Show 1 1 A JPENITENTo I I was high noon in the New Zealand I bush The great silence was made only ho 1 more impressive by the little breaks I of sound the rippling of V the stream i or an occasional tul flitting overhead i with t gush of melody Scarcely a leaf stirred In all that green wilderness Here and there where a shaft of sunlight I sun-light had found Its way through spotted spot-ted lizards lay basking among the dry leaves and fragments of brown and silvery bark that covered the moist black earth on every side Above were myriads of leaves and branches below be-low myriads of ferns Presently a man came limping Into I sight He wag covered with dust from I head to foot and great beads of perspiration I per-spiration rolling down his face had made runlets through the dust and gate him a strange ghastly look Ills I eyes were like those of a hunted animal ani-mal his tongue lolled out in the heat lee a dogs I He made straight for the stream and painfully scrambling down the edge of I the gully among ferns and creepers he flung himself over the water and I drank eagerly laving his face In the I stream as he drank Then he drew n deep breath of relief and lay back his arms behind his head in a state of exhaustion He had thrown aside his hat ind his hair wet with sweat lay limply on his brow He was i slalwartly built fellow fel-low with keen hard face and hand roughened by years of toll Ills clothes were old and rough on the cnea of I one trouser was a stain like that of I recently sole blood As he las pillowed among delicate fern fronds still hot and panting now I and then a wild pigeon cams close above him on n fallen tree bough The I mild Innocent creature looked at him with jts full red eye and showed no I sign of perturbation Its kind had not yet learned to be afraid of mnn This I man lay and watched It a while In silence His eye marked Its ono beauty I after another Its broad snowy hre ast its red bill the lovely mingling of I green red and purple On Its wings and I back Pie had opportunity to examine I it fully for It sat there with ul 101 great composure I com-posure only now and then pulling off a green leaf and eating It At last the i man reached out his hand for n Dig pebble he could knock it down easily without changing his position He had his hand ready to throw when a swift compunction seized him and h < x lung the pebble crashing through the distant dis-tant underwood No Im darned he muttered if I I can hurt the pretty Innocent thing after all At the noise of the falling pebble the bird rose with a loud whirr of Us magnificent I mag-nificent wings and passed on to another an-other tree The man was sorry he wished It had stayed where It was that he might watch It Then things I gradually grew Indistinct and he fell asleep 3S easily as a child He slept heavily for a time Then his sleep became broken dreams troubled I trou-bled himugly dreams of things that had happened since this summer sAin rose V > Again ho was at the little village publichouse smoking and drinking with his mate Bill Harris The drink was bad but the day was hot and I both men were thirsty after hours of work In the scorching sun Then they turned out again going back to their felling and saulng of timber And as they went 1 squirrel sprang up between be-tween them and grew fierce Then Bill In an unhappy moment reminded his mate Jack of the 30 he had been owing him these months past This brought Jacks wrath to a climax he raised the ax he was carrying and struck Bill who fell like u log on the dusty road the blood spouting from his wound Jack knelt down and gazed stupidly Bill was dead The shock sobered him on the instant He dragged the dead man Into the shade of the bushes and fled for his life feeling the hot breath of the behind hlni avengers hil over second sec-ond ondBill dead Bill Oh confound it all no Things were getting mixed up In his brain I was he himself who had been ill for weeks together In the winter win-ter nigh at deaths doorand Bill had nursed him and wale on him with the tenderness of a woman Yes It was Bill who had saved his life brave honest old Bill who had faced sun and storm with him for three years pastA past-A e he was such a mate as a fellow I didnt often gel And then to say that he was dead Oh how absurd I Wildly thoughts and Images floated I through his brain leaving only a dim haunting sense of trouble Then he slipped back to the English meadows of his childhood daisysprinkled grass and n gray river edged with pollard willows that broke Into green loveliness loveli-ness every spring IIow well he remembered re-membered It all He used to bathe there as 1 boy and dream of striking out bravely for himself In the great river of life The skies above him were not higher than his aspirations And now it had all come to thisthat he had struck down his friend and the word murder was written in letters of Ire across his soul He shivered drew 0 long bre V th and awoke There was n refreshing undercurrent under-current of coolness In the air and golden lights slanted down among the ferns I must be evening then He looked at his watch It was 5 oclock Ho rose still shivering a little and looked around him What should he do Selfpreservation urged him to some immediate course but where had he beat turn for safety V He stumbled on listlessly for a while swearing hard now and again at the tangles of creeper and brambles through which he had to force his way l at once he stood stock still trem bling In every limb He rubbed his hand across his eyes to assure himself him-self that he was not dreaming V and then grew a worse feeling that madness mad-ness had come upon him He had often heard of murderers being haunted V by the corpses of their victims and ah here the ghastly thing had come upon him Bills body lay almost at his feet and already It was overarched I by V long luxuriant ferns lie knelt down with 0 little stifled cry and hid his face When he looked again it was still there but as he looked u sudden ray of hope darted Into I his mind This thing wore a coorse I plaid I could not be Bill The sud den overpowering sense of relief made him