CHAPTER II.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 62, 27 November 1858, Page 5

CHAPTER 11.

The wet and - dripping grass spa^klecl brightly under the rays of the. moon, 'when- not shaded, by the dark and heavy clouds which slowly sailed past her disk, — while the low tliin scud flew past her at a railway pace. Each of us,|)eing'pre-occu-pied with his own thoughts, our walli'was a silent one, — the stillness only, broken by the bay of Hhe watch dogs at the different farm houses we went by. On arriving at the foot of the slops previously mentioned, Mick appeared ve.i^ uoeisy, and your humble servant looked frequently over hisshoulder to make sure the old enemy was not stealing upon hint in that quarter. As talking sometimes givasone a little pluck, when that-valu-able commodity is ,at low ebb, "Mick," said I, "shew us the spot." His answer was a succession of pantomimes, — now striding towards onj.pomt and then another, and moving round in circles,— -, every now and then pausing. Suddenly' he cama teW stand still, and muttered to himself "yes this is the spot ; the wood was to my left and the bog waß in front of me, — yes, here ifc is." His features were deadly pale, : an.d the moon shining full on them, shswed me how excited he was:" Doubts, however, seemed to arise, for he closed his eyes, and opening them again, appeared to compare the surrounding scenery with some imaginary picture imprinted on his mind. With a start, he ejaculated, "yes, this ia the spot, — let us not waste any time, sir." My servant, \vho was in total ignorance of the whole affair, was mute : . with astonishment, and appeared disposed to raake a bolt, but, I suppose, like other arrant cowards, thought it -best to keep in company; so, pushing the spade towards him, and Mick aud I working alternately with the pick, we contrived in the course of two or three hours to make a good large hole. ■.""-.•

A a wo got deeper, the rocks impeded our progress, but still we. persisted, for every -blow of the pick would cause. a hollow sound to disturb the midnight calm. My servant did cot quite like this, and I remarked he very often . turned r.oui'id^ particularly if a pebble or clod, rolled dowri'-'the slope, any where behind him. Mick was very pale, and another nameless individual felt as if his heart had slippe.l down into his stockings — but still we persisted. The spade was now of little use, except to remove tho small stonss prized up by the pick, cv j-y blow of which made the hollow sound more plain and dis-tinet. Suddenly it sank right up to the handle ! ! As if by m igie, we all suddenly ceas3c! to work, and stared at each other, apparently as if tl.e trio had suddenly been subjected to some petrifying process, so set and rigid were the futures oi my fellow labourers. ''Hurrah!" shouted Mick so che.'rily, that we look heart of grace, «s for sotna time past anxiety, had prevented our speaking except in whispers. There lay the pick ! — the dim light shed by the lantern on'its white handle gave it- so mysterious an appearance, that some of us would not touch it for a few minutes, — but a hearty pull at the whiskey bottle soon set all fears aside,. and_ a few lusty blows speedily enlarged the"n'6ic"£om "which, it had been removed. A stake wa3 obtained from a neighbouring hedge, and wiih. this we struck sound>ng3 at about 8 feet, on a smooth, bottom. "Oeh, inurtlier," exclaimed Mick, "we have found the place after sill," and he was so frantic with delight, that all I could do was to prevent him from trying to screw himself into the hole. We then lowered the lantern to arm's length, but it was speedily extinguished by the foul air ; and a few well lit sods of turf, on reaching the bottom, quickly shared the same fate. "Mick," said I, "you will die if you get there, — ths bad air will kill you. See" ; with, this 1 discharged my gun into it, and the rush of noxious air was so powerful that two of the three all but fainted. My temples, on coming too again, throbbed so much that I almost fancied they were going to burst, and a violent pain in my chest made me feel very uncomfortable and indisposed to any more exertion ; accordingly, we decided on going home; so, piling some brushwood and rubbish over the spot so as to mislead any one troubled wiih the organ of inquisitiveness, we reached the ba.-racks in a state of great exhaustion at the time the Reveille bugle was sounded by a sleepy pudding ho?.d;;d youth, in the sains costume he wore during the v. e.-iod he was banked up between his two blankets.

