Billys Promotion

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 June 1904, Page 189

Billys Promotion

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HlH^ ITTLE Billy was stockman (jjk^ and horse-breaker on Ulß'i Howard's line station Bl^h awa y U P on tne CanterW&P' bury Plains. He general\L\j£ ly exercised one of the ifefcj colts on Sundays by rid/*A"i ing- over to Cockatoo Leng&yT nox's farm. Miss Lottie, '■' a plump, rosy-cheeked, little country beauty was the attraction. But complications arose when a rival appeared on the scene in the person of Mr. Hilton Hindmarsh, who had just purchased a bush hotel in the quaint little saw -mill township of Oxford. Lottie's sentiments may be gathered from her remarks to her elder sister as she caught sight of Billy, one Sunday, jumping the slip-rails and cantering across the paddock on a lively youngster. Here comes Billy, he's a merry little soul, different to the gawks of boys one generally sees about here. He's awfully fond of me, but I'm not quite hard enough up for an admirer to take an absurd little Cannikin with red hair, goggle eyes

and bandy legs. He rides divinely, J "11 admit, and looks a perfect little darling on a horse, but to see him on foot is enough to make a cat laugh. I'll have a jolly ride with him, though, if the other boy doesn't turn up. If he does, you can have Billy, Mary." Mary did not reply, but she could not help thinking how annoying it was that Billy would persist in singeing himself in the flame of her sister's beauty, when, if he had only come to her, she would have but this does not concern us now. " Another new nag, Billy !" exclaimed Lottie as the young stockman pulled up the perspiring colt at the gate. " A bit of breeding in him, isn't there ? He shaped well at the slip-rails, but he isn't a beauty. Where did Mr. Howard get him f " "Right, as usual, Miss Lottie, he's got breeding in him, and no mistake. I laid the 'boss on to a pen of colts, going for a song, at Eangiora horse-fair, just because he was with them. Dry season ; no one wanted colts. He was a half-

starved little scrubber, not as big as a good yearling, though he was turned two then. His mother died, I've heard, and he was brought up on the bucket,. and it didn't agree with him. I've christened him the Orphan. He's furnished fine since we got him, but he'll never be very big. Somehow, I've a notion if he was trained, he might pull off the North Canterbury Cup. But the boss won't hear of it. He's run so many dufiers in his time that he's sworn oft' racing."

" Billy, you must be either mad or joking ! You might as well try and fly as win the Cup with a little runt like that ! Why, Mr. Hindmarsh is going to enter that beautiful bay of his, Defamer, the horse that ouylit to have beaten Sorcerer

at Christcliurch if his jock hadn't sold the race, and Sorcerer will be running, too ! But you're joking — of course you are. Put the colt in the stable, and come and get dinner. There's Mary calling. We want to g - et it over early, for J expect Mr. Hindmarsh up directly, he's going to take me for a ride this afternoon, so you'll have to be satisfied with Mary. You haven't met him yet. He's such a handsome fellow. You'll like him immensely."

Billy doubted it exceedingly, but did not say so. After dinner, Mr. Hilton Hindmarsh, a tall, wellbuilt, dark-complexioned man arrived on his fine thoroughbred, Defamer. One glance as Lottie introduced him was enough to show Billy that he and the poor little Orphan were completely eclipsed.

They set out for their ride. Much as Billy liked Mary, he was not in the mood to appreciate her company on this occasion. Unlike her sister, she never appeared to advantage on horseback, a fact Billy had never particularly noticed before. Lottie rode the 'best horse. He was not supposed to be quiet enough for Mary. On no account would Lottie allow Mary, who had been a mother to them all since poor Mrs. Lennox's death, to run any risks. So Mary rode the spring-

cart horse, which rolled along 1 as if he missed the guidance of the shafts or plough-furrow. To make matters worse, the new habit had been made a trilie too small for Mary's robuster form, but fitted Lottie to perfection. So Mary had to put up with her mother's, which had been taken in to lit the girls, and let out by sections as they grew, destroying the little symmetry it ever possessed. But the more homely Mary was very proud of her younger sister's beauty, and curiously enough, had never deemed her own personal appearance worthy of consideration before, but to-day old Pat seemed to roll worse than ever, and the nondescript cut and longforgotten colour of the old habit worried her as it had never yet done. Billy's behaviour did not improve matters. He seemed as stupid as a mopoke, and had not even as much to say. He had never been so curiously affected in his life before, and attributed it to the weather when Mary bantered him. The day had been a glorious one, but now the heat became unusually oppressive, and a strange stillness pervaded the air. The songs of birds were hushed, and the usual hum of insect-life was absent. Round Lottie and her cavalier, as they cantered gaily along in the distance, this strange stillness did not exist. Their merry voices and ringing laughter effectually dispelled it, but Mary and Billy felt it in all its weird intensity, and wondered what it could portend.

They did not wonder long, a rustle suddenly rose in the sweeping tussock and sweet scented manuka scrub ; a chill puff of wind struck their hot cheeks and startled them ; a distant rumble, at first scarcely audible, then gradually increasing, followed. Looking; southward in the direction of the sound, they saw whirling masses of dark clouds rolling down over the lower ridges at the foot of the mountain range which skirted the plain, covering Mt. Torlesse's mighty crest and the neighbouring heights with an ink-

black pall. Ever and anon, dense portions were torn adrift by unseen forces only to be hurled back into the main body with infernal discord. Fiery darts of vivid lightning flashed forth, and the blaring booms of terrific thunder-claps rent the air.

cloud mass was spreading its de-struction-dealing wings far out across the plains, discharging on its way a steel-grey sheet of phenomenal hail-stones, from the approaching front of which the glittering rays of the sun fell back, shivered, as it were into millions of sparkling fragments. The darting 1 tongues of lurid flame increased, and deafening reports at ever decreasing intervals drowned for a time the crashing rattle of the hail on the stony soil.

