Florence E. Burch

“ Bill laid hands anew on the whitethorn stems. But at that very moment, a dull thud, thud, in his other ear made him stop short. It was a sound of approaching footsteps on the worn grass of the footway. Some one was coming along from the river-side. Would interruptions never cease? Bill gave a guilty look round. It would not do to be seen in the ditch.
A yard or two to the right was a large bramble bush, which had sprung up on the field and straggled over to the hedge, catching hold of the whitethorn with its thorny arms, and interlacing with the blackberry brambles in a thick tangle. ”

“ Farmer Bluff laughed outright. "An inquest on a goose!" roared he. "Upon my soul, young master, you're an original; though, when you come to look at it, half the inquests are on geese. He! he!—" And he laughed again at his own wit.
But Hal was quite in earnest. To him there was nothing funny in it at all. "There always is a post-mortem," said he seriously, "when anybody dies without the doctor being able to tell the cause of death. I think that if I were you, I should like to know why that goose died. It might enable you to prevent any more of them dying the same way, you know. ”

“ They glanced at Hal, but his thoughts were too much occupied with Farmer Bluff to notice any of their signs.
All at once he seemed to see how it is faith in Christ alone that gives the sinner peace, when looking back repentant on a misspent life.
He seemed to see, too, how that "faith" can be called "work," since "to be" alone enables man "to do."
"I've got it, Farmer Bluff!" he cried, next time he went up to his room. "Believe in Jesus Christ,—that is 'the work of God;' and you can do that lying here. It's only to be sorry, and to trust in Christ, who died for us." ”

“ But next time Hal came upstairs to see him, he said he had been thinking there was one thing he could do. "I could warn some other sinner what an awful grief it is to go down to the grave with nothing but a wasted life," said he; "and maybe they might listen to a man who hasn't many days to live."
So Hal brought Dick and Bill to see the dying man; and Farmer Bluff talked to them in a way that neither of the boys ever forgot.
"There's one thing more I want to do before I die," said Farmer Bluff to Hal, when they were gone. "I feel the end is coming fast; another day I mayn't have strength. ”

“ A FEW hours later, Bill had made acquaintance with one of the narrow beds in the accident ward of the Riverbridge Infirmary, where—after going through the exhausting process of having his clothes removed, and his leg put in splints—he fell asleep and dreamt all sorts of extraordinary things. Amongst others, that the Squire had caught him stealing eggs in the hay, and had him nailed out on a flat board—like the stoats on the lower boarding of the barn; and that when he tried to get away, Farmer Bluff's dog came and barked at him. ”

“ Hal considered a minute. This line of argument was rather difficult to answer, and yet Hal's sense of right and wrong told him it was false.
"You'd no right to pay him for dishonesty," said he; "so no payment could be fair."
"I don't know so much about that," returned Dick stoutly. "If a fellow's fool enough to sell his soul for sixpence, that's his own look out. It's always fair to pay a fellow what he'll take."
"That's not the way to look at it at all," said Hal. "A fellow's soul is worth a great deal more than any one can pay, and if he loses it, he's done for outright. ”

“ At the same instant, there was an outcry from among the willow-trees. A dog sprang forward with a bark, and a dear treble voice rang out excitedly—"Why! It's some one's head! In, Blazer; in! Fetch him out! Oh! Quick! Quick!"
It was Maggie Rust, who had gone out with Hal to look for the dog, and found him on the riverbank, worrying at a knuckle bone dropped there by a careless butcher boy on his way to the Vicarage. ”

“ I expect he'll be one of my tenants by and by, you know, and I'm afraid he won't be a very good one."
"About the average run, perhaps," said Farmer Bluff. "Some better, and some worse."
"But don't you see," said Hal, "he's got no principle. He doesn't think it matters the least bit in the world if a boy chooses to sell his soul for sixpence—like Bill, when he thieved to get the goose egg for him."
Farmer Bluff was silent. He knew so well how many men there were among the tenantry—how many who owned manors, too—with little or no principle. ”

“ The Squire struck his cane upon the ground.
"We have his future to consider, Mrs. Mumby," answered he. "A boy who lies and thieves at his age, must be curbed, or he will end by worse. But we will hope that, by God's grace, we may turn him from his evil ways."
The Squire and his grandsons were no sooner fairly out of sight than Dick came out of hiding, and set off home.
"Bill's well out of that," said he to himself as he thrust his hands down in his trousers pockets, and set up whistling. ”

