4 a.m. on the 19th October, 1890, the sailing vessel _Genesta_,
+of Grimsby, became stranded on the Yorkshire coast near Withernsea.
+Three of the crew were safely landed in the breeches buoy, after
+communication had been effected by means of the rocket apparatus, but
+one man, who had taken refuge in the crosstrees, was unable from
+exhaustion to avail himself of the means afforded. The ship's mate
+attempted to get him clear of the rigging, but the man seemed powerless
+to help himself, yet equal to holding on tenaciously at his post. In
+this position the man was left until John Connell gallantly went off to
+the vessel and rescued him at considerable personal risk. The ship was
+bumping, and might have gone to pieces at any moment. The weather was so
+bad that one man died in the rigging from exhaustion. The Silver Medal
+was awarded to John Connell."
+
+
+[Illustration: CONSTABLE WILLIAM PENNETT.
+
+_From a Photo. by Wright, Whitechapel._]
+
+POLICE-CONSTABLE WM. PENNETT.
+
+"About one o'clock a.m., on the 25th November, 1890, Constable Pennett,
+being on duty at Tower Hill, saw a man throw himself into the Thames,
+apparently with the intention of committing suicide. He at once divested
+himself of lamp and belt, and without waiting to take off his uniform,
+jumped into the river, seized hold of the struggling man, and gallantly
+rescued him. The night was dark. The magistrate who investigated the
+case strongly commended the constable's courage and presence of mind.
+The Silver Medal was awarded to Constable Wm. Pennett."
+
+
+[Illustration: SULEIMAN GIRBY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Sabungi, Jaffa._]
+
+SULEIMAN GIRBY.
+
+(Chief Boatman to Messrs. Thos. Cook and Son, at Jaffa.)
+
+"The Russian steamer _Ichihatchoff_ was wrecked on the rocks of Jaffa on
+the 18th February, 1891. More than twenty passengers had been swept away
+before anything was done to save life. At 6.30 a.m., on the 19th
+February, Girby and his brothers launched a boat, and proceeded to the
+vessel, from whence they brought off a number of the passengers and
+landed them. In making a second attempt their boat was smashed against
+the inner reef, and it was found impossible to launch another.
+
+"Girby then swam backwards and forwards to the vessel fifteen times,
+bringing someone with him to shore each time. The Silver Medal was voted
+to Suleiman Girby."
+
+"At 8 p.m. on the 26th April, 1891, the French frigate _Seignelay_
+parted anchors, and was carried on to the rocks at Jaffa. It was blowing
+a heavy gale at the time, and none of the natives, excepting Girby,
+would offer the slightest assistance. Girby volunteered to swim to the
+ship and deliver a letter to the captain from the Governor. The ship was
+half a mile from shore, but he accomplished the work after a two hours'
+swim in a heavy sea. After doing this he dived under the ship and
+examined the hull, reporting her sound. He then swam ashore, taking a
+message from the captain. Towards morning, when the sea got higher, the
+captain signalled, and Suleiman again swam out, and brought back the
+captain's wife fastened on his back. The Silver Clasp was voted to
+Suleiman Girby."
+
+
+[Illustration: EDITH BRILL.
+
+_From a Photo. by Cobb & Keir, Plumstead Road._]
+
+EDITH BRILL.
+
+"Edith Brill, age ten, saved Frank Hill, two and a half years old, at
+6.45 p.m., 6th June, 1882, at the Graving Dock, Royal Dockyard,
+Woolwich. The child Hill was pulled into the water by a boy who had
+stumbled in some very foul and deep water. Little Edith Brill pluckily
+ran down the deep steps of the dock and went up to her neck in the
+water, and held the child up until John Hill helped her out. The boy
+Whorley who had fallen in was drowned."
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+_A Strange Reunion._
+
+
+BY T. G. ATKINSON.
+
+In a poor little house in a wretched little town on a miserable day in
+November, two men sat by a small wood fire, warming their hands at the
+tiny blaze and silently watching the flicker of the flames. They were
+both young men; the elder was not more than twenty-six or seven and the
+younger was perhaps a year behind.
+
+[Illustration: "TWO MEN SAT BY A SMALL WOOD FIRE."]
+
+One of them was plain Charlie Osborne; the other rejoiced in the more
+aristocratic sobriquet of Eustace Margraf. But it mattered little by
+what different names they were called, since Fortune had forgotten to
+call on both alike. In short, they were "broke"--almost "stony broke."
+There had been a lock-out at the works at which they were both employed,
+and although they had neither of them joined the combination, they were
+none the less out of a job, and the fact of their former employment at
+the works that had locked them out told heavily against their chance of
+procuring other work in the town.
+
+Neither was there much likelihood of their going back to the works, for
+the owners were rich men who could afford a long struggle, and the men
+were obstinate; and even if the strikers ever got back, Osborne and
+Margraf were in the awkward positions of being blacklegs. Thus it was
+that Fortune had forgotten these two young men who sat by their little
+fire, doggedly silent, too low-hearted even to curse Fortune.
+
+"I shall go to London, Charlie," said the elder, suddenly, without
+looking up.
+
+"What shall we do there?" growled the other. Osborne and Margraf had
+been more inseparable than brothers since the death of each of their
+parents ten years ago. Therefore it was that, when the latter announced
+his intention of going to London, the former instantly assumed his own
+share in the venture, and asked:--
+
+"What shall _we_ do in London?"
+
+"Don't know till I get there," answered Margraf, who, be it observed,
+did not encourage the first person plural. First person singular was a
+good deal more in his line. Yet he loved his chum, too, in his own way;
+but it was not the best way.
+
+"What's the use of going, then?"
+
+"What's the use of staying in this d---- show? What's the use of tramping
+round day and night after a job that never comes? What's the use of
+anything? I'm tired of mill work; it isn't what I was made for. I'm
+going to try my luck at something better. You needn't come."
+
+But because Charlie Osborne was accustomed to be led by his comrade, he
+too gave out his intention to try his fortunes in London. This was not
+quite what Margraf wanted. He evidently had a scheme in contemplation
+in which he would prefer to be alone.
+
+"I'll tell you what, Charlie, old fellow," he said after awhile. "I've
+got a plan I want you to help carry out. I want you and me to separate
+for three years--only three years--and try our luck alone. At the end of
+the three years we will meet again and see how each has got on, and
+divide takings."
+
+"Not see each other at all?" asked Charlie, ruefully. His love for his
+chum was of the better kind; the second person singular species.
+
+"No, not at all," answered the other, firmly, as though he were laying
+down a painful but apparent duty. "Not have any communication with each
+other except in case of extreme necessity. In that case we can put an
+advertisement in the _Daily Telegraph_. We will make a point of always
+seeing that paper."
+
+After a longer demur than he was accustomed to raise to any scheme of
+Margraf's, however wild and chimerical, Charlie at last let his usual
+submission, and a vague suspicion that his companionship might be
+dragging Margraf back from attaining a position more worthy of that
+gentleman's talents, get the better of him. He made a hard fight for the
+privilege of exchanging letters during the three years, but Eustace
+remained obdurate. There was to be no communication except under the
+circumstances and in the manner named. Each was to take care to see the
+_Daily Telegraph_ every morning in case of such communications; and at
+the exact expiration of the three years, that is, on the 15th November,
+188-, they were to meet at twelve o'clock noon at Charing Cross station.
+
+So these two men divided up their little stock of belongings and smaller
+capital of money, took a third-class ticket each to London, went
+together to Charing Cross to verify the scene of their future reunion,
+and shook hands.
+
+"We meet here in three years from to-day."
+
+"We do, all being well. Good-bye, Charlie."
+
+"Good-bye, old fellow."
+
+Thus they parted, each on his separate quest for fortune.
+
+[Illustration: "GOOD-BYE, OLD FELLOW."]
+
+On the evening of the 14th November, 188-, Eustace Margraf, Esq.,
+Director and Chairman of the Anglican Debenture Corporation, Ltd., eke
+of the General Stock and Shareholders' Protective Union, Ltd., and
+various other like speculative companies, sat in the luxurious
+dining-room of his well-appointed residence in Lewisham Park. He had
+finished his sumptuous but solitary meal, and, reclining in a spacious
+armchair, sipped his rare old wine. It was three years all but a day
+since he had parted from Charlie Osborne on Charing Cross Station, and
+set out with eighteenpence in his pocket to seek his fortune. In that
+brief time he had rapidly risen to wealth and distinction. Three years
+ago he was a penniless mechanic, forsaken by Fortune and discontented
+with his life; to-day he was a rich man, smiled on and courted by
+Fortune and envied by all her minions, and still he was discontented
+with his life.
+
+It was strange that he should cherish this discontent, for Eustace
+Margraf, mindful of the fact that he was made for something better than
+mill work, had matriculated and graduated at the World's University in
+the Department of Forgery and Theft. He had taken the highest diplomas
+in fraud; he had passed with honours the test of an accomplished
+swindler; and in the intricacies of embezzlement he was Senior Wrangler.
+Yet he was not content; some men are never satisfied.
+
+This evening, as he sat sampling his '18 Oporto, with the daily paper at
+his elbow, he actually felt some amount of regret that he had entered
+the course for such distinctions--which, by the way, his modesty forbade
+him publishing to the world at large. Only a select few knew the extent
+of his accomplishments.
+
+In the paper at his side there was a little paragraph which had given
+his memory a rather unpleasant jog. It was in the personal column, and
+ran as follows: "E. M.--Don't forget to-morrow, noon, C. C.
+Station.--Charlie." He wanted to see Charlie, for he still loved him
+after his old fashion; but the memories which the advertisement called
+up, and a doubt as to whether Charlie would appreciate his
+accomplishments, made him fidgety; and the recollection of all that must
+pass between now and noon to-morrow filled him with uneasiness. For
+to-night he was to stake everything in one tremendous venture. If he
+succeeded he would need to do nothing more all his life; if he
+failed----
+
+To-night, at eight o'clock, the Continental mail train would start from
+Charing Cross Station with seventy-five thousand pounds worth of bullion
+for the Bank of France. If Eustace Margraf succeeded in his enterprise,
+it would reach Paris with the same weight of valueless shot in the
+strong iron boxes.
+
+Everything had been nicely and minutely arranged. The shot had been
+carefully weighed to a quarter of a grain, and portioned into three
+equal lots to match the cases of bullion, which would be weighed on
+leaving London, again at Dover, once more at Calais, and finally on
+arrival at Paris. A key to fit the cases had been secretly made from a
+wax impression of the original, how obtained none but Margraf knew. This
+key he would hand to his confederates this evening at Charing Cross
+Station, after which he would go down by the seven o'clock train
+preceding the mail.
+
+The stoker of the mail, an old railway hand, had been bribed, together
+with the guard in whose compartment the bullion would travel. It had
+been thought desirable to deal differently with the front guard and the
+driver; a specially prepared and powerful drug was to be given them in a
+pint of beer just before starting, which would take effect about an hour
+after administration and last till the sleepers should be aroused by
+brandy. During their slumber the stoker would pull up at convenient
+places on the line to allow the robbers to enter the guard's carriage
+and leave it with their booty, when they would make off to where Margraf
+had arranged to meet them; he would manage the rest. The front guard and
+the driver, meanwhile, would for their own sakes be glad enough to say
+nothing about their long slumber.
+
+All these arrangements had been made with great nicety, and told over
+twice; and yet Margraf was uneasy and nervous as he thought of all the
+risk he ran. Twice he stretched out his hand for the bell-rope for
+telegram forms to stay the whole business; once he went so far as to
+ring the bell, but he altered his mind by the time the servant answered
+it, and ordered hot brandy instead. It was now six o'clock; in another
+hour he must hand over the duplicate key to his accomplices and board
+the train for Dover.
+
+Every moment he grew more nervous, his hand became so shaky that brandy
+failed to steady it; his face grew pale and haggard; his nerves were
+strung to a painful tension; and all sorts of possibilities of failure
+in his scheme haunted him till he could have cried out from sheer
+nervousness.
+
+[Illustration: "A LIFE LIKE THIS WOULD KILL ME!"]
+
+"God!" he exclaimed, as he drained a glass of brandy and water and rose
+to go. "A life like this would kill me. Well, this shall be the last
+risk. If it turns out all right--as it must--I shall give this kind of
+business up. I shall have plenty then, and old Charlie will go off and
+live quietly and comfortably."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The rear guard of the seven o'clock Continental finished his last cup of
+tea, put on his thick winter coat, kissed his wife and baby girl, and
+took up his lantern preparatory to joining his train. He reached the
+station as the great engine was being coupled and gave the driver a
+cheery salute, which that official acknowledged with a surly growl.
+
+"Something put Jimmy out to-night," he laughed to the fireman, a young,
+inexperienced fellow, making his trial trip, and passed on to make his
+inspection of things in general before starting.
+
+At the last moment a richly-dressed gentleman, wearing a long fur coat,
+and carrying a large travelling rug, entered a first-class smoking
+compartment. This gentleman, whom numerous people on the platform
+recognised as he passed and saluted respectfully, was Eustace Margraf,
+Esq. The carriage he got into was an empty one, and, lying full length
+on the seat, covered with his rug, he lit a cigar and composed himself
+to make the best of a long and tiresome railway journey. The guard blew
+his whistle, the great engine reproduced it in a loud, deep tone, and
+the train steamed slowly out of the station, twenty minutes late in
+starting.
+
+Left to his own reflections, which were none of the liveliest, and
+lulled by the motion of the train, our traveller soon fell into a fitful
+sleep, wherein he was haunted by dreams that wrought upon his brain
+until he was almost as nervous as he had been in his own room some hours
+before.
+
+He awoke suddenly, with a vague sense that the train was travelling at a
+most unusual and unaccountable speed: and, as he leapt to his feet in a
+half-dazed fright, they shot through Tunbridge--a place at which they
+were timed to make a ten minutes' stop--and he was conscious of seeing,
+as in a flash, a crowd of frightened and awe-struck faces looking at the
+train from the platform. He sank back on the cushioned seat, seized with
+a nameless terror. Time and space seemed to his overwrought nerves to be
+filled with tokens of some approaching calamity which he was powerless
+to prevent; the terrific speed and violent swaying of the train, the
+shrill howl of the ceaseless whistle, the terrible darkness and silence
+of everything outside his immediate surroundings, and the recollection
+of that crowd of terrified faces, all seemed to thrill him with a sense
+of impending horror, and the wretched man sat terror-stricken on his
+seat, a mere mass of highly-strung and delicate nerves.
+
+[Illustration: "SUDDENLY A FACE PASSED THE WINDOW."]
+
+Suddenly, as he looked into the black night, a face passed the window,
+as of someone walking along the footboard to the engine; a stern-set
+face, as of one going to certain danger and needing all the pluck he
+possessed to carry him through: and at the apparition the traveller
+fairly shrieked aloud; but the face passed on and was gone.
+
+In another moment there was a sudden shout--a terrific crash--a wild
+chaos of sight and sound--and our traveller knew no more.
+
+When next he found his senses, he was lying among cushions and rugs in
+the waiting-room at Tunbridge Wells Station. He awoke with a faint
+shiver, and tried to raise himself, but found to his astonishment that
+he could not so much as lift a finger. As a matter of fact, he was among
+those whom the busy surgeons had given up as a desperate case; and,
+after doing all in their power to ease him, abandoned in favour of more
+hopeful subjects; but this he did not know.
+
+Several of the passengers whose injuries were only very slight were
+discussing the accident in an animated manner, and, as usual in such
+cases, many wild and fanciful conjectures were passed about as truth. At
+last one said:--
+
+"Does anyone know the rights of the matter?"
