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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41269 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 41269-h.htm or 41269-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41269/41269-h/41269-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41269/41269-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/sheilahmcleodher00bootrich
+
+
+
+
+
+SHEILAH MCLEOD
+
+[Illustration: Logo]
+
+[Illustration: SHEILAH McLEOD _Frontispiece_.]
+
+
+SHEILAH McLEOD
+
+A Heroine of the Back Blocks
+
+by
+
+GUY BOOTHBY
+
+Author of
+'Dr Nikola,' 'A Bid for Fortune,' 'The Beautiful White
+Devil,' 'The Fascination of the King,' etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London
+Skeffington & Son, Piccadilly
+Publishers to H.M. The Queen and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
+1897
+
+All Rights reserved.
+
+Copyright in the United States of America by the
+F. A. Stokes Company
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+VAKALAVI IN THE SAMOAN GROUP,                1
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+OLD BARRANDA ON THE CARGOO RIVER,
+SOUTH-WESTERN QUEENSLAND,                   20
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW I FIRST LEARNED MY LOVE FOR SHEILAH,    50
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WHISPERING PETE,                            71
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE RACE,                                  107
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CONSEQUENCES,                              139
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+COLIN McLEOD,                              170
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+I PROPOSE TO SHEILAH,                      199
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A VISIT FROM WHISPERING PETE,              216
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SHEILAH'S LOYALTY,                         229
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE TRIAL,                                 242
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HOW I ESCAPED,                             281
+
+
+
+
+SHEILAH McLEOD
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+VAKALAVI IN THE SAMOAN GROUP
+
+
+Looking back on it now I can recall every circumstance connected with
+that day just as plainly as if it had all happened but yesterday. In the
+first place, it was about the middle of the afternoon, and the S.E.
+trade, which had been blowing lustily since ten o'clock, was beginning
+to die away according to custom.
+
+There had been a slight shower of rain in the forenoon, and now,
+standing in the verandah of my station looking across the blue lagoon
+with its fringe of boiling surf, it was my good fortune not only to have
+before me one of the finest pictures in the South Pacific, but to be
+able to distinctly smell the sweet perfume of the frangipani blossom and
+wild lime in the jungle which clothed the hillside behind me. I walked
+to one end of the verandah and stood watching a group of native girls
+making tappa outside the nearest hut--then to the other, and glanced
+into my overflowing copra shed, and from it at the bare shelves of the
+big trade room opposite. The one, as I say, was full, the other sadly
+empty, and for more than a week I had been bitterly lamenting the
+non-arrival of the company's schooner, which was supposed to visit the
+island once every six months in order to remove my gains and to supply
+me with sufficient trade to carry me safely through the next half-year.
+The schooner was now ten days overdue, and I had made sure she would put
+in an appearance that morning; but the wind was failing, and it was,
+therefore, ten chances to one against our seeing her before the next
+forenoon. I was more than a little disappointed, if only on the score of
+the company I should have had, for you must understand that it was
+nearly six months since I had seen a white face, and even then the face
+was only that of a missionary. But, in common fairness, I must confess
+that that missionary was as different to the usual run of his cloth as
+chalk is to cheese--a good fellow in every way, not a bit bumptious, or
+la-di-dardy, or fond of coming the Oxford scholar-and-a-gentleman
+touch, but a real white man from top to toe. And my first meeting with
+him was as extraordinary as anyone could imagine, or wish for. It's a
+yarn against myself, but as it shows you what queer beasts we men are, I
+may as well tell you about it. It happened in this way:--
+
+About ten o'clock one fine spring morning I was coming down the hillside
+behind my house, and, according to custom, pulled up at the Big Plateau
+and looked out to sea. To the north and south nothing was in sight, but
+to the eastward there was a tiny blotch on the horizon which gradually
+developed into a small fore-and-aft schooner of about fifty tons. When
+she was level with the island she worked steadily up the reef until she
+found the passage through the surf; then, having edged her way into the
+lagoon, came to an anchor opposite my house. Seeing that she was going
+to send a boat ashore, and suspecting some sort of missionary mischief
+from the cut of her jib, down I went to the beach and got ready to
+receive her.
+
+The craft she was sending ashore was a double-ended surf boat, and a
+well-built one at that, pulled by two Solomon boys, and steered by a
+white man in a queer kind of helmet that I believe they call a 'solar
+topee' in India. The man in the helmet brought her up in first-class
+style, and was preparing to beach her just in front of where I stood
+when I held up my hand in warning.
+
+'Who are you, and what do you want here?' I asked, looking him up and
+down.
+
+'I'm the new missionary at Futuleima,' says he, as bold as brass, 'and
+as I had a couple of spare days at my disposal I thought I would come
+across and talk to the people on this island. Have you anything to say
+against it?'
+
+'Not much,' I answered, feeling my dander rising at the cool way in
+which he addressed me, 'but what I _do_ say I mean.'
+
+'And what is it you mean, my friend?' he asked.
+
+'I mean that you don't set foot ashore if I can prevent it,' I replied.
+'You understand me once and for all. I'm the boss of this island, and
+I'm not going to have any of your nonsense talked to my men. I'm
+civilising 'em on my own lines, and I won't have you interfering and
+shoving your nose in where it ain't wanted.'
+
+'I'm afraid you speak your mind with more candour than courtesy,' he
+said, mopping his forehead with a snow-white pocket-handkerchief which
+he had taken from his pocket.
+
+'You think so, do you?' I cried. 'Well, you just set as much as your
+little toe on this beach and you'll see that I mean it!'
+
+'So I'm to choose between fighting you and going away with my errand
+unaccomplished?' he answered, still as cool as a cucumber. 'Do I take
+you properly?'
+
+'That is my meaning, and I reckon it's a bigger one than you can
+digest,' I replied, like the hot-tempered fool I was. 'Let me tell you,
+you're not the first of your breed that has tasted my fist and gone away
+with his appetite satisfied.'
+
+'Then since it is to be the Church Militant here on Earth, and there's
+no other way out of it, I suppose I must agree to your proposal,' he
+said, after a moment's thought, and forthwith jumped out of the boat on
+to the beach. 'But let it be somewhere where my boatmen cannot see. I
+don't know that the example would be altogether beneficial to them.'
+
+As he stood on the beach before me, Heaven knows it was a poor enough
+figure of a man he made. He was not as big as me by a head and a half;
+for I stand close on six feet in my socks, and am bigger in the beam
+than the ordinary run of men; besides which, I am always, of necessity,
+in the pink of condition. To think, therefore, that such a little
+whipper-snapper should contemplate fighting me was too absurd. I stood
+and stared at him.
+
+'You don't mean to say you intend to put your fists up?' I cried,
+letting him see how astonished I was.
+
+'That I do!' he said, and bidding his men wait for him he led the way up
+the path to the jungle at the back of the station house. 'Since you deem
+it necessary that I should introduce myself to you in such a strange
+fashion, I feel it incumbent upon me to do so. Besides, I want to teach
+you a lesson you will not forget.' Then, stopping short in his walk, he
+felt the muscle of my right arm critically and smiled. 'You'll be a man
+worth fighting,' he said, and continued his walk.
+
+Well, here I was in a mighty curious position, as you will understand.
+Having seen the plucky way he had jumped ashore and taken me up, right
+in my teeth, so to speak, I felt I had made a precious fool of myself in
+being so ready with my challenge. He was a man and not a monkey, like
+most of his fraternity, and he might have converted every nigger in the
+South Pacific for all I should have cared. I wouldn't have stopped a
+man like him for all the world, for I reckon he wouldn't have taught 'em
+anything shady for the life of him. But there was no hope for it now, so
+I walked up the path beside him, as meek as a new-born lamb, till we
+came to an open patch at the base of a small waterfall.
+
+'This should suit our purpose, I think,' he said, taking off his helmet
+and coat and placing them beneath a tree. 'If you're quite ready, let us
+get to business.'
+
+'Hold on,' I cried, 'this won't do. I've changed my mind, and I'm not
+going to fight you after all! Missionary or no missionary, you're a man,
+and a proper sort of man too; and what's more, you shall waltz every
+nigger on this island backwards and forwards in and out of Purgatory as
+often as you please, for all I'll say you nay.'
+
+'That's very kind of you,' he answered, at the same time looking me in
+the face in a curious sort of fashion. 'Nevertheless, for the good of
+your own soul, I intend that you shall fight me, and at once.'
+
+'I won't, and that's the end of it,' I said.
+
+'You will, and immediately,' he answered quietly. Then, walking up to
+me, he drew back his arm and hit me a blow in the face. For a second I
+was too much surprised to do anything at all, but, recovering myself, I
+lifted my fist and drove it home under his jaw. He went down like a
+ninepin and rolled almost over, but before I could say 'knife' he was up
+and at me again. After that I didn't stop to consider, but just let him
+have it, straight from the shoulder, as fast as he could take it. Take
+it he did, like a glutton, and asked for more, but it was sickening work
+for all that, and though I did my best to give him satisfaction, I found
+I could put no heart in it.
+
+When I had sent him flying head over heels in the grass for the sixth
+time, and his face was a good deal more like an underdone beefsteak than
+anything else, I could stand it no longer, and I told him so. But it
+made no difference; he got on to his feet and ran at me again, this time
+catching me a good one on the left jaw. In sheer self-defence I had to
+send him down, though I loathed myself as a beast of the worst kind for
+doing it. But even then he was not satisfied. Once more he came in at me
+and once more I had to let him have it. By this time he could hardly see
+out of his eyes, and his face was streaming with blood.
+
+'That's enough,' I cried, 'I'll have no more of it. I'm a big bully,
+and you're the best plucked little fellow this side of Kingdom Come!
+I'll not lay another finger on you, even if you knock me into a jelly
+trying to make me. Get up and shake hands.'
+
+He got on to his feet and held out his hand.
+
+'All things considered, this is the queerest bit of proselytizing I have
+ever done,' he said. 'But somehow I think I've taught you a lesson, my
+friend!'
+
+'You have,' I answered, humbly, 'and one that I'll never forget if I
+live to be a hundred. I deserve to be kicked.'
+
+'No! You're a man, and a better man, if I'm not mistaken, than you were
+half-an-hour ago.'
+
+He said no more on the subject then, but went over to the little pool
+below the waterfall and bathed his face. I can tell you I felt pretty
+rocky and mean as I watched him. And any man who knows my reputation
+among the Islands will tell you that's a big admission for Jim
+Heggarstone to make.
+
+After that he stayed with me until his bruises disappeared; and when he
+went away I had made a firm friend of him, and told him all the queer
+story that I have set myself to tell you in this book. Ever since that
+time he's been one of my staunchest and truest pals on earth, and all I
+can say is if there's any man has got a word to say against the Rev.
+William Carson-Otway, he had better not say it in my hearing--that's
+all.
+
+But in telling you all this I've been wandering off my course, and now I
+must get back to the afternoon of the day when I was awaiting the
+arrival of the schooner _Wildfowl_ with a cargo of trade from Apia. As I
+have told you the wind had almost dropped, and for that reason I had
+given up all hope of seeing anything of her before morning. But, as it
+happened, I was mistaken, for just about sundown she hove in sight,
+rounded the bit of headland that sheltered the bay on the eastern side,
+and, having safely made the passage, brought up in the lagoon. Her
+arrival put me in the best of spirits, for after all those months spent
+alone with natives, I was fairly sick for a talk with a white man again.
+Long before her anchor was down I was on the beach getting my boat into
+the water, and by the time the rattle of the cable in the hawse-hole had
+died away, I was alongside and clambering aboard. I shook hands with the
+skipper, who was standing aft near the deck-house, then glanced at
+another man whose back was towards me. By-and-by he swung round and
+looked me in the face. Then I saw that it was Dan Nicholson of Salfulga
+Island, on the other side--the biggest blackguard and bully in the
+Pacific, and I don't care where you look for the next. An ugly smile
+came over his face as he recognised me, and then he said very
+politely,--
+
+'And pray how do we find our dear friend, the Rev. James Heggarstone,
+to-day?'
+
+'None the better for seeing your face, Dan Nicholson,' I answered
+sharply. 'And now since you're here I'll give you a bit of advice. Don't
+you set your foot ashore while this boat's at anchor, or, as sure as
+you're born, I'll teach you a lesson you'll not forget as long as you
+live.'
+
+'As you did that poor, soft-headed Futuleima missionary cuss, I
+suppose,' he answered, turning a bit red and shifting uneasily on his
+feet. 'Well, having something else on hand just now, I don't think I'll
+trouble you this time, beloved brother.'
+
+I saw that he had taken the hint, so I could afford to forgive the way
+he spoke.
+
+After a bit more palaver I got my budget of letters, which I put into my
+pyjama pocket, and then, accompanied by the skipper and supercargo,
+went ashore. We strolled up to the station together, and while they sat
+and smoked in the verandah I hunted up some food and set it before them,
+with the last two bottles of gin I had in the store. I am a strict
+teetotaler myself, and have been ever since the events I have set myself
+to tell you about occurred. It was mainly the drink that did that bit of
+mischief, and for the same reason--but there, whatever the reasons may
+have been, I don't see that I need bother you with them till they come
+into the story in their proper places. This yarn is not a temperance
+tract, is it?
+
+While they were at their meal I wandered outside to look through my
+mail. Two of the letters were from the trading firm I represented at
+Vakalavi. One was from Otway the missionary, warning me of an intended
+visit, another was a circular from an Apia storekeeper, enclosing a list
+of things a man in my situation could never possibly require; but the
+fifth was altogether different, and brought me up all standing, as the
+sailors say. With trembling hands, and a face as white as the bit of
+paper I'm now writing on, I opened it and read it through. Then the
+whole world seemed suddenly to change for me. The sun of my life came
+out from behind the cloud that had covered it for so long, and, big,
+rough man as I was, I leaned my back against the wall behind me, feeling
+fairly sick with thankfulness. What a moment that was! I could have gone
+out and shouted my joy aloud to the world. The one thing of all others
+that I had longed for with my whole heart and soul had come at last.
+
+I remained where I was for a while, thinking and thinking, but at the
+end of half-an-hour, having got my feelings under some sort of control,
+I went back to the verandah, where I found my guests smoking their
+pipes. Then we sat talking of mutual friends and common experiences for
+something like an hour, myself with a greater happiness in my heart than
+I had ever felt in my life before.
+
+Living as I had lived for so long, the only white man on the island,
+with never a chance of hearing from or of my old Australian world, it
+may not be a matter for surprise that I had many questions to ask, and
+much news to hear. Since the schooner had last come my way great changes
+had occurred in the world, and on each I had to be rightly and
+exhaustively informed. The skipper and supercargo were both fluent
+talkers, and only too eager to tell me everything, so I had nothing to
+do but to lie back in my chair and listen.
+
+Suddenly, in the middle of the narrative, a woman's scream rang out on
+the night air. Before it had finished I had jumped to my feet and run
+into the house, to return a moment later with a Winchester and a handful
+of cartridges.
+
+'For God's sake, man, what are you going to do?' shouted the skipper,
+seeing the look upon my face, as I opened the magazine of the rifle and
+jammed the cartridges in.
+
+'I'm going to find out what that scream meant,' I answered, as I turned
+towards the verandah steps.
+
+'Be careful what you're up to with that rifle,' he said. 'Remember two
+can play at that game.'
+
+'You bet your life,' I replied, and ran down the steps and along the
+path towards the bit of jungle on the left of the house.
+
+Out on the open it was all quiet as death, and I knew exactly why. I
+entered the thicket pretty cautiously, and before I had gone ten yards
+discovered what I had expected to find there. It was Dan Nicholson sure
+enough, and one glance showed me that he held in his arms buxom little
+Faauma, the daughter of Salevao, the head man of the island. By the way
+he was standing, I could tell that she had been struggling, and, from
+the tilt of his right arm, I guessed that his fingers were on her
+throat, and that he was threatening to choke her if she uttered another
+sound. I moved out of the undergrowth and took stock of him.
+
+'So this is the way you attend to my instructions, is it, Mr Nicholson?'
+I said, kicking a bit of dead wood out of the way, and bringing my rifle
+to the port in case of mischief. 'Look here, I don't want to shoot you
+on my own grounds, when you're, so to speak, my guest, but, by God, if
+you don't put those hands of yours up above your head and
+right-about-face for the beach this very instant, I swear I'll drill you
+through and through as sure as you're born. You understand me now; I've
+got nine deaths under my finger, and all of 'em waiting to look into
+your carcase, so, if you turn round as much as an inch, you're booked
+for Kingdom Come.'
+
+He never said a word, but dropped the girl right there, and put his
+hands up as I had ordered him.
+
+'That's right, I said. 'Now march.'
+
+Without a word he turned to the rightabouts and set off through the
+scrub for the beach. I followed behind him, with the rifle on my arm
+ready to come to the shoulder at an instant's notice. The surf rolled
+upon the reef like distant thunder, the stars shone down upon the still
+lagoon, and through the palm-leaves I could just discern the outline of
+the schooner.
+
+'Now, sir,' I said, when we arrived at the water's edge, 'I'll have to
+trouble you to swim out to yonder vessel. Don't say no, or dare to turn
+round; for if you disobey me, you're dead pig that instant.'
+
+'But I can't swim,' he cried, grinding his teeth so savagely that I
+could hear him yards away.
+
+'That be hanged for a yarn,' I said quietly. 'You swam well enough the
+day Big-head Brown fired you off his lugger at Apia. Come, in you go,
+and no more palaver, or you and I will quarrel.'
+
+'But I shall be eaten by sharks,' he cried, this time meaning what he
+said very thoroughly.
+
+'And I wish them joy of a dashed poor meal,' I answered. 'Come, in you
+go!'
+
+With that he began to blubber outright like a great baby, and while he
+was doing so I couldn't help thinking what a strange situation it was.
+Picture for yourself two men, with the starlit heavens looking down on
+them, standing on the edge of a big lagoon, one talking and the other
+blubbering like a baby that's afraid of the water. I was about tired of
+it by this time, so I gave him two minutes in which to make up his mind,
+and promised him, in the event of his not deciding to strike out then,
+that I'd fire. Consequently he waded in without more ado, and when I had
+seen him more than half way out to the schooner, I put the rifle under
+my arm and went back to the house.
+
+My guests had evidently been listening to our conversation, and at the
+same time amusing themselves with my gin bottles.
+
+'You seem to have turned mighty strait-laced all of a sudden, Mr
+Heggarstone,' said the skipper, a little coldly as I came up the steps
+and stood the rifle in a corner.
+
+'You think so, do you?' I answered. 'And why so, pray?'
+
+'It was only a native girl at the best calculation,' said he. 'And, in
+my opinion, she ought to think herself mighty well honoured to be taken
+notice of. She ain't a European queen or an extra special female
+martyr, is she?'
+
+'I reckon she's a woman, anyhow,' I replied. 'And no Nicholson that ever
+was born, or any other living man for the matter of that, is big enough
+to play fast and loose with the women of my island while I'm about! So
+don't you make any mistake about that, my friend.'
+
+'You seem to think a precious deal more of the sex on your patch than we
+do down our way,' says he.
+
+'Perhaps so! And what if I do?'
+
+'Nothing, of course, but I don't know that it's a good idea to side with
+the niggers against white men. That's all,' he continued, looking a
+trifle foolish, as he saw the way I was staring at him.
+
+'Don't you? Well, when you've had sufficient experience, perhaps you'll
+think differently. No, sirree, I tell you that the man who says a word
+against a woman, black or white, in my hearing has to go down, and I
+don't care who he is.'
+
+'Of course, you've a right to your own opinions,' he answered.
+
+'I have, and what's more, I think I'm big enough to back them!'
+
+The supercargo, all this time, had sat as quiet as a mouse. Now he put
+his spoke into the conversation.
+
+'I suppose there's a yarn at the back of all this palaver.'
+
+'There is,' I answered, 'and a mighty big one too. What's more, if you
+like, you shall hear it. And then, when I've done, if it don't make you
+swear a woman's just the noblest and sweetest work of God's right hand,
+and that the majority of men ain't fit to tie her shoe laces, well,
+then, all I can say is you're not the fellows I take you to be.'
+
+'Give me a light for my pipe,' the skipper said, 'and after that fire
+away. I like a yarn first-rate. The night's young, this bottle's about
+half-full, and if it takes till morning, well, you'll find I'm not the
+chap to grumble.'
+
+I furnished him with a box of matches, and then, seating myself in a
+long cane chair beside the verandah rails, lit my pipe and began the
+yarn which constitutes this book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+OLD BARRANDA ON THE CARGOO RIVER, SOUTH-WESTERN QUEENSLAND
+
+
+When first I remember old Barranda Township on the Cargoo River,
+South-Western Queensland, it was not what it is to-day. There were no
+grand three-storeyed hotels, with gilded and mirror-hung saloons, and
+pretty, bright-eyed barmaids, in the main street then; no macadamised
+roads, no smart villa residences peeping from groves of Moreton Bay
+fig-trees and stretching for more than a mile out into the country on
+either side, no gas lamps, no theatre, no School of Arts, no churches or
+chapels, no Squatters' Club, and, above all, no railway line connecting
+it with Brisbane and the outer world. No! There were none of these
+things. The township, however, lay down in the long gully, beside the
+winding, ugly creek just as it does to-day--but in those days its site
+was only a clearing out of the primeval bush; the houses were, to use
+an Irishism, either tents or slab huts; two hotels certainly graced the
+main street, but they were grog shanties of the most villainous
+description, and were only patronised by the riffraff of the country
+side. The only means of communicating with the metropolis was by the
+bullock waggons that brought up our stores once every six months, or by
+riding to the nearest township, one hundred and eight miles distant, and
+taking the coach from there--a long and wearisome journey that few cared
+to undertake.
+
+One thing has always puzzled me, and that was how it came about that my
+father ever settled on the Cargoo. Whatever his reason may have been,
+however, certain was it that he was one of the earliest to reach the
+river, a fact which was demonstrated by the significant circumstance
+that he held possession of the finest site for a house and the pick of
+all the best country for miles around the township. It was in the
+earliest days that he made his way out west, and if I have my suspicions
+of why he came to Australia at all, well, I have always kept them
+religiously to myself, and intend to go on doing so. But before I say
+anything about my father, let me tell you what I remember of the old
+home.
+
+It stood, as I suppose it does to-day, for it is many years since I set
+eyes on it, on a sort of small tableland or plateau on the hillside, a
+matter of a hundred yards above the creek, and at just the one spot
+where it could command a lovely view down the gully and across the roofs
+of the township towards the distant hills. It was a well-built place of
+six rooms, constructed of pisa, the only house of that description in
+the township--and, for that matter, I believe, in the whole district. A
+broad verandah, covered with the beautiful Wisteria creeper, ran all
+round it; in front was a large flower garden stretching away to the
+ford, filled with such plants and shrubs as will grow out in that
+country; to the right was the horse and cow paddock; and, on the left,
+the bit of cultivation we always kept going for the summer months, when
+green food is as valuable as a deposit at the bank. At the rear was
+another strip of garden with some fine orange and loquot trees, and
+then, on the other side of the stockyard rails, the thick scrub running
+up the hillside and extending for miles into the back country. The
+interior of the house was comfortably furnished, in a style the like of
+which I have never seen anywhere else in the Bush. I have a faint
+recollection of hearing that the greater part of it--the chairs, tables,
+pictures, bookcases and silver--came out from England the year that I
+was born, and were part of some property my father had inherited. But
+how much truth there was in this I cannot say. At anyrate, I can
+remember those chairs distinctly; they were big and curiously shaped,
+carved all over with a pattern having fruit in it, and each one had a
+hand clasping a battle-axe on a lozenge on the back--a crest I suppose
+it must have been, but whose I never took the trouble to inquire. The
+thing, however, that struck people most about the rooms was the
+collection of books--there were books in hundreds, in every available
+place--on the shelves and in the cupboards, on the tables, on the
+chairs, and even on the floor. There surely never was such a man for
+books as my father, and I can see him now, standing before a shelf in
+the half light of the big dining-room with a volume in his hand,
+studying it as if he were too much entranced to put it down. He was a
+tall, thin man, with a pale, thoughtful face, a high forehead,
+deep-set, curious eyes, that seemed to look you through and through, a
+big, hooked nose (mine is just like it), a handsome mouth, white teeth,
+and a heavy, determined-looking chin. He was invariably clean-shaven,
+well dressed, and so scrupulously neat and natty in his appearance that
+it seemed hard to imagine he had ever done a stroke of rough work in his
+life. And yet he could, and did, work harder than most men, but always
+in the same unostentatious fashion; never saying a word more than was
+absolutely necessary, but always ready at a moment's notice to pick a
+quarrel with you, or to say just the very one thing of all others that
+would be most calculated to give you pain. He was a strange man, was my
+father.
+
+Of my mother my recollections are less distinct, which is accounted for
+by the fact that she died when I was only five years old. Indeed, the
+only remembrance I have of her at all is of a fragile little woman with
+a pale, sweet face, bending down to kiss me when I was in bed at night.
+
+Drink and temper were my father's chief failings, but I was nearly eight
+years old before I really found that out. Even to-day, when I shut my
+eyes, I can conjure up a picture of him sitting in the dining-room
+before the table, two large candelabras lighting the room, drinking and
+reciting to himself, not only in English, but in other outlandish
+tongues that I can only suppose now must have been Latin and Greek. So
+he would go on until he staggered to his bed, and yet next morning he
+would be up and about again before sunrise, a little more taciturn,
+perhaps, and readier to take offence, but otherwise much the same as
+ever.
+
+That he had always a rooted dislike to me, I know, and I am equally
+aware that I detested and feared him more than any other living being.
+For this reason we seldom met. He took his meals in solitary grandeur in
+the dark, old dining-room, hung round with the dingy pictures that had
+come out from England, of men in wigs, knickerbockers and queer,
+long-tailed coats, while I took mine with the old housekeeper in the
+kitchen leading off the back verandah. We were a strange household, and
+before I had turned eight years old--as strong an urchin as ever
+walked--I had come to the conclusion that we were not too much liked or
+trusted by the folk in the township. My father thought them beneath
+him, and let them see that he did; they called him proud, and hinted
+that he was even worse than that. Whether he had anything to be proud of
+is another matter, and one that I cannot decide. You must judge from the
+following illustration.
+
+It was early in the year before the great flood which did so much damage
+in those parts, and which is remembered to this day, that news got about
+that in a few weeks' time the Governor of the colony would be travelling
+in our district, and would probably pay our township a visit. A
+committee of the principal folk was immediately chosen to receive him,
+and big preparations were made to do him honour. As, perhaps, the chief
+personage in our little community, my father was asked to preside over
+their deliberations, and for this purpose a deputation waited upon him.
+They could not possibly, however, have chosen a more unpropitious moment
+for their call; my father had been drinking all day, and, when they
+arrived, he burst into one of his fits of anger and drove them from the
+house, vowing that he would have nothing at all to do with the affair,
+and that he would show His Excellency the door if he dared to set foot
+within his grounds. This act of open hostility produced, as may be
+supposed, a most unfavourable impression, and my father must have seen
+it, for he even went so far as to write a note of apology to the
+committee, and to suggest, as his contribution to the general
+arrangements, that he should take His Excellency in for the night.
+Considering the kind of hotels our township boasted in those days, this
+was no mean offer, and, as may be supposed, it was unhesitatingly
+accepted.
+
+In due course the Governor arrived with his party. He was received by
+the committee in the main street under an archway of flags, and, after
+inspecting the township, rode up the hill with the principal folk
+towards our house. When he came into the grounds my father went out into
+the verandah to receive him, and I followed close in his wake, my eyes,
+I make no doubt, bulging with curiosity. The Governor got off his horse,
+and at the same moment my father went down the steps. He held out his
+hand, His Excellency took it, and as he did so looked at him in a very
+quick and surprised way, just for all the world as if my father were
+somebody he had seen before, in a very different place, and had never
+expected to meet again.
+
+'Good gracious, can it be?' he said to himself under his breath, but
+all the same quite loud enough for me to hear, for I was close beside
+him. 'Surely you are--'
+
+'My name is Heggarstone,' said my father quickly, an unwonted colour
+coming into his face, 'and you are His Excellency, the Governor of the
+colony. If you will allow me, I will make you welcome to my poor abode.'
+
+They looked at each other for a moment, pretty straight, and then the
+Governor pulled himself together and went into the house, side by side
+with my father, without another word. Later on, when the dinner given in
+honour of Her Majesty's representative was over, and the townsfolk had
+departed, His Excellency and my father sat talking, talking, talking,
+till far into the night. I could hear the hum of their voices quite
+distinctly, for my bedroom was next to the dining-room, though, of
+course, I could not catch what they said.
+
+Next morning, when his horse was at the door, and the escort was
+standing ready to be off, His Excellency drew my father a little on one
+side and said in a low voice, so that the others should not hear,--
+
+'And your decision is really final? You will never go back to England
+to take up your proper position in society?'
+
+'Never!' my father replied, viciously crumpling a handful of creeper
+leaves as he spoke. 'I have thought it over carefully, and have come to
+the conclusion that it will be a good thing for society if the name dies
+out with me. Good-bye.'
+
+'Good-bye,' answered His Excellency, 'and God help you!'
+
+Then he mounted his horse and rode away.
+
+I have narrated this little episode in order to show that I had some
+justification for believing that my father was not merely the humble,
+commonplace individual he professed to be. I will now tell you another,
+which if it did not relieve my curiosity, was surely calculated to
+confirm my suspicions.
+
+It happened that one day, early in winter, I was in the township at the
+time when the coach, which now connected us with civilisation, made its
+appearance. This great event happened twice weekly, and though they had
+now been familiar with it for some considerable time, the inhabitants,
+men, women and children, seemed to consider it a point of honour that
+they should be present, standing in the roadway about the Bushmen's
+Rest, to receive and welcome it. For my own part I was ten years old, as
+curious as my neighbours, and above all a highly imaginative child to
+whom the coach was a thing full of mystery. Times out of number I had
+pictured myself the driver of it, and often at night, when I was tucked
+up in my little bed and ought to have been asleep, I could seem to see
+it making its way through the dark bush, swaying to and fro, the horses
+stretched out to their full extent in their frenzied gallop.
+
+On this particular occasion there were more passengers than usual, for
+the reason that a new goldfield had sprung into existence in the ranges
+to the westward of us, and strangers were passing through our township
+every day _en route_ to it. It was not until the driver had descended
+from his box and had entered the hotel that the crowd saw fit to
+disperse. I was about to follow them when I saw, coming towards me, a
+tall, dignified-looking man whom I had noticed sitting next to the
+driver when the coach arrived. He boasted a short, close-cropped beard,
+wore a pair of dark spectacles, and was dressed better than any man I
+had ever seen in my life before, my father not excepted. In his hand he
+carried a small portmanteau, and for a moment I thought he was going to
+enter the Bushmen's Rest like the remainder of the passengers. He
+changed his mind, however, and after looking about him came towards
+where I stood.
+
+'My lad,' said he, 'can you tell me which path I should follow to reach
+Mr Heggarstone's residence?'
+
+My surprise at this question may be better imagined than described. It
+did not prevent me, however, from answering him.
+
+'My name is Heggarstone,' I said, 'and our house is on the hill over
+there. You can just see the roof.'
+
+If I had been surprised at his inquiry, it was plain that he was ever so
+much more astonished when he heard my name. For upwards of half a minute
+he stood and stared at me as if he did not know what to make of it.
+
+'In that case, if you will permit me,' he said, with curious politeness,
+'I will accompany you on your homeward journey. I have come a very long
+way to see your father, and my business with him is of the utmost
+importance.'
+
+My first shyness having by this time completely vanished, I gazed at
+him with undisguised interest. I had not met many travellers in my life,
+and for this reason when I did I was prepared to make the most of them.
+
+'Have you come from Brisbane, sir?' I inquired, after a short silence,
+feeling that it was incumbent upon me to say something.
+
+'Just lately,' he answered. 'But before that from London.'
+
+After this magnificent admission, I felt there was nothing more to be
+said. A man who had come from London to our little township, for the
+sole purpose of seeing my father, was not the sort of person to be
+talked to familiarly. I accordingly trudged alongside him in silence,
+thinking of all the wonderful things he must have seen, and wondering if
+it would be possible for me at some future date to induce him to tell me
+about them. At first he must have inclined to the belief that I was
+rather a forward youth. Now, however, I was as silent as if I were
+struck dumb. We descended the path to the river without a word, crossed
+the ford with our tongues still tied, and had almost reached our own
+boundary fence before either of us spoke. Then my companion moved his
+bag to the other hand and, placing his right upon my shoulder, said
+slowly,--
+
+'So you are--well, Marmaduke Heggarstone's son?'
+
+I looked up at him and noticed the gravity of his face as I answered,
+'Yes, sir!'
+
+He appeared to ruminate for a few seconds, and my sharp ears caught the
+words, 'Dear me, dear me!' muttered below his breath. A few moments
+later we had reached the house, and after I had asked the new-comer to
+take a seat in the verandah, I went in to find my father and to tell him
+that a visitor had arrived to see him.
+
+'Who is it?' he inquired, looking up from his book. 'How often am I to
+tell you to ask people's names before you tell them I am at home? Go
+back and find out.'
+
+I returned to the verandah, and asked the stranger if he would be kind
+enough to tell me his name.
+
+'Redgarth,' he said, 'Michael Redgarth. Tell your father that, and I
+think he will remember me.'
+
+I returned to the dining-room and acquainted my father with what I had
+discovered. Prepared as I was for it to have some effect upon him, I
+had no idea the shock would be so great. My father sprang to his feet
+with what sounded almost like a cry of alarm.
+
+'Redgarth here,' he said; 'what on earth can it mean? However, I'll soon
+find out.'
+
+So saying he pushed me on one side and went quickly down the passage in
+the direction of the verandah. My curiosity by this time was thoroughly
+excited, and I followed him at a respectful distance, frightened lest he
+should see me and order me back, but resolved that, happen what might, I
+would discover his mysterious errand.
+
+I saw my father pass through the door out on to the verandah, and as he
+did so I heard the stranger rise from his chair. What he said by way of
+introduction I could not catch, but whatever it may have been there
+could be no doubt that it incensed my father beyond all measure.
+
+'Call me that at your peril,' I heard him say. 'Now tell me your errand
+here as quickly as you can and be gone again.'
+
+As I stood, listening, in the shadow of the doorway, I could not help
+thinking that this was rather scurvy treatment on my father's part of
+one who had come so many thousand miles to see him. However, Mr
+Redgarth did not seem as much put out by it as I expected he would be.
+
+'I have come to tell you, my--' he began, and then checked himself,
+'well, since you wish it, I will call you Mr Heggarstone, that your
+father is dead.'
+
+'You might have spared yourself the trouble,' my father replied, with a
+bitter little laugh. 'I knew it a week ago. If that is all you have to
+tell me I'm sorry you put yourself to so much inconvenience. I suppose
+my brother sent you?'
+
+'Exactly,' Redgarth replied dryly, 'and a nice business it has been. I
+traced you to Sydney, and then on to Brisbane. There I had some
+difficulty in obtaining your address, but as soon as I did so I took the
+coach and came out here.'
+
+'Well, and now that you have found me what do you want with me?'
+
+'In the first place I am entitled by your brother to say that provided
+you--'
+
+Here my father must have made some sign to him to stop.
+
+'Pardon my interrupting you,' he said, 'but before we proceed any
+further let me tell you once and for all that I will have none of my
+brother's provisoes. Whatever threats, stipulations, or offers he may
+have empowered you to make, I will have nothing whatsoever to do with
+them. I washed my hands of my family, as you know, many years ago, and
+if you had not come now to remind me of the unpleasant fact, I should
+have allowed myself to forget even that they existed. You know my
+opinion of my brother. I have had time to think it over, and I see no
+reason at all for changing it. When we were both younger he ruined my
+career for me, perjured himself to steal my good name, and as if that
+were not enough induced my father to back him up in his treatment of me.
+Go back to them and tell them that I still hate and despise them. Of the
+name they cannot deprive me, that is one consolation; of the money I
+will not touch a sixpence. They may have it, every halfpenny, and I wish
+them joy of it.'
+
+'But have you thought of your son, the little fellow I saw in the
+township, and who conducted me hither?'
+
+'I have thought of him,' replied my father, sternly, 'and it makes no
+difference to my decision. I desire him to be brought up in ignorance of
+his birth. I am convinced that it would be the kinder course. Now I'll
+wish you a very good evening. If you have any papers with you that you
+are desirous I should sign, you may send them over to me and I will
+peruse them with as little delay as possible. I need not warn you to be
+careful of what you say in the township yonder. They know, and have
+always known me, as Marmaduke Heggarstone here, and I have no desire
+that they should become aware of my real name.'
+
+'You need not fear. I shall not tell them,' said Redgarth. 'As for the
+papers, I have them in this bag. I will leave them with you. You can
+send them across to me when you have done with them. I suppose it is no
+use my attempting to make you see the matter in any other light?'
+
+'None whatever.'
+
+'In that case, I have the honour to wish your lor--I mean to wish you,
+Mr Heggarstone, a very good evening.'
+
+As he spoke I heard him buckle the straps of his portmanteau, and then I
+slipped noiselessly down the passage towards the kitchen. A moment later
+his step sounded upon the gravel and he was gone.
