LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1232, 14 February 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE HIGHWAYMAN OUTWITTED; Or Exchange no Robbery. [London Society.] (Concluded.) ' It depends on the prices I get for them,' returned Susan quickly. The gentleman laughed, and stopped for a moment to arrange the leather of his stirtup more to his liking; while Susan rodo on, wondering what a well-bred man, on a thoroughbred horse, could want at Hazleton n a market-day. While she mused on these points, ho again overtook her. ' May I ask your name ?' he said. ' My name is Susan Stidolph,' she answered Bimply ; and though she would have given much to ask him the same question, she refrained from innate feelings of courtesy. As if he divined her thoughts, hesaid, 'My name is Hamilton St. John. Do you like it ?' ' Very much; and what do you call your horse, sir?' 'Wildfire; and a ftmous stepper he is! Good bye, Susan; I hope you'll get good prices for your fowls and ducks.' And away he sped at a tremendous pace. The market was becoming very full when Susan reached Hazleton, and many sounds of life resounded on all sides. Here stood ranges of stalls covered with fruit, heaps of vegetables being piled behind in glorious confusion. Baskets and coops containing live poultry lined the interior of the market place. Farther on came the pens full of sheep and lambs; then goodly oxen; then horses of various breeds, sizes, and shapes, colts and ponies, grouped in a place set apart for the purpose. Tins, pans, crockery, and wooden vessels attracted the housewives to the centre of the market; and toys and sweets-stalls kept vendors perpetually on the alert, so attractive were these wares to the children of the community. Susan having met Thomas, and given Jerry into his charge, entered the market, and did her best to effect the sale of her poultry; while the farming-man undertook the vending of the cows, submitting his bargains to Susan's judgment before concluding them. The day soon came to a close; all their marketings were attended with good success, and Susan having made her purchases at the draper's—an old friend of her aunt's, at whose house she usually dined on these occasions -concealed her money, to the amount of thirty pounds in gold and notes, in the secret pockets of her stays, purposely made to stow away these treasures, and mounted Jerry for her ride homewards. Very blithe was Susan at the result of her day's work. The cows had fetched a capital price, and the heifer alone remained unpurchased. Her poultry 'was all sold, and not a pat of butter remained in her basket. Susan determined to return by a lane which wound circuitously from the town of Hazleton to the borders of Dingle Farm. By this she would avoid the unpleasant society of several half-tipsy farmers and rough horsemen, whose proximity was very undesirable. Jerry stepped out as was his wont when he scented his stable in the far distance ; and Susan hummed to herself as she looked on the beauty of the evening and the scenery around. Birds were singing their soft evening lays; shadows fell darkly across the road from the overhanging boughs 5 the last rays of the sun gleamed brightly through every gap in the hedge ; and fleecy clouds, tinted with the gay colours of a parrot's wing, floated away eastward in the pale blue sky. Susan had not proceeded two miles when the sound of a horse's hoofs struck on her ear ; and as she turned to look up the lane to see what it might be, her well-dressed acquaintance of the morning rode up to her side and greeted her with a polite bow. ' Well met, Susan ! Why, you're late from market. I hope you've been succssful.' 'Pretty well,' curtly replied the girl, who was inclined usually to be reserved to strangers. •Why, you've an empty basket, I perceive. Do you know I was not so far off as you might think ; I saw you while you were making your bargains,' said the gentleman, looking straight at Susan with a knowing look.

* Well,' returned she, raising her eyebrows, ' I had a notion that I caught sight of your face once ; but seeing it belonged to a man in a smock-frock, of course I took no heed.' The stranger laughed, and there was something in his manner which made Susan feel uncomfortable. lie proceeded to ask her numerous questions, to which she gave at last only monosyllabic answers; for the courteous manaer of Mr Hamilton St. John, which had so attracted her in the morning, had given place to an unpleasant familiarity of tone that grated upon the girl's sense of refinement ; and she hoped that her disinclination to converse would presently induce him to ride on and leave her. He soon remarked on her taciturnity, and asked her why she was so silent. ' I don't care to talk much to strangers,' she replied. ' But I have told you my name, and you may judge when you see a gentleman,' said he. ' ITow do I know that you are a gentleman ?' asked Susan bluntly. ' I think it's very bad manners to ask so many questions. At all events, it's not the way simple folks are taught.' ' Who do you think I can be, then, Susan, my dear?' inquired the horseman insinuatingly,

