LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1442, 30 September 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

LAL. ["All the Year Bound."] A Stokv in Three Cuaiteks (Concluded.) In the frenzy of passion and esoimement which possessed her, Lai had fallen on her knees, and clutched my coat with both her hands, looking up with an agony of supplication', ?.s if .i, could «ipc,du her fate, rT§r,e wan Si pretty Situation fpr W®sfcoott, muia'ger, t.o'uu.nd in !; ''Lai', my d«,i'j don't bo a fool,' I lettered] diejjoiatedly. ' What nonsense is ijhia ':■ you shan't go away unless yon like, but for Heaven's sake get up and behave yourself! There, that's better,' I said, tiu she dragged herself up on to her feet, and stretched out her hand mechanically for her milk oan, wliioh had rolled oil the verandah ; 'now, Lai, be a good gird, home, and make up your Sfiiad *>,ever fcp t;Jk such nonsenso ag :i-i. You'ktipw Mv Clint is a g'-nUcin.n, a?,d will be a yfiyy i-ioh one \/hei>, hiti uther dies, aivil )>ow could you for One moment sv.ppOßti ' Lai pat up her hand with a pathetic gesture to stop me. 'Lord,' ahe cried, with her biy-Jjer little laugh, which always mado mo 'angry ; ' it's you as is talking nonsense now! Don't you thick X know hs'z set above us like the stai s,

and as if he could ever look at the likes of I. But that don't make no difference to me that I know of,' she added, dropping all at once into a low tone of indescribable despair, and turning away. At this moment we both saw Clint returning with the dogs from a bathe in the river. ±le stopped a moment to pick a peach as he passed through old Reuben the Maori's garden, but we heard his clear voice singing : ' Then tell me how to woe thee, Love, then tell me how to woo thee,' as if in unconscious mockery of Lai's misery and pain. For once I felt really out of patience with Clint's beaming good humor.

'Go home, child,' I cried, sharply, and Lai vanished without another word. I walked over to the fence to meet Fairfax.

' Kalph, my boy, you look very glum! How delicious these peaches are,' he added, fastening on another. Should I tell him Lai's secret, and beg him to show the wretched girl less kindness for the future V

Whether wisely or not, I spoke. ' Fairfax, I have been talking to that poor girl Lai. She i 3 nearly grown-up now, and I want her to go out to service.' ' Whew! my prize pupil ?' cried Clint, making a long face. ' Well, my dear patriarch, and what did Mias MahaiFy say to your kind proposal V ' Well, really, Clint, it's too absurd. And yet it's a pity for the poor little soul, too. The fact is, she has such a profound adoration for you, that nothing will induce her to consent to it.'

Clint looked amazed, and then annoyed. ' Alas ! alack ! is this to be the end of my philanthropic efforts I' he cried at last. 'You don't really mean, Balpb, that she won't go because because Upon my word, it's too preposterous. Well, Balph,' he went on pettishly, after a pause, during which I lit my pipe, and tried to look more comfortable than I felt, ' what's a fellow to do now.' Poor Lai, she has tried so awfully hard to learn and get on. Perhaps you misunderstood her?'

I shook my head. ' I don't pretend to understand these things, Clint, but it's a very real thing with her. How would it be for you to go on that visit to the Vernons you are always intending to pay ? Stay away a week or two, and I'll undertake to talk to Lai, and make her take a place at Dorald's farm at Tere-weni. I know they want a dairy hand.'

So Clint agreed; and as the boat was going across next day for stores, we had no time to discuss and unsettle the matter. Lai, of course, saw the boat start, for she and her brothers were always moving before anyone else on the run ; and Clint waved his haud to her, and called out in his cheery way, * Good-bye, young 'uns ! Stick to your books, and I'll bring over some jolly new ones when I come back.' Ted halloed out, 'Good-bye !' and no one bat I noticed that Lai said nothing, but gazed with straining eyes after the boat, till it bad disappeared round the point, and the level rays of sunrise turned the grey sea to gold. For my own part, T turned in to breakfast with a weight off my mind, for Lai certainly was a pretty girl; and though I believed Clint to bo an honest young fellow enough, still there is something flattering and pleasant in being worshipped by the only girl about the station. So, altogether, I was glad to get Fairfax safely off on a visit to a neighbouring station, where 1 knew the dashing Miss Vernons would soon give his thoughts a fresh direction. Chaptbb, 111. Some weeks went by, very busy weeks, and I had begun to get used to being alone again, when 1 received a message from Clint that the next time the whaleboat went over to Nelson he would return by her, as a letter from his father had recalled him to England sooner than he had expected. All the time of his absence lie had seen little of Lai. She had given up coming to the station, always sending Ted instead; and 1 had really almost forgotten our scene in the verandah. The day after I got Clint's message, however, I chanced to meet her as I rode home over the mud-flat. It had been a dull, foggy day, but as evening el sod in the wind began to rise litfully, make a little sudden stir and moan, and then die away into an ominous silence. As I hurried Sprightly along 1 overtook Lai, walking home slowly under a load of pipis she had been collecting for supper off the rocks. At first she seemod inclined to let mo pass without reoognition, but when I drew up, meaning to warn her of the comine storm, she ran to my side and laid her hand on my bridle ' Isn't he never coming here no more, Mr WestcottV she asked, in such a despairing tone 1 could not find it in my heart to scold her. 'Why, Lai,'l cried, 'how ill you look. Wh.»t have you done to your cheeks and eyes ?' She shook her head impatiently, and repeated the question—' Is he never coming home '>' 'Well—yes, child. He's coming tomorrow ; but only to say good-bye. He will be off to Kngland, and to all his friends there, soon.' She scarcely seemed to hear the end of my speech, 'To-morrow!' she said, crouching down in a heap upon the seaweed-strewed sands, and rocking herself to and fro. ' Shall I see him to-morrow ?' ' Lai 1' I cried impatiently. >Sht> sprang to her feet. ' Oh, Mr Westcptt, don't scold me. Look here,' and she pulled up her ragged sleeve ' to. show me h©r arm, wasted and shrunken, 'l'm dying, I think,' she wont on hoarsely. ' I can't eat, nor sleep, nor do a half of the work I used to. I'm starving for a sight of his face ; and what harm can it do him foi me to be happy just one day V Poor Lai! I was not a partjbatorly softhearted chap, but the sight of her distress gave me a queer feeling iii the throat, and I rode on without speaking.

