The Story-Teller.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 910, 16 May 1891, Page 4

The Story-Teller.

A BOX OF TREASURE. (Continued.) Heaps of coal rose on •very Bide, and hid Bryue from Loder's sight, till it •Struck that worthy that he could safelj risk getting over the fence also. When he again sighted Bryne he found him busy on the door of the coal-offioe. the lock bolt of which he easily forced back with a chisel. After passing inside he softly closed the do r, only to open it m t moment or two later, and care fully deposit on the ground outside a small brass-bound box. He then reclosed the door, and applied a chisel to the desk lid, which yielded with a crash. Striking a match, he hastily tumbled out th contents, to be rewarded with about thirty shillings m silrer. There being nothing else to take, Bryne pocketed the silver, end made for the door having first extinguished the match lest any stray porter or guard should see the light and suspect mischief. Outside all was still and deserted *nd dark as before, and, with a long breath of relief, he drew to the do< r after him, and mechanically put down his hand to lift the box of treasure. To his profound astonishment there was nothing there but darkness. Wildly he groped about m every direction, with both hands now, bat fee could find no box of treasure. Desperate at last, after a cautious look round, he struck a match and became finally convinced that the box his fortune — for which he had schemed, and risked, and striven so muoh, was gone. A heary perspiration ooz^d from his brow, caused half by terror and half by rage. The first wild flash of thought was that the hands which had grabbed the box might grab him, and with a dash he was away from the spot, and over coal-heaps and the fence like a squirrel ; but tben, finding himself unpursued, he paused, cursing everything seen and unseen rapidly, and then turned and crawled back to the coal-cffice, 1 1 did put it ontside, didn't I?' he askftd himself for the fiftieth time. ' I thought I did, anyhow.' His brain was m such a whirl that he could decide nothing and at length crept back, entered the office, and groped all over it. Even the striking of another matob was risked m his desperation, bnt "t produced nothing. The treasure and the box had evaporated. ' I drank too much with Loder,' he said to- himself ;i« faith, I believe I'ih drank now/ and he gave himself a thump on the breast and a kick on the calf of the leg to make sure that he was not sleeping also. The k;«k must hay« sharpened his .faculties — or perhaps it was the na - ins: of his drinking companion — for just then he started, and utttered a frightful oath. ( Loder I— Dan Loder 1 he kept pouring the drink into me — couldn't give me too much/ he exclaimed m dire suspicion. * And I thought once or twice that there was somebody after me to night, And Lodf-r was the only one that knowed anythha about it. He's done this !' The dullest intellect among us becomes wonderfully keen when roused by wrong. Bryne was usually rather sluggish m his movements ; now he aoted with, a promptitude worthy of v great statesman. Rushing up to the outside of tho station, he secured a cab, and ~~ was driven rapidly to the south side. Lorler's den was m South Gray's Close, and. as the cab went muoh faster than a man cou'd walk, Bryne calculated on being there first. It would have been easy for him tn confront the thief and claim his own, or he wonld have driven to the Central and informed us, posing virtuously, and had Loder taken with the treasure m bis possession. But Bryne wanted both revenge and treasure, ami, though the last plan appealed to hinr. more than once, he rejected it firmly. He ought not to hay done so ; it does not do to be too grasping, and many treasures are best at a discance, with so.mebpdy else possessing tbera. Bryne took his place m a stair neatly opposite that leading to Loder'* den and waited patiently till Loder appeared carrying the box of treasure. The words that enme like a burst of eloquence from Bryne m the depths of that dark stair could not be recorded. Quite unconscious of this tribute to his genius, Loder passed on and vanished up the stair. Then Bryne, after - a moment's thought, went a short dis- '•,; tance farther down, and expended some money m a bottle of shebeen whisky. The stuff was fiery enough already, but Bryne thought the blend might be improved and he added to it the dissolved i bead* of the box. of lacifer matches. With this bottle m his pocket he made jus way to Loder's house, which consisted of one room at the top of the stair. When he reached the door he knocked softly m a peculiar manner, and instantly heard sounds of somo- . tilling beiag shuffled rapidly out of sight. A moment or two more and the door was opened, and Loder started back m painful surprise, not to say alarmed. But no furious reproach came from the lips of the man he dreaded. Bryne nodded, with the greatest good humour and heartiness, &nd entered the den spying — 'I've come to get you to help me in^ a mntter that thn devil himself couldn't understand. I've been robbed— done out of the Lord knows how many golden sovereigns— and how it was (lone on'l who tqck it Vfa no mort iuV* ; Ujaju the urn i« th» oob,'