rests of the general body. The bankrupt assured them that he had monied friends ready to support him, and they accordingly continued to keep open his premises, that he might have time to find a purchaser for the stock and fixtures. He accordingly applied to one and another of his acquaintances, but only met with the rebuffs which might be reasonably expected from men who had previously found that their aid had been useless, and who felt that they had been recklessly sacrificed under the composition deed, without any benefit resulting even to the man who had once before deceived them.

Mr. Crafty was called upon to furnish the statutory accounts, and was thoroughly satisfied in his own mind that a few short weeks would find him relieved of all his difficulties, and at liberty to start again for himself, with the aid of that connection which his previous extensive system of advertisements had gathered around him. He even assured his acquaintances that the assignees were his best friends, and that they only waited to see him clear through the bankruptcy to assist him with goods and cash to make his way straight before him. No friend could however be found to purchase the lease of his new premises, or even to take off the remains of his stock, and, at last, lease, stock, and fixtures were offered for public sale by the accountants called in by the assignces. The lease was not sold, and eventually thrown up by the creditors, and the fixtures were sacrificed by being sold for the purpose of removal. The stock realized some 40 or 50 per cent. less than prime cost, and the furniture at the dwelling-house was sold by auction. By these means sufficient monies were realized to defray the expenses of a thorough investigation of the bankrupt's previous career, and of a violent but consistent opposition by those creditors who felt themselves so justly aggrieved. It is but justice to Mr. Crafty to state my sincere conviction that in all these matters he had been himself thoroughly deluded, and that he had made no private purse, or in any way prepared for the final termination of his reckless course of trading. At this time he was without means, except those which he obtained in the shape of commissions on the trade he now introduced to other houses, or the results of his own manual labour as a workman, and really felt the misery of limited means to bring up a wife and family whom he had before indulged and supplied with every comfort.

On the day appointed for his final examination he was surprised by the opposition of his assignees, and their demand for further accounts. He was called upon to furnish a cash, goods, and deficiency account for a period embracing the time at which the deed of composition was entered into. This would of course re-open the whole subject, and as the non-payment of the last instalments had laid him open to the enforcement of the entire claims which were then outstanding, his old creditors proved on their balances, and the anticipated dividend dwindled to zero. The Court, as is usual, ordered the required accounts, and Mr. Crafty found some three months' lessons in book-keeping thus enforced upon him. During this time the assignees' accountants were not idle in their investigations, and they wrote to creditors and any other parties from whom information might be hoped.

The solicitor who had instructed me at the first introduction to Mr. Crafty, called upon me and asked me to assist him in defending his client against these attacks. I assured him that I should be happy to

give him (that is, the solicitor) any information and aid that lay in my power; but told him that having been so wilfully deceived by his client in the first instance, and having had mine own professional status thereby so imperilled, I neither felt called upon or justified in being further mixed up in the case. I advised him to put his client into the hands of a skilled accountant, to get up the papers called for by the Court, and he accordingly recommended Mr. Crafty so to do. The bankrupt, however, declined this idea, and assured his solicitor that the assignees' advisers would give him every assistance, and that he needed no other help. He accordingly went on making what extracts he thought proper, sometimes working, sometimes wasting his time, until the day appointed for his adjourned hearing had arrived, when he entered the Court, presuming that no further opposition would be offered. Not having filed the further papers as directed, he was at once informed he had no status in the Court, and was rigidly examined, both by the Commissioner and the opposing counsel, as to the reasons for his noncompliance with the previous order. His solicitor (seeing the nature of the attack) stated the bankrupt's want of means to obtain professional assistance, and that he had attended regularly on the books, but required further time to file the requisite accounts. A long and severe examination hereupon ensued by the creditors' assignees and by several individual creditors, with a most damaging effect, and it was with great difficulty that a further adjournment was obtained at the estate's expense.

The commissioner, in granting the boon, decided that the same should be fixed for a day following the long vacation, and accordingly a period of four months was placed before the day now named. Mr. Crafty was then informed that no excase would be again received, and that if the accounts were not then ready he would be adjourned sine die, and at his own costs. He was urged by the solicitor to proceed at once with his task; but he declined; and, saying he had plenty of time, appointed a distant day for calling again on his legal adviser.

