THAT BLACK CAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 29

THAT BLACK CAT.

Harvesting was over, but I had not yet gone back to the university town. I made a point of going early, too, so as to be in the vray of getting private pupils, of whom I had usually a good number.

A threshing machine was expected next morning for a few stacks in a small outlyicgpaddocK, and all had gone to bed and were asleep but rnyßelf. I appeared to be able to do with about two hours' less sleep than any one else in the house. I was studying by the kitchen fire. Father and mother were in bed in the room beyond. He had not bpgun to snore, which showed that he had not got into a thoroughly sound sleep. Presently I heard a scuffling and shuffling, and mother cried ouc :

"M^rcy me, Robert 1 what ails ye? What are ye kickin' at ? "

" It's that brute of a black cat. I've been three time 3at the door to see what was reeshlin' at it, an' every time a strange, big, black cat would be in, reason or nane ; an' I had a fell warsle to keep it oot. At the laat I gae't a grand lifter into the middle o' the road wi' my foot.— lt appears I've been dreamin'."

" Weel, your kick was uae dream. I daursay ye've made my leg black an' blue. Did yer dreamt three times 1 " "Yes; I was oot o' bed three times Beein' what waa at the door, an' every time that black brute tried to squeeze in ; an' the hin'inost time I got real angry, an' just gue't the wecht o' my foot."

"There's nae doobt aboot the wecht o't; but my leg's no a black cat. Hoos'ever it's a warnin', an' we maun jusfc be on the ootlook."

Soon father was snoring, and I knew that would send mother off too.

Next morning I think I waa first awake, and about half-past 4 I heard a cart stop not far away, and by peeping past the blind I saw Willie Thornlie, a carter, leap cut of it. He had a paddock next to the one in which our Htrle crop was to be threshed that forenoon, and was to get Mb threshed in the afternoon. I saw him go and try the stable and the barn doors. He then came to the front of the house and listened at the door for a minute. Then he knocked on it with his fist.

It seemed as if father was bent on vengeance on that black cat, for he was in the lobby before the door was done shaking, and before he was thoroughly awake, I think. 11 Wha's there 1 " I heard him cry. •' lv's me," said Willie. "Wha'a met" was asked. " Willie Thornlie." "Oh l Wait till I get my breeks on, then."

This necessary garment donned, father again came to the door, and, opening it this time, stood on the step and eaid :

" Weel, Willie, what's wanted ? "

" I've been thinkin' — I've been thinkin' that as you're to get yours threshed firsr, I could drive't doon for you, an' — an' it mioht be cheaper for's baith if it were a' dichtet thegiiber. My barn's big enench for baith oor bit pickles, an' if ie was a' cairtet doon there, it would just be ac job for the lot."

11 Ahl— juat wait till I've finished dressin', an' I'll tell you."

I knew IMb to be a ruse of father's to return to the bedroom to tell mother of the proposal. As I had fully dressed all but my boots, which I had left by the kitchen fireside, I passed in there. As I laced them on I heard father telling mother Thornlie's project, and he ended with : " What dae ye tMnk o't, Nellie 1 " M Naethirg," said mother ; "just keep mind o' the black cat."

"I daursay there's some mischief aneath't, or be wouldna bae been arroond here sac early aboot it. He wouldna be able to sleep for the thocht o't. The black cat's dune his business, though. We can manage with him brawly, I think."

As father passed out he gave me a nod in the direction of the door, and I knew he wanted a witness, and followed.

When we were ouuide he went towards the barn door, where Willie was loitering near Ms cart. He had taken the key with him. He opened the door and bade Willie look in, and added :

" It's toom noo ; but there'll be something in't ere night, an' yet plonty room left to dicht It in."

" Then ye dinna think It would be cheaper for'sbaith?"said WilUe.

"It micht be for you, Willie ; but no for me. The extra drivin' and haulm' weuld cost me mair than it would save. No, Willie, I'm obliged to you, but we'll clean it ourselves."

I knew that when my father put on his EDglishJhe had finished that subject. Willie went off.

At midday he came up with the sacks and other necessaries for his own crop and to fee the mill shifted from the one paddock to the other. With us it was just finishing up.

Willie came in and looked round, and commented on the return of the grain to the acre, on the straw, and even on the appearance of the chaff. He seemed to be talking altogether for effect, and the more he did so the more fidgety and suspicious of him father became.

A lad of 15 was laying off the bags, Sec, in Willies paddock. When he had emptied his cart he brought it round into our field beside the mill. Then Willie paid :

" I thocht the laddie micbt tak' doon a load for ye, sb be'a gaxra hanae Coom ony way."

" There's nobody there to help him off with them," said father, who knew that Thornlie himself could not go on account of the shifting of the mill.

"Oh 1" said Willie, " he'll hae naediffeculty wi' them."

" No, he will not," said father ; " for I won't trouble him with them. I've arranged for getting my grain home by other means than you can supply."

Then Thornlie broke out angrily, " yo ! Do you think I'm a thief that I would steal your — staff ? " And he swore like the carter that he was. "it will ba hard for you to tell what Z

think," said father, " but one thing you must do, and that instantly. You must leave this field. I will not be sworn at where I can prevent it. Go!"

He went off muttering. We got the grain all Bafely home. 'On the afternoon of the nest day, as we were busy with the fanners, Ihe millowner looked in, and said: " Ah, there's no sheriff officer here I "

" No," said father, laughing. " Hae ye been doin' onytbing to gar you feel foar'd to look ane i' the face ? "

"No' me," *aid Jackson; "but when I gaed up to Thornlie's I fund ane there, an' Willie told me coolly that he had ' let doon the barrow.' " (A localism for becoming bankrupt.) "So my yesterday afternune's wark goes for naething. It would cost mair in lawyer's fees an' loss o' time than a' its worth to get it noo."

" Whew 1 " whistled father ; "so the black cat was richt after a." " What mean ye 1 " said Jackson. " Come into ihe hoose an' get your siller, an' I'll tell you aboot it."

At the evening meal father told us that Jackson "wished to gudene33 that some black cat would come an' warn Mm when he was likely- to be cheated, an' he'd rank 1 sure he'd kick neither it nor his wife's lega."

" He's a bit of a joker, Jackson," added father, " for he's no married yet."