WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 167, 3 June 1873, Page 2

WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY.

IN THIETY-FOUR CiIiPTEES. — CHAPTER I. V Full fathom five thy father lies ; Of hia bones are cot al made ; Those are pearls that were his eyes. All night long the storm had been raging, but the dawn the wind, had abated ; instead of roanpg »^V ort ljL| west ga'e, trumpeting and screaming into the throat of tmrbroad hill-encompassed estuary of Aberhirnant, it whispered softly in a balmy southerly breeze. The tide had run cut, and a great expanse of yellow-ribbed sand lay glinting in the bright rays of a wintry sun. A mile away at the bar the sca°was still breaking heavily, and rolling in huge masses of foam and spray ; but along the sands, crisp and curling nplets came hurrying in, touched with all kinds of pearl and opal b\ the slanting beams of the rising sun. A small wooden pier ran out in the mouth of the river, and the shore behind this pier formed a little bay, which was the; harbour of Aberhirnant. The town itself was a crescent of houses ranged upon the curving shores of the bay— small t neat houses, for the most part tenanted by the wives of the coasting masters- of the port. Behind the houses rose theflank ot a steep hill, the summit of which bounded the view from the pier ; but had jou been farther out at sea, you w ould have seen, slope rising over slope, precipice crowned by crag, the higher summits veiled by light fleecy clouds, which the storm had driven m from the sea : a wild mountain region margined by a coast of iron. Great masses of foam were still lurking in all corners and crevices of the •> pier, in aIT sheltered hollows of the sand-s ; but except these, and a line of drift the angry waves had washed against the houses which lined the bay, there were no other relics of t* , storm thatjhad passed. A few seafaring men were lounging at ' the pier-head, scanning the water with their glasses, but not a sail was to bo seen j the brown waves went up and down, but neither mast nor hull broke the undulating lines. ' She must have stood out to seajagain, Frank, 1 said a man of seamed and furrowed face, the eyesof which were the centres of bewildering networks of wrinkles; a kindly face, you would say, and shrewd, and jet that of an irritable and nervous man. By his side Jwas a figure dressed in a blue pilot suit, ornamented with brass buttons, bearing the device of a crown and anchor ; this was the officer of cus^ms ; the f otherwasE\an Rowland*, the banker of Aberbirnant.i Banker and shipowner too ; hence, perhaps, the anxious glances oast over the empty sea. W 'She must have made an ofling,' reiterated Rowlands peevishly, in answer to a grave shake of the head from tho official. ' What do you say John Jones ? Could she have got back to sea against that nor'-west gale?' ' 'Well, indeed,' said John Jones, squirting a small cataract of tobacco-juice from his mouth, ' it's very possible. She very good sailer, close-hauled ; yes, indeed.' ' It's- possible, of course,' said Frank Williams, the customhouse man, ' but is it likely ? ' ' Deed,. I can't say. But see, Mr Frank, whati this ooming up the tide?' Tho tide- had now turned, and ia the centre of the streami was running up with some force, although by the pier its influence was not yet felt. In the Aery middle of the ri^w was floating a, mass of shattered timber, with an iron bore sticking out here and thero. John Jones jumped into* his boat, which lay at the foot of the pier, witliout anotlier word, and pulled quickly after the moving object,, reached it,, hitched a rope to it, and towed it slowly back. By this time a little crowd had collected. Woratn with hurriedly arranged garments; men winking and blinking, the stupor of the night not shaken from them ; a few children dragged half-naked from their beds — such thecrowd which clustered together at the head of the pier, looking up sit the tall, commanding figure of the banker, who, standing on the framework of the capstan, alternately ci't his glances toward the approaching boat, or swept tho dull horizm with his eyes. The mass of timber which the boatman had in tow came liizily rolling through the water ; each tug of the rope,Ja», the boatman straightened his back to the stroke, caused it to plunge and wallow in the sea. Except that it was wreck of some kind, no ono could say wliat its form or shape. ' Menevia's Pride is as safe as I am ' ' cried Rowlands from his platfoim, in answer to some low-toned question from the crowd A'l the faces brightened up at thi?, for Mene\M^s Pride was the pride of Aberhirnant ais >. S' c had beer bm&, on the sands at Aber. Her master and crew were all Aberhirnant men. The very dog that was on board of her had been a puppy of that stout old bitch which now stood wagging her tail and whining on one of the timbers of the pier. All of a sudden there was a great movement in the crowd, for the wreck in the harbour had turned right over, showing a splintered taffrail rail, and painted thereon in large white Utters, iudk. A low groan, a wail, r.o»e from the people. 'Fools!' bhoutcd Rowlands, ' what's eidk? Why, there J are hundreds of ships with hide in their names. Dozens from this port alone. Why, there's Arthur's Bride, and. Bridegroom, and ever so many more. But it isn't any of our ships, I tell you. Do you. bear ! ' But the women would not be convinced; they had feft tho touch of terror and incredulity ; dread overspread tht^ minds, and that blank bewilderment which the heart feels at iW possibility of a loss which may, unknown, have already befallen 'it. But the men rallied round the banker, and urged a hundred different reasons why this shattered tnff'rail' should belong to any other vessel than Menevia's Pride. Then, whilst doubt and irresolution kept down grief ancL lamentation, a profound throb of emotion made itself felt through the crowd. All turned away from the sea and sky, from the boat bobbing up and down, from the wreck twisting and twirling, from tho banker on the capstan, from the seamews screaming over his head — turned with one accord to a figure on tho pier, that of a woman,, lying fainting on the' rough boards of the flooring, a dog licking her face. But such a dog ! his hair soaked and matted, his claws torn and bleeding, his head battered and bruised, and As eyes ! alv! what weariful, miserable eyes they were, as though. . they still reflected the struggles of dying men ! So weariful I and pitiful w-erc the dumb looks of the poor dog, that all the I stout seafaring men that stood around were fain to wipe 1 their eyes with their jacket sleeves, whilst tho women m a body threw a despairing cry to Heaven, and then, clasped m each other's arms, wailed and wept in unavailing grief. ' Poor thing, poor thing,' said the seafaring.men in concert. They meant the wife of the master of Menevia's Pride, who lay fainting on the ground, the dog licking her face. There was no more hope for her, poor creature ; the dog had brought her at least that message from the dead. There was i a handkerchief knotted to his collar, the husband's handkerchief. Afort, the dog, had come home again ; the rest,, where w are they ? Rowlands descended from the capstan, his face pale and troubled. ' Dear me, what is the matter * — My dear Mrs Pugh,' he said, taking the woman, now supported in tile arms of her friends, by the hand, why do you take on so ? Menevia's j Pride is as safe as I am — Tils dog ? Pooh !he jumpedi. m overboard.' ' y Gwen Pugh, tho master's wife, looked around her begfc wildered, not knowing what to believe — the smooth^ voice of the man, or tho dog shivering and whining by her side- ' Listen to Ejwmi Rowland, anwyl Bach, 1 cried all the crones in chorus^ ' The dog jumped overboard. Evan is safe; Evan Rowlands says so. Dear, dear! who would have tliott^ht it ? ' ' Take my arm, Gwen. Pugji,' said the banker — ' take my arm and walk home. Dear heart ! you look very pale, and no wonder, with the fright you got. But d*n.'i cry any more ; Menevia's Pride is ss safe as my bank ;S.«d Evan , will be home presently to scold' you, and shake his old k friends by the hand.' G-wen Pugh, a pretty swarthy woman, dressed in short petticoat and bedgown, took tho banker's arm, and they walked towards the street together, the rest of the cr<y*l following at at a little distance. ' Dear ! what a goo-hearted man he is ! ' was the chorus among the crowd. The good heart was that of Evan Rowlands.

