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diff --git a/42829-0.txt b/42829-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c58c933 --- /dev/null +++ b/42829-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8618 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42829 *** + +[Illustration: "THE BEAUTIFUL CREATURE ROSE TO THE LEAP." +(_p. 264._) _Frontispiece._] + + +IN QUEST OF GOLD; + +OR, + +_Under the Whanga Falls_. + + +BY + +ALFRED ST. JOHNSTON, + +_Author of "Camping among Cannibals," "Charlie Asgarde," &c._ + + +WITH EIGHT ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY GORDON BROWNE. + + +_SEVENTH THOUSAND._ + + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: +_LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE_. +1892. + +[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Dialect spellings, contractions and inconsistencies in +the text have been retained as printed. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. PAGE + +THE BIRTH OF AN ADVENTURE 1 + +CHAPTER II. + +GAINING INFORMATION 11 + +CHAPTER III. + +PREPARATIONS FOR A START 21 + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FIRST STAGES 31 + +CHAPTER V. + +A TRAITOR IN THE CAMP 39 + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FIGHT WITH THE MYALLS 51 + +CHAPTER VII. + +LIFE OR DEATH? 64 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A TERRIBLE ENEMY 70 + +CHAPTER IX. + +AFTER THE FIRE 80 + +CHAPTER X. + +AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 89 + +CHAPTER XI. + +VERY NEAR TO DEATH 95 + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WHANGA 103 + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WAYS AND MEANS 113 + +CHAPTER XIV. + +BUILDING THE DAM 128 + +CHAPTER XV. + +UNWELCOME VISITORS 142 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GOLD! 148 + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LEAVING THE VALLEY 157 + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"THERE'S MANY A SLIP" 166 + +CHAPTER XIX. + +HOW THE BOYS RETURNED HOME 175 + +CHAPTER XX. + +A CONFERENCE OF BUSHRANGERS 187 + +CHAPTER XXI. + +YESSLETT PREPARES TO ACT 196 + +CHAPTER XXII. + +WHAT BECAME OF ALEC 210 + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +CROSBY ACCOUNTS FOR HIMSELF 218 + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +COMO'S ERRAND 230 + +CHAPTER XXV. + +YESSLETT'S ADVENTURE 238 + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +ESCAPE FROM NORTON'S GAP 247 + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A WILD NIGHT-RIDE 260 + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +IS IT TOO LATE? 269 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +"THE BEAUTIFUL CREATURE ROSE TO THE LEAP" _Frontispiece_ + +"'GOLD, GOLD! CHEER UP, ALEC; OF COURSE WE'LL HAVE IT'" + _To face page_ 5 + +"HE SEIZED THE NATIVE ROUND HIS SLIM, NAKED BODY" + _To face page_ 79 + +"HE WAS SO OVERCOME ... THAT HE SAT STRAIGHT DOWN INTO THE STREAM" + _To face page_ 130 + +"AN ARMED HORSEMAN ... SHOUTED, 'BAIL UP!'" + _To face page_ 170 + +"ALEC KICKED HIS FEET FREE FROM HIS STIRRUPS, AND ... LEAPED ON TO +THE OTHER HORSE" + _To face page_ 182 + +"TO SCREEN HIM FROM STARLIGHT'S FIRE HE HAD INTERPOSED HIS OWN BODY" + _To face page_ 256 + +"'YOUR PRICE IS THERE!'" + _To face page_ 279 + + + + +IN QUEST OF GOLD; + +OR, UNDER THE WHANGA FALLS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BIRTH OF AN ADVENTURE. + + +"Alec, Alec," a strong, clear, boy's voice rang out from the gully, +"are you up there? Whatever are you doing at this time of night?" And +the next moment George Law, a tall, strongly made lad of fifteen or so, +left the sandy bed of the dried-up river, and sprang up the great +rocks, as lightly and actively as a cat, to where his elder brother was +sitting alone. + +"Hallo, Geordie, lad! is that you? I might have known it; no one else +can climb the rocks as you do." + +"I thought I should find you at 'The Castle.' What have you come for? +There's something the matter, I'm sure there is. What is it, old boy?" +He sat down as he spoke and passed his hand into his brother's arm. +"Tea is quite ready, and the Johnny-cakes piping hot. Mother and +Margaret couldn't think where you were, but I guessed you had ramped +off to 'The Castle' for a quiet think. Come, tell us all about it." + +For a moment Alec Law did not answer, but sat, as he had been sitting +before his brother came, with his chin on his hand and his elbow on his +knee, looking with steady gaze over the tops of the wild, great trees +that grew below them in a tangled mass of luxuriant greenery, towards +that far-away strip of silver