Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-03-18

| WIS CtCNO DullNu nun onuAls
especially If, as was often the case after
drink, Simmons talked about my being a
safe man to trust, and the like. | own !
had my suspicious that, whether they had
ever done so or not, there were some
among them who would not mind going a
great deal further than stealing bodies,
and sometimes l wished l had never joined
in the business but the halfsovereigns
came in pretty often for doing nothing,
and so / got over my dislike.
zone day, while things were in this
state, l saw a halfstarved but genteel-
looking sort of party standing on the
wharf, watching us load,-at the London
end, of course, l mean,--and he kept on
staring so long, that at last said, You'll
know me again, hope, old 'un.' We'll,
he says, with a smile, Il know you now,
when l come to hear you speak. You
are Bob Purrell, whose father was my
| fathers game-keeper.' Lorl you might
have knocked me down with a feather !
| OF course he was Why, the seedy look
| ing party was young Mr.. Frederick
Arrowley, whose friends had been almost
| the top people where | came from. So,
| of course, l touched my cap, and asked
| him how he was getting on; and he says,
I'm afraid, Purrell, nobody that sees me
wants to be told how I'm getting on any.
! how he says, Il want you to do me
| favor Well, to cut it short, this is what he
wanted. He had some friends, not SO very
much better eff than himself it seemed,
down at Long Hayslip; still, as they were
better off than himself, he could always
| get a bed and supper, which, he said, with
another miserable sort of smile, was more
than he could reckon on with certainty,
now, and he wanted me to give him a ride
| /
and many is the ride l have given him,
accordingly, and such cheerful, good
tempered fellow l never saw. He seemed
so uncommon clever, too, and such a
scholar, that I never could make out why
he didn't get on, and make his fortune:
but, somehow, I've noticed, gentlemen,
that it isn't altogether them that is the
cleverest, to my fancy, as makes their
fortunes
"Well, as 1 was saying, he was so good
tempered and CHEEKY. Why, many and
many's the time, as the cold autumn
nights came on, that he has crawled up
hardly able to walk, so weak for want of
food, and he would say, Halo! Bob, is
| the yacht ready to sail? l hope the skip
per has got some bacca' Well, I'd give
him bit of 'bacca, and then, perhaps he
would tell me he had had nothing to eat
| Ill ud1, anu n6 WOulu lOOk lIldI Ddu llldJ
if he had died there and then l shouldn't
have wondered but for all this, he was
full of his jokes, as if he hadn't care in
the world. Gradually, he came, naturally
enough, to know little about the body
snatchers, though I'm not quite sure that
he knew exactly what they were up to-
He was always loking and civil to them,
as was his way, but he didn't like them.
Bob he used to say, your friends are
about the uglest customers l ever came
a-nigh, and when have q yacht of my
own, 1 shall certainly not invite them as
passengers
"Well, gents, time went on, and the
winter came, and poor Mr.. Arrowley got
weaker and weaker. He had no regular
work-didn't know how to do anything
useful, he said; but he used to copy
writings, believe, somewhere, now and
then. Well, gents, writing is fine thing
l know but l really don't see that it
does anybody much good. have known
more poor people that could write than
what couldn't. However, as was saying,
the autumn came, and the winter; and a
preciously cold and wet winter it was.
The gang had always talked of the stroke
of business they meant to do in the dark
nights, when there was nobody about (;
but, somehow or another, things seemed
to go wrong with them. The neighbors
suspected something was in the wind, and
watch was often set.
"Of course, if they hadn't had the sex
ton to help them, all would have been
found out before. But in every ground
in each of the four churchyards down my
way, at any rate-they had the sexton Sin
pay; and he used to give them informa-
tion. Three times running did they go
down for nothing; and the way they
went on about it was awful. Unluckily,
Mr.. Arrowley came across them in their
last excursion; and something they said
let the secret out. He only laughed; but
; how he did rally them, to be sure He
drove them almost wild; and if hadn't
interterred, l think they would have
pitched him into the canal then and there
When they had gore, begged him to
mind what he was about with such des.
perate set of roughs, that was no compa-
ny for the like of him, but he only laughed
at me, and made up his mind to rally them
the more.
at was a week after Christmas, and as
miserable day as ever l saw-it was half
rain, and halfsnow that was falling -and
the barge was so slippery you could
hardly stand on it while, as for the man
ON the bank, and the horse, they were
neither exactly drowned nor exactly froze
but some of each. spied Simmons on
the wharf, and he came up and whispered
and said, There's real job on to night
Bob; Pm a-going down in your boat
want to get down early because we're
a-going good way across country and
am to get cart from a safe party AL
} right says Get into the cabin out o
J this wet So he got in, and we was just
off, when who should l see, tearing
along, but Mr.. Arrowley and, in hi,
usual quick way, he jumps aboard. OF
with you, he said; and off we went. | wa,
commonly glad to see him, because he
was so cheerful; but, to-day, somehow,
felt that should have been glad if he had
been anywhere else. So Simmons thought
and he was the best of the lot for he
whispered to me, when l went into the
! cabin for my waterproof-it was raining
and showing worse than ever What
does that fool OF fellow want here
Send him Off told him / couldn't; Sc
} says Simmons, Then give him hint tC
hold his tongue when our fellows come OF
, board, or else he will be chucked over
like blind puppy 1 did not like tC
hear this, but hardy knew what to do
and presently the three others scrambled
on board, all wet through, and all half
Nhhs OOA AAAOniSy ndu De6l QIllk
ing too; and when he saw them instead
OF keeping quiet, he sat up laughing anC
chafing them as before. Two or three time
there would have been a regular scrimmag,
If hadn't interfered; and as it was, Nor
rak and him did have round on the bank
And though that poor young fellow was
keleton almost, he could fight, and n,
mistake; and he knocked Steve as clear
off his legs as anything ever saw. Thi
, seemed To sober Mcrrak, who, as l tolC
you, seldom got so much the worse fo
, drink as the rest, or'at any rate, didn't show
it so instead of having another round, h,
merely picked himselfup and got on boar
: the boat.
"They got worse as regards drink, fo
they had some at each public house on th
way, and Simmons says TO me, 'You nav
7 an eye on your swell friend he saws
: Steve doesn't shut up like that for moth