' Yon may be a highwayman, for aught I know,' courageously exclaimed the girl. Her companion laughed loudly and long ; and Susan, in anger and desperation at his pertinacity, endeavored to urge poor old Jerry to a better pace. 'What a good guesser yon are, my dear 1' cried the horseman. ' Suppose I take you at yoTir word, and ask you, after the fashion of real highwaymen, to let me look at your purse.' ' I don't carry a purse,' replied the girl, now somewhat alarmed, and believing that her suspicions as to his strange behaviour were not without foundation. 'Do you see this ?' said the man, in a jeering tone, drawing a small pistol from his breast-pocket. 'lt's a little instrument I carry, to induce people to tell the truth. Perhaps it'll make you do so. Come, out with your money,' he added, in a rough voice, catching hold of Jerry's bridle at the same moment. Susan was a spirited girl, but she turned pale. They had arrived at a part of the road where it sank between high hedges, and a rising ground on either side hid it entirely from view. It was becoming dark, and as Susan looked right and left she heard nothing but the faint breeze among the trees, and the chirp of the grasshopper in the long reeds at the roadside, and all idea of assistance from a casual passenger she knew to be almost hopeless. Though quite faint with terror, she rallied all her courage, and determined to brave out the attempt of the man to rob her of her money. Eor one moment hope revived. The stranger dismounted, and passing his bridle over the low over-hanging bough of an elder-tree. Susan took the opportunity to whip Jerry into something like a trot; but she had not proceeded many yards when the man came running after, easily overtook her, and laughed derisively, led her horse back to the same spot, where he again asked her to deliver up her purse to his care. ' Better do it quietly, Susan, my dear,' he urged. 'I shall take it by hook or by crook.'

Susan still stoutly refused, declaring with many assertions that she carried no purse. ' Well, then, we must try what can be done by searching. It's a tiresome process, but I'm very patient, and not pressed for time to-night.' He lifted Susan out of her saddle as easily as if she had been a baby, unsaddled Jerry, turning him loose to graze as he pleased, and commenced searching her baskets. Finding nothing but a few parcels of te», calico, and ribbon, which he carelessly threw down in the road, he next begged the terrified girl to remove her hat and cloak, and comiug close to her, began feeling for her pockets. Susan's indignation knew no bounds; but the robber only laughed, and told her he should take every means to extract the gold from her, and taking out a large clasp-knife, he said, ' It's such a pity to cut this pretty bodice asunder; but I must, if you are so obstinate. Bless you, do you think I've been years on the road, and don't know the ways of you pretty little maids? The money that was paid for the cows is somewhere about, and I am pretty certain it's in a particular pocket of your corset. I shall cut your laces, if you try my patience too long ;' and he began to insert the knife into the lace of her bodice.

Susan, trembling lest she should lose her senses, now made up her mind to part with her money, and assured him that if he would retire out of sight for a few minutes, she would get her pocket, and give it into his hands.

The robber declared that he could not do that, but that he had no objection to turn his back. ' I don't want to distress you, my dear,' he said ; but he pulled out his pistol at the same time, and stood waiting. The poor girl proceeded to take off her dress, and after some difficulty removed her stays, and. donning her cloak hastily, threw them down before the highwayman. He seized upon them, and discovering the pocket, soon rifled it of its contents, and then picked up her dress, and began to feel about the linings, to find if possible more bank-notes which might be sewn up in them. As Susan stood shaking and irresolute a sudden thought seized her. Catching up Jerry's saddle, which lay oa the ground at her side, she threw it over the hedge, exclaiming, ' You shan't have it all, at any rate.' The thief, off his guard for the moment, and thinking that the saddle might contain the greater part of the spoil, threw down the dress with an oath, and cursing frightfully, clambered into and over the hedge to recover the saddle. One of his pistols fell from his coat to the ground } Susan threw it over the opposite hedge, and releasing the bridle of the robber's horse, climbed nimbly by the aid of the stirrup on to hia back, passed the right knee over the large pistol holster, and giving the animal the reins, galloped up the lane at a tremendous pace. A loud curse, and the crack of a pistol, which only caused the horse to increase its speed, followed, but the bullet missed its aim. Susan heard it whiz past in dangerous proximity to her ear, and it then lodged harmlessly in the trunk of an old oak by the wayside. Away flew Wildfire like the wind, with Susan on his back, and her courage rose every moment, as she remembered that old Jerry had wandered grazing up the lane, and that it would be impossible for the thief to overtake her on the well-bred animal she road, even if ho attempted pursuit. For an instant a clattering of hoofs made her look hastily back; but the noise was only a lumbering attempt on the part of old Jerry to follow and keep up with her. Susan's hurried ride off and the shot of the pistol had disturbed his calm grazings, and he turned with a clumsy start before the robber could lay hold on him, and unincumbered by Susan, baskets, or saddle, trotted off at a novel and excited pace after her. Certain now of safety, she urged the beautiful animal she sat to its utmost speed, and dashed desperately homewards. ' Why, here's a go, mother 1' cried Ben, rushiog into the farm kitchen full tilt. 1 Kere's Susy tearing down the lane like mad! I never thought Jerry could go so fast. I was on the hayrick, and saw her coming. She's something white on.' ' Susan in white ! It must have been her ghost,' said poor superstitious Mrs Dale, putting down her dishes, and turning pale with apprehension. * A great clattering of hoofs over the stones of the yard soon divested her mind of this absurd notion ; for rattling up to the entrance, hardly reined in at the house-door, came the dark-bay horse, flecked with foam, having galloped for at least five miles at the top of his speed with the excited halfclad girl upon his back. It was the work of a moment for Ben to seize the bridle and hold the animal's head, while Susan dropped, rather than dismounted, into her aunt's outstretched arms, and, overcome by her previous emotions, burst into tears. * Good gracious !' cried the good woman, altogether scared, ' what ever does it all mean? 'l've been robbed, aunt! O, dear! alt the money's gone!' and she sobbed still more.' ' Poor girl!' said Ben affectionately, seeing the girl's almost fainting condition. 'Come indoors, Susy.' t Her aunt led her into the kitchen, and Ben, though as curious as a kitten, knew enough about horses to see that the one he held must not be allowed to stand with his flanks reeking from recent exertion ; so ho led him off to the stable, aud having fastened and covered him well up, he returned to the house as quickly as his legs could carry him. At this moment all were startled, as old Jerry came bungling into the yard with a clattering ungainly gallop, stripped of his usual accoutrements. He made his own way to the stable ; and Hen, entering the kitchen, found Susan sitting by his grandfather in the chimney corner, while she recounted the adventure she had met with. • Ben was rie,ht, you see, and I did meet a said, as her spirits began to return. «But lam so grieved to have lost ynu,r money.'

