A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 260, 23 January 1873, Page 7

A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

By William Baldwin

Chapter XVIIL— Cb?^< rw-J. When they reached thb IVviot, she pushed into thestream wil l.ou' pausing an instant, tupking her lmbii under her feet as she got into ilie water. Now to cross the Teviot with safety, the horse must be allowed to pick his way slowly and cautiously j but just then, Nelly never thought of safety. The thought of nothing else, in fact, but the unpleasantness of her position in being alone with Tom Hungerford, „and was desirous above all things to reach home as quickly as possible. •The natural result followed. The horse stumbled over one of the large slippery boulders, strove for an iustant to recover himself, aud then tumbled over on his head. Tom sprang from his saddle and caught her in an instant, but when he attempted to reach the bank, he found his attempts to do so utterly unavailing. The accident occurred just above the junction of the Teviot aud Molyueux, and there was a strong current running there at the time, which swept them along powerless ,to destruction. Once they got into the Molyneux, no power on earth could save them, audTouiknew this, knew it full well ; and there it was hissing, boiling, seething within L ten yards of them. "What" was he to rdo, how save this girl whom he held in his arms, and loved b< tter than all tiie world beside ? Just Own, when hope had well nigh died out within him, he managed, as good lurk would have it, to obtain footing for an instant on a large boulder. It was his last and only chance. Could they but get clear of the current the} 7 might yet get off safely. He rested for an instant on the boulder, and theu thrusting his feet against it, pushed himself off towards the bank, but his feet slipped,as he did so, and his last hope was gone. He knew it was all over, and that nothing on earth could now avail them. And was this to be the end of it all ; all his hopes and aspirations, and the promises of his young life. were they all to end in this way. Aud this girl too, so young aud beautiful and loveable, was she to perish thus in all the opening glory of her girlhood. If he could but save her. lie would not so much maid thounh he himself should perish. But it was fated otherwise. Wt-11, they would die together at all c\ents. Die, yes, and what then? In a few short moments they would ;\inil before their God with all their sin.. ;..,k! transgressions arrayed before \.v<sa .^nJ then the long array of lul- . ■, ': •< ' deeds flashed across his ;.<nA ,ir> terrible distinctness, and a^. !, i-r-vent, agonizing mental cry fur uicivj went up from the flood of waters to God's throne, heralding the approach of two immortal souls. No more hope for them now : consciousness itself was dying out fast within him, even as it had died out already within his companion, and dark oblivion began U> possess him body and soul, when 10, a Riidden shock aroused him oneo more to life, and he found himself aiul Nelly tossed by the current on a spit of sand beside the river's brink. He crawled out dragging her along with some difiiculty a few feet from the water's edge, and then he rested against a rock close by for a minute or two to recover himself. Then he knelt down fpide the girl, and as he did so. an ' ndefmed dread possessed him. She lay pale and motionless and breathless ; dead to all seeming. "Was she really dead ? He lifted her head and felt for her pulse, but there was no pulsation there to tee]. What was he to do, how act, what remedy adopt ? Just then a slight quiver passed through her frame, a scarce audible sigh escaped her, and after a little her bosom rose and fell slowly and — as it geemed to him — painfully, and at last she opened her eyes languidly. "Thank God you're safe, Nelly, dear," he whispered, as he lifted her up gently into a sitting posture. "' For a minute or two T really thought you were dead." "Where am I? What has happened?" she asked, confusedly. "Oh, yes ; I remember it all now. What a mercy we escaped." "How did it happen ? " " God is very good," she murmured, almost inaudibly when Tom had told her all, and then she eat silent, pouring out her heart in fervent prayer for their miraculous rescue. " Let us go home," she said, after a while, and she strove to rise, but sat down again, too weak to do So. " You had better wait a little until you get stronger, and until I wring the water out of your habit. There," he added, when he accomplished his task, " that's better. Just lean against me for a few minutes longer, and then we'll make our way home." " She sank back against him without a word, thoroughly exhausted. " Oh, Nelly, my own darling, Nelly," said passionately, putting his arm around her to support her, " I never knew how much I loved you until now. Ido love you — love you more than all the world," and' he pressed her warmly to his heart as he spoke. His words and action re-called her to herself. "It's very very wrp,ng of^ you to ppedk to me in that way," ex-

