A COUP DE MAIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVI, Issue 994, 28 November 1883, Page 5

A COUP DE MAIN.

The other day, in the port of Shields, a hogshead of treacle burst while being rolled from a dray in front of a grocer's premises. Nearly one ton of liberated treacle had obeyed the law of liquids and found its level on the street, now the bed of a yellov river, in which the grocer stood aghast, knee-deep. Consternation, however, gave place to action. An empty cask was got, and into this with shovel, basin and bucket, assisted by his man, his maid, and his mother, tie poure^l the golden flood. The women and bairns also got to work with great activity ; but to their dismay a detachment of police came npon the ground, beat back the rebels before the juvenile portion of t'aem were half sick and formed a "cordon blue" round the grocer's treasure, that he might pick it all up himself. Tbe urchins were not to be baffled. They held a conference, and laid a plot bj which, through the instrumentality of the simplest of their number, they should secure a share of the spoil. Tommy was taken to the outside of the ring, and in a favourable moment, thrown in among the treacle, his friends pledging themselves to lick him clean, and assuring him his " claes wad be nae waraer — his mither wad nivver knaw ony difference." Tommy required no persuasion ; he Bneaked close to the heels of a policeman; his companions rushed upon him, and in a moment he was immersed. Being still in petticoats he presented a vast surface, compared with wnatany of bis breeched brethren would have done, to the sweet substance on which he Tolled ; and a burst of triumph, loud, long, and laughable, hailed him as he emerged exclaiming, to keep up the trick " Bau gum ! who did it?', The innocent police, never dreaming of deceit, instead of arresting him for felony, helped him out of the mess, and scolded the wicked rogues who had pitched him into it. These seizing their prize, hurried him into a convenient corner, where his worshippers were as numerous as queen bees. Swearing eternal friendship to Tommy, they licked him inside and out, and then sent him home all clammy, to be " licked again by his mother.',