VELLA VERNELL; OR, AN AMAZING MARRIAGE.

Rv MF3 SOM.VKK HAYDUr,

CHAPTER LVIH. Xttdt^nedTwhatdidit,ne:in:. r^orothytlung on her wrapper, thrn.t iinßlippcr^ndhurried out into the Z the apartment whence tho cry pro -2;, She reaped it just a : tue.™ ts jJJ^rtd faces came trooping down tho

wi stair- way. *T. mr W as only a littlo ajar, l'u-h it The.hecouW not. A sudden indefinable '^ff what might lie beyond took pos g,°K numbed her _to her tingev-tipa. ° rva iits surrounded hor. Tn'h!t! it, Miss Dorothy?" "la it "?£V h i tho colonel hurt!" b5; h«fore sho could answor thoro came h*hind tho half-closed door a storm of despairing, inarticulate moans. •SCvSrnell flung out her hand*. BOiin!" murmored sho, I can t ! Has commissioned Roberts boldly k«d open the door and entored. He ro- Pfj ffit h an exclamation of horror. SWFffiLdM- Dorothy. pM-ivine no reply, sho mustered her l~£e for a final effort, and mado her way Sm into the room. Thsirasstillburnedlow. Through the un iiinad and unshuttered windows tho JiifLht of dawn was creeping. The ere still harboured mysterious shadows. fTthe broad, cushion-piled lounge in the h, window lay the figure of a man, tho up ?' jjnj and distorted limbs of which JS? awfully stirless, awfully rigid. On S:Boor lay a tumbled crimson comforter, touching beside the lonnge, her neglige •(creamy cashmere sweeping far out on tho Lm carpet, knelt a woman weeping, sowing, wringing her hands, frantic with m and terror. This was the picture Mi«s Dorothy saw as • 8 omie forward, ono which shall never jj| her own heart is stilled in death be quite Hotted from her brain. "Letitia I" Bntthe words died on her lips. She was lads her now—beside it.' One glanco told jual]. She fell back crying, trembling, "James! Oh, James 1" H» wards seemed to pierce the watcher's O/Diah —recail her to consciousness. lie lifted her head—turned slowly, fllh the Jacqueminot Glow washed ott', uJ tho flush of her favourite stimulant jiJed the handsome brunette faco was itooitunrecognisablo in its ghastliness. She stumbled to her feet as her wild eyes M apon Miss Dorothy, staggered toward lerwith hands outstretched. In tho door-way wero gathored tho grants, an awed audience. "He ia dead!" she cried, brokenly. «oh, Dorothy, Dorothy ! ho is dead—my poor darling!" Bat never a word could Aunt Dolly say it her choking sobs. "And all alono I" wailed on tho widow Uea lately a bride. "To die alone !If I lid only been with him. He may have wded me—called mo. Sa fatigued was I, ibptsoundly. Oh, the thought is terriblo ! Hyown dear ono dead—dead !"

md she flung heraelf down again beside is loungo and buried her face on tho broast itbo corpse in a fresh tempest of griof. Ike domestics looked at each other in fenayed commisseration. It was frightfully hard on her. But so lily married, too. And she seemed to iijk the world and all of the colonel. It Wno wonder ehe took on so—tho poor, par lady ! Ess Dorothy approached tho head of the Inge, and stood looking down on the faco rathe dark-blue pillow. liunpropossessing faco in life, it was a Marly repellent ono in (loath. In tho jfillight which foil across it, hair, beard, ti&in seemed all the same greyish liuo. T&'-pf had fallan ; the half-ipon eyes nflitoglossy. Tho wholo countonanco Mtdeot in a frown of startled pain. ifljnumbness which had crept over Miss Rothy just without tho door had in •fflwor Mmental and physical faculties seemed [Sped by the shock. It was as though ftstery blood in her veins waß slowly cou pling. Even down her cheeks tho great feus ceased to roll. 11JU soon as I awakoned and remembered tatwe had left James asleep here," wont ItMraVernell, in a hoarse voice, her face liliUden, "I came in. You know how £1 and nervous he was feeling all day yes tyfoy, Dorothy. I thought I would find Ipbrightand well, and instead—oh, in lM-ttw/" . . ;ij|ta raised herself erect and pointed ftmrd with a forlorn gesture.

■JBoberto went up to her. fghall I send for a doctor, Mrs Vernell ? ■fll»;did not appear to hear him. Her fadlirere clasped, her breast was heaving bioltuoasly, her glanco was fixed on the lipd Jaceof him who had been for one week vrtauband.

vHe looked back at his fellow-servants. Suawer to their emphatic noda ho re pated bis question, and this timo a tone

itostarted—became awareofbis presence. Bp doctor?" sho repeated blankly^ "Oftouree. Yes—no. Where is the use ?" Hapaetf ully he intimated that in cases of •ddea doath it was customary to call one rttd then there was the necessity for a WtiSc&te. ''Certainly. If it is right, go—send !" lid then once more she broke down in a ftoUoud and hysterical weeping. : foeof the servants went softly up to the ttsndeUer and turned out the gas. Little «»cl was there for it. The new day was tightening rapidly. The moon was filled m the cle*r but dismal light of early Wining. The corners had lost thoir fainting Bhadows. Out above the lake's inline bars of lemon were broadening. Awoman in the centre of the group by tteeatnrace spoke in a low voice to those ttMdher. "Go and get the house in order and all JWtuual work over I" she urged. " You Undo no good by remaining, and there »i be enough strangers here when this •to gets out to giva you many extra mm,"

"She's right!" declared Roberts. '' Come *-^all of you!" ' h they went unwillingly away, the Jbm who had addressed them crossed ffowom to whero Mrs Vornell stood. "Come and lie down," she whispered. "You are weiring yourself out. And Jimll need all your strength for the next wdayg. Come! and I'll ge and get you •«Pof coffee." we widow saiaed her haggard face and Jwfoed eyes*t the sound of the familiar, Want voice. "Oh, Hilaria!" she moaned. "Isn't it kfcl! oh, Hilaria!.' He ■• Jfoman pressed her fingers on tho •ifelkl>of>e dead, then (strove to close the •ttjaw. „ "Hahasbeetf dead for some time ! aha >™i ■ ;"oh, Hilaria I" Swine, madam." ,~. ~ .Mdaa though mechanically and blindly """Wat. ;■*> sooner had the maid seen her safely in we«djolning room, than sho came back, .*">g the door behind her. ;J» went up to where sat Miss \ ernell *™m the dead himself, "be bent over her. 'Miss Dorothy!" "Jtely she looked up at her. Wib Dorothy, dear," she whispered on, J* »w the voice was no longer stammer •6 rot quick and clear, "don't take it so J™* to heart. It is not as though he were f""»g and cut off like this. Just think ™* ranch worse it would be if it were Miss "«» or Mr Voyle. Or " .. '■be coming words were arrested on her 7- Miiia Dorothy clutched her hand sud ™W, convulsively. ~ T . »oyle! Guila, that's it-that's what I S^-oh, Guila !He was the last to see •Hiacle alive." ■, Miss Dorothy !" He came in late last night," nodding ™» coking over the rapid words. " And "■ wla me he had come in here, and "CMed-weil, never mind! The excite ■"totmnsthave brought on a spasm which roß6^ death. That is what troubles me TJS more than the death itself, that ho :■"*} indirectly be responsible." V«!I?, 1 aid her hand detainingly on Mies e"aarm. ,Muo Dorothy!" Eg *88i knowß of this affair ?" Roberts knows he wag here." fcti o*l0*1 not 8" loud! walla have ears. : '-^B??thlaspeaking with the colonel! »9 did not really speak with him, only

to him. for James did not answer him, he says. Perhaps," almost hopefully, "ho wns doad then."

" Hush !" again cautioned tho maid, "Not above your breath. But this fact—that ho wnsdeaclattho time —could never bo proved." "No."

"You havon't answered mo yet. Who elf o knows that ho was in this room alono wirli his undo last night?" "0n1y.1." _ Tho woman laid both her Imiids on Hie HI le uld lady's ehouldeis, and put her mimth closa tv her em-.

•'Then no ono must know—need know ! You hrar, Miss Dorothy!" she actually sluiok her in her emphatic excitement. "If questioned, you ran admit his having been with you, but you shall say no word of his having been with tho colonel later than inn/ on.- tfse Im-t night. You understand ?"

