LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2630, 11 September 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

AN UNBURIED BURGLAR.

[From " Strange Clues," a oolleotlon o: dotesolvo stories by James MoGrOvAH.J

[Concluded,) During all the commotion and uproar, The Daisy had never onoa moved; but as so en as the servants had armed themselves, and thrown on clothing; they issued forth, headed by the major, gun in lund, and pioked up the prostrate thief, whom the old soldier at first joyfully took oredit for shoot' log. A closer Inspection of his injuries, however, speedily proved that Daisy was suffering, not from a bullet, but a fractured skull. The plated idol had descended with the force of a cannon ball straight on to his hard head, which It had Indented in a way which, had the man lived, would have puzzled many a phrenologist. The Daisy was still alive, but quite Insensible; and though he was as speedily possible driven in to Edinburgh Infirmary In a oart littered with straw, at which plaoe he lingered for some weeks, it could hot be said that he ever ceoovered his faculties. He let out enough in his wanderings to indloate that he had not attempted the robbery alone; and as the maj r spoke of a second man ercapiog over the wall, and sent in the knife found near the spot—not The Daisy'*, whioh wss found in his teeth—l anxiously strove to recollect where and how I had before seen the knife. Think as I liked, I could not reoall the circumstances, and had almost given up trying, when some one ohanced to remark in the office tbat Colty had never been seen slnee the robbery, when the whole icent flashed upon me like au inspiration, and I exclaimed—

« Why, that old kulfe is Colly's ! Strange that wa did not think of him sooner, fo» he was seen with The Daity long before this affair came off'

1 Oh, but Colty had nothing to do with this affair. I know for a fact that ho had left the city a day or two before the robbery took place,'was the rather damping reply; ' besides, he night have lost the knife or lent Is, or bad It stolen from him nothlrg more likely. It does not follow, because his knife was found out there, that he o Tried it to the plaoe, and left too hurriedly to pick It up.' I said nothing, but determined to follow up the clue, in hope of, perhaps, strengthening the case as I proceeded, and was soon rewarded by hearing beyond doubt that Colty had been ia tho city, in hiding, and somewhat disabled, a day or two after the robbery. But this information did net place the rascal in my hands. I searched high and low for him, but so fruitlessly that I at laat oonoluded that he had left the olty. Yet there was sometllng so sudden end myitoujas about his disappearance that I bad a lingering suspicion that he was oleverly hidden. Of this suspioion nothing came for about three weeks, when in passing along the Pouth Bridge I chanced to glance down to Infirmary street, and swiftly noticed, amoDg the motley crowd there gathered awaiting the hour for the admission of the friends of patients, Colt.v's wife. a was past the street before I thought much of the olrcamstanoe; then I started and pulled up before a draper's window, and had a good think while apparently absorbed in studying the beautieß of the latest foppish neoktie or stand up collar. The woman, I knew, bad not noticed me, and I thought I would wait a little, and learn what relative she was so concerned adout as to wish to see. That she should be in Edinburgh, and her husband out of it, was a thing I oould not for a moment believe. He battered her regularly within an inoh of her life, I believe, bnt ahe was never a day away from his side ; indeed, Colty bewailed the faot that he could not shake her off As soon as I saw the crowd c.-ush within the open dcor, I moved down to the gate and tackled the porter—- ' Did you notice a woman with bare head, broken noae, and red shawl go in just now ?' ' I did, sir. She's in seeing her husband, Isn't she ? Her name Is Brown, oh ?'

' She might oall herself that, and him too, for they have a curious habit of changing their names ; but have you any id?a what la wrong with her husband !' ' ' Bitten by a mad dog, I think ; lacerated ahouldtr, but not dangerous,' promptly answered the man. 'The woman tried to smuggle in some whiskey to him the first time she oame and I took it from her, and she hasn't tried it again ; though, to be sure, I always searoh her.' ' Bitten by a dog ?* I echoed, with the most Intense satisfaction; ' I think I shall go in and see him ; I have a deep Interest in his health. Which ward, please V

* No. 8, Surglaal Hospital.' ' No. 8 ? Good gracious, and The Daisy died in No. 7 ! No wonder I could not find the rascal, with him hiding under my very nose.'

