Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-09-21


light"
Stays" said Mr.. Meeson, desperately.
"Forgive me for mentioning them, but
surely you put on your stays? One could
write on them, you know"
81 am very sorry, Mr. Meeson," she an
swered; but did not put any on"
"Not a cuff or collar?' he said, catch
ing at last straw of hope.
Augusta shook her head sadly.
"Then there is an end of it, groancd
Mr. Meeson "Eustace must lose the
money. Poor ladi poor ladl | have be-
haved very badly TO him."
Augusta stood still, racking her brain
for some cXpcdient, for she was deter
mined that Eustacc Meeson should not
lose the chance of that colossal fortune if
she could help it. 1t was but poor
chance at the best, for Mr. Mccson might
not be dying. after all And if he did die
it was probable that his fate would be
their fate also, and no record would re-
main of them or of Mr.. Nelson's tcsta-
mentary wishes. As things looked at
present, there was every prospect of their
all pcrishing miserably on that desolate
shore.
Just then the sailor Bill, who had been
up to the flagstaff on the rock on the
chance of catching sight of some passing
vessel, came walking past His flannel
shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows
of his brawny arms, and as he stopped to
speak to Augusta she noticed something
that made her start and gave her an idea
There amt nothing to be seen" said
the man, roughly; land it's my belief
that there won't be, neither Here we
are, and hero we stops till we dies and
rotS."
I "Ah, l hope not, said Augusta. "By
the way, Mr.. Bill, will you let me look at
the tattoo on your arm?'
Certainly, miss" said Bill, with alac-
rity, holding his great arm within an inch
of her nose. 1t was covered with various
tattoos; flags, ships, and what not, in the
middle of which, written in small letters
along the side of the forearm, was the
sailors name-Bill Jones.
"Who did it, Mr.. Bill?' asked Augusta.
! "Who did it? Why, | did it myself A
chap made me bet that could not tattoo
my own name on my own arm, SO showed
him; and u poor sort of hand | should
have been at tattooing if | could not"
Augusta said no more till Bill had gone
on, then she spoke.
: "Now, Mr.. Meeson, do you see how you
can make your Wilt" she said quietly.
: "Sec? No, he answered; II don't"
! "Well, | do; you can tattoo it-or,
rather, get the sailor to tattoo it. 1t need
not be very long"
Tattoo it? What on, and what WITH"
he asked astonishcd.
"You can have it tattooed on the back
of the other sailor, Johnnie, if he will al
low you; and as for material, you have
some revolver cartridges; if the gun
powder is mixed with water it would do,
| should think
: ." Pom my word" said Mr.. Mecson,
you are a wonderful woman! Whoever
would have thought of such u thing OK
. cept a woman Go and ask the man
Johnnie, there's Il good girl, if he would
mind my will being tattooed upon lis
back"
/ well" said Augusta, cts a queer
sort of message, but I'll try" Accord
/ ingly, taking little Dick by the hand, she
! went across to where the two sailors were
sitting outside their hut, and putting on
her sweetest smile, first of all asked Nr
Bill if he would mind doing little tat
! tooing for her. To this Mr. Bill finding
/ time hang heavy upon his hands, and
/ wishing to be kept out of the temptation
/ of the rum cask, graciously assented, say
! ing that he had seen some sharp fish bones
lying about which would be the very
! thing, though he shook his head at the
idea of using gunpowder as the medium.
He said it would not do at all well, and
then, as though suddenly seized by an in
! spiration, started off down to the shore
/ Then Augusta, as gently and nicely as
! she could, approached the question with
! Johnnie, who was sitting with his back
| against the hut, his battered counter
ance wearing a peculiarly i'll favored ex-
preston, probably owing to the fact that
he was suffering from severe pain in his
head, as a result of the debauch of the
/ previous night.
Slowly and with great difficulty, for his
understanding was none of the clearest
! she explained to him what was required;
and that it was suggested that lie should
provide the necessary corpus vile upon
which II was proposed that the expert
ment should be made. When at last he
understood what it was asked he should
| do Johnnie's countenance was sight to
see, and his language was more striking
than correct The upshot of it was how
ever, that he would see Mr.. Meeson col
lectivcly, and Mr.. Nelson's various mem
bers separately, especially his eyes, ID
first.
Augusta retrcated till his wrath had
spent itself, and then once more returned
to the charge.
She was sure, she said, that Mr.. John
ME would not mind witnessing the docu-
ment, if anybody else could be found to
submit to the pain of tattooing. All that
would be necessary would be for him to
touch the hand of the operator while his
(Johnnic's) name was tattooed as witness
to the will. "Well," he said, Il don't
know how as mind doing that, since it's
you as asked me, miss, and not that
ID old hulks of Meeson. | would
not lift finger to save him from ell,
miss. and that's factl"
"Then that is a promise, Mr. Johnnie?"
said Augusta, sweetly ignoring the gar
nishing with which tho promise was
adorned; and on Mr.. Johnnie stating that
he looked at it in that light, she re.
turned to Mr.. Meeson. On her way she
met Bill, carrying in his hands a loathsome
looking fish, with long feeers and head
like a parrot, in short cutie fish.
'Now, here's luck, miss" said Bill ex-
ultingly; Il saw this gentleman lying
down on the beach there this morning.
He's cutie, that's what he is; and I'll