Sho nodded. "' Yen. If thoy know, they would say tho —tho accusation had so agitated the colonel Hint it had brought on " • iiillft interrupted her with an impatient and contradictory sh:ike of her head. "No, no i if that wero all ! They would s.iy that in Mine scientific and bloodless way ho had murdered him !" lltiw nuar to tho truth slio camo in that random speech of hern sho did not droam. With a littlo cry Miss Dorothy fell back in her chair, panting. " That! Hood Heaven !" .footsteps woro ascending the stair. Tho woman moved away. " Romember! his life may be in your hands. Don't fling it awny !" And just thon Roberts ushered into the room the doctor—suave, doforential, profes sionally alert. CHAPTER LIX. NKXT DAY. ' Dead ? he.' of hciirt-diseaso! What heart had ho To die or ( dead 1" Tenn\son. Sick a day aa it was ! Such a sullon, low skied, gloomy, unnatural, hysterical day. How tho advent of tho Uninvited Guest alters the tonor of all households whether highly or lowly. VVith almost incredible swiftness was the grand house on Prairie Avenue, for all its stateliness and luxury, transformed into a place of woe and mourning. Every blind was drawn. From tho boll-knob floated heavy folds of crapo tied with black satin ribbon. Within, dark rooms, scared faces, hushed voices, noisoless footfalls.

The physician summoned, a man stand ing high in his profession and of irreproach ablo reputation, had questioned'closely tho widow und sister of tho deceased, made a brief examination of tho body, and then had gravely written a certificate of death from heart disease.

And now no inquest would be necessary !

"Though dormant the tendency to heart affection, it must havo been for some time in his system," ho had explainod to the bereaved wife. " His life on 'Change trans acting tho onerous business and running the tremendous risks ho did daily, doubtless in the first instance disposed him to do it. The strain on his nervous power must have been torrible ! Tho fact that insulted nature would revenge herself some day for tho indignities to which sho was being con tinually subjected novor seemed to occur to 'the lucky colonol.' Tho anxiety under which, as you and Miss Vernoll assure me, ho has been labouring, tho apparently sudden fall of this long-threatening stroke. Accept, my dear madam, my most sincere sympathy, and good-day !" Toward noon the newspapers got hold of the nffair. Their reporters raided tho houso for particulars. This was no notion-dealor or mere corner-butcher who was dead. It was one of tlieir most widely-known citizens, most successful speculators, most solid " luird money " men. An evening paper came out in an elabor ate editorial which dw»lt on tho brilliant ability and unimpeachable probity of the deceased, touched delicately, too, upon the so rudely extinguished torch of Hymen, alluded to the wit and beauty of the bride whose joy had been turned into sorrow, and drifted off into a rythmic littlo ripple of condolences.

In the afternoon quite a number of " inti mate frieeds " called.

Just as tho day was darkening mil the lamps beginning to Hare without, Hilaria Jackson—for upon Koborts hail devolved pome otlierduty, opened the door in response to a ring. She was glad tho gnu in tho hall was still nnlightod when into tho vestibule, out of tho raw November twilight, came Mr Oennis Grimes.

He favored hor with ft glance.half-curioup, half indifferent. Tho old idiot who had startled him so by a trick of voicelikeGuila's a couple of nights ago ! Then he thought no more concerning her than did ho of the brass umbrella-holder beside him.

Ho produced a card and g«ve it to her. "Ask your mistress if I may see her for a few minutes."

Sho bowed, showed him into tho drawing room, and wont swiftly away. On Miss Dorothy's own little white bed in Miss Dorothy's own Httlo snug room lay tho widow. Around her swept sombroly hor hastily secured mourning. Her face wore a deliberate and most effective pallor. Today her bloom-box had not been called into requisition. She started slightly, as by the waning light she read the card and heard the maid's mossage. It was necessary she should look like this—like herself—aftorsuch a stunning shock, such anguish. But let him see her fo ?—no, indeed ! Later, in her oxquisitely fitting cashmere and crape, the faint glow of an aflliction-crushed but reviving Bpirit on hor cheek, the light of a sorrowful but bewitched resignation in her eyes—then she would see him. So sho took up the tiny pearl pencil attached to her chatelaine and wrote on the back of his card, "I cannot coo you—yet!" And this Hilaria delivered. Then she wont to her own plain room and shut the door, and sat down by tho window and tried to think it all out—all ovor. What had ho said to hor that afternoon in answer to her confession of love?" "Then I can wait!" What did those words mean ? What could he wait for? What was he waitingfor? Haditbeen forthis-thisdoath? Oh, how little she knew after all, how little ! If sho had only ovorhoard the inter view to which ho had been summoned the night of the day in which her mistress had fixed the dato of her marriage ' or if even last nicht sho had socretod herself on the entrance of tho colonel and his wife ! Heaven only knew what might not have then transpired ! (not that her wildest sus picions exceedod a more quarrel). But then she might have known something more— mi<*ht have discovered tho reason for which Dennia Grime 3 was content to wait. Well, sho could only do the samo now. Wait! that sho would do ! And watch, too. Do you remember how the K'ngin Hamlet speaks of "lawful espials," to-Polonius, isn't it? Sho doubtless had never read tho ma3terpioce of tho poot, but none the less assured was sho 'of hor right to stealthily scrutiniso—not tho actions of a mad prince, but tho wiles of a recreant lover. And at that hour in a largo down-town office, tho glass door of Captain Costollo s private offico swung back, and the captain himself carao hurriedly into tho outer room, whero the clerks were closing their ledgers and donning their coats. He wont straight ovor to whero Voyle stood. He hold a paper, which he waved °X" Looft'here, Vernell! Hoard tho news ?" "No sir. What news ?" •'Tho colonol isdoad !"

"My uncle?" , " Heart-disease—yes." Tho younger man fell back aghast. Then ho snatched the extended paper-read the ""HTpaTs'ed Ms hand dazedly across his eyes, " Good Heaven ! And only last night I BWHe° chewed himself. From, the begin nino- the captain had spoken m a low, if excited, voice. He knew young Vernell wished his identity unbetrayed. For the Teason that his uncle being so well known his na\ne would lead to conjecture, recogni tion And for particular private reasons of C i own this he desired just at present to woid Costello had repeated his earnest request On the subject, and had been cautious in all his conversations with him cauu J»= hours. But now, when the Jew e?erk S'his voice in that thought lewcm companions, his fellow d°"rGreat Jerusalem!" ha ejaculated .< docJn't it beat creation. So sudden !It hi "Butehow about what you were begin - ♦. that you saw him last night I 1 m"gYe°s yrTli Si you about it in a few mi He tl <caned his elbow on his knee, his head the scheme^ ended? He had determined on de™«g»f ible heart

panted Death had drawn the charmed circle within whoso ring no man may venture. Thero wag silence in the gas-lit room. At last Voylo lifted his head. " I will tell you," ho said, "butyou must respect the confidence." "Of courso, it you wish it." And then he told him. The captain brushed up his silvering fringe of hair into a bristling halo as tho young fellow roloted whonco sprang his unclo'a prosperity, Mb and hisaiatoi'a aUong personal reasons for antagonism. "Will you go to tho funeral?" Costello aslxd, as they left tho office together. "No," tho other answered, with eudden passion. " I despised him in life—l will not pay him mock reverence in death !" That evening, too, John Gage, lotting himsolf into the houso with his latch-koy, called to Evelyn as ho caught sight of hor adown the hall, "Evvie ! Just think—Colonel Vornell—" lie stopped short, as from tlio drawing room came Vella. "My Uncle I" she cried. " What about him? what is it, Mr Gaga?" Still he hesitated, So grave his fuce.theworatoccurred toher. " He is not dead?" she cried sharply. In silence he bowed his head. Tho sweet wild-rose faco grew white as paper. Then Bhe trembled, and slow, hot tears welled up in the starry brown eyos. Evelyn was beside her in an instant. " Why, Yolla—why, darling, he did n ot treat you kindly ! You did not love him—" "No, no! it is so sudden, though. It was scarcely worth while—so much coldness, unlovingness, and dissension, with death so near." "There ! if you'ro not a thorough woman, Volla," avowed Mr Gago ; " remorseful and ready to blame yourself every time. Come, now, what will you give for a letter by way of a reviver!" Ho took an envelopo from his breast pocket and held it up as ho spoke. From Marc '—was it from Marc? Had ho disesvorod the truth at last, then,and written? Her heart beat furiously. " Oh, givo it to me !" she beggod. The superscription caught her eye. A shock of downright disappointment thrilled her. Yoyle'B writing! Thon she told herself she ought to be glad to hear from him. She was—of course she wae. But not as if tho letter had been from Marc—not with just that kind of gladness. Who could resist those pleading eyos and hands? Mr Gage gave her the missive, and she ran away with it to hor own room, and read it eagerly. It was quite a long epistle. In it wore theso lines : " Vella, how is it between you and Marc Tracy ? lam more anxious on the Biibject than I can say. You know—or rather, perhaps, you do not know—the morning after tho wedding of dubiously pleasant memory, I passed him in the corridor of the Palmer. I wore the suit of the previous evening (which you probably rocolloct, as you had the selecting of it), and was, of course, with Clafiin. Afterward it oc curred to me that as everyone else had been so easily gulled, he, too, might have been deceived. I have tried frequently since to see him or hear of his whereabouts, but without success. This ia why lam so par ticular in questioning you now." And then ho wont on to toll her about tho Costellos, the manner in which ho bad made heir acquaintance, of their kindness to lim. Read at last, long she sat pondering with tho letter on her lap. Thia, then, waa tho reason Marc had passed her as though sho woro a stranger that night in the Union depot. Oh, how tangled, how tangled tho throada of life had grown, and how feoblo wero her lingers to unravel them ! CHAPTER LX. sorrow's solace. "There's reason in mourning, as I'vo always said; and three Folds at the bottom of your skirt And a plain quilling In your bonnet— And if ever anybody looked like an angel It's you in a net quilling."—Gkohge Eliot Prairie Avenue was blockodwith carriages. It was the hour appointed for the funoral. Within tho magniricont Vernell residence quite a dense throng was collecting fora last glance at tho dead faco of " tho lucky colonel."