Above their heads the summer sun still shone, supremely careless of the war of elements raging so furiously in the distance, and even now approaching with incredible swiftness. Already the dense black

It was evident that a start must be made for home, no nearer shelter was available. Lottie and her companion soon outdistanced the other two. It was only with the utmost -difficulty that Billy could restrain his plunging- colt to the sober pace of Mary's phlegmatic mount, on which a stout supplejack wielded with all the force of her vigorous young arm made but little impression. Nearer and nearer came the relentless storm. For them there could be no escape from its terrific fury. Hailstones of phenomenal size struck their horses and themselves with stinging force, and danced a mad, mocking measure on the sun-baked earth, cutting- every green thing to ribbons. It was too much for the Orphan, he became entirely unmanageable and bolted. Glancing hack at his companion, Billy saw with horror old Pat trip over some loose stones on the track, and fall heavily on his nose and knees. Then his head doubled under him, and with a dull thud he rolled over on his back with a broken neck and his rider beneath him. Mary gave one scream of affright as he fell, and then was silent. Billy's 1 blood ran cold at the sight. He did his utmost to turn his flying colt back on the track, but in vain. His eye caught a clump of stunted manuka scrub, lashed to the ground by the fury of the storm, by the side of the track. With the energy of despair he pulled suddenly on one rein, and, striking the terrified colt sharply on the other side of his head with his whip, he drove him madly into the tangled scrub. Clinging round his legs, it tripped him up, and flung his rider clear of him oil the yielding branches. In a moment Billy was on his legs and running back to Mary's assistance. With almost superhuman effort he rolled the horse off her, and placed her apparently lifeless body in a more comfortable position, bending over her to protect her ashen face from the stinging hail. Contact with the stony earth had torn open

the jacket of the despised habit, and there were cruel scratches on the fair white skin of neck and bosom thus exposed.

Billy tenderly re-arranged the torn clothing. As he did so, he noticed a small silver locket he had once given Lottie, containing his portrait. Lottie had then vowed she would never part with it. But he had no time to think of this now. A low moan of pain escaped the poor girl. It was a welcome sound to him, for it proved that there was still life in her. Billy never entirely forgot that moment, nor the radiant smile of gratitude which shone on her pain-stricken face when at last she opened her eyes, and regained sufficient consciousness to recognise who it was that had saved her from the jaws of death. " Can this be Mary ?" he asked himself, wonderingly — " Mary, whose features I have always considered homely V and then he tried to assist her to rise from the ground. It was useless. She could not stand.

The storm had by this time passed on to spread ruin and desolation on fresh fields, here it could do no more. Placing his coat under the poor girl, Billy made her as comfortable as possible, and ran to the place where he had left the colt effectually tangled in the broken scrub. Drawing his sheath-knife, which, bushman-like, he always carried in his belt, he slashed away and quickly freed him, mounted and galloped off to the farm for assistance.

Poor Lennox was leaning over the fence of his fine wheat paddock, moodily gazing at the waste of battered straw and plump ripe grains, lying in sad profusion in the mire amid half-melted hailstones. This was all that now remained of what a short half-hour ago had been a golden expanse of shimmering yellow stalks, each proudly upholding a well-filled ear. It had been a splendid crop, and promised to pay off the mortgage on his farm and

leave him a free man, and now

" It's all riddled out and cut to ribbons, thur's not one grain left in the straw/ he muttered to his sturdy boys who stood by his side. " The year's work is clean wasted. Not a mossel left to keep us in bread till next 'arvest, let alone fur seed. They talk about thur merciful an' all-powerful God ! I doan't reckon so very much, arter all, o' Ms mercy, when 'Ed go out o' 'Is way to send a 'ail-storm in 'arvest and ruin the crops o' a poor strugglin' man as couldn't a done 'Im much 'arm. No, nur 'Is power neither, when 'E makes waste o' good bread stuff like yon, what'd 'a fed 'undreds an' 'undreds o' them as is starvin'* fur want o' it. Thur's more nur two thousand bushel lyin' thur, an' as good a sample as a man need axe to see. It'd more nor a paid the mortgage off, but now thur's nought to pay even th' interest. The place'll 'aye to go, thur's no other way fur it."

It was at this moment that Billy galloped up, and tried to get the poor man to understand that his daughter was badly hurt. He did not at first fully realize it. A fall from a horse was of too frequent occurrence in the wild gallops of his boys and girls over the rough plains after refractory cattle for him, to anticipate anything* worse than a good shaking-. But when they brought her home, and the doctor gave it as his opinion that, though she might suffer little pain, the rest of her life would have to be spent on a sofa, he groaned aloud, and rebelled yet more bitterly against the powers that be.

For some few Sundays Billy did not visit the farm, he heard at the township that Mary was getting on as well as could be expected. He objected strongly to meeting his rival. At last he could stay away no longer. By some odd chance, he thought, Hindmarsh might not be there, in which case, Heaven would open to him again. He went, but only to learn that Heaven does not often open. Riding up on the soft, Voi, X.— No. 3.— 13

soundless turf, he heard voices in the stable. They were those of Hindniarsh and Lennox. They angered him exceedingly, for he jumped to the conclusion that the blackguard was making the old man an offer for his daughter — at least this was how he phrased it in his own mind. As a rule, Billy was above listening, but this was an exception. He pulled the Orphan into a slower walk round the back of the stable, and listened intently. His hastily-formed conclusion was incorrect. The old man was offering Hindmarsh a certain share in his farm, if he would advance sufficient money to pay interest on the mortgage and certain outstanding accounts. Hindmarsh regretted extremely that his late investment in hotel property had used up all his spare cash, but if Lennox could wait till after the next North Canterbury race meeting, he would be in funds, and would gladly do it. This was a safe promise, for he knew full well that Lennox could not wait.

"Wait till then I" exclaimed the poor man, " you might as well axe me to fly. That thur interest is clue next week, an' if it isn't thur to the minute, old Baggs'll foreclose. 'E's got 'is eye on the place fur 'isself. It's cruel 'ard arter all our graft. Me an' the boys' ll 'aye to start road contractin' or the like. It cuts me to the 'cart to 'aye to chuck it up, an' begin again at the beginnin'."