After the bodily exertion I had undergone, my •worn out carcase was disposed to have a digger sleep than could be obtained between Reveillee and breakfast time. Moreover, the subalterns of the British army have wonderful constitutions for that sort of recreation, anil it ia quite surprisiug to see the enormous quantity of sleep they can stand -without experiencing any detriment to the general state of their health. After having accomplished some 12 or 14 hours of sound horizontal refreshment, 1 felt half inclined to have another *'go at the diggins," but Slick, who had attended his daily avocations, was too tired ; we therefore deemed it advisable to "stand at ease" for a day or two, and in the meantime take a general survey of that part of the country. -

Oa ari'iving at the scene of operations, we were astounded at the sight of several people surrounding a man lying on his bact, and looking very pale ; so we forthwith came to the conclusion that he was suffering from the effects of misplaced confidence. On enquiry it appeared that nia curiosity had bo mastered his discretion as to prompt him to poke his nose (face and all) into tie hole, and the noxious air .had bothered him. "Sane him right," , muttered Alick : . ''Ditto," said I. >

.. This accident gave the place .;'a bad • name, aad as there is no evil that is -.-totally devoid- of come good or other, it was a warning to us j sp, putting on a peculiarly innocent .look* ','■! /encjiurel.joC tfi£ Burrounding rustics,- "who. had made this hSIS^., . M Oalyr/ing«\dig^ilg;:vfor:>]monjßj,-';'ypW-'li;onorl'* iVKta ah "dhj ial,tii&^ all -?" we-.fcxirccd .all* toxarda^ the ;bogiand:began : a'^f te^of persepution on aa' •unfort]^Aatt«"'Ja'ck Snip^,V;^/'.; .;•_-.•-■;' ,J,j_ -„,'-,;.;■,■.. ._.".,;'';-' : lf By Xo ; or'jlpfltdpok* that {wgb^.-Tyo-^era-agaia ■.afc;w6ri enla%ing tWhoWVitb. a drow^biT,' and -jbfcSgjo'4|)^ iwe: iS -^^sife^ •^l^Ai^^S^olnie^.lioarfdr a/ start dreviriiCßMiT'i ?X

selves, to- me,— and mectbig' his satanic majesty iWas. not. the least .of th.sm.2 . ;Who . would not feel • anxious^when .abqttfc- to proceed' ta, unknown re* gions deep in the bowels of thaeairth, and iaraway i'rom any assistance? ; - ■."/-'. '.'-" ;

• The pale half dead man I took" as a warning. Tt was one of those imaginary finger posts at the turnings and windings of the road of life that ■prompt a man to swerve from his intended course, 'and yet nre sufficiently vogue and indistinct, a3 to leave him balancing on the point of doubt whether 'tis "to be or not to be." . The fear of being "horribly, laughed at" deterred me fi-om asking the opinion of my captain, so T fell back on the alternative of acting "on my own book." Truly I was but an emancipated school-boy, but a few months previously a denizen of those regions ol* mischief —ever disposed during school hours ,to have a "shy" at the master's walnut trees, and, pleading another excuse, would say, "please sir, may I go 'out."

: My little digressions may be misplaced! — truly many thingsin .this sublunary world of ours are, — but ibr all thafyihey are not. so terrifically out of their proper position as were the "h's" of a worthy fellow, who, during tits course of a few moment's -recent .conversation with -me,, so far transposed •thsm a3 to enquire "of me "what were the h'odds so" long as I was 'appy.V ' .1 presuins Lord Byron must have been 'orridly h'exh'ii3perated before lie commenced his poem, \ "'Twas whispered in Heaven, 'twas niutteretd \.. in Hell, Arid the Earth caught the sound as it fell, And more' s the pity, that it is not always caught ; in the proper place ! ! : Grentlo reader, lam treating you to a little "chaff," while meditating on the probable results of this drea.ni, — and if you will force me to "go in foavthe entire animal," you. might arrive at the same brief conclusion your representative did, when he said "It's all bosh." Bear in mind that I am only detailing a dreaia, "the baseless fabric of a vision" of another person ; and, accordingly, it. is difficult, to fill up all tho gaps .and flaws, and weave a well connected tale, tho same as you may do, when detailing your sleeping visions of the previous night, with a cheerful morning sun shining into your breakfast room, dispelling the vague fears that but a few previous hours had deeply agitated you, — more particularly if you had been falling down a well, and awoke in intense surprise at finding yourself ia bed, instead of atthe bottom of it!!