+
+"Yes, I do," volunteered a young man with an arm in a sling; and Margraf
+lay silently listening, unable to move or speak.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"Just after we passed Grove Park, the fireman was on the front of the
+engine oiling, when he felt the locomotive increasing in speed till it
+became so appalling that he grew terrified and could not get back. He is
+a young fellow, and this is his trial trip. At length he managed to
+crawl back to the cab, where he found the driver lying, as he supposed,
+dead. This so increased his terror that he was only able to open the
+whistle and pull the cord communicating with the rear guard, and then
+fell in a swoon across the tender.
+
+"The rear guard, a plucky young fellow of about six-and-twenty, twigging
+the situation, came, as we all know, along the footboard to the
+engine"--Margraf listened with all his remaining strength--"in order to
+stop the train before it ran into the Ramsgate express, but apparently
+was too late."
+
+"But what was up with the driver, and where was the front guard in the
+meanwhile?"
+
+"Well, it appears from what the front guard says--marvellous how he
+escaped with hardly a scratch--both these men had been drugged, and as
+they were both of them to have run the mail train to the Continent
+to-night, things look very fishy."
+
+Margraf nearly fainted in his efforts to listen more intensely.
+
+"They were changed on to this train at the last moment, and hence this
+accident. The rear guard, poor fellow, was shockingly mangled. Stone
+dead, of course; and leaves, I understand, a wife and child. There will
+no doubt be a collection made for him. He was a plucky fellow."
+
+"Does anyone know his name?" asked one.
+
+"Yes; his name was Charlie Osborne."
+
+There was a heartrending groan from the cushions and rugs.
+
+"Here," cried a young medical student among the party to a passing
+surgeon, "you'd better come and have a look at this poor chap. He isn't
+as dead as you thought he was."
+
+[Illustration: THE SURGEON CAME AND LOOKED AT MARGRAF.]
+
+The surgeon came and looked at Margraf.
+
+"Isn't he?" he said, in his cool, professional way. "He is a good deal
+farther gone than I thought. He couldn't be gone much farther."
+
+
+
+
+_From Behind the Speaker's Chair._
+
+IV.
+
+(VIEWED BY HENRY W. LUCY.)
+
+
+ABOUT INDENTED HEADINGS.
+
+I suppose if anyone has a right to indulge in the convenience of
+indented headings when writing a discursive article, I may claim a share
+in the privilege. When I retired from the editorship of a morning
+newspaper, a not obtrusively friendly commentator wrote that my chief
+claim to be remembered in that connection was that I had invented
+sign-posts for leading articles. But he was careful to add, lest I
+should be puffed up, this was not sufficient to establish editorial
+reputation.
+
+It is true; but it is interesting to observe how the way thus adventured
+upon has grown crowded. The abstentions indicate a curious and
+interesting habitude ingrained in the English Press. Whilst most of the
+weekly papers, not only in the provinces but in London, have adopted the
+new fashion, no daily paper in London, and in the country only one here
+and there, has followed it. That is a nice distinction, illustrating a
+peculiarity of our honoured profession. As it was a daily paper that
+made the innovation, weekly papers may, without loss of dignity, adopt
+the custom as their own. But it is well known that, in London at least,
+there is only one daily paper, and that is the "We" speaking from a
+particular address, located somewhere between Temple Bar and St. Paul's.
+
+Argal, it is impossible that this peculiarly situated entity should
+borrow from other papers. Yet I once heard the manager of what we are
+pleased to call the leading journal confess he envied the _Daily News'_
+side-headings to its leaders, and regretted the impossibility of
+adapting them for his own journal. That was an opinion delivered in
+mufti. In full uniform, no manager--certainly no editor--of another
+morning paper is aware of the existence of the _Daily News_; the _Daily
+News_, on its part, being courageously steeped in equally dense
+ignorance of the existence of other journals.
+
+[Illustration: INDENTED HEADINGS.]
+
+Few things are so funny as the start of surprise with which a London
+journal upon rare occasion finds itself face to face with a something
+that also appears every morning at a price varying from a penny to
+threepence. Nothing will induce it to give the phenomenon a name, and it
+distantly alludes to it as "a contemporary." This is quite peculiar to
+Great Britain, and is in its way akin to the etiquette of the House of
+Commons, which makes it a breach of order to refer to a member by his
+proper name. It does not exist in France or the United States, and there
+are not lacking signs that the absurd lengths to which it has hitherto
+been carried out in the English Press are being shortened.
+
+[Illustration: "CONTEMP(T)ORARIES."]
+
+
+SIR WALTER BARTTELOT.
+
+But that is an aside, meant only to introduce an old friend in a new
+place. I was going to explain how it came about that, in the
+mid-February issue of THE STRAND MAGAZINE, the name of Sir
+Walter Barttelot should appear in the list of members of the present
+House of Commons who had seats in the House in 1873, and that another
+number of the Magazine has been issued without the correction, widely
+made elsewhere, being noted. It is due simply to the fact of the
+phenomenal circulation of a magazine which, in order to be out to date,
+requires its contributors to send in their copy some two months in
+advance.
+
+It is not too late to say a word about the late member for Sussex, a
+type rapidly disappearing from the Parliamentary stage. He entered the
+House thirty-three years ago, when Lord Palmerston was Premier, Mr.
+Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Cornewall Lewis
+was at the Home Office, and Lord John Russell looked after Foreign
+Affairs.
+
+The House of Commons was a different place in those days, the heritage
+of the classes, a closed door against any son of the masses. Sir Walter
+was born a country gentleman, his natural prejudices not being smoothed
+down by a term of service in the Dragoon Guards. He was not a brilliant
+man, nor, beyond the level attainments of a county magistrate, an able
+one. But he was thoroughly honest; suspected himself of ingrained
+prejudice, and always fought against it. He suffered and learnt much
+during his long Parliamentary life.
+
+One of the earliest shocks dealt him was the appearance in the House of
+Mr. Chamberlain, newly elected for Birmingham. It is difficult at this
+time of day to realize the attitude in which the gentlemen of England
+sixteen years ago stood towards the statesman who is now proudly
+numbered in their ranks. When he presented himself to be sworn in, it
+was one of the jokes of the day that Sir Walter Barttelot expected he
+would approach the Table making "a cart-wheel" down the floor, as ragged
+little boys disport themselves along the pavement when a drag or omnibus
+passes. Sir Walter was genuinely surprised to find in the fearsome
+Birmingham Radical a quietly-dressed, well-mannered, almost
+boyish-looking man, who spoke in a clear, admirably pitched voice, and
+opposed the Prisons Bill, then under discussion, on the very lines from
+which Sir Walter had himself attacked it when it was brought in during
+the previous Session.
+
+[Illustration: "ANTICIPATION."]
+
+It was characteristic of this fine old English gentleman that, having
+done a man an injustice by unconsciously forming a wrong opinion about
+him, he hastened forthwith to make amends.
+
+[Illustration: "REALITY."]
+
+"If," he said, when Mr. Chamberlain had resumed his seat, "the hon.
+member for Birmingham will always address the House with the same
+quietness, and with the same intelligence displayed on this occasion, I
+can assure him the House of Commons will always be ready to listen to
+him."
+
+This is delicious, looking back over the years, watching Mr.
+Chamberlain's soaring flight, and thinking of the good county member
+thus loftily patronizing him. But it was a bold thing to be said at that
+time of Mr. Chamberlain by Sir Walter Barttelot, and some friends who
+sat near him thought his charity had led him a little too far.
+
+The Sussex squire was of a fine nature--simple, ever ready to be moved
+by generous impulses. There were two men coming across the moonlight
+orbit of his Parliamentary life whose conduct he detested, and whose
+influence he feared. One was Mr. Parnell, the other Mr. Bradlaugh. Yet
+when the Commission acquitted Mr. Parnell of the charges brought against
+him by the forged letters, Sir Walter Barttelot sought him out in the
+Lobby, publicly shook hands with him, and congratulated him upon the
+result of the inquiry. When Mr. Bradlaugh lay on his death-bed, on the
+very night the House of Commons was debating the resolution to expunge
+from the Order Book the dictum that stood there through eleven years,
+declaring him ineligible either to take the oath or to make affirmation,
+Sir Walter Barttelot appealed to the House unanimously to pass the
+motion, concluding his remarks with emphatic expression of the hope that
+"God would spare Mr. Bradlaugh's life."
+
+[Illustration: "SHADOWS."]
+
+Sir Walter never recovered from the blow dealt by the death of his son
+in Africa, aggravated as the sorrow was by the controversy which
+followed. Of late years he spoke very little; but in the Parliaments of
+1874-80 and 1880-85 he was a frequent participator in debate. He was no
+orator, nor did he contribute original ideas to current discussion.
+Moreover, what he had to say was so tortured by the style of delivery
+that it lost something of whatever force naturally belonged to it.
+
+I have a verbatim note taken fifteen years ago of a speech delivered in
+the House of Commons by Sir Walter, which faintly echoes an oratorical
+style whose master is no longer with us. It lacks the inconsequential
+emphasis, the terrific vigour of the gesture, and the impression
+conveyed by the speaker's intense earnestness, that really, by-and-by,
+he would say something, which compelled the attention of new members and
+strangers in the gallery. But if the reader imagines portentous pauses
+represented by the hyphens, and the deepening to tragic tones of the
+words marked in italics, he may in some measure realize the effect.
+
+The speech from which this passage was taken was delivered in debate
+upon a resolution moved by Mr. Forster on the Cattle Plague Orders.
+Whenever in the passage Mr. Forster is personally alluded to it is
+necessary, in order to full realization of the scene, to picture Sir
+Walter shaking a minatory forefinger, sideways, at the right hon.
+gentleman, not looking at him, but pointing him out to the scorn of
+mankind and the reprobation of country gentlemen: "Yet _he knows_ [here
+the finger wags]--and--_knows full well_--in the--position he
+occupies--making a proposal of this kind--must be one--which--must
+be--fatal--to--the Bill. _No one knows better_ than the right hon.
+gentleman--that when--he--raises a great question _of this kind_--upon a
+Bill _of this sort_--_namely_ upon the second reading--of--this
+Bill--that that proposal--that he makes--is absolutely against the
+principle--of--the Bill. Now, I--de--ny that the principle--of--this
+Bill--is confined--and _is to be found_--in the 5th Schedule--of--the
+Bill."
+
+A few minutes later an illustration occurred to the inspired orator, and
+was thus brought under the notice of the entranced House:--
+
+"Now, Denmark--it is a _remark_--able country, is _Den_--mark--for--we
+have little--or no--dis--ease from _Den_--mark. The importation--from
+_Den_--mark--is something like fifty-six--thousand--cattle--_and the_
+curious part of it is this, that _nine_teen--thousand--of
+these--were--cows--and _these cows_ came--to--this country--and--had
+been allowed to go--_all over_--this country--and--I have never yet
+heard--that these cows that--have so--gone over _this country_--have
+spread any disease--in this country--."
+
+This was a mannerism which amused the House at the time, but did nothing
+to obscure the genuine qualities of Sir Walter, or lessen the esteem in
+which he was held. It cannot be said that the House of Commons was
+habitually moved by his argument in debate. But he was held in its
+warmest esteem, and his memory will long be cherished as linked with the
+highest type of English country gentleman.
+
+
+THE PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.
+
+At this time of writing there is talk in the House about payment of
+members. A private member has placed on the paper a resolution affirming
+the desirability of adopting the principle, and it is even said--(which
+I take leave to doubt)--that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has a card
+up his sleeve intended to win this game. It would be rash to predict
+stubborn resistance on the part of a body that has so often proved
+itself open to conviction as has the House of Commons. But I should say
+that to secure this end it would need a tussle quite as prolonged and as
+violent as has raged round Home Rule. Lowering and widening the suffrage
+has done much to alter the personal standard of the House of Commons.
+Nothing achieved through these sixty years would in its modifying effect
+equal the potency of the change wrought by paying members.
+
+[Illustration: "A PERSONAL STANDARD."]
+
+One illustration is found in the assertion, made with confidence, that
+under such a system the House would know no more men of the type of Sir
+Walter Barttelot. He was not the highest form of capacity, knowledge, or
+intelligence. But he was of the kind that gives to the House of Commons
+the lofty tone it speedily regains even after a paroxysm of
+post-prandial passion. The House of Commons is unique in many ways. I
+believe the main foundation of the position it holds among the
+Parliaments of the world is this condition of volunteered unremunerated
+service.
+
+In spite of sneers from disappointed or flippant persons, a seat in the
+House of Commons still remains one of the highest prizes of citizen
+life. When membership becomes a business, bringing in say L6 a week, the
+charm will be gone. As things stand, there is no reason why any
+constituency desiring to do so may not return a member on the terms of
+paying him a salary. It is done in several cases, in two at least with
+the happiest results. It would be a different thing to throw the whole
+place open with standing advertisement for eligible members at a salary
+of, L300 a year, paid quarterly. The horde of impecunious babblers and
+busybodies attracted by such a bait would trample down the class of men
+who compose the present House of Commons, and who are, in various ways,
+at touch with all the multiform interests of the nation.
+
+[Illustration: A SURPRISE.]
+
+
+HATS AND SEATS.
+
+The great hat question which agitated the House of Commons at the
+commencement of the new Session, even placing Home Rule in a secondary
+position, has subsided, and will probably not again be heard of during
+the existence of the present Parliament. Whilst yet to the fore it was
+discussed with vigour and freshness; but it is no new thing. With the
+opening Session of every Parliament the activity and curiosity of new
+members lead to inconvenient crowding of a chamber that was not
+constructed to seat 670 members. In the early days of the 1880
+Parliament the hat threatened to bring about a crisis. One evening Mr.
+Mitchell Henry startled the House by addressing the Speaker from a side
+gallery. This of itself was regarded as a breach of order, and many
+members expected the Speaker would peremptorily interfere. But Mr.
+Mitchell Henry, an old Parliamentary hand, knew he was within his right
+in speaking from this unwonted position. The side galleries as far down
+as the Bar are as much within the House as is the Treasury Bench, and
+though orators frequenting them would naturally find a difficulty in
+catching the Speaker's eye, there is no other reason why they should
+not permanently occupy seats there.
+
+Mr. Mitchell Henry explained that he spoke from this place because he
+could not find any other. He had come down in ordinarily good time to
+take his seat, and found all the benches on the floor appropriated by
+having hats planted out along them. In each hat was fixed a card,
+indicating the name of the owner. What had first puzzled Mr. Henry, and
+upon reflection led him to the detection of systematic fraud, was
+meeting in remote parts of the House, even in the street, members who
+went about wearing a hat, although what purported to be their headgear
+was being used to stake out a claim in the Legislative Chamber. Mr.
+Henry made the suggestion that only what he called "the working hat"
+should be recognised as an agent in securing a seat.
+
+[Illustration: THE NON-WORKING HAT--UNIONIST.]
+
+The strict morality of this arrangement was acquiesced in, and its
+adoption generally approved. But nothing practical came of it.
+By-and-by, in the ordinary evolution of things, the pressure of
+competition for seats died off, and the supernumerary hat disappeared
+from the scene. This Session the ancient trouble returned with increased
+force, owing to the peculiar circumstances in which political parties
+are subdivided. The Irish members insisting upon retaining their old
+seats below the gangway to the left of the Speaker, there was no room
+for the Dissentient Liberals to range themselves in their proper
+quarters on the Opposition side. They, accordingly, moved over with the
+Liberals, and appropriated two benches below the gangway, thus driving a
+wedge of hostile force into the very centre of the Ministerial ranks. It
+was the Radical quarter that was thus invaded, and its occupants were
+not disposed tamely to submit to the incursion. The position was to be
+held only by strategy. Hence the historic appearance on the scene on the
+first day of the Session of Mr. Austen Chamberlain with relays of hats,
+which he set out along the coveted benches, and so secured them for the
+sitting. On the other side of the House a similar contest was going
+forward between the Irish Nationalist members, represented by Dr.
