SHORT STORY

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 373, 2 July 1903, Page 7

SHORT STORY

w Ik some prosperous suburbs where there ire many pretty villa residences all in me long line* nearly all the bedrooms are it least slightly open daring the forenoon . iime of each day. and at a time when the master’ is probably away at business, ind the womenfolk alone of the house are' n possession. * • ‘ ‘ | jOne day there will knock excitedly at the front door of one of these villas a - rery respectable and well-dressed man, who is hath as and who seems in a state if agitation and confusion. His rather'peremptory knock brings the small servant, or the young- * missus ’ to the door, and then the hatlesa, excited man—who is also mightily. polite and infinitely plausible—in very'voluble’ style rattles off some each speed, as the idllowing, at the same time planting his foot * on the mat: ‘ Oh, dear, I’m. so sorry—so sorry ,to trouble you. But my beautiful linnet—so sorry to trouble yon. Bat my beantifnl linnet—l wouldn’t take JESO for it, and my invalid daughter would die,-poer dear, 1 it were lost—my linnet has escaped, ind flown through vour ropen bedroom i windcwj I’m Ijfr £byaA the road—your neighbour, you know. 3h, dear, you most l=t me catch the-bird —bo sorry to jntinde —<Me bedroom wilHbtmeaoufc—wwe spafi be r sternally grateful* M » ■* • ' Most servants and hcusewives are taken off their guard by thisstorv,, reeled o5 almost in a breath 1 by' th? respectablelooking man, and they allow him to rush upstairs, a thing he ctaea,gather unceremoniously. If fielreach the bedroom first —as he will contrive to do—he will lock or bar the door for a moment, at the-same time making a great noise and banging dings about, as though ,in pursuit of the . bird. > a In K trice he baa any jewellery that may be on the dressing-table, where so many people leave their valuables at that time in the. morning, and he may have opened drawers'as Well. 1 If' enough spoil is secured the man will , hurriedly bowdumaaifc ou& saffihgtfaaf; the' bird has Sown out of the window again. So great is hjg;apro»tery.thatk 1 if ha failto get enough spoil in the front room, he will throw openthe effect bP be terribly excitedfaSohting, '‘Xet me pass, madam, let me pass rthe bird has escaped into the back tcdS?.’ And once morethere he will work in the same way. . So effective is tfafeolashof theft, and so good usually is the acting of the thief, that during one forenoon, jewellery add valuables to the extent of NEARLT .£SOO WIRE CARRIED AWAY FROM StDEKHAM. Another class, of bird-thief ehooae.an. outlying hostelry that is usually very quiet during the daytime, and where a woman is in charge of the counter. The exact topography of tr~ phwe~to~be plundered is jdwayi considered to the very full. Two or three men, all very jolly and plausible and remarkably. * affable,’ enter Che - bar 'parlour, whilst the woman attendant is;aloud. One’ of them has a small paper bag in one hand which he carries in- gffegsriy fashion One of the other men begins .t? chaff the carrier of the bap. The latter is the most polite man of the party, and is so attentive to the lady behind the bar. In a confidential way he says to her: ‘ 7pu-h«r tbenu ‘'getting at’ me; I love tairits better than anything in the world, perhaps, and in this bag I have a prii*caßW7ttba£'L. sell for gold. Why, I bad offered for it this mornisgl I’m‘put taking it home: it is a magnificent ningai « 'hut you have a look at it.’ Be affectae to- kahdle the big very tenderly whilst the woman ■hpfnda aovw—bnt he so contrives as to let the bird—one only worth-a.few-.ftoppoia.tiysiie.- fn a moment ton? is a tremendpua hubbub and 'My bir^— miAbirdK>'ahoffetbetnan with the b*K J anoTuß confederate and -be both tie* thfid man of jkflnfc Jamb ground m order that the door may.be held by him for a moment or so against all comers. With their sticks the two seemingly. them keeps the flustered woman attendant m a corner—with sops violence* if necessary—the other robe the till. The thing is w( rked with tremendous rapidity, and the bar parlour behind is even entered sometimes, whilst the woman at the bar is kept at bay, so to speak. ’ T . - At Bootle, near Liverpool, thieves of this sort managed to get cleargifay pith over £4OO. One of them got to the barparlour, where-there’ was i ab open iafe that the landlord had ,<mly teppoiarOj left a moment before! 'Often enough the whole of the money brt&wtleßc is secured, and the thieves decamp beforf thewdman in charge can even get over the counter and give the alarm. One evening, at some suburban villa, a sea-faring man, adorned with man] anchor-buttons, calls. He is a bluff hearty, joUf He asks for tht tenant by rupoe,, anf joes him.! With a laugh he explains in his blunt fashion; 'My schoolfellow and bosom frienc was the brother-in-law of the lab tenant of this house five yean ago. It breaks my heart to find that thi whole family has gone —I’ve been it foreign puts for five yean, you knowand many a thousand’s the time I’v< thought about Tom—my schoolfelloi that I’ve been referring to, you . know Why, it’s heartbreaking to find them al gone; I know you'll excuse my intruding but as you live here, I thought you migh know where the Fautom family nad gone He goes en to explain, getting more am more gushing, good, simple, saafarinj ■oul, that he la Mark Meadowsweet, qhi<= mate of thpfloßZ-iaisted barque, * Hones John,' now lying at the London Dockf For yean, .in order to please his fries Tom—referred to above—he had looke out for > pnarot of the-very highest clasj At last he bad fqnnd onq—the, very finet talker in lutf world, AWD «■» *o«r EUUtfIKO BIRD. * He baa £BO-offered for it abroad but has kept it for Tom. It is now at th docks, and freight charges to the ezten Of 37 a. have t» be paid on it before it esu

HUMAN HAWKS

be released. And he, the chief mate— x here he becomes desperately confidential and whispers the news—has been mad fool enough, like most sailors, to spend every penny in a wild ‘ spree,’ daring which he was robbed hy landsharks. Any real friend .can, asjßTom has gone, have the bird on paying the dock charges. If he, the sailor, cannot get the money or J*a i t of it then, the person he .addresses most meet him at such and each a place in the docks on the following day. In hundreds of cases he has baen met in this way, and mighty civihhe haa been, hie has pointed to settle vessel moored in?a complicated way amida-i forest of masts, andhaateid: '' • ' 1 '* •So glsd, old chap, that the bird will have such a home as yours, Give me the money, wait here, and I’ll hop over all these planks and pay the dues and rejoin yon.’ He is nev:r seen again once the money is paid over. Mach has bean said lately as to how wily natives Cheat the sailors and passengers of steamships calling at Madeira. A crowd of bhm boat merchants, who are not allowed on board, stand up in their boats and importune those on?board ship ■ to buy beautiful-looking canatieain that are offered at a ridichlbus pnoe. After much .bargaining, during which the sellers stipulate that the' purchase money shall be. lowered down to them, a ■ transaction is effected, and when the purchaser gets the bird.aiid cage on.'deck, he finds that the -canary is [ a dead one fastened to the perch - "by means of bird litae 6r wire. Thousands of ship’s passengers are said torhaverbeen, swindled in T% wS of lat9j.years.—J. JPjiarson.,