This gentleman again asked me to prepare the necessary accounts; and I promised to have an interview with the assignees, and give him an answer. Accordingly I called upon them and their accountants, and stated that I had been urged by Mr. to place his client's statements in requisite form, and that in so doing I neither defended his conduct nor should in any way interpose between them and the debtor. As somebody must prepare the proper accounts, they considered it better that I should do so, being cognizant of the terms and nature of the preceding deed of arrangement. They, however, stated that they should oppose any allowance from the estate, and that I must look entirely to Mr. Crafty and not to them. When Mr. again called I informed him of my interview and the nature of its results, and asked him if he would guarantee my charges in the matter. He said he would see Mr. Crafty, and then give me a reply. When the bankrupt attended the appointment made by Mr.--, he expressed his astonishment that he should be required to pay the expenses of preparing these accounts, and said that they might do as they pleased, but he would go to no costs if the papers were never filed. When Mr. informed me of the results of this colloquy, I assured him I was rather gratified than otherwise, as I felt that I was better out of this case than in it.

In persuance of his determination, Mr. Crafty delayed from day to day the work which should have required his prompt attention, and week followed week until the last month of his allotted time arrived. Then, with the assistance of an old clerk, he placed his data in something like method, and ten days before the adjourned hearing filed such accounts as he considered would be in compliance with the order made upon him at the instance of the assignees.

The day having arrived, and the commissioner having called on the case, Mr. applied that the bankrupt should pass on the accounts as they were then filed. The barrister who originally appeared for the opposition called the attention of the court to several matters therein contained, and on examining the bankrupt elicited from him that there were certain omissions and variations from previous statements. He called attention to the long interval fixed by the Court, and required that the adjournment be made absolute. He characterized the conduct of Mr. Crafty as wilful non-compliance with the order made upon him, and induced the commissioner to refuse to pass the examination. The bankrupt's solicitor obtained a new day to be named at his costs, and succeeded in having an order made for written requistions as to the further accounts sought for.

One would naturally have thought that Mr. Crafty's experience of the nature of the opposition he had to contend with would have stimulated his endeavours to supply the required information. On the contrary, he seemed to take the matter more coolly than ever, and contented himself with sending in answers very far from the purport of those which the assignees had determined to elicit.

The firm of accountants employed in the investigation have a name for sharp practice, and are up to all the various methods that a debtor may use to attempt to conceal the true state of his affairs. They were perfectly aware of the condition of his books and other vouchers, and being instructed to oppose at any cost, they spared neither time nor intellect in determining to baffle Mr. Crafty's apparent stupidity. They had made themselves thoroughly masters of his real position, both before and subsequent to the deed of arrangement, as far as it was possible for them to attain the requisite information; but there is a limit to all human sagacity, and Mr. Crafty was not the man to furnish weapons against himself where he foresaw the possible use they might be turned to. He cared less for delay than for the probable consequences of a criminal indictment, and therefore reticence of hitherto undiscovered facts was his remaining trump card. True, it might be of small value numerically, but it might win the odd trick against the honours. He was playing a game of Longs versus Shorts, calculating that the stake might at last become so small that his opponents would throw up their hand in disgust and vexation at the delay. He therefore coolly went on the even tenor of his way, and gave only the meagerest of information, and that as wide as possible from the desired end. His old clerk could not help him, for he knew nothing but what Mr. Crafty chose to impart, and for that reason also he could not help the opponents. There was no cash-book to vouch the honesty, or betray the recklessness of the bankrupt; there was no stock-book to disclose the purchase or disposal of the creditors' goods; there was no boughtledger, which might be supposed to have warned him against the fearful

