Chapter 11.

Otago Witness, Issue 1032, 9 September 1871, Page 19

Chapter 11.

A PKODIfUOUS ACORN". If you puppoae that by draining a

country you can get net of Wiil-o'-the-wisps, you had botter answer those a-lver-lioementsin tho Times which are addressed to gentlemen with a small capital at their own disposal, and you will be speedily undeceived. One of these misguiding imps proposed that Tom Chattcm should dt.voto his life to potichoiuauie ; another that he should Locomo a manufacturer and retail vender of ginger- boer ; while others, less harmless, sought to transfer his remaining cipital iuto their ovn pockets, on pretexts so transpi-.reutly fraudulent, that Tom, with all his natural ta3te for speculation and sanguine belief in " good things," saw through them at once.

He likewise tried for vacant secretaryships of several public companies, but found that the directors gave those posts to their own nominees, and only advertised for the sake of appearances, lest xho shareholders shouid su3pect th^m of jobbery. By the end of a couple- of months he was heartily sick of bootless correspondence, ;md of bothering his friends for testimonials to no purpose ; and started oft one day alone, to walk away a fit of the blues, eschewing the high roads, and following rural footpaths. One of these brought him into a wood on the crest of some undulating ground ; and aa it was now the last week in October, the foliage was very finely tinted ; for the year is like a dolphin— its brightest colours come out when it is dying.

Tom Chatteris was always affected pleasantly by beauty in any form, and the scene cheered him up, and inclined him to take a more sanguine view of life than he had started with.

" After all, how jollily we might live in an Australian or American clearing ! I wonder if Ju. would consent. She might not like the idea ; but I am certain she would enjoy herself when she got used to it. She would be giving up nothing, except her grandmother, and William will look after her. What is the best I can expect in England ? To sit at a desk all day, and never cross a horse again ; while, as a squatter, my life would be full of interest, and I should be perpetually in tho saddle. By Jove ! I will go over tomorrow, and put it to her."

A rash vow, which was never to be kept. But tho making of it did Tom good, for it represented a feasible, practical plan. All was uncertain and surrounded with difficulty at home ; but if Ju. would consent to colonial roughing it, their future was clear, distinct, simple. So he cheered up, like the lost traveller who comes upon a landmark ; and, instead of hurrying on at the pace he had started at, he berjan to pause where gaps in the wood afforded him glimpses of the fertile country spreading for miles beyond. A splendid oak, some three hundred yards off, scon at the end of a ride, attracted his particular attention — it •was so lofty, so wide spreading, and its leave 3 wore so much thicker than those on most trees of the same species round about. Tom was sadly materialistic, even in his most romantic vein ; and as the day was warm for the time of year, it immediately occurred to him that it would be pleasant to smoke a pipe under that oak, and raeciitate upon his new emigration scheme. But he had hardly gone far enough from home to sit down and rest yet ; would it not be better to continue his walk 1 Curiosity decided thiß question ; for while he wa3 looking towards the tree, he fancied that one of its lower bows shook : and as there was not a breath of wind stirring, he wondered what was the caxxse, and went towards it to ascertain.

The motion was not repeated ; perhaps it had been only fancy. But stay — what was that dark object dimly shewing through the leaves 1 A queer growth of wood, surely. Tom sauntered quietly up to within twenty paces of the oak ; and then suddenly sprang into a run, for the object took a human form ; and presently he found himself immediately under the body of a man, who was hanging by the neck from a rope attached to a bough, which spread conveniently above.

By raising his hand, Tom could have touched the pendent boots, which were in good repair, and well blacked. The rest of the clothes were respectable, though running a little to seed ; and a chimneypot hat, which lay on the ground, was a gentlemanly hat. But Tom did not want to touch the boots, for to pull the legs of a hanging man is not the best way to resuscitate him. Neither did he spend time in examining his apparel ; the little matters that I have mentioned were apparent at a glance. On the contrary, he swarmed up the tree, which was happily easily to climb, and lay out on the bough with the readiness of a sailor.

In the early and sanguine days of his secretaryship-hunting, Tom had provided himsalf with a penknife of superlative quality, with which to operate on the goose- quills he had expected to wear down by the bundle ; and with this he now proceeded to cut away at the rope. The blade, though unused and very sharp, was exceedingly email ; the rope, new,

hard, and thick. It was a terribly long operation, and seemed a hundred times longer than it was. Fortunate-ly, the weight at the other end helped the in-, cision by strotchinjj the gap, and whon a strand was half cut through, it tore the rest of it. As Tom lay there on his stomach, with his left ?,rm around the bou^h, his right hind sawiri.'» and h" eking, his head and shouideis leaning over, ho noticed a decided kick in one of the Icjh, and a motion in one of the arms of the hangee wiiich could not be due to the swaying motion given to him by the operation going on overhead ; and the sight gavo frantic energy to the cutting. When the rope was three parts severed, tho rest tore out, and the body fell lumpily to tho ground, the feet striking first, so that it remained erect while you could count two, and then it tumbled hoavily ovor with a dead thud. Tom dropped down beside it in a j moment, and proceeded to Igosc the slipknot from about the neck. There was an ugly deep red mark, shewing the pattern of the rope, all around, and the face was not pleasant to look upon. The starting eyes, the protruding tongue, were calculated to reappear in dreams — whenever the digestive organs were out of order — for years. When Tom had turned the body on its back, and raised the head a little, he wondered what to do next, but chafed the hands and the chest while he pondered ; and as he was thus occupied, he had the satisfaction of seeing the choking look disappear. Whether, indeed, this was a sign of death or recovery, he could not tell, but it made the face very much I less unpleasant to behold.

' He had never in all his life felt a greater sense of relief than he now did on hearing the sound of wheels. Running in the direction, he came, after sixty yards, to a lane, masked by underwood ; in the lane was a dog-cart, just passed. " Hi ! dog cart, ahoy ! stop !" he cried; and it stopped. The dog-cart contained a neat gentleman in a frock-coat and spectacles, who drove, and a smart adolescent groom, who folded his arms " Isit Mrs. Bunnythorpe ?" asked the gentleman, as Tom ran up breathless. "No ; it's a fellow I've cut down. Are you a medical man ?" "Yes." " What luck ! Come along ; I think he is alive." The groom took the reinß ; the doctor accompanied Tom to the body under the oak. v Is he alive ?" asked Tom. "0 yes ; his heart is beating. But he must be properly attended to as quickly as possible." They carried him to the dog-cart easily enough, but it was another matter to haul him up ; however, it was managed. " Where am Ito drive to I" asked the doctor ; and Tom, who had the one virtue of promptness, named his own lodgings, regardless of consequences.