"While in our 'teens we are more liable to vacillation than when a long march into lhe 'ty's, when the nerves acquire the consistency of iron, and tli3 "will to do," the elasticity and strength of steel. "Come sir, let's make a start of it," and these cheerful words in a moment dispelled the heavy accumulation of doubts that had beset me, and a quarter of an hour saw us out of the barracks, Click's wife throwing an old choc after him "for good luck's sake."

On reaching our ground, we took a careful survey of the neighbouring Ledges to make sure no one yras loitering about them : . and, lighting: the lantern, S/ick lowered himself down- first, and I followed suit. The. cavern was nearly circular, with a diameter of about li or 15 feet and a height of about 5 or 6. "With the exception of a few stumpy stalactites, the concave roof was pretty smooth, and tho iloor dry aud CTen, and at even •points opposite to each other, were small oval crevices, about twelve or fourteen inches wide and two feet deep.

Making the Most of it. — Sou. they says, in one of his letters : — " I have told you of the Spaniard who always put on his spectacles when about to eat cherries, that they might look bigger and more tempting. In like manner I make the most of my enjoyments,; and though I do not cast my eyes from my troubles, I pack them in as little compass as I can for myself, and never let them a.nnov others.''

A Clerical Joke. — Dr. Webster, atone time a minister of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh, a wit and a celebrated preacher was fond of a drop of claret. A friend, on whom he had called one day, said he would give him a treat, and produced a bottle of, the Docto.-'s favourite wine, adding that it was upwards of fifty years old.. Being only a pint bottle, the Doctor took it lovingly in his hand, and said, " Dear me, but it's unco little o' its age."

The Teetotallek and. the Topkk. — Thejother day a teetotal lecturer, in giving an oration on the great panacea of cold water, exclaimed, 'my friends, it is a grand mistake to call intoxicating drinks 'stiong drinks.' ■ It can lie proved that plain cold water is stronger, much stronger, than ale!' An old. fellow sitting by thereupon took up liis Hat and walked out, saying, 'beer is strong enough for me, so I'll go and get a pint.'

. If apogeon Ills IN Q-000 Spirits.— l hear that the Emperor has not been so gny for many a day as sirice.his intei'yiew with the Q.ueori-of England. " Hib Majegty regards it justly* hot only as a triiamphfor his policy, which is more than ever an aljjajjpe.withtour country,, but a3^a mark of per- - Boiial friendship. to him ; and the .personal friendship of the ; Sovemgn of- England is of inestimabley^tue to the nionairch 6£ rovolatibnary Frfinpe,, especially when he ii?: as i ihe'Eiapbipr baJQed'Him-j self, a parrejwj. -As- to^ th3 T Eropres3,.Bhsi ss'lVbe- j fore *toW yoxiV-loioif ; up to ! tfe. iQuojia -witli inm4 gled gratitude, rbspept and-gffeefcion j ; and.io^de^. fcghfc' at Besirig he^^ikj^ty ;3g?in Vas ■ unbiotrar, de%, . Botitlie* Eflnp^rqr. aixs3Bmpf?fe^]tis&edHliO' Queen on m'ee^ng^Uibnf^ra^e^Te^tlie 'lPriaeie Cqnsortiiy the Pnice! of >:JVasßeii '^aidd *tss'~Q3ika'p{ . jDambridg^Qn-.th^o^^igasUiw?^ Ei^^sß/4^d.TOta':^»riTO,!feor^aiit^ Cpj|)^ie. .EnipeTOrj^r^^^^^i^*^^^^^;*^