The Portland daily press., 1879-12-29
THE PRESS.
A Wild-Goose Chase.


'sNow yer honor, jist lie quiet and aisy,
keep the gun ON full cock and all ready, but
niver shtir limb till [ give the curlew's
cry, and then look out, for the birds'll be
just within shot of ye."
SO spoke Shawn, my hercnlean henchman,
as he laid the last bunch of heather on my
quiyering body, and having satisfied himself
that was perfectly well concealed from hui
man sight, he prepared to creep off to the
spot where he had seen the wild geese alight,
in order to drive the unconscious victims di-
rectly over my head. | nodded as he gave
his Instructions, and ere he crept away
promised implicitly to obey his commands.
But felt anything but comfortable in my
novel position. My bed was the bare bog
land, oozy and soft with the soaking Of the
heavy winter rains, my covering the half
withered heather which Shawn h I'd uprooted
from the hillside And the month was
March There had been no snow in Storport
for many weeks past, the hills all around me
were black and desolate as the sky lOomed
above, bat the bitter March wind came creep
ing over the hill and smote me with chilly
hands. l lay patiently for some time the
sportsman-like ardor in my heart preventing
the wind from utterly freezing my limbs, but
at length my patience got exhausted and |
began to stir. Suddenly l heard the faint
whistle of the curlew-two minutes after |
saw flock of wild-geese pass almost directly
over my head. fired ainlessly and missed.
Then | found that my garments were com
pletely soaked with bog water, and that my
limbs had sunk several inches deep in the
oozy ground, nay, more, that they were only
prevented from sinking farther By some OBJ
struction which was so hard and cold that it
made my bones ache. My first care was to
exhume my half-buried limbs, my next to
unearth the substance which had prevented
me from sinking utterly. This latter proved
to be no easy matter. but with the help of
the spade which Shawn had brought with
him to prepare my boggy bed, at length
succeeded in clearing away a good deal of
earth and discovering that my life preserver
was deal box five feet long, stained almost
black with bog water, and fastened down
with half dozen rusty nails.
I had heard during my childhood'S days,
of fortunate people being enriched by the
discovery of buried treasures, but [ need
hardly add all such romantic ideas had long
since vanished from my mind, and yet as |
gazed at that peculiar-looking box l felt as
if cold hand had passed over me, and q
succession of the widest thoughts surged
through my BRAIN EXhume and open it
must; and the wish became stronger within
me when Shawn, who soon returned from
his goose-driving, did his best to dissuade me
from such a proceeding
''Sure It's no affair of ours, yer honor"
said Shawn, looking at the same time so
profoundly uncomfortable as to cause my GU
riosity to increase. "Maybe it's little po-
theen that the boys have buried"
But cut him short, and insisted that he
should assist to exhume and open the box
Seeing that l was determined, he at length
set to work, but he was so slow, and evil
IDENTIFY so unwilling, that at length my pa
cience got exhausted. [ took the spade from
|, hand ipcapto6 If in tho orpvioa
which Shawn had been working, and with
one powerful wrench forced the lid from the
box. We both recoiled in horror and dis
may-the box contained corpse!
After the first shock of the discovery was
over, l looked again, and my dismay in
creased tenfold.
'sWhy, SHAWN exclaimed, ''if it isn't
eyes, in troth,' broke in Shawn; 'sure
enough it is," and we both stared into the
box again.
In order to explain the strange circum-
stance which enabled me to recognize this
corpse, must chronicle events which took
place several weeks before l eXhumed it.
CHAPTER II.
On the fifteenth day of February the an
nual winter fair was held at Portaclare.
The anticipation of this day always created
a good deal of excitement in the minds of
the peasants in and around Storport-for it
was always constituted sort of gala day
but the announcement of the fair OF 1877
brought with it whisperings Of woe to many
a home. The crops had been bad that year,
and the miserable, half-starved tenants had
been unable to scrape together enough
money to pay the rent, so the proctor had
summoned them to attend the sessions at
Portaclare in order that they might show
cause why they should not deliver up the
whole of their worldly goods.
On the eventful day, which was ushered
in with hurricanes of binding sleet, [ Or
dered Shawn to bring out the horse and car
that we might drive into Portaclare togeth-
er. BY the time we started the hail had
ceased to fall, but sJtlf The wind blew BIT
terly, freezing with its breath the little pools
on the Wayside, and when we drove into
Portaclare | felt almost as if my blood was
frozen. 1t was midday by that time, and,
save for one or two decrepit old men whom
we had passed on the road, we were the last
to arrive. What a gathering there was!
The streets of the little town were so crowded
that it was almost impossible to make ones
way along In the market place bevies of
rosy checked servant girls stood waiting to
be hired; pigs grunted and squealed as the
drivers whipped them along; the shop-keep-
ers stood at their doors shrieking to the
passers to buy-the agent sat in the cozy
parlor of the inn comfortably enjoying his
glass of wine; gazing with smile into the
wild, woe-begone faces of the creatures
whom he had summoned thither, and deter
minedly shaking his head at every heart
broken appeal.
'sDon't come to me,'' he said, ''I'm done
with ye, lot of lazy spendthrifts as ye are.
Yen go before them to-day as Ii make ye
payr
sat in remote corner Of the room and
quietly watched the wretched creatures who
crowded around the man; their wild eyes,
their famished faces, their trembling bodies
clad in the dirty rags which were their sole
protection from the cold. And as | glanced
from them to the frozen window panes and
the sleet which fell, covering with thin
crystal sheet the curbstone of the street, my
heart turned sick.
"Poor, miserable, half-starved wretchesN
L thought; "most of you will have sore hearts
tonight, for you will lose your little all,
God help you! and there will be nothing but
starvation leftv'
Heartsick at the sight Of so much woe
which was utterly powerless to relieve, l |
arose and was about to leave the room when |
my eyes were suddenly arrested by figure, |
ragged, wild and woe-b -begone, which crouched |
close up by the window. Five minutes be- |
fore had seen this man crouched like a |
stricken beast before the agent, his skeleton |
hands outstretched, his parched lips suing
for mercy.
"For the love of God, Tony Monaghan,
niver be hard on boy" he had said; ''all
my potatoes had the black disease this year,
and they rotted in the ground. My pig took
the sickness and died. l have two children
down wild fever, and if ye take away my
cow I'll have no dhrap of milk to give them,
and they'll dier'
This appeal, heart-breaking as it was, had
met with the usual repulse:
'Don't bring yer lies to me. Yell go be-
fore them as II make yer payp'
So the man had crept back into the shad-
ow, and as l saw him crouched beside the
window L noticed that the piteous look of
appeal had left his face; his features were
convulsed, his wild eyes cleaned,
and his hand clenched and unclenched in
nervous dread.
''That man means mischief" L said as l
passed out into the street.
At two O'Clock the tenants cases were to
je called on, and as the hands Of the clock
approached that hour l made my way