The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-12-05

he; "they wark wi deeoys, SIR, a wife VII
tale O. woe, or lass wi bonny face, and
the like. The other night gentleman put
his hand through the window and cried
thieves So ran up the stair. The door
was lockit, ye may be sure. just put my
| foot TILT"
sand it flew up the chimney"
cha! ha! No so far as that, SIR. AweelI
| THOUGHT to ind maybe two or three OF them.
| But there were nigh dizen O. the warst char
acter in Glasge However l was in fort
| We ken; so was in tie middle OF them before
| they had time to think, and collared twa old
| offenders. 'rll take this handful says l. and
I'll come book for the lave;' (B) marched 'em
| DOT, and the gentleman at my heels. He was
| glad to wend clear, and so was l. My HART
| beat hard that time, shall assure ye; but i
| didna let the vagabonds see thdat, We ken.'
| He intimidated that it was all gas for any one
man to pretend that he could master half a
dozen, II they were resolute. "Na-we beer
the law in our harts, and they beer guilt in
theirs. elf zoos -H .uH
After conversation, of which this is only
fragment, we returned to James Lambert,
and he told me he expected news, good or
bad, by break of day, for he had fifty police
| men questioning on their beats, in the likeli
est parts of the.cty. "Ah," said l. ''but I
| am afraid those beats are all above ground;
now my poor hero is underground"
| went to bed with this conviction: and
| having hitherto blamed myself, which is an
unnatural trick, l now looked around Orsome-
body else to blame, which is customary and
wholesome; and herein my smattering OF the
| British drama stood my friend: l snarled,
| and said-out OF Sir Peter-s'He has died on
| purpose TO vex me.
I heard no more till half.past one next day,
| and then my gigantic and beautiful detective
| called. This time he had huge pocket
| book-enormous-in word, such a pocket-
book as he man. He opened it, and took
out an old newspaper with an account Of
James Lambert, and also small pamphlet.
l ran my eye over them.
..That will be the man, sirr."
eyes" ..
.'Aweel, then we've got him." said he,
quietly.
s.Ou ay; he is in vara good health. He's
not an old man, SIR. He VIII not be rnair
| than saxty."
''Have you seen him with your own eyes?Y
said I, still half incredulous.
eye may be sure O. thaat, SIR, I wadna
come here till had spoken him. He stays
at No. SO Little Street, Calton.''
l thought Cation was some other town, but
he told me it was only suburb OF Glasgow,
and all the cab-men knew it. Then thanked
him for his zeal and ability, and stood a SOW
ereign, which he received with grateful
smile, but no abatement of his manly dignity,
and took fly that moment, and drove to
Little Street, Gallon.
| For some reason No. SO was hard to find
and got out of the fly to explore I found
| the population in a f1utter, and it was plain
| by the swift gathering of the juveniles, and
| their saucer eyes, that this was the first tri-
umphal car lad entered that miserable street.
However, if there was amaZement, there was
civiity; and they We'd with each other in d-
| recting me to James Lambert. I mounted a
stair, as directed, and knocked at door. A
woman's voice said "come in," and I entered
the room. There was but one.
On my right hand, as stood, and occupy
ing nearly one third of the room, was long
large wooden machine for spinning cotton;
| the upper part bristled with wooden qnills
polished by use. Behind it the bed in a re-
cess. Immediately on my left was table
| with things on it, covered with linen cloth.
Exactly opposite me the e.place. On my
right hand of it the window, but in an en-
brasure.
An old woman sat before the window,
young woman sat all in heap the other side
of the fire; and in front Of the fire stood
gray-headed man, with well-cut features,
evidently blind. He was erect as dart, and
stood before his own fire in an easy and
gentlemanlike attitude, which does not, as
rule belong to workingmen; they generally
| SLOUGH bit, when not at work.
"Does Mr.. Lambert live here % said I, for
form.
He replied civily, 81 am James Lambert.
What is your wull with meP"
Mr.. Lambert, have come from some dis
lance to have talk with you-about your
exploits in saving lives"
"Awsel, SIR, I'll be very happy to hae a
crack wi ye. Wife, give the gentleman
chair"
When was seated, lie said, eve are in
litter the day; but ye'll excuse it."
saw no litter, and did not know what he
meant. Before he could explain, young
man called for him, no doubt by appoint
| ment; and Lambert begged me to excuse him
for moment; he had a weekly pension, and
| they would not pay it after three O'Clock but
| it was not far, and he would return directly.
He then left me seated between the two
| women. looked hard at the young woman.
She never moved, and seemed quite stupid or
| stupefied. looked at the table on her side
| of the room, and wondered what was under
the linen cloth. There seemed to be prom
| inence or two, such as objects of unequal
height would cause, and ] fancied it must be
| the best teapot and other china, covered to
keep off the dust.
The young woman was repellant, so
turned round to the old one, and praised her
| husband. 500 sT
say" said she, che has been curious
mon in his time-a mony great faitour (C)
he did-and mony good suit he destroyed
that had to pay for"
This last sentence being uttered earnestly,
and its predecessor alphabetically, coupled
with the stress on the 81" gave me the
measure of the woman's mind. However,
tried her again. sDd you see any of his ex-
| ploits % $40 = ~ 1
''Na, ma; was aye minding my wark at
hame. 1 saw leetle o. his carvings on.''
said no more; but remembered Palissy's
wife, and other egotistical mediocres; and
turned to the young woman; but she seemed
unconscious of my voice or my presence.
From this Impenetrable turned, in des-
pair, to the covered table; tried to see below
the cover with my eagle eye, and had just set
| tied positively it was the china tea-service,
| when, to my great relief, james Lambert re-
turned, and conversation took the place of
| idle speculation.
We soon came to an understanding, and 1
asked him to give me some details, and to
begin at the beginning.
"Aweel, sirr,' said he, 1.-The first case ever
had was baker-they cat case We ken
the moo; aw thing is a case-an awfu' fat
man he was. was ABBOTT fourteen or fifteen
then, but gey guild sooner (E). Aweel,
SIR, me and Rab Rankin land John Murdoch,
"iu hesiI1iO AoiA iduos WCuO uOOu W Lu0
bathing place, an we we're divairting oor-
selves in the water, when the baker strips
and comes out Oh the deal. Moo yell un-
derstond there was shallow water and deep,
and the deep was at the far end O. the DEAL
They ca il the Dominie's Hole, fra schulz
master VIVA was drooned there hundre'
years agone. So this baker comes DOT to the
vara eend O. the deal, and dives in heed first,
as if Clyde belanged to him-ka! ha! ha!
He DINA come up for while, and said to
the other callants I'D 'Hech, sirs, yell see
bonny diver Presently up he comes
painting, and baashing and flinging his arms;
and doom he goes again with bath cen glow
ering.. Marcy on u.s. cries ane, the mons
drooning However, was ready for him,
and just swan forereicht him, and took him
by tn arm. That will let We see what a
senseless cauf was. i sud haze gone and
flung him ae end of my gallows, or my naep-
kin, (G, and towed him in: but, insteed Of
that, he gat baud O. me and grippit me tight
to his breest, and took me doom with him.
Moo, tell Inc, sir-y' are a sooner YOURSELF"
b said ''yes.' Ee1r.- srrAan
wv hat was our lives WORTH the pair? Him
twanty stane mon, and me laddy?"
mot much, indeed, unless you could slip
awav from him -