BOLTED.” 
was once one of the few; he was not on the staff, 
but in these times was once very hard up. Once J 
Often, often ! Particularly so on one occasion when 
he asked a very particular friend for the temporary 
loan of £5, which was refused. Gentlemen on the 
staff, take courage, when you are told that the loan 
of five pounds Was once decidedly refused to 
P. D. Millie. 
CHAPTER XXX. 
The Genus “ Bolteii ” : Various Varieties of the 
Order ; including the Adventures of Mr. Skulk 
IN Search of Land. 
‘‘Bolted,” was the answer sometimes received, when 
asking after some one who had not been heard of for 
a considerable period of time. 
If yon had, or felt, no particular interest in the 
bolter, a long gossip would take place, discussing all the 
details of the case; “You never could have believed it.” 
“What are things coming to?” “What a world it 
is !” But, if the bolter had been a neighbour, or 
friend, and had availed himself of this social position 
to have borrowed a small sum, on the principle that 
what is the use of having a friend, or indeed any- 
thing, unless you make use of him, or it, you would 
feel as if a thunderbolt had struck you, or that you 
were compelled to bolt something very unpleasant, 
and if it did stick in your throat, and nearly choked 
you, nevertheless it must go down, be bolted ; you 
knew perfectly well, at the first flash, that the small 
sum was gone for ever. So long as one was on a low 
salary, on the staff,” or enduring any of the numerous 
ills of planting life, that was a prospect of payment 
being made at some period of time however remote, 
but of the bolter there was no hope whatever : it was 
an open and candid intimation that he bad finally 
settled all his debts and difficulties. Not that the 
deed was open and candid, quite the reverse, or it 
could not have been carried out ; it was the natural 
inference to be drawn from the actions, for the man 
who deliberately bolts is a thief,"^ and whoever expects 
^ We quite agree with Mr. Millie, and would add that 
not only do such thieves deserve 'to be denounced by 
name, but also those who aid and abet them, by get- 
ting them clandestinely out of the country. — Ed. 
