The record-union., 1897-01-10

ling wickedly. and shook his head re-
provnigly, but Prissy laughed.
They played How Beautiful Upon
the Mountains" and the High Road
to Linton" and Haste to the Wed
ding; but Life Let Us Cherish was
what they w'histled as they put their
instruments up after practice. because
they had worked the hardest at that
tune.
Now, we shall go in for our first les
son?" said the rector to Prissy, and the
sharp little god whispered kindly into
Bob's ear, Go thou likewise so Bob
stuck out his elbows and protruded his
thorax, and, with an affable nod to the
rest of the party, followed his maid
Through the house door into the rectory
hall.
La, Mr.. Ross, be that you?" said
Priss. Il thought you was miles away" )"
"Hullo! who's that?" said the rector,
and Bob explained that he had been
meditating upon big fiddle, and did
not the rector think man might make
one who was main clever with his
hands? The rector thought that per-
haps such a man might make some sort
of an instrument if he had a pattern
Then said Robert he would go over
and measure the fiddle at Leverell and
make one, and so he bade the rector
good night. But he bade not Prissy any
good night, for little Cupid whispered,
'Tarry thee in the Shrubbery, oh BOD,
and wait for her. and he sat him down
and waited for half an hour, and pres
emily out came Prissy, fiddle in hand.
She did not seem very startled at Bobs
conSiderate cough, though she did say
Mercy, how you made | jump. ana
she gave unto him her fiddle to bear,
when he pleaded for it, and made hlm
happy. During the short walk to the
inn there was not much conversation.
Robert merely adverted to the warmth
of the weather, and said that the Wlnd
was a bit dampish, whereat Prlssy
laughed softly, and he could not con-
verse further. Then she took up the
conversation and asked him If he pro-
posed to join the band, which he ad-
mifted to be possible; and then they
were at home. He would not go in, for
he was much too happy to fight, ana
struck off across the flank of the mil IN
the moonlight, for he had eleven miles
to walk. All the way he was warm
and happy, and even when his mother
put her nightcap out of the window ana
told him that they had all given MN up
for dead and that his father would tan
his hide in the morning, he cared not
rap. But his father did no tanning in
the morning, for Bob had made good
sales.
So soon as he could he walked the
thirteen miles to Leverell, and returned
the same day i'm the strength Oh nus
love with measured drawings or mis-
ideal which he stuck up in the little
office above the mill pool and pondered
over while he made out his father
bills. The traditional design seemed
to him capable of improvements; ne
did not admit the necessity OF making
curved sides unless a man had only
billets to work with, so he planned his
viol with straight sides, followed
squarely by the bridge. And, for that
he was a larger man than Matthew
Slocombe of Leverell, he built 1T about
riine feet high. The strings he arranged
to tighten with an invention of his own,
based upon the principle of the mill
suice and he designed to actuate the
three screws with a bed key. These
and other developments cost him many
sleepless nights; and when he had per-
fected his designs, he sent to the black
smith for the machinery and by the
carrier for the timber from Sandbury,
and for five weeks he wrought in his
spare time, rising early and working
late, and only once calling over at Din
der for a mug of cider. The finger
board gave him the greatest trouble,
but by cutting up his cricket bait he
finally won fair result. On the third
day of the fifth week, when the carrier
brought his strings, he found that his
sluice arrangement did not provide
sufficiently fine adjustment, and that
unless he tuned his strings at both ends
he could not approach Within a tone of
the note he desired. Accordingly he
put nuts at the bottom, and twisted
them around with a spanner.
Placed in the sack scale, the embodi-
ment of Robert Ross ambition weighed
niretysix pounds; and it was with d
face lit with honest pride and anticipa-
ton that he hoisted it on his back one
Tuesday afternoon and set off to prove
it at Little Dinder. He had invented
some rope work wherewith he clothed
himself, as it were, with his viol, and
kept it clear of the earth; but he took
a long time to mount the hillside, al
belt the wind was at his back. and be-
fore he had traversed two of the eleven
miles he was feeling tired, strong man
though he was. For this reason he
off h nd 80
projecting neck of the machine, pre-
senting thereby such an unnatural and
even appalling appearance as to make
every living creature he approached
shy wildly from him. By the time he
had won Dinder Down he was pale and
faint; he would perhaps never have
arrived at his destination had he not
discerned another figure, of somewhat
similar aspect, blotting the expanse in
the direction of Toby's home
But try as he might there was no
making Roadway with ninety-six
pounds of machinery bearing him
down: and Robert witnessed his rival
disappear over the edge of the plain
half an hour and more before he gained
the road; and while he staggered and
slid upon the white mud (for it haa
rained and the wind blew high). he Bit
terly reflected that Toby was all the
time warmly ensconced in the corner
Of the settle, probably joking with
Prislsy. The gale which blew off the
hill compelled Robert into a run. Some
one saw him and raised such a. CRY of
'.Lawk-a-mussy! what's that a-com-
ing down th'ill?" that everybody came
out and 10, a. great bird -sha ned craa
ture like a pterodactyl, Tapping black
wings and scuttling on muddy legs.
The apparition raced stiff1y up to the