Billy had heard enough, and decided on a course of action. He loosened the rein and rode up. Hindrnarsh nodded to him cooly and walked off to the house to see the girls, saying to himself as he went :

" I'm deuced sweet on Miss Lottie, it's true ; but not half sweet enough to invest money in the old man's shingle-bank of a farm. Billy can step in and do it if he has the needful, which I very much doubt. He'd reckon on helping the dad, and getting the daughter as a reward. But the girl of this period doesn't play that way. She eggs on the softy to do his darndest for her dad or her-

self, as the case may be, and then marries the fellow she loves — and that's me ! So, wire in, Billy, and I'll stand by and scoop the pool."

" Now, Lennox," said Billy to the old man, who was leaning in a dejected manner on the corn-bin ; " I overheard your offer and its refusal. Don't be downhearted because the first man you ask fails you. It's natural after losses like yours to want assistance. There are others as able, and a sight more willing, to help than lie is. Never say die while there's a shot left in the locker ! That's my motto, and it ain't half a bad un."

" Thur may be others, Billy, but I shan't look for 'em. It ain't in me to go beggin' among them infernal money-lenders, what'd eat a man's 'cart out, and then let him go to 'ell fur all they cared. The place must go, thur's no other way fur it !"

" But there shall be another way, Lennox ! How much is the least you could get along with ?"

" Thur's a matter o' sixty pound to be paid next week. Then what wi' a few sheep to sell, and one thing an' another, we could do fur six months, then thur'd be another sixty to pay. It's cruel 'ard fur the sake of a 'undred and twenty pound to have to chuck it all up, when a year or so more work'u'd make it worth double the money what's on it."

" Hold on, old man, it isn't chucked yet ! Look here, make me the offer you made that skunk, and I'm your Moses !"

" You, Billy ! what's the good o' talking ; you ain't got it ! Yur tould me only tother day that you 'adn't been able to put nothin' by, what wi' one thing an' another. You young fellows never do."

"No more I have— anything worth bragging about ; but I could raise the sixty quid, I haven't drawn my wages for months. And I'll find a way of picking up the other sixty by the time it's wanted. So it's a bargain. The farm be-

longs to Lennox and Co., mind that !"

Lennox grasped the hand of the kind-hearted little friend who had lifted such a weary weight off him, with a grip that made Billy squirm.

'' Billy, my lad," he said in a voice trembling with emotion, " a while ago you saved the life o' my lass, an' now you've saved th' farm, an' me, too, as like as not. I can stand 'ard graft as well as most, but money worries is what kills me. God bless ye, little Billy, 1 say ! An' I feel 'E will, fur I 'aven't never axed 'Im to do overmuch fur me, not like them as is always worrittin' 'Im fur every little thing', instead o J bucklin' to an' gettin' it fur theirselves. An', Billy, if I could persuade Lottie to be o' my mind, you should 'aye 'er tomorrer, by yosh, you should ! Little an' all as you be, you'd make her a better 'usband than yon proud, peacocky feller ! 'E's no count, 'c ain't ! Tluir's yarns flyin' about 'im that I'm beginnin' to think thur's somethin' in. But thur's no turnin' Lottie. She takes after th' old woman what's gone \"

" Not a word about that. Lennox/' replied Billy, as soon as lie could get in a word. "It isn't business, but this is, pure and simple. T'm an infernal moneylender for the occasion. 1 see a good chance of acquiring property, and I nab it on the nail, and expect good interest for my money out of it. That's all about it."

" Well, if 1 haven't a nerve, it's a caution !" he said to himself, as he rode home that night. " Here have I, not only promised to give old Lennox all the ready coin 1 have in the world ; but I've undertaken to find as much more in a few months. My heart ran away with my head that trip, and no mistake. The poor old man was so awfully cut up, I couldn't for the life of me help chipping in. Well, it's got to be done, there's no getting away from that. If I could only get the boss to run

the Orphan for the North Canterbury Cup, I might make it as easy as shelling' peas. The boss has got to do it, and that's all about it ! It won't be an absolute certainty, but well-trained — and 1 wasn't in Turner's stable at Riecarton for nothing—it'll be as good as one. He'll have a rattling good show, even against that big brute, Hindmarsh cracks up so. Heigh o ! 1 only wish 1 was even as certain of winning Lottie as I am of the Orphan pulling off the Cvp — if he starts !" he concluded with a heavy sigh.

The rest of his reflections are better left unrecorded. It was a pity this thought crossed his mind, it spoilt the genuine feeling" of satisfaction with which the happy-go-lucky little fellow regarded his exceedingly risky solution of the difficulty before him.

The task he had set himself of inducing 1 his employer to run the colt was no easy one. That gentleman had often raced horses which he deemed good enough to win stakes, but his judgment had almost invariably been at fault, and he vowed he'd never run a horse again. His noted ill-luck — or rather the class of horses he ran, had subjected him to much good-humoured chaff from his friends, and he detested chad. He knew that Billy was perfectly beside himself about this colt, and also that youths who have been in training-stables invariably imagine they have reached the summit of occult knowledge pertaining to horse-flesh, and when they fancy a horse., look down with sublime contempt on those of their elders who venture to hold other opinions. This boded ill for Billy's scheiro.

One day, however, the little stockman was riding the colt across the disused training-track in the horse paddock, his employer was with him on Taihoa, an animal which had carried his colours nearer to victory than any of the others, and had consequently been kept as a favourite hack. Billy slyly suggested that they should have a gallop once round. Howard consented, confident that Taihoa could give the Orphan four stone and a bad defeat. He regarded it as an excellent chance of taking the conceit out of Billy. But the Orphan won with plenty to spare. On the morrow a lighter weight was put on Taihoa, and they were again sent round. The result was the same. The Orphan beat Taihoa just about as badly as the crack did in the last race he had contested in public. As he witnessed these two trials, Howard's love of racing revived, and the result was that the Orphan was entered for the North Canterbury Cup, and Billy set to work to ■train him in earnest.

As the race day drew near, Billy became somewhat anxious and disturbed. It was not that his faith in his little favourite wavered, for he knew that the Orphan was very fit. In the last trial, Taihoa could not live near him. But it was that he began to realize now upon how slender a thread results, which he regarded as momentous in the extreme, hung. The race is not always to the swift, and accidents often happen. On his last visit to the farm, the old man had asked him point-blank if he was certain he would be able to fulfil his engagement, as old Baga's had been again hinting at the desirability of the interest being paid on its due date. Billy had unhesitatingly answered, yes ; but he felt at the time that tilings would be very awkward if, by any mishap, the race were lost.