+Tanner, and their Ulster brethren, who acknowledge a leader in Colonel
+Saunderson.
+
+[Illustration: THE NON-WORKING HAT--IRISH.]
+
+These tactics are made possible by the peculiar, indeed unique,
+arrangement by which seats are secured in the House of Commons. In all
+other Legislative Assemblies in the world each member has assigned to
+him a seat and desk, reserved for him as long as he is a member. That
+would be an impossible arrangement in the House of Commons, for the
+sufficient reason that while there are 670 duly returned members, there
+is not sitting room for much more than half the number. When a member of
+the House of Commons desires to secure a particular seat for a given
+night he must be in his place at prayer time, which on four days a week
+is at three o'clock in the afternoon. On the fifth day, Wednesday,
+prayers are due at noon. At prayer time, and only then, there are
+obtainable tickets upon which a member may write his name, and, sticking
+the pasteboard in the brass frame at the back of the seat, is happy for
+the night.
+
+Where, what Mr. Mitchell Henry called, the non-working hat comes in is
+in the practice of members gathering before prayer time and placing
+their hats on the seat they desire to retain. That is a preliminary that
+receives no official recognition. "No prayer, no seat," is the axiom,
+and unless a member be actually present in the body when the Chaplain
+reads prayers, he is not held to have established a claim. Thus his
+spiritual comfort is subtly and indispensably linked with his material
+comfort.
+
+
+A NEW THING IN SYNDICATES.
+
+There is nothing new under the glass roof of the House of Commons, not
+even the balloting syndicates, of which so much has been heard since the
+Session opened. Fifteen or sixteen years ago the Irish members
+astonished everybody by the extraordinary luck that attended them at the
+ballot. The ballot in this sense has nothing to do with the electoral
+poll, being the process by which precedence for private members is
+secured. When a private member has in charge a Bill or resolution, much
+depends on the opportunity he secures for bringing it forward.
+Theoretically, Tuesday, Wednesday, and (in vanishing degree) a portion
+of Friday are appropriated to his use. On Tuesday he may bring on
+motions; on Wednesday advance Bills; and on Friday raise miscellaneous
+questions on certain stages of Supply. On days when notices of motion
+may be given there is set forth on the Table a book with numbered lines,
+on which members write their names. Say there are fifty names written
+down--or four hundred, as was the melancholy case on the opening night
+of the Session--the Clerk at the Table places in a box a corresponding
+number of slips of paper. When all is ready for the ballot, the Speaker
+having before him the list of names as written down, the Clerk at the
+Table plunges his hand into the lucky-box and taking out, at random, one
+of the pieces of paper, calls aloud the number marked upon it.
+
+[Illustration: BALLOT.]
+
+Say it is 365. The Speaker, referring to the list he holds in his hand,
+finds that Mr. Smith has written his name on line 365. He thereupon
+calls upon Mr. Smith, who has the first chance, and selects what in his
+opinion is the most favourable day, _ceteris paribus_, the earliest at
+liberty. So the process goes through till the last paper in the
+ballot-box has been taken out and the list is closed.
+
+It is at best a wearisome business, a criminal waste of time, useless
+for practical purposes. It was well enough when Parliament was not
+overburdened with work, and when the members balloting for places rarely
+exceeded a score. But when, as happened on the opening day of the
+Session, two of the freshest hours of the sitting are occupied by the
+performance, it is felt that a change is desirable. This could easily be
+effected, there being no reason in the world why the process of
+balloting for places on the Order Book should not be carried out as was
+the balloting for places in the Strangers' Galleries on the night Mr.
+Gladstone introduced his Home Rule Bill. On that occasion the Speaker's
+Secretary, with the assistance of a clerk, and in the presence of as
+many members as cared to look on, arranged the ballot without a hitch or
+a murmur of complaint from anyone concerned. The sooner the public
+balloting is relegated to the same agency the better it will be for the
+dispatch of public business. With it should disappear the consequent
+wanton waste of time involved in members bodily bringing in their Bills,
+a performance that appropriated nearly half the sitting on the second
+day of the Session.
+
+The spread of the syndicate contrivance would happily hasten the
+inevitable end. It was by means of the syndicate, though it was not
+known by that name, or indeed at first known at all, that the Home Rule
+party managed in the Parliament of 1880-85 to monopolize the time
+pertaining to private members. Their quick eyes detected what is simple
+enough when explained--that the ballot system contained potentialities
+for increasing the chances of a Bill by twenty or thirty fold. Suppose
+they had ten Bills or motions they desired to bring forward. They
+usually had more, but ten is sufficient to contemplate. These were
+arranged in accordance with their claim to priority. Every member of the
+party wrote his name down in the ballot-book, thus securing an
+individual chance at the ballot. Whilst the ballot was in progress, each
+had in his hand a list of the Bills in their order of priority. The
+member whose name was first called by the Speaker gave notice of the
+most urgent Bill, the second and third taking the next favourable
+positions, and so on to the end.
+
+It will be seen that, supposing fifty or sixty members thus combined,
+their pet Bill would have fifty or sixty chances to one against the
+hapless private member with his solitary voice. The secret was long
+kept, and the Irish members carried everything before them at the
+ballot. Now the murder is out, and there are almost as many syndicates
+as there are private Bills. All can grow the flower now, for all have
+got the seed. But it naturally follows that competition is practically
+again made even. The advantage to be derived from the syndicate system
+has appreciably decreased, whilst its practice immeasurably lengthens
+the process of balloting.
+
+
+LOUIS JENNINGS.
+
+Mr. Louis Jennings, though he sat on the same side of the House as Sir
+Walter Barttelot, and within a week or two of his neighbour's departure
+likewise answered to the old Lobby cry, "Who goes home?" was of a
+different type of Conservative, was a man of literary training, generous
+culture, and wide knowledge of the world, and made his fame and fortune
+long before he entered the House of Commons. It was the late Mr. Delane
+whose quick eye discovered his journalistic ability, and gave him his
+first commission on the _Times_. He visited America in the service of
+that journal, and being there remained to take up the editorship of the
+_New York Times_, making himself and his journal famous by his
+successful tilting against what, up to his appearance in the list, had
+been the invincible Tweed conspiracy. He edited the "Croker Papers," and
+wrote a "study" of Mr. Gladstone--a bitterly clever book, to which the
+Premier magnanimously referred in the generous tribute he took occasion
+to pay to the memory of the late member for Stockport.
+
+Upon these two books Mr. Jennings's literary fame in this country
+chiefly rests. It would stand much higher if there were wider knowledge
+of another couple of volumes he wrote just before he threw himself into
+the turmoil of Parliamentary life. One is called "Field Paths and Green
+Lanes"; the other "Rambles Among the Hills." Both were published by Mr.
+Murray, and are now, I believe, out of print. They are well worth
+reproducing, supplying some of the most charming writing I know, full of
+shrewd observation, humorous fancy, and a deep, abiding sympathy with
+all that is beautiful in Nature. I thought I knew Louis Jennings pretty
+intimately in Parliamentary and social life, but I found a new man
+hidden in these pages--a beautiful, sunny nature, obscured in the
+ordinary relations of life by a somewhat brusque manner, and in these
+last eighteen months soured and cramped by a cruel disease. Jennings
+knew and loved the country as Gilbert White knew and loved Selborne. Now
+
+  His part in all the pomp that fills
+  The circuit of the summer hills
+      Is, that his grave is green.
+
+[Illustration: MR. LOUIS JENNINGS.]
+
+His Parliamentary career was checked, and, as it turned out, finally
+destroyed, by an untoward incident. After Lord Randolph Churchill threw
+up the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and assumed a position of
+independence on a back bench, he found an able lieutenant in his old
+friend Louis Jennings. At that time Lord Randolph was feared on the
+Treasury Bench as much as he was hated. For a Conservative member to
+associate himself with him was to be ostracised by the official
+Conservatives. A man of Mr. Jennings's position and Parliamentary
+ability was worth buying off, and it was brought to his knowledge that
+he might have a good price if he would desert Lord Randolph. He was not
+a man of that kind, and the fact that the young statesman stood almost
+alone was sufficient to attract Mr. Jennings to his side.
+
+[Illustration: AS CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER.]
+
+Up to an early date of the Session of 1890 the companionship, political
+and private, of Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Jennings was as intimate
+as had been any one of his lordship's personal connections with members
+of the Fourth Party. This alliance was ruptured under circumstances that
+took place publicly, but the undercurrent of which has never been
+fathomed. One Monday night, shortly after the opening of this Session of
+1890, there appeared on the paper a resolution standing in the name of
+Mr. Jennings, framed in terms not calculated to smooth the path of the
+Conservative Government, just then particularly troubled. That Mr.
+Jennings had prepared it in consultation with Lord Randolph Churchill
+was an open secret. Indeed, Lord Randolph had undertaken to second it.
+Before the motion could be reached a debate sprang up, in which Lord
+Randolph interposed, and delivered a speech which, in Mr. Jennings's
+view, entirely cut the ground from under his feet. He regarded this as
+more than an affront--as a breach of faith, a blow dealt by his own
+familiar friend. At that moment, in the House, he broke with Lord
+Randolph, tore up his amendment and the notes of his speech, and
+declined thereafter to hold any communion with his old friend.
+
+No one, as I had opportunity of learning at the time, was more surprised
+than Lord Randolph Churchill at the view taken of the event by Mr.
+Jennings. He had not thought of his action being so construed, and had
+certainly been guiltless of the motive attributed to him. There was
+somewhere and somehow a misunderstanding. With Mr. Jennings it was
+strong and bitter enough to last through what remained of his life.
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.]
+
+Whilst he did not act upon the first impulse communicated to one of his
+friends, and forthwith retire from public life, he with this incident
+lost all zest for it. Occasionally he spoke, choosing the level,
+unattractive field of the Civil Service Estimates. It was a high tribute
+to his power and capacity that on the few occasions when he spoke the
+House filled up, not only with the contingent attracted by the prospect
+of anything spicy, but by grave, financial authorities, Ministers and
+ex-Ministers, who listened attentively to his acute criticism. His
+public speaking benefited by a rare combination of literary style and
+oratorical aptitude. There was no smell of the lamp about his polished,
+pungent sentences. But they had the unmistakable mark of literary style.
+Had his physical strength not failed, and his life not been embittered
+by the episode alluded to, Louis Jennings would have risen to high
+position in the Parliamentary field.
+
+
+
+
+_Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives._
+
+
+MRS. BROWN-POTTER.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 4.
+
+_From a Photo. by Levitsky, Paris._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 18.
+
+_From a Photo. by Elmer & Chickering, Boston._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 24.
+
+_From a Photo. by Filk, Sydney._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Warneuke, Glasgow._]
+
+Cora Urquhart Potter was born in Louisiana, her father being Scotch and
+her mother partly Mexican. She was educated by her mother, and taught to
+act and recite from babyhood, her mother making her play on all
+occasions such as birthdays and Christmas. Her first appearance before
+friends was at the age of five years. She was married at seventeen. She
+never spoke English until fourteen, speaking entirely French and
+Spanish, She played all over the States as an amateur, and when the
+occasion came, and she was thrown on her own resources, she adopted the
+stage as a profession. She has played in every country and city where
+the English language is spoken. Mrs. Potter has, perhaps, the largest
+_repertoire_ of any living actress.
+
+
+H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. BORN 1841.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 3.
+
+_From a Painting by F. Winterhalter._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 17.
+
+_From a Photo. by Mayall._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 25.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 40.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The article on the home life of the Prince and Princess of Wales which
+we have the privilege of publishing in this number lends additional
+interest to the portraits of their Royal Highnesses at different ages.
+The accompanying portraits of the Prince represent him in his nursery;
+as an Oxford undergraduate; in Highland costume; in the uniform of a
+Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues); and finally, in an excellent
+likeness, at the present day.
+
+
+THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 17.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hansen, Copenhagen._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 19.
+
+_From a Photo. by Bingham, Paris._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 22.
+
+(With the DUKE OF YORK as a Baby.)
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 41.
+
+_From a Photo. by Lafayette, Dublin._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+Our first portrait of the Princess of Wales was taken in her native city
+nearly two years before her arrival in England; the second was taken at
+the time of her marriage; the third when her second son, the present
+Duke of York, was about a year old; and the fourth in her robes as
+Doctor of Music of the Royal University of Ireland in 1885. The
+difference in the fashion of the dresses in these portraits is striking,
+but not more so than the beauty of the Princess.
+
+
+THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
+
+BORN 1834.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 5.
+
+_From a Miniature._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 10.
+
+_From a Drawing._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 35.
+
+_From a Photo. by Hall, Wakefield._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 46.
+
+_From a Photo. by Barnes, Colchester._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey._]
+
+The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, who has of late years won world-wide
+popularity as the writer of "Mehalah," "John Herring," and many other
+novels, was born at Exeter, and is the eldest son of Mr. Edward
+Baring-Gould, of Lew-Trenchard, Devon, where the family has resided for
+nearly 300 years, and of which place he is now the Rector. He is also
+Justice of the Peace for the County of Devon. He had written on various
+subjects of historical research before he took to novel-writing.
+
+
+LORD CHARLES BERESFORD.
+
+BORN 1846.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 14.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 20.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 40.
+
+_From a Photo. by Dickinson & Foster._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Merlin, Athens._]
+
+Lord Charles Beresford, son of the Marquis of Waterford, entered the
+Royal Navy at thirteen, served on several warships, and accompanied the
+Prince of Wales to India, in 1875, as Naval _Aide-de-Camp_. At the
+bombardment of Alexandria he was in command of the gunboat _Condor_, and
+his gallant conduct in bearing down on the Marabout batteries and
+silencing guns immensely superior to his own was so conspicuous that the
+Admiral's ship signalled: "Well done, _Condor_!" In 1884 he assisted
+Lord Wolseley in the Nile Expedition.
+
+
+JOHN ROBERTS.
+
+BORN 1847.
+
+[Illustration: AGE 2.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 16.
+
+_From a Photograph._]
+
+[Illustration: AGE 26.
+
+_From a Photograph by Whitlock, Birmingham._]
+
+[Illustration: PRESENT DAY.
+
+_From a Photo. by Alerts, Bombay._]
+
+John Roberts, the finest billiard player the world has ever seen, was
+born at Ardwick, Manchester. He commenced his career as a billiard
+player very early in life, for when only a child of eleven he assisted
+his father at the George Hotel, in Liverpool, his father at the time
+being universally considered the best in England, and, consequently, we
+find that he had in early life the very best model from which to study
+the game. Some thirty years ago, when Roberts's father was champion, a
+break of over 200 was a rare event, whereas now it is an every day
+occurrence with third-rate players. Roberts's highest all-round break is
+3,000. His superiority to those who rank next to him is unprecedented,
+as evinced by his recent victory over Peall, to whom he gave 9,000 in
+24,000. Roberts's style is simply perfect, and it is wonderful to watch
+the various strokes during a long break, consisting as they do of some
+requiring great execution and power of cue, and others showing the
+utmost delicacy of touch.