weight of liabilities he was incurring; no bill-book disclosed the names of acceptor or holder of any of the accommodation bills which had been met with the produce of hypothecated stock, or give a clue to the enormous discounts he had so long paid to Jew and Gentile for their assistance. Vouchers there were plenty, in the shape of invoices and bills of parcels, and statements for goods yet unpaid for, and in receipts for tradesmen's and personal account which had been settled. In addition to these, there were also vast numbers of writs and county court summonses; but not one bill which bore the taint of accommodation or usury about it. No! these memoranda Mr. Crafty made a rule of destroying at once, for the double reason, that no unpleasant reflections of the past might again trouble him, and that no prying eye in his establishment should ever light upon documents which would have placed his credit and position in the power of anyone of his employées or connections. The reader may hence gather ideas of the nature of the written requisitions furnished by the assignees, and the difficult as well as dangerous task Mr. Crafty found it would be to answer them. He did, however, file what he called answers, and again appeared before the commissioner to ask that he might pass his last examination. Again was he opposed by counsel, and the statements made cavilled against. He was most ably supported by both barrister and solicitor, who endeavoured to impress on the Court that the bankrupt was an illiterate man, and entirely without funds to procure that aid which would enable him to meet the technical requirments of his case. So glaring, however, was the non-conformity with the requisitions that the commissioner declared he would never pass him on the accounts as filled; but, after much pleading by Mr. for the bankrupt, he

ordered the requisitions to be amended, and that the accounts to be furnished should be confined to the time of his starting in business at the West end, being for a period of not exceeding six months, and adjourned the sitting for a month at the expense of the estate. He told him that if he did not comply with this order he would adjourn him sine die, and refuse him protection.

The next day I was again invited to meet Mr. Crafty at the office of his solicitor, at which time he said the opposing parties had asked him why he did not place himself in my hands. Messrs. had told him that without professional aid he could never put his answers in the required shape, and he produced the following requisitions, which they had that day handed to him. They were a Dr. and Cr. cash account for the past six months, a trading account for the like period, and a list of accommodation paper discounted for him during the same term. I told him then that unless my account was guaranteed by his solicitor, I would not undertake the work; but gave him instructions as to the making the cash account. He thought it very hard that I would not bestow my labour and time upon him, and risk the chances of his honour and honesty. He said I was like everyone else, for all had now turned against him. It was not for me to argue the point; but I told him I did not seek the honour or emolument that that might be derived from the case, and that I should not swerve from my determination. The second requisition could be filled up by his clerk and himself, and the third he alone could supply; and I urged on him to lose no time, but at once to set about his task, that his solicitor might have ample

time to amend or make additions before the appointed hour should arrive for the filing. We parted, and I fully expected he would apply to some other accountant, who either knew him better or worse than I thought I did.

Time passed by, and I had forgotten the case, when I received a hasty summons to attend at the offices of Mr. I went, and found Mr. Crafty and his clerk, who laid before me a mass of papers, both crude and undigested. The solicitor reminded me that but fortyeight hours were wanting to the time they must be filed, and directed me to spare no labour in getting them into form. I told him that I would do my best for him, and accordingly worked night and day. I filed the accounts about fourteen hours after the proper period, having previously received the assent of the opposing parties, who stated they would offer me no opposition on that score. On the sitting of the Court, the assignees desired still further information; but having now the aid of the official assignee, who stated he could see no use either morally or pecuniarily to the estate in farther delay, my accounts were passed, and the question of discharge was entered into.

Mr. Crafty's conduct, both before and after his bankruptcy, was pretty freely canvassed, and I believe he was rather startled at what the creditors and the Court declared to be their opinion thereon. The commissioner appointed another sitting for the decision in this branch of the case-and that at rather a distant date. On the day fixed Mr. Crafty again appeared, and his council applied for an immediate discharge. The learned commissioner carefully read through his notes, and stated that he thought the assignees were very merciful in the whole manner in which they had conducted their opposition, and that if they had now claimed his judgment the bankrupt would have been refused his discharge. As they did not do so, he should suspend the same for six calendar months, and grant protection from month to month, unless cause were shown to the contrary. Whereupon, Mr. Crafty walked out of Court, considering himself a very ill-used and much-to-be-pitied man.

OUR AK YAB TIGER HUNT.

Air" THE STEAM LEG."

I sing a song of Janawar,

Who terror spread both near and far;

A real tiger, fierce, and cruel,

And T- -e and Pu who gave him his "gruel."
Sing tooral, ooral, ooral, ladda dy, re-tatooral lee.

The Magistrate went to expound the laws,
Explain to him each penal clause;

But the tiger replied 'twixt a roar and a groan,
He wished to insert some claws of his own!