In hor own room upstairs Mrs Vornoll aat before tlio mirror, while her maid pinned deftly across the small, close bonnet tho long and heavy crapo veil of tho bereaved. A rosoluto womrm she, and ono not oasily touched or terrified, bat by no means, for all that, ono capable of strangling and Hinging from her path tho troublesome adder, Memory. She had slept wretchedly last night— wretchedly. One need only glance at her to discover the cause in the effect. Her skin was dry and colorless, hor usually bril liant eyea glazed and blue-rimmed. Remorse had had nothing to do with those hours of wakefulnesa. Ho was dead, and she was free—free and wealthy. What was that Voyle had said to hU uncla about defrauding him and his Bister ? Woll, now that his undo was dead, ho would strugglo to work for the rights ho asßortod. If ho did—supposing at tho worst ho did—who would heed him! No ; with the will which Grimes held, she was safe, absolutely safe. So, as has beon eaid, it was not romorso which had banished sloop, rathor an acute and curious nervousness.

All women possoss, in a largor or smaller degroo, superstition. Perhaps it was a certain attack of this same superstition which had last night sent such etrange shadows acros.s her brain, beforo hor vision, and left her staring restlessly and blankly from dark to dawn.

Now, as she glanced at hersolf in tho mirror, sho was positively shocked. But no, she must not try to improve her appearance. As she looked now, her grief, so ravagingly eloquont, would mako a most effectiveimpression. Only shemust manago not to encounter Dennis unvoiled. No necessity was there to convince him of her overwhelming 3enso of loss. And to. reveal to him her genuine ago and unloveliness— ah, that was quite out of tho question, always must be. " There, madam ; will that do ?" Hiloria had given tho last light touch, and stepped back. The widowl if ted her heavyeyes to tho glass. Sho started violently. From her lips broke a shuddering cry. Her oyoa were dis tended.

" Madam," the maid entreated, " you are II ! What is it ? Madam !"

No roply. She had shrunk back in her chair, cover ing bor face with her hands. Three minutes tripped by—five. Then she rose. "That will do,'' she said, and turned away ; but she had not again lifted her eyes to the mirror. Sho went out of the room and down the corridor to where Miss Dorothy awaited her. Together they descended the grand stair way. The crowd below dividod, swayed to either side, and formod tho walls of a narrow aislo through which they passed. Passed to whoro, on draped trestle?, rostcd a long cloth-covered casket, velvet-lined and silver bandied, wherein lay all that was mortal cf "the lucky colonel." Misa Dorothy flung back hor veil. Hor chubby old face was qu^e fiusliod and tear tained. She bent down and kissed tho stiff, pale lips of her brother, thou drew back, sobbing like n child. Ono quick glanco the widow sent around the room. No, Grimes was not there. Perhaps he was without. Perhaps ho had not come. Then she, too, threw back her long, deep-hemmed veil of crape. A stir wentthrough the reverent mourners around the coffin. How terribly Mrs Vernell was taking it! How it had changed her ! Few, if any, of them had seen her since before her mar riage. She was now little like the brilliant Mrs Charu of a few Bhort weeks ago, this pallid and dull-eyed woman. How devo tedly she must have loved him !It was awfully hard on her ! One could read her suffering in her face. Indeed, one would scarcely recognise her. She bowed low above the silvery pillow, laid her warm lipa upon the cold ones of the dead, leaned so long and tenderly. As she raitei herself with a clever sob, she became conscious that just beyond her stood the black-clad figure of Dennis Grimes. She drew down her veil, and turned away And then the undertakers, gloved and shod, with silence, smoothly and rapidly drew up the plate-glass square, lifted the heavy, memoried lid, screwed it noiselessly down. Upon it kindly hands heaped flowers, anchors, cros;e3, harps, columns, doves, sheaves, and great loose, nondescript masses of snowy bloom. Oh, the long, weary drive to Graceland ! What Chicagoan does not know it—has not at some sad time followed there relative or friend ? If one there be, blessed is he! The day grew cuttingly cold. Great feathery flakeß of snow began to drift through the leaden air aa the carriages rolled homeward. It was over now—the last act m the drama of death. ~.*«. 111 A few days later the contents of the will were formally and privately made known. To Dorothy Caroline Vernell the aumof ten thousand dollars; to his dear wife,

Letitia Vernell, the residue of his estate and property, real and personal. It wan all very simple. Miss Dorothy exclaimed in amazement when it was read.

To his dear wife ! Surely the will had not been made since his marriage I He had no reason, opportunity to do so But here, with suave court9sy broke in Mr Dennis Grimes. Tho will, he explainod, had boon drawn up tho day following tho Colonel's return from his wedding-trip Did Miss Vornell not recollect that when he, Grimes, had called, tho colonel had taken him into the library, and there they had for an hour considered and transacted business affairs ? That the latter—feeling, ai tho ladies wero aware, most miserably ill and nervous over tho impending crash of Golondrinas stock—had requested him to thon and thoro draw up his will.

" I argued with him," pursued tho friendly lawyer. " I told him there was no sense in his oxciting himsolf unnecessarily because business prospects looked slightly blue. I told him, too, he had still many years of lifo before him—why insist on making his will now? But all in vain !" Here Mr Grimes shook sadly his bricli browii head.

" Ho soemed to havo a premonition of the final call, He actually grew angry as I porsisted. ' Perhaps you don't know,' he said, ■ of courso, you don't, only tho doctor whom I consulted know, besides mysolf, thnt I havo a troublo which may carry mo on" any day.' I uttored tho dismay I felt. ' Yes,' lieansworcd me, 'my hoart is affected, has been for five years or more, I have boon particularly warnod against oxcito ment, as any sudden shock might prove fatal, but the caution proves but a frail breakwater for trouble. lam of such an intensely nervous tomporament that tho most trivial things affect me deeply. To day I feel that I am right in what I request you to do. No possiblo harm can come of it, while, in case of anything happening, the existence of a will would aavo. much trouble.'

"Of course, there was only one course left for me. I drew up the document. " ' Shall we summon your wife and Miss Vernell to witness it ?' I asked.

" ' No,' he replied, hastily ; ' the idea of a will has a certain suggestiveness of death for women. They would fancy me on the brink of the gravo. Though lam not in robust health, I am hardly as far gone as that. In any case, we won't alarm them needlessly. Ring the bell.' "I did so. .Roberts camo in response. His master told him to summon one of tho other servants. Mrs Vornell's maid hap pened to bo passing at tho time. Ho called her in. In the presoneo of the colonel both attested the will. You may read for yourself, Miss Vornell, their signatures, you may question themas to the genuineness of the same. I am vory sorry you have seen fit to doubt my professional rectitude." And he rose, buttoning his coat with quite an injured air. Hiss Dorothy grew groviously em barrassed.

