CHAPTER XIX. AND LAST.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1991, 11 April 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XIX. AND LAST.

The scene has changed and the time. It is two years since Dan Lyons had met his doom at Marranga, and from the window before whioh Leonard Prosser is seated there is outspread broad Carlingford Bay, and the green slopes of the County Down. Leonard's face is but little changed— his calm and thoughtful nature is not one that leaves many traces on a handsome faoe, and Tady Connor's wrinkled, queer visage is from other causes setting defianoe to the ravages of time. On the morning I reintroduce these two of my characters to you Tady is standing on the opposite side of his master's table, and they are talking over sundry affairs of the management of the Prosser estate that are in Connor's oharge. Suddenly Leonard changed the subject. " Daniel's holidays are nearly over are they not Tady ?" " Yes sir, time's up a Monday next. We war thinkin' of axing you for an extension Mr. Leonard ; tisn't so long since ye war glad of a holiday yerself," Tady added, with a twinkle in his eyes fixed on his foster brother's countenanoe. Leonard smiled. "You have never regretted fathering the lad Tady ? " he asked. " Regretted 1 Sure you're not axin' in earnest Mr. Leonard, for well you know I never did. Everytirne that boy calls me 'Father' me heart jumps up in me mouth, but truth to tell sir I don't think he believes 1 am that, though be never ses so Any word from Australia since Mr. Leonard ? " " I had a letter this morning from Mr. Pollard— l waa just going to tell you." " No word of the mother, sir ? ' " Tata or tiding of titbex Nan Griffiths or htr daoghtar hart new been beard of ainoe. Do yon think Daniel frets about her ? " " He thinks of her I'm sure, Mr. Leonard, but fretting I don't know. You see that business of her trying to save Dan Lyons he has never got over. But he will get over it, plaze God. I never saw anything like the way me mother has taken to him, and, indeed, he to her. I declare I believe she sometimes fancies be is her rale grandson." 41 When are you going to give her a ' rale ' one, Dan." " Never, Bir, with the help of God." 11 Now that Nora Brady is within a county of you " "Mr. Leonard," Tady interrupted, with •uoh an expression of pained reproof on his honest phiz that Leonard hastened to appease him. "You are right, Tady; I ought to be ashamed of myself, and of course I was only'! joking. But everyone does not know that the girl is sister to a murderer, and it is to be hoped that some decent man may yet make her a wife. "I hear that both Conn and the mother have become very devout," Tady said. "I am glad to hear it. Charlie Ellis and Miss Clarke are married, Tady." " Are they sir. Oh, by gob, he could well

afford it. We did well in them three ruuuths' work, though the Lord knows it was like murder to me to come up out of the shaft and see that rope hanging there ever and always — I wonther if any one tuk it down yet ? " " I don't know, Tady ; it was a hard olimb and no one liked to touch it. Well, Charlie has resigned, at all events, and they aie married. Mr. Pollard says that the gully ia deserted once more, and that be feels sad for a week after he visits the cemetery." "Indeed, and no wonther. Oh 1 it waa the sad sight the day of Mrs. St. Herricks and Resignation's funeral ? There they wor in one grave, you may say all three murtbered by that cruel villain." " And Dan Lyons within a stone's throw of them." " Outside the fence though, sir ; not in consecrated ground, anyway." " Oh no, of course not, Tady." " Did you hear exactly where the Bradys are, Mr. Leonard ? " " Near Armagh. It seema that they came home by the firßt ship after Conn's moßt unexpected recovery. It was a lesson to him, and I am glad he is a changed man." " There was room for it, Mr. Leonard." " There is room for improvement in every one of us, Tady. And now will you go and tell Daniel that I'm on for a morning's fishing if he likes to come with me, and we will talk over that question of the extended holidays." " Oh, they're as good as granted, Mr. Leonard ; Daniel will be so glad to go with you." " A minute more, Tady. I would not say anything to the boy about the news from Australia ; it might unsettle him." " Of course not, sir." " And there's one other item of news in Mr. Pollard's letter. It's quite in your line too, Tady, for you believe in ghoats, I know." | " Dan Lyons has appeared !" exclaimed Tady, making saucers of his round eyes. 11 Something like it. Several have declared that they have seen him hanging in the Gully where the Americans left him. It is always an moonlight nights, of course ; and the dead man awmgs round hia rope, showing his white face at all parts of the compass. Now, you know, Mr. Pollard doesn't vouch for the truth of this, TaUy, nor does he believe in it." " There's plenty of men as wise as Mr. Pollard, though I've nothin' to say agin' the gintleman, that believes in the like," said Tady, as he opened the door for his own exit, " an' why wouldn't they ? Doesn't it stand to raison that part of a lost sowl's punishment may be to see his sufferin's an' his sins over again on earth ?" THE END.

