AN EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION"I WISH I'D KNOWSD LATIN."

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1131, 28 December 1883, Page 4

AN EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION"I WISH I'D KNOWSD LATIN."

LITERATURE.

( Continued.)

‘ That’s nothing to me—l can road them,’ said Brownings, with whetted interest; ‘where is ■ your place? Conld’nt we go there now V ‘ It’s away down in the Cowgate,’ said William in apparent demur, ‘a good bit from here, bat I don’t think you’d give twopence for them all.’ Brownings, nevertheless, declared that he would give mbre if they were what he expected, and said with truth that the Cowgate was only a “ five minute’s walk ” from where they stood and that The whole visit would not occupy half-an-hour, a calculatidn regarding which William had an opinion of his own. With affected reluctance the thief yielded, and led the way down to his den in the Cowgate—a little cellar of two places up one of the slimiest and darkest closes. Brownings hesitated for a moment at the close mouth and said,somewhat suspiciously—- ‘ I thought it was a broker’s shop you kept ?’

‘ Get away with you ! Do you think Td give yon them,so cheap if I was a broker?’ said the generous William Pike.

And so they proceeded up the close and down some steps into William’s den, in winch they were graciously received by Pike’s wife, who hastened to dust a chair and bring out a bottle and glasses to entertain the gentleman visitor. Brownings hastily demurred, saying he had come to look at the books, and not to drink. But this statement was received by such a warm protest, that at length he allowed the big woman to set down two delf cups by way of glasses—into one of which she had previously dropped fifty drops of laudanum—and then, with much ostentation, to pour into each a good glassful of whiskey. The cups were handed to her husband and the visitor by.this fair enchantress of 20 stone —she taking care that the drugged cup went to the gentleman with the door key so temptingly dangling at his finger. in haste to get the thing over, hastily gulped down the liqnor without noticing the taste particularly, and then asked to B'O the bodks and antiquities. But it did not anik William to comply very hastily with the demand, from the simple fact that he had none to show. He therefore professed to be dying for a smoke, and apologised for gratifying the wish before hastening to drag out the “ old rubbish ” from the cellar

at the back—>B place built against the slope of the hill, and therefore both.damp and windowless. William’s smoke lasted so long that his visitor began to get drowsy, and conld hardly

see when Pike at length led the way to the back room with a lighted candle in hifl hand. Once inside this room, in which'were a bed and some rotten old chairs, he told his stupified victim to seat himself, while he brought ont the things ; and then he pretended to fumble under the bed in the darkness for what was not there. He was still searching when the old man fell asleep where he sat; and then the thief and his wife tossed him on the bed, and deftly searched his pockets for the keys of the house, after taking that of the garden door from his nerveless finger. William and his wife cursed not a little as they did so, for not a trace of keys was to be found. There was the garden-door key, and a shabby .purse containing a few shillings, but nothing more. All this was awkward and it upset William’s arrangement to go ont to the bouse as soon as it was dark, and while the old man slept, strip it of all that was valuable, return the keys to the pocket of the drugged man, and leave him lying in some far-off spot to wake at his leisure. There was still hope, however; and as soon as it was dark Pike got ont to the hons", unlocked the garden-gate, and tried the doors of the house, only to find that they were far too securely fastened for him to hope to force them. He now had it in his power to do two things—to give up the attempt, or to try a more daring crime ; and I need not say that his choice fell on the latter alternative. This is the invariable course which all crime runs, from petty thieving to murder and the gallows.

Pike returned to his den to find that his victim still slept, but. while he was fiercely taking supper, and planning his new crime, there was a kicking at the door of the inner cellar to intimate that the prisoner had awakened. Pike took down a heavy bludgeon, and unlocked the inner door himself, coolly stepping into the dark hole, candle in hand, and locking the door after him. ‘ Well, what do you want T be said at last.

* I’ve been asleep, and I want to go ont,’ was the simple reply ; ‘ why did you lock the door V * To keep yon in,’ answered Pike, insolently, no longer keeping on the mask.

* Take care what yon say, sir, or I’ll have the police to yon,’ cried the old man, after an interval of thought. ‘ Will yon ? How will yon get them to hear yon ?’ There was a horrified pause, during which the old man evidently reviewed his situation, and did not like the prospect, for he sat down, trembling and pale, on the edge of the bed, and stared helplessly at his gaoler. ‘Do you mean to say you have trapped me, and mean to keep me here against ray will ?’ he faintly ejaculated. ‘ No, no; trapped is a hard word. Yon- came here of your own accord, didn’t yon?’ ‘ ‘Yes, and now I want to lepve; for I neither like you nor the hole you live in.’ ‘ Ah, but I want something. from you first.’ ‘ What ?’ ‘ The keys of the house you live in.’ The old man remained silent for some lime, staring at his brutal gaoler with a sinking heart, and realising the position

for the first time. The whole had been a carefully prepared plot, and the robbery of his brother’s house was the object. ‘ Ihaven’t them,’ he faintly responded, when he found voice.

(To be Continued.)