on which the moonlight fell, which he +knew to be the sea. He was two or three years older than George, and +was more developed and of a stouter build, but one could see at a +glance that they were brothers: they had the same dark eyes and level +brows, and the same dark wavy hair. They were dressed alike, which made +the likeness stronger. Just as nine-tenths of Australian bushmen do, +they wore white--or what once were white--moleskin breeches, laced +boots, gaiters, and red flannel shirts open at the throat, and with the +sleeves rolled up to the elbow. + +Alec turned when he found his arm taken, and, as he saw his brother, +the stern look vanished from his determined face, and his eyes met +Geordie's inquiring gaze with a softer light there than had shone in +them before. + +"Yes, you are right; something is the matter. I came here to try and +think of a way out of it all. I didn't want to trouble you with it, so +I came out alone." + +"And did you think that I should not miss you? No, that plan will never +pay. Don't let us begin to have secrets from one another, Alec; all the +more reason I should know it, if it is trouble." + +"I should have told you at once if I had thought you could help, but +you can't." + +"Mine may not be up to much, but two heads are better than one." + +"Well this is all about it. You know that during the two years after +father's death we had that long dry season; there was no rain, and +every water-hole in the creek dried up; the sheep and cattle died by +hundreds at a time. That was the beginning of it." + +"The beginning of what?" + +"Of our getting into debt. Things seemed to go from bad to worse from +that time, and mother had to borrow a lot of money from old Mr. Crosby, +of Brisbane. He was a friend of father's, and said that he would +advance money on the run, but that mother must mortgage it to him. He +said it was merely a form, and that mother might trust so old a friend +not to take advantage of it, if at any time a difficulty arose about +paying the interest on the money we had borrowed. So she signed all the +papers." + +"Well! has there been any difficulty?" + +"Yes, from the very first. He cheated poor mother, who didn't know +anything of business, most shamefully, and gets interest twice as high +as he fairly ought. It has crippled us for years. We could not fence +the farther stations, we haven't been able to buy new stock, and many a +time mother would have been unable to produce the yearly interest-money +if old Macleod had not been here to help her with one of his clever +plans." + +"What a shame! What an old thief that Mr. Crosby is. And to think of +mother having all this trouble, and never saying a word to anybody." + +"She didn't want to trouble us. I'm not sure that Margaret has not +known since she came back from Brisbane. But things have come to a +climax now. The price of wool has gone down lower than ever, and our +last shearing hardly realised enough to cover the working expenses of +the run. Mother wrote to tell Mr. Crosby how it was, and that she hoped +to be able to pay him next year; but this has just given him the very +opportunity he wanted, and he is down on to us at once." + +"What can he do?" + +"Why, sell Wandaroo straight off. Don't you see, he lent us money on +the security of the run, and if we can't pay the interest he can sell +everything right over our heads?" + +"Sell Wandaroo!" said George, in a voice of the utmost astonishment and +grief. "But it is ours. We were born here. I could live nowhere else. +Oh, I love it so, Alec." + +"So do I, so do we all," said the elder brother, in a pained but steady +voice; "but he has the law on his side, and he can rob us of +everything--for it is robbery." + +"Has he said that he will not wait?" + +"Yes. Macleod rode to Bateman yesterday, to get some more of that new +sheep dip, and he brought a letter up from the steamer. Mr. Crosby says +that he is very sorry that he can't wait, and that he must have the +money at once; and, if we can't pay it to his agent in Parra-parra +before a month, he shall put his men in possession, and we must turn +out." + +"How much do we owe him?" + +"Oh, more than we can possibly get. The interest is £600. He has lent +us £4,000, at 15 per cent., the miserly old Jew. Think of that, and he +called himself our friend. Oh, Geordie, lad, I cannot bear to think of +leaving Wandaroo. I love every mile of it;" and the poor fellow buried +his face in his hands. "I think it would almost kill mother to have to +go away." + +[Illustration: "'GOLD, GOLD! CHEER UP, ALEC; OF COURSE WE'LL HAVE IT.'" +(_p. 5._)] + +"When did she