LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 935, 23 June 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE DEVIL’S HOLE.

[from chamber’s journal.] ( Concluded.') The little minister —I saw it with deep thankfulness—was still alive, but his ears had been rendered obtuse by the delirium of a raging fever His eyes, wide open, were fixed upon the roof of the tiny cavern, and though, upon my addressing him, they wandered during several seconds over my countenance, it was without the slightest sign of recognition. He commenced a rigmarole of rambling disconnected sentences, at all times painful to hear from the lips of the poor sufferer from a perturbed brain, but which, uttered in that weird and awful place, was naturally invested with double horror. My fingers trembling in the attempt, I now hastened to undo the rope from about my own person, in order that I might secure it round that of Mr Morgan. But owing to the opposition offered by the unconscious man, the task proved to be one of no small difficulty. At length, however, it was accomplished; and signing to those above to draw in the rope, I gently guided the body of the little Welshman through the entrance to the cavern, noticing as I did so that his right leg was fractured and terribly swollen. Not caring to witness the perilous ascent, I remained within the cave until a loud ‘ Hurrah ! ’ proclaimed his safe arrival upon terra /mm. Then scrambling out, I watched the rope rc-descending, once more adjusted it round my waist, and in a few moments afterwards was kneeling by my friend’s side upon the grass, and at the recpiest of the excited fishermen, searching his pockets for the huge washleather purse of which I had spoken to them. Its absence, as well as that of his watch and chain, appeared to settle beyond question in their minds the fact that there had been foul play; and a motion emanating from one of their number that we should take the law into our own hands, and proceed to arrest the farmer and his family, was unanimously carried.

Accordingly, leaving Mr Morgan under the care of a couple of the elder men, we adjourned in a body to the Spike Rock Farm; but only to Had it, to our extreme mortification, entirely untenauted. Evidences, however, of hasty flight existed in such abnn dance, that we could not but conclude that its late inmates had only just departed. And confirmation of this supposition was not wanting ; for one of the sailors, gazing from an upper window, presently espied, far down the winding lane up which 1 had yestere en driven, a mass of heads progressing rapidly, but with a jolting kind of motion, as though

their owners were being carried along in a s, ring-cart or some such vehicle. Drawing the ob i us inference that our large pirty must have been seen by'he criminals, surrounding the supposed grave of their victim, and that conscious guilt having excited their alarm, they were no v endeavouring to escape from the justice which would follow detection, we consulted with each other as to what it were best to do. The result of the conference was a decision to take the vessel farther round the headland, to a small town where better accommodation could be found for the sick man than at Lieyrudrigg, and in the vicinity of which was a of coast guardsmen. This resolution being promptly carried out, Mr Morgan was conveyed upon landing to a comfortable hotel, where a physician was speedily procured to attend him ; and accompanied by my corps of witnesses, I proceeded to lay before the proper authorities a full statement of the events 1 have described, and to place the case in their hands. Then bestowing upon my quondam companions a good dinner, and promising to obtain for them a reward for their services, which I was myself unable to afford, I walked with them to the landing-stage, and saw them off upon their return voyage. A message directed that same afternoon to Mrs Morgan, Pwlwyn, brought with great celerity to the side of the little minister the tenderest and most devoted nurse in the world ; aud before many days, ha was so fa. recovered as to be able to supply any further testimony which was wanting for the conviction of his intending murderers. Such testimony, however, had by that time became almost unnecessary, since upon being captured (as they had been with prompt despatch), the youngest of the culprits had consented to earn a pardon by turning king’s evidence. By this lad’s confession it was now clearly proved that the minister’s glass of spirits had, as I had suspected, been heavily drugged, and his three hundred pounds had been stolen, and that he himself had been cast into the ‘ Devil’s Hole and from the same source it was also ascertained that two other gentlemen—one of them a jeweller, known to be travelling with valuable diamonds in his possession—had by Abel Williams, owner of the Spike Rock Farm, and his two eldest sons, and at the instigation of John Wiili uns of Lieyrudrigg, been done to death by being precipitated into the same chasm.