Billy, on the few occasions on which he now visited the Lennoxs, generally had to be satisfied with chatting to the boys or to poor

Mary on her sofa, but one day he had a few words with Lottie. " How is the Orphan getting on ?" she asked,. " Oh, he's right as rain, and as jit as a fiddle !" he replied. " But you must know, Billy, that he hasn't a ghost of a chance against Hilton's Defamer, to say nothing of the others. Whatever you do, have something on the bay. He's vastly improved since Sorcerer beat him at Christchurch ; but this is a secret. Hilton would be wild if he knew I'd given you the tip. Of course, Sorcerer' ll be the favourite,, and we want him to remain so. I couldn't help telling you, Billy. I hate to see you chuck your money away on that little weed. You always used to say you were lucky when you followed my tips. Promise me you'll put something on Defamer, do, that's a dear boy !" "Not a cent, Miss Lottie," was the concise reply. " What a fool you are to trouble your head about Billy, Lottie !" exclaimed Hilton Hindmarsh, irritably, at this moment. He had strolled up unheard on the soft turf. "If lie likes to back his mount, let him, by all means. His boss hasn't the pluck— l asked him yesterday— but if Billy's game, I'll oblige him to any extent at Ions; odds." " Thank you, Mr. Hindmarsh, but I prefer doing my business with the tote. It's safer and straighter, I know what Fm doing then," replied Billy stiffly. " Well, I'll give you starting price, but you haven't the pluck ! I guessed as much !" cried the other. " Haven't I ? That's where you make the mistake. Here's a tenner, anyhow. Starting price, mind !" remarked Billy, hotly, regardless of Lottie's whispered : " Please don't, Billy." The momentous day arrived. The first three races held no interest for Billy ; he kept his small resources for the Cup. He had made up his mind to put another £10, the last of his available cash, on the Orphan.

In the saddling paddock all eyes were turned on Sorcerer and Defamer. The Orphan was dismissed with curt, uncomplimentary remarks. "Howard's struck the summit this time, entered one of his stock-ponies, with the stockman up V " How's that for a Cup candidate V " About his usual form, only more so \" Billy heard them all, but they did not trouble him. The numbers were up, the field was limited to six. As the race was regarded as a match between the topweights, Sorcerer and Ueiamer, there had been many withdrawals. The Orphan came last on the nst with much the lightest weight.

" They're off \" was the cry as the starting-bell rang. Howard watched the start anxiously. It was a good one from his point of view, for as the flag fell the Orphan shot several lengths ahead of his horses like a stone from a catapult. Billy had secured a capital start, at all events. " Let him go," said Sorcerer's jockey to Defamer's, " we shan't have any trouble catching him when he's let off steam a bit \" And he went, there was no mistake about that, the pace from the start was a " cracker !"

" The infernal little fool, he's overdoing' it ! He must have lost his head, no horse could Dossibly keep that \m \" muttered Howard to himself. Still Billy did not perceptibly steady his mount. As they raced past the stand for the first time, the Orphan led by twenty lengths, Defamer and Sorcerer came striding 1 along', side by side, in his rear, their jockeys closely watching 1 one another. The other three followed in irregular order ; they were already out of it. All eves were on

the game little black. "He nrast come back to his horses !" they exclaimed loudly. Yes, they were certain of it. See, the distance between them was lessening' ! Still side by side, still with a sharp eye on one another's tactics, the two favourites were gradually overhauling the plucky little outsider. Then, evidently satisfied that they could

do it easily enough later on, and not caring to force the pace over much, they eased off slightly, each reserving his horse for the desperate struggle for pride of place which they were confident must be fought out between them — and them only, in the straight.

Billy was jubilant when he saw this move, and cautiously increased his lead by several lengths without in the least distressing his mount. He was free ! He knew it ! He felt it in every bounding stride of the grand little horse ! The prize was his, as safe as if he held it in his hand !

But wait ! What is this ? His onponents had at last awakened to the full sense of their danger, and were now coming fast. As the thundering hoof-beats sounded closer and yet closer, a cold chill flashed through Billy's nerves. He applied whip and spur, but the colt did not appear to him to respond. They must have been playing with him all along. It was all up, he feared !

But the Orphan also heard the thud of approaching- hoofs, and caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the flying horsemen bearing down on him. It had a better effect than his rider's whip and spurs, and lent him the wings of the wind. Round the curve into the straight they flew like animals possessed ! Billy still retained the lead, but how loner could he keep it ? This was a Question lie could not answer. Still side by side, but no longer watching one another, his pursuers plied whip and spur mercilessly in their frantic efforts to catch the wiry little black. The greater length of their horses strides. told perceptibly, and the space between them was fast closing up.

Never in his after life did Billy forget the concentrated agony of that moment. While yet doing his best mechanically to reach the post, he was as one in a frightful nightmare ! It was his first race, and so much det) ended on it. He saw the post before him, but it seemed to

draw no nearer. His horse appeared to him to be standing still. The others were even now on him.

The din of confused shouts from the excited crowd was terrific ! " The Orphan has it !" "Sorcerer for a pound !'' " Sorcerer \" "Defamer's coming through \" "A dead-heat !" ' r The Orphan ! The Orphan !'"' Billy, in his confused state could not even distinguish the cries. All he knew was that his horse could do no more. A Hash of colour, indescribably mixed, whirled past him in a cloud of dust, and he knew all was over ! All then was lost fatally, irretrievably lost ! Scarcely knowing what he did, he pulled up the foaming, panting little horse, and looked for the post ! It, too, was lost ! In the fearful excitement of that last moment, he did not know that the post was passed while the Orphan had yet a head the best of the contest. For the judge's verdict was : " The Orphan, by a head ! Sorcerer second, with Defamer on his quarter \"

it was the best contested race ever run on that course, another yard and the order of the two first horses must have been reversed. Gamely as the Orphan ran, he could have stood the strain no longer. Every ounce that was in him he gave willingly, there was, however, a limit to his endurance, and he had reached it, but he had reached the post first. It afterwards appeared that the jockeys who rode the first and second favourites had received similar instructions, which they carried out to the letter. They were to watch one another and ride accordingly. Their respective employers were confident there was nothingelse in the race worth watching. The despised little horse had won by a fluke— even Billy admitted that —but he had won ; the manner of his winning was a matter of supreme _ indifference to the jubilant little jockey.