+
+
+
+
+_The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes._
+
+XVII.--THE ADVENTURE OF THE "GLORIA SCOTT."
+
+BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
+
+
+"I have some papers here," said my friend, Sherlock Holmes, as we sat
+one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think,
+Watson, it would be worth your while to glance over. These are the
+documents in the extraordinary case of the _Gloria Scott_, and this is
+the message which struck Justice of the Peace Trevor dead with horror
+when he read it."
+
+He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing
+the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half sheet of
+slate-grey paper.
+
+"The supply of game for London is going steadily up," it ran.
+"Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders
+for fly-paper, and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life."
+
+As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message I saw Holmes
+chuckling at the expression upon my face.
+
+"You look a little bewildered," said he.
+
+"I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. It seems
+to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise."
+
+"Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine,
+robust old man, was knocked clean down by it, as if it had been the
+butt-end of a pistol."
+
+"You arouse my curiosity," said I. "But why did you say just now that
+there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?"
+
+"Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged."
+
+I had often endeavoured to elicit from my companion what had first
+turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, but I had never
+caught him before in a communicative humour. Now he sat forward in his
+armchair, and spread out the documents upon his knees. Then he lit his
+pipe and sat for some time smoking and turning them over.
+
+"You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?" he asked. "He was the only
+friend I made during the two years that I was at college. I was never a
+very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms
+and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed
+much with the men of my year. Bar fencing and boxing I had few athletic
+tastes, and then my line of study was quite distinct from that of the
+other fellows, so that we had no points of contact at all. Trevor was
+the only man I knew, and that only through the accident of his
+bull-terrier freezing on to my ankle one morning as I went down to
+chapel.
+
+"It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I
+was laid by the heels for ten days, and Trevor used to come in to
+inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but soon his
+visits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close friends.
+He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy, the
+very opposite to me in most respects; but we found we had some subjects
+in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as
+friendless as I. Finally, he invited me down to his father's place at
+Donnithorpe, in Norfolk, and I accepted his hospitality for a month of
+the long vacation.
+
+"Old Trevor was evidently a man of some wealth and consideration, a J.P.
+and a landed proprietor. Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to the
+north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an
+old-fashioned, wide-spread, oak-beamed, brick building, with a fine
+lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild duck
+shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing, a small but select
+library, taken over, as I understood, from a former occupant, and a
+tolerable cook, so that it would be a fastidious man who could not put
+in a pleasant month there.
+
+"Trevor senior was a widower, and my friend was his only son. There had
+been a daughter, I heard, but she had died of diphtheria while on a
+visit to Birmingham. The father interested me extremely. He was a man of
+little culture, but with a considerable amount of rude strength both
+physically and mentally. He knew hardly any books, but he had travelled
+far, had seen much of the world, and had remembered all that he had
+learned. In person he was a thick-set, burly man, with a shock of
+grizzled hair, a brown, weather-beaten face, and blue eyes which were
+keen to the verge of fierceness. Yet he had a reputation for kindness
+and charity on the country side, and was noted for the leniency of his
+sentences from the bench.
+
+[Illustration: "TREVOR USED TO COME IN TO INQUIRE AFTER ME."]
+
+"One evening, shortly after my arrival, we were sitting over a glass of
+port after dinner, when young Trevor began to talk about those habits of
+observation and inference which I had already formed into a system,
+although I had not yet appreciated the part which they were to play in
+my life. The old man evidently thought that his son was exaggerating in
+his description of one or two trivial feats which I had performed.
+
+"'Come now, Mr. Holmes,' said he, laughing good-humouredly, 'I'm an
+excellent subject, if you can deduce anything from me.'
+
+"'I fear there is not very much,' I answered. 'I might suggest that you
+have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelve
+months.'
+
+"The laugh faded from his lips and he stared at me in great surprise.
+
+"'Well, that's true enough,' said he. 'You know, Victor,' turning to his
+son, 'when we broke up that poaching gang, they swore to knife us; and
+Sir Edward Hoby has actually been attacked. I've always been on my guard
+since then, though I have no idea how you know it.'
+
+"'You have a very handsome stick,' I answered. 'By the inscription, I
+observed that you had not had it more than a year. But you have taken
+some pains to bore the head of it and pour melted lead into the hole, so
+as to make it a formidable weapon. I argued that you would not take such
+precautions unless you had some danger to fear.'
+
+"'Anything else?' he asked, smiling.
+
+"'You have boxed a good deal in your youth.'
+
+"'Right again. How did you know it? Is my nose knocked a little out of
+the straight?'
+
+"'No,' said I. 'It is your ears. They have the peculiar flattening and
+thickening which marks the boxing man.'
+
+"'Anything else?'
+
+"'You have done a great deal of digging, by your callosities.'
+
+"'Made all my money at the gold-fields.'
+
+"'You have been in New Zealand.'
+
+"'Right again.'
+
+"'You have visited Japan.'
+
+"'Quite true.'
+
+"'And you have been most intimately associated with someone whose
+initials were J. A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely
+forget.'
+
+"Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a
+strange, wild stare, and then pitched forward with his face among the
+nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.
+
+"You can imagine, Watson, how shocked both his son and I were. His
+attack did not last long, however, for when we undid his collar and
+sprinkled the water from one of the finger-glasses over his face, he
+gave a gasp or two and sat up.
+
+"'Ah, boys!' said he, forcing a smile. 'I hope I haven't frightened you.
+Strong as I look, there is a weak place in my heart, and it does not
+take much to knock me over. I don't know how you manage this, Mr.
+Holmes, but it seems to me that all the detectives of fact and of fancy
+would be children in your hands. That's your line of life, sir, and you
+may take the word of a man who has seen something of the world.'
+
+"And that recommendation, with the exaggerated estimate of my ability
+with which he prefaced it, was, if you will believe me, Watson, the very
+first thing which ever made me feel that a profession might be made out
+of what had up to that time been the merest hobby. At the moment,
+however, I was too much concerned at the sudden illness of my host to
+think of anything else.
+
+"'I hope that I have said nothing to pain you,' said I.
+
+"'Well, you certainly touched upon rather a tender point. Might I ask
+how you know and how much you know?' He spoke now in a half jesting
+fashion, but a look of terror still lurked at the back of his eyes.
+
+"'It is simplicity itself,' said I. 'When you bared your arm to draw
+that fish into the boat I saw that "J. A." had been tattooed in the bend
+of the elbow. The letters were still legible, but it was perfectly clear
+from their blurred appearance, and from the staining of the skin round
+them, that efforts had been made to obliterate them. It was obvious,
+then, that those initials had once been very familiar to you, and that
+you had afterwards wished to forget them.'
+
+"'What an eye you have!' he cried, with a sigh of relief. 'It is just as
+you say. But we won't talk of it. Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old
+loves are the worst. Come into the billiard-room and have a quiet
+cigar.'
+
+"From that day, amid all his cordiality, there was always a touch of
+suspicion in Mr. Trevor's manner towards me. Even his son remarked it.
+'You've given the governor such a turn,' said he, 'that he'll never be
+sure again of what you know and what you don't know.' He did not mean to
+show it, I am sure, but it was so strongly in his mind that it peeped
+out at every action. At last I became so convinced that I was causing
+him uneasiness, that I drew my visit to a close. On the very day,
+however, before I left an incident occurred which proved in the sequel
+to be of importance.
+
+"We were sitting out upon the lawn on garden chairs, the three of us,
+basking in the sun and admiring the view across the Broads, when the
+maid came out to say that there was a man at the door who wanted to see
+Mr. Trevor.
+
+"'What is his name?' asked my host.
+
+"'He would not give any.'
+
+"'What does he want, then?'
+
+"'He says that you know him, and that he only wants a moment's
+conversation.'
+
+"'Show him round here.' An instant afterwards there appeared a little
+wizened fellow, with a cringing manner and a shambling style of walking.
+He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, a red and
+black check shirt, dungaree trousers, and heavy boots badly worn. His
+face was thin and brown and crafty, with a perpetual smile upon it,
+which showed an irregular line of yellow teeth, and his crinkled hands
+were half-closed in a way that is distinctive of sailors. As he came
+slouching across the lawn I heard Mr. Trevor make a sort of hiccoughing
+noise in his throat, and, jumping out of his chair, he ran into the
+house. He was back in a moment, and I smelt a strong reek of brandy as
+he passed me.
+
+"'Well, my man,' said he, 'what can I do for you?'
+
+"The sailor stood looking at him with puckered eyes, and with the same
+loose-lipped smile upon his face.
+
+"'You don't know me?' he asked.
+
+"'Why, dear me, it is surely Hudson!' said Mr. Trevor, in a tone of
+surprise.
+
+"'Hudson it is, sir,' said the seaman. 'Why, it's thirty year and more
+since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still picking
+my salt meat out of the harness cask.'
+
+"'Tut, you will find that I have not forgotten old times,' cried Mr.
+Trevor, and, walking towards the sailor, he said something in a low
+voice. 'Go into the kitchen,' he continued out loud, 'and you will get
+food and drink. I have no doubt that I shall find you a situation.'
+
+"'Thank you, sir,' said the seaman, touching his forelock. 'I'm just off
+a two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp, short-handed at that, and I wants a
+rest. I thought I'd get it either with Mr. Beddoes or with you.'
+
+"'Ah!' cried Mr. Trevor, 'you know where Mr. Beddoes is?'
+
+"'Bless you, sir, I know where all my old friends are,' said the fellow,
+with a sinister smile, and slouched off after the maid to the kitchen.
+Mr. Trevor mumbled something to us about having been shipmates with the
+man when he was going back to the diggings, and then, leaving us on the
+lawn, he went indoors. An hour later, when we entered the house we found
+him stretched dead drunk upon the dining-room sofa. The whole incident
+left a most ugly impression upon my mind, and I was not sorry next day
+to leave Donnithorpe behind me, for I felt that my presence must be a
+source of embarrassment to my friend.
+
+[Illustration: "'HUDSON IT IS, SIR,' SAID THE SEAMAN."]
+
+"All this occurred during the first month of the long vacation. I went
+up to my London rooms, where I spent seven weeks working out a few
+experiments in organic chemistry. One day, however, when the autumn was
+far advanced and the vacation drawing to a close, I received a telegram
+from my friend imploring me to return to Donnithorpe, and saying that he
+was in great need of my advice and assistance. Of course I dropped
+everything, and set out for the north once more.
+
+"He met me with the dog-cart at the station, and I saw at a glance that
+the last two months had been very trying ones for him. He had grown thin
+and careworn, and had lost the loud, cheery manner for which he had been
+remarkable.
+
+"'The governor is dying,' were the first words he said.
+
+"'Impossible!' I cried. 'What is the matter?'
+
+"'Apoplexy. Nervous shock. He's been on the verge all day. I doubt if we
+shall find him alive.'
+
+"I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news.
+
+"'What has caused it?' I asked.
+
+"'Ah, that is the point. Jump in, and we can talk it over while we
+drive. You remember that fellow who came upon the evening before you
+left us?'
+
+"'Perfectly.'
+
+"'Do you know who it was that we let into the house that day?'
+
+"'I have no idea.'
+
+"'It was the Devil, Holmes!' he cried.
+
+"I stared at him in astonishment.
+
+"'Yes; it was the Devil himself. We have not had a peaceful hour
+since--not one. The governor has never held up his head from that
+evening, and now the life has been crushed out of him, and his heart
+broken all through this accursed Hudson.'
+
+"'What power had he, then?'
+
+"'Ah! that is what I would give so much to know. The kindly, charitable,
+good old governor! How could he have fallen into the clutches of such a
+ruffian? But I am so glad that you have come, Holmes. I trust very much
+to your judgment and discretion, and I know that you will advise me for
+the best.'
+
+"We were dashing along the smooth, white country road, with the long
+stretch of the Broads in front of us glimmering in the red light of the
+setting sun. From a grove upon our left I could already see the high
+chimneys and the flagstaff which marked the squire's dwelling.
+
+"'My father made the fellow gardener,' said my companion, 'and then, as
+that did not satisfy him, he was promoted to be butler. The house seemed
+to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.
+The maids complained of his drunken habits and his vile language. The
+dad raised their wages all round to recompense them for the annoyance.
+The fellow would take the boat and my father's best gun and treat
+himself to little shooting parties. And all this with such a sneering,
+leering, insolent face, that I would have knocked him down twenty times
+over if he had been a man of my own age. I tell you, Holmes, I have had
+to keep a tight hold upon myself all this time, and now I am asking
+myself whether, if I had let myself go a little more, I might not have
+been a wiser man.
+
+"'Well, matters went from bad to worse with us, and this animal, Hudson,
+became more and more intrusive, until at last, on his making some
+insolent reply to my father in my presence one day, I took him by the
+shoulder and turned him out of the room. He slunk away with a livid
+face, and two venomous eyes which uttered more threats than his tongue
+could do. I don't know what passed between the poor dad and him after
+that, but the dad came to me next day and asked me whether I would mind
+apologizing to Hudson. I refused, as you can imagine, and asked my
+father how he could allow such a wretch to take such liberties with
+himself and his household.
+
+"'Ah, my boy,' said he, 'it is all very well to talk, but you don't know
+how I am placed. But you shall know, Victor. I'll see that you shall
+know, come what may! You wouldn't believe harm of your poor old father,
+would you, lad?' He was very much moved, and shut himself up in the
+study all day, where I could see through the window that he was writing
+busily.
+
+"'That evening there came what seemed to me to be a grand release, for
+Hudson told us that he was going to leave us. He walked into the
+dining-room as we sat after dinner, and announced his intention in the
+thick voice of a half-drunken man.
+
+"'I've had enough of Norfolk,' said he. 'I'll run down to Mr. Beddoes,
+in Hampshire. He'll be as glad to see me as you were, I daresay.'
+
+"'You're not going away in an unkind spirit, Hudson, I hope,' said my
+father, with a tameness which made my blood boil.
+
+"'I've not had my 'pology," said he, sulkily, glancing in my direction.
+
+[Illustration: "'I'VE NOT HAD MY 'POLOGY,' SAID HE, SULKILY."]
+
+"'Victor, you will acknowledge that you have used this worthy fellow
+rather roughly?' said the dad, turning to me.
+
+"'On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary
+patience towards him,' I answered.
+
+"'Oh, you do, do you?' he snarled. 'Very good, mate. We'll see about
+that!' He slouched out of the room, and half an hour afterwards left the
+house, leaving my father in a state of pitiable nervousness. Night after
+night I heard him pacing his room, and it was just as he was recovering
+his confidence that the blow did at last fall.
+
+"'And how?' I asked, eagerly.
+
+"'In a most extraordinary fashion. A letter arrived for my father
+yesterday evening, bearing the Fordingbridge postmark. My father read
+it, clapped both his hands to his head and began running round the room
+in little circles like a man who has been driven out of his senses. When
+I at last drew him down on to the sofa, his mouth and eyelids were all
+puckered on one side, and I saw that he had a stroke. Dr. Fordham came
+over at once, and we put him to bed; but the paralysis has spread, he
+has shown no sign of returning consciousness, and I think that we shall
+hardly find him alive.'
+
+"'You horrify me, Trevor!' I cried. 'What, then, could have been in this
+letter to cause so dreadful a result?'
+
+"'Nothing. There lies the inexplicable part of it. The message was
+absurd and trivial. Ah, my God, it is as I feared!'
+
+"As he spoke we came round the curve of the avenue, and saw in the
+fading light that every blind in the house had been drawn down. As we
+dashed up to the door, my friend's face convulsed with grief, a
+gentleman in black emerged from it.