+
+On the Thursday following he left the township, and we saw no more of
+him. Whatever his errand may have been, never once during his lifetime
+did my father say anything to me upon the subject, nor did I ever
+venture to question him about it. Perhaps, as he said, there is
+something behind it all that I am happier in not knowing. So far as I
+have ever heard such skeletons are generally best left in undisturbed
+possession of their cupboards.
+
+After that we resumed the same sort of life as had been our portion
+before his arrival.
+
+This monotonous existence continued undisturbed until the time of the
+great flood, which, as I have said before, is even remembered to this
+day. It occurred at the end of a wet season, and after a fortnight's
+pouring rain, which continued day and night. Never was such rain known,
+and for this reason the ground soon became so thoroughly saturated that
+it could absorb no more. In consequence the creeks filled, and all the
+billabongs became deep as lakes.
+
+In order to realise what follows you must understand that above the
+township, perhaps a couple of miles or so, three creeks joined forces,
+and by so doing formed the Cargoo River, on the banks of which our
+township was located. There had been heavy rain on all these creeks, and
+in consequence they came down bankers, united, as I have just said, and
+then, being penned in by the hills and backed up by the stored water in
+the billabongs, swept down the valley towards the township in one great
+flood, which carried everything before it. Never shall I forget that
+night. The clouds had cleared off the sky earlier in the evening, and it
+was as bright as day, the moon being almost at the full. I was having my
+supper with old Betty in the kitchen when suddenly I heard an odd sort
+of rumbling in the distance. I stopped eating to listen. Even to my
+childish ears the sound was peculiar, and as it still continued, I asked
+Betty, who was my oracle in everything, what she thought it meant. She
+was a little deaf, and suggested the wind in the trees. But I knew that
+this was no wind in trees. Every moment it was growing louder, and when
+I left the kitchen and went through the house to the front verandah,
+where I found my father standing looking up the valley, it had grown
+into a well-defined roar. I questioned him on the subject.
+
+'It is a flood,' he answered, half to himself. 'Nothing but water, and
+an enormous body of it, could make that sound.'
+
+The words were scarcely out of his mouth before a man on horseback
+appeared round the bend of the hill and galloped up the path. His horse
+was white with foam, and as he drew up before the steps he shouted
+wildly,--
+
+'The flood is coming down the valley. Fly for your lives.'
+
+My father only laughed--a little scornfully, I thought--and said, in his
+odd, mocking voice,--
+
+'No flood will touch us here, my friend, but if you are anxious to do
+humanity a service, you had better hasten on and warn the folk in the
+township below us. They are in real danger!'
+
+Long before he had finished speaking, the man had turned his horse and
+was galloping down the track, as fast as he had come, towards the little
+cluster of houses we could discern in the hollow below us. That young
+man was Dennis O'Rourke, the eldest son of a Selector further up the
+valley, and the poor fellow was found, ten days later, dead, entangled
+in the branches of a gum tree, twenty miles below Barranda Township,
+with a stirrup iron bent round his left foot, and scarcely half a mile
+from his own selection gate. Without doubt he had been overtaken by the
+flood before he could reach his wife to give her the alarm. In
+consequence, the water caught her unprepared, she was never seen again,
+and only one of her children escaped alive; their homestead, which
+stood on the banks of the creek, was washed clean off the face of the
+earth, and when I rode down that way on my pony, after the flood had
+subsided, it would have been impossible to distinguish the place where
+it had once stood.
+
+But to return to my narrative. O'Rourke had not left us five minutes
+before the rumbling had increased to a roar, almost like that of
+thunder. And every second it was growing louder. Then, with a suddenness
+no man could imagine who has never seen such a thing, a solid wall of
+water, shining like silver in the moonlight, came into view, seemed to
+pause for a moment, and then swept trees, houses, cattle, haystacks,
+fences, and even large boulders before it like so much driftwood. Within
+a minute of making its appearance it had spread out across the valley,
+and, most marvellous part of all, had risen half way up the hill, and
+was throwing a line of yeast-like foam upon our garden path. A few
+seconds later we distinctly heard it catch the devoted township, and the
+crashing and rending sound it made was awful to hear. Then the noise
+ceased, and only a swollen sheet of angry water, stretching away across
+the valley for nearly a mile and a half was to be seen. Such a flood no
+man in the district, and I state this authoritatively, had ever in his
+life experienced before. Certainly I have not seen one like it since.
+And the brilliant moonlight only intensified the terrible effect.
+
+Having assured himself that we had nothing to fear, my father ordered me
+off to bed, and reluctantly I went--only to lie curled up in my warm
+blankets thinking of the waters outside, and repicturing the effect
+produced upon my mind by O'Rourke's sensational arrival. It was the
+first time I had ever seen a man under the influence of a life-and-death
+excitement, and, imaginative child as I was, the effect it produced on
+my mind was not one to be easily shaken off. Then I must have fallen
+asleep, for I have no recollection of anything else till I was awakened
+in the middle of the night by the noise of people entering my room.
+Half-asleep and half-awake I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and blinking at
+the brightness of the candle my father carried in his hand. Old Betty
+was with him, and behind them, carrying a bundle in his arms, stalked a
+tall, thin man with a grey beard, long hair and a white, solemn face.
+His clothes, I noticed, were sopping wet, and a stream of water marked
+his progress across the floor.
+
+'Take James out and put the child in his place,' said my father, coming
+towards my bed. The man advanced, and Betty lifted me out and placed me
+on a chair. The bundle was then tucked up where I had been, and, when
+that had been done, Betty turned to me.
+
+'Jim,' she said, 'you must be a good boy and give no trouble, and I'll
+make you up a nice bed in the corner.' This was accordingly done, and
+when it was ready I was put into it, and in five minutes had forgotten
+the interruption and was fast asleep once more.
+
+As usual, directly there was light in the sky, I woke and looked about
+me. To my surprise, however, for I had for the moment forgotten the
+strange waking of the night, I found myself, not in my own place, but on
+a pile of rugs in the corner. Wondering what this might mean, I looked
+across at my bed, half-expecting to find it gone. But no! There it
+stood, sure enough, with an occupant I could not remember ever to have
+seen before--a little rose-leaf of a girl, at most not more than four
+years old. Like myself she was sitting up, staring with her great blue
+eyes, and laughing from under a tangled wealth of golden curls at my
+astonishment. Her little pink and white face, so charmingly dimpled,
+seemed prettier than anything I had ever seen or dreamed of before; but
+I did not know what to make of it all, and, boy-like, was inordinately
+shy. Seeing this, and not being accustomed to be slighted, the little
+minx climbed out of bed, and, with her tiny feet peeping from beneath
+one of my flannel night-shirts, came running across to where I lay. Then
+standing before me, her hands behind her back, she said in a baby
+voice--that I can hear now even after twenty years,--
+
+'I'se Sheilah!'
+
+And that was my introduction to the good angel of my life. Five minutes
+later we were playing together on the floor as if we had been friends
+for years instead of minutes. And when Betty came into the room,
+according to custom, to carry me off to my bath, her first remark was
+one which has haunted me all my life, and will go on doing so until I
+die.
+
+'Pretty dears,' she cried, 'sure they're just made for each other.'
+
+And so we were!
+
+It was not until some time later that I learnt how it was that old
+McLeod and his baby daughter came to be under our roof that night. This
+was the reason of it. The man and his wife, it appears, were but new
+arrivals in the colony, and were coming out our way to settle. They
+were finishing their last day's stage down the valley when the flood
+caught the bullock dray, drowned his wife and all the cattle, and
+well-nigh finished the father and child, who were carried for miles
+clinging to a tree, to be eventually washed up before our house. My
+father, standing in the verandah, heard a cry for help, and waded out
+into the water just in time to save them. Having done this he brought
+them up to the house, and, as there was nowhere else to put her, I was
+turned out and Sheilah was given my bed.
+
+Next morning a foaming sea of water cut us off from the township, or
+what few houses remained of it, and for this reason it was manifestly
+impossible that old McLeod could continue his journey. I remember that
+poor, little motherless Sheilah and I played together all day long in
+the verandah, as happy as two birds, while her father watched us from a
+deep chair, with grave, tear-stained eyes. In the death of his wife he
+had sustained a grievous loss, from which somehow I don't think he ever
+thoroughly recovered.
+
+Three days later the water fell as rapidly as it had risen, and as soon
+as it had sufficiently abated, McLeod, having thanked my father for his
+hospitality, which I could not help thinking had been grudgingly enough
+bestowed, took Sheilah in his arms, right up from the middle of our
+play, and tramped off, a forlorn black figure, down the path towards the
+township. As far as the turn of the track, and until the scrub timber
+hid her from my gaze, I could see the little mite waving her hand to me
+in farewell.
+
+That week McLeod purchased Gregory's farm on the other side of the
+township, and installed himself in the house on the knoll overlooking
+the river, taking care this time to choose a position that was safely
+out of water reach. Once he had settled in, I was as often to be found
+there as at my own home, and continued to be Sheilah's constant
+companion and playmate from that time forward.
+
+And so the years went by, every one finding us firmer friends. It was I
+who held her while she took her first ride upon the old grey pony McLeod
+bought for the boy to run up the milkers on. It was I who taught her to
+row the cranky old tub they called a boat on the Long Reach; it was I
+who baited the hook that caught her first fish; it was I who taught her
+the difference in the nests in the trees behind the homestead, and how
+to distinguish between the birds that built them; in everything I was
+her guide, philosopher and her constant friend. And surely there never
+was so sweet a child to teach as Sheilah--her quickness was
+extraordinary, and, bush-bred boy though I was, it was not long before
+she was my equal at everything where strength was not absolutely
+required. By the time she was twelve and I sixteen, she could have
+beaten any other girl in the township at anything they pleased, and,
+what made them the more jealous, her beauty was becoming more and more
+developed every day. Even in the hottest sun her sweet complexion seemed
+to take no hurt, and now the hair, that I remembered curling closely
+round her head on the morning when we first became acquainted, descended
+like a fall of rippling gold far below her shoulders. And her eyes--but
+there, surely there never were such eyes as Sheilah's--for truth and
+innocence. Oh, Sheilah, my own sweetheart, if only we could have
+foreseen then all the bitterness and agony of the rocky path that we
+were some day to tread, what would we not have done to ward off the
+fatal time? But, of course, we could not see it, and so we went on
+blindfold upon our happy-go-lucky way, living only in the present, and
+having no thought of the cares of the morrow. And the strangest part
+about it all was that, thrown together continually as we were, neither
+of us had taken any account of love. The little god had so far kept his
+arrows in his quiver. But he was to shoot them soon enough in all
+conscience.
+
+To say that my father forbade my intercourse with the McLeods would not
+be the truth. But if I said that he lost no opportunity of sneering at
+the old man and his religion (he was a Dissenter of the most vigorous
+description, and used to preach on Sundays in the township) I should not
+be overstepping the mark.
+
+I don't believe there was another man in the world who could sneer as
+could my father. He had cultivated that accomplishment to perfection,
+and in a dozen words would bring me to such a pitch of indignation that
+it was as much as I could do to refrain from laying violent hands upon
+him. I can see him now lying back in his chair in the old dining-room,
+when he was hearing me my lessons (for he taught me all I know), a book
+half-closed upon his knee, looking me up and down with an expression
+upon his face that seemed to say, 'Who ever would have thought I should
+have been plagued with such a dolt of a son!' Then, as likely as not, he
+would lose his temper over my stupidity, box my ears, and send me
+howling from the room, hating him with all the intensity of which my
+nature was capable. I wonder if ever a boy before had so strange and
+unnatural a parent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW I FIRST LEARNED MY LOVE FOR SHEILAH
+
+
+It was the morning of my eighteenth birthday, and, to celebrate it,
+Sheilah and I had long before made up our minds to ride to, and spend
+the day at, the Blackfellow's Cave--a large natural cavern in the
+mountains, some fifteen or sixteen miles distant from the township. It
+was one of our favourite jaunts, and according to custom we arranged to
+start early.
+
+For this reason, as soon as light was in the sky, I was astir, took a
+plunge in the creek, and then ran down to the paddock and caught the
+horse I intended riding that day--a fine, well set-up thoroughbred of
+our own breeding. And, by the same token, there were no horses like ours
+in the district, either for looks, pace, stamina, or pedigree. What my
+father did not know about horse and cattle breeding no man in the length
+and breadth of Australia could teach him. And a good bushman he was
+too, for all his scholarly ways and habits, a first-class rider, and
+second to none in his work among the beasts in the stockyard. All I know
+myself I learnt from him, and I should be less than grateful if I were
+above owning it. But that has nothing to do with my story. Having caught
+my horse, I took him up to the stable and put a first-class polish on
+him with the brush, then, fastening him up to the bough-shade to be
+ready when I wanted him, hurried in to my breakfast. When I entered the
+room my father was already seated at the table. He received me after his
+usual fashion, which was to look me up and down, smile in a way that was
+quite his own, and then, with a heavy sigh, return to his reading as if
+it were a matter of pain to him to have anything at all to do with me.
+When we were half through the meal he glanced up from his book, and
+said,--
+
+'As soon as you've done your breakfast, you'd better be off and muster
+Kidgeree paddock. If you come across Bates's bull bring him in with you
+and let him remain in the yard until I see him.'
+
+This was not at all what I had looked forward to on my birthday, so I
+said,--
+
+'I can't muster to-day. It's my birthday, and I'm going out.'
+
+He stared at me for nearly a minute without speaking, and then said with
+a sneer,--
+
+'I'm sure I very much regret that I should have inadvertently interfered
+with your arrangements. Miss McLeod accompanies you, of course!'
+
+'I am going out with Sheilah! Yes!'
+
+Again he was silent for a few moments--then he looked up once more.
+
+'As it is your birthday of course you consider you have an excuse for
+laziness. Well, I suppose you must go, but if you should chance to
+honour the father with your society you might point out to him that, on
+two occasions this week, his sheep have been on my frontage.'
+
+'It's our own fault; we should mend our boundary.'
+
+'Indeed! And pray how long have you been clear-headed enough to see
+that?'
+
+'Anyone could see it. It's not fair to blame Mr McLeod for what is not
+his fault.'
+
+'Dear me! This perspicuity is really most pleasing. An unexpected Daniel
+come to judgment, I declare. Well, at anyrate, I'll give you a note to
+take to the snuffling old hound and in it I'll tell him that the next
+beast of his I catch on my property I'll shoot. That's a fair warning.
+You can come in for it when you are starting.'
+
+'I shall not take it.'
+
+'Indeed! I am sorry to hear that. Your civility is evidently on a par
+with your industry.'
+
+Then, seeing that I had risen, he bowed ironically, and wished me a
+'very good morning.'
+
+I did not answer, but marched out of the room, my cheeks flushed with
+passion. Nothing, I knew, gave him greater pleasure than to let him see
+that he had hurt me, and yet, do what I would, I could not prevent
+myself from showing it.
+
+Having passed through the house, I went into the kitchen to obtain from
+Betty, who still constituted the female element of our household, some
+provender for the day. This obtained, I saddled my horse, strapped a
+quart pot on to my saddle, mounted, and rode off. As I passed the front
+of the house I heard my father call to me to stop, but I did not heed
+him, and rode on down the track to the ford, thence, through the
+township, to McLeod's selection.
+
+And now a few words about the latter's homestead--the house which has
+played such a prominent part in my life's drama. I think I have already
+told you that it stood on the top of a small rise about a quarter of a
+mile above the river and looked right up the valley over the township
+roofs, just in the opposite direction to ours. In the twelve years that
+McLeod had lived there he had added considerably to it--a room here and
+there--till it had grown into a rambling, disconnected, but charming,
+old place, overgrown with creepers, and nestling in a perfect jungle of
+peppermint trees, gums, oranges and bamboos. The stockyard, for the
+selection carried about five hundred cattle and a couple of thousand
+sheep, was located at the back, with the stables and Sheilah's
+poultry-yard; and it had always been one of my greatest pleasures to be
+allowed to go down and give the old man a hand with his mustering or
+branding; to help Sheilah run up the milkers, or to hunt for eggs in the
+scrub with her when the hens escaped and laid outside.
+
+Reaching the slip panels I jumped off and tied my horse to the fence;
+then went up the shady path towards the house. Bless me! how the memory
+of that morning comes back as I sit talking now. The hot sun, for it was
+the middle of summer, was streaming through the foliage and dancing on
+the path; there was the creeper-covered verandah, with its chairs and
+old-fashioned sofa inviting one to make oneself at home, and, last but
+not least, there was Sheilah standing waiting for me, dressed in her
+dark green habit and wearing a big straw hat upon her pretty head.
+
+'You're late, Jim,' she said, for, however much she might spoil me,
+Sheilah always made a point of telling me my faults, 'I've been waiting
+for you nearly half-an-hour.'
+
+'I'm sorry, Sheilah,' I answered. 'I could not get away as soon as I
+expected.'
+
+I did not tell her what had really made me so late; for somehow, even if
+I did think badly of my father myself, I had no wish that other people
+should do so too.
+
+'But I am forgetting,' she continued, 'I ought first to have wished you
+many happy returns of the day, dear old Jim, and have scolded you
+afterwards.'
+
+'Somehow I never seem to take offence however much you scold, Sheilah,'
+I said, as we left the verandah and went round by the neat path to the
+stables.
+
+'Then it's not much use my trying to do you any good, is it?' she
+answered with a little laugh.
+
+We found her pretty bay pony standing waiting at the rails, and when
+she was ready I swung her up into the saddle like a bird. Then mounting
+my own horse, off we went down the track, through the wattle scrub,
+across the little bubbling creek that joined the big river a bit below
+the township, and finally away through the Mulga towards the mountains
+and the Blackfellow's Cave.
+
+It was a breathless morning--the beginning of a typical Australian
+summer day. In the trees overhead the cicadas chirped, parroquets and
+wood pigeons flew swiftly across our path; now and again we almost rode
+over a big silly kangaroo, who went blundering away at what looked a
+slow enough pace, but was in reality one that would have made a good
+horse do all he knew to keep up with him. Our animals were in splendid
+trim and, in spite of the heat, we swung easily along, side by side,
+laughing and chattering, as if we had never known a care in our lives.
+Indeed, I don't know that we had then. At least not as I understand
+cares now.
+
+About ten o'clock we halted for half-an-hour in the shadow of a big gum,
+and alongside a pretty water-hole. Then, continuing our ride, we reached
+the Blackfellow's Cave about mid-day.
+
+How the cave received its name must remain a mystery; personally, I
+never remember to have seen a black fellow within half-a-dozen miles of
+it. In fact, I believe they invariably avoided it, being afraid of
+meeting 'debil-debils' in its dark and gloomy interior.
+
+On arrival, we hobbled our horses out, lit a fire, and, as soon as we
+had procured water from a pool hard by, set our quart pot on to boil.
+This done, we made tea, ate our lunch, and then marched in to explore
+the cavern. It was a queer enough place in all conscience, cave leading
+from cave and passage from passage, and for each we had our own
+particular name--the church, the drawing-room, the coach-house, and a
+dozen others. Some were pitch dark, and necessitated our lighting the
+candle Sheilah had brought with her, others were open at the top,
+enabling us, through the aperture, to see the bright blue sky overhead.
+From one to another we wandered, trying the echoes, and making each
+resound with the noises of our voices. The effects produced were most
+weird, and I could not help thinking that any black fellow who might
+have penetrated inside would soon have collected material for
+'debil-debil' yarns sufficient to last him and his tribe for
+generations.
+
+At last, having thoroughly explored everything we made our way out into
+the open air once more. By this time it was nearly three o'clock and a
+terribly hot afternoon. Not a breath of wind stirred the leaves, while
+the parched earth seemed to throw back the sun's scorching rays with all
+the fierceness of a burning-glass. It was too hot even for the birds,
+and though we could hear the monotonous cawing of crows in the distance,
+and the occasional chatter of the parakeets, not one was visible;
+indeed, when an old-man kangaroo hopped on to the little plateau before
+the cave's mouth, and saw us, it was nearly half-a-minute before he
+could find sufficient energy to hop away again. The cicadas were still
+busy in the trees, and in the dead atmosphere their chirrup seemed to
+echo half across the world.
+
+When it was time for us to think of returning home, we crossed to where
+our horses were standing idly whisking their tails under a big gum, and
+having saddled them, mounted and started on our journey. We had not,
+however, proceeded more than five miles before thick clouds rose in the
+sky, driven by a strong wind that rustled the dry twigs and grass, and
+sent the dust flying about our ears like so much small shot.
+
+Suddenly Sheilah brought her pony to a standstill and began to sniff
+the wind.
+
+'What is it?' I asked, stopping my horse and looking round at her. 'What
+do you smell?'
+
+'Burning grass,' she answered. And as she spoke I got a distinct whiff
+of it myself.
+
+'There's a fire somewhere,' she said; 'I hope it's not coming our way.'
+
+'It is probably on the top of the ranges,' I answered. 'And the wind's
+funnelling it down to us.'
+
+For some time we rode on in silence, the smell growing stronger and
+stronger as we progressed. Overhead, dense smoke was floating towards
+us, while the air was becoming momentarily hotter.
+
+'It is a fire, and a big one,' I said, pulling my horse up again and
+signing to Sheilah to do the same. 'The question is whether we are wise
+in going on, without first finding out which way it is coming.
+
+'It's somewhere in the gully ahead of us,' said Sheilah. 'Let us proceed
+as far as we can.'
+
+Accordingly we rode on, the smoke getting every moment thicker, and the
+heat more powerful. Presently we reached a slight eminence, from which
+we knew we should be able to command a good view of the gully we were
+about to enter. As we ascended the little rise, however, something
+caught my eye, and I turned and shouted to Sheilah--
+
+'Round--round, and ride for your life!'
+
+As I spoke I wheeled my horse and she followed my example--but not
+before we had both seen a thin line of fire run through the dry grass
+not fifty yards from where we stood. Next moment there was an awful
+blaze behind us, and our terrified horses were dashing down the gully,
+as fast as they could lay their legs to the ground. It was perilous
+going, over rocks and logs, across rain chasms and between trees, but
+heedless of anything we rode on at breakneck speed, knowing that we were
+racing for our very lives. And the flames came after us with the fury
+and noise of an express train. When we had gone about a hundred yards I
+looked at Sheilah. She was sitting back in her saddle, her mouth firmly
+set, steering her terrified and almost unmanageable pony with all the
+skill and dexterity of which she was mistress.
+
+As we turned the corner I looked back and saw that the fire had
+stretched high up the hills on either side, while it was also sweeping
+down the valley behind us with terrifying rapidity. Fast as we were
+going, the flames were overtaking us. What were we to do to escape? The
+heat was so intense that it was sapping every atom of strength out of
+the horses, and one crash into a tree, one stumble in a hole, one little
+mistake and the result would be an awful and agonising death. On all
+sides were terrified animals--cattle, horses, sheep, kangaroo, emu,
+wallabies, dingoes even, all like ourselves flying for their lives,
+while overhead thousands of birds flew screeching before the hot blast.
+I endeavoured to keep my horse by the side of Sheilah's in order to be
+ready to help her in case of accident, but it was almost an
+impossibility. Seeing that we might be separated I called to her.
+
+'Steer to your left, and if possible try to reach the cave.'
+
+She nodded to let me see that she understood, and then on we went as
+before. Strong man as I was, the heat behind, the choking smoke and the
+awful glare all round were almost more than I could bear, and I dared
+not think of their effect on Sheilah. But whatever her sufferings may
+have been, she was riding as carefully as if nothing out of the common
+were occurring.
+
+Leaving a little bit of open ground we plunged into the scrub again,
+but had not gone twenty paces in it before an awful thing happened.
+Sheilah's pony, who for the last hundred yards had been going very
+heavily, now put his foot into a hole and went down with a crash,
+throwing the girl over his head a dozen feet or more. With a cry of
+terror I pulled my horse to a standstill, and jumped off, but Sheilah
+lay as if she were dead, her legs curled up under her and her head
+curiously twisted round. The pony was screaming with agony where he had
+fallen. What was to be done? There was not an instant to be lost.
+Dragging my own frightened horse over to where she lay, I picked her up.
+She was unconscious and for a moment I thought the fall had broken her
+neck. Then I turned to her poor pony, who by this time had struggled to
+his feet. One glance told me the worst. He had broken his off fore leg
+and it was useless counting further on him for assistance. Here was a
+terrible position. As far as I could see only one thing was to be done.
+The flames were drawing closer and closer--there was scarcely time for
+thought. A large log lay near at hand. I backed my horse against it, and
+then lifting poor Sheilah in my arms, placed her on his wither and
+climbed into the saddle. Being only a youngster and very high-spirited,
+he did not take very kindly to this curious proceeding, but I forced him
+to it with a strength and determination I did not know that I possessed,
+and then, holding Sheilah in my arms, off we went again, leaving her own
+pony to meet his fate from the on-rushing flames.
+
+If my ride had been difficult before, I will leave you to imagine how
+much more perilous it was now that I had not only to guide my horse in
+order to escape low hanging branches and other dangers, but at the same
+time to hold Sheilah in her place. She lay with her pretty head hanging
+over my arm, as white and still as death.
+
+On--on we dashed for our very lives. The pace had been fast before--now,
+even with the additional burden my animal had to bear, it was terrific.
+But I knew we could not be more than a couple of miles at furthest from
+the cave. If he only could keep it up till then, it was just possible we
+might be saved.
+
+But even as this thought passed through my brain I felt his powers begin
+to fail. The old elasticity was quite gone, and I had to rouse him with
+my voice and heel. Oh, how awful seemed my utter helplessness--my life,
+Sheilah's life, her father's happiness, all depending on the strength,
+pluck and endurance of an uncomprehending animal. I called him by name;
+in an ecstasy of fear I even promised him perpetual ease for the rest of
+his equine existence if only he would carry me as far as the cave. And
+then it was, in that moment of despair, when death seemed inevitable for
+both of us, that I discovered that I loved Sheilah with something more
+than the brotherly affection I had always supposed myself to entertain
+for her. Yes! I was a man and she was a woman, and with all the
+certainty of a man's knowledge, I knew that I loved her then. On, on
+brave horse and give that love a chance of ripening. On, on, though the
+clammy sweat of death bedews and paralyses thy nostrils, on, on, for on
+thy courage and endurance depends the happiness of two human lives.
+
+By this time the wind had risen to the strength of a hurricane and this
+could only mean that the flames would travel proportionately faster.
+They could not be more than half a mile behind us now at the greatest
+calculation, and the cave was, perhaps, half that distance ahead. It was
+a race for life with the odds against us, but at all hazards, even if I
+had to lay down my own to do it, I knew that Sheilah must be saved.
+Looking back on it now I can truthfully say that that was my one and
+only thought. On and on we went--the horse lurching in his stride, his
+powers failing him with every step; and yet we dared not dismount, for I
+knew that I could not run fast enough with Sheilah in my arms to stand
+any possible chance of saving her.
+
+At last we turned the corner of the gully, and could see before us,
+scarcely more than a hundred yards distant, the black entrance to the
+cave. I looked round, and as I did so saw a narrow tongue of fire lick
+out and seize upon the grass scarcely fifty yards behind us. Great beads
+of sweat rose upon my forehead; blisters, caused by the intense heat,
+were forming on my neck; my hat was gone, and my horse's strength was
+failing him with every stride. God help us, for we were in desperate
+straits. And only a hundred yards lay between us and safety. Then I felt
+the animal under me pause, and give a shiver--he struggled on for a few
+yards, and then down in a heap he went without more ado, throwing us
+gently from him in his fall. Death was surely only a matter of a few
+moments now. However, I was not going to die without a struggle.
+
+Springing up I again took Sheilah in my arms, and set off with her as
+fast as I could run towards the cave. Short distance though it was, it
+seemed an eternity before I had toiled to the top of the little hill,
+crossed the plateau, and was laying my precious burden upon the ground
+inside the cave. Then I fell beside her, too much exhausted to care very
+much what became of me. As I did so, I heard the fire catch great trees
+outside, and presently little flames came licking up almost to the
+entrance of the cave where we lay. Still Sheilah remained unconscious,
+and for some few moments I was but little better. As soon, however, as
+my strength returned to me, I picked her up again and bore her through
+the first cave into the second, where it was comparatively light and
+cool. Leaving her alone here for a minute I picked my way into the third
+cave, where there was a small pool of spring water. From this I took a
+deep draught, and then, wetting my handkerchief thoroughly, hurried back
+to Sheilah's side. Thereupon I set to work to bathe her hands and face,
+but for some time without any satisfactory result. Then her eyes
+opened, and she looked about her. At first she seemed scarcely to
+comprehend where she was, or what had happened, but her memory soon came
+back to her, and as she heard the roar of the fire outside and felt the
+hot blast sweeping into the cave, a great shudder swept over her.
+
+'Ah! I remember now!' she said. 'I had a fall. What has become of poor
+Rorie?'
+
+'We had to leave him behind.'
+
+She put her little hands up to her eyes, as if to shut out the dreadful
+picture my words had conjured up.
+
+'But how did you get me here?' she asked.
+
+'I carried you on my saddle before me till my own horse dropped,' I
+said, 'and then I brought you the rest of the distance in my arms.'
+
+She closed her eyes and was silent for a minute or so, then she opened
+them again and turned to me with a womanliness I had never before
+remarked in her.
+
+'Jim,' she said, laying her little hand upon my arm, 'you have saved my
+life! As long as I live I will never forget what you have done for me
+to-day!'
+
+From that moment she was no longer Sheilah, my old playfellow and
+almost sister. She was Sheilah, the goddess--the one woman to be loved
+by me for the remainder of my life.
+
+I took her hand and kissed it. Then everything seemed to swim round
+me--a great darkness descended upon me, and I fell back in a dead faint.
+
+When I recovered myself and was able to move, I left her and went into
+the outer cave. The fire had passed, and was sweeping on its way down
+the gully, leaving behind it a waste of blackened earth, and in many
+cases still flaring timber. But prudence told me that the ground was
+still far too hot to be safe for walking on. So I went back to Sheilah,
+and we sat talking about our narrow escape until nightfall.
+
+Then just as we were wondering how, since we had no horses, we could
+best make our way home, a shout echoed in the outer cave, and we ran
+there to be confronted by McLeod, my father and half-a-dozen other
+township men who had come out in search of us. Sheilah flew to her
+father's arms, while I looked anxiously, I must confess, at mine. But,
+whether he felt any emotion or not, he allowed no sign to escape him. He
+only held out his hand, and said dryly,--
+
+'This, you see, is the outcome of your obstinacy.'
+
+Then he turned and called to a black boy, who stood outside holding a
+horse. The lad brought the animal up, and my father signed to me to
+mount, which I did, and presently we were all making our way home.
+
+At the entrance to the township, where we were to separate, I stopped
+the animal I was riding and turned to Sheilah to say good-bye. She drew
+the horse her father had brought for her up alongside mine, and said
+softly,--
+
+'Good-bye, and God bless you, Jim! Whatever may happen in the future, I
+shall never forget what you have done for me to-day.'
+
+Then old McLeod, who had heard from Sheilah all about our ride for life,
+came up and thanked me in his old-fashioned way for having saved his
+daughter's life, and after that we rode home, my father and I, silently,
+side by side. As soon as supper was over, I went to bed, thoroughly worn
+out, but the stirring events of the day had been too much for me, and so
+hour after hour I lay tossing about, unable to sleep. At last I dozed
+off, only to be wakened a short while later by a curious sound coming
+from my father's room. Not knowing what it might be, I sprang from my
+bed and went into the verandah, where I had a clear view into his
+apartment. And a curious sight it was that I saw.
+
+My father was kneeling at his bedside, his head hidden in his hands,
+praying as if his whole life depended on it. His hands were white with
+the tenacity of their grip on each other, and his whole figure quivered
+under the influence of his emotion. When he raised his head I saw that
+his face was stained with tears and that others were still coursing down
+his cheeks. But the reason of it all was more than I could tell.
+
+Having satisfied my curiosity, and feeling somehow rather ashamed of
+myself for having watched him, I went back to bed and fell fast asleep,
+not to wake next morning till the sun was high in the sky.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WHISPERING PETE
+
+
+After the events described in the preceding chapter it was a new life
+that Sheilah opened up for me--one as different from that which had
+existed before as could well be imagined. Every moment I could spare
+from my work (and I was generally pretty busy for the reason that my
+father was increasing in years and he had resigned a large measure of
+the management of his property to me) was spent in her company. I
+thought of her all day and dreamed of her all night.
+
+For two important reasons, however, I was compelled to keep my love a
+secret, both from herself and from the world in general. My father would
+have laughed the very notion of an engagement to scorn, and without his
+consent I was in less than in no position at all to marry. Therefore I
+said nothing on the subject to anybody.
+
+And now having introduced you to the good angel of my life, I must do
+the same for the reverse character.
+
+About two years after the bush fire described in the last chapter, there
+came to our township, whither nobody was ever able to discover, a man
+who was destined to exercise a truly sinister influence upon my life.
+
+In appearance he presented a strange individuality, being of medium
+stature, with a queer sort of Portuguese face, out of which two dark
+eyes glittered like those of a snake. He arrived in the township late
+one summer evening, mounted on a fine upstanding bay mare and followed
+by a couple of the most diabolical-looking black boys any man could
+possibly set eyes on, stayed the night at the grog shanty, and early
+next morning rode off up the hill as far as Merther's old homestead,
+which it was said he had taken for a term of years. Whatever its
+intrinsic advantages may have been, it was a queer place for a man to
+choose; firstly, because of the strange stories that were told about it,
+and secondly, because it had stood empty for nearly five years and was
+reported to be overrun by snakes, rats and scorpions. But Whispering
+Pete, by which name he afterwards became known to us (from a peculiar
+habit he had of speaking in a voice but little louder than a whisper)
+seemed to have no objection to either the rumours or the vermin, but
+just went his way--doing a bit of horse and cattle dealing as the
+chances turned up--never interfering with his neighbours, and only
+showing him self in the township when compelled by the exigencies of his
+business to do so.
+
+It was not until some considerable time after the events which it is my
+purpose to describe to you now that I heard the stories, that were told
+about him, but when I did I could easily credit their truth. Among other
+peculiarities the man was an ardent and clever musician, and strangely
+enough, considering his brutality towards grown-up people, a great lover
+of children. It was well known that the little ones could do more with
+him in five minutes than anyone else could hope to do in a lifetime.
+Women, I believe, had never filled any place in his life. The following
+episode in his career will, I fancy give you a better notion of his
+character than any amount of explanation upon my part could do.
+
+Somewhere on the Murray River, Pete, who was then running a flash hotel
+for squatters and skippers of the river steamers, managed to get himself
+into hot water with the police on a charge of working an illicit still.
+They had had suspicions of him for some considerable time, but, knowing
+the character of their man, had waited in order to make certain before
+effecting his arrest. One of his acquaintances, however, a man, who for
+some reason or another bore him no good will, put them on the right
+track, and now all they had to do was to ride up to his residence and
+take him into custody. By the time they reached it, however, Pete had
+been warned by somebody and had taken to the bush to be out of the way.
+He did not return to the neighbourhood but left South Australia
+forthwith, and migrated into New South Wales, where he embarked upon a
+new career, much to the relief of the man who had betrayed him, whose
+life, as you may imagine, had up to this time been cursed with the very
+real fear of Pete's revenge.
+
+The months went slowly by, Pete was not heard of again, and at last it
+so happened that this self-same individual was also compelled, by the
+exigencies of his business, to leave South Australia, and to cross into
+the oldest Colony, where, being a sanguine man, he hoped to lay the
+foundation of a fortune. By the time he reached his destination Pete was
+once more an outlaw, and the police were looking for him, but on what
+charge I cannot now remember. It is sufficient that he was known to be
+in hiding near the identical township where his old enemy had taken up
+his abode. Of course, when the latter made his choice and had fixed upon
+this particular locality, he did not know this; but he was to learn it
+before very long, and in a manner that was destined to prove highly
+unpleasant, if not dangerous, to himself and his family.
+
+It was a terribly hot summer that year, and the country was burnt up to
+a cinder; bush fires were of almost daily occurrence, and the loss of
+life during that particular season was, so the oldest inhabitants
+asserted, exceptional. Beeton, the new-comer--the man who had betrayed
+Pete in South Australia, as narrated, nearly two years before--had taken
+up a selection some few miles outside the township, had built himself a
+homestead, and had settled down in it with his wife and family,
+blissfully unconscious that the man whom he dreaded meeting more than he
+would have done the Father of Evil himself was hidden in a large cavern
+in the ranges scarcely ten miles, as the crow flies, from his own
+verandah steps. He imagined that everything was safe, and went about his
+daily work feeling as contented with his lot in life as any man who
+takes up new country and begins to work it can expect to be. The sword,
+however, which was suspended above his head by a single hair, was
+beginning to tremble, and would fall before very long and cut him to
+pieces in so doing.
+
+Now it had so happened that in the old days in South Australia, when
+Pete and Beeton had still been friends, the former had been a constant
+playfellow of the latter's youngest child, a bewitching little girl of
+two, who returned with interest the affection the other bestowed upon
+her. Two days before Christmas, this mite, now nearly three years old,
+strayed away from her home and was lost in the scrub. Search parties
+were organised and sent out in every direction, but without success;
+look where they would, they could find no trace of her. And for a very
+good reason. All the time they were hunting for her she was safe and
+sound in Pete's cavern. The outlaw had found her when she was about ten
+miles from home, and had conveyed her there with all possible speed. He
+was well aware what he was doing, for the child had recognised him at
+once, and he had never forgotten her. It would probably have surprised
+some of those who were wont to regard him with so much apprehension
+could they have seen him during the evening, playing with his little
+guest upon the floor of the cavern; and later on, seated by her side,
+telling her fairy stories until she began to feel sleepy, when she
+insisted upon saying her prayers to him, and compelled him to listen
+with all the gravity at his command.
