FICTION IN BRIEF.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2405, 29 September 1892, Page 4

FICTION IN BRIEF.

THE ADVENTURES OF THREE SAILORS. (Oontimwd.) leek, when we heard a loud crash like the Bpjft of a small piece of ordnance, and bolting; towards the balks I was just in time to sea them sliding off the back of the whale, »ne on either side of the greasy, black suraot>. They vanished in a breath, and the lead carcase relieved of their weight seemed to spring, as though it were alive, some tea tr twelve feet out of the seething and simnering surface which had been frothed up >y the descent of the vessel; the next ooment it turned over and gave us a view rf its whole length—a sixty to seventy foot vhale, if the carcase was an inch, with here ind there the black scythe like dorsal fin of I shark sailing round it. Jnckson hooked a quid out of his mouth tod sent it overboard. His face of mutiny eft him and was replaced by an expression if gratitude. Five minutes later the old Hindoo Merchant was thrusting through it Mth heir nose heading for the River Hooghsy, and the darkies tying a single reef in be fors-top sail.

A JUROR'S EXCUSE. •• I should like to be excused, your lordSlip," said a man who had been summoned »a n jury. "What for?" " I owe a man five pounds, aad I want to mat him up and pay it." "Do you mean to tell this Court you wuld hunt up a man to pay a bill instead 4 waiting for him to hunt you up ?" " Yes, your lordship.' •• You are excused ; I don't wantany njan Ht the jurv who would lie like that." THE WAY TO DEAL WITH SPARROWS. This is the way sparrows are made useful D Germany. Long troughs, placed under he eaves of houses, are occupied by the iparrows in building their nests. When the fouiug are hatched, and the mother goes iway to procure food, wire screens are placed iver them, with interstices large enough to jerrnit the passage of food in to the young Hit too small to allow them to escape. As ioon as they are large and plump they are lilted, and make a very acceptable article of oocl. LOYAL—BUT NOT TRUE. It's all very well to be a " true subject," >ut some persons are so carried away by heir respect for the Throne that they can lever let slip an opportunity of making pubic their very loyal feelings. One of this kind was a capital actor (let IS call him Harry Coburn),' who happened to « playing Captain Thornton in "Rob Roy," and was, therefore, required to give jut the following sentence : " If I have been leceived by these artful savages, I know how to die for my error, without disgracing the King [ serve, or the country that gave me birth." . « , Just as he was going on, it suddenly accmred to him that, as Victoria was then the reigning sovereign, it would be more besoming to him to substitute the word Queen For the word King, and wind up the speech right royally with "the Queen I serve," Instead of with " the country that gave me birth." . , Whether, however, his strong notions of loyalty made him careless of all else, or whether he got muddled by so hastily attempting a transposition in so familiar a ipeech, no one could ever tell, but he cer:ainly produced a marked impression by the following new reading, which he delivered most emphatically and impressively : "If I have bee» deceived by these artful lavages, I know how to die for my error without disgracing the country I serve, or Ike Queen that gave me birth." He was dubbed Prince Harry after that.

A VICTIM OF MISPLACED CONFIDENCE. He was an agent for a step-ladd'., not an jrdinary step-ladder, but a combination, :onvertible. extensional, generally utilisable itep-ladder. He greeted the lady of a house sne afternoon with a winning smile, as she spened the door in to his knock, Mid proceeded at once to expatiate on and illustrate the many advantages of his stepladder over the ordinary step-ladder. It was just what every model housekeeper :ould not do without ; that fact any intelligent woman could see at a glance. It could be used in cases where every sther step-ladder could not. An attachment here made it a most comfortable chair for a grown-up person, another attachment ;here converted it into a high chair, and sy still other combinations it could be made nto an ironing table, a cradle, a drawingroom what-not, or a garden wheel-barrow. Vncl then it was indestructible and would ASt a family a lifetime. Why, it would jear the weight of four men! That was where the agent made the greatest Mistake in his Ufa. To provaits strength he lava a spring in the f\ti and sat down on the op of it hard. That is, he meant to do so. for, as he landed, there was atemfteerftflh, »nd the air was full of flying bits 61 weod .hat made the lady of the house think of the >imis she was in the coal-cellar when a load if fire-wood was emptied into it. Then ?h«e was a dull thud as the agent landed lat on his back. She laughed as he crawled tlowly from beneath the wreck and gazed ruefully about for a moment. Then he said, • There is literally no end to the uses of this ttticle, for you can use it now for fire-wood. Plttase do," and walked sorrowfully away.

VERY CURIOUS. The Frenchman cannot appreciate the feeling which makes a man ride a steeplechase across country after a fox when the ceeper is there to shoot it. Here are the impressions of a Parisian anent a meet of foxhounds at which he was present. He writes to his friends across the Chansel that he has been to a chaste aux reytards. He describes the throwing of the sounds into covert, and how, on stationing aimself outside, he made up his mind that, if the fox attacked him, he would not flinch. Presently he heard the hounds cry, which pained him, as he feared the fox was killing •hem. The quarry soon sprang out of tfm ledge close by him. He as promptly drove t back, fearing, as he said, it might escape, md, seeing a keeper with a gun, gesticulated ;o him to " go in and shoot," The master now rode up, and expressed 31s annoyance at the fox not having gone iway. " Figurez-voiu," writes ihe French' nan, " the hunter of the fox angry becaus« ,t had not escaped!" Presently Reynard ippeared again. The foreigner expected :hal: the master would make a rush at it and till it with his whip ; but he actually stood juile still, and, when the fox got well away, jegan to blow his horn. "Ah," thought he Parisian, "he repent*; he calls him to :ome back! But see—the dogs come out 1 They will bring him back ! Voita /" " The master takes off his cap ; he bw&9 ow in the saddle. Perhaps he thinks by joliteness he can bring him back. But no; ihe dogs lament Loudly and rush away. The hunters follow. We ride for half an hour. We come to a draw The dogs cry and look down. Ah, Mr. Reynard, we have you at last! We dig you out. What! We 50 away ! We leave the fox i We do jjot kill him!" It passed the comprehension of this unhappy foreigner that, after riding for half an hour with a hundred horsemen and fifty hounds to kM the fox, the decision shoold at last be come to that they would feave him there alive I C'lo he continued.')