+
+"'When did it happen, doctor?' asked Trevor.
+
+"'Almost immediately after you left.'
+
+"'Did he recover consciousness?'
+
+"'For an instant before the end.'
+
+"'Any message for me?'
+
+"'Only that the papers were in the back drawer of the Japanese cabinet.'
+
+"My friend ascended with the doctor to the chamber of death, while I
+remained in the study, turning the whole matter over and over in my
+head, and feeling as sombre as ever I had done in my life. What was the
+past of this Trevor: pugilist, traveller, and gold-digger; and how had
+he placed himself in the power of this acid-faced seaman? Why, too,
+should he faint at an allusion to the half-effaced initials upon his
+arm, and die of fright when he had a letter from Fordingbridge? Then I
+remembered that Fordingbridge was in Hampshire, and that this Mr.
+Beddoes, whom the seaman had gone to visit, and presumably to blackmail,
+had also been mentioned as living in Hampshire. The letter, then, might
+either come from Hudson, the seaman, saying that he had betrayed the
+guilty secret which appeared to exist, or it might come from Beddoes,
+warning an old confederate that such a betrayal was imminent. So far it
+seemed clear enough. But, then, how could the letter be trivial and
+grotesque, as described by the son? He must have misread it. If so, it
+must have been one of those ingenious secret codes which mean one thing
+while they seem to mean another. I must see this letter. If there were a
+hidden meaning in it, I was confident that I could pluck it forth. For
+an hour I sat pondering over it in the gloom, until at last a weeping
+maid brought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor,
+pale but composed, with these very papers which lie upon my knee held in
+his grasp. He sat down opposite to me, drew the lamp to the edge of the
+table, and handed me a short note scribbled, as you see, upon a single
+sheet of grey paper. 'The supply of game for London is going steadily
+up,' it ran. 'Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to
+receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen
+pheasant's life.'
+
+"I daresay my face looked as bewildered as yours did just now when first
+I read this message. Then I re-read it very carefully. It was evidently
+as I had thought, and some second meaning must lie buried in this
+strange combination of words. Or could it be that there was a
+prearranged significance to such phrases as 'fly-paper' and 'hen
+pheasant'? Such a meaning would be arbitrary, and could not be deduced
+in any way. And yet I was loth to believe that this was the case, and
+the presence of the word 'Hudson' seemed to show that the subject of the
+message was as I had guessed, and that it was from Beddoes rather than
+the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the combination, 'Life pheasant's
+hen,' was not encouraging. Then I tried alternate words, but neither
+'The of for' nor 'supply game London' promised to throw any light upon
+it. And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I
+saw that every third word beginning with the first would give a message
+which might well drive old Trevor to despair.
+
+[Illustration: "THE KEY OF THE RIDDLE WAS IN MY HANDS."]
+
+"It was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my
+companion:--
+
+"'The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.'
+
+"Victor Trevor sank his face into his shaking hands. 'It must he that, I
+suppose,' said he. 'This is worse than death, for it means disgrace as
+well. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and "hen
+pheasants"?
+
+"'It means nothing to the message, but it might mean a good deal to us
+if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that he has
+begun by writing, "The ... game ... is," and so on. Afterwards he had,
+to fulfil the prearranged cipher, to fill in any two words in each
+space. He would naturally use the first words which came to his mind,
+and if there were so many which referred to sport among them, you may be
+tolerably sure that he is either an ardent shot or interested in
+breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?'
+
+"'Why, now that you mention it,' said he, 'I remember that my poor
+father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his preserves
+every autumn.'
+
+"'Then it is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said I. 'It only
+remains for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor Hudson
+seems to have held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected
+men.'
+
+"'Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!' cried my
+friend. 'But from you I shall have no secrets. Here is the statement
+which was drawn up by my father when he knew that the danger from Hudson
+had become imminent. I found it in the Japanese cabinet, as he told the
+doctor. Take it and read it to me, for I have neither the strength nor
+the courage to do it myself.'
+
+"These are the very papers, Watson, which he handed to me, and I will
+read them to you as I read them in the old study that night to him. They
+are indorsed outside, as you see: 'Some particulars of the voyage of the
+barque _Gloria Scott_, from her leaving Falmouth on the 8th October,
+1855, to her destruction in N. lat. 15 deg. 20', W. long. 25 deg. 14', on
+November 6th.' It is in the form of a letter, and runs in this way:--
+
+"My dear, dear son,--Now that approaching disgrace begins to darken the
+closing years of my life, I can write with all truth and honesty that it
+is not the terror of the law, it is not the loss of my position in the
+county, nor is it my fall in the eyes of all who have known me, which
+cuts me to the heart; but it is the thought that you should come to
+blush for me--you who love me, and who have seldom, I hope, had reason
+to do other than respect me. But if the blow falls which is for ever
+hanging over me, then I should wish you to read this that you may know
+straight from me how far I have been to blame. On the other hand, if all
+should go well (which may kind God Almighty grant!), then if by any
+chance this paper should be still undestroyed, and should fall into
+your hands, I conjure you by all you hold sacred, by the memory of your
+dear mother, and by the love which has been between us, to hurl it into
+the fire, and to never give one thought to it again.
+
+"If, then, your eye goes on to read this line, I know that I shall
+already have been exposed and dragged from my home, or, as is more
+likely--for you know that my heart is weak--be lying with my tongue
+sealed for ever in death. In either case the time for suppression is
+past, and every word which I tell you is the naked truth; and this I
+swear as I hope for mercy.
+
+"My name, dear lad, is not Trevor. I was James Armitage in my younger
+days, and you can understand now the shock that it was to me a few weeks
+ago when your college friend addressed me in words which seemed to imply
+that he had surmised my secret. As Armitage it was that I entered a
+London banking house, and as Armitage I was convicted of breaking my
+country's laws, and was sentenced to transportation. Do not think very
+harshly of me, laddie. It was a debt of honour, so-called, which I had
+to pay, and I used money which was not my own to do it, in the certainty
+that I could replace it before there could be any possibility of its
+being missed. But the most dreadful ill-luck pursued me. The money which
+I had reckoned upon never came to hand, and a premature examination of
+accounts exposed my deficit. The case might have been dealt leniently
+with, but the laws were more harshly administered thirty years ago than
+now, and on my twenty-third birthday I found myself chained as a felon
+with thirty-seven other convicts in the 'tween decks of the barque
+_Gloria Scott_, bound for Australia.
+
+"It was the year '55, when the Crimean War was at its height, and the
+old convict ships had been largely used as transports in the Black Sea.
+The Government was compelled therefore to use smaller and less suitable
+vessels for sending out their prisoners. The _Gloria Scott_ had been in
+the Chinese tea trade, but she was an old-fashioned, heavy-bowed,
+broad-beamed craft, and the new clippers had cut her out. She was a
+500-ton boat, and besides her thirty-eight gaol-birds, she carried
+twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a captain, three mates, a
+doctor, a chaplain, and four warders. Nearly a hundred souls were in
+her, all told, when we set sail from Falmouth.
+
+"The partitions between the cells of the convicts, instead of being of
+thick oak, as is usual in convict ships, were quite thin and frail. The
+man next to me upon the aft side was one whom I had particularly noticed
+when we were led down the quay. He was a young man with a clear,
+hairless face, a long thin nose, and rather nutcracker jaws. He carried
+his head very jauntily in the air, had a swaggering style of walking,
+and was above all else remarkable for his extraordinary height. I don't
+think any of our heads would come up to his shoulder, and I am sure that
+he could not have measured less than six and a half feet. It was strange
+among so many sad and weary faces to see one which was full of energy
+and resolution. The sight of it was to me like a fire in a snowstorm. I
+was glad then to find that he was my neighbour, and gladder still when,
+in the dead of the night, I heard a whisper close to my ear, and found
+that he had managed to cut an opening in the board which separated us.
+
+"'Halloa, chummy!' said he, 'what's your name, and what are you here
+for?'
+
+"I answered him, and asked in turn who I was talking with.
+
+"'I'm Jack Prendergast,' said he, 'and, by God, you'll learn to bless my
+name before you've done with me!'
+
+"I remembered hearing of his case, for it was one which had made an
+immense sensation throughout the country, some time before my own
+arrest. He was a man of good family and of great ability, but of
+incurably vicious habits, who had, by an ingenious system of fraud,
+obtained huge sums of money from the leading London merchants.
+
+"'Ah, ha! You remember my case?' said he, proudly.
+
+"'Very well indeed.'
+
+"'Then maybe you remember something queer about it?'
+
+"'What was that, then?'
+
+"'I'd had nearly a quarter of a million, hadn't I?'
+
+"'So it was said.'
+
+"'But none was recovered, eh?'
+
+"'No.'
+
+"'Well, where d'ye suppose the balance is?' he asked.
+
+"'I have no idea,' said I.
+
+"'Right between my finger and thumb,' he cried. 'By God, I've got more
+pounds to my name than you have hairs on your head. And if you've money,
+my son, and know how to handle it and spread it, you can do _anything_!
+Now, you don't think it likely that a man who could do anything is going
+to wear his breeches out sitting in the stinking hold of a rat-gutted,
+beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a China coaster? No, sir, such a man
+will look after himself, and will look after his chums. You may lay to
+that! You hold on to him, and you may kiss the Book that he'll haul you
+through.'
+
+"That was his style of talk, and at first I thought it meant nothing,
+but after a while, when he had tested me and sworn me in with all
+possible solemnity, he let me understand that there really was a plot to
+gain command of the vessel. A dozen of the prisoners had hatched it
+before they came aboard; Prendergast was the leader, and his money was
+the motive power.
+
+"'I'd a partner,' said he, 'a rare good man, as true as a stock to a
+barrel. He's got the dibbs, he has, and where do you think he is at this
+moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship--the chaplain, no less! He
+came aboard with a black coat and his papers right, and money enough in
+his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main-truck. The crew are
+his, body and soul. He could buy 'em at so much a gross with a cash
+discount, and he did it before ever they signed on. He's got two of the
+warders and Mercer the second mate, and he'd get the captain himself if
+he thought him worth it.'
+
+"'What are we to do, then?' I asked.
+
+"'What do you think?' said he. 'We'll make the coats of some of these
+soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.'
+
+"'But they are armed,' said I.
+
+"'And so shall we be, my boy. There's a brace of pistols for every
+mother's son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at
+our back, it's time we were all sent to a young Miss's boarding school.
+You speak to your mate on the left to-night, and see if he is to be
+trusted.'
+
+[Illustration: JACK PRENDERGAST.]
+
+"I did so, and found my other neighbour to be a young fellow in much the
+same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was
+Evans, but he afterwards changed it, like myself, and he is now a rich
+and prosperous man in the South of England. He was ready enough to join
+the conspiracy, as the only means of, saving ourselves, and before we
+had crossed the Bay there were only two of the prisoners who were not in
+the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust
+him, and the other was suffering from jaundice, and could not be of any
+use to us.
+
+"From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us taking
+possession of the ship. The crew were a set of ruffians, specially
+picked for the job. The sham chaplain came into our cells to exhort us,
+carrying a black bag, supposed to be full of tracts; and so often did he
+come that by the third day we had each stowed away at the foot of our
+bed a file, a brace of pistols, a pound of powder, and twenty slugs. Two
+of the warders were agents of Prendergast, and the second mate was his
+right-hand man. The captain, the two mates, two warders, Lieutenant
+Martin, his eighteen soldiers, and the doctor were all that we had
+against us. Yet, safe as it was, we determined to neglect no precaution,
+and to make our attack suddenly at night. It came, however, more quickly
+than we expected, and in this way:--
+
+"One evening, about the third week after our start, the doctor had come
+down to see one of the prisoners, who was ill, and, putting his hand
+down on the bottom of his bunk, he felt the outline of the pistols. If
+he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing; but he was a
+nervous little chap, so he gave a cry of surprise and turned so pale,
+that the man knew what was up in an instant and seized him. He was
+gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon the bed. He
+had unlocked the door that led to the deck, and we were through it in a
+rush. The two sentries were shot down, and so was a corporal who came
+running to see what was the matter. There were two more soldiers at the
+door of the state-room, and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for
+they never fired upon us, and they were shot while trying to fix their
+bayonets. Then we rushed on into the captain's cabin, but as we pushed
+open the door there was an explosion from within, and there he lay with
+his head on the chart of the Atlantic, which was pinned upon the table,
+while the chaplain stood, with a smoking pistol in his hand, at his
+elbow. The two mates had both been seized by the crew, and the whole
+business seemed to be settled.
+
+[Illustration: "THE CHAPLAIN STOOD WITH A SMOKING PISTOL IN HIS HAND."]
+
+"The state-room was next the cabin, and we flocked in there and flopped
+down on the settees all speaking together, for we were just mad with the
+feeling that we were free once more. There were lockers all round, and
+Wilson, the sham chaplain, knocked one of them in, and pulled out a
+dozen of brown sherry. We cracked off the necks of the bottles, poured
+the stuff out into tumblers, and were just tossing them off, when in an
+instant, without warning, there came the roar of muskets in our ears,
+and the saloon was so full of smoke that we could not see across the
+table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles. Wilson and eight
+others were wriggling on the top of each other on the floor, and the
+blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me sick now when I think
+of it. We were so cowed by the sight that I think we should have given
+the job up if it had not been for Prendergast. He bellowed like a bull,
+and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels. Out
+we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant and ten of his men.
+The swing skylights above the saloon table had been a bit open, and they
+had fired on us through the slit. We got on them before they could load,
+and they stood to it like men, but we had the upper hand of them, and in
+five minutes it was all over. My God! was there ever a slaughter-house
+like that ship? Prendergast was like a raging devil, and he picked the
+soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard, alive
+or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded, and yet kept
+on swimming for a surprising time, until someone in mercy blew out his
+brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies
+except just the warders, the mates, and the doctor.
+
+"It was over them that the great quarrel arose. There were many of us
+who were glad enough to win back our freedom, and yet who had no wish
+to have murder on our souls. It was one thing to knock the soldiers over
+with their muskets in their hands, and it was another to stand by while
+men were being killed in cold blood. Eight of us, five convicts and
+three sailors, said that we would not see it done. But there was no
+moving Prendergast and those who were with him. Our only chance of
+safety lay in making a clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave
+a tongue with power to wag in a witness-box. It nearly came to our
+sharing the fate of the prisoners, but at last he said that if we wished
+we might take a boat and go. We jumped at the offer, for we were already
+sick of these bloodthirsty doings, and we saw that there would be worse
+before it was done. We were given a suit of sailors' togs each, a barrel
+of water, two casks, one of junk and one of biscuits, and a compass.
+Prendergast threw us over a chart, told us that we were shipwrecked
+mariners whose ship had foundered in lat. 15 deg. N. and long. 25 deg. W., and
+then cut the painter and let us go.
+
+"And now I come to the most surprising part of my story, my dear son.
+The seamen had hauled the foreyard aback during the rising, but now as
+we left them they brought it square again, and, as there was a light
+wind from the north and east, the barque began to draw slowly away from
+us. Our boat lay, rising and falling, upon the long, smooth rollers, and
+Evans and I, who were the most educated of the party, were sitting in
+the sheets working out our position and planning what coast we should
+make for. It was a nice question, for the Cape de Verds were about 500
+miles to the north of us, and the African coast about 700 miles to the
+east. On the whole, as the wind was coming round to north, we thought
+that Sierra Leone might be best, and turned our head in that direction,
+the barque being at that time nearly hull down on our starboard quarter.