+
+The following morning he made up his mind, mounted his horse and,
+lifting the child up before him, set off through the scrub in the
+direction of the father's selection. Reaching the boundary fence, from
+which the house could be easily seen, he kissed the youngster and set
+her down, bidding her run home as fast as she could go and let her
+mother see that she was none the worse for her adventure. When he had
+made sure that she had reached her destination, he wheeled his horse
+and set off on his return journey to the ranges. As he did so he saw the
+signs of a bush fire rising above the trees ahead of him, dense clouds
+of smoke were rolling up into the azure sky, and, as if to make the
+danger more complete, the wind was freshening every minute. A
+quarter-of-an-hour later it looked as if his fate were sealed. Behind
+him was civilisation, with its accompaniment of police; ahead, and on
+either hand, the fire and seemingly certain destruction by one of the
+most terrible deaths imaginable. What was he to do? It did not take him
+very long, however, to make up his mind. At one spot, a couple of miles
+or so to his left, the smoke was not so heavy, and his knowledge of the
+country told him the reason of this. It was due to a dry water-course in
+which there was nothing that would burn. Urging his horse forward he
+made for it as fast as he could go. But he was not destined to get there
+quite as quickly as he expected, for, when he was only a hundred yards
+or so distant from the bank, his quick eye detected the body of a man
+lying on the ground beneath a casuarina tree. With his habitual
+carelessness of human life he was about to leave him to be dealt with by
+the on-rushing flames, when he chanced to catch sight of the other's
+face. Then he pulled his horse to a standstill, as if he had been shot.
+The individual on the ground was Beeton, the man who had betrayed him in
+South Australia, and the father of the child whom he had risked so much
+that day to save. The recognition was mutual, for the man, though quite
+incapable of moving (he had broken his right leg, so it transpired
+later) was still conscious. Here was a glorious chance of revenge, and
+one of which Pete was just the sort of man to take the fullest
+advantage. He brought his terrified horse a little closer, and lolling
+in his saddle looked calmly down on his prostrate foe.
+
+'How d'ye do, Beeton?' he said, with the easy familiarity of an old
+acquaintance, to all intents and purposes quite oblivious to the fact
+that an enormous bush fire was raging in their vicinity, and was every
+second drawing closer to them. 'It is some time since we last had the
+pleasure of meeting, or my memory deceives me. Let me see, I think it
+was in South Australia, was it not?'
+
+Beeton's complexion was even whiter than it had been before as he
+glanced up at his enemy and marked the relentless look upon his face.
+He did not answer, however.
+
+'Looks as if you've been inconsiderate enough to have forgotten the
+circumstance,' continued Pete, mockingly, 'and yet, if I'm not making a
+mistake, there was every reason why you should have remembered it.
+However, that does not matter; it seems as if I'm to have a chance of
+getting even with you after all. D'you see yonder fire? Well it will
+pass this way in a few minutes. There's only one chance of escape and
+that is to make your way into the creek bed yonder. I should advise you
+to hurry up and get there unless you wish to be roasted to a cinder.'
+
+'Curse you, you can see I'm done for and can't move,' cried the other in
+a tone of agony. 'If you were not the devil you are, you would help me
+to get there. But you will leave me to die, I know.'
+
+'Why should I help you?' inquired Pete, with continued calmness. 'Who
+was it put the police on my track at Yackamunda, eh--and drove me out
+here? Why, you did! And now you want me to save you. No, my lad, you can
+lie there and burn for all I care or will help you.'
+
+'Then be off,' cried the man on the ground, with the savageness of
+despair. 'If I'm to die let me die alone, not with those devilish eyes
+of yours watching me!'
+
+By this time the heat was almost unbearable, and Pete's horse was
+growing unmanageable. He plunged and snorted at the approaching flames,
+until none but a man of Pete's experience and dexterity could have
+retained his seat in the saddle.
+
+'Since you do not desire my presence,' said Pete, 'I'll wish you a good
+afternoon.'
+
+So saying he lifted his hat with diabolical politeness and started for
+the creek. He had not gone very far, however, before he changed his mind
+and once more brought his horse to a standstill, this time with even
+more difficulty than before, for the animal was now almost beyond
+control. Glancing round to see how far the flames were away, he leapt
+from the saddle to the ground, and realising that he would not have time
+to make the beast secure, let him go free, and set off as fast as his
+legs would carry him back to the spot where he had left his enemy to
+meet his fate. As he reached it, the flames entered a little belt of
+timber fifty yards from the place.
+
+'Come, Beeton,' he cried. 'If you're going to be saved there's not an
+instant to lose. Let me get a good hold of you and I'll see what I can
+do. Confound the man, he's fainted.'
+
+Picking the prostrate figure up as if he weighed only a few pounds, he
+placed him on his shoulder and set off at a run for the creek. It was a
+race for life with a vengeance, and only a man like Pete could have
+hoped to win it. As it was, he reached the bank just as the foremost
+flames were licking up the dry grass not a dozen paces from where he had
+stood. When they reached the bottom Beeton was saved, but what it was
+that had induced his benefactor to do it it is doubtful if he himself
+could tell. That evening, when the fire had passed, he walked into the
+township and gave himself up to the police, at the same time bidding
+them send out for the man he had risked his life to save.
+
+I have narrated this incident at some length in order that you may have
+an idea of the complex character of the man who was later on to exercise
+such a potent influence on my life. That it was a complex character I
+don't think anyone will attempt to deny. And it was to those who knew
+him best that he appeared in the strangest light. How well I remember my
+first meeting with him.
+
+It was about a month after his arrival in the district that I had
+occasion one morning to cross the river and visit his selection in order
+to inquire about a young bull of ours that had been seen working his way
+down the boundary fence. I rode up to the slip panels, let myself in,
+and went round the tangled wilderness of green stuff to the back of the
+house. Much of it was in a tumble-down state; indeed, I had heard that
+only three rooms were really habitable. In the yard I found the two
+black boys previously mentioned, and whom I had had described to me,
+playing knuckle bones on a log. They looked up at me in some surprise,
+and when I told one of them to go in and let his master know that I
+wanted to see him, it was nearly a minute before he did so. In response
+to the summons, however, Whispering Pete emerged, his queer eyes
+blinking in the sunlight, for all the world like a cat's. He came over
+to where I sat on my horse, and asked my business.
+
+'My name is Heggarstone,' I replied. 'And I come from the station across
+the river. I want to inquire after a young brindle bull that was last
+seen working his way down your boundary fence. I believe he crossed the
+river above the township.'
+
+'I don't know that I've seen him,' whispered Pete, at the same time
+looking into my face and taking stock of me with those extraordinary
+eyes of his. 'But I'll make inquiries. In the meantime get off your
+horse and come inside, won't you?'
+
+Anxious to see what sort of place he had made of Merther's old shanty, I
+got off, and, having made my horse fast to a post, followed Pete into
+his dwelling. A long and dark passage led from the back door right
+through the house to the front verandah. Passing along this, we
+proceeded to a room on the right hand side, the door of which he threw
+open.
+
+I'd only been in the house once before in my life, and that was when old
+Merther had the place and kept it like a pig-sty. Now everything was
+changed, and I found myself in a room such as I had never in my life
+seen before. It was large and well-shaped, with dark panelled walls, had
+a big, old-fashioned fireplace at one end, in which half-a-dozen people
+could have seated themselves comfortably, and a long French window at
+the other, leading into the verandah, and thence into the tangled
+wilderness of front garden.
+
+But it was not the shape or the size of the room that surprised me as
+much as the way in which it was furnished. Books there were, as in our
+rooms at home, and to be counted by the hundred, mixed up pell-mell with
+a collection of antique swords, quite a couple of dozen silver cups on
+brackets, pictures, a variety of fowling-pieces, rifles and pistols, a
+couple of suits of armour, looking very strange upon their carved
+pedestals, an easel draped with a curtain, a lot of what looked like
+valuable china, a heavy, carved table, two or three comfortable chairs,
+and last, but by no means least, a piano placed across one corner with a
+pile of music on the top. Though I had it all before me, I could hardly
+believe my eyes, for this was the last house in the township I should
+have expected to find furnished in such a fashion.
+
+'Sit down,' said Pete, pointing to a large chair. 'Perhaps you will let
+me offer you some refreshment after your ride?'
+
+It was a hot morning, and I was thirsty, so I gladly accepted his
+hospitality. Hearing this, he went to a quaint old cupboard on one side
+of the room and from it took a bottle with a gold cap--which I knew
+contained champagne. This was a luxury of which I had never partaken,
+for in the bush in those days we were very simple in our tastes, and I
+doubt if even the grog shanty itself had a bottle of this wine upon the
+premises, much less any other house in the township. Pete placed two
+strange-shaped glasses on the table, and then unscrewed the cork, not
+using a corkscrew as I should have done had I been in his place. The
+wine creamed and bubbled in the glasses, and, after handing one to me,
+my host took the other himself, and, bowing slightly, said, 'I drink to
+our better acquaintance, Mr Heggarstone.'
+
+I knew I ought to say something polite in return, but for the life of me
+I could think of nothing, so I simply murmured, 'Thank you,' and drank
+off my wine at a gulp, an action which seemed to surprise him
+considerably. He said nothing, however, but poured me out another
+glassful, and then took a small silver case from his pocket which, when
+he offered it to me, I discovered contained cigarettes.
+
+'Do try one,' he said. 'If you are a cigarette smoker, I think you will
+enjoy them. They are real Turkish, and as I have them made for myself I
+can guarantee their purity.'
+
+I took one, lit it, and by the time it was half smoked felt more at my
+ease. The wine was having a tranquillising effect upon me, and the
+strings of my tongue were loosened. I even went so far as to comment
+upon his room.
+
+'So glad you like it,' he murmured softly, with an intonation impossible
+to imitate. 'It's so difficult, as possibly you are aware, to make a
+room in any way artistic in these awful up-country townships--the
+material one has to work upon is, as a rule, so very, very crude. In
+this particular instance I can scarcely claim much credit, for this old
+room was originally picturesque, and all I had to do was to put my
+things in it, and give them a certain semblance of order.'
+
+'And how do you manage to employ your time up here?' I asked.
+
+He looked at me a little curiously for a moment and then said,--
+
+'Well, in the first place, I have my work among my cattle, and then I
+paint a little, as you see by that easel, then I have my piano, and my
+books. But at the same time I feel bound to confess existence is a
+little monotonous. One wants a friend, you know, and that's why I took
+the liberty of asking you to come in and see my room.'
+
+Though I did not quite see what my friendship had to do with his room,
+I could not help feeling a little gratified at the compliment he paid
+me. Presently I said,--
+
+'I hope you won't think me rude, but would it be too much to ask you to
+play me something?'
+
+'I will do so with great pleasure,' he answered. 'I am glad you are fond
+of music. But first let me fill your glass and offer you another
+cigarette.'
+
+Having made me comfortable, he went across to the piano and sat down
+before it. For a few moments he appeared to be thinking, and then his
+fingers fell upon the notes, and a curious melody followed--the like of
+which I never remember to have heard before. I have always been
+strangely susceptible to the influence of music, and I think my host
+must have discovered this, for presently he began to sing in a low,
+silky sort of voice, that echoed in my brain for hours afterwards. What
+the song was I do not know, but while it lasted I sat entranced. When it
+was finished he rose and came across to me again.
+
+'I hope you will take pity upon a poor hermit, and let me see you
+sometimes,' he said, lighting another cigarette. 'For the future you
+must consider this house and all it contains yours, whenever you care to
+use it.'
+
+I took this as a dismissal and accordingly rose, at the same time
+thanking him for the treat he had given me.
+
+'Oh, please don't be so grateful!' he said, with a laugh, 'or I shall
+begin to believe you don't mean it. Well, if you really must be going,
+let me call your horse.'
+
+He opened the door and gave a peculiar whistle, which was immediately
+answered from the back premises. A few moments later my horse made his
+appearance before the front verandah. I shook hands, and, having
+mounted, looked once more into his curious eyes, and then rode away. It
+was only when I reached home, and my father asked what answer I had
+brought back, that I remembered I had learned nothing of the animal
+about which I had ridden over to inquire.
+
+My father said nothing, because there was nothing to be said, but he
+evidently thought the more. As for me, I could think of nothing but that
+curious man, and the peculiar fascination he had exercised over me.
+
+A few days later I met him in the township. Directly he saw me he
+stopped his horse and entered into conversation with me.
+
+'I have been wondering when I should see you again,' he said. 'I was
+beginning to be afraid you had forgotten that such a person existed.'
+
+'I have been wanting to come up and see you,' I answered, 'but I did not
+like to thrust myself upon you. You might have been busy.'
+
+'You need never be afraid of that,' he answered, with his usual queer
+smile. No--please come up whenever you can. I shall always be glad to
+see you. What do you say to Thursday evening at eight o'clock?'
+
+I answered that I should be very glad to come, and then we separated,
+and I rode on to see Sheilah.
+
+Thursday evening came, and as soon as I had my supper, I set off across
+the creek to the old house on the hill. It had struck eight by the time
+I reached it, and to my surprise I heard the sound of voices coming from
+the sitting-room. I knocked at the door, and a moment later it was
+opened by my host himself, who shook me warmly by the hand and invited
+me to enter. Thereupon I passed into the lamp-lit room to discover two
+young men of the township, Pat Doolan and James Mountain, installed
+there. They were making themselves prodigiously at home, as if they had
+been there many times before. Which I believe they had.
+
+'I need not introduce you, I suppose?' said my host, looking round. 'You
+are probably well acquainted with these gentlemen.'
+
+As I had known them all my life, played with them as children, and met
+them almost every day since, it may be supposed that I was.
+
+We sat down and a general conversation ensued. After a while our host
+played and sang to us; drinks were served, and later on somebody--I
+really forget who--suggested a game of cards. The pasteboards were
+accordingly produced, and for the first time in my life I played for
+money. When, two hours later, we rose from the table, I was the winner
+of twenty pounds, while Pete had lost nearly fifty. I went home as happy
+as a man could well be, with the world in my watch pocket, not because I
+had won the money, but because I had been successful in something I had
+undertaken. How often that particular phase of vanity proves our
+undoing. Two evenings later I returned and won again, yet another
+evening, and still with the same result. Then the change came, my luck
+broke. I followed it up, but still lost. After that the sum I had won
+melted away like snow before the mid-day sun, till, on the fifth
+evening, I rose from the table having lost all I had previously won and
+fifteen pounds into the bargain. The next night I played again, hoping
+to retrieve my fortune, but ill-luck still pursued me, and I lost ten
+pounds more. This time it was much worse, for I had not enough capital
+by twenty pounds to meet my liabilities. I rose from the table like many
+another poor fool, bitterly cursing the hour I had first touched a card.
+The others had gone home, and when I prepared to follow them, Pete, to
+whom I owed the money, accompanied me into the verandah.
+
+'I'm sorry you've had such bad luck lately,' he said quietly. 'But you
+mustn't let the memory of the small sum you owe me trouble you. I'm in
+no hurry for it. Fortune's bound to smile on you again before very long,
+and then you can settle with me at your convenience.'
+
+'To tell the honest truth,' I blurted out, feeling myself growing hot
+all over, 'I can't pay. I ought not to have played at all.'
+
+'Oh, don't say that,' he answered. 'Remember we only do it for
+amusement. If you let your losses worry you I shall be more than
+miserable. No! come up next Monday evening, and let us see what will
+happen then.'
+
+Monday night came and I played and won!
+
+I paid Pete, and then, because I was a coward and afraid to stop lest
+they should laugh at me, began again. Once more I won, then Fortune
+again began to frown upon me, and I lost. We played every evening after
+that with varying success. At last the crash came. One evening, after
+liquidating my liabilities to the other men, I rose from the table owing
+Whispering Pete a hundred pounds.
+
+Bidding him good-night, I went down the hill in a sort of stupor. How I
+was to pay him I could not think. I had not a halfpenny in the world,
+and nothing that I could possibly sell to raise the money. That night,
+as may be imagined, I did not sleep a wink.
+
+Next morning I asked my father to advance me the amount in question. He
+inquired my reason, and as I declined to give it, he refused to consider
+my request.
+
+After that, for more than a week, I kept away from the house on the
+hill, being too much ashamed to go near it. My life, from being a fairly
+happy one, now became a burden to me. I carried my miserable secret
+locked up in my breast by day, and dreamed of it by night.
+
+Then the climax came. One evening a note from Whispering Pete was
+brought to me by one of his black boys. I took it into the house and
+read it with my coward heart in my mouth. It ran as follows:--
+
+
+     'DEAR JIM,--Have you quite forgotten me? I have been hoping every
+     evening that you would come across for a chat. But you never put in
+     an appearance. I suppose you have been too busy mustering lately to
+     have any time to spare for visiting. If you are likely to be at
+     home to-morrow evening, will you come across to supper at
+     eight?--Yours ever,
+
+     'PETE.
+
+     '_P.S._--By the way, would it be convenient to you to let me have
+     that £100? I am sending down to Sydney, and being a trifle short it
+     would just come in handily for a little speculation I have on
+     hand.'
+
+
+Telling the boy to inform his master that I would come over and see him
+first thing in the morning, I returned to my own room and went to
+bed--but not to sleep.
+
+Next morning I saddled my horse and rode over as I had promised. When I
+arrived at the house, Whispering Pete was in the stable at the rear
+examining a fine chestnut horse that had just arrived. As soon as he saw
+me he looked a little confused I thought, and came out, carefully
+closing the door behind him. From the stable we passed into the house
+and to the sitting-room, where Pete bade me be seated.
+
+'I was beginning to fear I had offended you in some way, and that you
+wished to avoid me,' he began, as he offered me a cigarette.
+
+'So I did,' I answered boldly, 'and it's on account of that wretched
+money. Pete, I'm in an awful hole. I cannot possibly pay you just yet.
+To tell you the honest truth, at the present moment I haven't a red cent
+in the world, and I feel just about the meanest wretch in all
+Australia.'
+
+He gave his shoulders a peculiar twitch, as was his habit, and then rose
+to his feet, saying as he did so,--
+
+'And so you've worked yourself into this state about a paltry hundred
+pounds. Well, if I'd been told it by anybody else I'd not have believed
+it. Come, come, Jim, old man, if that debt worries you, we'll strike it
+off the books altogether. Thank God, I can safely say I'm not a
+money-grubber, and, all things considered, I set a greater value on your
+society than on twice a hundred pounds. So there that's done with, and
+you must forget all about it!'
+
+Generous as was his speech I could not help thinking there was something
+not quite sincere about it. However, he had lifted a great weight off my
+mind, and I thanked him profusely, at the same time telling him I should
+still regard myself as in his debt, and that I would repay him on the
+first possible opportunity.
+
+'Would you really like to pay me?' he said suddenly, as if an idea had
+struck him. 'Because, if you are desirous of doing so, I think I can
+find you a way by which you can not only liquidate your debt to me, but
+recoup yourself for all your losses into the bargain.'
+
+'And what is that?' I asked. 'If it's possible, of course I should like
+to do it.'
+
+'Well, I'll tell you. It's like this! You know, next month the township
+races come off, don't you? Well, it's to be the biggest meeting they
+have ever had, and, seeing that, I have determined to bring up a horse
+from the South and enter him for the Cup. Now, here's what I propose. I
+know your reputation as a horseman, and I think with you in the saddle
+my nag can just about win. I'll pay you a hundred pounds to ride him,
+and there you are. What do you say?'
+
+I thought for a moment, and then said,--
+
+'I won't take the hundred, but I'll ride the horse for you, if you wish
+it, with pleasure.'
+
+'Thank you,' he answered. 'I thought I could depend on you.'
+
+Little did I dream to what misery I was condemning myself by so readily
+consenting to his proposition.
+
+From Whispering Pete's house I went on through the township to see
+Sheilah. It was a lovely morning, with just a suspicion of a coming
+thunderstorm in the air. I found her in the yard among her fowls, a pale
+blue sun-bonnet on her head, and a basket full of eggs upon her arm. She
+looked incomparably sweet and womanly.
+
+'Why, Jim,' she said, looking up at me as I opened the gate and came
+into the yard, 'this is, indeed, an unexpected pleasure. I thought you
+were out mustering in your back country.'
+
+'No, Sheilah,' I replied. 'I had some important business in the
+township, which detained me. Directly it was completed I thought I'd
+come over and see you.'
+
+'That was kind of you,' she answered. 'I was wondering when you would
+come. We don't seem to have seen so much of you lately as we used to
+do.'
+
+Because there was a considerable amount of truth in what she said, and
+my conscience pricked me for having forsaken old friends for a new-comer
+like Whispering Pete, I naturally became indignant at such an accusation
+being brought against me. Sheilah looked at me in surprise, but for a
+few moments she said nothing, then, as we left the yard and went up the
+path towards the house, she put her little hand upon my arm and said
+softly,--
+
+'Jim, my dear old friend, you've something on your mind that's troubling
+you. Won't you tell me all about it and let me help you if I can?'
+
+'It's nothing that you can help me in, Sheilah,' I replied. 'I'm down on
+my luck, that's all; and, because I'm a fool, I've promised to do a
+thing that I know will make a lot of trouble in the future. However, as
+it can't be helped, it's no use crying over it, is it?'
+
+'Every use, if it can make you any happier. Jim, you've not been
+yourself for weeks past. Come, tell me all about it, and let me see if I
+can advise you. Has it, for instance, anything to do with Whispering
+Pete?'
+
+I looked at her in surprise.
+
+'What do you know about Whispering Pete?' I asked.
+
+'A good deal more than you think, or I like,' she answered, 'and when I
+find him making my old playfellow miserable, I am even more his enemy
+than before.'
+
+'I didn't say that it had anything to do with Whispering Pete,' I
+retorted, beginning to flare up, according to custom, at the idea of
+anything being said or hinted against those with whom I was intimate.
+
+'No, Jim, you didn't say so, but I'm certain he is at the bottom of it,
+whatever it is! Come, won't you tell me, old friend?'
+
+She looked into my face so pleadingly that I could not refuse her;
+besides, it had always been my custom to confide in Sheilah ever since I
+was a little wee chap but little bigger than herself, and somehow it
+seemed to come natural now. What's more, if the truth were known, I
+think it was just that very idea that had brought me down to see her.
+
+'It's this way, Sheilah,' I stammered, hardly knowing how to begin.
+'Like the fool I am, I've been playing cards up at Whispering Pete's for
+the last month or so, and, well, the long and the short of it is, I've
+lost more money than I can pay.'
+
+She didn't reproach me, being far too clever for that. She simply put
+her little hand in mine, and looked rather sorrowfully into my face.
+
+'Well, Jim?' she said.
+
+'Well, to make a long story short, I owe Whispering Pete a hundred
+pounds. He wrote asking me for the money. I couldn't pay, so I went over
+and told him straight out that I couldn't.'
+
+'That was brave of you!'
+
+'He received me very nicely and generously, and told me not to bother
+myself any more about it. Then I found there was something I could do
+for him in return.'
+
+'And what was that?'
+
+'Why, to ride his horse for the Cup at the township races next month.'
+
+'Oh, Jim--you won't surely do that, will you?'
+
+'Well, you see I've promised, and it's that that's worrying me.'
+
+'Jim, what is the amount you want to pay him off?'
+
+'A hundred pounds, Sheilah.'
+
+'Well, I have more than that saved. Jim, do let me lend it to you, and
+then you can pay him in full, and you needn't ride in the race. You
+know, Jim, that nobody among our friends in the township ever goes to
+them, and you must see for yourself what would be said if you rode.'
+
+'And what business would it be of anybody's pray, if I did? I go my way,
+they can go theirs.'
+
+'But I don't want people to think badly of you, Jim.'
+
+'If they're fools enough to do so because I ride a good horse in a fair
+race they'll think anything; and, as far as I'm concerned, they're
+welcome to their opinions.'
+
+'And you won't let me lend you the money, Jim?'
+
+'No, Sheilah, dear, it's impossible. I couldn't think of such a thing.
+But I thank you all the same from the bottom of my heart. It's like your
+goodness to make me such an offer.'
+
+'And you've made up your mind to ride for this man.'
+
+'See for yourself how I am situated. How can I get out of it? He has
+done me a kindness, and in return he asks me to do him one. If I can't
+do anything else I can ride, and he is pinning his chance of winning on
+me. Am I therefore to disappoint him because the old goody-goodies in
+the township disapprove of horse-racing?'
+
+'Jim, that isn't the right way to look at it.'
+
+'Isn't it? Well, it's the way I've got to look at it anyhow, and, as far
+as I can see, there's no other. Only, I'll give you one bit of advice,
+don't let any of the people hereabouts come preaching to me, or they'll
+find I'm not in the humour for it.'
+
+Sheilah was quiet for a little while. Then she said very sorrowfully,--
+
+'This man's coming into the township will prove to have been the
+beginning of trouble for all of us. Jim, mark my words; your decision
+will some day recoil upon those you love best.'
+
+This was not at all what I expected from Sheilah, so like a fool I lost
+my temper.
+
+'What nonsense you talk,' I cried. 'At any rate, if it does it will do
+us good. We want a bit of waking up, or I'm mistaken.'
+
+'Oh, Jim, Jim,' she said, 'if only I could persuade you to give this
+notion up.'
+
+'It's not to be thought of, Sheilah,' I answered, 'so say no more about
+it. One thing I know, however, and that is, if all the rest turn against
+me, you will not.'
+
+'I shall never turn against you, Jim. And you know that.'
+
+'Well, then, that's all right. I don't care a scrap about the rest.'
+
+'But does it never strike you, Jim, that in thus following your own
+inclinations you are being very cruel to those who love you best in the
+world.'
+
+'Those who love me best in the world,' I repeated mockingly. 'Pray how
+many may there be of them?'
+
+'More than you seem to think,' she answered reproachfully. 'If only you
+were not so headstrong and proud, you would soon discover that you have
+in reality lots of friends--even among those whom you affect to despise.
+Some day you may find this out. God grant it may not then be too late.'
+
+How true her words were destined to prove you will see for yourself.
+Surely enough the time _was_ to come, the bitterest time of all my life,
+when I should see for myself in what estimation I was held by the people
+of the township. Strange are the ways of Providence, for then it was I
+discovered that my best friends were not those who had been my
+companions in prosperity, and whom I had every right to think would
+stand by me through evil and good report--but the very people whom I had
+been accustomed to call _old fossils_ and by a hundred other and similar
+terms of reproach. However, I was not going to give in that Sheilah was
+right.
+
+'Too late or not too late,' I answered, 'I must go my own way, Sheilah.
+If it turns out that I'm wrong, I shall have to suffer for my folly. If
+I'm beaten, you may be sure I sha'n't cry out. I'll take my punishment
+like a man, never fear. I'll not ask anyone to share my punishment.'
+
+She gave a little sigh.
+
+'No, you're not asking us to share your punishment,' she replied.
+'Nevertheless we must do so. Can you not think and see for yourself what
+it must mean to those who are your friends and have your welfare most
+at heart, to see you so blindly thrusting your head into the trap that
+is so cunningly set for you by the arch enemy of all mankind?'
+
+'How do you know it _is_ a trap?' I cried. 'Why will you always make
+such mountains out of molehills, Sheilah? If, as you say, Pete is my
+enemy, which, mind you, I do not for a single moment admit, he cannot do
+me very much harm. I may lose a little money to him at cards, but I
+shall soon be able to pay him back. I may ride his horse for him at the
+township races and offend some of the strait-laced goody-goody folk by
+so doing--but their censure will break no bones, and in a few weeks they
+will have forgotten it and be much the same to me as ever. It is not as
+if I were going to continue race riding all my life, because I do it
+this once. I may never ride another. Indeed, I'll even go so far as to
+give you my promise to that effect if you wish it.'
+
+'You will make me very happy if you will.'
+
+'Then I'll do so,' I answered. 'From this moment I promise you that,
+without your permission, I will never ride another horse in a race.
+There! Are you satisfied now?'
+
+'I am much happier. I thank you, Jim, from the bottom of my heart. For
+I know you well enough to be sure that if you have once given your word
+you will stick to it. God bless you.'
+
+'God bless you, Sheilah. And now I must be off. Good-bye.'
+
+'Good-bye.'
+
+I jumped on to my horse, and, waving my hand to her, went back up the
+track to the township with a strange foreboding in my heart that her
+prophecy would some day be realised.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE RACE
+
+
+Slowly the month rolled by, and every day brought the fatal races
+nearer, till at last only a week separated us from them. With each
+departing day a greater nervousness took possession of me. I tried to
+reason it out, but without success. As far as I could see, I had nothing
+very vital to fear! I might lose the esteem of the grey heads of the
+township, it was true, and possibly get into trouble with my father--but
+beyond those two unpleasantnesses I was unable to see that anything
+serious could happen to me.
+
+Since giving him my promise I had only once set eyes on Whispering Pete.
+To tell the truth, I felt a desire to keep out of his way. At the same
+time, however, I had not the very slightest intention of going back on
+my promise to ride for him. At last, one morning, I met him riding
+through the township on a skittish young thoroughbred. As usual he was
+scrupulously neat in his dress, and, when he stopped to speak to me, his
+beady black eyes shone down on me like two live coals.
+
+'You're not going to throw me over about that race are you, Jim?' he
+said, after we had pulled up our horses and saluted each other.
+
+'What should make you think so?' I answered. 'When I give my word I
+don't go back on it as a general rule.'
+
+'Of course, you don't,' he replied; 'I know that. But I heard yesterday
+that the folk in the township had been trying to persuade you to
+withdraw your offer. The time is drawing close now, and I shall have the
+horse up here to-night. Come over in the evening and have a look at him,
+and then in the morning, if you're agreeable and have nothing better to
+do, we might try him against your horse Benbow, who, I take it, is the
+best animal in the district. What do you say?'
+
+'I'm quite willing,' I answered. 'And where do you intend to do it?'
+
+'Not where all the township can see, you may be sure,' he answered,
+with one of his peculiar laughs. 'We'll keep this little affair dark. Do
+you know that bit of flat on the other side of Sugarloaf Hill?'
+
+'Quite well,' I said. 'Who should know it better than I?'
+
+'Very well, then; we'll have our trial spin there.' Then bending towards
+me he said very softly, 'Jim, my boy, it won't be my fault if we don't
+make a big haul over this race. There will be a lot of money about, and
+you've no objection, I suppose?'
+
+'None whatever,' I answered. 'But do you think it's as certain as all
+that? Remember it's a pretty stiff course, and from what I heard this
+morning, the company your horse is likely to meet will be more than
+usually select.'
+
+'I'm not the least afraid,' he answered 'My horse is a good one, and if
+he is well, will walk through them as if they were standing still.
+Especially with you on his back.'
+
+I took this compliment for what it was worth, knowing that it was only
+uttered for the sake of giving me a bit of a fillip.
+
+'I shall see you, then, this evening?' I said.
+
+'This evening. Can you come to dinner?'
+
+'I'm afraid not,' I answered; and with a parting salutation we separated
+and rode on our different ways.
+
+When I reached the corner I turned and looked back at him, asking myself
+what there was about Whispering Pete that made him so different to other
+men. That he _was_ different nobody could deny. Even the most
+commonplace things he did and said had something about them that made
+them different from the same things as done and said by other people. I
+must confess that, while I feared him a little, I could not help
+entertaining a sort of admiration for the man. Who and what was he? He
+had been in the township now, off and on, for two years, and during the
+whole of that time, with the exception of myself and a few other young
+men, he had made no friends at all. Indeed, he used to boast that he had
+no sympathy with men above a certain age, and it was equally certain
+that not one of the elderly inhabitants of the town, from my father and
+old McLeod downwards, had any sympathy or liking for him.
+
+When I had watched him out of sight, I rode on to the McLeods'
+selection, and, having tied up my horse, entered the house. Sheilah, I
+discovered, was not at home, having ridden out to their back boundary to
+see a woman who was lying ill at one of the huts. Old McLeod was in the
+stockyard, branding some heifers, and I strolled out to give him a hand.
+When we had finished we put away the irons, and went up the path to the
+house together. On reaching the dining-room, a neat and pretty room,
+with Sheilah's influence showing in every corner of it, the old man
+turned and put his hand on my shoulder. He was a strange-looking old
+chap, with his long, thin face, bushy grey eyebrows, shaven upper lip,
+and enormous white beard. After looking at me steadily for a minute or
+so, he said, with the peculiar Scotch accent that time had never been
+able to take away from him,--
+
+'James, my lad, it is my business to warn ye to be verra careful what
+ye're about, for I ken, unless ye mend your ways, ye're on the straight
+road to hell. And, my boy, I like ye too well to see ye ganging that way
+without a word to so stay ye.'
+
+'And what have you heard about me, Mr McLeod?' I asked, resolved to
+have it out with him while the iron was hot. 'What gossip has been
+carried to your ears?'
+
+'Nay! nay!' he answered. 'Not gossip, my laddie. What I have heard is
+the sober truth, and that ye'll ken when I tell ye. First an' foremost,
+ye've been card-playing up at the house on the hill yonder these many
+months past.'
+
+'That's quite true,' I replied. 'But I can also tell you that I have not
+seen or touched a card for close upon five weeks now; and, if I can help
+it, I never will do so again. What else have you been told about me?'
+
+'Well, lad,' he said, 'I've heard that ye're going to ride in the races
+out on the plain yonder next week. Maybe that'll not be true, too?'
+
+'Yes. It's quite true; I am.'
+
+'But ye'll think better of it, laddie. I'm sure of that!'
+
+'No! I have no option. I have promised to ride, and I cannot draw back.'
+
+'And ye'll have reckoned what the consequences may be?'
+
+'I think I have!'
+
+'Well, well; I'm sorry for ye. Downright sorry, laddie. I thought ye
+had more strength of mind than that. However, it's no care of mine;
+ye'll have your own day of reckoning I make no doubt.'
+
+'I cannot see that what I do concerns anyone but myself,' I answered
+hotly.
+
+He looked at me under his bushy eyebrows for a second or two, and then
+said, shaking his old head,--
+
+'Foolish talk--vain and verra foolish talk!'
+
+By this time my temper, never one of the best, as you already know, had
+got completely out of my control, and I began to rage and storm against
+those who had spoken against me to him, at the same time crying out
+against the narrowness and hypocrisy of the world in general. Old McLeod
+gravely heard me to the end, visibly and impartially weighing the pros
+and cons of all I said. Then, when I had finished, he remarked,--
+
+'Ye're but a poor, half-baked laddie, after all, to run your head
+against a wall in this silly fashion. But ye'll see wisdom some day. By
+that time, however, 'twill be too late.'
+
+Never has a prophecy been more faithfully fulfilled than that one. I
+have learned wisdom since then--learned it as few men have done, by the
+hardest and bitterest experience. And when I got it, it was, as he had
+said, too late to be of any use to me. But as that has all to be told in
+its proper order, I must get on with my story.
+
+Leaving the house, I mounted my horse again and rode off in the
+direction I knew Sheilah would come, my heart all the time raging within
+me against the injustice of which I considered myself the victim. What
+right had old McLeod to talk to me in such a fashion? I was not his son;
+and, poor fool that I was, I told myself that if I liked I would go to a
+thousand races and ride in every one of them, before I would consider
+him or anyone else in the matter. But one thing puzzled me considerably,
+and that was how he had come to know so much of my private affairs.
+Since it had been kept such a profound secret, who could have told him
+about my gambling, and my promise to ride Pete's horse in the
+steeplechase? So far as I was aware, no one but Sheilah knew, to whom I
+had told my whole story. Could she have revealed my shortcomings to her
+father? In my inmost heart, I knew that she had not said a word. But I
+was so angry that I could not do justice to anybody, not even to
+Sheilah herself. God help me!
+
+For an hour I rode on; then, crossing a bit of open plain, I saw Sheilah
+ahead, mounted on a big brown horse, coming cantering towards me. When
+she made out who I was, she quickened her pace, and we were presently
+alongside each other, riding back together. Angry as I was, I could not
+help noticing how pretty her face looked under her big hat, and how well
+she sat her horse.
+
+'You seem put out about something, Jim,' she said, when I had turned my
+horse and we had gone a few yards.
+
+'I am,' I answered, 'very much put out. Sheilah, why did you tell your
+father what I told you the other day?'
+
+'What have I told him?'
+
+'Why, about my playing cards at Whispering Pete's, and my resolve to
+ride in the steeplechase next week?'
+
+'I have not told him, Jim. You surely don't think I would be as mean as
+that, do you?'
+
+'But how did he come to hear of it?' I asked, ignoring the last portion
+of her speech. 'He taxed me with it this morning, and was kind enough
+to preach me a sermon on the strength of it.'
+
+'I have not said a word to him. You seem to have a very poor opinion of
+me, Jim.'
+
+'You must admit that it's strange he should have known!'
+
+'Don't you think he may have heard it in the township?'
+
+'Your father's not given to gossiping among the township folk; you know
+that as well as I do, Sheilah!'
+
+'Then you still think, in spite of what I have told you, that I did tell
+him? Answer me, straightforwardly, do you think so?'
+
+'If you want it in plain English, without any beating about the bush, I
+do! There, now I have said it.'