As has been Btated, sho wastod no atfoc tion on Grimes; indeed, her sentiments to ward him wore of the most uncomplimen tary nature. But in this particular matter sho had not really doubtod him-had no clear reason for so doing. Sho had merely beon astonished at tho fact of a will having been made so recently. Sho hatod to wound another as do only generous eouls. "I beg your pardon," Bhe criod, hurriedly. "You are mistaken, though, Mr Grimes. I did not for ono instant quostion your voracity. What interost could you have in any deception of the sort? My astonish ment was natural, you must admit, under the circumstances, but I moant no rudeness."

All this time never a word had the widow spoken. She sat listlessly in tho bay-window. Hor white hands wero clasped in hor lap. Her blue-black hair was coilod Dimply bo hindherhead. Thoro was a delicate pink flush on her palo cheoks. Around hor billowod heavily her sable crape-covored draperies.

Grimes bowed. "lam very glad indeed I was mistaken, Miss Vornell."

Ho was about to tako his leave.

She rose. "Should you requiro at any timo my services, command mo," ho said. A sudden .thought struck her. Thoso childion—they had been totally ignored, cut off without a dollar. And, il thoro was any truth in what Voyle had s:o vehomontly assertod, tho fact was infamous. Most probably now Voylo would not contest tho property. Ho would bo avorso, sho knew, to squabbling over a grave. And not a cent hod ho Bave his unimportant salary. As for Vella, she could not continue to live dependent on her friend. So, acting im pulsively, sho turned to Grimes. "Thoro is one thing you can do for mo, and at once. Tho ten thousand you mention as coming to me, transfer for mo to my nieco and nephew, Valla and Voylo Vornoll." An expression of surprise swept over his florid fact-. The widow turned her hend. "You liavo considered tho stop," ho falterod. " You aro suro you are not rashly generous—" Sho interrupted him with a groat doal of dignity, seeing that hor hood just rouched the elbow of her interrogator.

"I huvo told you what I wish you to do, Mr Grimes."

Ho bowod in silonce.

As ho was taking up his hat ho spoko, " You dosiro that tho ton thousand dollars bequeathed you by your docoased brother shall be dividod between your nephow and nioco, Mr Voylo Vornell and Mrs Jonas Clallin ?" Miss Dorothy started violontly. Mrs Vernoll sont a searching glanco her way. Then sho answered quiotly : " You can make my nophow's monoy payable to him. On second thought I would profor that you purchase with the remain ing five thousand United States bonds, which you will bo good onough to bring me." Ho assented gravely. Mrs Yernoll ro-so quiokly as though actu ated by impulse, camo swiftly toward them. "Dorothy," she cried, "how clear headed you aro ! Can you not tell Mr Grimos what to soe about for mo ?"

"For you?" Both turned to her in amazement

"Yes, I must go away somewhere- any where ! I can't stay here. The recollec tions, tho loneliness of tho houso in which I had planned to live such happy years are stilling mo. I must go away—try to forgot it all, or I shall die—l shall die I" She broke down huskily.

As an outburst of passion, impetuosity, it wan an admirable bit of work. Mr Grimes's drowsy eyes widened. What a jolly good actress was spoiled in her. " Lotitia !" gasped Miss Dorothy. " Why, what do you wish todo, dear.about tho place -tho property?' She was quito overcome by hor sister-in aw'a emotion. Who would ever have ireamed sho had boon so fond of Jamos ? The widow Hung out her hands wildly. " Oh, I don't know—l don't caro! I know nothing of law, and such things, but surely there is some way. in which I can dispose soon of all that is mine-sell it, auction it, anything you see best. Mr Grimes," turning apponlingly to him, "I don't understand the means to tho end. I just want enough monoyto goawayaomo where and live quietly till all the horror of my husband's sudden death fades from me —if it ever will I" " Now, don't take on so— don't, Letitia I pleaded sympathetic Miss Dorotliy, her own bluo eyes filling at the sight of another's grief. "Can you do as sho wisffes, Mr Grimes ? I believe only travelling will servo her.' ' " Most assuroilly! And all tho time he was telling himaelf what a rattling sensation tho buxom widow before him would have been had she choson to tread tho boards. Miss Dorothy gave a soft little sigh, and made ono of her innocent little " bulls." " Dear Patience !" she ejaculated mildly, "how easily we could arrange it all if only dear James wore here to adviso us I" Her listeners started. "Doyou know," she went on dreamily and unconscious of the effect she was pro ducing, "I find so much truth in those lines of Poe: " 'I think in the lives of most women and men There's a timo when all would go smooth and even. If only the dead could find ont when To return and be forgiven."' " Great Scott 1" exclaimed Grimes. Mra Vornell glanced fearfu'ly about her, and sank shivering on the sofa. " Yes, isn't it sweet ?" placidly rippled on the little old maid, vaguely and pleasantly conscious that she had impressed her hearers. "If the author," thoughtfully, "wasnos Poe, I'm pretty sure 'twas Moore." The eyes of Grimes and the widow met. Heavens and earth ! what a blissfully serene small fiend she was ! The dead—come back ! That was just what they particularly objected to the dead doing. All they required of him was that ho lie tight and still in his grave. But come back ! Phew ! the very thought sent cold water trickling down one.a. back.

Both felt a hysterical desire to laugh, but their hands were cold and clammy aa the;' met in farewell.

(To lie Continued.)

A NIGHT OF HORROR

IN A TROPIC SWAMP,

(By A. J. P., Aocklahp)

" So you don't feel inclined to prolong your slay hero beyond to-day, Cameron?" Baid Murray as we sat discusaing cigars and Buss's pale ale on the shady verandah in front of his house, with the thrmometer .standing at something above 90degs. in the ■shade. " It isn't a question of inclination, but of nooosaity, my dear fellow," said I. " I Imvo already overstayed my time, and if I am not back at the office to-morrow, 1 ahall get into hot water, I expect." " Well, you knowyou can't reach George town to-night, so why not stay here over night and Rtart early tomorrow morning?" urged Murray. "Wouldn't do, I'm afraid," said I, regretfully. " I should not gel there before the office hour; and on the other hand, if I start just now, I shall reach the West Coast before eunaet, get Heathcote to put me up at his place for the night, and very oarly to-morrow morning push on to Georgetown, which I'll reach in good time, liy taking this method. By-the-bye," I asked suddenly, as the idea struck me, "how about the tide? Will there bo sulMciont water in the Doornhaag tronch to lot the boat up it?" Murray lazily stretched out his hand and took up an almanac that lay on a small table at his side. " Let me see, this is the eighth, isn't it?" ho said, carelessly turning over the leaves. " Yes, you're all right. There will bo lots of water in the trench, for it isn't low tide till about seven o'clock. Well, Cameron, since 1 see you must go, I shan't press you any further. You needn't be in a hurry to leave for another hour, however, since the tide can't be very long turned."

So we sat chatting together pleasantly for some longer, and then, fortifying our selves with another bottlo of Baes, wfi started in quest of tho ferry boat. In another half hour I had bidden adieu to tho hospitable Murray, and was being rowed across by a couple of negro boys from Wakenam (whoro Murray was the manager of a sugar plantation) to the neighbouring island of Leguan. I must pause here to give some sort of description of this particular part of British Guiana, in order that the following narra tive may be sufficiently clear to the general reader, whose idoas about that wonderful country may possibly bo limited to a hazy association of the name of yellow foyer and tho oxportatisn of sugar and rum. The comparatively email portion of British Guiana at present in cultivation consists of a narrow strip of land, running along the coast and for some distance along the banks of tho main rivera—Berbice, Essequibo, and Demorara. As tho cultivated land is for tho most part below tho high tide mark, the sea is kept out by means of a dam (built by the first settlers, who wero Dutch) extending along the coast, and as far up tho rivers as tho cultivated land .extends. This dam is protected against the sea by a line or margin of buah (from a quarter of a milo to several milea in broadth), which sorvoß as a sort of broak-wator. Tho drainage water of the land under cultivation is carried off by moans of deep trenches, furnishod with sluice-gates (or kokers as thoy are called there), which aro opened at low tide to give egress to the accumulated water within.

