The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-23
TAlEs o. THf seR1ERs



lay % his bed Of sickness, sorrow, and dan
ger. But bis cogitAsions could In no way
mend the matter, nor, though they could,
was be long permitted to indulge in them |;
for that mortal Sickness andsr which be- bad
been before suffering. but which the little
incident Of the VISIT from the wave, with its
consequences, had temporarily banishsd,
again returned with tenfold vigor, making
him regardless Of ell snblnnaEy thiugse -even
OF life itself. In this state Of supineness
and suffering did Johnny I've for three entire
days and nights-for 50 long did the ".orm
continue with nnabsts6 fnry-the vessel
having. for some fouF-snd-twenty houre pre-
viously, been quite unmanagesble, and ariE,
ing a. the mercy Of the wihds GOD waves
dreadful crash, however, AE Iength an
nounced that some horrible crisis was at
hand. The vessel had struck, and, In few
secon Is more, she was in q thousand pieces,
and hes unfortunate crew, including Johnny
Armstrong, were straggHag 10 the waves.
From this instant he lost all consciousness
and, when he again Awoke to life, he found
himself lying on the ssa-beach; bat how be
had come thefe he never could tell, nor could
he ct all conjecture by what accident his
lie had been saved, whoa eli the rest IN the
Inflated vessel had perished; for Johnny
was Indeed the oBiy person that had escaped.
On coming to himself be started 70 bis feet,
and gazed around him, with . bewilde.ed
look, to see if any object would presses t H.
sell that nigh help him 70 guess where he
vas. But his sarvey atOrding him no snch
aid to recognition, - began 70 move inland,
in the hope Of meeting with somebody who
coI..i gi- ann the information desired and
in this ne was disappointed, that Is, be did
meet somebody but the appearance Of thai
somebody surprised Johnny "pretty consid-
erably." He had o high-crowned hat on,
such as Johnny had never seen in his life
before an enormous paiI of breeches and
pipe . yard long in his mouth. His tout
ensemble, IN short, was exceeding strange IN
Johnny Armstrong; eyes. Nevertheless,
he accosted bun.
Can We tell me, freen, how far may be
frae Brechin - be inquired.
The stranger shook his head, but made nc
reply.
''Pm sayin', freen," repeated Johnny, 10 q
louder tone, thinking that bis friend, As be
called hun, might possibly be dull Of hear.
ing, "can ye tell me If I'm onything "ear
Brechin -
The stranger again shook his head, but
still SAID nothing. Johnny was COMPOUNDED,
AT length, however, after Lufing away for
some seconds with a suddenly-increase en-
srgy, be slowly wssS5rew his pipe from his
mouth, and delivered himself OF what sound
ed to Johnny's ears very much like thus,
spoken with great rapidity.
"Futra butara rap TuAra dutera mutters
purrs murra footra den, PIeekin, humph."
OF this Johnny Of course could make moth
ing, no more than the reader can, further
than recognising IL the word "Preekin' a
resemblance 70 the name Of the town he GO
anxiously inquired after and be was sorelv
perplexed thereat. Neither could he aI al
comprehend what sort of being be had
fallen ia with.
II dinna undeIstan' . word o. what W
say, freen," at length said Johnny, staring
hard at the stranger with open mouth.
"Um Dh r. said the latter and be again
withdrew his pipe from his mouth, and again
sent . Volley Of his '-dutera mutteras" about
Johnny's ears, to precisely the same pur-
pose as before.
Finding that it was Of no use making any
passed on, not doubling that Ne had met
either with dummy or a mailman. But
what was Johnny's amazement when, short
ly afterwards, meeting a woman, whose
dress, in its own way, was equally odd and
strange with that Of the person be had just
left, he was answered (thaI is, TO bis queries
again about Brechin), IN the same gbberish
in which the former had responded to him.
"N bat can be the meanin' o. this 2" said
Johnny to himself, 10 great perplexity of
mind, As be logged IN, alter leaving the lady
in the same unsatisfactory way As be had
left the gentleman "Whar in the earth
can haze gotten TO, that naebOdy | meet wi
can understsn' q word o plain English, or
can speak tbemsels Ony thing ike an intelli-
gible language Z"
He now began TO think that be had pro
badly gOt. into the Highlands but, although
this superstition might account for the
Of the language he had heard, It
would not, he perceived, tally very well with
the enormous breaches which the gentleman
be had met with wore, and which he had
seen from a distance others wearing, know
iDg, as be did very well, that the national
dress of the Highlsnders was the kilt, Of
which the trousers in question we're the very
There was another circumstance,
loo, that appeared TO JohnDy at variance
with his first conjecture, namely, that he
might have got into the Highlands. Where
be vas there were no high lands, not an
sminence the height Of q mole-hIIl. On the
the whole country, As far a. his
Eye could reach, seemed one vast plain.
Though greatly puzzled by these reflections,
Johnny logged on, and his progress At length
Drought hun to respectable-looking farm
house. eM Wf44
3d." said Johnny, an surely get
O. sense frae somebody here, an
in out whar am"
In this Johnny certainly did succeed but
lot much to his comfort, as the sequel will
Ihow. The first person be addressed on ap-
preaching the house, was little girl, who,
when be spoke, stared at him in the great
st amazement, then rushed screaming into
he house. This proceeding brought out
several young men and women, 60 whom
Johnny nov addressed himself but the emily
answer be obtained was a stare Of Astonish-
nent similar to the child's, and then a gen.
raj burst Of laughter. At length one Of the
iris went into the house and brought out
elderly man, who, from certain
'arts Of his dress, seemed to be in the sea-
airing way.
"Vell, mine frcsnd, vat you want :" said
his person, who spoke broken EngIish-
we're you come from 7"
Il cam last frae AllcA," said JoanBy,
and want 70 ken, sir, II r. onythlng near
0 BFechin ~
~Preekin we're dat 20
! sod, | thocht everybody in Scotland
.ent that" said Johnny, smiling.
"Ah maybe Scotlan, mine freend, but
70 Hollands" replied be Of she broken Eng
ish.
81 dinna ken whether they ken't il in H0l-
and or no." said Johnny; "that's a country
'ln no 10 the least acquaint wi bus I'm
ure it's weel ansuch kent In Scotland 70
"Ah maybe Scotlan', but no Hollands,
ny freend," repeated the man, smiling in
is turn "but you vas in Hollands"