+
+For a moment her face flushed crimson, then her eyes filled with tears
+and she looked another way, thinking I should not see them. As soon as I
+had spoken I would have given all I possessed in the world to have
+recalled those fatal words; but my foolish pride would not let me say
+anything. Then Sheilah turned to me with a white face.
+
+'I am sorry, Jim,' she said slowly, 'that you should think so badly of
+me as to believe me capable of telling you a lie. God forgive you for
+doubting one who would be, if you would only let her, your truest and
+best friend on earth.'
+
+Then giving her horse a smart cut with her whip, she set off at a
+gallop, leaving me behind, feeling just the meanest and most
+contemptible cur on earth. For two pins I would have made after her, and
+licked the very dust off her boots in apology. But before I could do so
+my temper got the better of me again, and I turned off the track, made
+for the river, and, having forded it, rode home, about as miserable a
+man as could have been found in the length and breadth of Australia.
+
+When I reached the house it was hard upon sundown, and old Betty was
+carrying in dinner. I turned my horse into the night paddock, hung my
+saddle and bridle on the peg in the verandah, and then went inside. The
+old woman met me in the passage, and one glance at my face told her what
+sort of state I was in. She drew me into the kitchen in her old
+affectionate way, and, having got me there, said,--
+
+'Jim, boy, it's ye that must be very careful to-night. Your father's
+been at his old tricks all day, and he's just quarrelsome enough now to
+snap your head off if you say a word. Don't cross him, lad, whatever you
+do.'
+
+'All right, old girl,' I answered, patting her weather-beaten cheek,
+and going past her into my room. Then, having changed my things, I went
+into the dining-room, where my father was sitting with a book upon his
+knee, staring straight before him.
+
+He looked up as I entered, and shut his volume with a snap; but for some
+time he did not utter a word, indeed it was not until our meal was well
+nigh finished that he spoke. Then he put down his knife and fork, poured
+himself out some whiskey, drank it slowly, with his eyes fixed on me all
+the time, and said,--
+
+'Pray, what is the meaning of this new scandal that I hear about you?'
+
+'What new scandal?' I asked; for I did not know what false yarn he might
+have picked up.
+
+'This story about your having promised to ride a horse in the
+steeplechase next week?'
+
+'It is perfectly true that I have promised,' I answered. 'What more do
+you want me to tell you about it?'
+
+'I won't tell you what I want you to tell me. I'll tell you what I
+command, and that is that you don't as much as put your leg over any
+horse at those races.'
+
+'And, pray, why not?'
+
+He filled himself another glass of whiskey and sipped it slowly.
+
+'Because I forbid it at once and for all. That's why!'
+
+'It's too late to forbid it now. I have given my promise, and I cannot
+draw back.'
+
+'You both can and will,' he said hotly. 'I order you to.'
+
+'I am sorry,' I answered, trying hard to keep my temper. 'But I have no
+option. I _must_ ride.'
+
+He staggered to his feet, and stood for a moment glaring down at me, his
+fingers twitching convulsively as he rested them on the table.
+
+'Listen to my last word, you young dog,' he cried. 'I tell you this on
+my word of honour. If you ride that horse, you leave my house there and
+then. As surely as you disobey me, I'll have no more to do with you.'
+
+I rose to my feet and faced him. My whole future was trembling in the
+balance. Little I cared, however.
+
+'Then, if I understand my position aright, I am to choose between your
+house and my word of honour. A pretty choice for a father to give his
+son, I must say.'
+
+'Don't dare to bandy words with me, sir!' he cried. 'Take your choice.
+Give up that race, or no longer consider this your home. That's all I
+have to say to you. Now go.'
+
+I left the room and went out into the yard. Then, leaning upon the slip
+rails of the horse paddock, I reviewed the situation. My world was
+toppling about my ears. I had quarrelled with old McLeod, I had plainly
+told Sheilah that I disbelieved her, and now I was being called upon to
+break my plighted word to Pete or lose my home. A nice position I was
+in, to be sure. Look at it how I would, I could come to no decision more
+plain than that, in persisting in my determination to ride, I was doing
+what is generally called cutting off my nose to spite my face. On the
+other hand, I had given my word, and was in honour bound to Pete. On the
+other I--but there, what did it all matter; if they could be obstinate,
+so could I, and come what might I would not give in--no, not if I had to
+resign all I possessed and go out into the world and begin life again as
+a common station hand. It's all very well now to say what a fool I was.
+You must remember I was young, I was hot-headed, and as if that were not
+enough, I came of a race that were as vile-tempered as even the Tempter
+of Mankind could wish.
+
+After a while I crossed the creek and went up the hill to Whispering
+Pete's abode. I found him in his verandah, smoking. As soon as he saw me
+he rose and shook hands. One glance at my face must have told him that
+something was wrong, for he immediately said,--
+
+'You look worried, Jim. What's the matter?'
+
+'Everything,' I answered. 'My promise to ride that horse for you has got
+me into a rare hot-bed of trouble.'
+
+'I'm sorry for that,' he replied, offering me one of his splendid
+cigars, and pushing up a chair for me. 'But never mind, you're going to
+win a pot of money, and that will make them forgive and forget, or I
+don't know my world. I've got the weights to-day. My horse has to carry
+twelve stone. What do you ride?'
+
+'A little under eleven,' I answered.
+
+'Then that should make it about right. However, we'll arrange all that
+to-morrow.'
+
+'Has the horse arrived yet?'
+
+'No,' he answered. 'But I'm expecting him every minute.'
+
+For a while we chatted on, then suddenly my host sat upright, and bent
+his head forward in a listening attitude.
+
+'What do you hear?' I asked, for I could only distinguish the rustling
+of the night wind in the leaves of the creepers that covered the
+verandah.
+
+'I thought I heard a strange horse's step,' he answered, still
+listening. 'Yes, there it is again. I expect it's my animal arriving.'
+
+A few moments later I could plainly distinguish the clatter of a horse's
+step on the hard beaten track that led up to the door. How Pete had
+heard it so long before I could not imagine. Presently a dark form
+appeared against the starlight, and pulled up opposite where we sat.
+Pete sprang to his feet and went forward to the steps.
+
+'Is that you, Dick?' he cried.
+
+'My word, it is,' came back a voice from the darkness. 'And a nice job
+I've had of it.'
+
+'Well, then, follow the track round to the left there, and I'll meet you
+at the stables.'
+
+The horseman did as he was ordered, and when he had disappeared, Pete
+turned to me and said,--
+
+'If you would care to see the horse, come with me.'
+
+I accordingly rose and followed him through the house to the back
+regions. When we reached the stables we found the stranger dismounted
+and in the act of leading a closely-rugged horse into a loose-box, which
+had evidently been specially prepared for his reception. Pete followed
+him, and said something in a low voice, to which the man, who was a
+tall, weedy individual, murmured some reply. Having done so, he spat on
+the floor with extreme deliberation, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
+
+'Now, let us have a look at him,' said Pete, signing to a blackboy to
+strip him of his clothing. The boy did as he was ordered, and for the
+first time I saw the horse whose destiny it was to change the whole
+course of my life.
+
+He was a fine-looking, bright bay, with black points, standing about
+fifteen hands, long and low, with short, flat legs, large, clean hocks,
+good thighs, and as sweet a head and neck as any man ever saw on a
+horse. Long as was the stage he had evidently done that day, he looked
+as fresh as paint as his big eyes roamed about and took in the lamp-lit
+box which was ever so much below what a beauty of his kind deserved.
+Somehow it seems to come natural to every Australian, man or woman, to
+be a lover of a good horse, and I know that, as I looked at that
+beautiful beast, all my regrets were forgotten and my whole soul rose in
+longing to be upon his back.
+
+'What do you think of him?' said Pete, who had been closely watching my
+face. 'Isn't he a beauty, and doesn't he look as if he ought to be able
+to show the animals about here the way to go?'
+
+'He does, indeed,' I answered. 'But don't you think it seems a waste of
+good material to bring a horse like that up here to take part in a
+little country race meeting.'
+
+'I want to show the folk about here what I can do, my boy,' he said, and
+dropping his voice lower even than usual, he continued, 'Besides, as I
+told you to-night, the race will be worth more than a little. Between
+ourselves, I stand to win five thousand over it already, and if you've
+got any savee you'll have a bit on him, especially as you're going to
+ride him yourself, and therefore know it must all be fair, square, and
+above board.'
+
+'I intend, all being well, to back him as far as my means will permit,'
+I said. 'And now, with regard to this trial, is that to come off
+to-morrow morning?'
+
+'No! I think not. The horse is not ready for it. The day after
+to-morrow, perhaps, at three in the morning, on the flat behind the
+Sugarloaf Hill. Is old Benbow anything like well?'
+
+'As fit as possible,' I said. 'If your horse can give him a stone, I
+shall be quite satisfied.'
+
+'Well, bring him over and we'll try. The result should give us some idea
+of how this chap can go.'
+
+'By the way, you've never told me his name.'
+
+'He is called The Unknown, if that tells you anything.'
+
+'Not much,' I answered, at the same time giving a final glance at the
+beautiful animal now undergoing his toilet. He had only one blemish as
+far as I could see, and I had to look him over pretty closely to find
+it, and that was a small, white mark on the point of the bone of his
+near hock. It caught the eye, and, as I thought, looked unsightly. Just
+as we were leaving the box, Pete, who was behind me, suddenly stopped,
+and turned angrily on the man sponging the horse's legs.
+
+'You clumsy fool,' he cried, 'are you quite without sense? One more
+piece of forgetfulness like that and you'll spoil everything.'
+
+What it was that he complained of I could not say, for when I turned
+round he was carefully examining the horse's off fore knee, but the man
+he addressed looked woefully distressed.
+
+'Attend to that at once,' said Pete, with an ugly look upon his face.
+'And let me catch you neglecting your duties again, and I'll call in the
+One-eyed Doctor to you. Just you remember that.'
+
+Then taking my arm, Pete drew me across the yard back to the house.
+There I took a glass of grog, and, after a little conversation, bade him
+good-bye.
+
+It was a lovely night when I left the house and started for home. A
+young moon lay well down upon the opposite hilltop, and her faint light
+sparkled on the still water of the creek. Now and again a night bird
+hooted in the scrub, and once or twice 'possums ran across and scuttled
+up into the trees to right and left of my path. My thoughts were still
+full of my awkward position, but I would not alter my determination a
+jot; I had only one regret, and that was my conduct towards Sheilah.
+From the place where I stood by the ford I could see the light of her
+bedroom window shining distinctly as a star down the valley. I watched
+it till my eyes ached, then, with a heavy sigh, continued my walk up the
+hill, and, having reached the house, went straight to bed.
+
+On the morning appointed for the trial I was up before it was light, had
+saddled old Benbow, whom I had kept in the stable for two days, so that
+he might be the fitter for the work which would be required of him, and
+was at the Sugarloaf Hill just as the first signs of dawn were making
+their appearance. I had not long to wait before the others put in an
+appearance--Pete mounted on the handsome black I have elsewhere
+described, and the man he had called Dick on The Unknown. We greeted
+each other, and then set to work arranging preliminaries.
+
+'You had better get on The Unknown, Jim,' said Pete, 'and let Dick,
+here, ride Benbow. I'll give you a lead for the first half of the
+distance, then Dick can pick you up and take you on to the end. That
+should tell us pretty well what the horse can do, I think.'
+
+I changed places with the man, and for the first time realised what a
+compact horse The Unknown was. The course was then pointed out to me,
+and the groom went on to his place to wait for us. The sun was just in
+the act of rising, and already the magpies were making day musical in
+the trees above us. A heavy dew lay upon the grass, and the air was as
+cool and fresh as the most luxurious could desire.
+
+'Now,' said Pete, gathering up his reins preparatory to business, 'when
+you're ready we'll start.'
+
+'I'm quite ready,' I said, taking my horse in hand.
+
+With that we walked back a yard or two, and turned round. No sooner had
+we done so than Pete cried, 'Go!' As the word left his lips the two
+horses sprang forward and away we went. The wind whistled and shrieked
+past our ears--the trees and shrubs came into view and fell behind us
+like objects seen from the windows of an express train--but I was only
+conscious of the glory of the gallop and the exquisite action of the
+beast beneath me. By the time we had picked up Benbow, Pete's horse was
+done. Then I took the other horse on, and at the appointed tree had
+beaten him easily, with a couple of lengths to spare. After that I
+gradually eased him down and returned to the others, his head in the
+air, his ears pricked, and his feet dancing upon the earth as if he were
+shod with satin instead of steel.
+
+'What do you think of him now that you've tried him?' said Pete, as I
+came back to where he and his companion were standing waiting for me.
+
+'I think he's as good as he's handsome,' I replied enthusiastically,
+'and if he doesn't make the company he is to meet next week sing
+small--well--I don't know anything about horses.'
+
+'Let us hope he will. Now, Dick, change saddles and then take him home,
+and be sure you look after him properly.'
+
+The animal and his rider having disappeared round the hill, we mounted
+our horses again and made our way back to the river. As we went Pete
+gave me an outline of the scheme he had arranged for backing his horse.
+I had understood all along that he intended to make it a profitable
+speculation, but I had no idea it was as big as he gave me to
+understand it was.
+
+At last the day before the races arrived. For nearly a week before the
+township had been assuming a festive garb. The three hotels, for the one
+grog shanty I have mentioned as existing at the time of the Governor's
+visit so many years before, had now been relegated to a back street, and
+three palatial drinking-houses, with broad verandahs, bars, and elegant
+billiard and dining-rooms, had grown up along the main street, were
+crammed with visitors. Numbers of horsey-looking men had arrived by
+coach from the nearest railway terminus, a hundred miles distant, and
+the various stables of the township were filled to overflowing. The race
+week was an event of great importance in our calendar, and, though the
+more sober-minded of the population professed to strongly disapprove of
+it, the storekeepers and hotelkeepers found it meant such an increase of
+business, that for this reason they encouraged its continuance. The
+racecourse itself was situated across the creek, and almost directly
+opposite the McLeod's selection. It consisted of a plain of considerable
+size, upon which the club had made a nice track with a neat grand stand,
+weighing-shed saddling-paddock, and ten pretty stiff jumps.
+
+I rose early on the morning of Cup Day, and had finished my breakfast
+before my father was out of bed. I had no desire to risk an encounter
+with him, so I thought I would clear out before he was astir. But I was
+bargaining without my host; for just as I was setting off for the
+township, he left his room and came out into the verandah.
+
+'Of course you know what you're doing,' he called to me.
+
+I answered that I did.
+
+'Well, remember what I told you,' he replied. 'As certainly as you ride
+that horse to-day, I'll turn you out of my house to-night. Make no
+mistake about that!'
+
+'I quite understand,' I answered. 'I've given my word to ride and I
+can't go back on it. If you like to punish me for keeping my promise and
+acting like a gentleman, well, then, you must do so. But I'll think no
+more of you for it, and so I tell you!'
+
+'Ride that horse and see what I'll do,' he shouted, shaking his fist at
+me, and then disappeared into his room. I did not wait for him to come
+out again, but went down the track whistling to keep my spirits up.
+Having crossed the creek I made my way up the hill to Whispering Pete's
+house, reaching it in time to find him at breakfast with a man I had
+never seen before. The first view I had of this individual did not
+prepossess me in his favour.
+
+His hair was black as--well, as black as Pete's eyes--but his face was
+deathly pale, with the veins showing up blue and matted on either
+temple. To add still further to his curious appearance, he had but one
+eye and one arm. The socket of the eye that was missing gaped wide, and
+almost made one turn away in disgust. But his voice was, perhaps, the
+most extraordinary thing about him. It was as soft and caressing as a
+woman's, and every time he spoke he gave you the idea he was trying to
+wheedle something out of you.
+
+Pete rose and introduced him to me as Dr Finnan, of Sydney, and when we
+had shaken hands I sat down at the table with them. The Doctor asked me
+my opinion of the season, the prospects of the next wool clip, my length
+of residence in the district, and finally came round to what I knew he
+was working up to all the time--namely, my opinion of my chance in the
+race to be run that day. I answered that, having considered the various
+horses engaged I thought I could just about win, and on inquiry, learnt
+that the animal I was to ride had not started for the course, and would
+not do so until just before the time of the race.
+
+'And I commend your decision,' said the Doctor, sweetly; 'he is a
+nervous beast, and the turmoil of a racecourse could only tend to
+disturb his temper.'
+
+After breakfast we sat and smoked for perhaps half-an-hour, and were in
+the act of setting off for the racecourse, when a boy rode up to the
+verandah and called to Pete to know if I were inside. On being informed
+that I was, he took a note from his cabbage-tree hat and handed it to
+me. It was from Sheilah, and ran as follows:--
+
+
+     'DEAR OLD JIM,--Is it too late for your greatest friend to implore
+     you not to ride to-day? I have a feeling that if you do, it will
+     bring misery upon both of us. You know how often my prophecies come
+     true. At any hazard, give it up, I implore you, and make
+     happy--Your sincere friend,
+
+     'SHEILAH.'
+
+
+I crushed the note in my fingers, and told the boy to say there was no
+answer. It was too late to draw back now.
+
+Nevertheless, I felt I would have given anything I possessed to have
+been able to do what Sheilah asked.
+
+A little before twelve we left the house and went down the path to the
+township, crossed the river at the ferry, and walked thence to the
+course. Already numbers of people were making their way in the same
+direction, while more were flocking in from the district on the other
+side. The course itself, when we reached it, presented an animated
+appearance with its booths and lines of carriages, and by the time we
+entered the grand stand enclosure the horses were parading for the first
+race. That once over we lunched, and then I went off to the tent set
+apart for the jockeys, to dress. Pete's colours consisted of a white
+jacket with black bars and a red cap, and I found one of his blackboys
+waiting with them at the door.
+
+As soon as I was ready I took my saddle and bridle and went down to the
+weighing-shed in the saddling-paddock. Then, on my weight being declared
+'correct,' set off in search of Pete and the horse. I found them under a
+big gum-tree putting the final touches to the toilet of an animal I
+scarcely recognised. Since I had last seen him a few important changes
+had been made in his appearance; his mane had been hogged and his tail
+pulled a good deal shorter than it was before. What was more, the
+peculiar white spot on his hock had been painted out, for not a sign of
+it could I discover though I looked pretty hard for it. I was about to
+ask the reason of his altered appearance when the bell sounded, and the
+Doctor cried,--
+
+'All aboard. There's no time to lose. Be quick, Mr Heggarstone.'
+
+Pete gave me a lift, and I settled myself comfortably in the saddle.
+Then gathering up my reins I made my way into the straight. As I passed
+the scratching board I glanced at it, and saw that three competitors
+were missing; this left eight runners. One thing, however, surprised me;
+the Unknown was only quoted at eight to one in the betting ring--the
+favourite being a well-known Brisbane mare, Frivolity by name. The
+Emperor, a big chestnut gelding, and Blush Rose, a bonny little mare,
+were also much fancied. Nobody seemed to know anything at all of my
+mount.
+
+After the preliminary canter, we passed through a gate in the railings
+on the opposite side of the straight, and assembled about a hundred
+yards below the first fence. I was second from the outside on the left,
+a big grey horse, named Lochinvar, being on my right, and Frivolity on
+my left. There was a little delay in starting, caused by the vagaries of
+Blush Rose, who would not come into line. Then the starter dropped his
+flag, and away we went. For the first hundred yards or so it was as much
+as I could do to keep my horse in hand; indeed, by the time I had got
+him steadied we were in the quadruple enclosure, charging in a mass at
+the first fence, a solid wall of logs placed on top of each other. Blush
+Rose and a big bay named Highover, ridden by a well-known Brisbane
+professional, were the first to clear it. I came third, with the Emperor
+close alongside me. Where we left the ground on taking off and where we
+landed on the other side I have no notion. I only know that we _did_ get
+over, that the big post and rail fence came next, and that after that we
+raced at the stone wall. At the latter two horses fell, and by the time
+we reached the other side of the course, opposite the stand, two more
+had followed suit. When we reached the quadruple again our number had
+dwindled down to three--The Emperor, Blush Rose, and The Unknown. Then
+as we passed through the gate in the quadruple picket fence, the rider
+of The Emperor challenged me, and we went at the logs together neck and
+neck. The result was disastrous; my horse took off too soon, hit it with
+his chest and turned a complete somersault, throwing me against the
+rails. I could not have been on the ground more than a minute, however,
+before I was up again, feeling as sick as a dog, and looking for my
+horse. A man had caught him and was holding him for me. Hardly knowing
+how I did it, I scrambled into the saddle and set off again in pursuit
+of the others. It seemed at first impossible that I could overtake them,
+but I was always hard to beat, and gradually I began to draw a wee bit
+closer. Little by little I decreased the distance until, at last, I was
+only a few lengths behind them.
+
+In spite of the distance he had had to make up The Unknown was still
+full of running, so as fast as our horses could lay their legs to the
+ground we rode at the last fence. With a blind rush the trio rose into
+the air together, and came safely down on the other side. Then on we
+went, amid a hurricane of cheers, past the stand, between the two lines
+of carriages, and towards the judge's box. I have but an imperfect
+recollection of the last hundred yards. I was only conscious that Blush
+Rose was alongside me, that we were neck and neck, and that we were both
+doing all we knew. Then, as we approached the box, I lifted my whip and
+called upon my horse for a last effort. He responded gamely, and
+half-a-dozen strides later I had landed him winner by a neck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CONSEQUENCES
+
+
+As soon as I reached the scales after the race, and had dismounted and
+weighed, Pete pushed his way through the crowd and clapped his hand upon
+my shoulder.
+
+'A beautiful race,' he cried enthusiastically, 'and splendidly ridden.
+You eclipsed even yourself, Jim. Now you must come along with me and let
+us drink your health.'
+
+I wanted a stimulant pretty badly, for my fall had been a severe one,
+and I was still feeling dizzy from it. So I followed him to the booth at
+the back of the grand stand, where I found the One-eyed Doctor and
+another man, whom I had never seen before, awaiting our coming in close
+conversation. The stranger was a medium-sized, sandy-haired person, with
+mutton-chop whiskers and sharp, twinkling eyes. He might have been a
+member of any profession from a detective to a bookmaker. His name was
+Jarman, and when I came up he was good enough to congratulate me on
+winning my race. Then, turning to Pete, he said quietly,--
+
+'By the way, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for the last
+half-hour. How's your horse bred?'
+
+Pete seemed surprised for a second, then he quickly recovered himself
+and answered,--
+
+'Don't ask me, for I'm sure I couldn't tell you. I picked him up, quite
+by chance, out of a likely-looking mob from the South. He may be well
+bred, he certainly looks it, but, on the other hand, he may not, so as I
+shall soon sell him again, and don't want to tell any lies about it, I
+think it safest not to inquire; you can see his brand for yourself.'
+
+Then two or three more men came up, and we had another, and yet another,
+round of drinks, till I began to feel as if, after all my excitement, I
+had had more than was prudent. But somehow I didn't care. I was
+desperate, and drink seemed to drive the blue devils away! I knew that
+by riding the race I had done for myself, lock, stock, and barrel, so
+far as my own prospects were concerned, so what did anything else
+matter. At last it was time to start for home.
+
+'By the way, Mr Jarman,' said Pete, turning to the man who had asked
+the question about the horse's breeding, 'if you've nothing better to do
+this evening, won't you come up to my place to dinner. You'll join us,
+Jim?'
+
+I jumped at the opportunity--for I was certainly not going home, to be
+insulted and shown the door by my father. Jarman accepted the invitation
+with companionable alacrity, and then the four of us set off together
+for the township. By the time we reached it my head was swimming with
+the liquor I had taken, and I have only a very confused recollection of
+what followed. I know that we sat down to dinner, waited on by one of
+the blackboys; I know that I drank every time anything was offered to
+me, and that I talked incessantly; I am also horribly aware that, do
+what I would, I could not drive the picture of poor little Sheilah's
+troubled face out of my brain. I also recollect seeing Jarman sitting
+opposite me with his impassive, yet always closely-observant face,
+listening to everything that was said, and watching Pete continually.
+Great as had been my success that day, and triumphant as I naturally
+felt at winning the race--I think that that was the most ghastly meal
+of which I have ever partaken. At last an idea seized me, why or
+wherefore I cannot tell, and would not be denied. It urged me to go home
+and get my trouble with my father over. I staggered to my feet, and as I
+did so the whole room seemed to reel and fall away from me. Feeling like
+a criminal going to execution, I bade them all good night. Pete looked
+at me with a queer, half-contemptuous smile upon his face, and I noticed
+that Jarman rose as if he were going to stop me, but evidently changed
+his mind and sat down again in his chair. Then reeling out into the
+verandah, I picked my way carefully down the steps, and set off for my
+home.
+
+How I managed to get there I cannot say, for my rebellious legs would
+not, or could not, carry me straight for three yards on end. But at last
+I managed it, and went boldly up the steps into the front verandah.
+Nobody was there, so I passed into the dining-room, where a lamp was
+burning brightly. Pushing my way round the chairs, I came to a
+standstill before the table and confronted my father, who sat in the
+furthest corner with a book upon his knee as usual. He looked up at me,
+and I looked down at him. Then he said very calmly, 'Well, what do you
+want here?'
+
+I tried to speak, but my voice failed me.
+
+'You rode the horse in spite of my orders to the contrary, I suppose?'
+
+'I did,' I answered--my poor head swimming all the time.
+
+'And I suppose, having defied me to the very best of your ability, you
+have come back expecting me to forget and forgive?'
+
+'I do not expect anything,' I stammered; 'I only want to know what you
+intend doing with me. That's all.'
+
+'Well, that's easily told,' he answered. 'Of course I intend sticking to
+my share of the bargain. As I warned you, you leave this house to-night,
+and until I ask you, you'd better not come near it again.'
+
+'And then you can ask as long as you please and you'll find I won't
+come,' I replied. 'No, no! You needn't be afraid of my troubling you. My
+home has not been made so sweet to me that I should love it so
+devotedly. You've been an unnatural father to me all my life, and this
+is the only logical outcome of it.'
+
+He pointed furiously to the door, and without another word I took the
+hint and left the room. Then I fumbled my way across the verandah down
+into the garden, and having reached it, stopped to look back at the
+house. My father was now standing on the steps watching me. His head was
+bare, and his grey hair was just stirred by the cool night wind. I held
+on to a post of the wire fence, and looked at him. Seeing that I did not
+go away he shook his fist at me, and dared me to come back on peril of
+my life; assuring me with an oath that he would shoot me like a dog if I
+ever showed my face in his grounds again. There was something so
+devilish about the old man's anger, that I was more afraid of him than I
+should have been of a young man twice his size and strength, so I said
+no more, but went back on my tracks down the hill, over the ford, and up
+again to Whispering Pete's. It was as if Pete were deliberately drawing
+me towards the tragedy that was to prove the undoing of all my life.
+
+Reaching the house, I stumbled up the steps on to the verandah. I had
+not been gone more than three-quarters of an hour, but it seemed like
+years. Remembering all that had happened to me in the interval, it came
+almost like a shock to me to find Pete, the One-eyed Doctor and Jarman
+still seated at the table, conversing as quietly as when I had left
+them. The room was half full of smoke, and it was to be easily seen that
+they had been drinking more than was good for them. I can recall Pete's
+evil face smiling through the cigar smoke even now.
+
+As my footsteps sounded in the verandah Jarman rose to his feet and,
+putting his hand on Pete's shoulder, said, in a loud voice, 'In the
+Queen's name, I arrest you, Peter Dempster, and you, Edward Finnan, on a
+charge of horse-stealing.' For upwards of a minute there was complete
+silence in the room. Then Pete turned half round, and, quick as a cat,
+sprang at Jarman, who had stepped back against the wall. There was a
+wild struggle that scarcely lasted more than half-a-dozen seconds, then
+Pete forced his antagonist into a chair, and, while holding him by the
+throat, picked up a knife from the table, drove it into his breast,
+plucked it out, and drove it in again. The blood spurted over his hands,
+and Jarman, feeling his death agony upon him, gave a great cry for help
+that rang far out into the dark night. Then there was silence again,
+broken only by a horrible kind of choking noise from the body on the
+chair, and the hooting of a mopoke in the tree above the house. Try how
+I would I could not move from the place where I stood, until Pete
+sprang to his feet and put the knife down on a plate, taking particular
+care that it should not touch the white linen cloth. The meticulous
+precision of his action gave me back my power of thinking, and what was
+more, sobered me like a cold douche. What should I do? What could I do?
+But there was no time for anything--I must have moved and made a noise,
+for suddenly the Doctor, revolver in hand, sprang to the window and
+threw it open, discovering me.
+
+'You!' he cried, as soon as he became aware of my identity. 'My God! you
+can thank your stars it's you. Come inside.'
+
+Almost unconsciously I obeyed, and stepped into the room. Pete was at
+the further end, examining his finger. He looked up at me, licking his
+thin lips, cat fashion, as he did so.
+
+'Damn it all, I've cut my finger,' he said, as coolly as if he had done
+it paring his nails.
+
+'For pity's sake, Pete,' I cried, gazing from him to the poor bleeding
+body in the chair, 'tell me why you did it?'
+
+'Hold your jaw!' said he, twisting his handkerchief round his cut
+finger, and looking, as he did so, with eyes that were more like a
+demon's than a man's. 'But stay, if you want to know why I did it, I'll
+tell you. I did it because the rope is round all our necks, and if you
+move only as much as a finger contrary to what I tell you, you'll hang
+us and yourself into the bargain.'
+
+Here the mysterious, One-eyed Doctor reeled out into the verandah, and
+next moment I heard him being violently sick over the rails. By the time
+he returned, Pete had tied up his hand, and was bending over the figure
+in the chair.
+
+'He's dead,' he said to the Doctor. 'Now, we've got to find out what's
+best to be done with him. Jim, you're in a tight place, and must help us
+all you know.'
+
+'For God's sake explain yourself, Pete!' I cried, in an agony. 'How can
+I do anything if you don't. Why did you do it?'
+
+'I'll tell you,' he answered, 'and in as few words as possible, for
+there is no time to waste. This individual is a Sydney detective (here
+he pointed to the dead man). The horse you rode in the race to-day is
+none other than Gaybird, the winner of the Victorian Grand National and
+the Sydney Steeplechase. The Doctor there and I stole him from his box
+at Randwick, three months ago, and brought him out here by a means we
+understand. Information was given to the police, and Jarman followed
+him. He got in tow with me. I recognised him the moment I set eyes on
+him, and invited him to dinner to-night. When you turned up the second
+time he must have imagined it was the local trooper whom he had ordered
+to meet him here, and decided to arrest us. He found out his mistake,
+and that is the result. Now you know how you stand. You must help us,
+for one moment's consideration will show you that you are implicated as
+deeply as we are. If this business is discovered, we shall all swing; if
+the horse racket is brought home, the three of us will get five years
+apiece, as sure as we're born: so don't you make any mistake about
+that!'
+
+'But I am innocent,' I cried. 'I had nothing whatever to do with either
+the murder or the stealing of the horse.'
+
+'Take that yarn to the police, and see what they will say to you. Look
+here!'
+
+He crossed to the dead man again and fumbled in his coat pocket. Next
+moment he produced three blue slips of paper--one of which he opened and
+laid on the table before me. It was a warrant for my arrest.
+
+'This is your doing, Pete,' I cried. 'Oh, what a fool I was ever to
+have anything to do with you.'
+
+I fell back against the wall sick and giddy. To this pass had all my
+folly brought me. Well might Sheilah have prophesied that my obstinacy
+would end in disaster.
+
+'My God, what are we to do?' I cried, in an agony of terror as thought
+succeeded thought, each blacker and more hopeless than the last. 'If the
+man expected help from the township it may be here any minute. For
+Heaven's sake let us get that body out of the way before it comes.'
+
+'You begin to talk like a man,' said Pete, rising from the chair in
+which he had seated himself. 'Let us get to business, and as quickly as
+possible.'
+
+The Doctor got up from his chair and approached the murdered man.
+
+'The first business must be to get rid of this,' he asked; 'but how?'
+
+'We must bury him somewhere,'said Pete. 'Where do you think would be the
+best place?'
+
+'Not near here, at any rate,' said the Doctor. 'Remember when he doesn't
+put in an appearance after a few days they'll be sure to overhaul this
+house and every inch of the grounds. No, it must be done at once, and
+miles away.'
+
+'You're right as usual, Doctor,' said Pete. Then turning to me he
+continued, 'Look here, Jim--this falls to your share. I have schemed for
+it and worked it out, so don't you fail me. This morning I sent away a
+mob of five hundred fat cattle _via_ Bourke to Sydney. Yates is in
+charge for the reason that I could get nobody else. At the present
+moment they'll probably be camped somewhere near the Rocky Waterhole.
+You must set off after them as hard as you can go, and take over the
+command. Do you see? You can take my bay horse, Archer, for your own
+riding, a pack horse, and for a part of the way, The Unknown, with this
+strapped on his back and properly hidden. You'll go across country as
+far as the Blackfellow's Well at the dip in the Ranges; once there,
+you'll bury him up among the rocks, conceal the place as craftily as you
+can, and drop the spade into the well. After that you'll go on to
+Judson's Boundary fence, where you'll be met by a man on a grey horse.
+You'll hand The Unknown over to him, and then hurry on as fast as you
+can travel to catch up the cattle. Having taken over the command,
+you'll see them on to Bourke, deliver them to Phillips, the agent, and
+then come back here as if nothing had happened.'
+
+'But why can't you take the body, Pete? Why should you push it on to
+me?'
+
+'Because, if I left here to-night, it would give the whole thing away.
+They will never suspect you. The Doctor and I must remain to answer
+inquiries.'
+
+'But supposing the police visit the house to-night and search the
+stable, how will you account for the absence of the horse?'
+
+'I sha'n't try to account for it at all. I've got a horse in the box now
+as like him as two peas. They can collar him if they want to, but
+there'll be one vital difference, I'll defy them to win a Grand National
+with him, let them be as clever as they will. But now let's get on with
+our work, it's close on twelve o'clock, and we haven't a moment to
+lose.'
+
+Between them, Pete and the Doctor carried the body of the murdered
+detective out of the room, and I was left alone to think over my
+position. But it did not need much thought to see what sort of a fix I
+was in. Supposing I went down to the township and gave evidence, I
+should hang Pete and do myself little good, for who in their sober
+senses, seeing that I had ridden the horse at the races that day, had
+backed him to win me a large stake, and was known to have spent the
+evening at Pete's house, besides having been hand and glove with him for
+weeks past, would believe me innocent? Not one! No, everything was
+against me, and the only chance for me now was to fall in with their
+plans and to save my own neck by assisting them to carry them out to the
+best of my ability--at any rate, the fright I had experienced had made
+me as sober as a judge.
+
+In about ten minutes Pete returned to the room.
+
+'Now, Jim,' he said, 'everything is ready. Here's a note to Yates
+telling him I've sent you to take charge, and another to Phillips at
+Bourke. If you're going to do what we want you'd better be off. Anything
+to say first?'
+
+'Only that I hope you see what I'm doing for your sake, Pete,' I
+answered. 'You know I'm as innocent as a babe unborn, and you're making
+me appear guilty. I'm fool enough to let you do it. But all the same I
+don't know that it's altogether square on your part.'
+
+'Don't you, Jim? Then, by Jove! you shan't do it. I like you too well to
+let you run the risk of saving me against your will. Ride away down to
+the police station as hard as you can go, if you like, and tell them
+everything. Only don't upbraid me when I'm trying to save your neck as
+well as my own.'
+
+Though I knew I was an arrant fool to do it, when he spoke like that I
+couldn't desert him. So I followed him out of the room into the yard
+like the coward I was.
+
+Directly I got there I came to a sudden stop.
+
+'This won't do at all,' I said. 'Look here, I'm dressed for the races
+and not for over-landing.'
+
+And so I was. Whatever happened, I knew I must change my things.
+
+'Take the horses down to the Creek Bend,' I said. 'I'll run home as fast
+as I can--change my duds, get my whip, and meet you there.'
+
+He nodded, and off I set as hard as I could go--forded the creek, and in
+less than a quarter of an hour was back once more at my old home. Not a
+light of any kind shone from it. Seeing this, I crept round to my own
+window. Then, lifting the sash as quietly as I possibly could, I crept
+in like a thief. Knowing exactly where to find the things I wanted, in
+less than ten minutes I had changed my clothes, packed my valise, and
+let myself out again. Then down the track I sped once more, to find Pete
+waiting with the three horses in the shadow of a gum.
+
+'I've been counting the minutes since you left,' he cried impatiently,
+as I buckled my valise on to the pack-saddle. 'Now jump up and be off.
+Keep away from the township, and steer for the well as straight as you
+can go. You ought to be at the camp before daybreak.'
+
+As he spoke he led the horses out of the shadow, and I was in the act of
+mounting when he suddenly dragged them back into it once more.
+
+'Quiet for your life,' he whispered; 'here are the troopers, coming up
+the path.'
+
+Sure enough, on the other side, three mounted troopers were riding up
+the track. A heavy sweat rose on my forehead as I thought what would
+happen if one of our horses were to move or neigh and so draw their
+attention to us. With the body in the pack-saddle, we should be caught
+red-handed.
+
+Morgan, our township officer, rode a little in advance, the two other
+troopers behind him. They were laughing and joking, little dreaming how
+close we stood to them. When they had safely passed, Pete turned to me.
+'Now,' he whispered, 'as soon as they are out of hearing be off as hard
+as you can go. I shall slip through the wattles and be back at the house
+and smoking with the Doctor in the verandah before they can reach it.'
