III.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 235, 31 December 1887, Page 2

111.

G TTINQ AWAY. Below the osier plantation and the cottage the Armstrongs lived in, but on the opposite side of the river, lay a small boat, moored by a rope to an old thorn tree. Amidst the hazy fog, by the uncertain moonlight that the trees admitted through which they made their way, three men were proceeding hastily yet warily. 'So far good, said one of them, as reaching the boat he placed cautiously in it a leather bag, the removal of which from his shoulders seemed a relief, for it was heavy. Taking the helm, he waited until the others were seated in the boat, and then drawing in the mooring rope, he bade them row hard. The other two settled themselves to the oars, which were muffled. The men spoke in whispers, ' Watch yourself,' said one of them to the helmsman, ' the shore eddies are strong here.' 4 Never fear, I know them all,' was the reply, and he steered for the centre of the stream. There was little talk among them as they pulled rapidly along. For some distance the river banks were closely planted ; then open fields appeared, and great stretches of pasture land lay under the white fog. • We're half way now,' said one of the men, when they had rowed nearly an hour. 'I wish we were there,' said he at the helm, 'I'm nearly petrified.' On they went, and in less than two hours from the time they started, drew in their oars by the side of a rough wooden quay, below which eel weirs crossed the river. On the quay stood a man, apparently watching for them, He held the boat as they stepped out, 'All right, sir?' he asked of the helmsman, who was first on shore. ' All right, are you ready f 1 Aye, aye, sir, come on, where is it?' • Lift it there,' said the other, and the man, stooping into the boat, lifted the heavy black bag that lay in the bottom, and, like people who knew where they were going, they all moved on up a rough country road that led from the little pier, and in a few minutes stopped at a cottage door over which a sign-board announced that Mary Devine had ' Entertainment for man and beast.' Round at the back of this unpretending hostelry stood an empty cart, at least of all but a quantity of newly-cut rushes. Among these the black bag was placed. The rushes were packed tightly round it, and levelled over it, and then the man began to empty over them one creel after another full of eels. The supply seemed endless. ' You've had a good catch, Dan,' said one of the gentlemen, for such by theiv speech they seemed to be. 1 Never got a bigger haul in the same time,' replied he, tumbling in another creel full, until the slippery eels had scarcely room to lie. Then more rushes •over them, and the man brought from a shed a horse ready harnessed, asked again to have his instructions repeated, and was soon on his way along the road. . The three young men turned into Mary Devine's, and sitting down round the turf fire blazing on her hearth, told her to get themsomething hot; they were nearly frozen, they &aid. The old woman produced a bottle of whiskey and some sugar. They told her to make the punch herself, they could not relinquish the luxury of holding their hands over the clear peat embers. • Yell like it sweet,' she said, upsetting a quantity of sugar into a deep brown jug, and pouring boiling water on it. Then, with a short smooth stick, she pounded and mixed, finally emptying in a fair proportion of whiskey, by which the Excise had never profited. The young men drank the punch eagerly out of little delf bowls that the old woman took off the dresser, and ate oaten &cones, which she said she had made, thinking they might be wanting a bit of bread. They Would willingly have stayed longer resting themselves in' the heat, but they found there was not more than time to reach the town they were bound for, before an hour at which they might be recognised. A horse and dog-cart were hidden away in Mary Devine's cow-house, and after paying her liberally, they drove away. , , • ' rwbn'der what they're up to?' thought she, 1 "as sh*e> cov'erddup hi the ashes the ebber,B that wore -to light the morning fire; Jno good ? . ■ Illls .be, bound ; — ~ech, may be >bw, it/no great, harm nay tfeer.' 1 <&othih r g* short of, murder, would ' have 'beeri'i)arm y in her 1 eye.s,' considering J how „well they,;, paid h,er> <but; she would ihave' liked to know what bheiv e^nd was.