claimed, wrenching herself from him, and rising to her feet, " and I won't 1 permit it.'' " Wrong of me ! Why should it be wrong of mo to tell you I love yon when I do lovo you — love you as devotedlyjis man loved a woman." " But it is wrong, Mr. Hunq;erfbrd. | very wrong, and 1 am sure you will j think so too when T tell you I am already engaged." A look of keen anguish, as if some sharp pain had seized him, passed oyer his face, leaving it pale and colorless. * " You don't mean that — say you • don't mean it," he said, seizing her hand and looking into her eyes, hoping to find there some expression that would contradict her words. There was such utter misery in his look and action that the girl pitied him from her very soul indeed for a moment she allowed her hand to remain in his, and her heart yearned towards 1 him as it had never done before. She had an undefined feeling within her, painful and yet. delicious, that the man was dear to her; aye very dear to her just then in his wretchedness. He was so brave, and noble, and generous, and tn;e; yerily one worthy of being esteemed by any girl ; yes, but not by her. " But indeed Ido mean ifc," she replied in a lqw tone of voice, gently withdrawing her hand from his grasp. " 1 have been engaged since we came to New Zealand to Mr. Stephensou of the 70th. Do please, let us go home." He leant against the rock beside him, burying his face in his hands unheeding her request. " How is it I never heard of this before ; how is it that no mention has ever been made of it ? was this re. ticence fair do you think ? here have I been permitted to know you and meet you ; of course I have loved you, never dreaming for a moment it was wrong of me to do so, and now, when it is too late, you tell me of this, I wish to God I bad never seen you," he added bitterly, pouring out his words vehemently, passionately almost fierce r ly; and then, after a minute he addressed her pleadingly. " Nelly," he said. "no one in the world loves you as I do ; neither father, nor sister, nor brother, nor anybody else. God alone only knows the depth of my love ; surely things have not gone so far but that you can give me some little word of hope oi" comfort." She shook her head, tl Please don't say anything more. Please don't Mr. Hungerford. I appeal to your generosity not to do so. It lias made me very, very, unhappy all this, for I like you very much — as a friend, Shall we be friends ?" and slie held out her hand to him. He took it in his hand silently, grief and despair gnawing at his heart. She looked into his face pleadingly, and her eyes met his. Then his great love swjliofl up within him, and like some fiorce torrent bursb all bounds for a moment. " Give me one kiss first," he said, "just one, and 1 will never again trouble you." Befor? she could utter a single word he had caught her in his arms and pressed her to his heart in a strong, lievce irresistible embrace. He was by nature warm, impulsive and impassionaiej and now all the warmth, the passion and the loving feeling within were stirred to their lowest depths. He was hot, feverish, frenzied ; his youthful blood coursed madly through his veins, a great quivering* throb shook him, he yielded himself up body and soul to the delirium of the moment, and heaven and earth seemed to fade away as he held the girl in his arms and kissed her lips. Affirighted, indignant, she tore hersslf from him at last. "|How dare yon," she said angrily, her face aglow, and panting after her recent" exertion. Then she bnrst into tears. "Do forgive me," he exclaimed penitently, thoroughly ashamed of himself, and deeply distressed at the grief he had caused. "I am very very sorry, I am indeed, and will never again offend you. Heavtnii my witness," hi continued, almost distracted as the girl's hysterical sobbing smote his ear, " I did mean to annoy you. I could not help myself. I was carried away by the impulse of the moment. 1 know I don't deserve your forgiveness ; but oh, do forgive me this once," and he strove to take her hand, but she pulled it away from him angrily. " 1 want to get home," she said, in a a hard, cold shaap tone of voice, never looking at him ; and he took his place by her side, walking along without a single word being spoken by either. But it was scarcely possible they could walk so *and no' word be spoken ; scarcely possible they could traverse those three miles before them, and no reference be made to what had happened. A grievous wrong had been done the girl, and slie felt it. She had been insulted — deeply insulted, and the insult was all the deeper because of her position at the time. She was alone, unprotected, rescued but a moment before from, the very jaw's of death, and what stronger claims than these could she have had upon his forbearance, his courtesy, or his manhood 1 Ib was the act of a base l'ecreant, she told herself, a blot upon chivalry. She was a good, honest, high-tuinded girl pure in thought and word, and she felt — could not but feel, deeply, keenly, the insult that; had been offered to her. Her virgin -irj'odesty-had been outraged, her maiden