What doses it matter, bo long as you're safe, my dear ?' said old Mr Dale, patting her hand. ' Why, the horse you were riding is worth more than what you've lost, I'll be bonnd, cried Ben. It's a beauty, grandfather! What a brave clever trick you played in riding him off, Susy ! But why was he so vexed about the saddle ? Why, of course, he thought there was money in it. That's where robbers hide their plunder. I'll be bound there's something in his saddle. I'll go and fetch it. Hurray !' Off ran the lad, and calling one of the men, desired him to unsaddle the animal and groom him down immediately. The saddle, when removed, proved too heavy for Ben to carry into the house, and old Mr Dale, who had followed him to see the horse, aided him to bring it in. They laid it on the kitcheu table, and commenced searching it all over. In the padding they found bank-notes amonnticg to two hundred pounds, and from an artfully concealed leather lining, under the saddle-flaps, golden guineas poured out in incredible numbers on to the table. «0 my eye !' cried Ben I ' Why, Snsy, you're the robber, after all!' ' 0 don't Ben 1' said Snsan, beginning to cry. The astonishment of the old people was unbounded. They went on counting and counting till they arrived at the sum of one thousand pounds, and they looked from one to the other, scarcely crediting their senses. •Well!' exclaimed old Mr Dale, 'the first thing to be done is to give this up to the proper owners. Susan's nothing to do with it, nor have we. But I think it's our duty to inform the patrol where they are likely to find yonder ruffian. Deprived of his horse, he cannot proceed far from the spot, and Susan may as well have any reward that the Government may be ready to give; and this fellow is very likely to be the man who robbed the Yorkshire coach t'other day. They offered a hundred pounds to those that find bim. ' 0, pray don't, grandfather—pray don't let me be the cause of his being taken 1' cried Susan imploringly. 'Nonsense, my dear!' replied the old man; ' when the path of duty is straight and clear before you, you must walk np it, though it's hard and unpleasant. You don't wish yonder thief to take more money, do you, from those perhaps that can ill spare it?' Without delay, Mr Dale despatched a man with a full description of the robber, and instructions to the patrol as to the likelihood of his being in the neighborhood, and early the next morning a search was set on foot in all directions by the officials at Hazleton. Within three days the notorious thief, Bob Reeve (for such was his real name, and that by which he was known on the road), was taken. The patrol had been on his track since his attack on the Yorkshire coach, and had no difficulty in securing the villain when furnished by Mr Dale with the particulars of Susan's rencontre with him, and her description of his person. He was lodged in Greystone jail, and was shortly after convicted and executed. The money found in the saddle was duly handed over to Government, who offered half the reward set on the man's head to Susan. She, however, could not bring herself to accept it, but entreated that she might keep the robber's horse Wildfire. This, after much correspondence and deliberation, she was permitted to do, to her great satisfaction, as she regarded the beautiful animal as the cause of her escape from danger, and perchance death. The money found on the highwayman was restored to Mr Dale, and poor Susan's mind was therefore relieved on this point. She married before long a farmer in the neighborhood, and never ventured to market again. Ben was in due time invested with the longed-for dignity of selling the farm produce. He failed to encounter any gentlemen of the road, and, as his grandfather often told, him, it was too much to expect two out of the same family to meet and outwit a high waym an.