his brothers. what?'

'Is she dead, or lads, and bring them both out!'

"No,' said Vasco, but she would not come.'

"""Would not come !' bellowed the old father, while the others laughed. 'Did you say she would not come?'

"That is what I said,' answered Vasco, sitting his horse very straight, and scowling at the lot of them.

"He has a fever,' cried the old man, looking from one to another. 'He is light in the head. My faith! I believe the girl has been beating him with a stick. Here, one of you,' he roared, turning on them, 'get down and kick the girl out of the door. We'll have a look at the witch!'

"Koos, the youngest, sprang from his saddle and made towards the house; but he was not gone five paces before Vasco spurred his horse on to him and knocked him down.

"Keep off,' he said then, turning to face them all, as Koos rose slowly. 'If I cannot bring the girl out none of you can, and you had better not try. Whoever does will be hurt, for I shall stand in front of the door,'

"And he went straight to the house, and, dismounting, stood in the doorway, with his hands resting on the beam above his head. He was a big man, and he filled the door.

"Hear him,' foamed the old father. God, if I were as young as any of you, I would drag the girl across his body. Sons, he has defied us, and the girl has bewitched him. Run at him,

They all came towards the house in a body, but stopped when Vasco raised his hand.

"I warn you,' he told them -I warn you to let the matter be. This will not be an affair of fighting, with only broken bones to mend when it is over. If I take hold of any one after this warning, that man will be cold before the sun sets. And to show you how useless this quarrel is, I will ask the girl once more if she will come out. You all saw her?'

"Yes,' they answered; 'but what is this foolery about asking her?'

"You saw her very well.' He raised his voice and called into the house, 'Meisje, will you not come out? I ask you to.'

"There was silence for a moment, and then they heard the answer. 'No,' it said; 'I will stay where I am. And you are to go away.'

"""As soon as may be, my girl,' called Vasco in answer. 'Now,' he said to the men, 'you see she will not come.'

"But, man, in the name of God, cast her over your shoulder and carry her out,' cried the father.

"Vasco looked at him. 'Not this one,' he said. 'She shall do as she pleases.'

"Then they rushed on him, but he stepped out from the door, and caught young Koos round the middle. With one giant's heave he raised him aloft and dashed him at the gang, scattering them right and left, and knocking one to

again at his brother.

'So

"I forgive, but where is

666

there are two of you alive, she?'
anyhow. How about the
others?'

"Two dead,' answered his father. 'And the other will not walk again all his days. You are a terrible fighter, my son.'

"Yes,' answered Vasco, in a faint voice. 'It was the girl, you see.'

"She was a witch, then?' asked the old man.

666

"No,' said Vasco, smiling. 'Or perhaps, yes. I do not know. But I will fight for her again if you like.'

"Oho! so that is it,' and the old man knelt down beside him. 'Now, I see,' he said. 'I never guessed before-did not know it was in you. My son, I ask you to forgive us.'

'Dead. No, it was none of our doing. You did it,-the roof fell on her. We will lay you together.'

"Do so,' replied Vasco. 'I think I am dying now.'

"Yes,' answered the father. Your face is becoming grey. Your throat will rattle in a minute. Look here; this is what my mother used to do.'

"And he did thus," said the Vrouw Grobelaar, giving a very good imitation of the sign of the cross.

"But that was not a bad ending," cried Katje. "I think it was beautiful. I hope Vasco and the girl went straight to God."

The Vrouw Grobelaar sighed.

LIBERAL DEDUCTIONS.

"Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman described himself as that strange animal, a politician without ambition. He had no desire to lead the party, or to be in a prominent position in it, but when called upon to do so he did not hesitate. It might be that he was a Liberal, and a party man, and a Parliament man, but he was something more. He was, before all, a Scottofied Scot. ... It was represented that the Liberals were men greedy for office. . . . Liberals were not such idiots as to wish voluntarily and wantonly to thrust themselves, &c. Not at all; but if a duty was put upon them, they would do their best to discharge it. . . . Liberals would endeavour, as the Catechism said, to do their duty in that sphere of life to which they had been called. That was the attitude of the Liberal Party at present."

It is understood that the speech from which the above excerpts are taken was not fully reported, and that the Right Honourable gentleman was far more expansive in his confidences than is generally supposed. An attempt is made in the following verses to fill up the blanks in the report, and to give the speaker's reasons for his shrinking from office, much as he is rumoured to have done himself.

FRIENDS, voters, and countrymen, lend me your ears!
And believe me, I speak to you, not

As planet-in-chief of the Radical spheres,
But just as a Scottofied Scot.

And, speaking as such, I indignantly scout
The idea that the parties I lead

Are trying to turn the Conservatives out
From motives of personal greed.

There may be a few in the general ruck-
Patriotic aspirants to fame-

Who look to the coming election (and luck)
For "going up one" in the game.

But they are but items; the Liberal mind
Is entirely embodied in Me;

And really, with every desire to be kind,
As leader, I cannot agree.

I feel no ambition, I harbour no zeal,
For the labours of running the State:
To Work, in the abstract, I pointedly kneel,
But Work, in the concrete, I hate!

At present my physical labours are light,

And the mental could hardly be less;

I merely say Wrong to the Government's Right,
And No to the Government's Yes.

My end is destruction by means of delay
Of whatever the workmen would build;
And, speaking sincerely (for once in a way),
The duties are simply fulfilled.

An idiot can lick away paint when it's new,
And a child can kick holes in a hat;
But when it's a question of something to do,
I'm "not such an idiot" as that!

Suppose I were Premier! (The man with the laugh
At the furthermost end of the Hall

Has too keen a notion of humour by half—
It's nothing to laugh at. at all.)

Just think of the number of mouths to be fed,
And the scene when the candidates found
That, cry as they might, there was too little bread,
And not enough fish to go round!

To take a hypothesis, who could avoid
A convulsive revolt of the gorge
At choosing the pushful disgust of a Lloyd
Or acid offence of a George?

No; Premier, no doubt, is an excellent rôle
For a man with a soul of his own;
But-Radical Premier!-I think, on the whole,
I'd rather let Premier alone.

I know there are other positions of pride,
But, whatever one looks at, one sees
No possible prospect of letting things slide,
No outlook for dignified ease.

Indeed, to be candid, I'm rather afraid
That, apart from my personal taste,
Some harmless remarks I've opposingly made
Are factors that have to be faced.