Tho Essequibo, the largoat of the riverß, which flown into tho Atlantic about twonty one miles bolow Georgetown, tho capital of British Guiana, forms at its mouth an estuary twonty miles broad, studded with numorons island*, tho largoat of which being Wakonaam and Leguan. Wakenaam and Leguan are both cultivated, and aro protocted againat the tide (whoso influence is folt for many milos up tho river) in pro cisoly tho same manner as tho coast and tho cultivated portion of tho rivor banks are. These two islands lie nearly parallol to oach other, and at tho timo of which I am writing—about thirty yoars ago—this cir cumstance was taken advantage of in cross inc from one side of the rivor to tho other. For instance if one wishod to go from tho West Coast (aa tho sido of tho Essequibo nearest to Georgetown was known) to tho island of Wakonaam, the usual method adopted was, first going by boot to Leguan, crossing tho island on foot or on horseback, and taking boat at tho othor aide for Wako naam. If you wishod to go on to tho Arabian (probablya corruption of Carribcan) Coast, as tho othor sido of tho rivor was called, you crossod Wakonaam in tho same way us Leguan, and then took boat again for tho Coast. Tho return journey from tho Arabian to the Wost Coast was performed in the samo way. With a broiling tropic sun overhead, this was a very tedious and disagreoablo mode of transit, but as it was tho moat convenient that goncrally was to bo had, one had to bo contonted with it, such as it was. Contenting myself for tho present with this brief explanation, I will now resume my narrative. Ah the boat that was conveying mo from Wakenaam to Leguan (a distance of two miles or so) approached the latter island, I noticed that tho tidoßeomed remarkably low for tho timo of day, considering Murray's assuranco that it would npt be out until seven o'clock. This occasioned mo a feel ing of anxiety lost there should not bo water enough in tho Doornhaag trench, to float tho boat. Tho Doornhaag trench, I may mention parenthetically, took off tho drainage water of an adjacent abandoned Bugar plantation, and as the road across tho island of Leguan begin just at the koker of tho trench, we had to navigate tho latter as far up as the kokor, in order to reach the road.

I communicated my fears respecting the tide to tho negro lads, who were by no means tho brightest specimens that I havo met of their race in Demerara. " Sure 'nuff it look berry low, maaaa, but me 'spec dero bo still 'nuff water in do trench for to let boat go up," said one of them, cheerfully nodding nia stupid, woolly head. Ho was wrong in his expectations, how ever, for a little more rowing brought us in front of the Doornhaag trench, and I per ceived, to my dismay, that there wasn't even water enough in it to float a paper boat.

There, visible to our eyes as far up as the koker, lay tho bare, muddy channel, with the high bush on either side of it, and a tiny rill of frosli water trickling along tho bottom. " What tho douco did Murray mean by saying that it would not be high water till seven ?" I soliloquised, in not the most gentle frame of mind towards tho absent Murray, whom I half sunpected of being guilty of some practical joking in the matter, but very wrongly, as I afterwards found out, for Murray had by mistake looked up in the almanac tho Bth of June instead of the Bth of July; that was all? It was vory evident that it would not be possible to get the boat up the trench for another couple of hours, so what was to be done? The negro lads, complacently resting on their oars, suggested waiting till the tide rose, but that did not suit my ideas at all. I stood up in the boat and took a general survey of the situation. A mud fiat, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, covered with courida trees—the courida or courada is a species of mangrove that grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet —interspersed with smaller shrubs, lay between me and the dam or bank, which looked temptingly near—not a ten-minutes' ■n alk off. It didn't look as if it would prove a very difficult job to reach the bank by cutting across on foot through this bit of bush. I knew that the mud in the trench was in too liquid a state to render walking up along the bottom oi it possible, but I was more sanguine regarding the mud that was covered with bush. I looked critically at what was visible of it along the margin of the bush, and it seemed pretty firm and hard. Aucklanders, familiar with the dreary stretch of mud at Freeman's Bay when the tide is out, may have an idea of the decep tive appearance that mud whose surface haa been exposed for some time to the rays of the sun often has.

So, looking at the bush, I came to the conclusion that it would be quite feasible ta get up through it to the bank, and I accord ingly resolved to do so without loaa of time.

When I informed the negroes of my in tention, they seemed to look upon it as rather a dubious undertaking, bat presently one of thorn brightened up and said that he had once seen some of the coolies who worked on a neighbouring plantation come down through this same bush to the water's edge at low tide. However, when seeking

my exhausted condition ; for, after a while a strange lethargic feeling, a sort of deaden ing of all my sensibilities, began to creqp over me. I was conscious of an ever present sense of dull, hopeless misery, which "op pressed me like a nightmare; but in the dazed state into which I had fallen, I did not seem to connect it with my dangerous position, or indeed with anything par ticular. Though I regarded it with apathy, I was quite aware of the probable fate that was in store for rue, and even began speculating, iv a droamy kind of way, about the manner in which it would bo tho likeliest to become known that I had perished in that mud swamp. I would first be missed at George town, I supposed. They would wonder at the Government office, in which I held a not irresponsible position, why I hadnot returned at the time appointed. Inquiries would be made at Wakenaam, where it was known I had been spending Borne days, and it would then bo ascertained that I had been landed at Leguan, at the edge of the margin of bush, intending to make my way through it to the embankment, and that no to profit by this bit of intelligence, I ques tioned him as to the precise part, of the bush through which the coolies had come down. He wna somewhat vaguo in his answers, and wasn't sure whether it was above or below the trench.

This was disappointing, but I consoled myself with the reflection that the footing was likely to be pretty much the same all over. Doubtless 1 should get in a fine mess with mud, I calculated, but mud could bo washed off, and anything was preferable to Hticking there for two mortal hours waiting for the tide to rise.

So the boys, at my bidding, brought the boat up to the place where, to my eyes, the mud seemed firmest and I stopped out. Certainly, I sank somewhat deeper than I had anticipated, but I said to myself that naturally the mud close to the water's edge would be soft, since the tide had so recently covered it, and, without troubling myself more about the matter, I pußhed off the boat, and stood watching the boys while they ran up a bit of sail, the wind being favourable for their return to Wakenaam.

, Aa I attempted to turn to make my way through the bush, I suddenly became aware that I had been sinking, by imperceptible degrees, in the mud, which was now nearly up to my knees. I had not bargained for this, and felt somewhat dismayed, but I comforted myself with the thought that matters would im prove as I went further on, and, extricating myself with some difficulty, plunged in among_ the couridas. Contrary to my ex pectations, however, matters did not im prove as I went on, and after floundering along, ankle deop in mud, for a short dis tance, I became convinced that I had grievously mistaken the character of this same mud. Instead of getting harder, it seemed to bo getting softer, as I advanced, and after awhile I found myself sinking knee-deep in it at every step I took. At last, breathless and exhausted, I took hold of the trunk of a tree, and managing by its aid to keep myself from sinking deeper while I remained stationary, I endeavoured to think what was to be done.

I saw only too plainly that I had mado a mistake in attempting to reach the bank in this way, and I heartily anathematised my folly in sending away the boat before I had sufficiently bestod the possibility of locomo tion on the mud. Had I thought it possible to recall the boat, I would immediately have made the best of my way back to the water's edge, but I know that, with that fair wind to aid them, tho boys weuld have nearly reached Wakenaam by that time. It was cloar that I had practically burned my ship, and that, therefore, the only oourso of action that was now open to me was to push on forward through tho bush, with all the enorgy and porsoverance I could command. I foresaw, judging by the little progress I hod mado during the last half-hour, that it would be a long time, however, boforo I reached tho embankment, and I torosaw also that I would havo terribly tough wcrk get ting there; for wading through that heavy mud, even for a short distance, would havo been an oxtiemoly exhaußting labour in a tempnrate climate, and in the close tropical atmosphere of that place, it was simply killing. However, it was no good dwelling on the difficulties of my situation, soquittinp my hold of tho tree, I once more plungod forwaid.

Worso and worse ! I never could have believed how yielding mud could bo under the pressure of tho foot, and yet how tenacious in its hold. Sinking above my knees at evory stop I took, it roquirod each timo such an effort to extricate myself again that I spoedily had to come to a standstill, and havo recourse for a few minutes to such partial rest as clinging to a tree could afford me.