Country banking business is- thus described by the Melbourne Leader 1 * correspondent " Atticus " : — It ii often a inattor of consideration with me if the country branches of the metropolitan banks are self-supporting, or if their existence is but an advertisement for the head office. A story told mo the other day goes far to lead me to tho 1. tterconclusion. A friend, being on a viiit to a township in tho western district, strolled into tht locaL back, and asked forchange for a £l-note. " Certaialy," aa*d the manager ; " pray take a seat." Somewhat astonished, my friend took a seat in front of the counter, while the manager, leaning his elbows on the polished cedar, surveyed his customer with curiosity. 1 Seeing a pipe in the visitor's hand, the offer of tobacco was made and accepted. A solemn silence ensued, which lasted for a few minutes. My friend got up, when the manager in serious tones said, "Will you stay and lunch?" to which the answer, " I don't mind if I do," was given. The lunchpassed olf agreeably, and when the two had eaten and talki dW to tlieir hearts' content, they vacated tho table, and, repairing to the bank, the change for the note was given to my friend. After a parting shake of th» hand he ventured to j ob'sprve that there did not seem to be much business stirring. " No," returned the bank official ; " this is the best stroke of business I have done for 6omc days." Under the heading of "Important, if True," the Montreal Herald recently had an article on a discoveiy alleged to have been made in California, which may ptove oae°of the most beneficial yet made known. It is stated , that a jet of petroleum, of a diameter not exceeding »fe^ of a goos«-quilli being ignited within a furnace of two feet by five, and a jet of steam being directed upon it, an intensely hot name vs produced, filling the chambei of tlfo furnace, ami of such power as to melt the hardest metali. j The inventor, one Dr Ireland, states that he could furnish , fuel to a steamer for a voyage from San Francisco to A Panama and back for 2^o dollais, with & quantity of mate- W n.il the whole weight of v\hc!i would not exceed twtufcy-