II.

“‘Who is out there at this time of the night?’ exclaimed a hoarse voice from within. I knew it to be the unmistakable voice of ‘The Old Gardener.’”

“‘Give us your money, and no harm shall befal you,’ said Tom, ‘but we must have your money.’”

“‘The Lord will be my defence,’ rejoined ‘The Old Gardener.’ ‘You shall have no money from me; all in the house is the Lord’s—take it if you dare.’”

“‘We must and will have it,’ said we, as we entered the inner room, after taking the precaution of fastening the chamber-door as we entered.”

“We soon wished we had suffered it to remain open, as you will see.”

“Now, consider us face to face with ‘The Old Gardener,’ and a pretty sight was presented. Three ruffians (ourselves) with white waggoners’ frocks and blackened faces; before us ‘The Old Gardener,’ sitting on the side of his bed. He wore a red worsted nightcap, a checked shirt, and a flannel jacket; his iron grey face, fringed with a grizzly beard, looking as cool and undismayed as if he had been in the pulpit preaching.”

“A table was by the side of the bed, and immediately in front of him, on a large deal table, was an open Bible, close to which we observed, to our horror, a heap of gunpowder, large enough to blow up a castle. A candle was burning on the table, and the old fellow had a steel in one hand and a large flint in the other. We were all three paralysed. The wild, iron-faced, determined look of ‘The Old Gardener,’ the candle, flint and steel, and the great heap of powder, absolutely froze our blood, and made cowards of us all. The gardener saw the impression he had made.”

“‘What! do you want to rob and murder?’ exclaimed he; ‘I think you had better join with me in prayer, miserable sinners that you all are! Repent, and you may be saved. You will soon be in another world.’”

“Ryder first recovered his speech.”

“‘Please to hear me, Mr. Gardener. I feel that we have been wrong, and if we may depart we will make reparation, and give you all the money we have in our pockets.’”

“We laid our purses on the table before him.”

“‘The Lord has delivered you into my hands. It was so revealed to me in a dream. We shall all soon be in another world. Pray, let us pray.’”

“And down he fell upon his knees, close to the table, with the candle burning, and the ugly flint and steel in his hand. He prayed and prayed. At last he appeared exhausted. He stopped and eyed the purses, and then emptied one of them out on the table. He appeared surprised, and, I thought, gratified at the largeness of its contents.”

“We now thought we should have leave to retire; but, to our dismay, ‘The Old Gardener’ said:

“‘Now, we will praise God by singing the 100th Psalm.’”

“This was agony to us all. After the Psalm, the old man took up the second purse, and while he was examining its contents, Ryder, who was close behind Tom and myself, whispered softly:

“‘I have unfastened the door, and when you hear me move, make a rush.’”

“‘The Old Gardener,’ then, pouring out the contents of the second purse, exclaimed:

“‘Why, there is almost enough to build our new house of God. Let me see what the third contains.’”

“He took up the third purse.”

“‘Now,’ whispered Ryder, ‘make a rush.’”

“We did so; and at the same moment heard the old fellow hammering away at his flint and steel. We expected to be instantly blown into fragments. The front door, however, flew open before us: and the next moment we found ourselves in the garden. The night was pitchy dark. We rushed blindly through brambles and prickly shrubs, ran our heads against trees, and then forced our way through a thick hedge. At last, with scratched faces, torn hands, and tattered clothes, we tumbled over a bank into the high road.

_Section 250._

A STORY WORTH READING.