+Suddenly as we looked at her we saw a dense black cloud of smoke shoot
+up from her, which hung like a monstrous tree upon the sky-line. A few
+seconds later a roar like thunder burst upon our ears, and as the smoke
+thinned away there was no sign left of the _Gloria Scott_. In an instant
+we swept the boat's head round again, and pulled with all our strength
+for the place where the haze, still trailing over the water, marked the
+scene of this catastrophe.
+
+[Illustration: "WE PULLED HIM ABOARD THE BOAT."]
+
+"It was a long hour before we reached it, and at first we feared that we
+had come too late to save anyone. A splintered boat and a number of
+crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us
+where the vessel had foundered, but there was no sign of life, and we
+had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for help, and saw at some
+distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched across it. When
+we pulled him aboard the boat he proved to be a young seaman of the name
+of Hudson, who was so burned and exhausted that he could give us no
+account of what had happened until the following morning.
+
+"It seemed that after we had left, Prendergast and his gang had
+proceeded to put to death the five remaining prisoners: the two warders
+had been shot and thrown overboard, and so also had the third mate.
+Prendergast then descended into the 'tween decks, and with his own hands
+cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon. There only remained the first
+mate, who was a bold and active man. When he saw the convict approaching
+him with the bloody knife in his hand, he kicked off his bonds, which he
+had somehow contrived to loosen, and rushing down the deck he plunged
+into the after-hold.
+
+"A dozen convicts who descended with their pistols in search of him
+found him with a match-box in his hand seated beside an open powder
+barrel, which was one of a hundred carried on board, and swearing that
+he would blow all hands up if he were in any way molested. An instant
+later the explosion occurred, though Hudson thought it was caused by the
+misdirected bullet of one of the convicts rather than the mate's match.
+Be the cause what it may, it was the end of the _Gloria Scott_, and of
+the rabble who held command of her.
+
+"Such, in a few words, my dear boy, is the history of this terrible
+business in which I was involved. Next day we were picked up by the brig
+_Hotspur_, bound for Australia, whose captain found no difficulty in
+believing that we were the survivors of a passenger ship which had
+foundered. The transport ship, _Gloria Scott_, was set down by the
+Admiralty as being lost at sea, and no word has ever leaked out as to
+her true fate. After an excellent voyage the _Hotspur_ landed us at
+Sydney, where Evans and I changed our names and made our way to the
+diggings, where, among the crowds who were gathered from all nations, we
+had no difficulty in losing our former identities.
+
+"The rest I need not relate. We prospered, we travelled, we came back as
+rich Colonials to England, and we bought country estates. For more than
+twenty years we have led peaceful and useful lives, and we hoped that
+our past was for ever buried. Imagine, then, my feelings when in the
+seaman who came to us I recognised instantly the man who had been picked
+off the wreck! He had tracked us down somehow, and had set himself to
+live upon our fears. You will understand now how it was that I strove to
+keep peace with him, and you will in some measure sympathize with me in
+the fears which fill me, now that he has gone from me to his other
+victim with threats upon his tongue.
+
+"Underneath is written, in a hand so shaky as to be hardly legible,
+'Beddoes writes in cipher to say that H. has told all. Sweet Lord, have
+mercy on our souls!'
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"That was the narrative which I read that night to young Trevor, and I
+think, Watson, that under the circumstances it was a dramatic one. The
+good fellow was heart-broken at it, and went out to the Terai tea
+planting, where I hear that he is doing well. As to the sailor and
+Beddoes, neither of them was ever heard of again after that day on which
+the letter of warning was written. They both disappeared utterly and
+completely. No complaint had been lodged with the police, so that
+Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed. Hudson had been seen lurking
+about, and it was believed by the police that he had done away with
+Beddoes, and had fled. For myself, I believe that the truth was exactly
+the opposite. I think that it is most probable that Beddoes, pushed to
+desperation, and believing himself to have been already betrayed, had
+revenged himself upon Hudson, and had fled from the country with as much
+money as he could lay his hands on. Those are the facts of the case,
+Doctor, and if they are of any use to your collection, I am sure that
+they are very heartily at your service."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ZIG-ZAGS AT THE ZOO
+
+By Arthur Morrison and J. A. Shepherd]
+
+X.--ZIG-ZAG OPHIDIAN.
+
+
+There is a certain coolness, almost to be called a positive want of
+cordiality, between snakes and human beings. More, the snake is never a
+social favourite among the animals called lower. Nobody makes an
+intimate friend of a snake. Popular natural history books are filled and
+running over with anecdotes of varying elegance and mendacity, setting
+forth extraordinary cases of affection and co-operation between a cat
+and a mouse, a horse and a hen, a pig and a cockroach, a camel and a
+lobster, a cow and a wheelbarrow, and so on; but there is never a snake
+in one of these quaint alliances. Snakes do not do that sort of thing,
+and the anecdote-designer's imagination has not yet risen to the feat of
+compelling them, although the stimulus of competition may soon cause
+it. The case most nearly approaching one of friendship between man and
+snake known to me is the case of Tyrrell, the Zoo snake keeper, and his
+"laidly worms." But, then, the friendship is mostly on Tyrrell's side,
+and, moreover, Tyrrell is rather more than human, as anyone will admit
+who sees him hang boa constrictors round his neck. Of course one often
+hears of boys making pets of common English snakes, but a boy is not a
+human creature at all; he is a kind of harpy.
+
+[Illustration: LANDLORD.]
+
+[Illustration: LODGER.]
+
+The prairie marmot and the burrowing owl come into neighbourly contact
+with the rattlesnake, but the acquaintance does not quite amount to
+friendship. The prairie marmot takes a lot of trouble and builds a nice
+burrow, and then the owl, who is only a slovenly sort of architect
+himself, comes along and takes apartments. It has never been quite
+settled whether or not the lodger and the landlord agree pleasantly
+together, but in the absence of any positive evidence they may be given
+credit for perfect amiability; because nobody has found traces of owl in
+a dead marmot's interior, nor of marmot in an owl's. But the rattlesnake
+is another thing. He waits till the residence has been made perfectly
+comfortable, and then comes in himself; not in the friendly capacity of
+a lodger, but as a sort of unholy writter--a scaly man-in-possession. He
+eats the marmot's family and perhaps the marmot himself: curling himself
+up comfortably in the best part of the drawing-room. The owl and his
+belongings he leaves severely alone; but whether from a doubt as to the
+legality of distraining upon the goods of a lodger, or from a certainty
+as to the lodger's goods including claws and a beak, naturalists do not
+say. Personally, I incline very much to the claw-and-beak theory, having
+seen an owl kill a snake in a very neat and workmanlike manner; and,
+indeed, the rattlesnake sometimes catches a Tartar even in the marmot.
+
+[Illustration: WRITTER.]
+
+[Illustration: IN POSSESSION.]
+
+It isn't terror of the snake that makes him unpopular; the most harmless
+snake never acquires the confidence of other creatures; and one
+hesitates to carry it in his hat. This general repugnance is something
+like backing a bill or paying a tailor--entirely a matter of form.
+Nothing else has sympathy with the serpent's shape. When any other
+animal barters away his legs he buys either fins or wings with them;
+this is a generally-understood law, invariably respected. But the snake
+goes in for extravagance in ribs and vertebrae; an eccentric, rakish, and
+improper proceeding; part of an irregular and raffish life. Nothing can
+carry within it affection, or even respect, for an animal whose tail
+begins nowhere in particular, unless it is at the neck; even if any
+creature may esteem it an animal at all that is but a tail with a mouth
+and eyes at one end. Dignify the mouth and eyes into a head, and still
+you have nothing wherewith to refute those who shall call the snake
+tribe naught but heads and tails; a vulgar and raffish condition of
+life, of pot-house and Tommy-Dod suggestion.
+
+[Illustration: AN EARLY WORM.]
+
+[Illustration: HOW'S THE GLASS?]
+
+[Illustration: THE FASCINATED RAT.]
+
+And this is why nothing loves a snake. It is not because the snake is
+feared, but because it is incomprehensible. The talk of its upas-like
+influence, its deadly fascination, is chiefly picturesque humbug. Ducks
+will approach a snake curiously, inwardly debating the possibility of
+digesting so big a worm at one meal; the moving tail-tip they will peck
+at cheerfully. This was the sort of thing that one might have observed
+for himself years ago, here at the Zoo; at the time when the snakes
+lived in the old house in blankets, because of the unsteadiness of the
+thermometer, and were fed in public. Now the snakes are fed in strict
+privacy lest the sight overset the morals of visitors; the killing of a
+bird, a rabbit, or a rat by a snake being almost a quarter as unpleasant
+to look upon as the killing of the same animal by a man in a farmyard or
+elsewhere. The abject terror inspired by the presence of a snake is such
+that an innocent rat will set to gnawing the snake's tail in default of
+more usual provender; while a rabbit placed with a snake near
+skin-shedding time will placidly nibble the loose rags of epidermis
+about the snake's sides.
+
+The pig treats the snake with disrespect, not to say insolence; nothing,
+ophidian or otherwise, can fascinate a pig. If your back garden is
+infested with rattlesnakes you should keep pigs. The pig dances
+contemptuously on the rattlesnake, and eats him with much relish,
+rattles and all. The last emotion of the rattlesnake is intense
+astonishment; and astonishment is natural, in the circumstances. A
+respectable and experienced rattlesnake, many years established in
+business, has been accustomed to spread panic everywhere within ear and
+eye shot; everything capable of motion has started off at the faintest
+rustle of his rattles, and his view of animal life from those
+expressionless eyes has invariably been a back view, and a rapidly
+diminishing one. After a life-long experience of this sort, to be
+unceremoniously rushed upon by a common pig, to be jumped upon, to be
+flouted and snouted, to be treated as so much swill, and finally to be
+made a snack of--this causes a feeling of very natural and painful
+surprise in the rattlesnake. But a rattlesnake is only surprised in this
+way once, and he is said to improve the pork.
+
+[Illustration: THE DISRESPECTFUL PIG.]
+
+As a _tour de force_ in the gentle art of lying, the snake-story is
+justly esteemed. All the records in this particular branch of sport are
+held in the United States of America, where proficiency at snakes is the
+first qualification of a descriptive reporter. The old story of the two
+snakes swallowing each other from the tail till both disappeared; the
+story of the snake that took its own tail in its mouth and trundled
+after its victim like a hoop; the story of the man who chopped a snake
+in half just as it was bolting a rat, so that the rat merely toddled
+through the foremost half and escaped--all these have been beaten out of
+sight in America. At present Brazil claims the record for absolute
+length of the snakes themselves; but the Yankee snake-story man will
+soon claim that record too. He will explain that each State pays a
+reward for every snake killed within its own limits; but that there are
+always disputes between the different States as to payment; because most
+of the snakes killed are rather large, crawling across several States at
+once.
+
+[Illustration: "HA!"]
+
+[Illustration: "HO!"]
+
+Here, among a number of viperine snakes of about the same size, is a
+snake that lives on eggs. He is about as thick as a lead pencil, but
+that doesn't prevent his swallowing a large pigeon's egg whole, nor even
+a hen's egg at a pinch. It dislocates his jaw, but that is a part of his
+professional system, and when the business is over he calmly joints up
+his jaw again and goes to sleep. He is eccentric, even for a snake, and
+wears his teeth on his backbone, where they may break the egg-shell so
+that he may spit it away. When he first stretched his head round an egg,
+the viperine snakes in the same case hastily assumed him to be a very
+large tadpole; and since tadpoles are regarded with gastronomical
+affection by viperine snakes, they began an instant chase, each prepared
+to swallow the entire phenomenon, because a snake never hesitates to
+swallow anything merely on account of its size. When finally the
+egg-swallower broke the egg, and presented to their gaze the crumpled
+shell, the perplexed viperines subsided, and retired to remote corners
+of the case to think the matter over and forget it--like the crowd
+dispersed by the circulating hat of the street-conjurer.
+
+[Illustration: "MINE!"]
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT!"]
+
+[Illustration: "LAWKS!"]
+
+Familiarity with the snake breeds toleration. He is a lawless sort of
+creature, certainly, with too many vertebrae and no eyelids; but he is
+not always so horrible as he is imagined. A snake is rather a pleasant
+thing to handle than otherwise. Warm, firm, dry, hard and smooth on the
+scales, rather like ivory to the touch. He is also a deal heavier than
+you expect. When for good behaviour I have been admitted to Tyrrell's
+inner sanctum here, and to the corridors behind the lairs, where hang
+cast skins like stockings on a line, I have handled many of his pets. I
+have never got quite as far as rattlesnakes, because rattlesnakes have a
+blackguardly, welshing look that I don't approve. But there is a Robben
+Island snake, about five feet long, with no poison, who is very pleasant
+company. It is a pity that these snakes have no pet names. I would
+suggest The Pirate as a suitable name for any snake from Robben Island.
+
+[Illustration: OLD CLO'.]
+
+[Illustration: WELSHERS.]
+
+For anybody who has been bitten by a cobra, or a rattlesnake, or a
+puff-adder, there are many remedies, but few people who can recommend
+them from personal experience. It is to be feared that most of them
+unfortunately die before writing their testimonials. Perhaps they were
+too long deciding which thing to take. The most famous of these
+remedies, and probably the best, on the whole, is to get excessively
+drunk. It is expensive to get drunk after a poisonous snake-bite,
+because something in the veins fortifies the head against the first
+bottle or two of whisky. Getting drunk before the bite won't do,
+although there would appear to be a very widely prevalent impression
+that it will, and a very common resolve to lay up a good store of cure
+against possible accidents in the future. This may be misdirected
+prudence, and nothing else, but there is often a difficulty in
+persuading a magistrate to think so.
+
+[Illustration: DRUNK TOO SOON.]
+
+[Illustration: RESULT.]
+
+The snake _will_ be eccentric, even in the matter of its eggs. Most
+snakes secure originality and independence in this matter by laying eggs
+like an elongated tennis-ball--eggs covered with a sort of white
+parchment or leather instead of shell. All the rest go further, and
+refuse to lay eggs at all.
+
+[Illustration: FIRST THIS TIME, I THINK!]
+
+[Illustration: LOR!]
+
+The snake insists on having his food fresh; you must let him do his own
+killing. Many carry this sort of fastidiousness so far as to prefer
+taking it in alive, and leaving it to settle matters with the digestive
+machinery as best it may. A snake of this sort has lost his dinner
+before now by gaping too soon; a frog takes a deal of swallowing before
+he forgets how to jump.
+
+[Illustration: THE SNAKE THAT GAPED: A MORAL LESSON.]
+
+It is well to remember what to do in case of attack by a formidable
+snake. If a boa constrictor or a python begin to curl himself about you,
+you should pinch him vigorously, and he will loosen his folds and get
+away from you. Some may prefer to blow his head off with a pistol, but
+it is largely a matter of taste, and one doesn't want to damage a good
+specimen. The anaconda, however, who is the biggest of the constrictors,
+won't let go for pinching; in this case the best thing is not to let him
+get hold of you at all. Tobacco-juice will kill a puff-adder. If you
+come across a puff-adder, you should open his mouth gently, remembering
+that the scratch of a fang means death in half an hour or so, and give
+him the tobacco-juice in a suitable dose; or you can run away as fast as
+possible, which is kinder to the snake and much healthier for yourself.