tell you all this?" + +"About two hours ago, when you were in the wool shed. I came out here; +I could not bear to see her grief, as I could not help her; and I have +been thinking, thinking till my brain burns." + +"Ah, poor mother! I saw there was something wrong, though she tried to +hide it, and to smile when I came in to tea. And Margaret never said my +hair was rough, or anything. Have you thought of any plan, Alec?" + +"No, I can think of nothing. If we sold every sheep on the run we could +not raise the money. If I could be up and doing anything I should not +care, but to sit here absolutely helpless will kill me. Nothing short +of a gold mine can save us." + +He spoke with the bitterness of despair in his voice, for life seemed +very hopeless to him just then. He sat moodily gazing at the great, +distant, purple hills, over which the golden round of the full moon was +rising in the rich silence of the Australian night. But his words had a +different effect upon George, who still sat with his sun-browned hand +on his brother's arm. + +The younger boy sprang up with a shout. + +"Gold, gold! Cheer up, Alec; of course we'll have it. Do you mean to +say that you have forgotten the story father used to tell us of how, +when he and mother first came to Wandaroo, they found Black Harry with +a nugget of pure gold slung round his neck on a bit of green cow-hide?" + +"Yes, I remember that." + +"And don't you recollect that father used to say that there was a huge +fortune lying where that came from for the man that could find the +place? He used to say that he should not try to find it himself, for he +believed he could do better by honestly working on the run than by +rushing off on a wild-goose chase after gold he might never find." + +"But that was years ago, and Black Harry is dead long since." + +"I know, I know," said George, eagerly; "but that old _gin_" (woman), +"Ippai, was his wife, and she will be sure to know all about it. There +are several boys of the tribe still on the run, and we can get them to +go with us. They never forget a path, and can lead us back to the +north-west, where they came from." + +He had sprung up in his excitement, and talked rapidly and earnestly to +Alec, who had turned round in astonishment at Geordie's glad voice. At +first the more sober elder brother shook his head at George's wild +proposition, but slowly the doubt seemed to fade from his face, and he +seemed to catch some of the enthusiasm of the younger fellow. George +Law was often the quicker of the brothers, but once let Alec make up +his mind to anything, and nothing could turn him aside from carrying it +out. + +"Why not? Why not, Alec?" George pleaded. "What is the use of sitting +here and doing nothing? If we fail, as you seem to think we shall, we +shall be no worse off than we were before, and if we succeed, why----" + +Here language failed him, he could only point across the gully in the +direction of the home where he knew their mother was grieving. + +Then Alec sprang up; he had caught fire at last. Geordie was right--no +good could come of inaction. His face was all aglow with excitement +now, and his strong right hand was clenched. + +"I believe you, Geordie. It is our only chance. It seems to me very +improbable that we shall find the gold, but we can do our best and try. +Anything is better than staying here and doing nothing. Come, let us go +in now or we shall have mother getting anxious about us. After tea I +will go down to the native camp and see old Ippai, and find out all I +can about that nugget. There is no time to be lost." + +"When can we start, Alec?" + +"To-morrow." + +"Hurrah; but that is rather soon, isn't it?" + +"What is the use of delay. If we are going we may as well go at once. +Shearing is over and there is nothing to be done on the run that +Macleod cannot see to. There's only the shepherding, and that can be +done without us, particularly now that Yesslett is living with us; he +can do ration-carrier's work. Don't tell mother what we are after; it +would only frighten her and buoy her up with what may be a false hope. +I will tell her that we are going away for some time." + +George nodded, and without another word they turned and descended the +steep dark rocks into the blackness of the gully. It was a dangerous +place, for the side of the ravine on which the fantastic pile of rocks, +which they called "The Castle," was placed, was of a great height, and +the rocks themselves were bare and steep. But the two boys descended +with sure and fearless tread; "The Castle" had been their favourite +playing place when they were children, and