* "That-day, a man stood in the marketplace of the county town selling eels. From the quantity in his cart they did not seem to be scarce, and yet he asked a price that only scarcity could account for. •If I'm to pay that money I'll have something better than eels,' said an angry housekeeper, turning away from the cart. The day was wearing on, and the load of eels was not very far down, when a youug man, passing leisurely" along, stopped, and looked into the 'cart, as if eels were an unknown curiosity. The man began to explain to him how many pounds of the slippery dainties* went to a string, and introduced among his information the words :—: — ' Whativer's comiu', sir, — I can't stand here all day. ' ' Follow one who will come to 3 T ou when it's a bit darker,' said the other ; ' don't be frightened, you're all right.' It was growing dusk, when a lame old Moman, hobbling with a &tick, came to buy eels. She could not carry them, she said; would he bring his cart just a little Avay to where she lived ; it would be worth his while, as she wanted a quantity for salting. ' More betoken,' said the man. 'More betoken,' said she, "ye niver had a bigger haul in the same time than 'ere last night; for all that, fcheie's a heap o' rushes ondher them/ and she hobbled off. 'I wish I seen myself well out o' this business,' said the man, as he turned his I horse's head to follow her. She led him through some of the poorer streets near the market, tl en into one of. more pretensions, and stopped at a respectable looking three-story house. • I'll get ye a dish to put them on, 1 said the woman, l bring the cart up to the kerb ! here,' and she began apparently to sort among the eels as if to pick the best. Then she said in a low tone to the man :—: — ' Quick Pat, give me the bag under my cloak here.' The black bag was drawn out at the back ot the cart, and the woman, sliding it under her cloak, hobbled into the house. ' Get rid of your load any way you can, and be off out of the town,' the figure had said ; and Pat, who knew to wlidm he was talking, hurried off to sell his eels wholesale to Anyone he could find to take them ; and if "he ended the day by giving them a dead bargain, and then drove his old horse home' over the country road faster than was right, there was a reason for his doings. His late errand had been a most unhallowed one,, and this was Christmas Eve, when cattle in their stalls go to their knees, and spirits fill the air. There was comfort in the handful of money that he clenched, and in the promise that it would be doubled after a while if he held a close mouth, but for all that he wished he was safe home and in bed, with his head covered up. Meanwhile the door of the room into which the black bag had been carried was quickly locked on the inside, and the lame old woman was taking off her clothes. Beneath them appeared the masculine habiliments, or some of them, of Charley Ferguson, familiarly known as Snipe. • What's to be done with this get-up ?' said he to a young man who was laughing heartily if not loudly, as he helped him out of hig petticoats, and then seizing the old cloak, tied up in it the stuff gown, the blue checker apron, the poke bonnet, and other articles that during the last few days had been carefully collected at various old clothes shops. As he did so, a low, peculiar knock came to the door. Snipe sprang forward, and cautiously opening it a little way a tall younsr man edged his wav in. and as fcho door was hurriedly locked behind him exclaimed — 1 Where is it? We're watched— l don't know for certain, but I'm afraid they're on our track.' On a chair, with a coat thrown over it, lay the bag, and as Snipe pointed to it, the other, stepping quickly across the room, lifted the coat and looked. •There's an awful rout in Killook,' continued he, covering it up again ; • Magistrates' meetings and rewards offered. You couldn't have got a mouse into the Hospital to-day without showing it." •Does the doctor know?" asked MeClung, the third of the conspirators with Snipe, and the last comer, whose name was Burroughs. ' I can't say what he knows, or rather guesses ; but when ho was going to the Hospital to-day, he told me there were search-warrants out about something, and the laboratory had better be kept in order. I took that for a hint to put nothing there. Look now," he continued, 'I've no time to explain, but I have reason to think this house will be searched, and the sooner all's clear, the better. I've a plan — we can't stick at trifles, for there's not an hour to lose. Do you two get on your evening clothes as fa&t as you can— call a covered car and bring the" bag with you to the class-room door. Leave the rest to me, I'll be watching for you — can't stay another minute, if they have tracked me here all's lost ;' and having been let out as cautiously as he had been let in, Burroughs disappeared. Doctor Torrens, the famous physician in the county town, lived in the end house ot a terrace. A long out-shot, or return to his house, contained bis class-room, private surgery, and laboratory. This part of the building faced to a road that ran ac a right angle to the front of the terrace, and contained a private door used by those whose business led them there. The doctor generally had one or two house pupils as well a8 out - door apprentices. Among these latter were McClung and Snipe. Snipe it was who had figured as Apollyon in the scene of the previous night. His long thin face, high nose, and wonderfully slight form had gained this name for him, and had also been supposed to fit him for the part he so successfully assumed at the raid in the old churchyard of Killook. The dark elastic Jerseys of the present day did not exist then, or he might have been prepared for his part with more ease than by the suit of black flannel, the fit of which was ensured by its being sewn on. The horns were not hard to manage, but at any time the tail must have been a difficulty, all the greater as it was required to swish. Snipe's part had been to draw the attention of Reuben Armstrong so entirely to himself that he could readily be overpowered from behind ; but had Reuben had time to fire, he might too surely have ascertained the nature of his enemy, for his old musket carried a' powerful charge. Burroughs, who was a great strong fellow above six feet high, pulled Reuben down only just in time to prevent this ; and when between pinioning and plastering he and McClung had him safe, they laid him up against the old church wall until their work was done and they set his feet free. ,