+
+The troopers went on up the track, and, when they got on to the top of
+the hill, turned off sharp to the left. As they disappeared from view I
+took a horse on either side of me, not without a shudder, as I thought
+of The Unknown's burden, and set off through the scrub towards some slip
+rails at the top of Pete's selection, which I knew would bring me out a
+little to the northward of the township. By the time the troopers could
+have reached the house I was through the fence and making my way down
+the hill as fast as my beasts could travel. It was a beautiful starlight
+night now, without a cloud or a breath of wind. Within a quarter of an
+hour I had left the last house behind me, and was heading away towards
+the south-west, across the open plain that surrounded the township on
+its northern side. Then, plunging into the scrub again, I made for the
+Blackfellow's Well as straight as I could steer. Considering the hard
+race he had run that day and the additional weight he was now carrying,
+The Unknown was wonderfully fresh, and the other two horses found it
+took them all their time to keep pace with him.
+
+The silence of the scrub was mysterious in the extreme, 'possums
+scuttled across my track, a stray dingoe had a long stare at me from
+some rocks above a creek, while curlews whistled at me from every pool.
+I hardly dared look at the bundle strapped upon the thoroughbred's back,
+and yet I knew that when half my journey was done I should have to
+undertake a still more gruesome bit of business.
+
+By two o'clock I was within sight of the well, as it was called. It was
+more like a deep pool than a well, however, and lay in the shadow of a
+high rock. It derived its name from a superstition that existed in the
+neighbourhood that on a certain night in every year the blacks came down
+and cleaned it out. It was one of the loneliest spots in the district,
+and as it lay in a barren region, remote from the principal stock and
+travelling route, it was not visited by the general public more than
+once or twice a year. A better place could not have been selected for
+burying the man Pete had killed.
+
+On arrival at the rock I jumped off and secured the horses to a
+tree--then taking the shovel from the old pack horse's back I set off,
+clambering up among the rocks, on the look-out for a likely spot where I
+might dig the grave. At last, having discovered a place that I thought
+suitable, I set to work. The ground was hard, and nearly half-an-hour
+had elapsed before I had dug a deep enough hole for my purpose. Then
+putting down my shovel I went back to the well. The horses stood just as
+I had left them, and as soon as I had assured myself that there was not
+a soul about to spy upon me, I unstrapped the body and took it in my
+arms. However long I may live I shall never be able to rid myself of the
+horror of that moment. Having taken my ghastly burden in my arms, I set
+off, staggering and clambering up the hillside again till I found the
+grave I had dug. Then, when I had laid the body in it, I began hastily
+to cover it with earth. The sweat rolled off my face in streams before I
+had finished, but not so much with the labour as by reason of the
+horrible nature of my work. I hardly dared look at what was before me,
+but worked away with stubborn persistence until the greater part of the
+earth I had taken out was replaced. Then using the handle of the shovel
+as a lever, I wedged a big rock, a step or two up the hill, over on one
+side, worked round, and undermined it on the other, and finally rolled
+it down upon the grave itself. When this was done it was completely
+hidden from the most prying gaze, and I knew that every day would hide
+it better. Then giving a hasty glance round me to see that no one was
+about, and that I had left nothing behind me to furnish a clue, I picked
+up the shovel and set off, as hard as I could go, down the hill towards
+the horses. Arriving at the well, I threw the shovel into the pool and
+watched it disappear from view--then, untying my animals, I mounted,
+and, with a somewhat lightened heart, resumed my journey. The horses
+were cold with standing so long, and we soon made up for lost time,
+arriving at Judson's Boundary fence shortly before half-past two. One
+thing struck me as peculiar, and that was how Pete could have
+communicated with the man, but surely enough at the corner of the fence
+was an individual seated on a grey horse and evidently waiting for me.
+
+'Good evening,' he said, in a gruff voice, as I rode up. 'A nice night
+for travelling--ain't it?'
+
+'A very nice night,' I answered, looking him carefully over, 'and pray
+who are you waiting for?'
+
+'For a messenger from Whispering Pete,' he answered. 'Is this the
+horse?'
+
+I informed him that it was, and gave him the reins of The Unknown. He
+looked at him pretty closely, and then wheeled him round.
+
+'Good night,' he said, 'and good luck to you. I've got a hundred miles
+to do before sundown.'
+
+'Good night,' I cried in return, and then changing my course, set off
+across country for the place where I knew I should find the cattle. The
+sun was in the act of rising from the night fog when I made them out and
+rode up to the camp. The fire burnt brightly, and the cook was bustling
+about getting breakfast. Seeing me, Yates, who was not at all a bad sort
+of fellow, sat up in his blankets and stared, as well he might.
+
+'Well, bless my soul, and how on earth did you get here?' he cried, 'and
+now you're here, what do you want? Anything wrong?'
+
+'No, of course not; what on earth should make you think so?' I replied.
+'Only I happened to be going to Bourke on business, so Pete asked me to
+come on and take charge. Here's a letter from him to you.'
+
+I took Pete's note out of my pocket and handed it to him. Having torn it
+open, he read it through slowly. When he had done so he said, 'Well, I'm
+precious glad. It was against my will that I came at all; now I'm free,
+and all the responsibility, and in this dry season there's plenty of
+that, rests upon your shoulders and not on mine. I don't envy you!'
+
+'I must take my chance,' I said. 'Now, supposing we have breakfast, and
+afterwards get on the move.'
+
+Yates stared in surprise, for I must have looked more dead than alive
+after my long night ride, and all the excitement I had passed through.
+
+'You don't mean to say you intend going on before you've had a rest,' he
+cried. 'Why, man, you're a death's head already. No, let's wait a bit
+and have a sleep; the cattle are on good feed and water, and, if all's
+true that I hear, they won't get any more like it on the other side of
+the border.'
+
+'I don't want a rest,' I said, 'and if I do I can take it in the saddle
+as we go along. Tell one of the blackboys to run up the horses, will
+you? and then we'll have breakfast and start.'
+
+'As you please, of course,' he said, but it was evident that he regarded
+my proposal in the light of madness. He was not very fond of work, was
+Mr Yates, and never had been since I had first known him, which was a
+matter of well nigh fifteen years.
+
+In less than half-an-hour breakfast was ready, and, as soon as it was
+eaten, we mustered the cattle and got under way. It was not a very big
+mob, but the animals were all valuable, and in the pink of condition.
+
+To those who have never seen a mob of cattle on the march, the picture
+they present would be a novel and exciting one. Imagine marching on
+ahead, day after day, as proud as a drum-major, some old bull, the
+leader of the mob; behind him are some hundreds of cattle; on either
+flank vigilant stockmen ride, ever on the look-out for stragglers; the
+drover in command and the rest of the party follow as whippers-in, while
+the cart containing the blankets, camp and cooking utensils, driven by
+the cook, travels on some miles ahead. The latter individual chooses the
+night's camp, prepares it, and has the evening meal cooked and ready by
+the time the mob puts in an appearance. After nightfall, a perpetual
+two hours' watch is kept by mounted men, while emergency horses are
+fastened near the camp to be ready in the event of a stampede or other
+trouble occurring.
+
+Our journey, in this instance, was an uneventful one, lasting something
+like six weeks. When we reached Bourke, and had handed over our cattle
+to the agent for trucking to Sydney, our mission was accomplished. As
+soon, therefore, as I had obtained my receipt from Mr Phillips, the
+agent to whom the mob was consigned, I took the train to Sydney, and
+once there hunted about for a medium-sized class hotel where I could put
+up while I remained in the metropolis. A big city was a new experience
+to me, and you may be sure I made the most of my opportunity of seeing
+it; at the same time, I kept a watchful eye on the daily papers for
+anything that transpired at Barranda during my absence. But from what I
+could gather, nothing unusual seemed to have happened in that sleepy
+hollow; so I was gradually recovering my old peace of mind when I
+received a shock that knocked my feeling of security about my ears
+again. I had been to the theatre one night, I remember, and was
+standing outside the door, after the fall of the curtain, thinking about
+getting back to my hotel, when who should come along the pavement but
+Finnan, the One-eyed Doctor, himself, dressed in evening clothes, and
+looking as contented and happy as you please. He seemed a bit surprised,
+not to say _nonplussed_, at seeing me, but shook hands with every
+appearance of heartiness. Then putting his arm through mine, he led me
+into a side street.
+
+'You managed that bit of business splendidly,' he said, when we were
+sure there was no one near enough to overhear us. 'Pete was delighted at
+the way you did it.'
+
+'Has anything turned up about it yet?' I asked anxiously.
+
+'Nothing important,' he answered. 'The Government are wondering what can
+have become of Jarman, who is supposed to have gone north, but the
+people in the township have discovered somehow that Pete is suspected of
+having stolen Gaybird. Of course, they all implicate you in it; and if I
+were you I should keep out of their way till the fuss blows over.'
+
+This was unpleasant hearing with a vengeance, but I was not going to let
+him see that I thought it, so I said,--
+
+'Where is Pete now?'
+
+'Goodness only knows. He remained hanging about the township for a
+fortnight after you went away, just to allay suspicion, then he
+announced that he was off to buy cattle on the Diamintina. Since then he
+has not been heard of.'
+
+'A nice kettle of fish he has let me in for,' I answered hotly. 'I can't
+say that I think he has acted at all like a man.'
+
+'I don't know that I think he has acted altogether fairly towards you,'
+said the agreeable Doctor. 'However, what's done can't be undone; so I
+suppose we must make the best of it. Anything more to say? Nothing?
+Well, perhaps we'd better not be seen together for very long, so good
+night!'
+
+I bade him good night, and having done so, walked slowly back to my
+hotel, wondering what was best to be done. To remain away from the
+township would look as if I were afraid of facing its inhabitants. And
+yet it was pretty dangerous work going back there. However, knowing my
+own innocence, I wasn't going to give them the right to call me guilty,
+so I determined to risk it, and accordingly next morning off I set for
+Bourke _en route_ for the Cargoo again. In about a fortnight I had
+reached the township.
+
+Darkness had fallen when I rode up the main street, and as I did not
+know quite what to do with myself now that I had no home to go to, I
+halted at the principal hotel and installed myself there. A good many
+men were in the bar when I entered, and from the way one and all looked
+at me, I could see that they were aware of the rumours that were afloat
+concerning me. However, nobody said anything on the subject, so I called
+for a glass of whiskey and, having drunk it, went into the dining-room,
+where about a dozen people were seated at the table. I took my place
+alongside a man I had known ever since we were kiddies together, and
+more for the sake of making myself agreeable than anything else, said
+'good evening' to him. He replied civilly enough, but I could see that
+he did not care to be friendly, and, when he made an excuse and went
+round and sat on the other side of the table, I saw significant glances
+flash round the board. 'All right,' I thought to myself, 'I'll say
+nothing just now, but the first man who drops a hint about that horse
+or my connection with the race, I'll go for tooth and nail, if it costs
+me my life.' But never a hint _was_ dropped, and when the meal was over
+I went out into the verandah to rage alone. I was in an unenviable
+position, and the worst part of it all was, I had nothing to thank for
+it but my own consummate obstinacy and stupidity.
+
+About nine o'clock I filled my pipe afresh and set off for a stroll down
+the street, keeping my eyes open to see if any of my old friends would
+take notice of me. But no one did till I had almost left the township.
+Then an elderly man, by name Bolton, who kept one of the principal
+stores in Main Street, and had always been a special crony of mine,
+crossed the road and came towards me.
+
+'Jim Heggarstone,' said he, when he got on to the footpath alongside me,
+'I want to have a few words with you, if you don't mind.'
+
+'I'm your man!' I answered. 'Shall we sit on the rail here, or would you
+rather walk along a bit?'
+
+'No, let us sit here,' he replied, and as he spoke, mounted the fence;
+'we're not likely to be interrupted, and I don't know that it would
+matter particularly if we were. Look here, Jim, I've always been your
+friend, and I am now. But certain things have been said about you of
+late in the township that I tell you frankly are not to your credit.
+What I want is authority to deny them on your behalf.'
+
+'You must first tell me what they are,' I answered; 'you can't expect a
+chap to go about explaining his actions every time a township like this
+takes it into its head to invent a bit of tittle-tattle against him.
+What have they to say against me? Out with it.'
+
+'Well, in the first place, they say that Whispering Pete on the hill up
+yonder knew that the horse he raced as The Unknown was Gaybird, the
+winner of the Victorian Grand National and the Sydney Steeplechase. Do
+you think that's true?'
+
+'How can I say? He may or may not have known it. But I don't see that it
+has anything to do with me if he did?'
+
+'No! Perhaps not! But you will when I tell you that it's also said that
+you were aware of it too, and that you laid your plans accordingly.'
+
+'Whoever says that tells a deliberate falsehood,' I cried angrily. 'I
+did not know it. If I had I would rather have died than have ridden
+him.'
+
+'I know that, Jim,' he answered, 'and so I have always said. Now, if you
+will let me, I'll call the next man who says so a liar to his face, on
+your behalf.'
+
+'So you shall, and I'll ram it down his throat with my fist afterwards.
+This has been a bad business for me, Bolton. In the first place, I have
+been kicked out of doors by my father for riding that race, and now my
+character is being taken away in this shabby fashion for a thing I'm
+quite innocent of.'
+
+'You ought never to have got in tow with Whispering Pete, Jim.'
+
+'Nobody knows that better than I do!' I cried bitterly. 'But it's too
+late to alter it now.'
+
+'Well, good night. And keep your heart up. Things will come right yet.
+And remember, Jim, I'm your friend through all.'
+
+We shook hands, and having done so, the kind-hearted fellow went his way
+down the street while I strolled on as far as the McLeods' homestead.
+There was a light shining from the sitting-room window, and I could
+hear the music of a piano. Then Sheilah's pretty voice came out to me
+singing a song, of which I am very fond. The words are Kingsley's, I
+believe, and the last verse seemed so appropriate to my case, that it
+brought a lump into my throat that almost choked me. It ran as
+follows:--
+
+
+     When all the world is old, lad,
+     And all the trees are brown,
+     And all the sport is stale, lad,
+     And all the wheels run down,
+     Creep home, and take your place there,
+     The spent and maimed among;
+     God grant you find one face there
+     You loved when all was young.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+COLIN McLEOD
+
+
+Next morning as soon as I had finished my breakfast I put on my hat and
+went down to McLeod's selection, resolved to find out once and for all
+in what sort of light I stood with Sheilah. In my own inmost heart I
+knew that I deserved to be shown the door on presenting myself, but
+somehow I had a sort of conviction that my fate would not be quite as
+hard as that. Reaching the gate, I let myself in, and walked down the
+path, under the little avenue of pepper-trees, that entwined overhead,
+to the house. Everything was just as I had left it, but, oh, how
+different were my own feelings!
+
+I found old McLeod on his knees in the verandah fastening up some
+creepers that had fallen out of place. When he saw me he rose and
+without a second thought came forward and shook me warmly by the hand.
+
+'Welcome home, James, my lad,' said he, looking me full and square in
+the face, 'I'm glad ye've come back to us, and so will Sheilah be, ye
+may depend. Ye've been a long time away.'
+
+This kindly reception was more than I had bargained for, and like the
+big baby I was I felt the hot tears rise and flood my eyes. There was
+that in my heart then which would have made me lay down my life for old
+McLeod if need have been. That was always the way with me, I could be
+brought to do anything by kindness, when force could not make me budge
+an inch. For the self-same reason old Betty at home had always been able
+to manage me--my father never.
+
+'Mr McLeod,' said I, as I returned the pressure of the hand he held out
+to me, a hand that was as knotted and gnarled as any ti-tree in the
+scrub, 'after all that has happened this is a generous way for you to
+receive me. Do you know that only one soul in the township up yonder has
+spoken to me since my return.'
+
+'I'm sorry to hear that, James,' said he, seating himself in a chair
+near by, and mopping his forehead with his red pocket-handkerchief. 'No
+young man can afford to lose his friends in that extravagant fashion.'
+
+'Do you know the charge they bring against me?'
+
+'I have heard it,' he answered, looking straight at me. 'But I think it
+only right to ye to say that I do not believe it all the same.'
+
+'It is not true, so help me, God,' I burst out impetuously. 'If I had
+dreamt that the horse had been stolen I would no more have ridden him in
+that race than I would have shot him. I hope you know me well enough to
+believe that, Mr McLeod.'
+
+'I think I do,' he answered; 'at any rate, this has been a lesson that
+should last you all your life.'
+
+'It has,' I answered bitterly; 'but all the same I don't think I have
+been at all fairly treated over it. Whispering Pete was generous to me,
+and when he asked me to do him the favour of riding his horse I could
+not refuse. Then I was told by my father that he would turn me out of
+doors if I did not obey him. But having given my promise to Pete, how
+could I be expected to break it again?'
+
+'James, James,' the old man said, when I had finished, 'the devil had
+ye in a tight place just then, and ye ought to thank God right down on
+your bended knees that He has permitted ye to come out of it as well as
+ye have. I shall say a word for ye next Sunday, and if ye'll mind what's
+right ye'll be there to hear it.'
+
+'That I will,' I answered, completely carried away by the good old man's
+earnestness. 'Mr McLeod, you've treated me as I did not expect I should
+be treated, and I'll never forget it as long as I live. Now, may I see
+Sheilah?'
+
+'And why not, laddie? Of course ye may, and right glad the lassie will
+be to have ye back again, I'll warrant. She's out with her chickens just
+now, I fancy, for I saw her going down the path with her egg basket on
+her arm but a wee bit since. Go and find her, and hear for yourself what
+she has to say to ye.'
+
+I went round the verandah, passed Sheilah's own window, with its little
+cluster of pot plants on the sill, and then down the path towards the
+fowl-yard. True enough, there she was, dressed all in white, with her
+pretty face looking out from the large blue sun-bonnet she always wore
+on summer mornings. At first she did not see me, so I stood still
+watching her. One thing I can always assert, and that is that I have
+seen many pretty girls in my time, but never one to equal Sheilah. There
+was a softness and natural grace about her that was beyond the power of
+other girls to imitate; a grace which could never have been taught in
+any school or dancing academy. And as I watched my heart rose in love to
+her, then I suppose I must have made some noise among the bushes, for
+she suddenly turned round and stood face to face with me. As she saw me
+a glad smile leapt into her face, and she ran towards me with hands
+outstretched in welcome.
+
+'Jim, dear old Jim,' she cried, 'I knew you would come back to us before
+long. Oh, I have missed you so dreadfully! Remember, you have been away
+nearly two months.'
+
+'Don't, Sheilah!' I cried, 'don't speak so kindly to me. Scold me a
+little or I shall make a fool of myself, I know.'
+
+'Scold you!' she cried, with her little hands in mine. 'Scold you, old
+Jim, when you're only just come back to us. Oh no, no! This is, indeed,
+a happy day. Have you seen my father? He was talking of you only this
+morning.'
+
+'I left him to come to you. His welcome was as warm as yours. Oh,
+Sheilah, I feel that I have been such a brute to you. And it hurts me
+the more because I know you will so freely forgive me.'
+
+'Hush, we will not talk of that. All that part of your life is done with
+and put away. It was a miserable time for all of us, but thank goodness
+it's over.'
+
+Just at that moment a young man appeared from the fowl-house and came
+towards us with some eggs in his hand.
+
+'I can find no more,' he said to Sheilah. Then he looked at me with a
+searching glance, and did not seem altogether pleased.
+
+'Jim,' said Sheilah, noticing my surprise, 'this is my cousin, Colin
+McLeod, who has come up to be our new trooper in Barranda. He has only
+been eighteen months in the Colonies, and was sent out from Brisbane
+last week. Colin, this is my old playfellow of whom you have so often
+heard me speak, Jim Heggarstone.'
+
+We nodded to each other, and when I saw that he was going to make the
+eggs he held an excuse for not shaking hands with me, I put my own in
+my pockets, and stared hard at him. He was a fine, well-set-up young
+fellow of about my own age, with blue eyes and peculiar sandy-coloured
+hair.
+
+'Now,' said Sheilah, who must have noticed that it was not all plain
+sailing with us, 'suppose we go inside and see what my father is doing.
+He intended to brand some colts this morning, and if he does I expect
+you'd like to help him in the yard, Jim?'
+
+'Of course I should,' I answered readily enough. 'I'm pining to get to
+work again.'
+
+'You have not been doing much work lately, then,' says Mr Colin, with a
+shadow of a sneer.
+
+'I've just returned from taking a mob of cattle down to Bourke,' I
+answered.
+
+'Ah!' was his sole reply, and then we went into the house.
+
+Half-an-hour later I was with old McLeod in the yards, had the fire for
+heating the branding-irons lighted, and was running the green hide lasso
+through my hands to see that it was supple and ready for use. I don't
+want to boast, seeing that, all things considered, I'd far better be
+holding my tongue, but lassoing was a thing I could challenge any man
+in the country at. However, I was not so successful on this occasion.
+Whether it was Colin McLeod sitting on the rails watching me, or whether
+it was that I was out of practice, I cannot say; I only know that time
+after time I missed, and on each occasion, as the noose fell to the
+ground, I saw the sneer spread out on Colin's face, and once I could
+have sworn I heard him chuckle. But I managed to keep my temper under
+control. Then my old skill suddenly returned, and after a while I could
+not miss a beast. But here I must do Colin justice. For a new chum he
+was as good a man in the yard as ever I've met, being quiet and gentle
+with the beasts, and, what is still more to the point, always ready to
+do what he was told. He only wanted practice to make a really good hand.
+I found occasion to tell him so when the work was finished, and I could
+have bitten my tongue out with vexation when he replied with his long
+Scotch drawl, still with the same diabolical sneer on his face,--
+
+'Ye see, I've not had so much experience with horses as ye've had, Mr
+Heggarstone.'
+
+It was plain to what he referred, and it took me all my time, I can
+assure you, to prevent my tongue from replying something sharp.
+However, I had no desire to celebrate my return to the selection by
+thrashing the owner's nephew, so I did manage to control myself, and
+side by side we returned to the house. At first, seeing how things
+stood, I was for going back to the township for lunch, but of this
+neither Sheilah nor her father would hear. So I was forced to stay where
+I was and endure the other man's treatment as best I could. One thing
+was very plain, and that was that Colin was madly in love with Sheilah.
+He could hardly take his eyes off her, almost trembled when he addressed
+her, lost no opportunity of doing her little services, and glared madly
+at me whenever I spoke to her or attempted to do anything for her. It
+was a queer sight, and one that was not calculated to fill me with
+pleasure, you may be sure. At last, after the mid-day meal was over, his
+conduct became so outrageous that I made the first excuse that suggested
+itself and said good-bye, promising to come down again next day. As I
+shook hands with her, Sheilah looked at me with rather a wistful
+expression on her face, I thought; while even old McLeod seemed to
+wonder that my first visit should terminate so abruptly. To tell the
+truth, however, I could not have bottled up my feelings another minute;
+so rather than make an exhibition of myself I preferred to go away.
+
+Back I went to the hotel, my whole being raging against the man. In the
+face of this rivalry I learned what Sheilah really was to me, and for
+the first time I understood how I should feel if any man were to win her
+from me.
+
+Next day, according to promise, I went down to the selection again, to
+find Sheilah sitting in the verandah. She was alone and received me very
+sweetly. I sat beside her talking of old days, and firmly resolved not
+to let her imagine that I had been in any way put out by her cousin's
+curious behaviour on the preceding day.
+
+'We must celebrate your return in some way, Jim,' she said after a
+little while. 'It is a lovely morning, so what do you say to a ride?'
+
+'The very thing!' I answered, only too thankful to do anything that
+would take me away from the house, and prevent my seeing the irate Colin
+again.
+
+With that we went out to the back, and borrowing the milkboy's pony, I
+ran up two horses from the paddock for our use. After I had rubbed them
+down a bit I saddled them, and by the time I had done this Sheilah was
+dressed and ready. With a thrill running through me such as I had never
+known before, I swung her up into the saddle, and then mounted my own
+beast; after that, when the boy had let down the slip rails, away we
+went across the plains towards the hills. It was as lovely a morning as
+any man could wish to be out in. The soft breeze rustled among the trees
+and high grass, the clouds chased each other across the blue vault of
+heaven, the air was musical with birds, and now and again we would put
+up a kangaroo and send him hopping away from us as if his very life
+depended upon it. Sheilah was in the best of spirits and looked
+incomparably sweet and graceful. Just swaying to the motion of her horse
+as he covered the ground in a gentle canter, her body well balanced and
+her head thrown back, the wind nodding the feather in her pretty hat,
+and just a suspicion of a neat little boot showing beneath her habit,
+she made a picture pretty enough for a king. And now that Colin McLeod
+had come to make me understand how much I really loved her, I was
+induced to notice her beauties even more closely than before.
+
+For nearly an hour we rode on, all the past forgotten, living only in
+the keen enjoyment of the present. Then, like a flash, the memory of my
+ride to the Blackfellow's Well--part of the very route we were now
+pursuing--rose before me. I saw again the dark night, the flashing tree
+trunks, the horses galloping on either side of me, and that horrible
+burden swaying on The Unknown's back. Then I saw the Blackfellow's Well,
+pictured myself digging that lonely grave among the rocks, and seemed
+again to hear the curlews crying from the pool below. I suppose
+something of the horror of the memory must have been reflected on my
+face, for Sheilah looked at me and then said,--
+
+'Jim, what is the matter? You're as pale as death.'
+
+'Nothing,' I answered hoarsely. 'A twinge of an old pain, that is all.'
+
+'It must have been a bad one,' she answered quietly. 'Your face looked
+really ghastly.'
+
+'It has passed,' I cried, giving myself a vigorous shake. 'I don't know
+what brought it on. However, we'll have no more dismal thoughts to-day,
+Sheilah, by your leave.'
+
+'That's right,' she answered. 'I do not like to see such an expression
+upon your face. Now let's turn round and go back by the Pelican
+Waterhole. See here's a nice piece of turf, we can give our horses a
+gallop.'
+
+The words were hardly out of her mouth before she had shaken up her
+horse and we were off like the wind. Good as my animal was, Sheilah's
+was better, and, when we reached the fringe of timber on the opposite
+side of the little plain, she was leading by a good five lengths. Then,
+seeing that the ground did not look very safe ahead, I was about to call
+to her to pull up, when her horse crossed his legs, and went down with a
+crash, throwing Sheilah, and rolling completely over her.
+
+For a second my heart seemed to stand still, then to the ground I sprang
+and ran swiftly to her side. Her horse by this time had risen, and was
+shaking himself, but Sheilah lay just as she had fallen, horribly white
+and still.
+
+'Sheilah!' I cried, as I knelt by her side, 'for pity's sake speak to
+me!'
+
+But not a word came from her pallid lips, and seeing this I picked up my
+heels and ran to the creek for water. Filling my cabbage-tree hat I
+hurried back to her, but by the time I reached her she was conscious
+once more.
+
+'Jim,' she said, with a fine show of bravery, 'this is a very bad
+business. I'm dreadfully afraid I've broken my leg. What am I to do? I
+can't get up.'
+
+'Oh, Sheilah, you don't mean that!' I cried in agony. 'It's all my
+fault, I should not have brought you for this ride.'
+
+'Don't be silly, Jim,' she answered stoutly. 'It was not your fault at
+all. But what am I to do? We are at least four miles from home?'
+
+I considered for a moment before I answered.
+
+'If you can't move, the best thing for me to do would be to make you as
+comfortable as possible here, and then ride off as fast as I can go for
+the tray buggy and a mattress. We could bring you in in that way better
+than any other.'
+
+'That's it, Jim. Now go as fast as you can. My poor father will be in a
+terrible state when he hears the news.'
+
+'First let me make you as comfortable as possible,' I replied. 'I think
+it would be better for you to lie just where you are.'
+
+Taking off my coat, I rolled it into a pad. Next I caught her horse and
+removed her saddle. This I placed flaps upward, beneath her head, with
+my coat upon it, and so made a fairly comfortable pillow.
+
+'Do you feel easier now?' I asked, looking down at her.
+
+'Much easier,' she answered; 'but don't be any longer than you can help,
+Jim.'
+
+'Not a second,' I replied, and ran towards my own horse and climbed into
+the saddle. Then with a last call of encouragement I set off, and within
+half-an-hour was at the stable slip panels. Then without waiting to let
+them down I sprang off and ran into the house. Old Mrs Beazley, the
+cook, was standing at her kitchen door.
+
+'Where is Mr McLeod?' I asked, almost trembling with excitement.
+
+'Gone up to the township,' she answered. 'What is the matter? Has
+anything happened?'
+
+'Miss Sheilah has met with an accident out by Pelican Creek,' I
+answered. 'She thinks she has broken her leg. You had better send for
+the doctor and her father at once. In the meantime, I'll take the buggy
+and a mattress, if you will give me one, and go out and bring her in?'
+
+At this moment Colin McLeod, with a face the colour of zinc, appeared
+from the house and stood staring at me.
+
+'What's that you say?'
+
+'Sheilah has broken her leg out yonder. I'm going with the buggy to
+bring her in. If you like you can come and help me lift her,' I
+answered, all my former animosity forgotten in this new and greater
+trouble.
+
+'Come on,' he cried in a voice I hardly recognised. 'Are you going to
+stand talking all day?'
+
+He ran into the yard as he spoke, and after giving a final instruction
+to Mrs Beazley, I followed, to find him leading a horse from the stable.
+Without a word I went to the coach-house and drew out McLeod's big tray
+buggy, took the harness from the peg and threw it down by the horse's
+nose, then back into the house again for the mattress Mrs Beazley was
+stripping off a bed for me. This I placed on the tray, and by the time I
+had done so the horse was harnessed and ready for putting in. Colin held
+up the shafts while I backed him to his place. By the time this was done
+the slip rails were down and I drove through. Then Colin sprang up
+beside me, and off we went across the plain towards the place where I
+had left Sheilah.
+
+When we reached it we found her lying exactly as I had left her. Colin
+jumped down, ran to her side, and said something in a low voice that I
+did not catch. Without losing a second, I lifted the seat from its place
+and lowered it overboard; then I, too, jumped down and went towards the
+sufferer.
+
+'How can we lift you, do you think, with the least likelihood of hurting
+you?' I asked.
+
+'I don't know,' she answered. 'I think you had better put the mattress
+down here beside me, and then lift me on to it.'
+
+I saw the wisdom of this idea, and forthwith dragged the mattress out
+and laid it on the ground by her side. Then, with all the tenderness of
+which we were capable, Colin and I lifted her and placed her on it. She
+paled a little while we were doing it, but did not let a sound escape
+her. After that I brought the buggy as close as possible, helped Colin
+to lift the mattress on to the tray, and then climbed aboard and placed
+her in such a position that her head lay against the splashboard. Having
+done this, I signed to Colin to hand me the saddle and my coat, with
+which I once more constructed a pillow for her. The seat was then
+refixed without touching her, and her own horse having been fastened on
+behind, I chose the straightest and least rutty track, and set off
+slowly for the homestead. It took us nearly an hour to reach it, and
+when we did old McLeod met us at the slip rails. He looked very
+nervous, but bore up bravely for Sheilah's sake.
+
+Pulling the buggy up at the kitchen door, we withdrew the seat again,
+removed the pillows, and then lifted our precious burden down. Just as
+we did so the doctor rode up to the door, and, having tied his horse to
+the fence, gave us a hand to carry Sheilah to her room. Then leaving her
+to his care, with Mrs Beazley to assist him, we went into the verandah,
+where Mr McLeod asked me to tell him how it had happened.
+
+I gave him a full description of it, but though it appeared to satisfy
+him it was more than it did for Colin, who listened with the same
+expression on his face that was always there when I was present. How it
+was that I had aroused such antagonistic feelings in him I could not
+imagine. Whether he would have been the same with any other rival I
+could not tell, but that he hated me with all the strength of his
+powerful nature was plain to the least observant. After I had finished
+my narrative, and had discovered that I could do no more good by
+remaining, I rose to say good-bye.
+
+'Good-bye, James, my lad,' said the old man, giving me his hand. 'I
+know that what has happened has given you as much pain as it has me.
+But, remember, you must not reproach yourself. It was in no way your
+fault. And are you going too, Colin, my lad?'
+
+'I'm on duty this afternoon,' Colin said, putting on his hat, 'and I
+must get back and prepare for it. Good-bye, uncle!'
+
+'Good-bye, my lad.'
+
+Old McLeod retired into the house, and we went up the garden path
+together. When we got into the road outside, Colin McLeod turned to me
+and said, 'Have you any objection to my walking a little way with you?
+I've got something I want to say to you.'
+
+'Come along, then,' I answered, 'and say it for mercy's sake. I'm sick
+of all these black looks and sarcastic speeches. What is it? Out with
+it!'
+
+'It's this,' he said. 'First and foremost, I'll have no more of you down
+yonder.' He nodded his head in the direction of his uncle's house.
+
+'Indeed! and, pray, what right have you to say you will, or you won't?'
+
+'If you don't know, I'll tell you,' he answered; 'but I think you do!'
+
+'I don't,' I answered, stopping and facing him, 'and I'll be glad if you
+will tell me.'
+
+'Well, in the first place, I won't have you there because of that
+business with the man they call Whispering Pete, and, in the second,
+because, in my official capacity, I know more about you than my uncle
+and cousin do--and I tell you I won't let you mix with them.'
+
+'Colin McLeod,' I said, looking him straight in the face, and speaking
+very slowly, 'you're either a plucky man or a most extraordinary fool.
+Remember this once and for all--neither you nor the whole police force
+of Australia know anything that would keep me away from my old friends
+the McLeods. And if you say you do, well, I tell you you're a liar to
+your face. So there now!'
+
+'Fair and softly,' he said in reply. 'Listen to what I have to say
+before you talk so big. I tell you we know a good deal more than you
+think we do, and when we lay our hands on Whispering Pete we shall know
+still more. In the meantime, I'm not going to trade on my official
+knowledge against you. I'll meet you as man to man, and chance the
+consequences. I tell you that I love my cousin to desperation, and I'm
+not going to have a man like you hanging round her. Keep away from her,
+and I'll do no more than my duty demands. Continue to visit them, and,
+I warn you, you'll have to take the consequences.'
+
+'And what are the consequences, pray?' I said, wishing he would come to
+the point.
+
+'That you'll have to deal with me,' he answered, as if he were
+threatening me with death.
+
+'That's rather big talking on your part, isn't it?' I asked. 'I don't
+know that I'm altogether afraid of dealing with you.'
+
+'I'm glad to hear you say that! Now, will you fight me for her?'
+
+He stopped in his walk and, turning round, clutched me by the arm.
+
+'No, I will not,' I replied firmly, at the same time feeling that I
+would have given anything in the world to have been able to answer
+'Yes.'
+
+'I thought not,' he continued, with a sigh. 'You're a coward, and I knew
+it.'
+
+'Steady! steady!' I said. 'One more remark like that and you'll get into
+trouble.'
+
+'Then let me see if this will help you,' he cried, and at the same time
+he lifted his arm and hit me a hard blow across the mouth with the back
+of his left hand. I was about to strike back, when I suddenly changed my
+mind.
+
+'You have raised your hand to me,' I said quietly. 'And a blow dealt in
+anger I'll take from no man on God's earth, much less you, Colin
+McLeod. I refused to fight you just now--for the simple reason that you
+are Sheilah's kith and kin. But since you've struck me, I'd do it if you
+were her own blood brother. One thing first, however. Be so good as to
+do me the justice to remember that you yourself have forced the quarrel
+on me.'
+
+'I will remember,' he said sullenly. 'And where is it to be?'
+
+'Down in the bit of scrub by the Big Gum at the creek bend,' I answered.
+'We're not likely to be disturbed there.'
+
+'At eight to-night. I am on patrol duty and can't get away before.'
+
+I nodded, and then we separated; he went up the hill to the police
+station, while I continued my walk towards the township. As I went I
+thought over my position; here was another pretty fix I had got myself
+into. My old luck had certainly deserted me, for what would Sheilah say,
+if by any chance she should come to hear of it. When all was said and
+done, however, was it my fault? I didn't want to fight the man, I would
+far rather not have done so, but since he had struck the first blow I
+could not very well get out of it. Any man who knows me will tell you
+that I haven't the reputation of being a coward. Ruminating in this
+fashion I went on up the street to my hotel, and arrived there as the
+lodgers were sitting down to lunch. While I was eating, a curious notion
+seized me. What if I went up to the old home and interviewed my father?
+I had quite lived down my animosity, and if he proved willing to forgive
+I was quite ready to do the same.
+
+As soon, therefore, as I rose from the table I went to my room, tidied
+myself up a bit, and set off. It seemed an eternity since I had forded
+the creek and trod that familiar path. I recalled with a shudder that
+horrible night when I had sneaked home to change my things prior to
+going off to bury Jarman. It was like a part of another life to look
+back on now--a nightmare, the remembrance of which always seized me in
+my happiest moments--like the skeleton at the Egyptian feast. And all
+the time I had to remember that the horrible secret lay hidden under
+those rocks only waiting for some chance passer-by to discover it.
+
+At last I reached the verandah and paused upon the threshold like a
+stranger, not knowing quite what to do. My doubts, however, were soon
+set at rest by the appearance of my father in the passage. A great
+change had come over him. He looked years older, and was evidently a
+much feebler man than when I had left him last. So different was he that
+the shock almost unnerved me. But I soon saw that his disposition had
+not changed very much.