“ Twenty-seven years Farmer Bluff has lived on that farm; but—"
"But it isn't fair to turn him out because he's getting old, grandfather," interrupted Hal, with a bold familiarity that no one else would have dared to use towards the old gentleman.
"Tut, tut, lad," rejoined the Squire. "Who said was because he was too old?"
"Well, grandfather," put in Sigismund, who according to size would be the next youngest to Hal, "you said 'a better man.'"
"Better doesn't always mean younger," said Hal eagerly; "does it, grandfather?"
"Nor does younger mean better," returned the Squire. ”

“ But Hal turned round on him with dignified reproof. "A boy who has just seen a life saved ought to know better than to mock," said he. "It's a shame," he added, looking from one to another with a pained expression, "when boys who have both done wrong want to tear each other to pieces for it. They ought to be too much ashamed. So get home both of you, and let us have no more such unchristian behaviour."
At this point in the young Squire's discourse, Blazer, probably considering that he had not received due notice for his deed of valour, began to growl and whine. ”

“ All eyes were instantly directed to the top of the stack. But Bill, suddenly arriving at the determination that it would be more prudent to make off, had scrambled to the ridge, and over; and all of him except his hands had disappeared.
"Why! He's got the clothes up there!" exclaimed one of the cousins, catching sight of the bundle.
"I'm going up," said Will, setting foot on the ladder.
"Stop, stop!" cried Hal, afraid of a tussle at such a height from the ground, and half hoping that some one would come back from the cottages with Sigismund, and see fair play. ”

“ And six o'clock brought Mumby home; but still no Bill.
"It's just like he's got scent of it," said she. "A boy like him won't stand to be corrected while he got legs to run away."
Up at the Manor House they were so less perplexed.
Young Grantley had stowed his easel at the farm, and hurried in to dinner, all anxiety to hear what had been done. But all the Squire could tell him, was that neither Mrs. Mumby nor the boy had been.
"It's my opinion, grandfather," said Will, "that Mrs. Mumby has changed her mind. She's like a silly mother; doesn't want him punished. That's the fact of it." ”

“ Bill went hot all over. Once having turned back, he seemed rooted to the spot by a strange fascination that forced him to watch for Dick's rising.
"It was his own fault," said he, mopping his forehead with one jacket cuff: "He should ha' let me by! I guess though, if he ain't comin' up, I'd better be off, afore I'm caught here! Golly!" exclaimed Bill, giving vent to his favourite expression, as a sudden thought flashed upon him. "Better rob a goose's nest and break her breast-bone than drownd a boy." ”

“ But Bill's magnanimity was not capable of rising to this degree; and he felt as if he was being quite as generous as any one could reasonably expect in allowing poor dripping Dick to slip through his fingers in this easy way.
Hal stood gazing after Dick's retreating figure, as he ran off home at the top of his speed. "It's a pity that boys don't care more about being like Jesus Christ," observed he. "Of course, it's a sort of thing that takes a lot of trying, and boys naturally don't like trouble. They like play a good deal better. ”

“ This, of course, was the last thing he should have done; for the bird no sooner saw his back, than ducking her head and opening her wings, she rushed forward with a scream. Bill heard her coming, and put on the speed; but the goose was sure to win the race. A minute later, she would have had him by the back of his small clothes, had not Bill, in flinging a terrified glance over his shoulder, swerved to the edge of the towing-path, and overbalancing himself, slipped and fallen, rolling over and over down the incline into the ditch that separated the bank from the field. ”

“ Grantley acquiesced. "A decent, hospitable kind of body too," returned he; "offered to get me luncheon presently—which, by the way, I think will come acceptable before long; for I breakfasted at six, preparatory to my tramp over from the town; and I find your country air sharpening to the appetite."
"You will find my bailiff but indifferent company, I fear," said the Squire. "Farmer Bluff is all that his name implies; a gouty old sinner, too, who deserves every twinge in his joints as heartily as ever any one did. ”

“ Hal asked no more questions just then. They had crossed the stile during this conversation, and were climbing the pathway up the hill towards the wood, where there was plenty to claim the attention of boys.
Larks were rising from the tussocks; finches darted in and out the hedge; and as they got nearer to the wood, wild rabbits, all tail, frisked about their burrows. Once or twice a grey rat ran out of his hole, and sat upon his haunches in the track, staring stupidly before him until they were quite close; then doubling suddenly, and disappearing in the ditch. ”

“ Hal knew this very well, and was not surprised at getting no answer to his question. "I think I'll go now," said he, taking his crutches. "It's a beautiful morning. I wish you could be out of doors."
Farmer Bluff reached out for the bell, but Hal stopped him. "You needn't ring for the servant," said he. "I can get out all right by myself; and I daresay she's busy. When you have to wait on any one who can't move much, I should think it gives you a lot to do." ”

