AN Adventure in the Dark

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 133, 15 September 1871, Page 6

AN Adventure in the Dark

Many years ago, when quite a youth, I fell a victim to an entomological mania, that led me into some extravagances. All my spare cash went in nets, pins, pillboxes, and specimen cases ; ail my spare time in the pursuit of specimens—and I was often out late at. night. Some of the rarer insects keep most inconvenient hours —indeed, they only venture abroad when creatures of the highest organisa'i<n a e generally at home and asleep. An adventure occurred to me upon one of these "after dark" expeditions, the recital of which I am vain to chink uu y prove interesting.

Residing in the neighborhood of Eltham, I sallied out late one autumn evening, and made across the fields in the direction of Shooter's Hill Wood, where, I ha.l heard, some good things were to be picked \iy With the enthusiasm proper to a lad of eighteen, I was prepared for every emergency : pill-boxes of various sizes, and without stint; pins ditto; likewise, a pickle-bottle containing a good honest half-pint of that liquor for which the lieverend Mr. Stiggins conceived so undeviating an affection, combined with a solution of gu u-arabic. A painter's sashtool and a dark lantern completed my equipment. The day had been mode rately warm, but the sky had become overcast, the air a little fresh towards eventide; and the sun had finally set angrily among a heavy, chaotic heaving together of clouds, like aerial mountains piled to impede his way, As the grey gloaming died into the dark, the little night winds stole out and assaulted my cheek with cold, uneasy puff's. I buttoned my coat, increased my speed, and soon reached the wood. Commencing operations at once, I went on administering dab after dab of my "Catch-'em-alive-0" to the bark of the trees. Not a soul came near to disturb my labors, although a well-worn foot-track told that this way was much used as a near cut to the village I had left behind. J worked on briskly, and full of hope. I was perfectly happy, for I had been very successful of late. Having nearly expended the contents of my bottle, I returned to the tree which had first been operated on. Nothing had been ensnared; I passed through the whole range with a similar result. I smeared away the little that remained of the rum and gum, and once more went a round of inspection, with, however, no better success. Not easily disheartened, I determined on giving the game another chance. Many little pedestals of cork, in beautiful mahogany cases, were awaiting occupants. Why were they. so backward in coming forward? I was ready to guarantee the most appropriate classification, the most tender regard for both cloth and color. Pushing into the wood, I seated myself upon the stump of an old oak, and (this in confidence) filled and lighted my cuttie-pipe. I had distinguished myself very early as a smoker, and could not have been more than thirteen when, after graduating in cane, I passed in Turkish, to the entire satisfaction of my examiners, two older boys, who had already taken honors in Bengal cheroots cut cavendish. Puffing a cloud, and pleasantly communing with my own thoughts, the moments stole unheeded by, and it was not until my last spark had expired, and a cold shudder shook me from head to heel, that I became

conscious of the lapse of time. As I arose, a certain vague terror took possession of my mind. I had turned off my light, but was able to discern quite small objects at considerable distances. "While I sat ioioking, my eye, in its wanderings, had d#fr«?F,e4 nothing tmfc beauty. Bramble,

tree, and bush had conjured up only the pleasantest images. Now every outline seemed endowed with grim and weird expression merely. Ugly faces and ungainly forms were readily suggested by every object. I feared to look either to the right, hand or to the left, lest some unimaginable horror should confront me. Inclining to the opinion that the human mind, under certain conditions, is capable of recognising, unaided by either sight or speech, the presence of great evil, I became awfully impressed, and accepted my feelings as an omen of proximity to some dread mystery. Perfectly awe-struck, only by considerable effort was I enabled to move forward a step or two. Suddenly a wild shriek sent au •,. v coldness quivering along every nerve, and set my heart clamoring as if longing to escape from its prison-house. I had never heard so wild a cry but once before, and that was when a schoolfellow, carried by a treacherous current far from human help, was about to sink never to rise again. Though at first so much startled by the shriek, yet there was something real—something mortal about it, which in a measure wrought its own cure. I felt assured that an awful deed of violence had been or was being perpetrated close at hand, and yet the sense of horror under which I had labored a few seconds since had, in a great degree, become subdued. The cause of fear was more tangible, lu nee less terrible. After listening for further sounds but catching none, I crept a few steps towards the -path. A clatter of approaching feet caused me to sink behind a bramble clump, and as £ did. so, the figure of a man went swiftly by. My first impu'se was to fo l . low him. Then the idea occurred that it would.be better to h.wu-u m the opposite direction, and endeavor to ascertain if help would be of any iivail to his victim, whoever that might be. Turning on my bull's eye, I hurried forward, flinging my light from side to side, and carefully examining every step. Presently a low gurgling from an obscure corner sent the cold tremor through me once again. Hesitating for a moment, I summoned up courage, and threw my light in the direction of the sound.. Judge my feelings on beholding a man, apparently in his last agonies, hanging by his neck from the branch of a tree. Necessity for action was at once a source of strength. Catching, out my-pocket-knife, the neckerchief by which he was suspended was severed at one stroke. Though haggard, and ghastly, and emaciated, yet, for all that, the youthfulness of those features could not be mistaken. He lay quite still, the great organ of life was pulsating but feebly. Hardly knowing what to do for the best, I began loosening his shirt-collar, and shouting at the top of my voice, "Murder!" and " Help !" No assistance arrived. It, was an alarming dilemma. Now came the awful thought that supposing he sank and died, and I was detected near, I might possibly be accused of murder. Every pore in my body opened, and my hair literally stood on end. When my distress was at its height, and I was on the ..point of fleeing, the dies', of the prostrate man began visibly to rise and fall at regular intervals, and soon after, with a deep inspiration, he flung his arms spasmodically apart and opened his eyes. My joy w,:is boundless. Once more they opened, and this time-with a brightness which seemed to indicate returning life and returning consciousness. Zealously and earnestly did I attend to the patient which had thus strangely and providentially been plac d uider my charge, and delighted and grate. . ful was I when, after considerable, carei ful, and assiduous attention on my part, I found him sufficiently recovered, first to sit upright, and eventually to rise from the ground. His emotions were, on recovery, strong, but took at first a direction

which I had in no wise co templated. He accused me of having brought him back to a world which he hated, and to recol lectins and assoc Via 8 \\ hicli had been so painful and unbearable as to induce him 11 attempt to end his miserable existence by suicide. Gradually, however, he became more calm and collected, and, after some short time, he related to me the slory of his life in something like ih following words—

" I am the son of parents in easy if not affluent circumstances, and received at their hands that constant, fond, and dangerous indulgence not unfrequently bestowed upon the youngest child. From infancy to boyhood my life, with the exexception of attending school, against which I frequently, an.! often too successfully, rebutted, was a real bed of roses—of roses without a thorn—for all my wishes were immediately gratified by my loving parents, and in bodily health and strength few of my juvenile playfellows and competitors were my equal. The dislike to school to which 1 have alluded begot within me, by decrees, a love for idleness, and I played, time after time, the truant, deceiving my parents by tales which their affection induced them to believe, but which to other and less partial ears would have appeared in their true characterlies. Success in the matter of truant playing made me more and more bold, and the hours which should have been, and were supposed J)y my parents to be, devoted to stud/ were passed in idleness and sometimes the worst society. True, however, are the old an 1 hackneyed lines—"For Satan fiucls some mischief still . For idle hands to do." (To f>e rort"f>i'fe-J »? our next.)