So, occasionally routing in this way, I managed to flounder through tho mud for Borne distanco, helping myHolf by taking hold of tho trunks of tho couridas and tho long air-roots that hung down from thoir high branches; but now a now difficulty bo gan to appear. This was tho undergrowth, which had not seriously impeded me at tho outset, being rather sparso nt tho water's edge, but which had grown donser as I had advancod, and now throatonod to stop my furthor progress. I was not to tie so easily beaton, howover, and, thoroughly oxhauatod though I was, I managed, by dint of Booking out the placos whore tho undergrowth was lightest, to got along a bit furthor ; but, at last, it grew so dense that it effectually stopped mo. I saw that without a cutlass or some such weapon it would bo impossible for me to proceed through tho undergrowth, and that therefore I was in a very serious pre dicament indeod. I now, too, discovered, for the first time, that the many detours I had made in seeking out a passage through tho undergrowth had so confused mo that I hnd lost all idea of the direction in which tho 'embankment lay, and that therefore, even supposing I had been able to make my way through the undergrowth, I should not have known in what direction to pro ceed. To ascertain my position by climb ing a tree was out of the question, for I was certain that those tall, slender couridas would not support my weight at above ten or fifteen feet from the ground. I certainly was in a fix, and I knew it. Vainly I en deavoured to retrace my steps. The under growth on all sides appeared equally dense, and after forcing my way through it for a few yards by the foolish expenditure of the little strength that still remained in me, I came to a stop, and half dead with ex haustion, flung my arms round a tree, feeling that though my life dopended on lit, I could not advance another step. I was quite aware of the danger of my situation, and knew, at the same time, that I would not be ablo to get out of it without assistance, so I may be oxcused for despond ing when I reflected on the smallness of the chance that there was of my getting this assistance. It was already growing dark, and I know that aftar dark there was little likelihood of my boat being about on the river, so help was not likely to come from that quarter. Then again on the landside, the only place at which any cries for help were likely to bo heard was. the abandoned sugar plantation spoken of before, and I knew that no one had lived there for years. But though I was aware that in all pro bability it was useloss, that did not prevent mo from making myself hoaree with many loud and fruitlws ories for help. When the tide rose next day, I calculated that there would, probably, be some boat going between Wakonaam and Leguan, whose occupants might hoar my cries and come to my aid ; but next day was a lon£ way off, and I could not koep back the thought that by that time I would, in all probability, be either dead or past calling to help. In order to prevent myself from sinking beyond the possibility of ex trication, and so getting literally drowned in the mud, I had to hold on to a tree, and I knew that in my ex hausted condition it would be exceedingly hard for me to do so for any considerable length of time. Then again, if I could not manage to hold on and keep myself afloat when the tide rose, there waß the strong probability of my getting drowned in another element, for at high tide the water would be more than six feet deep where I was, I calculated. Altogether, looking at it even from the moet sanguine point of view, my lookout was the reverse of hopeful. I felt convinced that I would never leave that dismal place alive, and, I confesp, my heart sank within me. I know that death can nearly always bo met with equanimity, and under certain circumstances even with enthusiasm—the sentiment expressed in Goethe's " Selig der, dem er im Siegesglanze dieblut'genLorbeern urn die Schldfewindet" is one that I, like most people, can appreciate ; but it is quite a different thing when, miserably caged in a mud swamp, you have, passive and solitary, to await the advent ef death, un certain even what shape it may assume when it does come. Under these circum stances your sensations are apt to be—put ting it mildly-decic(edly unpleasant, and I should not care to again experience those same sensationß which I felt then. I think there must have been something of a mephitie nature in the exhalations arising from the surface of the swamp as night fell, which easily took effect on me in

one had heard or seen anything of me since then.. It would naturally be suspected that I had never got through the bush, and it would immediately be searched, but too late, of course, to be of any service to me, who wsuld be long dead by that time. I wondered vaguely if my body would be found or not. Would it perhaps get en tangled among the undergrowth, and so be recovered possibly, or would it sink deep in the mud, leaving no trace behind that might lead to its discovery ? Then my thoughts reverted to my friends and relatives in Scotland. What a shock it would bo to th,o poor mater when shelearn e«l that lier only son hadyjeriHhedsomiserably. I remember feeling very sorry for her, but' with a distant, uninterested kind of sorrow , such as I might havo felt for a stranger— the mother of soma other fellow in circum stances similar to mine.

Though I never lost consciousness altogether, I think I must have fallen into a kind of stupor, for I have no distinct re collection of anything after this, until I gradually became sensible that the tide had risen, and that the water was far past my wuist. The tide was netnearly fuli yet, and the reason ot the water's being apparently so high was, that I had sunk far above my knees in the mud.

I was thoroughly roused now,and,whetlior ornotit was owing to the atmosphere around me becoming purer in consequence of the mudbeing now covered with water, I cannot say, but somehow or other tho stupor had

left me, and all my faculties were quite clear again. Tho moon had risen, and though its bright light only penetrated dimly through the somewhat bushy foliago of the couridas, yet it was sufficient to allow me to clearly distinguish tho objects around me. I had scarcely any hope of boing ultimately roncued, but still I did not wish to die sooner than I could help, and saw that if I did not want to got drowned, I mustspeedily make some change in my position. My arms and hands were bo stiff and sore with holding on to the tree that I knew thoy would soon bo unablo to perform this office, and that, as it was impossible to either float or swim among the undergrowth, I would be sure to get entangled in it, and inevitably drowned when the tide rose.

In anxious perplexity I looked around in search of some means of escaping the present danger of getting drowned, and also of re lieving the strain upon my arms and hands, which was now quite insupportable.

I saw nothing, however, that could possibly be turned to account for this purpose, and was beginning to think that I would have to resign myself to my fate, when happening, for the first time, to notice the tree to which I was clinging, I saw that it was just tho thing I wanted. It was much stronger and stouter in the trunk than the other couridas round about, and, unlike its neighbours, whose slender stems wore devoid of branches up to a height where they could

not have been able to support my weight, this tree had a curiously distorted-looking branch shooting out from it at a distance of eight or nine feet above the ground. Both the tree and branch were evidently quite strong enough to support my weight, and as the latter shot out from the tree at nearly right angles for a couplo of feet be fore turning upwards, it offered a con venient and very welcome seat, which I determined to avail myself of without loss of time. Accordingly, I extricated myself fromthomudin whichlwasstanding, though n«t without difficulty, and using both hands and feat, climbod up the tree as far as the branch. Then taking off my loose shooting jacket, I managed to arrange it on the vertical bit of the branch, bo that it formed an extension of the Beat, and also served ac a kind of back to it. Then, climbing up into it, I managed, with the aid of my shirt and a largo pocket handker chief, to attach myself so to the tree as to rondor it woll -nigh impossible for me to tumble off, were I again becom ing insensiblo. My present position was so vastly superior to my former that I felt quite secure and comfortable, comparatively speaking, and in the pleasant reaction that I experienced consequently, my spirits rose ninety per cent. I was shivering from head to foot witli ague, but when one has been several yenvs in Uemorara, ono loams to think nothing of a lit of ague, so that did not diminish my feeling of satisfaction. I be^an to feel positively sanguine about getting rescued from my perilous position when morning came, and I was not troubled with any doubts respecting my ability to hold out till morning. So, in a more or lees equable frame of mind, I sat up there on my high perch for a couplo of hours or so, listening to the various cries of tho night birds on tho island. At intervals, I heard, too, a distant roaring, which, I think, must have boon produced by a tiger on the island. I Hay atlvieedly 'I think,' for, though vory possibly there wero tigors on Leguan, yet, oven aa I sat there listening to tho sounds, and apt as I would be under tho circumstances to exaggerate their character, I felt somewhat sceptical about their proceeding from the throat of a tiger. This scepticism was probably the result produced by a story that Murray had been telling mo just before I left him, which was calculated to impress on one's mind the fact that other animals may have loud voices as well as tigers. A planter, a Scotchman by the name of B , on this very island of Loguan, had been dining at tho house of a brother planter on the island, and as he was returning homo on horssback late at night, in rather an elated framo of mind — champagne flows freely at the table of the hospitable Domerara planter—ho heard what he took to be a loud roar behind him. The talk at the dinnir table had turned upon a tiger having been seen in the vicinity on the provious day, and not doubting that this was tho identical beast at Mb heels, R—— put spurs to his horse without even casting one look behind. He had a couple of miles of lonely road before him, and as he flew along this ha heard sounds behind him which unmistakeably told him that the hungry brute was in full pursuit, and made him urge his horse on still faster. Going along at that rate of Bpeed, it was not long "before he reached his place. To spring from his horse, open the gate, got through, and dash it to after him, was not the work of a moment, and, casting a hurried glance at his pursuer, whom he saw coming briskly along the road, he rushed up to the house. The whole household was Bpeedily ■ aroused, and half a dozen negroes armed i with cutlasses and headed with R——. carrying a double-barrelled gun and wear ing a very determined expression of coun tenance, proceeded at once to the gate to the assault of the tiger. The bewilderment of the party may be conceived, when on reaching fhe intended scene of action they saw the horse, for whose safety they had been trembling, quietly fraternising with the ferocious brute, who, on closer examina tion, turned out to be nothing more or less than a harmless jackass belonging to the plantation, who, having strayed away, had recognised his master and. fallowed him homo.