Skin Grafting. Human skin ami that of jnang rabbits have be^n successfully applied in small pieces to large healing surfaoea in wounds. Dr. Wi.son, however, in the Medical News, claims to have obtained very much better results from tne use of the internal membrane of hen's eggs. The egg should be fresh and warm.

Sea Birds Which Soothe the Sea. " Often, while sailing aaioug tne duutu tie* Islands, I have pßdhea flocks of birds, principally terns and whale birds, resting, in va--t numbers, on the sea. It is remarkablu that, however rough the sea may be at the time, yet, where the birds rest, there is nut a rippUco disturb them. This must be caused by oil, but whether it ia purposely deported by the birds with the intention ot quieting the water or whether they do so iroui natur«l causes is a question the answer to which I think would interest many of our readers. — Fiji Corretpondencc Manchester Courier.

Alaska Devil Fish. Victor Hugo h description of the devil fiah has always had for mo a terrible fascination, but here in Alaska, this land of wonders, the Indians recount stories equaily startling, and almost all of them substantially corro'jurtwed by good testimony. Only yesterday an Indian hooked up from one of the whart posts an octopua five feet from tip to tip, and to the query, " What are you going to do with him ?" answered "Me eat him," and in f»ct, with them the flesh is esteemed a great delicacy, although when alive the animal is an object of terror. The flesh when boiled is perfectly white, and tastes something like cods' tongues, but while eating it the recollection of what the dainty was when alive taxes away all enjoyment. It is not such a harmless amusement, this fishing for devil fish, and one whioh everybody would choose for an afternoon sport. Tnere is only one rsally skillful fisher in town a mission boy who fearlessly wades into the water near their haunts, and seizing the animal, tears him from the rock. Of course, his satanio majesty resants the intrusion upon his rights and retaliates by winding one or more arms around the limba of the boy, but with a quick and peculiar motion the Indian tears them off with a noise resembling the ripping of heavy cotton cloth, at the same time s'ltting open the sack of the animal. It is & dangerous proceeding, and one which makes the beholder cringe to see the soft, slimy arm of the octopus winding itself around and gradually taking hold with its innumerable suckers, surely and gradually drawing its victim down. Only on one occasion, historically speaking, has one of these creatures been found of sufficient size to attack a canoe, and one Indian was the only survivor. — Gorrespondtnee Botton Herald.

The Mosquito's Machinery, A writjr in the London Sportsman thus desoribei a mosquito as seen under a mioroscope: It appears that in the " bill " of the little beast alone there are no fewer than hve distinct surgioal instruments- These are described as a lance, two neat saws, a suction pump, and a small Corliss engine. It appears that when a " skeeter " settles down to hia work upon a nice tender portion of the human frame the lance is first pushed into the flesh, then the two saw<3, placed back to back, bigin to work up and down to enlarge the hole, then the pump is inserted, and the victim's blood is aiphoned up to the reservoirs oamad behind, and finally, to complete the cruelty of the performance the wretca drops a quantity of poison into the wound to keep it irritated. Tnea the diminutive fiend takes a fly around jnstto digast your gore, and mate* tracks for a fresh Tiotun, or if Ibtfts* *W been ef unusual good quality heT'ittMtsLftp^ the same happy hunting ground. Tne mosquito's marvellous energy, combined with his portable operating cheat, makes him at once a terror and a pest.

Intelligence in Frogs. A gkntlumw iv Scotland has a small Me in his grouude, which aie surrounded by a higu wall. At the bottom of the lake is a sluice by which the water can be let off into a burn below the grounds. A few weeks ago me lady of the houee was walking down the road outside the wall towards the burn when, to her astonishment, she met a multitude of frogs making their way up the road, which makes a considerable detour, to the gate leading into the grounds. Oa inquiry »ne found that the lake had thai morumg been emptied through the sluice, and it was plain that iht*e were frogs which, having been carried down with the water to the burn, were now making their way back to their old home. By what instinct did they know that the long road led to the point from wkich the short one had Started?