The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-13 00:00:00

THE MARKETS.

MARK-LANE.
At Mark-lane the attendance was not good, and the In-
quiry for wheat very much restricted. The weather is
unpropitious for threshing out the English wheat, and the
supplies coming on offer are consequently restricted, yeti
here, as well as in the country markets, prices hardly hold
their own. With regard to flour, the corslition of ti's trade
is much the same, English remaining about unaltered- 01
foreign wheat and sour the imports are in exceas of re•
onirements, and for both the tendency of prices is weak.
The barley trade on the spot is very dull, and prices favous
buyers. Beans meet very little inquiry, and rates are with-
out quotable change. Peas closed Is lower on the week.
The market for oats opened with holders asking Friday's
improved rates; but the close was dull and rates not up to
that day's currency, but narrowed the advance on the
week to 3d per qr. The floating cargo trade has teen
stagnant, prices in a great measure nominal, and the tone
depressed.
METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.
Cattle supplies fairly good, and included a full proportion
of first quality beef, for which the demand was steady;
secondary sorts were ,dull., and not in all oases supp,)rted.
The imported cattle, on the average, was a good selection.
especially the Canadian. Prices of these ruled at 5s to
5s 2d, occasionally rather over. Of sheep the number was
Is written unchanged.... Best Here-
small, and prices mostly 2d Rer 81b. higher. CE Ives sold
second quality beasts, 5s to 5s 4d ; inferior, 4a to 4s Fd ;
fsolorwd,lynn.
~Trtiheittpsi,gsstrasade
to
53
bast,
Hi
jorahrns,
rs
ta;
best Downs and half binds, Be to 6s 4d ; best Kent's, Go-.
5s led •to 6s; second qualities and ewes, 5s to 59 6d;
calves. 48 4d to 58 8d: pigs, 49 to 4s 8d per 81b, sinking
the offal. Total supplies-2630 beasts; 8440 sheep, and
310 calves. •

, METROPOLITAN MEAT MARKET.
reef trade a shade better. Mutton dull. Pork firm.
Eeef, prime, 48 ed to ss; middling, sto43 4d ; inferior,
3s to 38 Bd. Mutton, prime, 58 to 50 441; middling. 4s 4d
to 4s Ed; inferior, 's 4d to 3s Bd. Lamb, 58 4d to es ;
foreign, 58 to 5s &I. Veal, prime. 4s Fd to ; middling,
4s to 4s 4d• inferior, 38 4d to 3s 84. Pork, prime, 48 8d
to 5, •, middling, 4s 44.1 to 48 ed ; inferior, as Bil to 48
Der Sib.

•
:Good supply.
.Quiet;elemand. rarbot, 2s cd to 12a; brill,
2:to 5s- cod' 2s Sd; red Mullet, 8d; grey mullet, is 6d ;
mackerel, 3d each •, salmon, is Id ; grilse, is 3dl. trout,
Is Gd ; eels, 9d per lb.; flonnders, 2s 6d per -quartei•n ; dory,
108 ; haddocks, Cs; whiting, 9s; plaice, 255; Glasgow her-
rings, 25s per box. • 4
GAME AND POULTRY.
Partridges, is 3fl. to 2s 6d ; grciuse, 2s fkbto 4istxl ; blark
game, is ; wild ducks, 28 to 2S 8d; widgeon, Is 6d t
IM ; hares, 3s 6d to ss; whitq,Scotch ditto, 2s 3d t)
Cs; rabbits, Is Od to 28 ' • wild ditto. is 3d to is 6d ; capons,
4S to 58 Od ; pullets, 2s 6d to 3s; chickens, Is 3d to is 6d;
gesitngs, 5s to Cs; and ducklings, 2s to 3s each.

POTATOES.
There was a good supply of potatoes on Fele, for which
the demand was quiet, as follows :—Kent kidneys, 70s to
;. ditto Regents. 70s to Scis ; Essex Shwa, 65s to 704.
'magnum bonunis. SOs to 901 Der ton.

-
...

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
AMBITION'S LADDER.
By the Author of " Atherstone Grange," " A Life for
a Lore," c.