custom had quite driven fear +away. + +Alec led the way with a firm, manly step, and George followed close +upon him. Geordie saw that Alec was thinking and did not wish to be +disturbed, so he followed him without a sound. There was a perfect +confidence between these two, which was marred by no little jealousies +or selfishnesses. Brought up alone on the station with no other +companion, for their sister was older than either of them, and had been +away in Brisbane to be educated, they had become all in all to one +another, and loved each other as very few brothers do. From this great +affection a perfect understanding had grown up between them, and each +one read the other as a well-loved book. + +They had never been away from each other for more than a day, and they +were never so happy as when together. Their father had been unable to +afford to send them to school, as he had his daughter, for the early +settlers in Queensland had not had very prosperous times, so they had +learned from him the little that they knew. They were not very clever, +these two lads; many an English boy of twelve knows more Latin and +history and mathematics than they did, but they were fine, strong, +healthy fellows, with pure and honest hearts; and they had learned from +their father, both by example and precept, the maxims of an English +gentleman. They both could ride as soon as they could walk, and had +gained that perfect mastery and management of a horse that only +constant riding from childhood can give. Then they were both excellent +bushmen, and could do everything on the station as well as any of the +hands, which perhaps, after all, was of more importance to two +Australian boys than any command of Latin prose or knowledge of Greeks +roots could be. + +Climbing up the other branch of the creek, and passing through the +thick strip of uncleared bush, where in the darkness the laughing +jackasses were uttering their strange weird cry, they entered the +paddock and approached the house. + +Wandaroo had been purchased by Mr. Law shortly after the separation of +Queensland from the colony of New South Wales, and whilst the former +country was in a wild and almost unknown state. He had selected +Wandaroo on account of the creek which ran through it, as he thought it +would always furnish water for his flocks. The timber house that he had +originally built was still standing, but had been greatly added to as +his family increased, and he became able to afford to extend the old +homestead. A large and wide verandah ran along two sides of the house, +shading the living rooms (for coolness is the one thing most desired in +tropical Queensland), and the posts and roof of it were covered with a +mass of gorgeous creepers. The roof of the house and verandah was +formed of large sheets of bark carefully stripped from the trees and +flattened for the purpose. These are pegged down on to the rafters and +make an admirable heat- and water-proof covering. + +The buildings about a head station are numerous, and from a distance +Wandaroo looked more like a little village than merely the homestead +and out-buildings of a single squatter. On one side was the store, a +most important part of every head station, where all imaginable +articles in the way of food and clothing were kept. Beyond it was the +bachelors' hut, where the men attached to the station lived, and +farther away were the stables and cart-shed, and the dry store where +flour, salt, &c., were kept. On the other side was the strongly-built +stockyard into which the herds of horses and cattle were driven at +mustering time, and close by was the great wool shed where the sheep +were clipped at shearing time and the fleeces stored. + +To-night, by the light of the full moon, and of those great and +glorious southern stars which blaze so royally in the Australian sky, +the whole of the commonplace station buildings looked very beautiful. +All little uglinesses were hidden, and the tender light, which fell so +softly upon roof and wall and fencing, invested everything with a +shadowy charm. The great gum trees by the house gleamed blue in the +moonlight, and under their boughs the ruddy lights from the house shone +out in brilliant contrast. + +"Look at it, Alec," said George, breaking silence at last, as they +crossed the paddock and approached the house. "Do you think that we can +lose Wandaroo, which our father made, and where we were born?" + +"No, we will not. _We will find that gold, or die in the attempt._ +Nothing shall turn me back!" + +So saying they entered the house. