CHAPTER V.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1967, 14 February 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHAPTER Y.

Tin: dead man'h roivJE. Lone cemetery of Marranga, whero tho few dead sleep far from the world thoy may know no more, and where the ruatle of the long graaa over their neglected graves ia rarely caused by a human footstep. There in the quiet nook on tho hill-Bide may tho bird roar her young in peace among the spreading trees of the old Buih Land, and the breeze whisper to dead ears unheard savo by the young of the wallaby that sometimes vonturo to peep from among the roeka that bound its fence. To a Htranger no desolation could seem greater than that of Marranga graveyard, where a dozen graves had sunk nmong the grass to Bad neglect, and over only ono had a name or a date been inscribed. And th&t one, on ft houd-fitono of white

marble, Btood out from its surrounding of flowering plants, like a sentinel who never sloepß, to guard the last resting-place of a St. Ilenick. That spot alone in the grass tangled enclosure was carefully tended, and lay an oasis of blossom in a desert of desolation. Ths black letters on the pure surface of the head stone had in some measure faded, but the inscription was yet plain enough to the eye had there been one in the vicinity to read it. But it was yet early in the morning, and tho man who was slowly approaching it had not as yet reached the graveyard. Indeed he Eecined in no haste, for ho toiled up the slope as one afflicted with weakness, and when he had reached the gate, rested long on it, gazing toward the whito sentinel tomb, He was a tall man with a white haggard face under a slouched hat, and he wore a long, black semic^rical coat. It was the new tenant of St. llcrricks, the man known as Father James. Perhaps he did not mean to enter at all. 110 stood there co long, and so motionless that he might have been as dead as that man over whom the white stone stood, for all appearance of life that he exhibited. Magpies were stalking proudly in the grass, and greeting the early sun with their sweet gurgling notes. The laughing jackaßS, perched upon the limb of a leafless gum tree, shrieked out a wild chorus to some distant mate. The green paroquet fluttered and chattered among the branches, but that statue-like man did not seem to sco them or hear anything until there was the Pounds of voices behind him, and then he turned his head juat a. little way to see who were the unwelcome visitants to a spot he had believed too lone to bring a single human being to gaze upon his face. It was fair Resignation St. Horrick who I came toward him, though he did not know it then, and beside her walked a boy of about her own age, a boy with a bold, intelligent eye, and a fearless mien. Close beside Resignation walked Guardian, her great dog, with his eye 3 closely and suspiciously scani ning tho sti anger as the trio neared him. Resignation was attired as she had been when I first named her. A pale blue fleecy dress enveloped her slight figure, and from under her broad drooping hat her flossy fair hair fell in a cloud over her shoulders. In one hand she carried a little basket, the other was laid on the dog's great head, as the child noticed his uneasy movements. The boy's stout, healthy fipure was clad in a shirt of some light flannel material, and a pair of well-made dark trousers covered his sturdy limbs. A straw hat shaded a pair of fine daik eyes, and a handsome bright face, browned by the sun, and ruddy with health. " Hush, Huardian, you must not be rude to strangers," Resignation whispered in response to the dog's subdued growl. "Ho will not bite you, sir." Father James made no reply, and the children passed him to enter the gate. The lad went on without vouchsaving the man a second glance, but Resignation paused with her soft hand on the still open gate. " Would you like to como in, sir ? It is not private. Would you like to como in and Bee my dear father's grave ? " " Your father's grave 1 Why should I want to see your father's grave, child ?" The wordd were spoken ho sharply that the child drew back a little ; during all Resignation's little life these were the first words she had heard in any other tones than affeotion or pity, and she fixed her large calm eyes upon the man in a sort of mild wonder as she replied, " I beg your pardon ; I thought you were the gentleman who has taken the house where papa used to live, and that you might like to see his grave." " Who are you, child ?" he asked in trembling tones, as hid white face seemed to yet blanch of a moro ghastly pallor. ' " I am Resignation St. Herrick," she answered ; "my father waB Colonel St. Herrick." " Stay, I will go with you," he murmered, as she was turning away with a disappointed look to follow her companion. The gentle child waited gladly until Father Jamea had passed the gate, and then she closed it behind him. He allowed her to pass him, and then followed her up the narrow pathway between the long grasses of the old graves. If she could have known what was passing in that man's heart— if she could have read his thoughts, hidden beneath that outward calm and that priestly dress, what would Resignation St. Herriok have done, or what would tho poor fatherless child have said? He followed her light steps until she stopped near a grave, where flowers grew under that white marble headatone, on which the priest's eyes seemed fixed with such & stony glare that the lad who knelt by the grave with a trowel in his hand stared at him in wonder. If the words had been red hot, and pressed against the man's naked oroast, his faoe could not havo expreiscd a greater agony of fear and pain. Sacked To Tni: Memory Of : Coloxul Tni:oDont: St. Heuricic, Foully murdered at Marranga, June r.Ub, 180— " Vengeance is Mini:, I will repay, eaith the Loud." The child saw that his eyes were tracing tho words, and waited silently and reapeotfully until he turned hi 3 face away, and sat weakly down on a grassy tuft with his back to the headstone. The boy looked at Father James with a suspicion that he evidently shared with the dog, for at every movement of the man the animal showed his teeth, though silently, doubtlesg from respect to his young mistress's former reproof, but Resignation regarded the stranger with a yearning pity that her soft question explained. " Did you know my dear papa, sir ?" and as & reply Father James shook his bowed head. " You have perhaps lost a dear father, too ? but not in so sad and cruel a way as I lost mine. Oh it was cruel, cruel." "It was worse than cruel ; it was inhuman and cowardly 1" cried tho lad, striking tho trowel on the grass he waa kneeling on for emphasis ; " and if I was a man and met him I would kill him as I would a snake." " Who are you ?" aßked the priest, suddenly as he turned his face toward tho vehement speaker. "Me ? My name is Daniel." "And Daniel ia my friend," explained Resignation eagerly. "He has always helped me to keep papa's grave nice, and when ho is a man he is going to find papa's murderer and get him punished." She said the last words in a low, emphatic whisper, looking round her as if fearful of being overheard as in a matter of the most secret consoquenco. " Yes, I shall find him," Daniel declared, proudly. " Old Nan wants to make a policeman of mo to run the villain down ; but I shall find him without being a trap. He may hido himself anywhere, but I shall find him, for it is fatod that my hand shall put the rope about his neck." " How do you know ?" asked tho whitefaced priest almost in a whisper. " Because granny has said so, and she is a reader of the stars— they cannot lie, you know, and besides I feel that I Bhall know Dan Lyons by instinct if ever the villain comes near me." " Was Dan Lyons the name of the man who " and be nodded toward the hoad-