Tho night set in as I expected, with e\wp atorms of wind and rain, and by ihe tiia,e I had got home and dono these was a high sea running. ' The boat "Jsl 4&\'<iV, uta,rt to-mo/icow. Tom,' .' as, for company*a sake, 1 turned into the kitchen for a smoke. Tom looked o' thai;, sir, if old Peter had gone in her. He'aa&afo hand, and a'most over careful; hftt young Peter is rash, and won't wait for weather.'

' Don't croak, Tom,' I retorted; ' besides, tbe weather may mend before midnight, when they'd be starting, and th.on itfr Clint will be there, and he's su::6. fio wait if there's any danger.' But aj idm still shook his head, and persisted in calling to mind all the shipwrecks ho had ever been in, I gave up, the argument and went to bed, telling, him to call me at six o'clock, if I weflft'i stirring before.

It seemed to me iihat I had only just dropped asleep, when his voice at my side awoke ivo next, morning, 'Mr Wq?.tcoiit, sir, ii's s:x o'clock; and an awful .y.aaty sea on. And I've been twice to iiu> aeach, and can't see nothing of the boat.' Oet out, you old vool !•' I roared. *You don't; for oi;e moment suppose they arc anywhere buj safe in Nelson JH arbor»'

Tom vanished, but I got up thoroughly uncomfortable all the same, and hurried down to the beach without waiting for breakfast.

The sea lookod nasty, truly. A line of white breakers thundered over the wia, and threw their spray high iut.i ';ho air ; a thick fog hung over Nelson, «iud hid the outlines of the Qoa<t, yut 'Mere and there a white ewVvi oi waters showed a dangerous scoi jo tyewaVe of, After a look round I wtti" returning, when 1 spied a little figure. aittiny pwched half-way up the fane of the oliff in a little shelter formed by a wctyeeting ledge, ' Lai, you silly girl, romo down ! There's not footing for a bird there ; and what gond can yov. do: They've never started, I'm .Ui.o. Cbme and have some breakfast with Tos-A.' But I,might as well have shouted at, the'eea-gulk, fcr she never movod. When I caooo down ajpin she vjas utill, tfc,ere, deaf to evorytbiug except the thuM^r.

and roar of the sea. The storm seemed to increase as the morning wore away, and even Tom had come round to my opinion that young Peter never could have put out in such a sea, when wo were startled by a message from Lai. She had sent Ted to say she saw something—drift-wood, it might be —still it was something. Never, as long as I live, shall I forget the horror which clutched at our hearts, and blanched our faces, as for a moment Tom and I stared at one another while Ted breathlessly delivered the message. Of course, we followed him at ouce, and stood again peering out into the fog and spray. • I see nothing, Lai,' I shouted. ' Whereabouts is it now ?'

Lai for answer thrust out her long bony arm. ' There'tis !' she cried: 'and 'tis— Lord have mercy !—'tis our boat !' Not one word more did anyone say. Some half-dozen men, we stood there, helpless, watching the little spot grow and grow till we could make it out, as Lai did, to be our boat. Now she's down in the trough of the wave, now she rides on top, now she's near enough for us to make out the six dark figures in her ! They are all there, thank God for that! Now we lose sight of her again, and I shout hoarsely to Lai. 'All right,' she pants ; ' they are safe past Split Rock, and they are going to beach the boat.'

I clamber up on a fallen mass of rock, and can see Lai is right. They are coming in on the breakers, and will let the boat drive ashore. She will go to pieces, but it is their only chance. We watch breathless, and no one speaks, although old L'eter stands beside me, and he has two sons in peril. One tremendous wave dashes them almost within our reach —not quite—they are swept back, and the boat goes under. A. moment later, and she reappears bottom-upwards among the boiling waters, and with a wild shriek Lai springs from her watching place into the water beneath.

'Mad fool!' I cry, breaking into womanish sobs, and rushing forward with an idea of doing something anything. But old Peter lays a shaking hand on my shoulder. ' Don't 'ee throw away your life, sir. She'ye got him by the hair, and if anyone can live in such a sea, I'll back Lai.' ' But your boys, Peter ?' [ gasp, completely knocked out of all self-command.

'I be watching,' said the old man, giving me a little shake in his suppressed excitement. ' Nobody han't come up yet but Master Clint, and Lai have got he tight.'

There isn't much more to tell. Out of all the six, only Fairfax was saved ; though the bodies were washed ashore next day.

Lai, whose love gave her superhuman strength, bad kept (hint's head away from the rock which crushed the life out of the other poor lads, and almost the next wave rolled both to our feet.

It took us a Ion? time to unclasp Lai's hands, and I don't believe she ever knew that she really had saved the man she died for.

She was buried, when Parson Hooper came over the next Sunday, in Clint's little garden, with Peter's two sons and the other poor fellows j but it was m*ny months before Clint could crawl out so far, or hear how his life had been saved.