sick and dizzy Then recovering himself he examined the body care fully with a new gentleness of touch and a new reverence Slowly he Tden titled It as that of an old stockman who had lived in a lonely hut on the ranges and then tho whole story came back to him The man hud gone away I to town and nothing further had ever been heard of him He had lived so solar a life that he had not been missed at once and little wonder was raised when he was for he was known to be a queer erratic being He was believed to have no relatives on this tlls flldu of the world and public opinion I conjectured that he had taken ship and gone home to his people And here ho had perished far from all kindly l human sounds in this mockery of green silent beauty I made Jack shudder afresh In the dead mans pockctboolc he found crisp bank notes for GO Good God Had he had these yesterday he hud not now been u murderer He bowed his head then started up wildly for ho seemed to hear wl heal footsteps gath I ering all around him and voices fnd accusing ac-cusing him from every tree in an I i agony of fear his resolution was taken I He would take this mans clothes and personate him In his hermits hut till the crime had blown over sufficiently J for him to Blip off to Australia with I I safety taken Anything rather than be I I I I was nearly midnight when hel I 1 1 reached the deserted sod hut for he I was footsore and weary and walked but I slowly I was u cloudless summer I night and the moon was at her full Under such skies as these even the rugged his looked lovely folded Into soft ample curves In the quiet moon sor light And the nodding tussocks In Jacks eyes looked far more friendly and beautiful than the wonderful shimmering ferns ho had left Ho pushed open the door of the hut and went In n cobweb catching his brow as he did so He struck a match unlooked un-looked around him All was neat and in good order as the dead man had I left It His blankets were rolled up In lef f ono corner the kettle swung over tho empty llreplace and a pipe with some Ireplacc There tobacco was on the shelf above was a cupboard too with some cheese tea Hour and a mouldy loaf In It The sight of food reminded Jack that he I had had nothing since since that last I drink with his chum Was It only I years ago or In some other existence lie brought water from the little I spring by the door built up the Ilro and put the kettle on to make tea I Then he made himself some damper and took his meal with relish He was I not used to fast so long After that I he sat smoking a while then put out the tallow dip rolled himself up in the blankets and slept fitfully till morning His scheme was perfectly successful The days passed on In monotonous succession and no man can e near his city of refuge Once or twice he ventured ven-tured down to the township on the other side of the his to replenish his stock of necessaries Few people knew I I stoct there and no one eyed him I askance as he came and went Still 1 had he been a prisoner living on the I poorest fare it could not have changed I to fall I him more His cheeks began fal I in he was haggard and gaunt his bloodshot eyes had a strained listen I I Ing look in them Among the bare I bleak his by day V and alone beneath I the Illimitable sLats by night his mind began to totter As every summer sun sprang up red and glorious he almost hoped that n policeman would come for him before night and break this awful spell of loneliness His was not the plight of the ancient mariner sailing sail-Ing a sea so lonely that God himself j I scarce seemed there to be To this man the terror and the awe lay In the I fact that God did i seem there beside him I night and day the only being in all that changeless solitude God and the dead man and he seemed the only realities in a universe of shifting shadows One day he found a late blossoming wild Ilower In the shadow of a tussock He clutched at it lee a child and hugged it to his boom tears springing to his eyes Ho look it home with him and had It by him while he slept He hat could not love and admire too much I this homely little thing that spoke of simplicity and common everyday life He held It In his hand and fondled I till the fragile lower drooped on Its long slender stem and died Then again he was left alone with the majestic unpltylng stars whose mil lon eyes burnt into his soul He remembered re-membered a fragment of the Psalms that he had once known The heavens declare the glory of God What came after he had forgotten but this he had no chance of forgetting while these relentless ministers of his glory shone luminous above him night by night Often at dusk the woo hens would steal out from tussock and toomtatoo gooroo croaking shrilly One bolder than the rest would come to his very door He had been wont to hunt these birds unmercifully but now he tried his utmost to propitiate and tame this one He longed to stroke Us speckled black and brown plumage and have It eat out of his hand Once It carried oil a gaudy handkerchief he had spread out to attract It and he rolled himself UI In his blankets that night happy But It never came again Perhaps a chance stone or a dog had ended Us i lifeIlojiad C Ilojiad been almost afraid to ask for a newspaper when buying his stores lest the very fact should betray him Yet he conquered his guilty tremors bought one and unfolded the crackling sheets in his hut glancing his eyes I fearfully over each column No there was nothing oof his murder case Perhaps the llrst sensation caused by It was over or perhaps this little country coun-try chronicle was silent when larger papers were still full of i Anyway ho told himself for the meantime he was safesafelsafe I lie tried to say the word jubilantly but in spite of himself It had n melancholy ring The door of the hut had evidently been made of new timber fOI as the sap had receded the planks had shrunk apart from each other leaving wide yawning gaps through which the ray light streamed and the wind blew To remedy this state of affairs the dead man had pasted old newspapers partly across the back of the door These the present occupier would red