This laat was my thought, and I did nat utter It aloud. It would have made me look too foolish. A decent fool will often pass for a wise man if he has only the sense to hold his trnguo. I marched down to the Surgical, and up the stair to No. 8 ward, which 1 entered in time to see Oolty rise to a sitting posture in bed to partake of tsa, with his wife looking on, end perhaps envying him of the comfort. I appeared to disturb him, for he d'opped the b ibia and bread with a eharp • D— n it, there's which drew a similar expression of affeotion acd esteem from his wife. Oolty objected to leave his snug quarters, loudly asserting that to move him would be as good as taking his life ; but when I referred the matter to the house surgeon, the truth oame out, which was that Oolty, suspected of Imposing on the institution, had been frightened by ths threat of a burning operation on the morrow, and had really ajsaed to leave that night. I therefore assured him that his shoulder would be well tended In prison, and marched him off Poor Colty ! had he been anything but a burglar, he would have been to be pitied To understand his anguished feelings, It must be understood that, in the death of The Daisy, he had Buffered a keen personal loss, the dead thief having owed him a round sum, lest in gambling, which there was now no prospect of recovering And all this, with the loss of hi* knife and the subsequent traoing of himself to hisi snug hiding-plice, he owed to the brute of a mafetiff out at t Norton Hall! Is it surprising that Oolty should think of that dog every hour of the day, dream of it by night; and, whether sleeping or waling, curse it—till, body, head and teeth-to all time? Nay, is It to be wor dared at that he even swore that the fir»t visit upon leaving gaol that he meant to pay would be, knife In hand, to that brute at Ellerton Hall ? Alter an interval spent by us In vainly endeavoring to strengthen the evidence against Colty, he was brought to trial upon two charges—one a trifling theft, and the other the houßebrebklng. Ihe second, as I had feared, had to be abandoned, and Oolty drew a sigh of relief when the simple sentence was passed of nine months' Imprisonment.

' I'll pay him baok yet, and his dog too,' he was heard to matter, as ho was led from the bar, evidently a'lading to the major, who had appeared in evidence against him ; but as the rash words had cot reached the judge's ears, they were allowed to pass unchallenged, and he left the Court without having his sentence augmented,

