Story Column.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 192, 22 August 1901, Page 1

Story Column.

Bits from the Long= bush. THE BAMBOOZLING OF THE B \NK ER BTOEY. (By our Contributor " N") Ve Wo ths poor radg«;r ramped in the ■\> e of the stack ; he "ha.il a raiseiable time of it.. He ba« to take a Jong round p bout ■*way, ami waa in cor.3tar.t- terror 1 ast the police be afi-er him. To add to lijb i roubles, it begun to anoWy wit.h a cevore fro-t at nizhin.

It, was on the fourth day aftar leaving Abersheeh that h« in fished within half ft mile of .SoaiUly-. H:» yi.or old horse wis completely worn'oxt >ind could scarcely aiigger nioiii*. At list he slipped and foil on (.ho hard, fn-K. u ror-d, breaking &

• tij> ami bull) Uii-i y.'i-iitj of the cart. This w.*.-the list :Hr--iw for the pec: cadger, so diffenjr.t to the homo-coming he iia<! pict-iijcd i<> hirrvself ? now ho was eompbjieiy nir.iad, ami he ait down besi ;e thy old horse c.m! grat.

Threi stonemason*-', who had been at wosk on a job some mi lea away, but hud fc> give it up when the change of weather e*rue, were on their, way to Sjcantlj = They c&u.e ap to the ca Iger in his sad bei-Pitvemenfc, and being good-hearted fello.vo tuey set to wok with a will to help l-.ini. They p.<l the poor horse out of his misery ; they managed to draf; him and tin *rsak clear of the roadOn*; of the masons Uuew the cadger'' and knowing ha had no home of his owe to go to, and seeing his miserable, starving condition, he invited him to come to his house a:ul get something to eat, ami he would him up for the night. While they are on the way, I will introduce the three intsons. Mr Black was foreman of the party ; he was a decent, good-hearted, charitable man ; always*ready to'help anyone in trouble; He was pretty well-to-do, having some property in Scanfcly ; his wife and family lived there in one of his owo houses-. The o her tv/o were strangers to Scantly. Mr Black had invited them to &pend their Chnstmab, or rather Auld Yule with him,

The second went by the name of Deal Davie; if he had any other name no one Beemed to know it. ITe was a scraggy little man with not one ounce of «uperfluoiiH flesh on his bosee. He was&gouci workman, but had a most abnormal thirst, which wa3 very hard to satisfy { possibly the lime had something to do with it. When-he was drinking, which was as often as he could get it, you; c uld almost hear it fizz as it went down, He never got quarrelsome. When he got more than he could conveniently carry away he quietly went tu sleep and wok<& up as thirsty as ever. Charlie White, thß third of the party, seemed to be a great favourite with :ny friend the exciseman, and !:e had a good deal t o say about him. He was a tali, well-built, good-looking young fellow s full of fun ami humour, and an immense favourite everywhere he went. He could sing a good song, tell a good story, >vefe a capital mimic, and a ventriloquist of no mean powers. He was a bom actor j had he lived in the present day he mighthave made a fortune on the stage. It was very affecting to hear him sing—"My auld mitber dee'd in the year auchty-nine, An' I've nnver been weel in the w&rld sin syne." v/if h real tears running down his cheeks., H«- had that rather unusual faculty ol sheading tears at will, and in a twinkling he would show a grin on his face thai would sec his hearers laughing in spisa of themseivea. Those who hean?. Charlie found that were paying | >Vtcre utteution -to his p'ay of feature j than to what ho was saying or singing. ! So much for Charlie, who has got a good fleal to do with my story.

When they reached Scantly, Mr Black was very kind to the poor cadger, fcad guve him a hearty meal with a large cinder in the last cup, as waa th's custom in those d*y<. He kept bemoaning hir. ead condition, and blaming the banket for bein« at the bottom of all his troubles; and hmled if he were to tell all he knew it would be the worse for the banker. Mr Black wos naturally interested tc . know what 'hi could have to say against a man who held s'unh a high place in the community, and questioned him pretty closely. At last it came out that the banker, Mr Brown, waa procuring bodies for tile {doctors, Mr Black would nob bel'teve it. Then Charlie took up the ruD'iring, and said that was a job wonld Biut him to a tee, and if he conld' got anyone to go -with him, he would startat once. He believed he could make as much in a night as he oould in a month at masonry, There was nothing easier; just go to the kirkyard end houk them out like tatio9. When the cadger retired to the outhouse, where they had prepared a bed for him, Charlie went with bim and, bo wrought.upon the cadger that he got nearly everything out of him, When Charlie told the other two what he had heard, they began to see theri ■ . in it. Davie were for exposing the banker straight away, but Mr i Black cauclone 1 them not to say a word about it. Tne backer was it dahgerous ' man to me-Mle with ; tney had only the cadger's -word fol it, and wonld b<4 ".BBira to yfit .into triwte. .Charlie waa > <r fche , barikfct aftttt hewfnjs.lfefc th^tugk str -"' * »Lflj» 't> sr"~ •" ' fen 1 * 'ZAtfii? %A<v'A "* +*« f ! V« j