SELLING A SERGEANT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 140, 15 June 1877, Page 4

SELLING A SERGEANT.

{From the Londonderry Standard.) Not long ago the guardians of the law connected with a township about twenty miles from Derry were " sold " in a moat aggravating fashion by a simple, untutored child of the soil. Busticus, it appears, being a " connoiaeur " in mountain dew, was driving to its destination in C , a tight little keg of the contraband article carefully concealed under a load of turf. En route, he stopped over night at a decent farmer's house, and, doubtless, slept tbe sleep of the just, notwithstanding the seeming error of hia ways, A lellowgueat, however, possessed of a keen, discriminating nose, seems to have fathomed the secret of the wayfarer, and in the morning made haste tn overtake the cart, which was then apprcaching the town. Passing his friend of the keg with a hearty morning Salutation, he hurried on to the police barrack and lodged an information, the effect of which waa that a sergeant went out to meet the incoming" cart in the hope of making a seizure. Meantime tbe suspicions of Ruaticua had been awakened by the unwonted baste of hia friend, and bo at a certain part of the road he had concealed the keg in the mouth of a large pipe or drain which chanced to be "convenient." Tbe sergeant being a man who liked to effect the seizure according tojthe rules of art, made an offer, on meeting bis intended prisoner to purchase his turf for JE1 — perhaps three times its market value. Much to that official's surprise his offer was accepted, and the cart drove up to the barrack-square, where Paddy emptied hia load with cheerful alacrity, spreading it ostentatiously over ttie largest possible area. Immediately the constables swooped down upon the turf and raked vigorously but iu vain for the prize. And now was the sergeant " riled " indeed, for, not only had he mieaed the whiskey, but be had bought an indifferent load of turf, lor which he had no use, at an exorbitant prk-.e. A veil must be drawn over the rest of the scene — suffice it to say that Rusticus, by resorting to the nearest J.P., kept his man to the bargain and went home rejoicing.