CHAPTER XIV.
DROUGHT TO BAY.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
NEARLY opposite the lane in which stood Joe Brad-
ley's abode was a ramshackle, low-fronted public-
house, known as the "Jolly Bargeman," an in-
vcription above the door setting forth that " GOOD
BEDS" could therein be secured by single men for
the moderate charge of sixpence per night, payable
in advance ; and underneath, in smaller letters, that
the proprietor, Timothy Bunce, was licensed to sell
beer, wine, and spirits to be drunk on the premises,
to such of the Majesty's lieges as stood in need of

_
those refreshments.
Inside the bar, about noon of the day precedi-g
Dr. Sampson's visit with Mr. Sartoris, stood the
owner of the establishment, one hand buried in the
capacious pocket of his apron, the other supporting
a long pipe—for business was slack just then, and
he had time to indulge in the soothing weed and
ruminate over those arbitrary provisions of the law
which weigh so heavily on his oppressed and over-
burdened class, even to the iniquitous extent of
interfering with their domestic arrangements.
And, indeed, Mr. Timothy Bunco had just cause
for the wrath which filled his brast and clouded his
brow, for only that very morning in the course
of a public interview between himself and the polite
but ruthless administrator of the law who occupied
the bench at the Lambeth Police Court, he had
been mercilessly mulcted in a sum of five pounds,
and the conviction endorsed upon his license, for
having imbibed rather more than was good for him
of his own liquors, and been found very much
under the influence of his potations by a police-
man called in to quell a slight disturbance in the
bar.
Had it so occurred, indeed, that he had been
"overcome" when away from home Mr. Bunco
would have paid the penalty of his idches not only
willingly, but without thought of disputing its
justice, but to be invaded beneath the sanctuary of
his own roof-tree! to owe his ignominious position to
the evidence of one who never passed his door dry-
lipped ! appeared to Timothy Bunco such an ir-
ruption upon his rights as a free-born Briton and
retailer of the beverage which is tho Englishman's
•nainstay—as such an act of treachery on the part
)f the official who, forgetful of past favours, had
denounced him—that the worthy host of the " Jolly
Bargeman" may well be held excused for feeling
wrathful on the subject of his wrongs, and dilating
upon them in no measured language to all and
sundry of his customers, who for the most part
joined warmly in his denunciations of the law
and the informer who had betrayed him into its
meshes.
"What's things a-coming to I'd like to know ?"
Mr. Bunco demanded, fiercely, bringing down his
clenched fist with a heavy thump upon the counter
to emphasise his words. "A pretty sort of free-
dom, ain't it, when a man mustn't get quietly
boozed in his own bar-parlour, when he can sleep it
off quite quiet and no one a ha'porth the worse. A
Englishman's house ain't his castle, I say, when such
"goings on is allowed."
'All which, and much more objurgatory language
to the same effect, which need not be more par-
ticularly specified, was greeted by his sympathising
hearers with murmurs of approval and unqualified
condemnation of X 2000, through whose instrumen-
tality Mr. Bunce had been made to suffer; and as
talking is dry work, a considerable number of
frothed-up tankards were put in circulation, a result
which tended in some degree to mollify the aggrieved
landlord, whose ire diminished as he swept pile after
pile of dirty copper coin into the till, upon which the
magistrate's decision that morning
Shad made so
serious an inroad.
By-and-by, however, as their thirst became
quenched, or the means of satisfying it nolonger re-
mained, while a gaudily-painted work of art sus-
pended in the bar depicting the lifeless form of a
dog stretched out before an empty beer-barrel,
with the legend underneath, "Pcor Trust is dead,"
was one well enough understood by Mr. Bunce's
customers to prevent them from entertaining any
hope of procuring more liquor without ready money,
they gradually dropped off till their host was left
in solitary enjoyment of his own thoughts and the
pleasant consciousness that trade had been un-
commonly brisk that day.
Suddenly, however, a sight met Mr. Bun ces eyes
which inspired him with virtuous indignation.
Through the open door of the tap-room he could see,
seated in the far corner, the figure of man a who had
-come in more than an hour ago, and been served but
once with a glass of ale, which:remained untasted on
the table beside him. _ _