fears aroused, and the brightness of her woman's armour dimmeJ. Yos ; she h:\d been insulted, injured— rdeeply injured ; injured almost to death, and that j too, by one she had learnt to respect ;hk) admire, because of the nobility of his character, by one whom she would have trusted beyond and above all other men she had ever known. As she thought of it -all, hot, fierce, implacable wrath possessed her. Forgive him in sooth. - Not she. She would never forgive him as long as she lived ; never, never, never, ,She -was full of this as she walked along silently by his side — full of it to overflowing, thinking of nothing else j beside for the- moment. But after a time, as the measure pf her wrath had somewhat subsided, other thoughts possessed her. Her providential aud miraculous escape from death recurred to her, and she felt that she was very ungrateful indeed in forgetting this, and very sinful too in allowing herself to give way to her anger at such a moment. Yes, she had been wonderfully and miraculously preserved ; and she knew that, next to God, her prei servation was due to Tom. How well, and nobly, and bravely he had behaved. Why, oh why had he permitted himself to act so very wrong, she asked herself in sorrow ? But for this last action of his she would have blessed him to her dying day. The first place in her heart she could not have given him, seeing that it was already given to another ; but, next to this other, he should have occupied the highest place in her regard and estimation. He had behaved very badly ; but yet she owed him her life, and perhaps, all things considered, she ought to forgive Mm. Then it occurred to her that but a very few short minutes ago she herself had been a suppliant for mercy and forgiveness; and across her mind there flashed the words " forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." Yet here she was withholding this very forgiveness from a fellow creature. 11 1 did not mean to annoy you. I was carried away by the impulse of the moment," he had said, excusing himself to her, and that he said so truly she now believed. And after all, poor fellow, he was very unhappy ; nor could she but admit to herself that, to some extent, she and hers were responsible for his unhappiness. And he looked so contrite and very unhappy too she thought, glacing furtively across at him. " Aliss Fitzherbert," he said after a little, in a low, sorrowful tone of voice, "in all human probability we shall never meet again-. Are you going to part from me in anger? I know I have acted badly — shamefully ; but if you knew how I suffer, I think you would forgive me." She held oui; her hand to him. " I do forgive you, Mr. Hungerford. Let us say nothing more about it." " Thank you," he said humbly and penitently. lie was truly penitent, and he showed his penitence in the deferential manner he treated her. Shortly afterwards George Fitzherbert rode up with Nelly's horse ; but, before he did so, I am inclined to think that not only had Tom been forgiven, but that he had won back that place in her regard and estimation which she had told herself he should possess were it not for his offence. On reaching home, Nelly betook herself to her bed forthwith, and the next day she was raving in the delirium of fever. For days and days she hovered between life and death. And during these days Tom^i name was often on her lips. Now she would reproach him in fierce, wrathful, bitter words ; and then, changing her tone, she would address in the soft, low, endearing language of affection. Poor Bertha ! As she sat, and watched, and listened, tears would pour down silently her cheeks, and a prayer would rise'to her lips ; the wail of a sad, and sorrowful heart would ascend on high, imploring health and strength for a beloved sis f-ef -cr — strength of bodj and miucl ; strength to bear this cross with fortitude and resignation.

The advent of a newseet is announced. They call themselves the "Howling Repsntants." Regarding the world as a howling wilderness, they use it accordinly. They howl at all "convenient" periods of the day, and at two periods in the nighb. They are said to be rapidly gaining converts in London. Kangaroo leather is reccoinended for Leap Year wear. Those who visit the 'aunts of dissipation often wind up at their uncles. An item in a Kansas paper informs the public that Mr. Jones,- of Missouri, got to owning horses that didn't belong to him, and the next thing he knew he couldn't get his feet to the ground. He strangled. Olive Logan commenced one of her lectures at Newark, recently, wi,th the remark, " Whenever I see a pretty girl, I want to clasp her in my arms." "So do we ', shouted the boys in the gallery. For a moment Olive Wcis nonplussed, but recovering her self-possession she replied, " Well, boys, I don't blame you." Hollo-way's Pills are admirably adapted for curing diseases incident to females. At various periods of life women are subject to complaints which requirea peculiar medicine ; and it is now a demonstrable fact that there is none so suitable as Holloway's Pills. For all the debilitating disorders incidental to the «sex, and in every contingency perilous to the life and health of woman — youthful or aged, married or single — this great regulator and renovator of the secretive organs and the nervous system is an immediate cure. Their purifying qualities render them invaluable to females at all ages. They are searching and cleansing, yet invigorating ; a few doses will readily remove every species of irregularity to the system, and thereby establish health on a sound and firm, basis.