stone, though he did not turn his eyes toward it. •'Yes, didn't you know?" Resignation asked wonderingly. "He was poor papa's mate in the claim, you know. It doesn't tell about it there" — and she pointed to the stone— " but mama haa told me all about it over and 07er again. Dan Lyons buried my dear father alive— papa wrote about it in his note book while he was dying, and mama has the note book yet. Just fancy what it must have been to be crushed down in the dark ground alive, but smothering, and thinking of mama and me all the time 1 Oh, poor papa ! But I would rather have been him, even then, than the wicked man that killed him, for he was going to heaven, but the murderer can never, never go there." " Are you sure of that ? " How eagerly the question was asked 1 with what trembling lips and craving eyes 1 "Of course he can't t " cried Daniel ; "he must go among the devils, for he was one of them I he waß no man 1 didn't he bury the Colonel alive and stand looking at him and taunting him while he was dying ? " Only a devil could do that 1 " "Maybe, Daniel, if he was truly penitent," Eesignation said doubtfully ; " if he is sorry and asks God for Christ's 3ake, He may forgive him after a great while." " Never I all the sorrow in the world wouldn't undo his sin or make & dead man live again 1 Besides, if he was sorry he would have stood out before the world and confessed his orime 1 " From one to the other o! the childrens faces Father James gazed eagerly. What oould ho be looking for ? In Dan's eyes he saw only a fierce anxiety for justice on the murderer, in Resignation's a pitiful doubt, as her knowledge of God's mercy was contending with her righteous abhorrenoe of the man whose crime had made her fatherless. " It was cruol," she repeated, as she patted the mould around some plant on the grave beside which she now knelt softly, " and if it was not my poor papa he had killed, I might be sorry for that bad man, but it is hardly natural for me to be sorry for him." " Sorry for him ? I wish I was old enough and— and I'd " " Vengeance ia mine," repeated Resignation from the Btone ; " mama Bays that as surely as God's sun shines in the sky God's vengeance will overtake Dan Lyons, the murderer." Still from one young face to another the man looked voicelessly, the children now tending the flowerd on the grave and not regarding him, but each engaged with their own thoughts. At last the man shuddered from head to foot as though a, fit had shaken him with its last throb, and he spoke to the boy. 11 Did you say your name was Dan ? " " Yes, I wish it wasn't 1 why did they call me the same name as that murdering wretoh ? I won't have it 1 " " I never call you Dan," said Resignation softly ; " Daniel i 3 a nicer name, and the Daniel in the Bible was a good man." "Your name is Dan?" persisted the stranger ; " Dan what ? " " My name is Daniel Griffiths if you want to know," the boy replied defiantly, for he resented the priest's insisting on calling him Dan. " What is your mother's name? " " Ellen, Ellen Griffiths ; she ia old Nan Griffiths' daughter." (To be continued.)