- This abstinence was not at all in accordance with
what Mr. Bunce considered due either to the ex-
cellence of his tap or the fact that the stranger—for
the solitary occupant of the tap-room was a stranger
—was enjoying the shelter of his roof and the
warmth of his fire at an outlay absurdly small for
such advantages.
But though Mr. Bunce, hoping to rouse his un-
profitable customer, bustled about with a great deal
of unnecessary noise, he was not successful in his
object, the stranger, a little, wizened man of elderly
appearance, never lifting his eyes from the paper in
which he seemed utterly absorbed.
"He ought to have got it learnt off by 'art all
this time,' grumbled the landlord to himself.
"Wonder what he is? Looks respectable l'll
see if I can't get him to speak. Fine sharp day,
'air."

"Yes," laconically replied the stranger.
"But cold," added Mr. Bunce, stirring the fire.
" Cold certainly."
"Be a frost before night, I'm thinking."
"Very likely." .
The subject of the weather did not appear to ofTer
a very promising field for opening up a conversation,
and Mr. Bunco returned to the attack in another
guise.

"I'm afraid your liquor's not to your taste, sir,"
he said.

"Oh, quite! Very good beer," returned the other,
still without changing his position.
"And a little of it goes a long way, doesn't it ?"
sarcastically observed Mr. Dunce. "You judge by
the smell of it, I suppose, sir? Leastways, what
you've drunk a fly might have in his eye and see no
worse for."

Here the stranger, noting the suppressed wrath
in Mr. Bunce's accents, looked up with an amused
smile.
"I fancy I'd forgotten all about it, he said.
" I've let it stand till it has turned flat, I daresay.
Take the glass away and bring me a pint of your
best, will you F"
Somewhat mollified by this order, Timothy Bunce
obeyed, returning to the tap-room to find that during
his absence the taciturn stranger had been joined by
a companion.
A young man, judging by his figure, but his
features so concealed by a thick woollen comforter
that covered the lower part of his face, and a soft
felt hat brought well down over his eyes, that the
landlord could not make them out, though something
familiar in the general appearance of the new arrival
prompted him to make the attempt; so he retreated at
last to his snuggery behind the bar, foiled for the
time, but determined not to let the mysterious
stranger depart without making another effort to
get a good look at him.

A re-solve in which he was strengthened by the
intelligence whispered in his ear by the potboy, who
assisted him in his business, that the wizened-
looking elderly man who had been waiting there
•so long was no less a person than a well-known
inspector of police at Scotland Yard, Pounceby by
name.
"And if t'other one is who I'm most sure he is
-though he has wrapped himself up so close—there's
something a-goin' on as ain't square," muttered Mr.
Bunco. "I'll make quite sure first, in case I might
be mistaken."

And ensconcing himself behind the door he drew
aside a little corner of the red curtain which screened

the panes of glass in the upper part, and waited his
Opportunity.
His patience was not put to any very severe test,
for scarcely five minutes was sufficient to conclude
the interview in the tap-room, whose occupants
then came forth and stood to exchange a few parting
sentences in the empty bar, quite unconscious that
from his post of vantage Mr. Bunce could hear
distinctly every word that passed between them,
and what was worse—for without the further know-
ledge the few brief words he overheard would have
been unintelligible to him —recognised the last comer
beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"So !" muttered Timothy Dunce, as, after the two
men had taken their departure in opposite directions,
he emerged from his place of concealment with
rather a disturbed and uneasy look upon his face,
" I was nothing wrong, after all. No need to take
long in guessing what it all means. 'lt must be
done to-night, Master Alick, must it? Maybe
: though as you'll find it won't be such an easy job
as you've reckoned on. Lord! I wouldn't stand in
your shoes, my buck, when Joe Bradley heart' what
I've got to tell him."
Meanwhile, Alick Wood, for it was really he
whose secret meeting. with the police officer Mr.
Bunco had detected, made tho best, b,f his 'tray back
to the old warehouse, happily ignOrant-that his .dis-
guise had been penetrated, and mounted the ladder
to the loft wherein the sicidoi, lay., ,
Carrie, who was sitting by the invalid 4 bed and •
reading tu him oiat of a tattered yoluite Of
'Carpi'
tales, hastily -laid down tha.book at. herlover s ap.i
pearance and she spran
gg p
"Where have .
,k sh asked:ightly to his
.d
you been,'
anxiously. "Have yoti, had any .Words with, father
again P'
• " WQrds ! What dlyournean
:.14.106!!!, • 1.• „ een
has be,en lookaAg for you, anc)pas--oh, so
angry when be fp .411. ,
"1 can't help his :anger,Y,Eampatiently answered
the youth. " Luckily't—we shall both be out of
the reach of it very soon. I have made all the
arrangements I spoke of to you, Carrie; and a very
short time from now will see us free from this
hateful life.'

