water, 'n' wut life there wuz in them early days hed ter dew 'ithout air er sun er light. I'd read the Bible some-not ter say frequent, 'n', bein' but a poor skollar, Jennersez wuz 'bout 's fur 's I got. But onct a Blue-nose I uz shipmates with wuz pow'ful fond uv one er the Bible yarns he called the Book uv Jobe, 'n' he use' ter read thet off ter me 't well I nearly got it through my he'd solid. Anyway, much ov it kem back ter me neow-bits 'beout the foundayshons ov the world, 'n' the boun's ov the sea, 'n' suchlike.

"'N' all the time overright me in the mouth ov a gret cave, with them res'less thutty-foot feelers ever a-twistin' 'n' wrigglin' aroun', wuz the Thing itself, them awful eyes jest a-showin', like moons made ov polished jet, in the dimness. Some ov my shipmates wuz gone, the skipper among 'em ; but some, like me, wuz layin' quiet 'n' straight; while all about us the fish, ov every shape 'n' size, wuz a-gliden' slow 'n' stealthy, like as if ever on the watch 'gainst some enemy er anuther.

'It seemed so long I laid thar thet I felt able to remember every bush 'n' bough ov coral, every boulder, that in queerest shapes yew ever see lay scattered aroun'. At last, never havin' quite los' sight of thet horrible ungodly Thing in the cave yander, I see It kem eout. I never knowed thar wuz a God till then. Sence thet time, whenever I hear some mouthy critter provin', ez he calls it, poor child! thet ther ain't, 'n' cain't be, any God I feel thet sorry fer him I c'd jest sail right in 'n' lam the foggy blether out'n his fool-skull. But ez I wuz a-sayin, eout kem the Thing till I see the hull gret carcass ov It, bigger 'n the bigges' sparm whale I ever see, jest a haulin 'n' a warpin' along by them wanderin' arms over the hills 'n' hallers ov the reef t'ords me. It floated between me 'n' wut light ther wuz, which wuz suthin' ter be thankful fer, fer I'd a gi'n my life ter be able to shet my eyes from it 'n' wut wuz comin'. It hung right over me, 'n' I felt the clingin' suckers closin' all aroun' me, when all of a sudden they left me ag'in. The gret black shadder moved ter one side 'n' daown through that clear water cum a sparm whale, graceful 'n' easy 's an albacore. I never thought much of old squar'head's looks before, but I'm tellin' ye, then he looked like a shore-nough angel 'longside thet frightful crawlin', clammy bundle of sea sarpients.

'But I hedn't much time ter reflec', fer thet whale had come on bizness, 'n' ther wa'n't any percrastinatin' 'bout him. When he got putty cluss up to the Thing that wuz backin' oneasily away, he

sorter rounded to like a boat comin' 'longside, only 'sted ov comin' roun' he come over, clar he'd over flukes. His jaw wuz hangin' daown, baout twenty foot with all the big teeth a shinin', 'n' next I knew he'd got thet gol-durned Thing in his mouth with a grip right behin' them awful Eyes. Roun' come the tangle of arms like the sails of a windmill lacin', clutchin', tearin' at the whale's head. But they might so well hev hugged the Solander Rock. It made no sorter diffrunce ter him, 'n' his jaw kep' on workin' fer all it wuz worth a-sawin' off the tremenjus he'd of the Thing. Then the light went eout. My gosh! thet water wuz jest turned inter ink, 'n' though yew c'd feel the sway 'n' swirl ov thet gret struggle like the screw race ov some big liner ther wa'n't nothin' ter be seen. So I reckon the Thing I'd been puzzlin' ter fine a name fer wuz jest the Gret Mogul ov all the cuttle-fish, 'n' bein' kinder hard prest wuz a-sheddin' the hull contents ov his ink-tank.

'Wall, I wuz sorter int'rested in this mush 'n' very much wanted ter see it through, but thet satisfacshun wuz denied me. All the churnin 'n' thrashin' went on jest above me in pitch-dark 'n' gravequiet. Bimeby the water ceased to bile aroun' 'n' got clearer, till after a while I c'd see gret shadders above movin' swiffly. The sea took on anuther colour quite fermiliar ter me, sorter yaller, a mixin' ov red 'n' blue. Funniest thing wuz the carm way I wuz atakin' ov it all, jest like a man lookin' out'n a b'loon at a big fight, er a spectayter in a g'lanty show hevin' no pusnal concern in the matter 't all. Presently sneakin along comes a white streak cluss ter me. Long befo' it touched me I knew it fer wut it wuz, 'n' then I wuz in de'dly fear less the hope uv life after all sh'd rouse me eout uv thish yer trance or whatever it wuz. 'Twuz a whaleline frum some whaleship's boat a-fishin' overhe'd. It kem right to me. It teched me 'n' I felt 's'if I must come to 'n' die right there 'n' then. But it swep' right under me, 'n' then settled daown coil after coil till I wuz fair snarled erp in it. By this time the water'd got so soupy thet I could'n' see nothin', but 'twa'n't long befo' I felt myself a-risin'-eout uv the belly uv Hell ez Jonah sez.

