THE CATS AND THE MOUSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2451, 6 March 1901, Page 63

THE CATS AND THE MOUSE.

(St. James's Gazette-) Upon the afternoon of the 14th of MarcJva year ago' the ocean of the coast of a certain portion of Scotland appeared to have become intoxicated, staggering in huge ro - lin^ billows towards the shore, falling nm!i| using ceaselessly, showering wild kis^c-; upon the maiden rocks which waded HkJ negresses along the shore. The li^hthoup.-j of St. Marly, standing upon a rock in tlid sea, bobbed urj and down in the nwn&te^

riot — a tall white policeman in a monster helmet which shone in the sun, endeavouring to arrest the wild mob. The mist was rising like the breath of monsters, for it was already late in the day, and presently the voice af this giant policeman, which is the fog-horn, sounded over the water like the condensed lowing of cattle. The billows seemed to steady themselves upon this lamp post of the ocean, encircling it with green arms. Far away to the snaky horizon the ocean was covered with grotesque green forms dancing towards you in fantastic rows ; great mountains, suddenly rising up out oi chaos, came hurrying to the shore as if on wheels. It looked like the Scottish Highlands endowed with life and playing leap-frog over the land — mountains and dales stripped of their trimmings of pine forests and dresses of heather, their great naked forms and smooth sides shining as they leapt. A monster caiiie rushing towards you over the backs of his com.panions, flapped its great green feet upon "the shore, and disappeared. Several miles out, upon this day, a small fishing boat ,was riding over the wa^es. A man sat in this boat holding two outstretched oars in his hands. He dipped one of them into the ■water now and again. When the rays of the declining sun shone upon them as he lose upon the green glassy slopes the boat 'and the man in it and the outstretched oars resembled a strange insect skimming over a lake- with glittering, blood-dripping wrings. ... The boat rode over the waves like some Btrange horse riding an impossible, ludicrous steeplechase. It resembled a mouse rising at a six-foot pate. The boat rose at 9 wave, shaking and quivering beneath its rider, hung for a moment balanced upon its crest like a see-saw, slid on its haunches down into the-vallev, then rose again like a bird with its outstretched wings of red. The waves seemed tc be playing at leapfrog with one another, but the boat was playing at leap-frog with them, i These monsters seemed to be possessed of Couls ; their green eyes glared at the boat ,in passing. or.cc a monster, watching its opportunity, tore one of the oars from the man's grasp and carried it away in its mouth. The man, looking after it with his glittering, watching eyes, beheld his oar protruding from the head of the wave and moving to and fro. The monster was cLiswing it in his mouth like a straw.

' The boat had now been floating for hours, lue man in it began to crouch upon his ■Knees, his black hair flowed like ink over ihia face, which was gradually changing into a strange bluish tint. His eyes were larger and brighter, and had the strange appearance of lanterns lighted in the day-, time. The toan bent lower, as though some invisible something was seated upon shis back, forcing him down. The brightness of his eyes became gradually obscured as" though some one were breathing upon their glassy surface. . . . Above his head, in the air, sounds were fceard as of showers of kisses falling upon the waves. A haze, which had hitherto stood at a distance, began to creep nearer, and the man, raising his head with a sudden laovoment, his eyes wild, experienced the sensation of being trapped. The peals of a bell came tumbling over the water in •wild somersaults. A seagull, flying fc:noothly and in a straight line through the air, like" an arrow not in a hurry, appeared fcuddenly to be blown out of its course, and began to wheal around him overhead, uttering strange, restless cries. Once it circled clcse to him, and the man beheld its eves, which were round and shining with "an evil, yellow light, They looked at the man sideways.

Rle bent his head downwards ; his eyzs watched the bottom of the boat, where a little water was rushing to and fro as if in panic. His hairy feet seemed to b» turning a greenish colour. A* small cork stopped a hole in the bottom of the boat. Suddenly .he man stooped down and pulled this cork out >f its hole. One pould have said that the boat had been *hot ; the black hole resembled a bulletjFound; the water oozed up like green, jtolood ; the boat began to quiver as if in ,-jam. The man sat motionless with the cork in his hand as if in thought. /Suddenly, with a screaming cry, he shoved It into the hole and hammered it home with iLiis fist. He sat motionless as if in 'roh ought again. Once he stretched out his bands before an imaginary fire. The cry of the .seagull was heard in the air. The sun disappeared. The man drew out the ■oork and flung it into the sea. The water vushed into the boat in gulps in the same -uiannei as wine is e:aptied into a tumbler ; Ji& fisherman rose to his feet ; the water

"ushmg about them rose steadily to his 'knees, then all at once to his neck. The Jooring of the boat left his feet, he had an idea that he had risen into the air and •was flying away. His arms were moving vapidly like thin JFhite wings. He re..membered suddenly that he was swimlaaing

Suddenly he turned upon his back and floated ; the greenish- white profile of his face protruded from the water ; the black ibair floated around this face, which was Ihe fact of a corpse wrapped in its shroud. Opening his eyes he beheld above him in the air the swarms of the seagulls, their eyes shining with a hundred little green uights. The waves lapped against his limbs ; he experienced the sensation .of being licked by great slobbering lips. A Reddish light shone through the fog, looking like a giant coming along smoking a cigar and puffing at it now and again. This Was the revolving light of St. Marley's lighthouse. Lying motionless in this manner the sea let him alone — only watched the mar as a cat watches the stunned mouse with which >t is pjaving. Suddenly he turned over, moving his arm. A great greeu wave pounced upon him, seized him by the neck, and carried him away over the green floor in its mouth. The seagulls followed ecreaming. The man .vas struggling in ilie gz'een mouth, wliich shook him -greedily. Suddenly he disappeared. The seagulls, who were scratching the water with their talons, like dors of the ocean, bounded suddenly upwards with the ap»earance of a submarine explosion. And

the moon, craning like some huge yellow head looking in at the window of the world, around which curtains of cloud were blowing wildly, beheld rising above the green velvety surface of the sea a long arm with moving fingers — the tail of the mouse protruding from the devouring mouth of the cat. Then it was drawn in.