+
+By far the biggest snake here is the python, in the case opposite the
+door; he is more than twenty feet long, and is seriously thinking of
+growing longer still. Tyrrell picks him up unceremoniously by the neck
+and shoves him head first into a tank of water, when he seems to need a
+little stir and amusement. I think, perhaps, after all, the most
+remarkable being exhibited in the reptile house is Tyrrell. I don't
+think much of the Indian snake-charmers now. See a cobra raise its head
+and flatten out its neck till it looks like a demoniac flounder set on
+end; keep in mind that a bite means death in a few minutes; presently
+you will feel yourself possessed with a certain respect for a
+snake-charmer who tootles on a flute while the thing crawls about him.
+But Tyrrell comes along, without a flute--without as much as a
+jew's-harp--and carelessly grabs that cobra by the neck and strolls off
+with it wherever he thinks it ought to go, and you believe in the
+European after all. He is a most enthusiastic naturalist, is Tyrrell.
+He thinks nothing of festooning a boa constrictor about his neck and
+arms, and in his sanctum he keeps young crocodiles in sundry
+watering-pots, and other crawling things in unexpected places. You never
+quite know where the next surprise is coming from. I always feel
+doubtful about his pockets. I shouldn't recommend a pickpocket to try
+them, unless he really doesn't mind running against a casual
+rattlesnake. Tyrrell is the sort of man who is quite likely to produce
+something from his cap and say: "By-the-bye, this is a promising
+youngster--death adder, you know. And here," taking something else from
+his coat or vest pocket, "is a very fine specimen of the spotted
+coffin-filler, rather curious. It isn't _very_ poisonous--kills in an
+hour or so. Now, this," dragging another from somewhere under his coat,
+"_is_ rather poisonous. Deadly grave-worm--kills in three seconds.
+Lively little chap, isn't he? Feel his head." Whereat you would probably
+move on.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_Types of English Beauty._
+
+FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEX. BASSANO, 25, OLD BOND STREET, W.
+
+[Illustration: Lady CHARLES BERESFORD
+
+Miss ARCHER
+
+Miss BRANSON.]
+
+[Illustration: Miss Flo Beresford.
+
+Miss Nellie Simmons.
+
+Miss Ripley]
+
+[Illustration: Miss LLOYD.
+
+Mrs. BRATE.
+
+Miss DECIMA MOORE]
+
+
+
+
+THE NANKEEN JACKET
+
+(FROM THE FRENCH OF GUSTAVE GUESVILLER.)
+
+"The young are eager for martyrdom."
+
+A STORY FOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+My friends make fun of my weakness for the colour of _yellow_.
+
+I confess that I adore it, notwithstanding that I have good reason to
+detest it. Truly, human nature is a bundle of contradictions!
+
+I love yellow because of a certain episode in my life which occurred
+when I was but eight years of age. I love nankeen above all on account
+of a jacket of that material, which played in that episode an important
+part.
+
+Ah! that jacket of nankeen!
+
+How came it about that I was smitten with the insane desire of
+possessing such a thing? The cause is not far to seek. It was _Love_!
+
+Love in a child of eight? Why not? You will see presently that I speak
+without any exaggeration.
+
+At that now distant time we resided at Auxerre.
+
+I knew how to read, write, and count. For the further progress of my
+education I was sent to a small day-school, kept by two maiden
+ladies--humble, gentle souls, who in affectionate care for their pupils
+satisfied in some degree their instinct of maternal tenderness.
+
+Poor Demoiselles Dulorre!
+
+Our school, which had been placed under the pious patronage of Saint
+Elisabeth, was a mixed one. That is to say, up to the age of ten years,
+boys and girls worked and played together. In spite of occasional
+quarrels, the system, on the whole, worked very well.
+
+I had not been eight days at Saint Elisabeth's before I fell in love. Do
+not laugh! I loved with all the strength of my child-nature, with a love
+disinterested, simple, sincere.
+
+It was Georgette whom I loved, but, alas! Georgette did not love me.
+
+How much I suffered in consequence! I used to hide myself in corners,
+shedding many tears, and racking my brains to find some means of
+pleasing the obdurate fair one. Labour in vain, a thankless task, at
+eight years of age or at thirty!
+
+To distinguish myself in my studies, to win by my exemplary conduct the
+encomiums of the sisters Dulorre--all this made no impression upon cruel
+Georgette. She made no secret of her preference for a dull, idle,
+blustering fellow of nine years old, who won all the races, who could
+fling a ball farther than anyone else, carry two huge dictionaries under
+his arm, and administer terrible thumps.
+
+This hero was rightly nicknamed _Met-a-Mort_.
+
+I knew what his blows were like, having been the involuntary recipient
+of some of them. Some, do I say? I had received more than a dilatory
+donkey on the road to the fair!
+
+And Georgette had only laughed!
+
+[Illustration: "MY REDOUBTABLE RIVAL."]
+
+Obviously, it was absurd to think of employing physical force against my
+redoubtable rival, and intellectual superiority in this case availed me
+nothing. I determined, therefore, to annihilate _Met-a-Mort_ by my
+overpowering magnificence.
+
+Naturally, our parents did not send us to school attired in our best
+clothes. On the contrary, most of us wore there our oldest and shabbiest
+garments. Consequently, I opined that it would be no difficult
+achievement to outshine all my schoolfellows.
+
+I should have to coax my parents into loosening their purse-strings, and
+get them to buy me a beautiful new jacket.
+
+It took me a very long time to decide what colour this jacket should be.
+I mentally reviewed all the colours of the rainbow. Red tempted me; but
+I doubted whether a jacket of that colour would be attainable. Should it
+be blue, green, indigo, violet? No! Not one of these colours was
+sufficiently striking.
+
+I paused at yellow. That might do. It is a rich colour; there is
+something sumptuous and royal about it. Summer was approaching. I
+decided finally upon a jacket of nankeen.
+
+Without delay, I set to work on my school garments. It was a work of
+destruction, for I wanted to make them appear as disreputable as
+possible. I slyly enlarged the holes, wrenched off the buttons, and
+decorated my person lavishly with spots and stains of all kinds. Day by
+day I watched, with a secret joy, the rapid progress of this work of
+dilapidation.
+
+In what I judged to be an opportune moment, I timidly expressed my
+desire.
+
+I had to do more--much more than that--before I could obtain my will. I
+begged, stormed, grumbled, sulked. I became almost ill with hope
+deferred. At length, for the sake of peace, my parents granted my
+eccentric wish.
+
+It was a proud moment for me when, for the first time, I arrayed myself
+in that resplendent nankeen jacket, won at the cost of so many struggles
+and persevering efforts. Standing before the mirror, I surveyed myself
+admiringly for a full hour. I was grand! superb!
+
+"Ah! my Lord _Met-a-Mort_! You will find yourself ousted at last! My
+shining jacket will soon snatch from you the _prestige_ acquired by your
+stupid, brute force. Georgette, astonished, fascinated, dazzled, and
+delighted, will run towards me, for I shall now be the handsomest boy in
+the school. _Met-a-Mort_ will weep for chagrin, as I have so often wept
+for jealousy and mortification."
+
+Such were my complacent reflections as, with the stride of a conqueror,
+I entered the precincts of our school.
+
+Alas for my rose-coloured anticipations! I was greeted with a broadside
+of laughter. Even our gentle mistress, Ermance Dulorre, could not
+repress a smile, and, above all other voices, I heard that of Georgette,
+who cried mirthfully:--
+
+"Oh! look at him! Look at him! He is a canary-bird!"
+
+The word was caught up instantly. All the scholars shouted in chorus:
+"He is a canary! A canary!"
+
+Words fail me to describe my bitter disappointment, my burning shame and
+chagrin. I saw my folly now. But it was too late--the awful deed was
+done! Worse than all, in order to obtain this now odious jacket, I had
+spoiled all my other jackets, and had nothing else to wear! When, on the
+evening of that most miserable day, I told my troubles to my father and
+mother, they were merely amused, and said to me:--
+
+"It is entirely your own fault. You insisted upon having the jacket, and
+now you must put up with it!"
+
+Thus was I condemned to the perpetual wearing of my yellow jacket, which
+entailed upon me no end of petty miseries.
+
+Every day, at school, I was jeered at and insulted. Even the babies of
+three years--sweet, blue-eyed, golden-haired cherubs--pointed at me with
+their tiny fingers, and lisped, "Canary! Canary!"
+
+[Illustration: "I WAS JEERED AT AND INSULTED."]
+
+How was I to extricate myself from this extremely unpleasant situation?
+One upper garment still remained to me--an old, thick, heavy, winter
+mantle. The idea occurred to me that I might utilize this to conceal my
+too gorgeous plumage. We were now in the month of June, and the weather
+was tropical. No matter! In class and playground, I appeared buttoned up
+in my big cloak, bathed in perspiration, but happy in having hidden my
+shame.
+
+To Mademoiselle Ermance's expression of surprise, I answered that I had
+a cold. I did not deviate widely from the truth. Two days later, thanks
+to this over-heating, I had a very real one.
+
+The device did not serve me long. My parents found me out, and promptly
+deprived me of my protecting shell, thus obliging me to attend school
+again in the costume of a canary. The former annoyances re-commenced.
+
+Vacation time was at hand, and Georgette, of whom I was more enamoured
+than ever, remained still cold and indifferent.
+
+One day we were playing the game of brigands and gendarmes. I was one of
+the gendarmes, who were invariably beaten.
+
+_Met-a-Mort_ had nominated himself captain of the brigands, and chose
+Georgette for his _vivandiere_.
+
+Presently, for a few minutes there was a suspension of hostilities.
+Brigands and gendarmes fraternized, as they quenched their thirst, and
+expatiated upon the joys of the fray. Suddenly Georgette, with her
+accustomed vivacity, broke in upon our little group. She bore in her
+hands a glass ink-bottle.
+
+"See!" said her sweet voice. "Whoever will drink this ink shall,
+by-and-by, be my little husband!"
+
+_Met-a-Mort_ and the rest exploded with laughter.
+
+When we resumed our game, I discovered that I had lost all interest in
+it. Georgette's words haunted me.
+
+Cries of joy arose from our camp. The enemy's _vivandiere_ had been
+captured. I was told off to guard the prisoner; you may guess whether I
+was happy!
+
+Georgette tried bribery.
+
+"Oh! let me go! let me go! and I will give you ten pens."
+
+Much I cared for her pens!
+
+"Did you mean what you said just now, mademoiselle?" I timidly inquired.
+
+"What?"
+
+"That whoever would drink the ink should be your little husband?"
+
+"Yes, stupid! But let me go--"
+
+"Then it is true?"
+
+"Of course it is. Let me go!"
+
+She was growing impatient. For a moment I hesitated; then I said:--
+
+"Run away quickly! nobody can see us."
+
+She did not need telling twice. As swiftly as her feet could carry her,
+she ran off to the enemy's camp.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WAS GROWING IMPATIENT."]
+
+I was a double-dyed traitor. After conniving at my captive's escape I
+deserted.
+
+"Can it indeed be true?" I pondered. "Have I only to drain that phial of
+ink in order to become Georgette's husband some day? She said so, and
+she must know!"
+
+I went to look for the ink-bottle, which the child had carried
+back into the schoolroom. There I stood contemplating the black,
+uninviting-looking liquid.
+
+Not for a single moment did I dream of swallowing the loathsome stuff in
+the girl's presence. It did not occur to me that she ought to be a
+witness of my sacrifice, or that she had demanded it as a proof of love.
+My idea was rather that the beverage was a sort of love-philtre, such as
+I had read of in my book of fairy tales. She had said: "Whoever will
+drink the ink shall be my husband."
+
+Faugh! the bottle was full to overflowing. How nasty it looked! Never
+mind! So much the better! I should have liked it to have been nastier
+still.
+
+I closed my eyes, and raised the bottle to my lips.
+
+"What are you about, you dirty little thing?" exclaimed a voice from
+behind me, at the same instant that I received a smart blow upon my
+uplifted arm.
+
+Covered with confusion, I turned, and beheld Mademoiselle Ermance, who
+had surprised me in my singular occupation.
+
+"What is the meaning of this nonsense?" said she, with unwonted
+severity.
+
+I had no time to explain. Just at that moment my schoolfellows came
+trooping in. Georgette seeing me standing there, ink-stained and
+disgraced, and already--the coquette!--forgetful of her promise,
+exclaimed, with a face of disgust:--
+
+"Oh, the dirty boy! The nasty, dirty boy!"
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE?"]
+
+Everything, however, has its bright side. Mademoiselle Ermance's tap and
+my own start of surprise, had jerked the ink-bottle from my grasp; my
+yellow jacket was literally flooded! I was rid of it at last!
+
+It was to Georgette that I owed this happy deliverance. I thank her for
+it to-day! What has become, I wonder, of that lovely child? Does she
+ever think now of those old times? How often have I dreamed of her! I
+have forgiven her for the tears which she caused me to shed. Her
+charming face dwells always in my mind as a pure ray from the bygone
+light of youth. I am not her husband, and probably never shall be. I am
+resigned to my fate, which I richly deserve, because--
+
+_I did not drink the ink!_
+
+
+
+
+_The Queer Side of Things._
+
+OLD JOE'S PICNIC
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It was all old Joe Wilkings's notion, every ounce of it: you see, there
+never was anybody anywhere to compare with old Joe for "go." He _was_
+goey, was old Joe--but I'll tell you.
+
+Old Joe had been laid up with rheumatism and gout--ah! and asthma,
+that's more--for a matter of eleven weeks; pretty bad he'd been too, and
+everybody had said he would never pull through, being, you see,
+ninety-seven, and a wooden leg in, that he'd lost in the Crimean War; at
+least, not the wooden one, for he'd found that in the loft over the
+stable years ago and taken to it.
+
+Well, old Joe was sunning himself in his wicker chair in the front
+garden, propped up with pillows and things; and he'd just finished his
+beef-tea, when he begins to chuckle so, in an internal kind of manner,
+that the last drop going down got startled and separated from the others
+on ahead, and tried to turn back, and got in a panic, so that it nearly
+choked old Joe, who got purple in the face, and had to be thumped.
+
+He'd no sooner got right than he began to chuckle again, but luckily
+that last drop had got further down now, and wedged in among its
+comrades, so that it only heard the chuckles faintly, and kept quiet
+this time.
+
+"Whatever _is_ the matter, grandfather?" said Kate.
+
+"Matter?" said old Joe. "Nothing's the matter. You don't understand the
+ways of young 'uns, nor their methods neither. When youth chuckles, it's
+a sign of good spirits and healthy. If you _must_ know, I was thinking
+we might have a picnic--just like we used to have sixty years back--"
+
+"Ah! that _would_ be nice," said Kate.
+
+"Not _you_," said old Joe. "No young 'uns in it--they're too slow. No; I
+and Georgie Worble, and his aunt Susan, and her mother, and--"
+
+"Why," said Kate, "Mr. Worble hasn't walked from one room to another
+without assistance for--"
+
+"I know--seven years," said old Joe, "and he's seventy-six; and his aunt
+Susan's seventy-one; and his aunt Susan's mother's ninety-two, and
+bedridden--but I tell you what: it's all fudge and the undue influence
+of imagination--that's the whole story. Georgie W. can get up if he
+likes; and his aunt Susan's bronchitis and paralytic strokes are all
+fudge; and as to her mother being bedridden--pooh! we'll just see; and
+if she doesn't dance just as well as me----"
+
+"Dance!"
+
+"Ah--we'll have a dance, of course--we _used_ to have a dance always;
+finished up with a dance. I've been thinking--and I don't mind telling
+you--that this imagination and fudge is making us all old before our
+time; and I'm not going to stand any more of it, and that's all about
+it."
+
+With that old Joe Wilkings waved his stick and jumped up--that's what he
+did; and he ninety-seven years and nine weeks! Talk about greyness!