The totalisator proclaimed a dividend of £93. Billy's winnings amounted to £18G0, to say nothing

[June, 1904

of his riding fee, which his owner made a liberal one.

Lottie did not marry Hindmarsli . His losses over the Cup, and failure to pay them, brought him out in his true colours, and she did not like the shade. Her ambition to be the landlady of an hotel vanished. Billy's delight when he heard the news was unbounded. He rode up to the farm on the Sunday after the races. Lottie met him at the garden gate.

" Ah, Billy, here you are again on the dear little Orphan," she exclaimed. " Give me the little hero's reins, and ]'ll take him to the stable, and feed him with my own hands. Now, off with the saddle and bridle, and give him a rub down ! That's right ! See how he enjoys my petting- him !"

'' He'd have horribly bad taste if he didn't/' replied Billy, as she looped her shapely arms round the colt's neck, and pressed her rosy lips to his flossy skin. " It's a sort of thing' I'd have no overpowering' objection to myself. Don't do it any more, please, it kind of makes ray mouth water !"

" 1 just shall, then, Billy, if it's only to tease you !" she retorted.

Whether she intended this effusive exhibition as a suggestive hint,, or simply playful aggravation, was doubtful. In either case it failed.

" How cleverly you rode, Billy. Though Mr. Hind'marsh put something on Defamer for me, somehow I was hoping you'd win all the time."

" No, Miss Lottie, you're wrong- ; there was no cleverness about it, barring getting away with a good start and keeping going. Half the time I scarcely knew what I was doing. First race I'd ever ridden, and so much depended on it. If I'd lost, I could never have paid your father the money I owe him for my interest in the farm. I only won by a fluke. I've had some of my conceit about the colt knocked out, I*ll admit. He isn't quite as speedy as I thought. But it was handsome of

the boss making me a present of him, wasn't it ?" " Yes, rather. You must let me have a gallop on him this afternoon, Billy ; we'll have a lovely ride." " You may try him and welcome, Miss Lottie, but I'm afraid I can't accompany you. I've promised to sit with your sister this afternoon. Get your brother to go with you." " J'm not going to be put off with Davie, you must come, Billy. I insist on it ! You're too goodnatured altogether, and it's a shame of Molly imposing on you that way. Do you know, Billy, I was quite jealous of Molly when you put a ticket on the Orphan for her, and never thought of poor me !" " You wouldn't let me, if I'd offered, Miss Lottie ; besides Hindmarsh would have knocked my head off if I'd dared propose such a thing." >l Ah, Billy, don't talk about him, please ! You know how deceived I was in him. 1 made an awful mistake. Girls do make these mistakes sometimes. I don't know how it is," she murmured, with an impressive sigh. " You're right, they do, Miss Lottie, and so do boys. I've done the same thing myself in my time. But I must be oil' now to your sister, I've got something special to say to her." " Billy, you horrid, horrid fellow, you don't mean to say " " But I do," was his laughing rejoinder, as he disappeared into the house, and was welcomed at Molly's sofa with a radiant smile, which reminded him forcibly of one he had seen on her face when she lay in his arms just after her accident. When he first approached the point in a general way, poor Mary begged him not to joke on such a subject. " What man would ever dream of marrying a woman whose days had to be spent on a sofa ?" she asked sadly. " I will, my darling Molly, and thank God for the best gift ever

given to mortal man — if you'll allow me to pass as such [" said the little fellow humbly. Through her misty, tear-filled eyes, Mary saw little Billy kneeling at her side clasping 1 her hand in his, awaiting her reply. She did not give it at once. The grand unselfishness of her pure womanly love demanded first that she should point out to him his folly in seeking to burden himself — but he would not listen to her.

" The boss was regretting I wasn't a married man the other day," he remarked later. " Wanted a married manager for the station, wife to see that the house was kept clean. Going to live in Christchurch to get the children educated. 1 told him I'd try and qualify for the billet, if it was only to oblige him and the Missus. That was how T put it, my darling Molly, but I had a reason of my own worth a million of that '."

" And so 1 might have been a station-manager's wife, with a North Canter-bury Cup winner for my pet- hack if I'd only had an atom of sense," was Lottie's rueful reflection when Mary told her of Billy's promotion.

The Orphan never raced again, and curiously enough, Billy, though he often went to races, never cared for speculating 1 . He always said that the one big risk he had run, and won by so narrow a margin, was enough of that sort of fun to last his life-time, he wasn't going to chance it again, wherein was he exceptionally wise in his generation.

The doctors never made a bigger mistake in their lives— and everyone, knows they make some pretty big ones — than when they said Mary would spend the rest of her life on a sofa. Less than twelve months after her marriage, to Billy's unbounded delight, she was bustling about her new home as briskly and cheerily as she had ever done in the old one.

PART IV

"You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind, And the thresh of the deep-sea rain ; You have heard the song — how long! how long? Pull out on the trail again ! " Kipling.

soon as the tackles had .ifm^k been cast oft and the juryMj^jW mast, which our skipper yimm had purchased from the rJ)x' Yankee, was made fast to our b° a^ with a stout ' f|v &M towing-line, we bade fareftj^j > well to this fine Yankee i f,!TT' clipper, and taking a part%s,!' ni g glance along her splendid deck, I climbed down the rope ladder after my shipmates. We were no sooner clear of her side, than her main-yards were braced round, and with the Stars and Stripes dipping in a farewell salute to our ship, she swept away over the deep-blue of the ocean, a veritable vision of beauty. The pull back to the old " Bonita" occupied a considerable time, as the mast proved a dead weight to tow. The mate, who had been talkative enough aboard the Yankee, now sat in the stern sheets of the boat in gloomy silence, no doubt thinking how much better off he would be

aboard the " Amos Green/ with her nigger-driving officers. There was not a man on the " Bonita " that would not have hailed his transhipment with delight. It was well on towards mid-day before we got our new mast safely on our own decks, and then we had plenty to do for some days preparing it for its place at the main-topmast head.