The story was fresh in my rocolleotipn, and as I pictured to myself the exceeding foolish appearance that R (whom I knew very well) must have presented, when he found that he had mistaken poor Neddy's bray for the roar of a tiger, I burst into an irrepressible fit of laugnter, though my circumstances were not precisely calculated to encourage the exercise of my risible faculties.

I was still quietly chuckling to myself when a curious sibilant sound, produced apparently close at hand, caught my at tention, and looking about to discover the cauße, I saw before me a sight that put a sudden and most effectual stop to my hilarity.- Not half-a dozen yards in front of me, its body loosely coiled round th,e slender trunks of a couple of couridas, and its head moving from side to side, with a graceful undulating motion, was a huge Camondi snake.

I had thought that the Camoudi was usually to be found in the neighborhood of freßh water, and was somewhat surprised to find him there, but there undoubtedly he was, and evidently quite at home. The

light that penetrated through the trees was quite bright enough to enable me to dis tinguish him perfectly, and as some weeks previously I had accidentally had an oppor tunity of examining a recently-kil'ed Camoudi snake, I knew at once that th,e reptile before me belonged to the aame species. The Camoudi is not a venomous snake (belonging to the Boldre group of serpents, and killing its prey by constriof tion); but it is not the less to be dreaded on that account, for the hapless creature once entwined in the convolutions of this dreaded reptile is, in a few minutea, re duced to a shapeless mass. It is so power ful that the largest specimens o( this serpent have been known to crush an ox to, a jelly, and it is not to be wondered that. knowing the Camoudi by reputation aa well as I did, I felt my heart die within me when my eyes first fell on my terrible vis-a vis.

I had thought that I could not possibly be in a worse situation when, clinging to the tree, half immersed in mud, I had felt my consciousness leaving me, a,n£

knew that my probable fate wo«ld be a lingering death ; but now I would have gladly exchanged m ? present for my former position. There dea.^ would hare been some time in coming, a id there was always a chance that I might b « rescued before it did come. Here an inn. Mediate and awful death stared me in the faa. \ for mv second glance had assured me that i. fc onl v waa tne serpent aware of my presenc, '» but that ho was also watching his opp. wtunity for springing upon me. Had this "ew danger menaced me some horn's ago, when the stupor was creeping over me, 1 ki. u)w that * would have merely closed my ej Te^i and awaited my fate with dull apathy ; > 'ut now my faculties had regained their accui rtomed I clearness, and seemed all to be concern rated upon seeking some way of escaping , tne deadly embrace of the Camoudi. Thinl' as I might, however, no practicable plan °* escape suggested it self to my anxioi '^ mind. To drop off the branch wouk' be simply rushing from one danger * into another, for there was fully six feet of water beneath me, and I would get entangled amongst the undergrowth, and infallibly be drowned. I Baw clearly that I could do nothing except sit still where I was, but I determined that as long ag a spark of life remained in my body, I {would struggle to preserve it by overy means in my powor. Since first I had become aware that the Camoudi was watching me, I never had taken my eyes off him for a single instant, and now I perceived unmistakeable symp tom 9of his boing about to make the fatal spring. A feeling of groat terror took possession of me, and hardly knowing what I did, I flung out my arms frantically, and gave vent to a prolonged yell. To my surprise and joy, this mad behaviour on my part seemed to have tho effect of temporarily daunting tho serpent, for he resumed his former position, and recommonced the graceful, undulating motions with his head.

A gleam of hope suddenly Hashed upon mo. By constantly watching the Camoudi, and repelling him by shouts and gesticula tions whenever I saw indications of his being about to make a spring, could I not manage to keep him at a distance until, wearied with waiting, he eventually betook himself away? It seemed not altogether improbable, but I could not help recognis ing the fact that there was another side to the question, and that it was not altogether improbable that the Camoudi might tire mo out first, and that at all events the question was likely to resolve itself into whoee power of endurance was the greatest, so that the serpent was most likely to prove the viator in the end.

With this terrible strain upon my mental faculties,, how was I, already ill and ex hausted physically, likely to hold out for any length of time ? Was it not probable that before lone my strength would give way, and I should lapse into complete in sensibility, in which state I would at once be mode to furnish a meal to the hungry serpent opposite me ? I cannot express the sense of sickening horror with which this thought filled me, and I do believe that it was this same horror which inspired pc with the strength and resolution that wero the means of eventually saving my life.

I did not dare to remove my gaze from off the serpent, and as I sat there with one hand grasping the trunk of the tree, and the other the upright portion of the branch which formed my seat, everything frightful that I had ever read, sees, or heard of ser pents of the boa constrictor genus seemed to throng into my mind. Stories which I. had heard or read in childhood started up in my memory side by side with those that I had cpme across quite lately; and what was curious, they seemed quite as clear and fresh. All that I had ever seen, either in painting or sculpture, depicting struggles with boa constrictors, seemed to revive in my recollection. For instance, a cast of tho famous sculptured Laocoon group, which I had come across some yoars pre viously, would insist obstinately on obtrud ing itself on my mental vision. Indeed, with such startling vividness did it appear in my memory that I could almost have declared that I saw before me with my bodily eyo that terribly grand depiction of tho unfortunate priest of Neptune and his two sons writhing in the coils of the avenging pythons. Sometimes it was myself struggling in the dreadful em brace of Camoudi, whom I saw mentally before mo in all the horrors of living reality ; for I knew that though I might manage to keep him off for a short time, thore was very little hope of my ulti mately escaping the jaws of the reptile. I could easily imagine how it would ber. First, thore would be the rush of a long dark body through the air; then I would feel the serpent's sharp teeth in me, and become aware that I was involved in the cold, scaly coils of his body ; then I would feel those encircling coils pressing tighter and tighter; and then I wondered whether I would become un conscious at the first touch of the ser pent's teeth, or whether, before conscious ness fled, I would be sensible of some moments of intense agony as ho brought the pressure of his powerful muscles to bear upon me. All the horrible details of the business seemed to possess ft queer fascination for me, and I could not prevent my thoughts from dwelling upon them as I sat perched up there, staring at my grim adversary with a strange mixture of attraction and repulsion. As it had been some time since he had shown any signs of moving, I was every moment expecting to Bee him prepare himself again for a spring. While I looked forward to this moment with dread, yet, as I knew it must come sooner or later, I wished it to come at once, so that I might be able to ascertain if shouting and gesticu lating would be effectual jn scaring the Camoudi a second time. He was apparently in no hurry to try his luck again, and an awfully long time it seemed to me, sitting there with my nerves strung up to a most painful degree of expectancy. At length I perceived unmistakable in dications that the serpent was contemplat ing another spring, and, wildly waving my arms, I sent forth a series of yells that might have done credit to a savage Zulu rushing upon his tribal foes. This frantic behaviour had the same effect on my adversary as it had on theprevious'occassion, for, evidently completely taken aback, he settled down into his former position, This was so far satisfactory, but as, exhausted with my late effort, I leaned my shoulder against the tree, I asked myself, despair ingly, how long It would continue so. Even looking at things in the most sanguine light, and supposing that I had tho strength to hold out for an indefinite length of time, I did not dare to hope that these violent de monstrations of mine, though they might repel the Camoudi for a few times, would always continue to do so. After a while (if he did not get disgusted with waiting and make off in the meantime) the serpent would get familiar with these same violent demonstrations, and finding that they resulted in nothing, would cometo disregard them—with somewhat disagreeable con aequencos to me, certainly. Tho Camoudi evinced not the faintest dis position to make off, and remained there with every outward appearance of feeling very comfortable and very much at home— which I daresay he was. I could have almost fancied that the creature was aware of my helpless condition, and feeling confi dent that his supper could not get away, had decided that if it could wait he could wait too.