and reread re-read a he lay listlessly on the floor beside be-side them At least they kept his reason rea-son from going But one sheet contained con-tained an account of a murder every murcel word of which seemed branded into his brain so well he knew every line every turn of phrase in i I ended abruptly too at the turn of the sheet on which it was printed At the very climax of the tragedy all became sud denly blank The unfinished horror of It haunted the man To him It was made more awful by far by this ghast ly break in It He pondered it over and ovci half oel unconsciously many a dreamlike ending suggesting Itself to him always to be rejected on n later review of it At last Jn despair and to save his mind from the utter horror of madness he rose one morning and pasted another sheet over it which con tained only tho trivial news of some local center The relief to his relef overwrought over-wrought and sensitive mood was exquisite ex-quisite I came upon him with a sud den burst of sweetness like the scent of unguessedat violets One morning In February for he had kept some rude count of the ashc awoke In the dusk of earliest dawn He could not sleep again a voice seemed whispering in his heart and the placo seemed insufferably hot He hus ted on his clothes and went out to tho door I was very = still The rugged i peaks lookcd softer In this light and tho undulating tussocks might have passed for wavos of the sea Slowly the gorgeous rose of day burst and flamed above the horizon shooting Us marvelous lights fa and wide till the sun himself leaped up and the pomp of dawn was over Jack stood watch lag and still that voice seemed whis pering in his heart He had 1 strange Idea of an angel with u flery sword standing beside him At last he could enduro It no long r All the slow agony of these weeks seemed concentrated in c moment and with a rush his soul went down Into the black waters of a bitterness worse than death He dropped on his knees and a cry of le KUlsh broke from him St Peters Sl words seemed the only prayer he could use He muttered hoarsely again mulere hoatsel and again Depart from me 0 Lord for I I am u sinful man Then the awful I I loneliness seemed to break and arul In Its stead camo a feeling of warm human I compassion and kindliness He took some breakfast made his few scanty preparations and set off for his old home Harvesting had IarYestn begun and as he wont befun he reJoiced in the Cheers sounds of labor cheon that met him watched with eagerness the 1 watche wih cngeJcss reaping machines that went on and on leaving full nheaycs behind them and leaing have hnc laughed with Joy at the sound of mens voices One or two loiterers eyed him curiously making hIm conscious that he looked an odd figure but he cared thlt little he went on almost as though he trod on air V He reached the village nnd ton nmdo straight for the police slat her was u new official there a nIx foot Irishman with red whiskers who looked up from his papers In wonder as this thin holloweyed lan with strag I Slngt grizzled hair came in and greeted him He was Inclined from his looks to think him a shingle short This belief was strengthened when lhls belef < I his visitor without any preamble rushed into the statement of a murder committed by him some two months I back His account was clear enough certainly ho gave facts dates and names without a shadow of hesitation I and yet the Irishman scratched his head In the manner of one sorely puzzled puz-zled It I zledNow see here 1116 boy he began at length wan of us two must be mad and faith Im thinking that ones not I me You say It was Bill Harris fwhat f you knocked on the head afore Ivlr I came to the place Now that may be I but faith It was Bill Harris and me l were bavin a cup of thay toglthcr no I longer ago than the last night So fwhat In the livin wide world dlv ye mean by sayln yeve killed him Or Use fwhat In the creation of cats docs he mane by comln alolve agin Tell mo that me son1 Jack tottered to the one chair the office contained and sank down In It his breath coming hard and hoarse Ho I tried to speak but his dry lips uttered no sound The Irishman being a good I I hearted fellow got him a glass of wa I tel and held it to his lips while he I drank l I I Now see here me sonny he continued I con-tinued smoothly Ill Jlst t l ye fwhat it all is You and this man hey quarreled I quar-reled and yeve got dhrunk and internal In-ternal bad dhrlnk it is here me son and thin yeve had bad drames Praise the Virgin We all hev our bad drames at toimes and come out av em agin Bill Harris belave me has had his own drames too He drames himself Into fallln an the eOge av his own saw that he was carryln wan day afore Ivlr I came here and sex he to me scz he Pat I Malony aorra anlther such dhrlnk as I that will I take in all me born days for uts cost me 0 sore head and a sore heart Into the bargain For he sez he I were blind with dhilnk and run his head down on his own tools So kapc your heart up me bhoy for dlvil a word of this story do I behave Still like one In a dream Jack mum Stl bled out a few words of thanks clapped on his hat and tottered out again The I Irishman watched him setting off at a I halfrun down tho street and determined deter-mined to follow him For by the llv I I In jingo he said to himself whoever who-ever he Is lies a shingle short and I wouldnt hev harm come av ut So locking his door rind putting the key In his pocket he followed at a respectful re-spectful distance and saw his man V make straight for the sawmill ScratchIng Scratch-Ing his head harder than ever he followed fol-lowed And then a wonderful thing happened He saw Bill Harris come out and stand gazing as If petrified his Bill Then he heard man cry Bl Why Jack Jack old man was the answer And then and there the two men few Into each others arms Jlst for all the wurruld like a pair of swate schoolgirls said the onlooker to himself Then he turned back I Be jabbers was his inward comment I com-ment but I niver saw the lolko And nlvcr will agin unless I live to the age of Methuselah and thin Ill be too I bhllnd zinc to enjly ILLongmans Maga |