The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1879-12-17
A WILD GOOSE CHASE,

Now, yer honor, jist lie quiet and
aisy, keep the gun on full cock and all
ready, but never 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 herculean hench
man, as he laid the last bunch of heather
on my quivering body, and, having sat
isfed myself that was perfectly we'll
concealed from human sight, he pre-
pared to creep off to the spot where he
had seen the wild geese ahght, in order
to drive the unconscious victims directly
over my head. I nodded as he gave his
instructions, and, ere he crept away.
promised implicitly to obey his COM
mands. But / felt anything but COM
Portable 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 had uprooted
from the hillside. And the month of
March! There had been no snow in
storport for many weeks; the hills all
around me were black and desolate as
the sky which loomed above; but the
bitter March winds came creeping over
the hills and smote me with chilly hands.
| lay patiently for some time, the sport
| man-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 heard
the faint whistle OF the curfew; two
minutes after saw flock of wild geese
pass almost directly over my head. l
fired aimlessly, and missed 5
Then | found that my garments were
completely soaked with bog water, and
that my limbs had sunk several inches
deep in the oozy ground--nay. more,
that they were or ly prevented from sink
ing further by some obstruction which
was so hard and cold that it made my
bones ache. My first care was to ex-
hume my half buried limbs, my next to
unearth the substance which had pre-
vented me from sinking utterly. The
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 clear
ing away good deal Of earth, and dis
covering that my life preserver was a
deal box some five feet long, stained
almost black with bog water, and fas-
tened down with half dozen rusty
nails.
1 had heard during my childhood's
| days of fortunate people being enriched
| by the discovery of buried treasures,
| but, need hardly to add, all such ro-
mantle ideas had long since vanished
| from my mind; and yet as l gazed at
that peculiar looking box, felt as if, a
| cold hand had passed over me. and a
succession of the widest thoughts
surged through my brain. Exhume
and open it / must; and the wish be-
came stronger within me when Shawn,
/ who soon returned from his goose
driving, did his best to dissuade me
from such proceeding. ases. 80 m
"Sure It's no affair of ours, yer
honor,'' said Shawn, looking at the
same time so uncomfortable as to cause
my curiosity to increase. Maybe it's
a little potheen that the boys have bur.
/ ied."
But cut him short. and insisted that
he should assist to exhume and open
the box. Seeing that was determined
he at length set to work, but he was sc
slow, and evidently SO unwilling, that
i at length my patience got exhausted.
took the spade from his hand, inserted
it in the crevice upon which Shawn had
been working, and with one powerful
wrench forced off the lid. We both re-
coiled in horror-the box contained 8
corpse!
| After the first shock of the discovery
was over, looked again, and my dis
may increased tenfold.
Why, Shawn / exclaimed, ''if i
isn't
Yes, in troth,'' broke in Shawn, sur,
enough it is, and we both stared into
ne box again. gsff
In order to explain the strange cir
cumstance which enabled me to recog
nize this corpse, / must chronicl,
events which took place several week.
before exhumed it.
TT.
| On the fifteenth day of February tn,
annual winter fair was held st Port
aclare. The anticipation of this day al
ways created good deal OF excitemen
in the minds Of the peasants in ane
around Storport, for it always consti
tuted q sort Of gala day; but the an
nouncement Of the fair Of 1877 brough