And wait he certainly did !■ Hour after hour dragged itself put, and there the Camoudi etill remained motionless, savo {or those occasional indications of, his prepaying himself to spring upon me, which I had perceived, or fancied I had perceived, and which I had always managed to check in the bud by shotting and gesticulating with my anna. As the waiting was entirely a voluntary piece of business on the Camoudi's part, and more especially as he' had a prospective supper already dished up before him, and was only waiting for it to cool down in order to begin upon it, I may reasonably presume that the time passed not unpleasantly with him; butnever to my dying day shall I forget what I endured during those hours. 1 often wonder how I managed, to get through that nightas I did, for I have heard oj people, un der a far less sovore strain, bodily and ment ally, eitherloaing their season or dying. The vital principle »ust have bee* very strong i,n mci I suppose, since I did not dio out right from sheer exhaustion alone. In actual suffering, however, I think I must h,a.vo died many deaths. With every nerve ip, my body strung up to an unbsa^a'bje degree of tension, I had to keep an almost unwind ing watchon my antagonist, arid not knowing at what Gnomon tj he might not make the fatal aptfngi disregardless of my attempts to scare him, oft, I passed the livelong night in a perpetual state o] suspense such as even now it ma.kcs me shudder to remember. Often and often during that night I said to mysolf that death, in however horrible a shape, would be infinitely preferable to this tor turing suspense, and that it would be better to resign myself to my fate without any farther struggle. I was young, however, and life woe very pleasant to me, and, almost unknown to myself, I cherished a latent hope somewhere in the depths of my breast tha,t I might still live to enjoy it; so

these moments of utter despair generally sudod id a dogged renewal of ray resolve Id fight for my fife Inch by inch ; and morn ing found me—a ghastly picture enough I make no doubt—still perched up on my branch grimly watching my dreaded i-is-r. ---vis. My tongue felt almost cloven to tl c roof of my mouth, my body and nether limbs were so cramped and stiff with tl c fatigue of sitting in the Rameuneomfortabe position for so many hours that they seems d nearly devoid of feeling, and the movements that I made with my arms were merely mechanical. Bad it not been that I had tied myself to the tree, I feel sure I would hays tumbled down, and it was only ly sheer strength of will that I kept mysi If from lapsing into complete insensibility. Latterly, I had become conscious too of a new and strange sensation ; a curkms at traction compelling me to turn my gaze en the Camoudi and rendering me unable lo withdraw it again, which at that time I bad put down-to the .power of fascination gene rally ascribed to serpents (a power by the vay Uiat I have often seen exercised upon f L »wlsand small birds by various kinds of 6e . Tpents in British Guiana), but which now I am inclined to believe must have been some thin,'? akin to what they call hypnotism, produced by my long and continuous staring at the reptile. As ti'ie sun rose the Camoudi began to testify t*y unmistakeable symptoms that he was indignant at his supper being merged into his Weakfust in this fashion, and viaa beginning to think that he might begin upon it with impunity. I had noticed that my hostile demonstrations had had latterly scarcely any effect upon him, and I knew that the long-dreaded moment was cer tainly coming. I had a three-inch bladed pocket-knife about my person, and though I was awate that it was scarcely possible that it could be of service to mo in the coming struggle (for I [knew that the serpent's movements were so rapid that long bofpro I could hnve time to use the knife I would be enveloped in his deadly embrace and powerless), I get hold of it with my righ* hand, opened it, and awaited the serpent's attack with tbo calm which despair engenders. I had not long to wait. A slight noise, the vision of a dark body rushing through the air, and throwing up the hand which held the knife, with an instinctive desire to keep it free, I sat suddenly upright just as I felt the huge body of the serpent en circling both me and the tree. Lucky it was for me that I made that instantaneous change of posture, for I believe it was owing to that circumstance that I am alive at the present hour. The Camoudi had made his spring, intending to fix his teeth in my head, which I had been leaning against the trunk of the tree, and unprepared t< r my sudden change of position, his powerful jaws had nearly closed in the wood of the courida, exactly at the place where my head had been resting not an instant before ! The peculiar formation of the teeth of serpents makes it very difficult for them to let go what they have once seized with their mouth, and remembering this fact as I recovered from the momen tary stupefaction into which I had been thrown by the Camoudi's assault, I instan taneoußly divined my advantage, and brought my disengaged arm, with the hand holding the knife, into play. I knew nothing about the anatomical structure of a serpent's body, but I had heard that the heart was situated pretty far back, and 1 aimed at the massive coils of the Camoudi, devoutly trusting that I might wound him in Borne vital part. As I was sitting between the trunk of the tree and the upright portion of the branch, which were both included in the serpent's embrace, the pressure of his powerful muscles was first expended on these, and 1 had not felt it as yet; but scarcely had I eon t the knife twice into liia scaly body when I heard a loud ominous crack, eemething went crashing down among the under growth (the tide was quite out again nt this time), and I knew that the upright portion of the branch had given way under the pressure of the reptile's muscles.

There was not an instant to be lost. I felt those hsrriblo convolutions gradually tightening around me, and, with desperate energy I repeatedly drove the knife up to the handle into tho Camoudi'a body in several different places. The last time, the blade broke in his bedy and tl.e lmnrilo came away in my hand, but happily was not needed any more, for the serpent had had quite enough of it. I saw a tremor run through him, his enormous coils suddenly relaxed, and the hinder pait of his long body fell down, crashing emongr the undergrowth, while his teeth being still buried in the wood of tho courida at a distance of some twelve feet or so from the ground, he remained hanging plumb with the tree. After wriggling about for half a minute, ho managed to disengage his teeth (taking away big bits of wood in them, as I noticed from the marks he left on the tree), and, falling down like a dead weight, he glided away through the undergrowth. Whether or not I had mortally wounded him, and he had betaken himself off to die, I cannot say. At all events I saw no moto of him, for, just as he was disappearing through the undergrowth, and I was cling ing to my tree in an almost fainting con dition, I heard a sound which sent the lifo blood rushing through my body with re newed vigour. It was a laugh, and a laugh so loud and free from care that I knew it could only proceed from the lutags of a de scendant of Ham. Then I heard the loud, cheerful sound of talking, and then another laugh in which two or more voices joined. Though tho negroes who wero tho pos sessors of these voices were in reality some distance off, the sounds reached my ears so distinctly in the still morning air that I fancied they were quite close at hand and my heart leaped with a feeling of supreme thankfulness.

My throat was so parched that at first I could scarcely enunciate a single word, but after two or three attempts I managed to call out loud enough to be heard, "For God s sake, help!" The laughing and talking suddenly ceased, and I distinctly heard one of the negroes exclaim, "What dat? Yon no hear dat, Sam?"

Again I repeated my loud cry, and this time one of them called out, asking what was the .matter. I shouted hack explaining to them my position, and then I heard loud confused sounds of talking, from which I judged that they were consulting together about haw to get me out. '* Suddenly these sounds ceased, and tha thought struck me that they had goup away, not caring to bother themaelre* about me. In great dread I shouted, out again in a voice that was almost stentorian and to. my unspeakable relief, I heard their choerful response, "ComiuI,maesa, eomin'!'" sounding not many yards off, and presently I heard what seemed to me tW pleasantetV sound that ever greeted mortal earu namely, the crcsh, crash of their cutlass-en as they cut their way through the under growth. Too exhausted to movo a muscle, I ooafd only cling io the tree and await their approach, shouting evosry other moment to guido them- to mo, and when at last I I caught sight befliath mo of (Jao three dark stalwart foraa of the maa above their waists fr mud, the unnatural strain which I had sustained for so long a time at length gave way, *wl I became uncon ci&m When I regained my somes I was lytoir ,on the embankment, with the kind-heartcrt nogrooa beading over me, and endeavouring to revive me by dashing cold water on my .facsj. How thoso *hreo had managed to bring mo, in my unconsciaus state, thronel* tha.t mud and undergrowth to the em bankment, short distance though it was, is to this day a pUM % tft me. Certainly they njusfc have had their work of it, and must havo well earned tho monetary reward which I afterwards bestowed upon them.

It appealed that I had been quite clow all mg^t to the embankment besid6 tU atoned sugar plantation (so clcmT indeed, that had I had a cutlass witi>»,* and been aware of my position, I could havo nearly reaohed it in ten minutes) and! the negroes, in going to their work on a sugar plantation lying a HtUo beyond the abandoned estate, had been taking a short but not much used, cut through the lotted when I heard th ei r voices and called for their assistance. Had they passed by ton minutes lata^ I believe I should have, perished, without being able to make mv situ,aiic-r» known to any mortal soiil for I ata certain that, at the moment when tb& | hearty laugh of the negro put life and hope, into me, I was lapsing into estate of uncon sciousness from which I should never more, have awakened in this world.

I did not escape scot free from njv ex periencos of that night, for I lay long ilj with brain fe»rer at the house of a hosni*»h)«, friend on the West Coast. Kind at&S and careful nursing brought me round,, however, and after a while I was able to return to my duties in Georgetown, cony pletoly reestablished in health. Time, and a good deal of knocking aboufc the world, have managed to weaEen nrv remembrance of that night's experience; but even yet, hero in my New^ealand home, in the nightmares whidj oocasioDalJv visit mo, I live over again what I suppoS I may justly call that "Night of Horrwfo a Tropic Swamp." "*

THE AUCKLAND EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MAY 28; 1885.

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