A PEST. 
3iimself ki your service, and you must send off for 
more, .d)efnre he cauld do another stroke of work. 
“ Would you look at Ids splendid trace?” You would 
point out that it ran light through rocks and land- 
ships, and would never do, but he would explain, 
that was the work to be done in cutting and blasting, 
and That the tracer had nothing to do with this. 
He unust stick to his giadients, but if you thought 
the cutting would be ton expensive, iie would over- 
look the land, to-morrow morning, to see if anything 
better could be done, provided, and provided only, 
.you sent for more beer ! You would say nothing. 
You had your plan ixady. He was all ready early 
next morning, wdien you casually remarked, you had 
no time, or coolies to tpare, to send for beer, upon 
which he would suddenly recollect, he had “slept 
badly last night,” and thought it would be only 
common prudence to postpone the work. He would 
take a bath and Inrii in again and you turned out 
to w^ork. On your return he w^ould coolly tell yon, 
he had been looking in the sideboard for a 
and found there was nothing in the bottle, and so, 
knowing that you w’onld require some refreshment, 
after yo'uv day’s work, he had, all for your own sake, 
taken your pass-book, and entered one bottle brandy, 
and tv’o of sherry, and, as that was not a load, he 
had penned the remark, “to fill up the load with 
beer.” A scowl or frown would pass over your 
face, upon which he would say, “Don’t be angry that 
he has not yet arrived, he will be here immediately, 
as I told him, it was your order, yon w^ere in a 
great hurry, and would give him a rupee if back 
within a stated time. Time about up ; there he is, 
punctual chap. Yow please hand over that rupee ! 
Promise you know, and, must keep faith with the 
coolie. Master’s word,” &c. Yon would be in very 
bad humour all the rest of the evening, thinking 
what was to be done with this pest. At last an 
idea w^as hit upon, and put in practice, next morning. 
It was this. “Mr. Skulk,” says the host very cheerily, 
■*‘1 am going away for a couple of weeks, now ; in 
fact, perhaps for a month ; it ’s the usual time of 
the year for taking a trip, and if it is not taken 
now we can’t take it at all, dull work for yon living 
here alone, so I suppose you will be O P H also.” 
But Mr. Skulk, instead of becoming dull, actually 
seemed to brighten up at the prospect. “Dull?” says 
he. “Nonsense! The idea of me being dull? That’s 
a good one indeed. My dear sir, just the very thing. 
Leave a memo of the works going on, and I will 
xook after them ; stay away as long as you, like, the 
the better, make your mind perfectly easj^ 