“ But, unfortunately for Dick, it was not "half-term" at his school; so with a feeling of envy, he leapt back to the pathway, and continued his road.
"Hare and hounds!" he heard them cry, as they came pelting down the drive.
Will was with the foremost ones, but Sigismund, always more considerate for his brother, lagged behind, as Hal came hurrying after on his crutches.
"You can't play, Hal, if we have hare and hounds," he was saying.
"Oh! Never mind," returned Hal. "I can't play at anything, you see."
"The woods will be the place," cried Will, in front, "Say, Sidge; the woods—eh?" ”

“ And then he shook his head with such effect that Bill looked round, almost expecting that his gaolers were at hand. As nothing was to be seen of them, however, Bill began to examine the matter more closely.
"How can I get food to eat, if I run away?" said he.
"Work for it, of course," returned Dick contemptuously. "A boy your size must be a donkey if he can't pick up enough to buy his victuals. You mightn't get much else but bread; but if you come to think, you'd get no more than that in gaol." ”

“ Do what Hal would, he could not cheer him up; for the poor old sinner had got it on his mind that he was doomed to die.
"If I were you," said Hal to Maggie, as he went out at the gate, "I think I'd sing to Farmer Bluff. I can't, you know, or else I would; but I can manage talking best. He's right down in the dumps to-day. I can't think why—unless it is because he had to leave the farm."
A few days later told them, though. Gout doesn't attack the more important parts of the body without letting a man know it. Farmer Bluff was in such fearful pain that Dr. Winthrop was sent for in a hurry. ”

“ Maggie cheered him on. "Quick, Blazer; quick! Oh, he's floating down so fast!" she cried towards Hal, who had been slower getting to his feet to gain the spot. "He'll never reach in time."
But Blazer was also going with the stream as well as crossing it. In a few minutes more, the brave animal was up with Dick, and had his teeth firmly fastened in his jacket. And now came the tug of war. Maggie watched breathlessly, with beating heart and tightly clasped hands, whilst Hal, his face white and his lips parted, hung by her on his crutches. ”

“ The moral is,—avoid intemperance, remembering always that beer is not the only thing that may be abused, and that gout is not the only punishment; for, sad to say, there are as many sins as there are weeds in this fair world, and a punishment to each. As the Bible has it—in a form that no one need forget—"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Sow sins, and you shall reap punishment as surely as did Farmer Bluff.
This was the sum and substance of the Squire's thoughts as he sat down on the window-seat. ”

“ Farmer Bluff declared himself heartily tired of it, adding in an injured way that no one knew what suffering was until they had tried gout.
The Squire shook his head. A man has no right to feel hardly done by when he deliberately chooses to bring pain upon himself. "I'm heartily tired of it, too," said he; "and the fact is, Bluff, I'm getting too far into years to be my own bailiff—and that's what it comes to nowadays. For these keepers and labourers of yours—well! I've no doubt you give your orders. A man might give his orders in the other hemisphere by telegram. ”

“ Going swiftly to the door, Elspeth threw it open with a deferential curtsey. It was the Squire who had given that modest ring; and she never kept the Squire waiting, for he always had a civil word, in spite of his high rank. Then having answered his inquiry as to whether her master was up, she stepped briskly back towards the parlour.
Farmer Bluff was in the act of ringing his handbell a second time.
"A man might die in a fit, for all the haste you make!" exclaimed he with an oath, banging down the bell so violently that the clapper uttered a "twang" of protest. ”

“ The Squire thanked her with his customary courtesy; and having hoped the children were quite well, was going down the pathway, when the good woman called again to say that Mrs. Mumby was in sight.
When she arrived, her honest face was red with toiling through the sun; and it went redder when she saw the Squire at her door. But Mrs. Mumby knew her manners, so she asked him with a curtsey if he wouldn't step inside; and there she dusted chairs for him and the three young gentlemen, and stood up, with a corner of her apron in her hand, to hear what he had come about. ”

“ And he politely turned the canvas towards her, whilst the boys made way.
"That was Bill Mumby—Bill the Kicker, as they call him," said Elspeth as she approached. "And so is this," she added, the instant she was near enough to see. "You've drawed him very true, sir, too."
"Then there remains no doubt," returned the Squire, summing up the evidence, and tapping briskly on the red-brick floor with his gold-headed cane. "We know whose door the mischief lies at now. The portrait does you credit, Grantley. You'll be a great man yet." ”

“ Hal, on the contrary, looked rather serious, wondering who the culprit would turn out to be, and what punishment he would have to undergo.
Immediately breakfast was over, the Squire rose and took his gold-headed cane. Young Grantley and the boys followed him out on to the verandah, Hal's mother accompanying them, to shade her eyes with her hand and watch them off, as Dick had seen her do on the first occasion of his peeping over the plantation palings at the Manor House. ”