'Up I kem at a good lick till all uv a sudden I sees God's light, smells His air 'n' hears voices uv men. Gosh, but wa'n't they gallied when they see me. Blame ef I did'n' half think they'd lemme go ag'in. The fust one ter git his brains ter work wuz the bow oarsman, a nigger, who leaned over the gunnel, his face greenygray with fright, 'n' grabbed me by the hair. Thet roused the rest, 'n' I wuz hauled in like a whiz. Then their tongues got ter

waggin', 'n' yew never heard so many fool things said in five minutes outside er Congress.

'It didn' seem ter strike any ov 'em thet I moutn't be so very dead after all, though fortnitly fer me they conclooded ter take me aboard with 'em. So I laid thar in the bottom ov the boat while they finished haulin' line. Ther wuz a clumsy feller among 'em thet made a slip, hittin' me an ugly welt on the nose as he wuz fallin'. Nobody took any notice till presently one ov 'em hollers, "Why dog my cats ef thet corpse ain't got a nose-bleed." This startled 'em all, fer I never met a galoot so loony ez ter think a de'd man c'd bleed. Hows'ever they jest lit eout fer the ship like sixty 'n' h'isted me aboard. 'Twuz er long time befo' they got my works a-tickin' ag'in, but they done it at last, 'n' once more I wuz a livin' man amon' livin' men.

Naow ov course yew doan' b'lieve my yarn-yew cain't, tain't in nacher, but, young feller, thar's an all-fired heap o' things in the world that cain't be beleft in till yew've 'speriunced 'em yerself thet 's trew 's gospel fer all thet.'

I politely deprecated his assumption of my disbelief in his yarn, but my face belied me, I know; so, bidding him 'S'long' with a parting present of my plug of tobacco (it was all I had to give), I left him and by the failing light made all speed I could back to my ship.

FRANK T. BULLEN.

CLOVER AND HEARTSEASE.

BY MRS. BERNARD BOSANQUET.

IN one of Darwin's books he tells us, as an instance of the complex relations between living things apparently very remote in the scale of nature, how the supply of clover and heartsease in a district depends upon the cats. It seems that the only insects able to reach the nectar in these flowers (and therefore to fertilise them) are the humble-bees. But the number of humble-bees in a district is limited by the number of field-mice, which make their living by destroying the nests and combs of the bees; and the number of mice, again, as we all know, depends upon the presence or absence of the cats; so that the nests of humble-bees are found to be most numerous in the neighbourhood of villages and small towns where there are plenty of cats to catch the mice. And thus it comes to pass that clover and heartsease depend for their existence upon the cats.

I believe it must be due to some such recondite principle as this that we find no fewer than four firms of solicitors in our Square of humble-bees; but whether they are to be regarded in the light of the beneficent cat or the predatory mouse I am puzzled to decide. No doubt it depends a good deal upon the point of view: whether we are interested in the relations between the humble-bee and his clover, or whether the fate of the mouse appeals more strongly to our sympathies. One door of the County Court opens into our Square, and that has much to do with the flourishing state of the law among us. The ubiquitousness of the money-lender, the difficulty of collecting rents, the complicated relations between landlord and tenant, or between master and man, and all the catastrophes attendant upon the hiresystem-these are quite enough to keep our lawyers busy, and we are rather proud to have among us so many men who are skilled to solve these mysterious problems.

Look at this decent quiet woman just coming out of the court. She earns her living by doing machine work for a large firm in the City, and she at any rate may stand for the humble, busy bee. But she has been buying her machine on the hire-system, under which she pays 8l. 10s. for a machine worth about 4l.; and

suddenly, when she has paid off nearly 7., a slack time comes in her work, and she misses her jayments for a few weeks. She does not trouble herself much about it; she has missed several times before under similar circumstances and has always been treated with great leniency. The agents knew well enough that as soon as she was earning again she would resume her payments, and the collector never made himself unpleasant. But that was before she had paid so much. Now the agents see their opportunity; they have not much more to expect from her, but the machine is far from being worn out, and with a little polishing and refitting can be let out again on almost the same terms, and so be made to pay for itself three or four times over. Their collector is instructed to reclaim it, the predatory mouse makes his attack upon the bee, and the poor woman has recourse in her despair to the solicitor, who will take up her case and accept payment in 'weekly instalments'-another charge upon her slender income. Still, the appeal to the high-handed and highminded judge will probably be successful, she will keep her machine, be saved from utter ruin, and continue her humble but useful function of extracting a very little honey from a very difficult source.

But it would be exaggerating their merits to represent our lawyers as being mainly the champions of oppressed women; no doubt such cases do appeal to their sympathies, and are very effective in court; but the pay for them is small and uncertain, and would hardly afford a living to all four firms, even supposing the other side called in their aid also. But absentee landlords who prefer country life find it convenient to have someone on the spot, who will spare them the painful details of business, and hand over only the pleasant receipts; and we see many Hebraiclooking men passing in and out of their doors whom we all connect with suggestions of bad debts. And there is one branch of their work which seems to be utterly unjustifiable from any conceivable point of view.

At first sight, indeed, there is something quite chivalrous and magnanimous about it. When Miss Murchison, one of the dressmakers whose cards adorn the windows of our Square, received a letter from Messrs. Freeman and Bogg, asking her attention to the fact that in all probability she was next-of-kin to a wealthy landowner who had recently died in the north of England and offering to conduct her case for her if she would take it up, her simple