+
+'Good morning,' he said, just as if he were greeting a total stranger.
+'Pray what can I do for you?'
+
+'Father, I have come up to see if I can't induce you to forgive me, and
+let us patch this quarrel up!'
+
+'I beg your pardon,' he answered slowly, but still with the same
+exquisite politeness; 'I don't know that I understand you. Did I
+understand you to address me by the title of father?'
+
+'I am your son!'
+
+He seated himself in one of the verandah chairs, and I noticed that his
+hand trembled on the arm as he laid it there.
+
+'I have forgotten that I ever had a son,' he said, after a moment's
+pause, 'and I have no desire to be reminded of the disagreeable fact.'
+
+'Then you will not forgive me,' I cried bitterly, amazed at his
+obstinacy.
+
+'My son was a horse coper and a blackguard,' he continued, 'and even if
+I were to admit him to my house I should certainly not forgive him!'
+
+'Thank you,' I said, moving towards the steps to go away again. 'You
+wronged me before--and now you do so again. I will trouble you no more.'
+
+'One moment before you go,' he cried, tapping on the floor with his
+stick. 'You have not come up here to work upon my feelings without
+having some object in view, I suppose. I hear you are living in the
+township at the principal hotel, doing nothing for your living. Your
+presence here means, I presume, that you want money. If that is so, I
+will give you five hundred pounds to enable you to start afresh in the
+world, provided you leave this place within twenty-four hours, and do
+not let me ever see you or hear of you again.'
+
+'And you refuse me your forgiveness for the wrong you have done me?'
+
+'I am not aware that I have done you any wrong,' he answered. 'I only
+believe what everybody in the township down yonder knows to be a fact.
+To-morrow morning you shall have that money if you wish it. After that I
+will not give you a halfpenny to save you from starving.'
+
+Then, as if to justify himself, he continued, 'I do it on principle.'
+
+'Very good--then, on principle, I refuse to receive even a penny from
+you.'
+
+He looked at me in surprise.
+
+'You won't take the five hundred pounds?'
+
+'Not one halfpenny,' I answered; 'I would not if I were dying. Good
+day.'
+
+'You are very foolish. But you will change your mind in a few hours; so
+may I. Good day.'
+
+Without more ado I left him and strode angrily back to the township.
+Surely no man ever had a more pig-headed, unnatural father?
+
+That evening, a few minutes before eight o'clock, I left the hotel and
+strode off down the path by the creek to the place where I had arranged
+to meet Colin. Bitterly as I hated him, and angry as I was over the blow
+he had dealt me, I was not at all reconciled to the notion of fighting
+him. My position was already sufficiently precarious without my
+endeavouring to make it more so.
+
+The moon was up, and it was a glorious night. In the little open space
+where I sat down to wait, it was almost as bright as day. In a gum to
+the back of me a mopoke was hooting dolefully, and to my right, among
+the bracken, the river ran sluggishly along, the moonlight touching it
+like silver. It was the beginning of summer, and there was still
+sufficient water coming down from the hills to make a decent stream.
+
+Almost punctually at eight o'clock Colin put in an appearance, and came
+across the open towards me.
+
+'I was half afraid I might keep you waiting,' he said, as he took off
+his coat and threw it on the ground.
+
+'You're punctual, I think,' I answered, rising. 'But look here, McLeod,
+I'm not going to fight you after all. I can't do it!'
+
+'Turning cocktail again, are you?' he said coldly. 'Do you want me to
+find your courage for you in the same fashion as this morning?'
+
+'Don't push me too far,' I said, 'or God alone knows what I may not do.
+I'm a bad man to cross, as you may have heard.'
+
+'Your reputation is only too well known to me,' he answered. 'Are you
+going to stand up or not?'
+
+'Since you wish it so much,' I said wearily, seeing that further
+argument was useless.
+
+'I thought you would hear reason,' he said, and took up his position.
+
+We faced each other, and he led off with a blow that caught me on the
+chin. That roused my blood, and there and then I let him have it. He was
+not a bad boxer, and by no means deficient in courage, but he was like a
+baby in my hands. I can say that safely without fear of bragging. Three
+times in succession I sent him down to measure his length upon the
+ground. And each time he got up and faced me again. At last I could
+stand it no longer.
+
+'That's enough,' I cried. 'Good God, man, you don't know what you're
+doing! If I go on I shall murder you.'
+
+'We'll go on then till you do,' he said, getting up for the fourth time
+and preparing to renew the battle. But just as he did so a loud voice
+behind us called 'Stop!'
+
+It was old McLeod.
+
+'And pray what does this mean?' he cried, as he came between us. 'James
+Heggarstone, I am ashamed of ye. Colin, surely ye must have taken leave
+of your senses.'
+
+Then Colin gave me another sample of his curious character.
+
+'You must not blame Heggarstone,' says he. 'I assure you it was all my
+fault. I challenged him, and when he refused to fight I struck him.'
+
+I could not let him take all the blame in this fashion, so I was just
+going to chip in when old McLeod stopped me by holding up his hand.
+
+'I don't care whose fault it is. Ye are both to blame. I've seen it
+coming on day by day, and I can tell ye both it has distressed me beyond
+measure. I'll have no more of it, remember. Ye'll shake hands, lads,
+here now, and be good friends for the future, or ye'll both quarrel with
+me.'
+
+'I've no objection at all,' I said, holding out my hand.
+
+'Nor I,' says Colin, doing the same.
+
+And then and there we shook hands, and that was the last of my enmity
+with Colin McLeod.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+I PROPOSE TO SHEILAH
+
+
+Next morning, as soon after breakfast as was fit and proper, I set off
+to inquire after Sheilah. I found her looking very pale and jaded, poor
+girl; and no wonder, for the business of setting the broken limb had
+been a painful one.
+
+'Sit down,' she said, pointing to a chair by her sofa. 'I want to have a
+good talk with you. Jim, I hear you were fighting with Colin last
+night.'
+
+I hung my head and did not answer.
+
+'What you two should have to fight about I'm sure I don't know,' she
+went on. 'But, remember, I'll have no more of it. If I thought you were
+to blame I should be very angry with you. But Colin has already been
+here and cleared you of everything. Poor Colin!'
+
+'I'm sorry I ever laid my hand upon him,' I said. 'He's a better man
+than I am by a good deal.'
+
+'I'm not so sure of that, Jim,' she said, holding out her little hand
+to me; 'but, remember, on no account are you two to be anything but the
+very best of friends for the future. And now we'll forget all about it.
+I want to talk to you about another matter.'
+
+'What is that, Sheilah?'
+
+'About yourself. What do you intend to do? You must not--and, indeed,
+you cannot--go on living here without employment. Have you thought of
+looking for anything?'
+
+'I have. And what's more I have made inquiries all round, but for the
+life of me I can hear of nothing. I'm no good for anything but bush
+work, as you know, or I might apply for the billet there is vacant in
+the bank up yonder. No, Sheilah! I'm afraid I shall have to clear out
+and look for work elsewhere. There's a drover, Billy Green of Bourke,
+going up North as far as the Flinders River for a mob of fat cattle next
+week. He might take me on.'
+
+'No! no! Jim, you're fit for something better than that,' she answered.
+'Why not stay here and take a place for yourself. With your knowledge of
+cattle, backed up by patience and hard work, you might make a very good
+thing of it in time.'
+
+'There's one serious drawback to that, Sheilah, and that is the fact
+that I haven't got the money. If I had, I admit I might be able to do
+something in a small way. But as I haven't, well, you must see for
+yourself it's impossible.'
+
+'It's not so impossible as you imagine, old friend,' said Sheilah, with
+a smile.
+
+'What do you mean?' I asked, surprised at the confident way in which she
+spoke. 'Has anyone told you of the money I refused to take from my
+father yesterday?'
+
+'You refused to take money from your own father? Oh, Jim, that was
+foolish of you. How much did he offer you?'
+
+'Five hundred pounds,' I answered. 'I almost wish now I had put my pride
+in my pocket and accepted it. It would have come in very handily,
+wouldn't it?'
+
+'You must go up and see him directly you leave here,' she said with
+authority. 'Whatever you do, you must not let such an opportunity slip
+through your fingers. It was too foolish of you to decline his help.'
+
+'I'm afraid I'm a very foolish fellow altogether, Sheilah,' I answered.
+'But my father insulted me; he called me--well, never mind what he
+called me; at any rate, having done it, he said he would give me five
+hundred pounds, and not another halfpenny, if I were to come to him
+starving. I flared up in reply, and told him that I would not touch his
+money if I were dying, and came away in a huff.'
+
+'Well, you must go back and get it now, whatever happens. Why, with five
+hundred pounds you might lay the foundation of a splendid fortune. Now,
+pay attention to me, and tell me if there is any place about here you
+would like to take?'
+
+'I should just think there is. Why, there's Merriman's selection on the
+other side of the creek; it's as good a little place as any in the
+district, and better than most. I've been coveting it for years, and if
+I had the money I would take it, stock it by degrees, and as time went
+on, and opportunity served, get possession of the land on either side of
+it. Yes! If I had that place, I do believe I could make it pay.'
+
+'How much capital would you want to take it and stock it?'
+
+I picked up a bit of paper from the table by where I sat, and, finding a
+pencil, set to work to figure it all out. Sheilah was quite excited, and
+offered suggestions and corrections as we proceeded, like the clever
+little business woman she always was. At last it was done.
+
+'I reckon,' I said, looking up at her from the paper in my hand, 'that
+if I had eight hundred pounds cash, and a balance in the bank of five
+hundred more, I could do it, and I'm certain I could make a success of
+it. But, then, what's the use of all this calculation. I haven't got the
+money, and, what's more, I'm certain my father won't go higher than the
+five hundred he mentioned, even if he lets me have that now.'
+
+Sheilah was silent for nearly a minute, looking out of the window to
+where the tall sunflowers were nodding their heads in the scorching
+glare. A little dry wind rustled through the garden and flickered a
+handful of earth on to the well-swept boards of the verandah. Then she
+turned to me again and said rather nervously,--
+
+'Jim, you have known me a long time have you not?'
+
+'What a question, Sheilah,' I cried. 'Why, I've known you ever since the
+night of the great storm--when you were a little toddling blue-eyed
+baby. Of course, I've known you a long time.'
+
+'Well, in that case, you mustn't be angry with an old friend for making
+a suggestion.'
+
+'Angry with you, Sheilah! Not if I know it. What is it you wish to say?'
+
+'That--well, that you let me lend you the money. No! No don't speak,'
+she cried, seeing that I was about to interpose. 'Let me say what I want
+to say first, and then you can talk as much as you please. Yes! I
+repeat, let me lend you the money, Jim. My father, as you know, has
+always put by so much a year for me, to do as I like with, ever since I
+was born. The sum now amounts to nearly fifteen hundred pounds. Well, I
+want to lend you a thousand pounds of it. And that, with the five
+hundred from your father, will give you fifteen hundred pounds to begin
+with, or two hundred more than you consider necessary. There, Jim, I
+have done; now what have you to say?'
+
+'What can I say? How can I tell you how deeply I am touched by your
+generosity and goodness. Oh, Sheilah! what a true friend you have always
+been to me.'
+
+'You accept my offer, then, Jim?' she cried, her beautiful eyes at the
+same time filling with tears.
+
+'I cannot,' I answered. 'Deeply as I am touched by it, I cannot. It
+would not be right.'
+
+'Oh, Jim, I never thought you would refuse. You will break my heart if
+you do. I have been thinking this out ever since you returned from
+Bourke, and always hoping that I should be able to persuade you to
+accept it. And now you refuse!'
+
+She gave a deep sigh, and the big tears trembled in her eyes as if
+preparatory to flowing down her cheeks.
+
+'Don't you see my position, Sheilah?' I said. 'Can't you understand that
+if I took your money, and invested in this enterprise, and it did not
+turn out a success, I might never have the means of repaying you. No! At
+any cost I feel that I ought not to take it.'
+
+'Jim, you are giving me the greatest disappointment I have ever had in
+my life. Really you are.'
+
+'Do you mean it?'
+
+'I do.'
+
+'Will it really make you happy if I accept?'
+
+'Perfectly happy.'
+
+'Then I will do so. And may God bless you for it. By giving me this
+chance you are saving me.'
+
+'You will work hard then, won't you, Jim?'
+
+'I will work my fingers to the bone, Sheilah.'
+
+It was as much as I could do to speak, so great was my emotion. My
+brain surged with words, but my mouth could not utter them. I took her
+hand and kissed it tenderly. A declaration of love trembled on my
+tongue, and wanted but one little word to make me pour it out.
+
+'You must go and see your father this afternoon,' she said after a
+little pause, 'and then come down and tell me what he says. When you've
+done that you'd better inquire about the place. Oh, if only I were able
+to see it with you!'
+
+'So you shall directly, Sheilah,' I cried. 'You shall guide and counsel
+me in all I do; for you are my guardian angel, and have always been.'
+
+'Do you mean that, Jim?' she asked very softly.
+
+'Before God, I do,' I cried vehemently. 'Sheilah, I know now what you
+are to me. I know that the old brotherly affection I have felt for you
+all these years is dead.'
+
+'Dead, Jim!' she cried. 'Oh, surely not dead!'
+
+'Yes, dead,' I answered; 'but out of its ashes has risen a greater, a
+nobler, a purer love than I ever believed myself capable of feeling.
+Sheilah, I love you with all my heart and soul, I love you more than
+life itself.'
+
+She did not answer. For a minute or so there was only to be heard the
+chirping of the cicadas in the trees outside, and the dry rustle of the
+wind among the oranges bushes.
+
+'Darling,' I said, when I found my voice once more, 'if I take this
+money and work as hard as any man can, is it to be for nothing? Or may I
+toil day and night, knowing that there is a reward, greater than any
+money, saving up for me at the end? Sheilah, do you love me well enough
+to be my wife!'
+
+This time she answered, without a falter in her voice, and as she did
+she took my great brown hand between hers and smoothed it.
+
+'Jim, I have always loved you' she said, 'all my life long. I will
+gladly; nay, that doesn't seem to express it at all. Let me say only
+that I love you, and that I will be your wife whenever you come to claim
+me. Will that satisfy you, dear?'
+
+I bent over and kissed her on her sweet, pure lips.
+
+'God bless you, Sheilah,' I replied so softly that I scarcely knew my
+own voice.
+
+Then we both sat silent again for some time. Sheilah it was who spoke
+first.
+
+'Now, Jim, how are you going to begin?'
+
+'I'm going to find your father, and tell him everything,' I said. 'He
+ought to know before anyone else.'
+
+'Very well, find him and tell him. Then go and see your own father and
+ask him for the money. After that, if you like, you may come back here
+and tell me how you have succeeded.'
+
+I bade her good-bye, and went off to find her father.
+
+He was in the act of leaving the stockyard when I encountered him, and I
+suppose he must have seen from my face that I had news for him--for,
+when he had shaken hands with me, he stepped back to the rails and
+leaned against them.
+
+'Now, James,' he said, 'what is it ye have to tell me?'
+
+'Something I'm rather doubtful whether you'll like,' I answered,
+wondering how to begin.
+
+'Supposing I can guess already,' he said, with a smile. 'Ye have been a
+long time with Sheilah!'
+
+'I have been deciding a very important matter!' I replied.
+
+'Have ye accepted her offer?'
+
+'I have; but how do you know that she had made one?' I answered.
+
+'We discussed it together last night,' he said. 'My Sheilah is a
+generous girl, and she takes a great interest in ye, James, lad.'
+
+'Who knows that better than I?' I answered. 'And I will do my best to
+show her that her trust is not misplaced. But her generous loan is not
+the chief thing I wish to speak to you about.'
+
+'What is the other, then?' he said, looking a little nervously at me, I
+thought.
+
+'It concerns Sheilah's own happiness,' I replied. 'Mr McLeod, your
+daughter has promised to be my wife.'
+
+He was more staggered by this bit of news than I had expected he would
+be, and for a little while gazed at me in silent amazement. At last he
+pulled himself together, and said solemnly,--
+
+'This is a very serious matter.'
+
+'I hope it is,' I replied, 'for I love Sheilah and she loves me. We are
+both deeply serious, and I hope you have nothing to say against it?'
+
+'Of course, if ye both love each other--as I believe ye do,' he
+answered, 'and ye, laddie, work hard to prove yourself worthy of her, I
+shall say nothing. But we must look things squarely in the face and have
+no half measures. Ye must bear with me, lad--if in what I'm going to say
+I hurt your feelings--but my duty lies before me, and I must do it. Ye
+see, Jim, ye have been foolish; your reputation in the township is a
+wild one; ye admitted to me having been a gambler; remember ye rode in
+that race against your father's and your best friends' wishes; ye were
+mixed up with a very disreputable set hereabouts, one of whom has been
+openly accused of felony; remember, I do not believe that ye had
+anything at all to do with the stealing of that horse--if he was stolen,
+as folks say; and now ye have also been turned out of house and home by
+your own father. Ye must yourself admit that these circumstances are not
+of a kind calculated to favourably impress a father who loves his only
+daughter as I love mine. But, on the other hand, my lad, I have known ye
+pretty nearly all your life, and I know that your errors are of the
+head, not of the heart, so I am inclined to regard them rather
+differently. Now, your path lies before ye. Ye have an opportunity of
+retrieving the past and building up the future, let us see what ye can
+do. If, we'll say, by this day year ye have proved to me that ye are
+really in earnest, ye shall have my darling, and God's blessing be on ye
+both. I can't say anything fairer than that, can I?'
+
+'I have no right to expect that you should say anything so fair,' I
+answered. 'Mr McLeod, I will try; come what may, you shall not be
+disappointed in me.'
+
+'I believe ye, laddie,' he said, and then we went towards the front gate
+together. I wished him good-bye, and having done so, left him and went
+up the hill towards the township.
+
+Never in my life do I remember to have walked with so proud and so
+confident a step. My heart was filled with hope and happiness. Sheilah
+loved me, and had promised to be my wife. Her father had, to all intents
+and purposes, given his consent. It only remained for me to prove myself
+worthy of the trust that had been reposed in me. And come what might, I
+would be worthy. Henceforward, no man should have the right to breathe a
+word against me. I would work for Sheilah as no man ever worked for a
+girl before; so that in the happy days before us she might always have
+reason to look up to and be proud of me. Then in a flash came back the
+memory of that gruesome ride to the Blackfellow's Well. Once again I saw
+the murdered man lying so still in his lonely grave among the rocks on
+the hillside. I shuddered, and with an effort I put the memory from me.
+And just as I did so, I arrived at the hotel.
+
+As soon as I had eaten my lunch I set off to call upon my father. I
+found him sitting in the verandah, as usual, reading. He did not seem at
+all surprised at my appearance. On the other hand, he said, as I came up
+to the steps,--
+
+'You have thought better of it and come back for that money, I suppose?'
+
+'I have,' I answered. 'A chance has been given me to-day of settling
+down to a good thing, if I can only raise a certain sum of money. If you
+are still of the same mind as you were yesterday, I should feel grateful
+if you would let me have your cheque for the amount you mentioned?'
+
+Without another word he rose and went into the house; when he returned
+he held between his finger and thumb a little slip of pale blue paper
+which I well knew was a cheque. Giving it to me he said,--
+
+'There it is. Now go!'
+
+I thanked him, and turned to do as he ordered, but before I had time to
+descend the steps he stopped me by saying,--
+
+'I have asked no questions, but I trust this business you are now
+embarking on will prove a little more reputable than that in which you
+have been hitherto engaged.'
+
+'You need have no fear on that score,' I answered. 'At the same time, I
+do not admit that there was anything in the last matter, to which you
+refer, of which I need be ashamed.'
+
+'I think we have discussed that before. We need not do so again.'
+
+I was once more about to leave him, when something induced me to say,--
+
+'Father, is this state of things to go on between us much longer? Will
+you never forgive a bit of heedless obstinacy on the part of one so much
+younger than yourself?'
+
+'When I see signs of improvement I may be induced to re-consider my
+decision, not till then,' he answered. 'The sad part of it is that so
+far those signs are entirely wanting.'
+
+'I am turning over a new leaf now.'
+
+'I desire to see proof of it first,' he replied. 'I must confess my
+experience makes me sceptical.'
+
+'It is useless, then, for me to say any more on the subject.'
+
+'Quite useless. For the future let your actions speak for themselves.
+They will be quite significant enough, believe me.'
+
+'Then I wish you good day.'
+
+'Good day to you.'
+
+And so we parted.
+
+Leaving the old home, I strode down the hill, crossed the ford, and made
+my way to the principal bank in the township, where I opened an account
+with my father's cheque. This business completed, I passed on to the
+agent who had Merriman's selection under offer, and when I left his
+office an hour later I was in a fair way towards calling myself the
+proprietor of the property for a term of years.
+
+Next morning I rode over to the selection and thoroughly examined it. It
+was about 10,000 acres in extent, splendidly grassed, and had an
+excellent frontage to the river. Merriman had built himself a hut on a
+little knoll, and there I determined to install myself, utilising all
+the time I could spare from my work among the stock in building another
+and better one, to which I could bring Sheilah when she became my wife.
+That afternoon the arrangements advanced another step, and by the end of
+the week following the papers were signed, and I was duly installed as
+possessor.
+
+The next business was to secure the services of a man. This
+accomplished, I set to work in grim earnest, the fences were thoroughly
+overhauled and renovated--a new well was sunk in the back country--a new
+stockyard was erected near the hut, and, by the time Sheilah was able to
+get about again, I had bought a couple of thousand sheep at a price
+which made them an undoubted bargain, had erected my bough-shearing
+shed, and was all ready for getting to work upon my clip.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A VISIT FROM WHISPERING PETE
+
+
+Three months later the shearing of my small flock was at an end, and the
+result, an excellent clip, had been dispatched to market. Then, having a
+good deal of spare time on my hands, I held a consultation with Sheilah,
+planned our house, and set to work upon it. Like my own old home, it was
+to be of _pisa_, would consist of five rooms and a kitchen, and have a
+broad verandah running all round it. No man, who has not built a house
+under similar circumstances, will be able properly to understand what
+the construction of that humble abode meant to me, and how I worked at
+it. Every second that I could possibly spare was given to it, and as bit
+by bit it raised itself above the earth, my love for Sheilah seemed to
+grow stronger and purer with it. It was a proud day for me, you may be
+sure, when the roof was started, and a still prouder when it was
+completed. The windows and doors were then put into the walls, the
+floors of the rooms and verandah laid, the papering and painting
+completed, until at last it stood ready for occupation. A prettier
+position no man could possibly have desired, and as far as construction
+went, well, when I say that I had worked at it with the patience and
+thoroughness that can only be brought to bear by a man in what is a
+labour of love, you will have some idea of what it was like. Ah! what a
+glorious time that was--when everything animate and inanimate spoke to
+me of Sheilah. When I rose from my bed in the morning, with the sun, it
+was to work for her, and when I returned to it again at night it was
+with the knowledge that I had done all that man could do for her, and
+was just so many hours nearer the time when she would be my wife. It may
+be a strange way of putting it, but if you've ever been in love yourself
+you'll understand me when I say that her gentle influence was with me
+always, in the wind blowing through the long bush grass, in the
+whispering of the leaves of the trees, in the rising of the moon above
+the distant ranges, and in the murmur of the water in the creek. Nor
+did I want for encouragement. When the day's work was done I would cross
+the creek and discuss it with my sweetheart and her father, and even
+Colin McLeod, now that it was all definitely settled between us and he
+knew his fate, treated me quite as one of the family, and without a sign
+of his old antagonism.
+
+Then, at last, the joyful day was fixed, and I knew that on a certain
+Thursday two months ahead, all being well, Sheilah would become my wife.
+The house was completely finished, painted, papered, and furnished, and
+even the garden, which I had constructed so that it should slope down to
+the river, was beginning to show signs of the labour that had been
+expended on it. Then, in the midst of my happiness, when I felt so
+secure that it seemed as if nothing could possibly come between me and
+the woman I loved, something happened which was destined to be the
+precursor of all the terrible things I have yet to tell, and which were
+to bow Sheilah's head and mine in sorrow and shame down even to the very
+dust.
+
+It was a night at the end of the first week after the completion of the
+new house. Having finished his supper, my factotum had gone across to
+the township, and I was paying my evening visit to Sheilah. About ten
+o'clock I started for home. It had been hot and thundery all the
+afternoon and evening, and now a mass of heavy cloud had almost covered
+the heavens. The wind whistled dismally through the she-oak trees in the
+scrub and moaned along the valley. A premonition of coming ill was upon
+me, and when I reached the new house, where I had already installed
+myself, I went into the kitchen feeling ready to jump away from my own
+shadow. The fire just showed a red glow, and to my amazement gave me the
+outline of a man sitting beside it.
+
+'You're up late, Dick,' I cried, thinking it was my man returned from
+his evening's outing. But he did not answer.
+
+I lit a candle and held it aloft. Then I almost dropped it in horror and
+astonishment.
+
+The man sitting beside the fire was Whispering Pete!
+
+'Good heavens, how did you get here?' I cried, as I set the candle down
+upon the table.
+
+'Rode,' he answered laconically, getting on to his feet. 'My horse is in
+your stockyard now. I've ridden three hundred miles this week, and must
+be over the border before Tuesday.'
+
+'But why have you come here of all other places?' I asked, resolved to
+let him see that I was not at all pleased to have him on my premises.
+
+'Because I had to see you, Jim, for myself.' Here he stopped and went
+over to the door and looked out. 'Nobody about is there?' he asked
+suspiciously.
+
+'Not a soul,' I answered. 'Go on, out with it, what do you want to see
+me for?'
+
+He came closer and sank his voice almost to a whisper, as he said,--
+
+'Because, Jim, if we're not careful there'll be trouble, and what's
+more, big trouble. The police are looking high and low for Jarman, and
+naturally they can't find him. The rumour which I had circulated that he
+followed the horse Gaybird up to Northern Queensland has been exploded,
+and now they're coming back to the original idea--that we know something
+of his whereabouts.'
+
+'Don't say "we" if you please,' I answered hotly. 'Remember I had
+nothing at all to do with it.'
+
+Once more he leant towards me. This time he spoke in the same curious
+undertone, but with more emphasis.
+
+'Indeed, and pray who had then? Jim Heggarstone, if you're wise you
+won't try that game with me. It will not do. Just review the
+circumstances of the case, my friend, before you talk like that. What
+horse did you ride in that race? Why, the horse that was discovered to
+have been stolen. Where did you spend the evening after the race? In my
+house. Jarman was among the guests, wasn't he? Who took his dead body
+away and buried it in the mountains, and then disappeared himself? Why,
+you did. Are those the actions of an innocent man? Answer me that
+question before you say anything more about having had nothing to do
+with it!'
+
+I saw it all, then, with damning distinctness. And oh, how I loathed
+myself for the part I had played in it.
+
+'You have contrived my ruin, Pete!' I cried, like a man in agony.
+
+'Don't be a fool,' he answered. 'I only tell you this to show you that
+we must stand by each other, and sink or swim together. If they ask me,
+I shall admit that he dined with us and went away about ten o'clock. I
+should advise you to do the same. If you did your work well they can
+hunt till all's blue and they'll not find the body. And as long as they
+can't find that we're safe. I came out of my way here to warn you,
+because inquiries are certain to be made, and then we must all give the
+same answer. Present a bold front to them, or else clear out or do away
+with yourself altogether.'
+
+I could say nothing--I was too stunned even to think. I wanted air and
+to be alone, so I opened the door, and went out into the night. The wind
+had dropped and an unearthly stillness reigned, broken at intervals by
+the sullen booming of thunder in the west. It was a night surcharged
+with tragedy, and surely my situation was tragic enough to satisfy
+anybody.
+
+'And where are you going to now, Pete?' I asked, when I went into the
+room again.
+
+'I'm off to Sydney,' he replied. 'I shall show myself there as much as
+possible, for I do not want it to be supposed that I am in hiding. Then
+I shall wait awhile, and, when things get settled down a bit, clear out
+of Australia altogether. If you are wise, I should advise you to do the
+same!'
+
+'Never!' I answered firmly. Then, after a little pause, I continued,
+'Pete, does it never strike you what a cruel wrong you have done me?
+Fancy, if the girl I am about to marry--whom I love better than my
+life--should hear of my part in this dreadful business? Imagine what she
+should think of me?'
+
+'She would think all the more of you,' he answered quickly. 'Remember
+you are sacrificing yourself for your friend, and as long as it doesn't
+make any difference to them, women like that sort of thing.' Then,
+changing his voice a little, he said, 'Jim, you must not think I'm
+ungrateful. If ever the chance serves I'll set it right for you--I give
+you my word I will.'
+
+He held out his hand to me, but I would not take it. It seemed to me to
+reek with the blood of the murdered man.
+
+'You won't take my hand?--well, perhaps you're right. But I tell you
+this, man, if you think I haven't repented the stab that killed him,
+you're making the greatest mistake of your life. My God! that poor
+devil's cry, to say nothing of the expression on his face as he fell
+back in his chair, has been a nightmare to me ever since. I never go to
+sleep without dreaming of him. Out there, in the loneliness of the West,
+I've had him with me day and night. Think what that means, and then see
+if you can judge me too harshly.'
+
+'God help you!' I cried. 'I cannot judge you!'
+
+'And you will help to save me, Jim,' he said, with infinite pleading in
+his voice. 'You will not draw any tighter the rope that is round my
+throat--will you?'
+
+'What do you mean by drawing it tighter?'
+
+'I mean, you will not say or do anything that may lead them to suspect?'
+
+'What do you take me for?' I cried. 'I am not an informer. No; I will do
+my best for you, come what may. But, remember this, Pete, I'll not have
+you coming round here any more. It isn't safe.'
+
+'I'll remember it, never fear,' he answered. 'You shall not set eyes on
+me again. Now I'll lie down for an hour, and then I must be off.'
+
+There and then he laid himself down on my kitchen floor near the wall,
+and in less than five minutes was fast asleep, for all the world as if
+he had not a care upon his mind. I sat by the window, thinking and
+thinking. What a position was I in! Just as I had thought myself clear
+of my old life for ever, it had sprung up again, hydra-headed, and
+threatened to annihilate me. A deadly fear was tearing at my
+heart-strings; not fear for myself, you must understand that, but fear
+for Sheilah--Sheilah, who believed in me so implicitly.
+
+At the end of an hour, almost to the minute, Pete sat up, rubbed his
+eyes, and then leapt to his feet.
+
+'Time's up,' he said briskly. 'I must be getting on again. Will you come
+down to the yard with me?'
+
+'Of course,' I answered, and followed him out of the door. We walked
+across the paddock together, and when his horse was saddled, he turned
+to me and said, solemnly,--
+
+'As you deal by me, Jim, so may God deal with you! I'm not the sort of
+chap you would associate with religion, but, little though you may be
+able to square it with what you know of me, I tell you I am a firm
+believer in a God. My account with Him is a pretty black one, I'm
+afraid; but yours, old man, is made a bit whiter by what you've done,
+and will do for me--there's a sermon for you! Now, good-bye; perhaps we
+may never meet again.'
+
+'Good-bye,' I answered, and this time, almost without knowing it, I
+shook him by the hand. Then he swung himself into his saddle, and
+without another word drove in his spurs and galloped off into the
+darkness. I stood and watched him till I could see him no longer, then
+back I went to the house, my heart full of forebodings. Try how I would,
+I could not drive the memory of his visit out of my mind. An unknown,
+yet all-consuming, terror seized me at every sound. I thought of the
+lonely grave among the rocks near the Blackfellow's Well, of the
+mysterious man in grey who had appeared, no one knew whence, to relieve
+me of the horse on that awful night. Then I fell to wondering what
+Sheilah and her father would say if they knew all. I never thought of
+bed. Indeed, when the sun rose, he found me still gazing into the
+ash-strewn fireplace thinking and thinking the same interminable
+thoughts.
+
+That afternoon Sheilah commented on my haggard appearance, and I had to
+invent an excuse to account for it. Then under her gentle influence my
+fears slowly subsided, until I had forgotten them as much as it would
+ever again be possible for me to do.
+
+On the Thursday following Pete's visit, I wrote to my father informing
+him of my approaching marriage and imploring him to make the occasion an
+opportunity for a reconciliation. To my letter I received the following
+characteristic reply:--
+
+
+     'SIR,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of
+     yesterday's date, and to thank you for the same. In reply, I beg to
+     state that I have noted the contents as you desire me to do. With
+     regard to the step you intend taking, as it has been arranged
+     without any consideration of my feelings, I am not prepared to
+     venture an opinion of its merits. As to the latter portion of your
+     communication, I may say that on and after your wedding-day I shall
+     be pleased to consider you once more a member of my family.--I am,
+     Your paternal parent,
+
+     'MARMADUKE HEGGARSTONE.
+
+     '_P.S._--I may say that I have in my possession certain jewels
+     which were the property of your mother, and which are heirlooms in
+     our family. On your wedding-day I shall, according to custom, do
+     myself the honour of begging your wife's acceptance of them.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SHEILAH'S LOYALTY
+
+
+A fortnight before my wedding-day it became necessary for me to send a
+small mob of cattle away to Bourke, and as I had no drover, and could
+not afford to wait for one to put in an appearance, I determined to take
+them down myself. Accordingly, having bidden Sheilah good-bye, off I
+went, and, after what seemed an eternity, delivered them to the agent
+and paid the cheque I received in return into the bank to my account.
+Then, with a joyful heart, I turned my horse's head towards home once
+more. The journey back was a quicker one than it had been going, and
+only occupied four days. Night was falling as I reached the township,
+and as soon as I had turned my horses loose and snatched a hasty meal, I
+changed my clothes and crossed the creek to McLeod's homestead. It was
+the night before my wedding-day, and with a wave of happiness flooding
+my heart I shut the gate behind me and went up the path. A warm glow of
+lamplight streamed from the window of the sitting-room, and as the blind
+had not been drawn, I could see Sheilah, her father and Colin McLeod
+sitting talking earnestly together at the table. The solemn expressions
+on their faces frightened me, though I could not tell why, and it was
+with almost a feeling of nervousness that I pushed open the door and
+walked into the room.
+
+When I entered there was a little embarrassed silence for a moment, and
+then Sheilah came across the room and kissed me before them all and
+wished me joy of being home again. Both old McLeod and Colin then shook
+me by the hand, but it seemed as if there were something they were
+keeping back from me. I passed with Sheilah to the other end of the
+room, and stood leaning against the mantlepiece waiting for the matter
+to be explained to me. It was Sheilah who spoke first. She stood beside
+me, and, taking my hand, said to her father,--
+
+'Dad, dear, do not let us beat about the bush. Tell Jim
+straightforwardly what is said about him.'
+
+I pricked up my ears and felt a chill like that of death pass over me.
+What was coming now? I asked myself. Old McLeod rose from his chair as
+if he were going to make a speech, while Colin looked another way.
+
+'James, my lad,' said the old man, 'ye must forgive us for ever
+listening to such talk on the eve of your wedding-day, but we will trust
+to your good sense to understand why we do it. Remember, none of us
+believe it. But we feel we ought to have your word against those who are
+hinting things against ye.'
+
+'What is it they are saying against me?' I asked, my heart fairly
+standing still with fear of what his answer would be.
+
+Old McLeod paused for a moment, and then, looking me full in the face,
+said,--
+
+'James, while ye have been away inquiries have been made concerning the
+disappearance of the Sydney detective, Jarman, who was here at the time
+of the races last year, and who has never since been heard of.'
+
+'But what has that got to do with me?' I asked, feeling all the time
+that my face must be giving damning evidence against me. 'Do they accuse
+me of having murdered him, or what?'
+
+'No, no! Not quite as bad as that! But they say he was last seen
+walking through the township towards Whispering Pete's house in your
+company; and that he has never been seen since.'
+
+'Of course, he was seen with me,' I said. 'He dined and spent the
+evening with us at Pete's house. But I don't see anything suspicious in
+that--do you?'
+
+'Not at all,' said the old man. 'But what became of him afterwards?'
+
+'How can I tell you?' I cried impatiently. 'I was told that he went
+after the horse up North. He did not make me his confidant. Why should
+he? I had never seen him before that day, and I have never seen him
+since.'
+
+'Don't be angry with father for telling you what people say, Jim, dear,'
+said Sheilah, looking into my face with her beautiful eyes. 'Remember,
+none of us have ever doubted you for a moment.'
+
+'Thank God for that, Sheilah,' I answered. 'It would not be like you to
+believe ill of an innocent man.'
+
+Colin McLeod was the next to speak, and what he said was to the
+point--straightforward and honourable, like himself.
+
+'Heggarstone,' said he, 'in my official capacity I have to follow any
+instructions that are given to me; but I want you to understand that
+personally I do not believe you had any hand in the man's
+disappearance.'
+
+'Thank you, Colin,' I said. 'I don't believe you do.'
+
+Old McLeod seemed to me to be considering something in his mind, for
+presently he turned from looking out of the window and said,--
+
+'James, it's a nasty thing to ask ye to do. But I do it for motives of
+my own. Here is a Bible.' He took one down from a shelf and laid it on
+the table before me. 'For form's sake, will ye swear on it that ye know
+nothing of, and had nothing to do with, the disappearance of this man?
+It will make my mind easier if ye will, because, then, I can give your
+accusers the lie direct.'
