LITERATURE.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1133, 2 January 1884, Page 4

LITERATURE.

AN EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION-r- ; WIM 'Pi) KNOWED LATIN.” —n ——jrtV. {Continued.) ljPik,q could readpretty fluently; and ' took The strange prescription iivhis-horiU, ami gravely tried to spell it through. * What in the mischief is nil this s ?’; ho cried at last, ‘ I can’t : reail tfte lialf iff it.’ .‘I daresay;; there are tvord.s ami names that only a chemist can pflderstnpfl. language pf . .their own, 1 you know,’ said the. old. man;, with tvitfl U»ep, :a8- he weakly sailk jiaek on,the bed ami spoke (dreed' ,1,9 retire, to stg!: ( pvtxirl^*olpnniily. the paper, wilji ti>c help of his ; wife. [ |lhe:fi at;words in the! ctVrions proscription" chanced to be Sum vinctus , and theie suggested to -Pike a brilliant antli ■qepnomiqalidea. 1 ' / ; ' * Borneo. vinctus V lie said to hid wife, whoß was equally - at a loss with the paper, the donee is vinCtns I wonder—some simple thing like castor oil or senna and swear. , Them chemists, yop ‘know, are awful cheats* and puls ji on fearful when thrilling iswrit oh a' bit of, paper. ,1 know what I’ll do. I’ll jnsrgoih an hie for ‘some vinctus ’ —say a pennyworth —for a sick child, and take my own bottle, and I’ll get the same that they’d be charging half-a-crown for. r M ... This someth a clioafPand at" tlie same time effectual way—of-getting at the rcqiiiifed II fMofmation regarding 5 the keys, and cordially approved of by,the* wife of the? lliitjl. Who. sagely remarked that even -if t'ho’.iiiedicine wasju’tj-qultc right, 4 he’d .never know thu difference, and by; tha,t time Uwy.would know -about So Pike took across the city to a quartcr-ntr which he w.*s noffliifcfltfjr to-be ent4Hi^n^ldi'^»nisi ? B^jifi.o|>,. asked 5 for. “ a pettily wof th of v i tie t us? ’ , U r i for tuna t c 1 y for Pike,.,his 'knowledge*) of Latin pronunciation, either jqfvThe Scotch or English schools, was-wofully deficient, • ami; the. chemist, 'though hefever ’-and skilful, failed to recognise the word,’ and said—"""’■"Thl ffoifltE kifOW wlikt you wean?‘What is it for?’’ ?" " !:t: * ii’s tor a poor sick child.’ , ‘Oh’ you had better bring a prescription from a doctor.’ ‘ But it’ll cost more that way, won’t it 7’ cautiously demurred Mr Pike. ‘ Sixpence more.’ ‘Oh, well? if it’s only sixpence, I don’t mind. The fact is I have a prescription, but I thought I’d save you the trouble of reading it, and justas the thing’straightfoirard,’ and he produced the- dirty kqrap of paper and placed it in the.chemist’s hands. , The man read ii through in wonder and growing exciteiuoiTc, mid, not quite, able to control his surprise, exclaimed when he had finished—* . ‘ Who wrote this—this proscription ?’ thordoctor, .I s’pose. I don’t know his name,;. Rut it’s, all right, I s’ppse, isn’t it ?.’ ; \ ‘Yes, oh yes; it’s right,’ returned the chemist ‘.but it’ll be rather an expensive prescription' for yon—that is, it’ll take ah hour or two to make Up. If yon call hack in a couple of hours I could have it ready for yon,’ Pike was about to ask somewhat, precipitately hpw much (he., thing would cost him, blit then,: reasoning that he could refuse to take it, ami so ingeniously* throw the useless mixture back pu the, man’s hands if he thought it fob'dear, he said he would call back for it, and left the shop. The moment he was fairly out of sig|ifilthe chemist re-read the strange message; and: leaving the shop in charge of »n assistant, took ft cab to'the Police Chambers' and asked for. mo.'' He then read over to me something like the translation I have given, and asked what Talbe; dpne,, There was, very ■"HlW.tiiii.f, to but I respited in place Ipwatcli the shop ami- see if the?cauyiotis was bite' of my ‘bairns,’ apd thus £et t sonic;fd^a”of:lih,e’ whereabdut ! s’6iF’ ! 4hV. f , upaii. I drove., bock .with the that, lmvipg t made,mp a .fbottle of harmlejßSfoßtpff, affixed to it/a label bearing,.in-,Latin the 'message— ‘ Experienced are? tracking the bearer, andi jbu Will kbdn ; be free? When I had been abont an hour in the back room ojf the §b,op, th.e (Ipor .was opened, and 's?lie‘ appeared ami asked if the medicine was ready. Watching him keenly through a chink in the door, I failed to recognise him., - Indeed, , Pike up to that : Mtt r dmen¥ Tfaxf notl {iaftsed through my hands, and- his home was me, vis tfterelorp decided! not to arrest himyagimy; object was to release the captive rather than make William a prisoner, and . to arrest Pikemight! hitv&befen only to seal his lips and lie'bur hands. I, signalled to the chemist to, hiip, li?*|vp; after hapding him jfthe .botitli*,. ;and» for form’s! sake charging him shilling, for;its 'harmless contents: .j'* > hoc fHm > v-r. hj seemed to have not a shadow of suspicion or fear, for after leaving the shop,, be never once looked round or seemed to Know he was being followed, and whistled most of the way as cheerily as if he had Just done a virtuous 'action. turned up the close-to-big - den, and. 1 befor© [ paused to send a message up to, tlie‘ office by the man on the beat. ( ' : 1 I the close,, and f toqk up f ift<a stairoppo.site .Pike’s .pfllar, ,tp impatiently; await the arrival of McSweeny and the other men 1 had sent for. While J I waited bad delivered; the' medicine to his prisoner? wHo Iread 1 the. message on the label, :, an(l jn ,the joy" of the. t , moment? revealed to his captor where fekhe Jsgyfr, n kppt Pike. jthereHhpon locked up his prisoner, and loft i i gc\pf ) iihis wife, while'he th^^Usk >n to?: test . thb'' atiori. J ‘ With leaye .thbn ■

hot leaypttlic giyingidifections to the meiij and to remain was to lose sight of Pike’s valued person. In the eager anxiety of lithe moment I ran i|own to the fool of' the close to see if they wore coming, and at the dark entry month nearly knocked over McSweeny, who, tlnnking I ; was _ .fpmp fugitive, nearly collared >mp before X could speak. ‘ Come here, quick,’ I cried, in an excited whisper, as I led him and the other two' men up the close to the cellar-c]6or, ‘ break ; in. there pt once, n;nd take all that are in it to the office., Then get the address of the house from tjie gentleman, and go there and vy a toll the house.’ r _ - (To-be Continued.)