Our Nova Scotian soon started his old tricks again, and began carrying on the work with a high hand. This naturally caused a lot of bitter feeling, and the men of our watch, thoroughly sick of his continual driving, went about everything in as slovenly a manner as possible. This sort of thing was too sultry to last, and matters reached a climax one afternoon after the mate had delivered himself of a particularly foul round of abuse at the same Russian Finn who had nearly done for him with a marlin-spike on a previous occasion. The epithets that the Blue-

nose used were so vile., that the rest of us involuntarily paused in our work, and turned to see what had caused them. The Finn, white to the lips, and with a murderous gleam in his eyes, dashed down the gear at which he had been working, and, snatching his knife from its sheath, crouched forward as if about to spring at the bully. In another moment, I firmly believe the mate would have been a dead man, had not Jack Harris, who was standing ■close by, seized the Finn by the arm. " Avast there, mate \" he cried, " don't soil your knife blade on his pig's hide, there's a reckonin' time ahead for him, an' by jingo, we'll all have a hand in it \"

The Nova Scotian was no coward, but the deadly purpose pictured in the Finn's face, and the evident knowledge that he had gone too far for once, caused him to back oft' in the direction of the poop, whilst the Finn, trembling with pent up passion, was compelled by Jack to pr.t his knife away, and return to his work. This warning had the effect of improving things a bit, and for a time the mate was careful not to play his old games too roughly.

We made very slow work of the trades, and upon getting up near the line, fell in with a most exasperating and monotonous series of dead calms. With the ill-feeling that now pervaded the ship, fore and aft, the lono 1 delay caused by these breathless days was maddening. Day after day the ship lay rolling on the lone; swell that furrowed the glassy surface of the sea. The pitch bubbled up from the seams in the deck under the scorching rays of the tropical sun, and through it all we laboured and perspired freely over the work of setting up our new mast.

What fascinated me particularly during this period, was the sudden and wonderful breaking of day, and the equally swift approach of night in the tropics. One could literally watch the daylight sweep across from horizon to horizon, and then, almost before the stars had time to

disappear, up would swing the sun, all red and fiery out of the east. In the evening the sun had only just dipped below the horizon, when darkness would spread over the eastern heavens even while the western sky still glowed with the departed glory of the day. The nights had also a wonderful fascination and charm for me. The myriads of brightly- shining stars overhead seemed set in a deep and velvety blackness, and the dark surface of the slumbering 1 ocean reflected their light in wavering, fantastic lines of silver.

One night, just after I had relieved the lookout man on the fo'c's'le head at midnight, feeling thirsty, I slipped along to the scuttle butt at the foot of the mainmast to get a drink. The night was perfectly breathless, and the great white sails that towered away above into the gloom, seemed filled with strange whispering , sounds that found an echo in the soft beating of the reef-points and clew-lines, and the occasional faint creak of a block. I had my drink, and was returning, my mind filled with the solemn peace of the night, when upon reaching the deckhouse, I was startled by a dark form suddenly rising up from the shadow of the bulwarks and confronting me. "Is that you, Maori Jack V whispered a voice which I at once recognised as that of George Hales, whom I supposed to be still locked up aft. Upon my answering in tlie affirmative, he said : " Come below quick, afore that cursed Blue-nose happens along." Wondering how he had managed to escape, and what he was about to do, I followed him.

The watch below had not yet turned in when we entered the fo'c's'le, and an excited murmur of voices arose in anxious questioning when George Hales made his appearance. " Steady there, mates," said George, raising his hand to enjoin silence. When the voices ceased he described his escape. He had managed by some means to pick the

lock of the cabin door where he was confined, and choosing the time when the watches were being changed, had. slipped out unobserved. The German was still under lock and key somewhere aft, and George was determined to try and rescue him. To this the younger members of the crew, with Jack Harris as leader, eagerly assented, and from what I could make of it a determined mutiny was imminent.

" Look here, lads \" exclaimed George, Holding out his wrists for inspection, and disclosing to our gaze the great purple bruises which encircled them. " That's the Bluenose's trade mark in manila rope, an' by heaven ! it won't be my fault if he's not wearing one like that round his neck within twentyfour hours !"

At this juncture, just as matters wore rapidly approaching a crisis, Harry Thompson, our oldest fo'c's'le hand, a man who had been at sea from early boyhood, and had sailed . to all ports of the world in craft of every r i o- and nationality, rose up from the bench where he had been sitting, and confronted us.

" Shipmates," he began, " just afore you do anything, 1 want you to listen to a few words I'm agoing to say to you. Man an' boy I've sailed the sea now these thirty years, an' I've seen several ships' crews do the same as you're a talkin' of now. But I will say this, mates, that 1 never once seed any

good come on it ! Take it straight from me, it's blamed foolishness — that's what it is ! It's bound to be jail at the finish, anyway, an' more nor once I've seed a whole ship's crew hanged for it. What I says, mates, is don't mutiny on no account ! Stow George away for'ard here somewheres till we reach port. That's out and out the best way to work it !"

I was greatly relieved to hear the old oracle deliver himself in this fashion, for I well knew the influence his words would have even on George Hales himself. And so it proved, for after an exciting parley

his plan was unanimously adopted, and preparations were at once made, to find a secure hiding-place for our shipmate. In the excitement occasioned by George's escape, I had entirely forgotten all about it being my lookout, but was suddenly recalled to a knowledge of my responsibilities by an indignant hail from the poop. Rushing- up on deck, I was just in time to hear a second hail of : " Look-out, ahoy I" bellowed out in the melodious voice of old Bluenose. "Are you asleep, there ? What light is that on the starboard bow ?'" i hastened to answer in order to show that J was awake, and then leant out over the rail to look for the light. Sure enough, away out on our starboard bow a solitary point of light was shining brightly. " Steamer's masthead light bearing down towards us, sir !" I shouted. " Why in thunder didn't you report it before, then V growled the mate. " Walking about with your eyes shut, as usual, you lazy young landlubber, you I" The temptation to give him a cheeky answer was almost too much for me, but fortunately not quite, so taking no notice, I turned my eyes on the growing point of light that twinkled as brightly as any star away on the dim line of the horizon. Within a very short space of time it was well abreast of us, and we could dimly make out the huge bulk of a fine ocean steamer. She passed us without a hail, and the dull thud, thud, of her propeller blades could be distinctly heard through the silence of the night. The passing of a vessel in the night, was always an incident full of romance and conjecture to me. It invariably set me wondering as to what ship it was, ploughing along across the trackless waste of ocean, hundreds of miles from any land, whither was she bound, and what was the cargo she carried? These questions, however, were very seldom answered, as even in the

daytime not many vessels even troubled to signal us.