At the expiry of his term, Coif y had his shabby clothes returned to him In exchange for the prison suit, and along with them re ceived his knife, which I believe pleased him more than if he had been presented with a sovereign, though it would have been dear at threepence. With the chaplain's warnings and the governor's advice ringing in hia ea'S, Colty went with h:s wife to thtir home in Blaoxfrlars Wynd, walloped her well, and robbed her of Aftern shillings whioh she had saved for rent. He then bought a secondhand pistol and a bullet mould from St. Mary's Wynd, saying that he had a brute who would not stop biting, and would be b at put out of pain. With some lead spoons and an Iron shovel, ho then made some bul'et<, loaded the plstoL and with It and the knife treasured in his bosom, left Edinburgh for »llarton Ball. Did no guardian angel whisper to him a warning as he trudged the lonely road—a warning to turn, if he would see another sunset like that whioh was reddening tho sky at his right t If it did it was unheeded. Tet if he had only the seess to make enquiry, he would hive learned that which would bare dissuaded him more than any warnings, that h'a foe, the mastiff, had. ceased to exist. The truth la that the dog had never fairly recovered from the stab with Colty's worn and probably dirty bladed knife. The wound hsd been trifling, but it had refused to heal, and but a Week before Colty's release had bee >me so hopelessly bad that the poor brute bad to be poisoned to end its sufferings. Colty knew nothing of this, and though it was unfortunate for him, It was a boon to the world. Colty waited paliently till midnight In the wood behind the house, and then got over the wall, cooked his pistol, and stole on- stocking soles round to the kennel in front. There was a little moonlight, and Colty fully expeotod the dog to spring out of the kennel m nth, but to his surprise there was no movement, no sound, no rattling of the ohatn. A olo&e - inspection explained the cause—the kennel was empty, the chain lying rasty on the ground, and the leather collar gone 'They've took him inside, most likely Get him free in the passage, with the doors of the empty rooms open, so that he may watch where most wanted,' was probably Colty's reiieotlon; ' never mind ; I'll get at him just as well, though I should have to shoot him through the window. I'll get in somehow, and he'll not be long of hearing me, I swear.' He slowly made the round of (he building, but was rather disgusted to find that every window within r;aoh but one was guarded without by strong iron bars. The solitary exoeptlon attracted his attention particularly} and by olambering up on the sill of this window he was able to make a series of surprising discoveries. In the first placa it was unfastened, but guarded within by a series of Iron bars'arranged much in the of a strong gate; Between the window and this iron gate there was room for a man to stand, and on one of the shutters hung within easy reach a heavy hey, evidently Intended to open the eccentrio window protection. Colty stared at the whole openmouthed, and then In all likelihood thought that he understood the whole oontrivanoe. ' It's the major's strong room, most like j the place where he keeps his plate and treasure. What's to hinder me from lifting the sash of the winder, opening the thing with that key, If it fits the look, and then llf ting more| than I missed the last time P But/ hist! What's that lying in the dark corner over there on the floor T It's like a beast—a big one, too. Good. I see It all now. It's the dog; the brute that I've come here to kill. He's been put In here to wutoh the treasure. Now, if I can only get in without waking him—just close enough to put the pistol to his ear—l'll treasure him 1" Very cautiously Golty raised the sash and stepped cL ss up to the bars within to discover if the sleeping animal were really hia old foe, but failing in that ha took down the key hanging on the shatter, and gently pushed the curious gate inwards. Fiqdlrg that the hug a animal still slept, he reoloaed the gate to make sure that it should not escape, and then, pistol in hand, was about to step across to the obsoure oorner, when his heels suddenly slid under him, landing him, with a heavy thud, in a sitting posture on the glassy floor. Had he had time to think of it, he would then have seen that the floor was oovered with a smooth iron plate littered with sawdust, and that the wall of the aparmenthad been similarly protected ; but the sleeping animal chanced to wake at the sound of his sudden drop, and then, aa it raised its huge head and glowing eyes, Colty sat gasping with horror, unable to move or utter a sound. 4 Good God! it's a tiger—a real, living Bengal tiger 1' he probably groaned, leaping to his feet and slipping, sorambling, find stumbling in mad haste backwards towards the iron gate guarding the window, aa the animal, with low growls, advanced from its oorner upon him. ' Good heavens! what am' I to dot I've heard of some coves fixing them with their eye, but, Lord help me, this one's eye is near as big as my head.' The tiger advanced, licking its lips as a cat m'ght over a cowering mouse, and in deipe ration the unhappy burglar had levelled the old pistol at his forehead and drawn the trigger, Alas! for the reputation of St. Mary's Wynd and its brokers—the pistol m'ssed fire I The snapping, of the trigger, far from awing or scaring the hnge beast, seemed but to irritate it; and after crouching baok like a cat for a moment or two, while Colty sank baok fainting with terror against the bars, it w»s through the air with a bound, and in a moment had his bonei crunching in his teeth. An awful yell, wild and piercing aa humtn throat oould emit, rent the air; but though It was heard through the house, no one attended to it, or left their bed to asoertaln the oauae. 1 hue the Bengal man-eater had everything Its own way, and when its cage was entered in the morning, Colty had ceased to have a bodily existence. His clothes, it Is true, were there, and his knife ; bat he jhlmself was gone,, though there |was abundant evidence In the place that he had not left his clothes of bis own aooord. There was nothing to apeak of, of Colty to bury j and though he did no rgood in life, he had in dying oonfarred the only possible boon upon surviving humanity—saving it the expense of burying him. As for the tiger which had thus proved such a blessing to the world, it lived happily for many years; but having acquired

a taste for flesh other than that of cows, It one morning, In an unguarded moment, un gratefully snapped oil one of the major's sr.as, who thereupon ordered It to be shot—a clew proof of how even a peaceable and good natared tiger may bo corrupted and brought to an untimely end by IntercourßO with a criminal. The circumstance poiuta Us own moral.