+
+I looked from the old man to the open Bible, then at Sheilah, then last
+at Colin. But before I could do anything, Sheilah had sprung forward and
+snatched up the Bible, crying, as she did so, 'No! no! There shall be no
+swearing. I won't have it. Jim's word is the word of a God-fearing,
+honest man, and we'll take that or nothing. Then, turning to me, she
+said, 'Jim, you will tell them, on your love for me, that you know
+nothing of the matter, won't you, dear?'
+
+The room seemed to rock and swing round me. A black mist was rising
+before my eyes. I was conscious only that I was lost; that I was about
+to lie, and wilfully lie, to the one woman of all others that I wanted
+to think well of me. What could I do? If I refused to tell them I would
+be giving assent to the charges brought against me, and in that case
+send Pete to the gallows, while, by being compelled to give her up, I
+should break Sheilah's heart. If I perjured myself and swore that I knew
+nothing, then some day the truth might come out; and what would happen
+then? Like a flash up came the remembrance of Pete's visit, and my oath
+to him. Already I felt that they were wondering at my silence. Oh, the
+agony of those moments! Then I made up my mind; and, taking Sheilah's
+hand, lifted it to my lips, and said deliberately, with a full knowledge
+of what I was doing--but with every word cutting deeper and deeper into
+my heart,--
+
+'I swear, by my love for you, Sheilah, that I know nothing of the man's
+fate.' Then she pulled my face down to hers and kissed me before them
+all.
+
+'Jim,' she said, 'you know that I never doubted you.'
+
+The others shook me by the hand, and then, after a few words about the
+arrangements for the morrow, I said good night and went home. But I went
+like a man who did not know where he was going. I took no heed of my
+actions, but walked on and on--turning neither to the right hand nor to
+the left--conscious only of my degradation, of my lie to Sheilah. I was
+ruined! Ruined! Ruined! That was my one thought. Then, arriving at the
+river bank, I threw myself down upon the ground, and cried like a little
+child. Never shall I be able to rid my mind of the memory of that
+agonising night. From long before midnight till the stars were paling in
+the east, preparatory to dawn, I lay just where I had dropped, hopeless
+even unto death! All joy had gone out of existence for me. And this was
+my wedding-day--the day that should have been the happiest of my life.
+
+Gradually the darkness departed from the sky, and in the chill grey of
+dawn I rose to my feet, and, worn and weary past all belief, like a
+hunted criminal fearing to be seen by his fellow-man, I crept down to
+the water's edge and laved my burning face. Then, fording the river
+higher up, I went back to my home. There, in the morning sunlight, stood
+the pretty house I had built, surrounded by the garden on which I had
+expended so much loving thought and care. On the posts of the verandah
+and along the eastern wall the geranium creeper was just beginning to
+climb. My dog came from his kennel near the wood heap and fawned upon
+me; my favourite horse whinnied to me from the slip panels near the
+stockyard gate; everything seemed happy and full of the joy of
+living--only I, who by rights should have been happiest of them all, was
+miserable. I stooped and patted the dog, and then went into the house.
+In every room was the pretty furniture of which Sheilah and I were so
+proud. The dining-room, with its neat appointments, seemed to mock me;
+the drawing-room, in the corner of which stood Sheilah's piano, sent
+over the previous day, turned upon me in mute reproach. All the
+happiness of my life called me coward and liar, and taunted me with my
+shame. I went into my bedroom and looked at myself in the glass. I could
+hardly believe that it was my own face I saw reflected there, so drawn
+and haggard was it. As it was not yet five o'clock, I threw myself upon
+my bed and tried to sleep; but it was impossible. I could do nothing
+but think. Over and over last night's scene I went; with horrible
+distinctness every circumstance rose before me. At last I could bear it
+no longer; so I got up and went out of the house again. And this was my
+wedding-morn. God help me! My wedding-morn!
+
+In ten hours--for the ceremony was fixed for three o'clock in the
+afternoon--I should be standing by Sheilah's side to swear before God
+and man that I would take her into my keeping, that I would love and
+cherish her all the days of my life. How had I already shown my love for
+her? How had I cherished her? Oh, wretched, wretched man that I was! It
+were better for me that I should die before I took that vow!
+
+In an attempt to discover some relief from my awful thoughts I set
+myself some work, fed the animals, milked the cow, boiled myself some
+water, and made a cup of tea; and then, finding that it was not yet
+eight o'clock, I caught a horse and rode off into the back country. How
+far I went I could not say, for I took no heed of time or distance. But
+it must have been a good journey, for when I returned to the homestead
+my horse was completely knocked up. By this time it was one o'clock,
+and I knew that in another hour I should have to begin my preparations
+for the ceremony. A bath somewhat revived me, and I passed to my
+bedroom, where my wedding suit lay staring at me from the bed, feeling a
+little refreshed. By half-past two I was ready and waiting for the
+kind-hearted storekeeper I have mentioned before, and whom I had asked
+to act as my best man. I dreaded his coming, for some unknown reason;
+yet when I heard his firm step upon the path it seemed to brace me like
+a tonic. I called him into the house.
+
+'Good luck to you,' he said, as he entered and shook me by the hand. 'If
+ever a man deserves a change of fortune, you're that one. Heaven knows
+you've worked hard enough for it.'
+
+'It's about time, for hitherto luck hasn't run my way, has it?' I
+answered bitterly.
+
+'Hullo!' he cried, looking at me in surprise. 'This is not the sort of
+humour to be in on your wedding-day. Jim, my boy, if I didn't happen to
+know that you love the girl you are going to marry with your whole heart
+and soul, I should feel a bit concerned about you.'
+
+'Yes, you know I love her, don't you?' I answered, as if I desired that
+point to be reassured on by an independent witness. 'There can be no
+possible doubt about my love for Sheilah--God bless her! But I'm
+afraid!--horribly afraid.'
+
+'Of what?' he asked; then, mistaking my meaning, 'but, there, it's only
+natural. They say every bridegroom's afraid.'
+
+'Then God help every bridegroom who feels as I do--that's all I can
+say.'
+
+'Come, come,' he said, picking up his hat, 'this won't do at all. I
+can't have you talking like this. Anyhow, we had better be off. It's
+close upon a quarter to three now, and it would never do to keep them
+waiting.'
+
+Accordingly we passed out of the house, and set off for the church,
+which stood on a little hill above the township. All through that walk I
+stumbled along like one in a dream, talking always with feverish
+eagerness, afraid even to trust myself to think of what I said. For was
+I not marrying Sheilah with a lie upon my lips?
+
+As it happened, we were the first to arrive at the church, so we went
+inside and waited. Presently others began to put in an appearance, until
+by three o'clock the little church was well filled. A few moments later
+there was a turning of heads, and a whisper went about that the bride
+was arriving. By this time I was trembling like a leaf, and, I don't
+doubt, looked more like a man about to be hanged than a bridegroom
+waiting for his bride. Then the doors were pushed open, and in a stream
+of sunshine Sheilah, dressed all in white, entered leaning on her
+father's arm. When she got half-way up the aisle I went down to meet
+her, and we walked to the altar rails, where the old clergyman was
+waiting for us, together. Then the ceremony commenced.
+
+When the last words were spoken, I, James, had taken Sheilah to be my
+wedded wife, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness
+and in health, swearing to love her and to cherish her, till death
+should us part. The good old man gave us his blessing, and then, with my
+bride upon my arm, I passed down the aisle again towards the porch. The
+greatest event of my life was celebrated, Sheilah and I were man and
+wife.
+
+The little crowd, gathered on either side of the porch, parted to let us
+through, and we were in the act of turning down the path which would
+bring us out opposite McLeod's gate, when I was conscious of a tall
+figure in uniform coming towards me. It was Sergeant Burns, chief of the
+township police. He came up and stood before us--then, placing his hand
+upon my shoulder, said,--
+
+'James Heggarstone, in the Queen's name, I arrest you on a charge of
+murder. I warn you that anything you may say will be used as evidence
+against you.'
+
+Darkness seemed suddenly to fall upon me but before it enveloped me
+completely I saw the crowd draw closer to us. I felt Sheilah slip from
+my side and fall, with a little moan, to the ground. After that I
+remember no more of what happened, till I woke to find myself in a cell
+at the police station, feeling the most miserable man in the whole
+scheme of the universe.
+
+The blow had fallen at last.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+
+It was strange, but nevertheless a fact, how to be accounted for I do
+not know, that when I came to my senses again and found myself in the
+cell at the police station, I was easier in my mind than I had been at
+all since Pete's visit to my house. The truth was the blow had fallen
+and my mind was set at rest once and for all. At first I was like a man
+dead, but now that my wits had returned to me, I was like a man who had
+still to die. Of Sheilah I dared not think.
+
+About sundown the Sergeant entered my cell and found me lying on the
+rough bed-place with my face turned to the wall. He had known me since I
+was a boy, and it didn't take much to see that he was really sorry for
+me.
+
+'Come, come, Jim, my lad,' he said kindly, walking over and sitting down
+on the bed beside me. 'Don't give way like this. Look your difficulties
+in the face and meet them with a bold front like a man.'
+
+'It's all very well for you to say meet them with a bold front,' I
+answered, sitting up and looking at him. 'But think what all this means
+to me.'
+
+'I know about that, my poor lad,' he replied. 'And there's not a soul
+but is downright sorry for you. Unfortunately we had no option but to
+arrest you as we did. We received our instructions by telegraph from
+Brisbane.'
+
+'But what made you arrest me?' I asked. 'Surely they're not going to try
+to prove me guilty of the murder of this man?'
+
+'I can't tell you anything about that, of course,' he answered. 'But we
+had to arrest you, and as you are to be brought before the magistrates
+first thing to-morrow morning you'll know then. In the meantime, if you
+want to send for a lawyer, you are, of course, at liberty to do so!'
+
+'I'll do so at once then,' I answered eagerly, clutching, like a
+drowning man, at the straw held out to me. 'I'd like to have Mr Perkins
+if you will let him know. And might I have some paper, pens, and ink? I
+must write some letters.'
+
+'Of course, you can have anything you want in reason,' the Sergeant
+answered. 'Remember, Jim, you're innocent until you're proved guilty.'
+
+When he went away he did not forget to send in the things I had asked
+for, and as soon as I had received them I sat down and wrote a letter to
+Sheilah. With a mind that was not nearly as easy as I tried to make it
+appear, I told her to keep up her heart, and tried to make her believe
+that this absurd charge must be quickly disproved, as, indeed, I
+confidently expected it would be. Even if the stigma should remain upon
+my character, they could never convict me of connivance for want of
+evidence. As long as the grave under the rocks remained undiscovered,
+all would be well. By this time Pete was probably in America, and the
+One-eyed Doctor with him. The man who had taken the horse from me at the
+corner fence could say nothing about the body, because he had not seen
+it. So that in any case I could scarcely fail to be acquitted. With this
+idea firmly implanted in my mind, I described my arrest as the only
+possible result of all the malicious reports that had lately been
+circulated concerning me, and even went so far as to say that I was
+glad the business had been brought to a head at last. What was more, I
+stated that I felt so far convinced of the result as to arrange
+to meet her the following day--after the examination before the
+magistrates--when we could enter our new home together freed of all
+false charges and suspicions. How far my hopes were destined to be
+realised you will see for yourself.
+
+During the afternoon Mr Perkins, a solicitor who had done two or three
+little bits of legal business for me in brighter days, arrived at the
+station, and was immediately brought to me. He was a sharp,
+ferrety-faced little fellow, with a bald head, clean-shaven chin and
+upper lip, and bushy grey eyebrows. He had a big knowledge of Colonial
+law, and had the wit to remain in the country, quietly working up an
+enormous business for himself, when so many of his fraternity were
+rushing to the cities to take their chances of losing or making fortunes
+there. He seated himself on a stool near the door, and, while doing so,
+expressed himself as exceedingly sorry to see me in such an unpleasant
+position. Then, taking his note-book from his pocket, he set himself to
+ask me a few questions.
+
+'I understand that you are prepared to admit having seen the man Jarman
+on the day of the race in question?' he began.
+
+'Quite prepared,' I answered. 'I was introduced to him immediately after
+I had weighed out!'
+
+'By whom was this introduction effected, and at what spot?'
+
+'By Whispering Pete,' I replied. 'And alongside the refreshment bar at
+the back of the grand stand.'
+
+'And he dined with you a couple of hours later, I understand. At whose
+invitation?'
+
+'At Whispering Pete's, of course. It was his house.'
+
+'To be sure. Now think for one moment before you answer the question I
+am going to ask you. Were you present when Whispering Pete invited him?
+And what words did he use, to the best of your recollection?'
+
+'It came about in this way. We had finished our drinks and were moving
+along the track that leads up to the township, when Jarman said he was
+sorry the amusement was all over, as there was nothing to do in a little
+up-country township like ours in the evening. Then Pete said, "Well, if
+you're afraid of being dull why not come up and dine with us?" "I'll do
+so with pleasure," said Jarman, and then we started off for home.'
+
+'That was exactly what occurred, to the very best of your remembrance?'
+
+'It was. I think I have given you an exact description of it.'
+
+'And when you reached Pete's house--you sat down to dinner, I suppose?'
+
+'Not at once. We each had a glass of sherry first, and sat for a while
+in the verandah.'
+
+'After which you went into dinner? Next to whom did Jarman sit?'
+
+'Between Pete and myself.'
+
+'Was he in good spirits, think you? Did he seem to be enjoying himself?
+I am not asking these questions out of idle curiosity--you will of
+course understand that.'
+
+'In excellent spirits. He told several good stories, described two or
+three sensational arrests he had made in his career, and I should say
+enjoyed himself very much.'
+
+'And after dinner? What did you do then?'
+
+'We sat at the table smoking and talking--then I rose to go.'
+
+'Leaving them still at the table, I presume? Please be particular in
+your answer.'
+
+'Yes, they were still at the table. I bade them good-night, and then
+started for home.'
+
+'Had you any reason for going away at that moment? By the way, what time
+was it when you said good-bye to them?'
+
+'Ten o'clock exactly. I remember looking at my watch and thinking how
+quickly the evening had passed.'
+
+'And what was your reason for going?'
+
+'I could hardly tell you, I'm afraid. You see I was expecting trouble
+with my father because I had ridden the horse for Pete, and I wanted to
+get the fuss over and done with as soon as possible.'
+
+'And when you reached your home, what happened?'
+
+'I saw my father, and we had a violent quarrel. He ordered me out of his
+house then and there, and I went.'
+
+'Where did you go?'
+
+'I went back to Pete, having nowhere else to go.'
+
+'And when you got there was Jarman still there?'
+
+I stopped for a second. This was the question I had all along been
+dreading. But I had no option. If I was going to keep my plighted word,
+and Pete was to be saved, I could not tell the truth. So I said,--
+
+'He had gone.'
+
+'Did you see him go--or meet him on the road?'
+
+'No. I am quite sure I did not.'
+
+'And when you were alone with Pete and the other man, Finnan, what did
+you do?'
+
+'I told Pete what a nasty fix I was in, and let him see that my father
+had turned me out of doors for riding The Unknown.'
+
+'You still consider, then, that the horse was The Unknown--and not the
+Gaybird, as people assert?'
+
+'I cannot say. I never saw Gaybird. I only know that Pete told me his
+horse's name was The Unknown, and having no reason to doubt his
+veracity, that satisfied me, and I asked no further questions.'
+
+'I see! And what had Pete to say when you told him your condition?'
+
+'He said he was extremely sorry to hear it, and asked how he could help
+me.'
+
+'And what answer did you give him?'
+
+'I told him that he could best help me by finding something for me to
+do. I said I was not going to remain in the township idle, to be gaped
+at and talked about by everybody.'
+
+'A very proper spirit. And I understand Pete said he would find you
+something?'
+
+'Yes. He told me he had a mob of cattle then on the way to Sydney. He
+had had to put a man in charge who was not quite up to the work, and
+then he went on to say that if I liked to have the post I was welcome to
+it. He said he thought, if I looked sharp, I could catch them up by
+daybreak.'
+
+'So you started off there and then to try and overtake them?'
+
+'Not at once. I had on my best clothes, you see; so I went home again,
+crept in by a side window, changed my things, got a stock whip, packed a
+few odds and ends into a valise, and then rejoined Pete, who had a
+saddle-horse and a pack-horse waiting for me by the creek. Then off I
+went, and by riding hard caught the mob just as day was breaking.'
+
+'Well, if that is exactly what happened,' said the worthy old lawyer, 'I
+really think I can get you off.'
+
+'I hope and pray you may. Fancy being arrested on such a charge on your
+wedding-day. How would you have liked that, Mr Perkins?'
+
+'Provided it happened before the ceremony, and they did not lock me up
+for more than ten years, I should think it the most fortunate thing
+that could befall me,' he answered. And as he said it I remembered that
+he was a confirmed woman-hater.
+
+Shaking me by the hand, he left me, and I sat down again to my thoughts.
+But my reverie was soon interrupted by the reappearance of the Sergeant.
+
+'There is a lady here who wishes to see you,' he said, and forthwith
+ushered Sheilah into my cell. Then, softly closing the door behind him,
+he left us together. Sheilah ran into my arms, and for some minutes
+sobbed upon my shoulder. When she had recovered her composure a little,
+I led her to a seat and sat down beside her.
+
+'Sheilah--my poor little wife,' I said, with my arm round her neck, 'to
+think that I should have been separated from you like this on our
+wedding-day. But we must be brave, little wife, mustn't we?'
+
+'Oh, Jim! My poor Jim,' was all she could say in answer. 'You are
+innocent. I know you are innocent. Oh, why are they so cruel as to bring
+this charge against you?'
+
+'Of course I am innocent, darling,' I replied, kissing her tear-stained
+cheeks. 'I would not have laid a finger upon the man to hurt him for
+all the world. But you need have no fear. I have Perkins's word for it
+that he can get me off. He has just left me after asking half-a-hundred
+questions.'
+
+'But if the man was not murdered as they say, he must be alive at this
+moment, and in that case he will be sure to come forward and clear your
+character.'
+
+'Of course he will, if he's alive. But, thank goodness, I think I shall
+be able to clear myself without troubling him.'
+
+'Pray God you may. Oh, Jim, I feel like an old woman instead of a young
+bride. I have been so ill all the afternoon that my father would not let
+me come to you before. But I am going to be brave now, and to-morrow I
+shall have you with me again. Then I will make it up to you for all the
+misery you are suffering now.'
+
+'Who knows that better than I do, my darling.'
+
+She rose to her feet, and then, stooping, kissed me on the forehead.
+
+'My own true husband,' she said, 'I believe in you before all the world,
+remember that. Now I must be going. But first, my father is outside. May
+he come in?'
+
+'I should like to see him before all others,' I said--and she went to
+the door. The officer outside opened it for her, and next moment old
+McLeod entered and shook me by the hand.
+
+'I wonder that you care to do this,' I said, as I returned his
+salutation. 'I hope it shows me that so far you do not believe me guilty
+of the horrible charge they have brought against me?'
+
+'I do not!' he answered stoutly. 'No, James, my lad, in Sheilah and
+myself ye have two stalwart champions.'
+
+'And I thank God for it,' I replied fervently. 'I will repay it you
+both, as you will see, when I am released.'
+
+The time was soon up for them to leave, so bidding me good-bye, they
+went out, and once more the heavy door closed upon me. But they had done
+that which had cheered me and made me happier than I had been for some
+time past. Half-an-hour later my tea was brought to me, and by eight
+o'clock I was in bed and asleep. For the reason that I had had no rest
+at all on the previous night, I slept like a top now--a heavy dreamless
+slumber that lasted well into next morning. In fact, it must have been
+considerably after six o'clock before I opened my eyes. Then for a
+moment I was puzzled to know where I was, but my memory soon returned to
+me, and the recollection of the arrest and all that had followed it
+rushed back upon me. However, I was quite confident that in another few
+hours I should be at liberty, so my present captivity and inconvenience
+might only be regarded as temporary, and, therefore, easily to be borne.
+Outside the cell window the birds were chirping merrily, and now and
+again I could hear the voices of passers-by. Giving up an attempt to
+hear what they said, I began to wonder what Sheilah was doing, and
+whether she was as anxious to see me as I was to see her.
+
+Then breakfast was brought in, and by the time I had finished my meal
+and taken some exercise in the yard it was time to be going into Court.
+
+The Court House at Barranda adjoins the police station, so that,
+fortunately, I was not called upon to face the public before my case was
+called on. Then a constable signed to me to follow him, and I crossed
+the yard and went towards a narrow door. This led directly into the
+Court itself, and as soon as I had passed through it, I found myself
+standing in the centre of a large room, of which the gallery at one end
+and a daïs at the other were all densely crowded. A trooper opened the
+gate of the dock, and I immediately went up two steps and entered it.
+Almost every face in the Court was familiar to me, and the magistrate on
+the Bench I had known ever since I was a little boy. At the further end
+of a long form, below the daïs, I saw old McLeod sitting. Mr Perkins was
+just in front of him, and the Lawyer, who was to act as prosecutor for
+the Government, stood opposite him. Then, just as the case was about to
+commence, the door at the back of the Bench opened, and who should
+appear but my father. He looked very bent and old, and seemed to be
+labouring under the influence of some powerful excitement. He glared
+round the Court as a little buzz of astonishment naturally went up, and
+then took his place on the form where the witnesses were seated. The
+case then commenced. First and foremost the charge was read to me, and
+in reply to questions asked, I gave my name, age and address, and
+pleaded not guilty. A witness was then called to prove that I had ridden
+the horse The Unknown, supposed to be the property of, and entered in
+the name of Peter Dempster, in the race for the Barranda Cup, and that I
+was afterwards seen in the company of the missing man. The landlord of
+the hotel deposed that Jarman had dined out on the evening in question,
+and had not returned since then, either to pay his bill or to remove his
+effects. This evidence created a sensation, which was intensified when
+another witness stepped into the box, and swore that on the night in
+question, somewhere about half-past ten, he was taking a short cut
+across Pete's paddock to reach the township when he heard a sharp
+scream, such as would be made by a man in pain come from the direction
+of Dempster's house.
+
+'And what did you do on hearing it?' asked the Lawyer, who, as I say,
+was conducting the prosecution.
+
+'I stood still and listened for it again,' answered the witness.
+
+'And did you hear it?' asked the Lawyer.
+
+'No, not again,' replied the witness.
+
+'And then?'
+
+'I continued my walk towards the township.'
+
+'You did not consider it sufficiently peculiar as to warrant your making
+inquiries?'
+
+'It was so sharp and sudden that I did not know what it was.'
+
+The Prosecuting Lawyer resumed his seat, and Mr Perkins thereupon
+jumped up and began to cross-examine the witness after his own fashion.
+When he had finished and had sat down again, he had elicited from the
+man--first that he could not even swear it was a human scream he heard;
+secondly, that it was so sudden and so short that he would hardly like
+to swear solemnly that he heard anything at all. It might have been, so
+the cross-examination elicited, the wind in the grass, a mopoke in a
+tree, perhaps, or a curlew down by the river side. The man could not
+state anything definitely, and Mr Perkins asked the Bench to severely
+censure the police for bringing such paltry and unreliable evidence
+before the Court. This was decidedly a point in my favour.
+
+Pete's cook and housekeeper was the next witness called. After a good
+look at me, she asserted that she remembered seeing me sitting next to
+Jarman in the dining-room when she took in some hot water which had been
+ordered by Pete. That was about nine-thirty o'clock. The missing man,
+she said, was talking and laughing, and seemed to be enjoying himself
+immensely. When she entered a second time, about ten-fifteen, I was not
+present in the room, though Jarman was. She did not hear a scream, nor
+did she see any of the visitors leave the house. She went to bed early,
+having to be up by daybreak next morning to bake her bread. On being
+asked if she had noticed anything peculiar about the dinner, either
+while it was proceeding or afterwards, she answered that she had not.
+Thereupon a small and dirty square of linen was produced by the police
+and laid on the table in the centre of the Court. The witness was asked
+if she recognised it, and she was obliged to admit that it was a
+tablecloth that had once belonged to Whispering Pete. It had been
+discovered by the police about a week after the dinner on the edge of a
+burned-out bonfire. The rest of the cloth had evidently been consumed by
+the fire. She was next asked if she could swear to the cloth that had
+been used on that occasion. This she could do, she answered, on account
+of a small iron mould in the corner. She was thereupon shown a mark of
+that description in a corner of the cloth. Having recognised it, she was
+told to step down, and Marmaduke Heggarstone was called.
+
+With a hasty glance at me, my parent walked into the box and took the
+customary oath. In reply to the Lawyer's questions, he asserted that I
+had ridden the race against his wishes, and that he had promised to turn
+me out of his house if I did so. I rode, and when I visited him shortly
+after ten o'clock on the night mentioned, he acted upon his word and
+turned me out. At the time I was the worse for liquor, and to the best
+of his belief was in a very quarrelsome condition. I had remained with
+him about a quarter-of-an-hour. Where I had gone after that he could not
+say, but he had since learned from his housekeeper that I had returned
+to the house later and had changed my clothes. After a short
+cross-examination by Perkins, which elicited very little, he sat down,
+and old Betty, our housekeeper, was called. She went into the box in
+fear and trembling, and immediately she got there began to cry. But the
+Lawyer was very easy with her, and in a few minutes she was able to
+answer his questions after her usual fashion. She deposed to hearing me
+come back to the house about half-past eleven, and to finding my best
+clothes hanging on the peg next morning when she went into my room. The
+Lawyer thereupon took up a coat from where it lay on the table and
+showed it to her.
+
+'Do you recognise this garment?' he asked. She signified that she had
+seen it before.
+
+'Where did you see it last?' he went on.
+
+'When it was hanging up in Master Jim's room,' she said. 'Before you
+took it away.'
+
+'How do you account for this stain on the left cuff? Or, perhaps, you
+have not yet seen it?'
+
+The witness answered that she had noticed it on the morning following
+the dinner, and had intended to sponge it out, but had forgotten to do
+so.
+
+Mr Perkins then cross-examined her as to the time at which she thought
+she had heard me re-enter the house, but he failed to shake her. When
+she left the box, the Government analytical chemist from Brisbane was
+called, and to my horror and astonishment swore that the stain upon the
+coat cuff was undoubtedly that of blood, and human blood. He had
+carefully examined it and tried it by all the known tests, and his
+opinion was not to be shaken. When he had finished his evidence my case
+had altogether changed. My tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of my
+parched mouth. I clung to the rail of the dock, and felt as if by this
+time all the world must be convinced of my guilt. I glanced at the form
+on which old McLeod sat, and saw that his face was ashen pale.
+
+Then the last witness was called. He was a stranger to me. A tall,
+black-bearded man, with a crafty, unpleasant face. In answer to the
+usual questions he said his name was Bennett and that he was a settler
+on the Warrego River. On the day preceding the night in question, he had
+been in Carryfort township, when he received a letter sent by special
+messenger from Peter Dempster to say that he had a valuable horse which
+he wanted him to take charge of for a few months. A man would meet him
+at a certain corner of Judson's Boundary fence near the Blackfellow's
+well, outside Barranda township, about one in the morning, and give
+delivery. Yes! he had had many dealings in horses and cattle with the
+before-mentioned Dempster, and not liking to disappoint him in this
+case, camped near the place mentioned and waited for his messenger to
+make his appearance. At about twenty minutes past one o'clock, a man
+came into view bringing with him three horses, one of which, carrying an
+empty pack-saddle on its back, was the animal he was to take away. He
+had no difficulty in recognising the prisoner as the man who had brought
+him the horse. On being asked what he did with the animal after he had
+received it, he informed the Court that he took it back to the Warrego
+River, where it was afterwards seized by the police, with the
+pack-saddle which had been reposing on a shelf in his store ever since
+he had brought it home. Try how he would to do so, Perkins could not
+shake his assertion that I was the man who had handed him the horse.
+
+The Government Analyst was then recalled and asked certain questions
+regarding the pack-saddle before mentioned. He stated that he had
+examined it carefully and discovered on both sides large stains, which
+he unhesitatingly declared to be blood, but whether the blood on the
+coat cuff and that on the pack-saddle were identical he could not
+decide. Again Perkins was to the fore, and endeavoured to prove that the
+marks upon the saddle might have been there prior to the ride that
+night. But I could see with half an eye that the Court had counted this
+as another point against me. The evidence of the Government Analyst
+concluded the hearing, and the Prosecutor thereupon asked the Court to
+commit me for trial. Perkins followed, and submitted that there was not
+sufficient evidence before the Bench to warrant them in doing anything
+of the sort. It was a forcible speech but quite useless, for after a
+brief consultation the verdict was, 'committed for trial at the next
+criminal sessions to be held in Marksworth.'
+
+I was then removed and conducted back to my cell.
+
+How I got through the rest of that miserable day I cannot remember. I
+believe I spent it cursing myself and the day I was born. Oh, what a
+pitiful fool I had been! If only I had listened to advice and had had
+nothing to do with Whispering Pete, what a different fate might have
+been mine. Even now it was possible for me to put myself right by giving
+evidence against him. But bad as my position was I could not save myself
+by doing that, and so I knew I must take the consequences whatever they
+might be.
+
+All that afternoon and evening I sat with my head on my hands, thinking
+and wondering what Sheilah and her father would believe in the face of
+the evidence against me. They would see that I had perjured myself to
+them that night when I swore I had had nothing to do with Jarman's
+disappearance. What their feelings would be now seemed too horrible to
+contemplate.
+
+Soon after nightfall I heard a commotion in the yard, and presently the
+Sergeant entered my cell. He was booted and spurred as if for a journey.
+
+'Now, my man,' he said in a very different tone to that in which he had
+addressed me yesterday, 'you must prepare for a long ride. We're off to
+Marksworth at once. I've got an old horse for you, and I'll make it all
+as easy as I possibly can--provided you give no trouble, and don't make
+any attempt at escape.'
+
+I was too much surprised at the suddenness of it all to do anything but
+assent, and so I was accordingly conducted to the yard where several
+horses stood ready saddled. The Sergeant had his well-known iron-grey,
+the trooper who was to accompany us was on another fine beast, and held
+the leading rein of a pack-horse in his hand, while a strong but patent
+safety animal was waiting for me. I mounted, and my hands were thereupon
+chained to the front of the saddle, the Sergeant took my reins, and we
+were in the act of riding out of the yard when someone ran out of the
+office and came towards me. It was Colin!
+
+'Heggarstone,' he said hurriedly. 'Before you go I want to wish you
+good-bye and to say how sorry I am for you.'
+
+'Thank you, Colin,' I said sincerely, more touched by his generosity
+than I could say, 'Tell Sheilah, will you, that I still assert my
+innocence, and that my every thought is of her.'
+
+'I'll tell her,' he answered. 'You may be sure of that! Good-bye!'
+
+Then we rode out of the yard, and down the street. Fortunately it was
+quite dark so our passage through the township attracted no attention. I
+looked at the lamp-lit windows and thought of the happy folk inside, and
+could have cried for very shame when I remembered that I too might have
+been in my own house, happy with my pretty wife, but for my own
+obstinate stupidity. Then we turned away from the creek, and in doing so
+left the houses behind us. For nearly four hours we rode steadily on in
+the dark--then reaching the end of a long lagoon, we stopped and
+prepared to camp. The trooper jumped off his horse and lit a fire,
+unpacked the load of the animal he led, while the Sergeant dismounted
+and unfastened my handcuffs. Then I descended from the saddle and stood
+by the fire. As soon as the horses were hobbled and belled we had our
+supper, after which blankets were spread, and I laid myself down to
+sleep with my right hand handcuffed to the Sergeant's left wrist.
+Overhead the stars shone brightly, and hour after hour I lay looking up
+into the vault of heaven, thinking of the girl who had trusted me and
+whose life I had wrecked. By-and-by a lonely dingo crept down from the
+Ranges behind and howled at us, and then I fell asleep and did not wake
+till daybreak.
+
+As soon as breakfast was finished we mounted our horses and proceeded on
+our way again, not to stop until mid-day, and then only for
+half-an-hour. All the afternoon we continued our march and all the next
+day--indeed, it was not till nightfall of the day following that again
+that we saw ahead of us the lights of Marksworth, the biggest township
+on our side of Queensland. Arriving there, we rode straight up to the
+gaol, and I was duly handed over to the Governor. A cell was allotted to
+me, and, thoroughly tired out, I turned into my blankets and was soon
+fast asleep.
+
+Three days later the Assizes commenced, and I learned from a warder
+that my case would be the last on the list. Mr Perkins had obtained an
+eminent Brisbane barrister to defend me, and I knew that, whatever the
+result might be, I should be able to say that I had had a good run for
+my money. The case had become widely known and had attracted an enormous
+amount of attention, so that when the morning of the trial came, and I
+entered the Court, I found it crowded to its utmost holding capacity.
+The Judge sat on the bench, clad in his robes and wig--the barristers in
+their gowns and wigs occupied their usual positions. But though I looked
+along the rows of staring people for the face of someone I knew, I could
+see nobody. Then my heart gave a great leap, for in the front row of the
+gallery, heavily veiled, sat Sheilah and her father. I was just going to
+make a sign to show that I saw her--when the door of the dock opened
+again, _and who should be ushered in than Whispering Pete_. My
+astonishment may be imagined. I had thought him thousands of miles away
+by this time, and had as little counted on seeing him as of having the
+Wandering Jew in the dock beside me. He was looking very ill; his face
+was pinched and haggard, and his eyes were ringed with dark circles. He
+bowed gravely to the Court, and then coolly shook hands with me. As he
+did so the work of empannelling the jury commenced, and when this had
+been satisfactorily accomplished, and we had both been charged and
+pleaded not guilty, the trial commenced. In its early stages it differed
+but little from the magistrate's examination, save for the wrangling and
+disputing that went on between the barristers. A man who had seen me
+ride The Unknown in the race gave evidence, followed by the individual
+who had met us with Jarman on the road to Pete's house, the person who
+had heard the cry came next, then Pete's housekeeper, and the incident
+of the tablecloth, after which my father, who looked in even worse
+health than at the magisterial examination, gave his evidence in more
+than his usual irritable fashion. Betty and the incident of my clothes,
+the Government Analyst, and the selector who had taken the horse from me
+followed in due order. The latter's complexion turned a sort of pea
+green when he was confronted with Pete. After that the Government
+Analyst deposed to the finding of the blood upon the pack-saddle.
+
+When he left the box a sensation was caused by the appearance of the
+owner of the horse Gaybird. In answer to questions put to him he
+described the clever way in which the robbery of his famous horse had
+been accomplished. His stud groom and stable boys, it appeared, had been
+drugged, and the horse, with his feet swathed in flannel bandages, had
+been ridden out of the loose box between two and three in the morning. A
+blacksmith's shop was next visited and broken into, and the forge fire
+lit. The horse had then been re-shod all round, the only difference
+being that the plates were put on backwards. The result of this was that
+when the police thought they were following the tracks, he had in
+reality been going in an exactly opposite direction. That was the last
+he saw of the animal until he heard that he had been discovered by the
+Queensland police on the Warrego River, and he had gone up to identify
+him. Some spirited cross-examination followed, but without doing either
+of us very much good. The witness then stepped from the box and a
+Sergeant of Police took his place.
+
+The Crown Prosecutor glanced at his notes and prepared to question him.
+
+'On Thursday of last week, the day following the examination of one of
+the prisoners before the magistrates at Barranda, you received certain
+information, and on the strength of it you left Marksworth with another
+trooper and a black tracker. In what direction did you proceed?'
+
+'To the pool known as the Blackfellow's Well, on the old Barranda road,'
+was the reply.
+
+My heart turned to ice--a deadly cold sweat broke out all over me. What
+was coming now?
+
+'Having arrived there, what did you do?'
+
+'I dragged the well.'
+
+'And what did you find?'
+
+'A workman's shovel.'
+
+The Crown Prosecutor took up a shovel from a heap of articles lying upon
+the table before him and handed it to the witness, who examined it.
+
+'Is that what you found?'
+
+'Yes! It is!'
+
+'How do you recognise it?'
+
+'By the brand upon the handle.'
+
+'Very good. Now step down for one moment.'
+
+The Sergeant did as he was ordered, and Timothy Cleary was called and
+took his place in the box. When he had been sworn, the Crown Prosecutor
+looked at him for a moment, and the examination proceeded as follows,--
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'You describe yourself as a station hand. Were you
+ever in the employ of either of the prisoners?'
+
+_Witness._--'I was!'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'Which one?'
+
+_Witness._--'Mr Dempster.'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'When, and for how long?'
+
+_Witness._--'It's difficult reckoning, sir, but 'twas in October two
+years back I went to him, and 'twas three months come next Tuesday that
+I left.'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'Very good. Now take this shovel in your hand and
+examine it carefully. Have you ever seen it before?'
+
+_Witness._--'Many's the time, sir!'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'Whose property was it when you knew it?'
+
+_Witness._--'Sure, it belonged to Mr Pete!'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'The elder prisoner you mean--Peter Dempster. You
+are on your oath, remember, and you swear to this?'
+
+_Witness._--'I do, it's the truth sure I'm telling ye, sir, if it's my
+last word.'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'Never mind your last word. Tell me this: How is it
+that you are so certain that this particular shovel was the prisoner's
+property?'
+
+_Witness._--'Because of the brand on the handle, and the burn just
+above the blade, sir! I put both on meself.'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'Acting on the elder prisoner's instruction, of
+course?'
+
+_Witness._--'Of course, sir!'
+
+_Crown Prosecutor._--'That will do. I have done with you.'
+
+Our barristers immediately began to cross-examine, but elicited nothing
+of any importance.
