THE PICKWICK CLUB. 105^
long befure the ancient alms-houses in thiii place. It must not bt logt."
He tapped at the cottaj^e-door. A labouring man opened it.
•♦ Do you know how this stone came here, my friend ? " inquired the benevolent Mr. Pickwick.
- No, I doan't. Sir,** replieil the man, civilly. ** It was here long
afore I war born, or any on us."
Mr. Pickwick glanced triumphantly at his companion.
'* You — you — are not particularly attached to it, 1 dare say," said Mr. Pickwick, trembling with anxiety. '* You wouldn't mind selling it,
HOW .
" Ah ! but who'd buy it? " inquired the man, with an expression of face which he probably meant to be very cunning.
" I'll give you ten shillings for it, at once/' said Mr. Pickwick, " if you woulil take it up for me."
The astonishment of the village may he easily imagined, when (the little stone having been raised with one wrench of a spade), Mr. Pick- wick, by dint of great personal exertion, bore it with his own hands to the inn, and after having carefully washed it, deposited it on the table.
The exultation and joy of the Pickwickians knew no bounds, when their patience and assiduity, their vviii>hing and scraping, were crowned with success. The stone was uneven and broken, and the letters were straggling and irregular, but the following fragment of an inscription was clearly to be deciphered :
4-
B I L S T
U M
P S H I
S. M.
ARK
Mr. Pickwick's eyes sparkled with delight, as he sat and gloated over the treasure he had discovered. He had attained one of the greatest objects of his ambition. In a county known to abound in remains of the early ages ; in a village in which there still existed some memorials of the olden time, he — he, the Chairman of the Pickwick Club — had discovered a strange and curious inscription of unquestionable antiquity , which had wholly escaped the observation of the many learned men who had preceded him. He could hardly trust the evidence of his senses.
"This — this," said he, *Sleteimines me. We return to town, to- morrow."
»* To-morrow I " exclairaetl his admiring followers
" To-morrow," said Mr. Pickwick. *' This treasure must be at once deposited where it can be thoroughly investigated, and properly under- stood. I have another reason for this step. In a few days, an election is to take place for the borough of Eatunswill, at which Mr. Perker, a gentleman whom I lately met, is the age ut of one of the candidates.
