A SHORT STORY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13637, 16 April 1908, Page 8

A SHORT STORY.

SHOW EDGERLEY WAS TRAPPED.

f BY CLARA AUGUSTA, Mr Luke Edgerley was a model farmer. ' - , Everything about his establishment was neat as waxwork — that is, if waxwork is neat, as we have always been led to suppose. lie prided himself particularly on his trim fences, and his smooth lawns, and fields with not a weed to bo seen anywhere. But especially he prided himself on his cantaloup garden. He had laid ou,t the ground with great care, manured it liighly, worked it deep and mellow, imported the seeds himself, and planted them with great /.care. After the vines were up he had watched them faithfully, killing the bugs one by one, which is the only way, and getting up an hour earlier than usual every morning with this especial purpose in view. His' wife was ''sick and tired of hear- _ ing about that melon-bed," she said, "for all Luke wanted to" talk about was cantaloups, and he smelt so strong of bugs all the time that it turned her stomach, and took away her appetite foFher food/ By-and-by the melons began to ripen, and Luke was in high spirits. He had, indtMsd, a fine 'lot of them, and it was, perhaps, quite excusable in him to feel proud of them. Already he had selected one for the minister, one for Deacon Smallhead, and one for Bangs, the new doctor. These were to be presented when they were fully ripe, and Luke was continually expatiating upon the gratitude and delight with which they would be received. He was not so sure but the parson would allude to it, vaguely, of course, in his opening prayer on Sunday; and Deacon Smallhead would certainly have something to say about "temporal blessings" ; and as for Bangs, why, he, had a praotice to k build up, and Luke wanted to be vaccinated, and he rather calculated on Dr. Bangs doing the little job for nothing, after he had received the melon. Judge, then, of Luke's dismay when he found, on going out to inspect his treasures as usual one morning, that the three very identical melons he had selected for the three gentlemen we mentioned were missing! With 1 mad haste he searched the whole, .grojuids, but the three best melons were nowhere to be found. He compelled his wife, and the two hired man, and his sons, Jack and George, to join in the search-; but it was all of no avail — the cantaloups had disappeared, and refused to be discovered. Mr Edgerley was in despair. He argued the matter with his wife, from every /possible point of view, until the good lady became irritated, and very unfeelingly 'told him that she was glad of it, for she was "nigh about crazy with 30 much folderol about them pesky cantaloups!" Luke, however, decided that he would fix things for the thieves. In the first place, ne set a couple of traps in the melon-patch, and in the next he, Would lie awake that night, . and if he heard the least sound anywhere he would jump out of bed, seize his old musket, and pursue the thieving rascals !

But,, being rather a sleepy man, he fell into such a, profound nap that he dtd not wake until daydawned, and then, when he went 6ut to his melons, he fpund thero^ were three more gone I AnfLthe traps, were not sprung, either I Mr, Edgerley was in a dreadful state of mind all day, but when night came he Refused, to go to bed. He was going to sit up and watch his melons. So he .concealed himself in -a corner of the lot behind some currant bushes and waited. About \0 o'clock he heard a stealthy footsteps. Raising himself on his elbow, he looked around. There was no moon, and the stars were faint in a hazy sky, but still there was light ' enough to show him a tall, gaunt figure, chid in white, looming up before him ! In the dim light the figure looked supernaturally tall, and- Luke was a sincere believer in ghosts. The sight of this spectre struck terror to his soul. His hea?t beat so rapidly that he could hardly get 1 his breath. "Oh, my I" he exclaimed to himself. "Jf it should, be an apparition! I Wonder if they ever do eat anything. I darsent fire — I darsent do anything. I wish I was in the house abed with Sally— l vow I do !" The white figure advanced nearer, with slow, deliberate steps," as if ' it knew there were traps set. By-and-by it stooped, doaira, plucked off a melon, and came straight towards Luke. Terror got tae better of our hero. Flinging away his musket, he struck a 'bee-line for the house, right across the melon vines, all unmindful of the traps. In an instant he was fast by one foot, and not realising' what had happened, and thinking he was in the clutch of, the ghostt, he gave a tremencous leap forward, and was caught by the other foot in the other trap. Hero was a dreadful predicament, for -the traps were both securely fastened to the fence, and they were too fa* apart to make it exactly comfortable tor a man to have one foot in one trap and the other foot in the other. Be made frantic efforts to escape, but it^was a very neatly done job — the setting of the traps — and he was fast. T.O increase bis dismay, the sjiectre was, bearing down upon him, with a hm<« melon under each arm. Luke uttered an unearthly yell, y.'hir-h reached the ears of every sleeper in the house, and caused the ghost io \ d^w +ho nlunder with a wild scream j of affright. "'•Gray her. boys! grab her!" cried Luke to the hired men, who had appeared on the scene in very scanty apparel. "Don' let her get off!" \ But the tvoman — for it evidently was a woman— leaped through \the currant bushes, screaming at the top of her voice for "Luke! Luke!" and disappeared in the direction of the; house. • "My stars!" cried Mr Edgerk»v, ''that sounded like Sally's voice. You don't suppose — it can't be Dear me f it beats everything!" "Haven't I heard you say that your wife was a sleep-walker r"" asked one of the men. "By Jinks!" cried Mr Edgerley, "you've hit it, Styles. And she's the thief! Undo my legs. I'm nigh about split in two. It's lucky that nobody | with short Jegs got caught in them traps. And look here, boys, don't s»v anything about this, and next week we'll have an oyster supper." Mrs Edgerley was immensely surprised at what she had been doing, but nor husband was greatly relieved. He feJt the melons were not lost. N< ither were they, for Styles found them nil next day, safely stowed away in the haymow. i But the story got out somehow, and ,the neighbours are always teasing Luke about getting caught in his own Iraps.