+
+The Inspector of Brands was next called and sworn. His evidence was to
+the effect that the brand upon the shovel was that registered in the
+elder prisoner's name, and after our counsel had stated that he had no
+desire to cross-examine him he withdrew, and the Sergeant of Police who
+had found the implement was recalled.
+
+He informed the Court that after discovering the shovel in question in
+the well, he had instituted a thorough and careful search of the
+locality. The result was that a rock on the hillside showed signs of
+having been tampered with and moved from its original position. This
+struck him as being curious, so he had it cleared away altogether. He
+then discovered that under where it had stood a large hole had been dug.
+
+Here the excitement in Court became intense. I dared not look to right
+or left but stood staring straight before me at the Judge upon the
+bench.
+
+'And having rolled away the stone, pray tell me what you found in that
+hole?' the Crown Prosecutor continued in the same remorseless voice.
+
+'I found the decomposed body of a man sir!'
+
+Great sensation in Court.
+
+'And when you had made this alarming discovery, what did you do?' asked
+the Prosecutor.
+
+'I brought it into Marksworth as quickly as possible.'
+
+'Have you been able to discover whose body it was?'
+
+'At the Coroner's inquest it was proved to be that of Jarman!'
+
+'How was that proved?'
+
+'By means of certain cards in a case,' the man answered, 'the name on
+the linen, certain letters in the pockets, and the inscription inside
+the cover of the watch.'
+
+The witness then stepped down, and certain other people, strangers to
+me, were called. They affirmed that they had seen and identified the
+body as that of the Sydney detective, James Jarman.
+
+Only one more witness remained to be examined, and he was now called. He
+informed the Court that he was a swagman, and that, on the night in
+question, he was camped near the main track on the outskirts of Barranda
+township. About a quarter past twelve o'clock, as nearly as he could fix
+it, he was awakened by the sound of horses approaching him at a smart
+pace. There was sufficient light for him to see that it was a man riding
+one horse and leading two others. The pack-horse on the right was loaded
+in the usual way; that on the left had a bulky package upon his back,
+and what looked very much like a shovel fastened to the top of it. On
+being asked by our counsel how he knew all this, he stated that he was
+lying under a tree scarcely ten yards distant from where the man passed.
+He could not say that he would know the rider again.
+
+A doctor having given evidence as to the manner in which death had been
+caused, the case for the prosecution was at an end. For the defence a
+number of witnesses were called, particularly as to my character, and
+an attempt was made to prove that it was a matter of impossibility for
+me to have ridden from Barranda by the Blackfellow's Well track, dug the
+grave, buried the body, delivered up the horse, and reached the cattle
+camp at the time I did. Both our counsels made eloquent speeches, and
+just as dusk was falling, the Judge began his summing up. He drew the
+particular attention of the jury to the way in which all the
+circumstances of the case dovetailed into one another. The murdered man
+was at the house for the express purpose of arresting the prisoners on a
+charge of horse-stealing; he had last been seen alive by the woman who
+acted as housekeeper to the elder prisoner when he was sitting in that
+prisoner's dining-room. That was about a quarter past ten o'clock. It
+must be remembered by the jury, His Honour pointed out, that the younger
+prisoner, Heggarstone, was not present on the last occasion that she
+entered the room. From ten o'clock to ten-thirty it had been proved that
+he was in his father's house, evidently the worse for liquor. It would
+probably have taken him fully ten minutes in the state he was then in to
+walk back to the elder prisoner's house, which would bring it up to the
+time when another witness heard, or, more strictly speaking, thought he
+heard a scream come from the house. Then there were the two particulars
+about the burning of the tablecloth which had been used that night to be
+carefully considered, also the stain upon the cuff of the younger
+prisoner's coat, which he had gone back to his father's house to change
+at half-past eleven o'clock. Then it must be noted that at or about a
+quarter-past twelve o'clock a man was seen by another witness riding
+swiftly from the township on one horse, leading two others, one of which
+carried a peculiarly shaped burden with a shovel strapped upon it. At
+one-twenty, or thereabouts, the younger prisoner was met by another
+witness and relieved of one horse. That horse turned out to be stolen,
+by whom His Honour could not say, but without a doubt with the elder
+prisoner's knowledge and sanction. It was necessary for him to point out
+that there were two other cases on record against the prisoner Dempster
+of horse and cattle stealing in Queensland and one in the Colony of New
+South Wales. For each he had suffered terms of imprisonment. The police
+had obtained possession of the horse and pack-saddle, and the latter
+was found to be stained with blood. Since that time the police had
+discovered the shovel, marked with the prisoner's brand, at the bottom
+of the well near where the horse was handed over to the selector from
+the Warrego River; also the body of the murdered man buried beneath a
+rock on the hillside. The identification had been complete. In
+conclusion, he would draw their attention to the fact that there was a
+third man concerned in the case who had not yet been brought to justice,
+but who, doubtless, soon would be. It only remained for him to caution
+the jury to carefully weigh the evidence that had been submitted to
+them, giving the prisoners the benefit of every doubt that existed in
+their minds, and then to ask them to bring in a verdict in accordance
+with those beliefs.
+
+When he had finished his address, the jury filed out of their box and
+left the Court, the Judge vanished into an adjoining room, and, amid a
+buzz of conversation, we were led to cells in the rear of the building.
+The heat was intense, and in the interval of waiting, which was less
+than a quarter-of-an-hour, I seemed to live my whole life over again.
+God help me, what a wretched man I was! Then we were called back to our
+places; the Judge entered, and silence was demanded. Next moment the
+jury filed in again. The foreman, I remember, was a little bald-headed
+fellow, in a long black coat, and wore spectacles. In reply to the usual
+questions by the Judge's associate, he stated that he and his colleagues
+had arrived at a decision.
+
+'Do you find the prisoners guilty or not guilty?'
+
+There was such a silence in the Court that you could have heard a pin
+drop as we waited for his answer.
+
+It seemed years in coming. Then the foreman said,--
+
+'We find both prisoners guilty. The younger, however, we strongly
+recommend to mercy, believing him to have been intoxicated at the time
+and under the influence of the elder.'
+
+A little moan came from the gallery--followed by a cry of 'Silence in
+the Court.' Then came the solemn question,--
+
+'Prisoners at the bar, have you anything to say why sentence should not
+be pronounced against you?'
+
+Pete went to the front of the dock, and I thought he was going to give
+an explanation which would have saved me; but he only licked his thin
+lips and said,--
+
+'I have nothing at all to say, Your Honour.'
+
+I followed his example, with the addition that I reiterated my
+innocence.
+
+Then the Judge turned to me and said,--
+
+'James Heggarstone, you have been found guilty of complicity in the
+murder of James Jarman. You have had the benefit of the advice of a
+learned counsel, and you have had a fair trial. The jury, who have
+carefully weighed the evidence submitted to them, have recommended you
+to mercy, so nothing remains for me now but to pass sentence upon you.'
+(Here he glanced at a paper before him.) 'The sentence of the Court,
+therefore, is that you suffer penal servitude for the remainder of the
+term of your natural life.'
+
+I murmured something in reply--what I could not tell you. Just as I did
+so there was the sound of a heavy fall at the back of the Court, and I
+looked round to see two policemen carrying my father out. Then the Judge
+fumbled about among his papers once more, and finally took up the awful
+black cap, and placed it upon his head. Then he turned to Pete, who was
+leaning quietly on the rail, and said,--
+
+'Peter Dempster, you have been found guilty of the cruel murder of the
+man James Jarman, and with that verdict I most fully concur. Of the
+motive for the crime I say nothing, but the sentence of this Court is
+that you be taken back to the place whence you came, and there be hanged
+by the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy on your soul!'
+
+While the Judge was speaking Pete did not move a muscle of his face, but
+looked at him just as usual, and when he had finished, said as quietly
+as usual,--
+
+'I thank Your Honour.'
+
+After that we were led away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HOW I ESCAPED
+
+
+I am not going to attempt to furnish you with a description of my
+sensations during the first fortnight of my imprisonment. It would be
+quite impossible to give you any adequate idea of them. I believe for
+the greater part of the time I was on the verge of madness, one moment
+buoyed up with hope that Pete, seeing his own inevitable doom
+approaching, would make confession of my innocence, and the next hurled
+down into the depths lest he should not do it at all, and so leave me,
+an innocent man, to suffer undeserved punishment for the remainder of my
+natural existence. The day of his execution was drawing closer, and with
+every moment my anxiety was growing more and more unbearable. As if to
+make it harder, by the rules of the prison I could not appeal to him in
+any way. Of Sheilah I dared not think at all, and by the same token I
+could only speculate what had happened to my father.
+
+One morning, however, I was destined to be enlightened on two of these
+subjects. The Governor, going his rounds, stopped at my cell, and when I
+saw him I dropped the work upon which I had been engaged and stood at
+attention.
+
+'Prisoner,' he said, 'you have this morning addressed a letter to me
+asking if the condemned man Dempster has made any confession of your
+innocence. In reply I have some news to give you which I fear will
+greatly distress you. Dempster died suddenly this morning of aneurism of
+the heart, leaving no confession of any kind.'
+
+'Dead!' I cried, hardly able to believe my ears. 'And left no
+confession. Then I am ruined indeed! I shall have to spend my life in
+prison and I am an innocent man.'
+
+With that I fell back on my bed-place and fainted away. When I
+recovered, the Governor was still with me. But his face was less stern
+than it had been.
+
+'My man,' he said, 'if you are innocent, as you say, your case is indeed
+a hard one. But you must prepare yourself for some more sad news, which
+I think it my duty to communicate to you.'
+
+I looked up at him with a white face. If the truth must be known, I
+feared some misfortune had befallen Sheilah.
+
+'What is it, sir?' I whispered, almost afraid to speak.
+
+'I have to tell you that your father is also dead,' he answered; 'he was
+seized with a stroke of paralysis in Court and lingered until this
+morning, when he passed quietly away.'
+
+Strange though it may appear, a feeling of positive relief seized me
+when I heard this last piece of news. I had so dreaded hearing that
+something had befallen Sheilah that the news of my father's death failed
+to affect me as keenly as it would have done at any other time. Perhaps
+the calmness with which I received it struck the Governor as
+extraordinary, for he looked at me in a curious fashion, and then, with
+a few brief words of advice, to which I hardly listened, left the cell.
+When he had gone I had plenty of leisure to think over my position, and
+my consternation was boundless. Now that Pete was dead, and the One-eyed
+Doctor could not be found, my innocence might never be proved, and in
+that case I should have to remain a prisoner at least for thirteen
+years. Pete was dead, my father was dead! The words seemed to ring in my
+head like a passing knell. Pete was dead, my father was dead, and
+I--well, I was buried alive.
+
+According to custom I was to remain at Marksworth Gaol for a month and
+then be transferred for the balance of my term to Burowie Convict
+Prison, in the township of that name, a hundred miles distant, and in
+the opposite direction to Barranda. So for the rest of that month I
+fretted on, doing the work set me almost unconsciously, dreaming all the
+time of my wife and the beautiful free world outside that I was not to
+see, save on my journey between the gaols, for thirteen long years. The
+mere thought of such captivity was enough to kill any man, especially
+one born and bred in the bush as I had been.
+
+At last the day, long looked for, came for me to change gaols. It was
+scorchingly hot, and for this reason our departure was delayed till the
+cool of the evening. About seven o'clock I and two more prisoners were
+paraded in the central yard. Our guard, consisting of a sergeant and
+four troopers, well mounted and equipped, paraded with us, leading the
+three horses which were to carry us to our destination. They were not
+bad looking beasts, the horses I mean, but nothing like as good as those
+ridden by our guards. When all was ready we were ordered to mount, and
+having done so our hands were manacled behind us. Then the sergeant in
+charge taking the lead, we started off, skirted the town and the common,
+and at last entered the scrub.
+
+Throughout the journey my mind was occupied, almost without cessation,
+endeavouring to find an opportunity to escape. But not one presented
+itself. Next morning we were on our way again by the time the sun was
+above the horizon, jogging quietly through the scrub. And now I come to
+recall it, I think that was the hottest day's ride I ever remember.
+Little by little, however, the sun sank below the tree-tops, and at
+last, when we had arrived at a suitable spot, the sergeant called a
+halt. The troopers immediately dismounted, and we were told to follow
+their example. While the sergeant stood guard over us, two men
+unharnessed the horses and turned them loose, and the other two set
+about preparing the camp. Suddenly, like a flash, I saw my opportunity.
+The sergeant's horse, the best of the whole lot, a well-bred young
+chestnut, had not been hobbled, and was grazing barebacked, with his
+bridle still on, a short distance from the others. Thinking all was
+safe, the sergeant had unfastened my handcuffs for a moment to give my
+arms a rest. I leaned idly against a tree, keeping my eye all the time
+fixed upon the horse. Then suddenly I called out at the top of my voice,
+leaping away as I spoke.
+
+'Great Scott, sergeant, look out for that snake!'
+
+He jumped as if a dynamite cartridge had been exploded under his feet,
+and, while he was turning to look for the snake, I made a rush as hard
+as I could for the spot where his horse was standing. In less time than
+it takes to tell I had reached him, sprung upon his back, driven my
+heels into his sides, and was off across the plain at a racing gallop.
+When we had gone about fifty paces a carbine cracked in the air; but I
+was going too fast to be any sort of a mark for a bullet, so that did
+not trouble me very much. The shot, however, had one good effect; fast
+as my horse had hitherto been travelling, he now went even faster.
+Across the little open plain we dashed, into the thick scrub timber on
+the other side, and just as we did so I looked behind me. Short as the
+warning had been, two troopers were already scrambling into their
+saddles. Keeping well to the left, and having by this time secured the
+reins that at first had been flying loose about his head, I set the
+horse going in downright earnest. The ground was broken and by no means
+safe for galloping, but I trusted to be able to keep my pursuers at a
+distance until it was thoroughly dark, when I knew I should stand an
+admirable chance of giving them the slip altogether. As I left the
+timber, and emerged on to another bit of plain, I saw them descending
+the ridge behind me. What was worse, they had evidently cut a corner
+somehow, for now they were not more than a couple of hundred yards
+distant. My mind, however, was fully made up. I would risk anything,
+even my life, rather than be captured. If they came up with me, I was
+determined to fight to the death.
+
+Once more I reached the security of the timber, but this time it was all
+down hill--broken ground, strewn here and there with big rocks, and the
+trunks of fallen trees. But if it had been paved with razor blades I
+believe I should have gone down it just as fast--for could I not hear
+the rattle of stones and the shouts of the men behind me. Suddenly my
+horse stuck his forelegs out and stiffened his whole body, and
+experience told me he had scented danger ahead. I looked over his ears,
+and there, straight before me, in the half dark, was a dry water-course,
+stretching away as far as I could see to right and left. In front it was
+at least thirty feet wide and sixty feet deep--a formidable jump, even
+on the best steeplechaser living. What was I to do? If I turned to the
+right or left, the men behind me would certainly head me off and capture
+me. If I went back up the hill I should come face to face with them;
+while, if I jumped, I might break my neck and so end my flight for good
+and all. But one thing was certain, to remain where I was meant certain
+capture, so at any cost I made up my mind to attempt the leap. Taking my
+horse by the head, I turned him round and rode him a little way up the
+hill. As I did so the troopers came into view, riding helter skelter,
+and making certain they had got me. The nearest was not more than half
+a dozen lengths or so from me, when I turned my animal's head down hill
+again.
+
+'It's no good, Heggarstone,' he shouted, as he saw the ravine ahead.
+'You can't escape, so throw up your hands.'
+
+'Can't I,' I cried, and digging my heels into my horse's side, I set him
+going again at his top speed. He tried to pull off the jump, but it was
+no use, I'd got him too tight by the head for that, and I wouldn't let
+him budge an inch. He tried to stop, but I shouted at him and forced him
+to go on. So, seeing that there was nothing for it but to jump, he made
+a dash forward, gathered his legs well under him, and went at it like a
+shot out of a gun. With a snort he sprang into the air. I heard the
+little stones he dislodged go tinkling down to the bottom of the ravine,
+and next moment he had landed with a scramble on the opposite bank. It
+was a wonderful leap, and I thanked God from the bottom of my heart that
+I was safely over. As I reached terra firma, I turned and looked round.
+The two troopers had pulled their horses up and were standing watching
+me. One of them was raising his carbine, so I did not stop, but waved
+my hand to them and disappeared into the scrub. In ten minutes I had
+left them far behind me, and by the time darkness had fallen was far
+beyond their reach.
+
+But though I had come so well out of my scrape, I was not safe yet by
+any manner of means. After spelling my horse alongside a pretty little
+creek for half-an-hour, I mounted him again, and set off in the
+direction I knew Barranda to lie. About nine o'clock the moon rose, and
+by her rays I was able to pick my path quite comfortably. I had fully
+planned my movements by this time. Come what might, I was going to make
+my way back to the township and see Sheilah once more, if only for the
+last time. If she cast me off and refused to have anything more to do
+with me--well, then, God help me, I would either kill myself or give
+myself up to the police and go back to serve my sentence with the
+additional punishment for escape, whatever it might be.
+
+All that night I made my way through the scrub, keeping my eyes wide
+open for chance travellers' camps or station homesteads. Throughout the
+next day I lay hidden in a cave in the Ranges, hobbling my horse with
+his reins, so that he could not stray very far. Unfortunately I had
+nothing to eat, and by nightfall I was literally starving. As soon as it
+was dark I went on again, still keeping a constant watch about me.
+Towards midnight it seemed that I was on a definite track, and presently
+this supposition became a certainty. I could distinctly see wheel marks,
+and, for this reason, I knew I must be approaching a habitation of some
+sort. Then the outlines of a fence hove in sight, and after a little
+while the white roofs of buildings, glistening in the moonlight. It was
+a station; and, if I might judge by the number of huts and outhouses, a
+big one. Now, I told myself, if only I could get into the kitchen
+without exciting attention, I might be able to satisfy my hunger, and,
+perhaps, obtain a few provisions to carry along with me. Accordingly I
+got off my horse, and tied him carefully to the fence; then, stealthily
+as a thieving dingo, crept across the small paddock towards the building
+I had settled in my own mind was the kitchen. Every moment I expected
+some dog to bark and give the alarm, but all was quiet as the grave. I
+reached the hut, and crept round it, looking in at the side window to
+see if anyone slept there. I could not, however, distinguish a sign, so
+I went back to the door and turned the handle. It opened, and I crept
+in. Yes! I was right. It was the kitchen, and a fire was still
+glimmering on the hearth. A big, old-fashioned meat safe stood along one
+wall, and to this I made my way. A box of matches lay on the table, and
+having struck one I shaded it with my hand and commenced to explore.
+Cooked meat there was in abundance, and a loaf and a half of bread,
+which I took, with a knife I discovered in a box upon the dresser. Then
+out again I crept, softly closing the door behind me. A minute later I
+was back with my horse. Before unhitching him I had a good feed, and
+then stowed away the rest of my provender in my pockets. What a meal
+that was--never before had bread and meat tasted so good. Then, mounting
+and gathering up my reins, I went on again--to lie hidden all the day
+following and the day after that, in each case resuming my journey
+immediately the stars appeared. So far I had been fortunate almost
+beyond my expectations, but the nearer I approached the township the
+more afraid I became of being seen. At length, by the lay of the
+country, and by numerous land marks familiar to me from my youth up, I
+knew I could not be more than fifteen miles from my home; and
+accordingly I started that night almost at dusk, resolved to leave my
+horse in a bit of thick scrub, near where Sheilah had met with her
+accident the previous year, and to approach the house on foot. Reaching
+the timber in question, I accordingly turned my horse loose, and, after
+a short rest, made my way towards the homestead, which was now not more
+than three miles distant. Just as I reached it I heard a clock in the
+kitchen strike ten.
+
+Little by little, taking infinite pains not to make a noise, I made my
+way along the garden fence, and then, crawling through it, went on under
+the old familiar pepper-trees into the verandah. A light was burning in
+the sitting-room, and when I was near enough, I craned my neck and
+looked inside. Sheilah, my wife, was there alone. She was sitting in her
+father's arm-chair, knitting--though, at the moment that I looked, her
+work lay in her lap, and she was staring into the empty fireplace. Her
+face was just as beautiful as ever--but, oh, so worn and sad. While I
+watched her she heaved a great sigh, and I saw large tears rise in her
+eyes. Something seemed to tell me that she was thinking of me, so
+creeping closer to the window I rapped softly with my fingers upon the
+pane. Instantly she sprang to her feet and ran to the door; another
+minute and she was in the verandah and in my arms.
+
+'Oh, Jim, Jim! my husband! my dear, dear boy!' she whispered again and
+again. 'Thank God you have come back to me once more.'
+
+The tears were streaming down my cheeks, and my heart was beating like a
+wheat flail against my ribs, but I had the presence of mind to draw her
+into the house and shut the door as quickly as possible. Then I
+disengaged myself from her arms and looked at her.
+
+'Sheilah,' I said, 'you should not receive me in this fashion. I am not
+worthy.'
+
+'Hush! hush!' she cried; 'you must never say that to me. Jim, to me you
+are innocent; let the world say what it will. I am convinced you did not
+do it.'
+
+'But, Sheilah, I am not as innocent as you think. No, no! Do not look so
+scared. I did not kill the man, but I told you a lie when I said that I
+knew nothing of his death. I did know something about it, for I saw him
+murdered--but I could not say so, or I must have betrayed another man. I
+had sworn to Pete that I would not reveal what I had seen. So my lips
+were tied.'
+
+'My own dear husband,' she said, looking up into my face, and then led
+the way towards the sitting-room, 'I have never thought you guilty. But
+come in here now--I must not let you be seen. Your escape is known to
+the police, and they were here looking for you only this afternoon.'
+
+'Where is your father, Sheilah?'
+
+'He has gone up to the township to attend a meeting of the Presbyterian
+Church. He may be back at any moment. First you must change your
+clothes. Go in there,' and as she spoke she opened the door of her own
+bedroom. 'You will find a suit hanging in the cupboard. While you are
+doing that, I will prepare a meal for you.'
+
+I did not stop to ask how she had come to prepare for me in this way,
+but went into the room and changed my things as I was told to do. That
+done, and having folded the other hateful garments up and hidden them on
+the top of the cupboard, I rejoined her in the sitting-room. By this
+time she had a meal spread on the table for me, but I did not want to
+eat until I had told her the whole history of my trouble from beginning
+to end, without keeping anything back.
+
+'And now, Sheilah,' I said, in conclusion of my narrative, 'Whispering
+Pete is dead. And what is worse, he died without exonerating me.
+Therefore, if I am caught, I shall have to go back to gaol again and
+serve my sentence to the bitter end.'
+
+'But you must not be caught. I have taken steps to ensure your safety.
+As soon as you have eaten your meal you must start again. I have a
+saddle-horse and pack-horse ready in the stable--they have been there
+every night since you left here. You must take them, cross the border
+near Engonia, and set off by a roundabout route marked on this map for
+Newcastle--arriving there, you will go to this address (here she gave me
+a slip of paper which I deposited in my pocket) and interview the
+captain of the ship named upon it. I have got a friend whom I can trust
+implicitly to arrange it all. The captain will give you a passage to
+Valparaiso, and three hundred pounds when you land there. You can either
+settle in Chili or the South Sea Islands as you think best. In either
+case, when a year has elapsed, if you will let me know where you are I
+will join you. In the meantime, I am going to set to work to find this
+One-eyed Doctor, Finnan, and to prove your innocence.'
+
+'Sheilah!' I cried, 'what can I say to you?'
+
+'Say nothing, Jim, but do as I tell you. Remember your wife believes in
+you, whatever the world may say. So be brave and cautious for my sake.'
+
+'And, Sheilah, you forgive me for that lie I told you? Oh! my darling,
+what misery my foolish obstinacy has brought upon us all--my father
+included.'
+
+'But it will all end well yet, Jim; only you must do exactly as I tell
+you!'
+
+At that moment my ear caught the sound of a footstep on the path.
+Sheilah heard it as soon as I did, and cried,--
+
+'Jim, somebody is coming; you must hide. In here at once!'
+
+She led the way to her own room, and made me go inside. A moment later I
+heard someone enter the room I had just quitted.
+
+'Colin,' cried Sheilah, trying to speak in her natural voice, 'what on
+earth brings you down here at this time of night?'
+
+'I have come to warn you, Sheilah,' said her cousin, 'that we have
+received information that your husband is on his way here. You know,
+don't you, that if he is discovered he will be at once arrested and
+taken back?'
+
+'You would not arrest him, Colin, would you?' Sheilah asked, in agonised
+tones. 'Surely you could not be so cruel to me!'
+
+Colin had evidently been studying her face.
+
+'I'm afraid I should fail in my duty for your sake, Sheilah,' he said,
+after a moment's pause. 'But, my cousin, you know more than you are
+telling me. Sheilah! I see it all; Jim is here!'
+
+Sheilah must have felt that she could trust him, for she answered,--
+
+'You are right. He is here. Colin, you will not act against him?'
+
+'Have I not told you I shall not! But remember, Sheilah, this will cost
+me my position. I shall send in my resignation to-morrow.'
+
+At this I walked out, and Colin stared; but did not say that he was glad
+to see me.
+
+'Jim,' my wife said, 'everything is prepared; you must go. Colin is your
+friend, you can trust him. Now come. Every moment you are here increases
+your danger.'
+
+I went over to Colin McLeod and looked him in the face.
+
+'McLeod,' I said, 'you are acting the part of a brave and true man. God
+bless you for it. Tell me one thing, do you believe me guilty of the
+charge upon which I was convicted?'
+
+'No! I do not,' he answered; 'if I did I should not be helping you
+now.'
+
+'Then I'll ask you to shake hands with me.'
+
+We shook hands; and, after that, without another word, I followed
+Sheilah into the darkness. As she had said, two horses stood saddled and
+ready in the stockyard. I led them out, and, having done so, took
+Sheilah in my arms.
+
+'My wife,' I said, 'my Sheilah, what a wonderful and beautiful faith is
+yours! Who else would have believed in me as you have done, through good
+and ill report!'
+
+'It is because I love you so, and because I know you better than you
+know yourself that I believe in you as I do,' she answered. 'Now, Jim,
+darling, good-bye. Let me know what happens to you. Write, not only
+before you leave Australia, but when you arrive in Chili; and, for my
+sake, be careful. May the good God be with you and keep you safe for me.
+Good-bye--oh, Jim, Jim, good-bye.'
+
+I kissed her sweet, upturned face again and again, and then, tearing
+myself away from her, passed through the slip panels, which she had let
+down for me, and with a last wave of my hand rode off into the dark
+night, feeling that I had left what was more than my life behind me.
+
+Passing through old McLeod's paddock I made my way carefully along the
+creek side to the old ford--the place where I had fought Colin McLeod
+one memorable evening, and where I had spent that awful night after I
+had lied to Sheilah about Jarman's death and she had believed and kissed
+me before them all. Before I went down the steep bank to the water's
+edge I checked my horse and looked back across the paddocks to where I
+could just distinguish the outline of the house that sheltered the woman
+I loved. How much had happened and how terrible had been my life since I
+had last stood in this place and had gazed in the same direction. Then,
+turning my eyes across the stream, I made out the house I had built with
+such pride and loving care; the home to which I was to have brought my
+wife after the wedding that had ended so disastrously. There it stood,
+dark and forlorn, the very picture of loneliness, a grave of
+disappointed hopes if ever there was one. The garden was straggling and
+overgrown, the building itself already cried aloud for attention. Almost
+unconscious of my actions, I crossed the ford and rode up to within a
+few yards of it, thinking of the happy days I had spent in building it,
+of the good resolutions I had then formed, and the way in which I had
+afterwards failed in the trust reposed in me. In the darkness and
+silence of the night the place seemed haunted with phantoms of the past.
+I almost fancied I could see my father in one corner, and Pete from
+another, watching me, the outlaw, as I sat in my saddle under the big
+Gum Tree, gazing at what might once have been the very centre of all
+that could have made life beautiful. At last, saddened almost to the
+verge of despair, I urged my horse forward and quitted the spot, heaving
+a heavy sigh as I did so for _auld lang syne_, and all the happiness
+that might have been my portion had I only shunned Pete at the
+commencement of our acquaintance instead of trusting him and believing
+in him against my better judgment. Now, however, that it was all over
+and done with, there was nothing for it but for me to eat my bread of
+sorrow and drink my water of affliction alone. In the words of the old
+saying, I had made my bed, and now it was my portion to lie upon it.
+
+Leaving the house, I made my way by a path, which I had good reason to
+know as well as any man living, in the direction of my old home. Like
+the other house it was quite dark. Not a light shone from the windows,
+though instinctively I turned towards those of the dining-room where my
+father had been wont to sit, half expecting to see one there. For my own
+part I did not know whether there was anyone still living in the house.
+My father was dead, I was cut off from the society of the living, Betty
+might be dead, too, for all I knew to the contrary. Repressing a groan,
+I turned my horse's head and set off through the scrub in the direction
+Sheilah had advised me to follow.
+
+By the time the sun rose next morning I had put upwards of thirty miles
+between myself and Barranda township. I had travelled as quickly as
+possible in order that I might have more time to lay by later on, for I
+was determined to push on at night and to camp during the day. I had two
+reasons for this decision. In the first place, I wanted to give my beard
+a chance of growing, in order that my appearance might be altered as
+much as possible, and in the second, because I knew that in a district
+where I was so well known the chances would be a thousand to one that
+someone would recognise me in the daylight, and thus lead up to my
+recapture. For the first two or three days, however, complete success
+crowned my efforts. I was fortunate enough to be able to make my way
+across country each night without attracting attention. But a serious
+fright was saving up for me.
+
+On the third day after I had said good-bye to Sheilah and Barranda
+township, I found myself leaving the Mallee scrub and entering more open
+country. Here I did not like to attract attention by camping during the
+day. Accordingly I made up my mind to risk meeting anyone who might know
+me, and, saddling my horse, started down the track. It was a warm
+morning, and seeing the amount of work that still lay before him, I did
+not push my horse too hard. I therefore jogged easily along, smoking my
+pipe, and thinking of Sheilah, my pretty wife, and of the old life I had
+left behind me. For upwards of an hour I had been following a faint
+track, which was now fast developing into a well-defined road. A little
+later I heard behind me the sound of a couple of horses coming along at
+a slow, swinging canter. For the reason that I was only travelling at a
+walk they soon caught me up, when I discovered that the new-comer was a
+smart, active, fresh-complexioned young fellow, obviously an Englishman,
+mounted on a neat bay and leading a clever-looking grey pack-horse
+beside him.
+
+'Good morning,' he said, as he drew up alongside me. 'Pretty warm, ain't
+it? Travelling far?'
+
+In case I should be questioned I had already decided upon the sort of
+answer I would return.
+
+'I'm thinking of turning off after the next township,' I said, 'and
+following the river down till I strike the track for Bourke.' Then
+reflecting that if he were an experienced bushman he would find
+something wrong in this, I hastened to add, 'I should have gone in
+higher up, I know, and followed the coach road along the foot of the
+Ranges, but they say the country thereabouts is all burnt up and
+travelling is next door to an impossibility.'
+
+'That is so,' he answered. 'I've come over the border myself, and had a
+pretty rough time of it out towards the Warrego. Are you droving?'
+
+'Going down for a mob to take out to the Diamintina,' I answered. 'One
+of Blake & Furley's of Callington Plains.'
+
+He shook his head.
+
+'I don't know them,' he said. 'I'm next door to a new chum myself; been
+out on the Balloo best part of three years. Now, however, I'm going to
+take a jolly good holiday.'
+
+For an hour or so we jogged on side by side, talking of horses, cattle,
+sheep, and half a hundred other things. Then the township came into
+view, and nothing would please my new friend but we must pull up at the
+grog shanty and take a drink. I would have made an excuse and have said
+good-bye to him, but he would not hear of such a thing. Accordingly,
+very loth, but unable to persist in my refusal for fear of exciting his
+suspicions, I consented and we pulled up at the Drover's Arms, as the
+shanty was called, and having made our horses fast to the rail outside,
+went in to the bar. There were two or three other men of the usual bar
+loafer stamp present at the time, and according to bush custom they were
+invited to join us in our refreshment. To my horror, as we were
+satisfying their curiosity as to whence we had come and whither we were
+going, and what the track was like further up, a police trooper entered
+and called for a nobbler of whiskey.
+
+'How are you, Sergeant?' asked one of the loafers with well simulated
+interest. 'Any news to-day of the man you're looking for?'
+
+The Sergeant shook his head.
+
+'Not yet,' he answered; 'but we'll nab him before long, never fear.'
+
+'Who are you looking for?' inquired my companion, with sudden interest.
+
+'For Jim Heggarstone,' replied the Sergeant; 'the man who got a lifer
+for being mixed up with Whispering Pete in that murder case out Barranda
+way in Queensland. He escaped on his way to gaol, and we were told to
+look out for him in this direction, as it is supposed he is making
+south.'
+
+My heart seemed to stand still for a moment as he turned round and ran
+his eye over me. I felt that I must make some remark, but what to say
+that would avert suspicion I could not for the very life of me think.
+At last I found my voice.
+
+'What is he like--this, what's his name--Heggarfield?' I inquired, as
+coolly as I knew how.
+
+The Sergeant glanced at me again as he answered,--
+
+'Oh, a decent-sized sort of fellow. About your height, or a little
+taller, I should say.'
+
+To my intense relief I was not permitted to monopolize the great man's
+attention for very long, as one of the loafers was desirous of learning
+what punishment the criminal would be likely to receive when he was
+captured and taken back to gaol.
+
+'A year in irons, most likely,' I heard the Sergeant answer as I paid
+for the drinks and, lighting my pipe, sauntered out into the verandah,
+feeling ready to drop in my anxiety to be out of the township once more.
+As soon as my companion was ready, which seemed to me an eternity, we
+mounted our horses, and waving our adieux to the loafers in the bar, set
+off down the street, and in something less than a quarter-of-an-hour
+were clear of the houses and bidding each other good-bye at the spot
+where the three cross roads branched off. Two days later I joined a mob
+of fat cattle _en route_ to Bourke, with whom I kept company until I
+reached the town. Then having sold my horse, saddle and bridle to the
+drover in charge, I found the railway station, purchased a ticket for
+Sydney, and placing myself on board the train was next day landed safe
+and sound in the capital. To make my way thence to Newcastle was a
+matter of small difficulty.
+
+Once there, I hastened to seek out the address written on the paper
+Sheilah had given me. It was a nice house in a fashionable locality, and
+when I inquired for Captain Blake of the _Amber Crown_ steamer, and gave
+my name as George Brown, I was told by the maid servant to walk in.
+
+It appeared that old McLeod had once done a signal service for my new
+friend, which the latter had never forgotten. For this reason he was
+only too glad to have an opportunity of repaying his benefactor. Whether
+or not he knew who I was I cannot say; at any rate he said nothing to me
+on the subject. When I said good-bye to him I went straight off and
+boarded the _Amber Crown_, then lying in the harbour. The following
+morning I wrote to Sheilah, and during the afternoon we weighed anchor;
+by nightfall Australia lay beneath the horizon behind us. I was free!!!
+
+Of the voyage across the Pacific there is nothing to tell. On arrival at
+Valparaiso I had an interview with Captain Blake in his private cabin.
+
+'Mr Brown,' said he, for, as I have said, that was the name I was
+travelling under, 'having landed you here, I have carried out half of my
+contract. Now I must fulfil the other half.'
+
+As he spoke he handed me a canvas bag containing the three hundred
+pounds in English gold Sheilah had told me to expect. I thanked him for
+his kindness to me during the voyage, signed the receipt for Mr McLeod,
+and then went ashore. The same night I sailed aboard an island schooner
+bound for Tahiti, the capital of the Friendly Group, where I entered the
+employ of the firm for whom I am now trading here on Vakalavi.
+
+Now, my friends, you know my curious story, and there remain but three
+things to tell. The One-eyed Doctor was discovered at last by Sheilah,
+after a tedious hunt, dying of consumption in a Melbourne slum. She
+nursed him, and in a moment of gratitude, with the hand of death
+clutching at his throat, he gave her, in the presence of a magistrate, a
+full and complete confession of the murder of Jarman by Whispering Pete,
+stating that, beyond burying the body, I had nothing whatsoever to do
+with it. So my innocence was established, and I was cleared before the
+whole world. That is the first thing. Now for the next. Your schooner
+to-day brought me a letter from my wife, in which she tells me that she
+is coming to join me by the next boat. God bless her! Her father, who is
+tired of Barranda, is accompanying her. That is the second! The third is
+that by my father's death, so the lawyers and bankers tell me, I am a
+rich man. This being so, I shall send in my resignation to the firm,
+move across to Apia, and once there, set about building a big house on
+the mountain side overlooking the bay. In that lovely spot, for I shall
+never go back to Australia now, I shall hope to begin a new life, with
+Sheilah for my sweet companion. There is one point, doubtless, upon
+which you will agree with me, and that is, try how I will, I shall
+never be able to make up to her for her confidence and love during the
+bitterest period of my life. But I'll try, God helping me, I'll
+try!--you may be sure of that.
+
+And now you know why I say that I believe in and reverence the name of
+woman. God bless the sex, and, above all, the girl, now my wife, who was
+once SHEILAH MCLEOD!
+
+
+_Colston & Coy. Limited, Printers, Edinburgh._
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41269 ***