By the time my watch was finished on deck, and I went below again, George Hales had been safely stowed away in the gloomy recesses of the fore peak, and all hands reckoned that it would take a pretty sharp customer to find him.

" A dainty job for the Blue-nose cod-fisher/ said Jack Harris. "He can go an' bark his bloomin' shins on the cable, and make hisself hoarse a-cussin 5 us all down there to his heart's content, an' I hope he'll break his bally neck a-doin' of it ! That's all the harm I wish him \"

The tender solicitude of these remarks was heartily endorsed by all hands, and then we turned in for our watch below. It was not the usual familiar cry of " Eight bells there, tumble up the watch below!" that roused me from the land of dreams shortly after I had turned in, but the sound of voices and shuffling- of feet in the fo'c's'le. Wondering 1 what was wrong, I sat up in my bunk, and discovered that the first mate and old Blue-nose had entered our quarters. In a flash the memory of George's escape and eventual concealment returned to me, and 1 lay back in the shadow watching the two mates, as wi+h the aid of a lantern they searched in every corner. " Fll swear he's hidden for'ard here somewhere," said the Nova Scotian. " He'd never stay anywhere aft, for certain, and he's not likely to have gone overboard." " Well," said the first mate, " for my part, I'm sick to death of the whole deshed business, and that's straight ! If he's for'ard here anywhere, he can stay for all I care- I detest this man-hunting, niggerdriving game, and what's more, I've done with it S" " You're too easy-going for these ruffians, it's easy to see that," sneered the Nova Scotian. " I'd swing half of them if I had my way." " Maybe you would/ retorted the

first mate,, " but Fll trouble you to remember that I'm senior officer of this ship, and there'll be no talk of hanging while I hold that position/

This effectually closed the conversation, and putting out the light they returned to the deck again. I was delighted at the thought that the first mate was in a certain measure taking our part in this affair ; there was a chance after all that we should not be treated so harshly when we reached port. " When we turned out, I at once told my shipmates what I had overheard.

" She'd be a good ship, this, without that forsaken Cape Cod Blue-nose," said Jack Harris ; " I've reckoned all along that our first mate is all right/

" Aye, aye, Jack/ said another, " with our first mate for skipper, and the old man an' his Blue-nose flunkey set adrift on a hatch-comb-ing, we'd be as right as rain."

During the next watch on deck the skipper ordered a fresh search to be made, a task that was eagerly undertaken by the Nova Scotian. However, as before, it ended fruitlessly, and it was with a considerable amount of elation that we watched old Blue-nose, dust-grimed and dishevelled, make his way aft again empty-handed. As for George, he fared uncommonly well in his hiding-place, being kept supplied with food, and news of what occurred on deck by different members of the crew, who took it in turns to administer to his wants.

One advantage of the spell of calm weather we were experiencing, was that it made the work of rigging up our jury-mast much easier. As it was, by the time we got across the line and fell in with the strong north-east trades, we were enabled to spread a main-topgallant sail again, which helped us along wonderfully. For a fortnight the trade winds blew fresh and steady, and we were all rejoicing at the splendid progress the ship was making, when to our great disgust we came on deck one morning to find a glassy,

unruffled sea once more surrounding us. Although the weather looked fine enough to those of us who were inexperienced, the older hands prophesied heavy weather close at hand, and Harry Thompson, who happened to be working in the fore rigging with me later on in the morning, drew my attention to a sort of dull, ruddy glow that seemed to be gradually and almost imperceptibly spreading around the horizon.

'*' That's a certain sign of a big blow, my lad," he said, " an 3 I'll bet you that the skipper's baro-

meter is tumbling down fast. We're going to have a North Atlantic gale afore twenty-four hours is out, mark my word !" Before our watch on deck was over, the sky had taken on a lurid tinge, making the sun's rays almost blood-red, and a long, ugly swell began to swing in from the Northwest, Still no attempt had been

made to shorten canvas as yet, and we went below feeling pretty sure of a sudden call within a short space of time. Our slumbers were undisturbed, however, and late in the afternoon, when we came on deck again, we found a sort of dull twilight pervading the atmosphere. The sea, too, had picked up considerably, and the old " Bonita " was pitching and rolling heavily, her masts swinging at a wide angle across the sky.

Shortly after we reached the deck,, the expected order was shouted from the poop, and at it we went as fast as we could, hauling down and clewing up. Making our way steadily from one sail to another in turn, we soon had the ship snugged down to double topsails, fore and main, then we came on deck again to await developments. Darker grew the sky overhead, and still heavier grew the grey foamless seas that swung majestically and silent-

ly down upon us in endless succession. Not a breath of wind stirred the atmosphere, and the dog vanes hung limply from the mizzen backstays. Suddenly a low, murmuring, rushing sound reached our ears coming from the north-west, and looking in that direction, we noticed a thick, grey bank of whirling spray driving swiftly towards us. " Brace up' your yards, fore and main, lively there \" roared the mate from the poop. In the face of what was coming, we needed no second bidding, but sprang to the braces and hove away for dear life. With ' a wild rush, and a shrill screaming through the rigging, the squall was upon us. Over, and yet over, lay the good ship before it, until her lee-rail became buried in the swirl and boil of the troubled waters. There she lay, tremblinglike a frightened creature as the wind boomed and thundered overhead, and the great seas, flattened by the terrific force of the wind, flung their smoking crests upon her in a blinding smother. Slowly the old " Bonita " gathered way, and swung round towards the wind, and then, rising up on something approaching an even keel, she dashed headlong into the seas. It was not until we were ordered aloft to stow the upper topsails that I realised the full force of the wind ; once above the friendly shelter of the bulwarks, however, we were beaten and buffeted until it seemed a veritable labour to raise the feet from one rope to another. Slowly we scrambled aloft until, deafened and breathless, we reached the great yards that were lying at an angle of forty-five degre.es, here after herculean efforts we managed at last to gather in the struggling canvas, and pass the gaskets snugly round. By this time it was a physical impossibility to look to windward at all as the driving spray stung our faces and hands like a whip lash. Down again on deck we struggled, to find thunderous, leaping seas flooding the ship fore and aft, making the task of reaching our quar-