+
+Kate stared, and all the neighbours stared, and Mrs. Widdlcombe's pug
+next door stared so that its eyes nearly fell out, as old Joe trotted
+quickly out of the garden and down the street, and trotted up Mr.
+Worble's steps, and tapped at the door like a boy that means to run
+away; and when they opened the door, up he ran to old Worble's room, and
+toddled in.
+
+[Illustration: "OLD JOE TROTTED QUICKLY OUT OF THE GARDEN."]
+
+And now comes in old Joe Wilkings's other remarkable quality--his
+influence over others. It was all the outcome of his wonderful
+determination--the influence of mind over matter. He could bamboozle
+anyone, could Joe--it was for all the world like magic.
+
+Old Worble was drooping over the fire in his big chair, into which he
+had been put hours before.
+
+What did old Joe do but go right up and slap him on the back in that
+hearty way that old Worble went as near screaming as his weak state
+would let him!
+
+"Get up, Georgie Worble," shouted old Joe," and come round with me to
+Sam Waggs to arrange about that picnic!"
+
+Old Worble crooned and doddered, and feebly repeated "Picnic?"
+
+"Ah, picnic, young 'un; and you've just hit it. But GET UP, I say!"
+
+And, if you'll believe it, the third time old Joe Wilkings shouted "Get
+up" in that voice of his, a-staring straight at Worble all the time, old
+Worble _did_ slowly get up and stood, doddering, but without support.
+
+"Don't you stand a-doddering at me like that as if you were a decrepit
+old idiot instead of a boy; but just reach down your hat and bustle
+along," said old Joe; and if Worble, after looking feebly and hopelessly
+up at the hat on the high peg--the hat he had not worn for years--didn't
+hop up on a wooden chair and fetch it down, and dash it on his head, and
+then toddle downstairs and into the street arm-in-arm with old Joe!
+
+If people had stared when old Joe came out of his garden, what did they
+do _now_ when he and old Worble went dancing down the street arm-in-arm,
+both of 'em chuckling like mad and chattering like magpies?
+
+At the corner they met old Peter Scroutts in a bath-chair. Peter had a
+paralyzed leg, and was so feeble that he could hardly wink his eye, and
+so deaf that it was all he could do to hear with an ear-trumpet as big
+as the cornucopia belonging to the wooden young lady over the provision
+stores.
+
+"Just you step out and walk!" roared old Joe in the ear-trumpet. And the
+queer thing is that old Peter did begin to get out; and not only began,
+but went on; and stood on the pavement; and then took Joe's arm; and the
+three went careering down the street together!
+
+The whole place came out to stare open-mouthed at those three old boys
+bouncing down the street together.
+
+Half-way down old Joe Wilkings stopped with a jerk, and turned on old
+Peter.
+
+"What, in the name of goodness, _do_ you want with that trumpet
+machine?" he roared. "A young 'un like you! Lookee here--let's get rid
+of it." And Joe snatched the ear-trumpet out of his hand, and jerked it
+over a shed into the field behind. It was a good long jerk; and most of
+the young men of the place would have been proud to do it.
+
+"Can hear just as well as I can; that's what _you_ can do! Can't he,
+young George?"
+
+Old Peter looked dazed; but old Joe stood nodding at him so decisively
+that old George took it up and nodded decisively too; and they were so
+convincing about the matter that old Peter began to believe he _could_
+hear; and from that moment, if you'll believe me, he _did_ hear quite
+comfortably!
+
+[Illustration: "THE THREE WENT CAREERING DOWN THE STREET."]
+
+Then the inhabitants collected in little knots, and talked the matter
+over; and decided that there must be something wrong, in the witchcraft
+line; and shook their heads doubtfully; but those three old boys trotted
+into the "Bun and Bottle" and ordered--ah! and drank off--a pint of beer
+apiece; a thing they had not done those ten years. Drank it off at a
+draught, if you'll believe me.
+
+Well, then they went the round and beat up all the old folks of that
+place to bid them to the picnic. Those old people stared, and shook
+their heads, and scoffed; but old Joe Wilkings hadn't talked to them for
+five minutes before they were up on their feet and trotting about as if
+they were acrobats, though perhaps it's hard to believe.
+
+"We'll have a row on the river," said old Joe; "and then we'll picnic on
+the bank, and see who can climb trees best; and then we'll have a room
+at an hotel, and finish up with a dance, and just show 'em how it ought
+to be done."
+
+[Illustration: "AUNT SUSAN'S MOTHER."]
+
+I tell you he had to busy himself, had old Joe, to keep them up to it;
+for as soon as he had been away from any one of them a few hours that
+one would begin to collapse again, and think he or she was as weak as
+ever; but Joe wouldn't allow this; all day long he was here and there
+among them applying the spur, bullying them into getting up and dancing,
+and roaring with indignation at the idea of their being old. He made
+them practise their steps, and while those who possessed crutches were
+doing it, he sneaked off with the crutches and concealed them. He
+wouldn't even allow them sticks, wouldn't old Joe--not he.
+
+Old Worble's aunt Susan got quite young and skittish; and as for old
+Worble's aunt Susan's mother, who was bedridden, up she had to get on
+old Joe Wilkings's third visit, and had to toddle across the room. He
+drilled her--kept on at it; he was there twice a day; and every time she
+had to get out of bed and toddle across the room. Had to live in her
+dressing-gown, and could get no peace for the life of her; but, bless
+you, in ten days she had begun to believe that she had never been
+bedridden at all, and that it was all fancy! And all in consequence of
+that strange influence of old Joe Wilkings; that awful determination of
+his.
+
+Then there were the provisions to prepare for that picnic; and old Joe
+would insist upon the old folks preparing them. He wouldn't have any
+young people in it--not he. He was here, there, and everywhere,
+compelling them to superintend the cooking of the joints and pies--for
+he was not going to have any beef-tea or arrow-root or pap at the
+picnic, but all good solid food for robust people.
+
+Well, the eventful day came; and there were the old folks collected at
+the railway station with their hampers and bags. The whole population of
+younger folks had turned out to see them off; but not a single one of
+them was to go, for old Joe wouldn't have anyone under the age of
+sixty-five, as he said children were always a trouble at an outing. And,
+what's more, his word seemed to be law, and that was the long and the
+short of it.
+
+The young people shook their heads forebodingly, and said they didn't
+know what on earth would come of it all, that they didn't; and they only
+hoped uncle and aunt and grandfather would come back all right!
+
+But the train came in, and in hopped the old parties, and away they
+went.
+
+Old Joe Wilkings had his work cut out now, with a vengeance and all: for
+as soon as they had got away from the younger folks who usually took
+care of them, they began to think it was all over with them and to give
+way; but Joe Wilkings roared and shouted at them, and chuckled and
+threatened until he had brought them all round again. There wasn't to be
+a single bath-chair, or crutch, or even a stick.
+
+Then they got out at the station they had settled on; and old Joe
+insisted on their carrying the hampers among them down to the river:
+and, what's more, he chose a way across the fields where there were a
+lot of stiles to get over; and he made 'em do it, if you'll credit it.
+Old George Worble's aunt, Susan's mother, pretended she couldn't, and
+sat down and wept: but Joe Wilkings had her on her feet again in a
+twinkling; and over she had to go somehow.
+
+[Illustration: "OVER SHE HAD TO GO SOMEHOW."]
+
+Then old Peter Scroutts began to give way and grizzle for his bath-chair
+and ear-trumpet, but when old Joe threatened to fight him if he went on
+about that nonsense, why, he just had to behave himself.
+
+Our doctor had made up his mind that something dreadful was bound to
+come of the whole thing, and sneaked after them by the next train; but
+when Joe caught him following them, he was so angry and furious about
+it, that the doctor was afraid he would have an apoplectic fit unless he
+went away as Joe commanded him to. So he retired; and subsequently
+dressed himself as a rustic, and smeared his face so that he might not
+be recognised, and hung about the party, offering to carry things, and
+so on. But if old Joe Wilkings did not spot him after all; and got in
+such a rage that the doctor thought it best to retreat while he had a
+whole skin, and get back safely home.
+
+So you see old Joe was a terrible fellow, and that determined it's awful
+to think about.
+
+[Illustration: "VERY NEARLY DROWNED."]
+
+Well, they went on the river, and they rowed little races among
+themselves; and old Ben Jumper and old Tobias Budd upset their boat,
+skylarking--both of 'em being just turned eighty--and went in, and were
+very nearly drowned. However, they were hauled out and made to run
+about, and taken into a cottage, and rubbed down, and dressed up in
+borrowed clothes; and with a good jorum of brandy-and-water apiece, why,
+in half an hour they were as right as trivets, if you'll believe me!
+
+The cold collation was a great success; and then the old boys had a
+smoke, and were all as jolly as sand-boys. But, suddenly, one of 'em
+looked round and said, "Why, where's old Joe Wilkings?" And after ten
+minutes, when old Joe did not turn up, all those old folks began to
+shake their heads doubtfully and dismally, and the old boys dropped
+their pipes, and the old ladies began to weep and whinnick.
+
+[Illustration: "OLD JOE WILKINGS--AFTER LUNCH."]
+
+For old Joe Wilkings, being wild-like with merriment, had gone in pretty
+heavily for the champagne and stuff, and had got a bit mixed, as you
+might say, and he had gone off a little way to get some dry wood to make
+a fire to boil the kettle over, and then he hadn't seemed to be able to
+recollect which was his way back; and had wandered and wandered off in
+quite the wrong direction; and at last he had got drowsy and fallen
+asleep in a dry ditch with his wooden leg on the lower rail of a fence;
+and then a local policeman who didn't know him had taken charge of him
+and trotted him off to Winklechurch, which was the nearest village.
+
+And those old people at the picnic got more and more depressed and
+feeble and helpless; and some of 'em broke down completely, and wept and
+doddered; for you see the influence of old Joe Wilkings's determination
+was rapidly giving out. And at last, after the doctor had waited
+anxiously at the railway station for them, and hour after hour went by
+without any signs of them, he decided to look them up at any cost; and
+at eleven that night he found them all sitting there on the bank of the
+river that depressed and helpless you can't imagine. Not a single one of
+them all had had the courage to move, and their fright and despair were
+perfectly fearful. And a nice trouble he had to get them home--had to
+send for flys, and bath-chairs, and litters, and goodness alone knows
+what all!
+
+Well, then they had to find old Joe Wilkings, and mighty anxious they
+were about him; and a nice tramp they had up hill and down dale before
+they discovered him; and when they did, they found him rolled up in a
+shawl on the policeman's hearthrug, for, of course, Mr. Podder, the
+policeman, was not going to lock up the likes of an old boy of his age.
+Joe Wilkings had recovered a bit now, and he was that pugnacious he
+wanted to fight Mr. Podder and all those that had come to find him; and
+what should he do but put his back against Mr. Podder's parlour-wall
+(smashing the glass of the chromo of "Little Red Riding-Hood" that was
+hanging up), and invite the lot to "Come on."
+
+However, they quieted him down and got him home at last; and when he'd
+got home he was that dismal and depressed from the reaction that he sat
+in his armchair all day and did nothing but grumble and burst into
+tears, for, you see, he'd overdone it, and it was bound to tell upon
+him. But after that all his natural pluck and determination got hold of
+him again, and if he wasn't mad to have that dance that they had been
+balked of!
+
+Out he went to beat up all the old folks again; but most of 'em were ill
+in bed--none the better for that picnic, I can tell you, though,
+luckily, it had been a lovely day and night, as warm as toast, so that
+they hadn't come to much harm beyond the exhaustion.
+
+The younger people of the houses where he called met him with black
+looks enough, you may be sure, but old Joe Wilkings wasn't the sort to
+be daunted by that sort of thing; and bless me if he didn't succeed in
+getting at most of those old parties again, and even getting some of
+them out of bed and putting them through their paces as before.
+
+[Illustration: DR. PILLIKIN. MR. SARME. MR. WEAZLE.]
+
+It was really getting serious, so Mr. Sarme, the vicar, and Mr. Weazle,
+the curate, and Doctor Pillikin (who lived in the house with the brown
+shutters then, before he moved next door to the stores) went and tried
+to get him out of the houses and make him keep quiet; but old Joe roared
+at them that way that they were glad to get away home again in despair.
+
+Ah, he _was_ a plucky one, was old Joe!
+
+Well, he persevered and kept at it until he had persuaded all those old
+parties to get up a dance in the schoolroom; they were to have printed
+programmes, and champagne, and everything in style--for Joe had a bit of
+money, and was as free as you like with it, and meant to stand a good
+deal more than his share of the expenses.
+
+Then the vicar and Doctor Pillikin consulted with the squire--the squire
+and the vicar being justices of the peace--whether they hadn't better
+give old Joe in charge and lock him up out of harm's way; for he was
+getting a regular firebrand, don't you see; and they were afraid he'd be
+the death of those old folks. But, after they'd consulted, they couldn't
+hit on any legal excuse for charging him--(not that that little obstacle
+mostly stands in the way of justices of the peace)--and they had to give
+that up.
+
+When the day arrived for the ball--for they called it a "ball" now,
+bless you--all the young people agreed together to lock the old parties
+in their rooms to prevent them going; but bless me if old Peter Scroutts
+and old George Worble, and one or two other desperate characters didn't
+manage to get out somehow, being so under the influence of Joe; and when
+the hour came for the dance, there they were at the schoolroom!
+
+And they--about nine of them--began dancing too, and a regular strange
+kind of a hobble it was, as ever was seen: but at last the squire and
+the vicar and Doctor Pillikin went down with the sergeant and a
+constable and pretended that a new Act had been passed making it illegal
+to dance after nine o'clock, and cleared the hall, with Joe dinging away
+at 'em the whole time, and made the old folks go home.
+
+Next day Joe Wilkings was going to do all manner of things--going up to
+London to consult a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn, and appeal to the High
+Courts, and give the squire and the rest of 'em penal servitude at
+Botany Bay, and all manner; but he'd caught such a cold at that ball
+that he had to take to his bed again, in spite of all his determination;
+and when he got up again after three weeks he had lost the use of his
+one leg, and was so weak he hadn't the heart to do anything. He was in a
+bad way for a long time, but they say he's getting better again now; and
+I've heard tell that the squire and that lot are beginning to get
+nervous again, as there's no knowing when he'll break out.
+
+[Illustration: "GETTING BETTER AGAIN."]
+
+He's a tough one, is old Joe Wilkings, and, if you'll believe me, he'll
+make it hot for 'em yet!
+
+J. F. SULLIVAN.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration:
+
+THE HORSE & ITS
+
+Polo Pony
+
+Heavy Cavalry Charger
+
+Light Cavalry
+
+Brougham
+
+Artillery
+
+Weight Carrying Cob
+
+Shetland Pony]
+
+
+[Illustration:
+
+OCCUPATIONS
+
+Racer
+
+Cart
+
+Park Hack
+
+HUNTER
+
+Funeral
+
+The Well Known Hunter of JOHN HATCHELERE.]
+
+
+[Illustration: TWO PROFILE VIEWS OF A REMARKABLE POTATO.]
+
+
+[Illustration: A POTATO MASHER.
+
+Found at Preston, and Photographed by Mr. Luke Berry, of Chorley.]
+
+
+[Illustration: The above Photograph of a curious potato was taken by the
+late Mr. Fox, and sent to us by Mr. J. S. Clarke, of New Wandsworth.]
+
+VEGETABLE ODDITIES.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine,  Volume V, Issue
+28, April 1893, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRAND MAGAZINE ***
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