At the following summer assizes, Abel, Robert, and Thomas Williams were condemned to suffer the full penalty of the law; Jonathan Williams the Imnchbrck and the farmer’s remaining sons received sentences of imprisonment of more or less severity ; whilst to the landlord of the Ship and Anchor was awarded the well merited punishment of transportation for life. A few sentences will now suffice to complete my story. At the urgent request of the good couple, to whom I had become sincerely attached, and to (whom indeed my services for the journey were, I thought, almost indispensable, 1 consented to return with them to their home. I did not, however, when giving that consent, intend to remain longer than one evening at Pwlwyn —my leave of absence from my duties having long since expired. But strange to say, when a full week had elapsed I was still lingering in that small and in itself unattractive Welsh village ; and it was not until an entire change in my sentiments and and in all my prospects for life had been wrought by my visit, that I eventually left it fo- Ollyhill. During the time she had spent at the hotel whilst engaged in nursing her husband, and especially when upon the way home, Mrs Morgan had made frequent allusion in my presence and in terms of the highest praise to a certain young cousin under whose charge she had left her house and children. But little did I dream that that cousin—the Lily whose name I had so often heard repeated—was my Lily—Lily Thornton ! Such, however, upon arriving at Pwlwyn, I found to be the case; and in the surprise and uncontrollable joy of that unexpected meeting, I knew that I, in fact that both of us, had betrayed ourselves. Then followed days full cf a bliss so sweet, that resolve as I would, I could not forego it, when in the delightful consciousness of tacitly confessed love, Lily and I wandered forth together, seeking the shady woods and conversing in confiding tones—principally about nothing. At length there came a certain sunny afternoon when, seated side by side upon a rustic bridge, -we bent in silence over a little babbling stream, our heads coming into closer and c'oser proximity, until in the end, with a sudden movement, ‘ our spirits rushed together in the meeting of the lips.’ After that, as any person of the slightest experience in such matters will readily believe, it was—to use a slang phrase —all up with me. I left that bridge an affianced man; and upon returning to Ollyhill I resigned my curacy ; and upon receiving Squire Thornton’s somewhat reluctant consent to my engagement with his daughter, I obtained a situation in a mercan tile house in Liverpool, the principal of which was an uncle of my intended bride. With indefatigable industry I labored for two years to earn for myself a good position; and at the close of that time took to my bosom, for weal or woe, the wife for whose sake I had quitted the Church and joined the Merchants’ Service,

In conclusion, the events I have here faithfully related, involve a virtue which every one ought to endeavour to practise—the virtue of Presence of Mind. In cases of sudden peril, a moment or two of calm thought on the part of one person, has frequently been the means of saving not only his own hut the lives of his fellow-creatures. In the case of a theatre on fire, or in a runaway carriage, he (or she) who has the presence of mind to sit still, has the best chance of saving his (or her) life. In my case, feigning sleep probably saved mine.

The Rev. G-. E. G-ardner, Vicar of Box* Wiltshire, recovered a verdict against the Great Western Railway, at Bristol Assizes, with £5500 damages, on account of very serious injuries sustained through a collision on their line, near Chippenham, on November sth, 1875.

Land Purchase. — A land purchase lately effected in the Hawke’s Bay district is thus noticed by the Herald : —We hear that Mr Joshua’s station at the Kereru has been purchased by Mr Ford, of Canterbury, the sale having been effected through the agency of Mr M. E. Miller. Mr Ford, we believe, is a brother of the Mr Ford of Messrs Newton and Ford, stock agents, Christchurch, who was requested to act as judge at the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural Show in 1875, but was unable to do so owing to other engagements. The Mr Ford who has purchased Mr Joshua’s station, w r e understand, intends|settling on his property with Iris family.