CHAPTER XIII.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 177, 26 June 1873, Page 2

CHAPTER XIII.

Tbinga bad begun make strong themielves bj ill. 'Wb've got bim! we've got him 1 ' criedjtho Hen Doctor v running into tho bank ; ' we've found the joung Sa^&u'id lum and Owen Q-wyur in a cave. Cant punt, Afr Kovtlancls,, t{ JacA. Cant punt, if you please; a hundred pcunds for tho reward, cli, Mr Rowlands!— Come measure it out, John, bach; get your shoTel find measure iLout.' Rowlands looked sternly at the doctor ' What nonsense, l)c cried, 'üboufc a hundred pounds! Why should I pay you for finding the young Englishman ? He's nothing to n.e.' 1 Wasn't it cried in the street— Cant puntyrwovr; didn t Miss Wmny promise I should have it ? ' ' Then go to Miss Winny and get it. Dpn t stay here bothering, doctor ; how can wo do our business with all this interruption ? ' ' Then I'll go and take him bnck to where I found him, cried the doctor. ' Diaoul ! I'm not to be robbed like this ! Will you pay mo the hundred pounds ? ' ' No ; I won't.' 'Oh, very well; we shall see,' said the doctor, turning fi\\n\. ' Where have thoy taken him to, doctor?' cried John the clerk, running after him. 'To Bodgadfan, to be sure. Mis 3 Winny has taken caro of him ; trust her for looking after a young man!' Iho banker looked at his clerk uneasily. 'It's better that way, master,' said tho clerk a.fter the . doctor had disappeared ; ' he's under your own eyo there, l You can take care of him, Mr Rowlands.' ' What do you mean, John ?' ' Look here, master,' said John-, following the banker into his private room ; ' why shouldn't you put him into the Arthur's Bride ? She's going jound to Liverpool ; a voyage will do the young gentleman good.' ' That will do nothing for me, John— a week's delay at farthest.' ' A week may be everything, Mr Rowlands. You can't meet this draft to-day ; to-morrow, perhaps, you will. The Grw ynbyfyn rents are coming in ; you can realise your securities. If nothing gets wind you muy be safe mj^veek.' 'If nothing get's wind ! 0 John ! that chattering doctor will nun me, I know. And then tUe monej I shall have to pay for Monevia's Pride, and the losses I shall have with Arthur's Bride ; oh ! ' ' Look here, master ; why should't you make something out of that Bride 9 She's not finished her voyage ; she's, been strained ; she springs a leak, she sinks ; the crew and captain are saved ; and so are you, Mr Rowlands, bach.' ' Yes, but that would be a miracle.' ' Well, indeed, Mr Rowlands, I always thought they were done that way ; you, and I, and Captain Ellis — we could, make a miracle araongefc us.' ' John, do you know that I am a gentleman and an, honorable man ? ' ' Yes, master you are a gentlpman,to-day ; but to-morrow,, when the bank breaks, what will you be then ? Why should you be so careful about these London underwriters ? They make you pay heavy premiums on the very chance that you'll cast away your ship.' ' Ah, John ! but I should also be castaway.' ' You will, if you are made a bankrupt. Now, come, master, all you have to do is, to write a paper : "Captain Ellis will take John Jones' instructions as to the disposal of the Arthur's Bride." Then you give me a lien upon the ship for a thousand pounds, and theu we draw our money when the vessel's lost.' ' But John, it's like murder almoat to sink a vessel. John, how dare you say such things to me ? Get out of the room, sir, and thank your Btars I don't dismiss you from the bank. It's horrible said the banker, shuddering. John held his ground, however. 'Do you think, master,' he went on, 'that people would go on sailing ships if they didn't sink sometimes ? Why, who makes anything out of a ship, no>v-a-daj s, unless he loses it ? Do as everybody else does, master ; and if you put the young Sais in the ship,, you'll be killing two birds with one stone.' ' But, John, he' 3 my guest ! Why, all my father's kin x would cry shame upon me from their grares if I betrayed,^ the guest in my house.' W> ' That's it, master ; you go on dreaming about the old; world ; and ;t's gone. What would your father say, now, if he saw Miss Winny brought to poverty — going out to. earn her bread — and she brought up to the best of living ?< And the bank ! Qli, Mr Rowlands, bach, don't wreck the bank ! Now, leave it to me,, Mr Row lands ; only give me a note to Captain Ellis. Just write that little letter, and you shall know no more about it — not till you have the four thousand pounds jingling in the till. Come, master, write, — write ! ' John stood over his master with the pen in his hand. Rowlands fidget ted and shuiHed among his papers. ' Promise me, John, if I sign this paper that you'll do nothing illegal ? ' ' All right, master ; you shall know nothing about it.' 'You won't do anything wrong, John — anything that^ would be a crime — eh. John ?' ™ ' All right, Mr Rowlands, bach. Whatever it is, you won\ know.' ' And the young man won't come to any harm ?' ' You shan't know whatever, Mr Rowlands, bach, 'I have your word, John — your solemn word?' 'Yes, indeed, master; not a word shall you ever know about it.' ' Then, here it is, John. — Stop ! you shan't have it.' But John had 6natched the paper from his master's hands, and now folded it up and put it in his pocket-book. ' Joun, you had no business to take that against my wili.' ' You. mean against your courage, master — not against your will,' cried John with a sneer. Rowlands turned round sharply, and examined the coun-,^ tenance of his clerk. There was something in the tone oil' tho man's voice that struck him unpleasantly — a sort of covert menace ; then he remembered this man was no longer a servant, but an accomplice, and he struck, his hand to his forehead and groaned. ' 0 father,' cried Winny, bursting into the room radiant and eager, ' wo have found him, you know, and brought him home ; and he is lively to get better soon — he seems such a nice fellow> and so good-looking! I didn't ask, you, papa, about bringing him to Bodgadfan, because I knew you would bo angry if he did not come to us; and I have put him, in, tho terrace-room. Poor fellow ! he was out^ all night on tho mountain ; but he's much revived now, and we'll take good; caro of him at Bodganfun — won't we, papa ?'