ters hazardous enough ; however, by dint of watching our chances, we at last got there safely, one after another, and glad enough we were to gain the comparative comfort of the fo'c's'le. An early nightfall found us hove to under a goosewinged main-topsail, riding out what was nothing less than a hurricane. All night long the wind blew with terrific force, and the old " Bonita " plunged and rolled until it became almost an impossibility to stand upright at all. The first grey light of morning lit up a scene the wildness of which was beyond power of description. The surface of the ocean was a terrific smother of foam, the great seas appearing to be cut in half and hurled through the air in driving sheets of spray and spindrift, the force of which would pin one to the rail. Over all was a swirling succession of inkblack clouds, which flew past with incredible speed. The roar of the elements was deafening, and to go out on deck at all was to do so at the imminent risk of being swept overboard. For two days we remained hove to in this fashion, beaten and battered by the great seas that struck the ship with the force of steam hammers at every drive. On the morning of the third clay the wind fell to a strong gale, and just before mid-day the look out reported a steamer coming up astern of us. She was a long time overhauling us, although we were only " head-reaching " under lower topsails. I shall never forget her appearance as she approached us. Pitching is no name for her movements, she seemed to fairly stand on end at times. She was a large, powerful-looking tramp, of about six thousand tons, painted black above the waterline, and red 'below. Her funnel, a dingy black one, had great flakes of paint torn off it by the fury of the gale, and was crusted and streaked with 'brine from top to 'bottom. At one time her bows would be completely 'buried in a great foaming sea, then lifting up

to it, she would send tons of green rushing water sweeping aft along her decks. Up and up her bows would lift, until half her length appeared to be hanging in mid air, then with a terrific swoop she would dive into the next oncoming sea, whilst her screw spun and raced high in the air above her seething wake.

No doubt our own ship was performing in a similarly lively fashion fr£>m their point of view ; but to see the mighty fabric of the steamer's hull, dwarfed to nothing by the foaming hills of water that surrounded her, and leaping like a yacht's dingey in open water, was a sight 1 would not have missed for worlds. With the smoke from her funnel swept down low over her stern, she dipped and plunged past us, and drove away out of sight in the smother ahead, leaving us to struggle in her wake. Later on in the day the rain came down like a grey wall, blotting out everything, and the wind commenced to ease up considerably. By nightfall we had the upper topsails spread, and were driving along again in grand style.

"By jingo !" exclaimed Jack Harris, as he came below for a spell after an hour's hard graft at the wheel, " it's a blamed sight worse than coal-heavin' keeping the old hooker's nose up to this weather."

" Aye, you're r-^lit, Jack/ interposed one of the others ; " you've got to be a bit careful, or you'd ship half the bloomin' Atlantic aboard, in some of these 'ere desperate drives."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the ship plunged heavily forward, daylight suddenly disappeared from the portholes and skylight, leaving the fo'c's'le in total darkness. Then came a thunderous bang overhead, and the ship shuddered from stem to stern.

" She's gone !" shouted a voice in the dark. "By heavens, lads, we're sinking !"

There was a wild scramble for the fo'c's'le door, but at that moment the ship freed herself suddenly of the

tons of water she had shipped, and lifting up her bows, threw us all in a heap in the far corner of thefo'c's'le. The shout of laughter that arose at this incident, died away again suddenly as another terrifying crash overhead and the extinction of light heralded a second big sea on board.

"My God, lads, there's something- wrong !" cried Harry Thompson, struggling to the door. " Bear a hand here, and let's get on deck." Slowly the old " Bonita " rose again to the daylight, and as soon as we could see in the fo'c's'le, we made for the door and scrambled on deck. The sight that met our eyes there was little short of appalling. The starboard bulwarks had been torn away from the fore to the main rigging, the fore-end of the deckhouse was stove in, two of the boats had disappeared, and no one was to be seen at the wheel. Harry Thompson and Jack Harris at once dashed for the poop, and grasping the wheel, were only just in time to keep the ship from falling off into the trough of the sea. Immediate danger having been thus averted, search was at once made for the missing helmsman. He was found lying unconscious, jam'bed under the poop-rail. The skipper and mates now rushed up on deck, having been shut in the stateroom by a great flood of water that had pretty well filled the ship aft. It was well for us that our hatches had stood the strain, or our ship would undoubtedly have foundered under the weight of water that came aboard in those two- enormous seas. The fact of our having shipped two such heavy seas in succession when the weight of the gale had 'blown over is easily explained. Every experienced mariner knows that seas invariably become more dangerous as the wind lessens and allows them to rear their crests higher. In consequence they break much more heavily, and the slightest error in steering will bring a great sea consisting of tons upon tons of dead weight, full upon the

ship. This, as we ascertained afterwards, when the helmsman regained consciousness, was just what had happened in this case. The first sea had come upon the ship when she had fallen away from her course a trifle in the trough of a preceding one. The man at the wheel did his best to fetch her head up to it, but as he described it, the wave loomed as high as the fore-topsail yard. Then in an instant it fell, and filled the ship up to the top of the bulwarks. He remembered seeing a mass of foaming water rushing to-

wards him over the poop rail, and then he was hurled with terrific force to the deck, and according to his own version, " had his toplights soused in one act !" The rest of that night's steering in such a sea was anxious work, and only the oldest and most experienced hands were put at the wheel. However, we luckily got through the night with no more mishaps, and on the following day both wind and sea moderated considerably.

(to be continued.)