'

" Ah !"

" And you, too, dear.
.It is as much for your
sake as my own," he continued, clasping her slight
form in his arms. "We will leave this miserable
place, and seek a new home. But you must -he
careful, Carrie. Don't breathe a word that would
lead the old man to suspect what we intend. If he
should—well, you know what he is—what mercy he
would be likely to show me."
"Yes, yes," said the girl, shuddering, "I will be
careful, Alick ; indeed I will. But Lennie; what is
to be done with him ?"
You

"I have arranged everything, I tall vox.
shall know how in zood-time."

Carrie Bradley looked timidly, but SO searchingly
into her youthful lover's face.
Why not now ?" she ached. "Can you not
trust me

"Trust you? Yes," he answered, avoiding her
gaze. "But not yet. I have given a promise,
Carrie. Don't ask me to break it. Come, let us
talk about something more pleasant —of what we
shall do where we are going when we leave this den
to begin a new life."
But while they sat there, conversing in low tones
of the future that lay before them, Joe Bradh y
was closeted with Mr. Bunce, who had sent him a
message through a safe source, and was listening to
that which made his features, ferocious enough at
the best, now terrible to look upon.
Mr. Bunce's story was in itself sufficient, but he
held in his hand confirmatory evidence of Alick's
intention to betray him; for only a few hours pre-
viously, during the youth's absence, he had received
a warning note from one of the two gentlemen
whose visit to the Haymarket ccife had ended so
disastrously for them, in which the meeting between
Aliek Wood and the policeman in Trafalgar-square
was made known to him.
__ _ _

"So, my lad !" Joe Bradley exclaimed, apos-
t, ophiaing the absent traitor. "That's what you're
up to, eh ? But l'll spoil yer little game if I swing
for it," he added, with a ferocious oath, grippqr4
the piece of paper he held in his hand as if it had
been Alick's throat he was clutching. "To sell me,
who have acted the father by him, and his pals,
who've allers trusted him! But I'll make him pay
for it, the mean, sneaking cur !"
And, then, hardly waiting to thank his informant
for having put him upon his guard, Joe Bradley
hastened homewards, boiling with rage and a thirst
for revenge, and burst into the room where Alick
still sat with his daughter.
"What is the matter, father ?" asked the girl,
springing to her feet, with an alarmed look, while
Aliek, whose breath came fast and thick, braced
himself to meet the danger which he plainly saw
threatened him. "Is there anything wrong ?"
" Wrong ! oh, dear no! of course not," answered
Joe Bradley, with a cry of concentrated passion in his
tones that made the girl instinctively shrink back,
terror-stricken. "What's likely to be wrong ?
We're all good men and true hero, and the best on
us stands behind you. The werry best, and the
truest."

"What do you mean, Joe ?" demanded the young
man, attempting to speak calmly, though his white
face and trembling lips showed the effort ho was
making. "What are you hinting at ?"
" Hinting at!" shouted Bradley, furiously. "I
don't hint; but I mean this, curse you! If what
I've been told ain't lies, and you've thought to sell
me and the rest of us, I'll have your miserable life,
you hound, if I pays with my own for it 1"
And with one bound he cleared the narrow
_space

_ .. ....... __....
that divided them, seized the youth by his throat
and hurled him to the floor, where he lay stunned
and almost senseless.

IhINIMINEimmi•aM