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GAINING INFORMATION. + + +Only staying to wash their hands and to put themselves in some slight +degree of order, they entered the large and comfortable room where tea +was waiting for them; it was the largest in the house, and served for +dining and general living room. Mrs. Law and Margaret had finished +their meal before the boys came in, for they could not keep the +manager, old Macleod, waiting. They were standing near the bright +petroleum lamp talking earnestly. Mrs. Law, whose busy hands were never +idle, was knitting a grey worsted stocking for one of the boys. The one +woman servant, Mrs. Beffling by name, whom Mrs. Law kept to help her in +the house was busy at one of the large cupboards at the end of the +room, so that at first Alec could say nothing of what he intended +doing, but directly that tea was over--it did not take them long that +night, for both boys were too excited to eat--and the woman had left +the room, he rose from the table. + +"Mother," he began, with that simple directness of speech that was so +characteristic of him, "I have been up at the rocks over the gully, and +have been thinking what we must do. George came and found me out." Here +he half turned and nodded towards his brother, who had moved to the +wide open window, and was looking out into the night. "And I have told +him all about it. We have laid our heads together, and have determined +to go out prospecting to-morrow. You know that when father first bought +Wandaroo he reserved the right of extending the run, at the same price +per mile, towards the north-west. He never prospected the country in +that direction, and since his death we have never done it. If we find +good grass land there, and well-watered country, we might, if the worst +comes to the worst, be able to take up a run there, and in a few years' +time be doing all right again." + +All this that Alec said was quite true. He had long wanted to prospect +the country that lay beyond the borders of their own great run, but +although it was the truth it was not the whole of the truth. He said +nothing of their wild dream of finding gold in those far-distant +north-west ranges. As he had said to George, he knew that the thought +of it would alarm their mother, for the native tribes were warlike, +cruel, and unfriendly, and besides this he did not wish to give her any +hope that might fail her at last. Alec spoke in the low tones his voice +always sank to when he was excited, and when he ended his square jaw +was set in a firm, resolute manner that in itself showed the determined +and unconquerable spirit of the young man. + +Mrs. Law knew her sons well enough to be sure that when Alec spoke and +looked as he then did he would brook no opposition, and she was a wise +enough woman to have learned that she might lead her high-spirited sons +when she would fail did she try to drive them. In Australia, too, a man +seems to develop earlier than in Europe; and although Alec was only +nineteen, he was always consulted on the management of the run, and his +opinion as an experienced bushman and stock rider attentively listened +to. + +"Have you carefully thought of it, Alec?" said Mrs. Law, laying aside +her knitting for a moment, and looking at her son, for the suddenness +of his resolve had somewhat astonished her, as she had never heard +anything of this plan before. "How will the station go on?" + +"Yes, mother, I have thought of it all, I think. We are full-handed +just now, for Macleod engaged that extra shepherd that we wanted for +the South Creek station when he was down in Bateman. He will be a good +useful fellow, I think. And Yesslett can act as ration-carrier; he +knows the run well enough by this time." + +"How long shall you be away?" asked Mrs. Law. + +"Can't say. We shall take flour enough, and tea, and so on, for a month +or so, but we may be longer, so you mustn't be frightened, mother. We +must face the worst, and be prepared for a move if that old brute of a +Crosby turns us out." + +"Who shall you take with you?" asked Mrs. Law, managing to repress the +tears that lay so near her poor sorrowful eyes. + +"George, and one or two of the black boys." + +"Oh, shall you take Geordie?" + +"Yes, mother," Margaret interposed; "let George go." She knew well +enough that the brothers would stand by each other to the death, and +that George, young though he was, would be Alec's best protection. + +"Do you think that I would let Alec go without me?" said a clear voice +from the window. + +And Alec said, "I would sooner take Geordie than any man on the +station. He rides and climbs better than any one of them, and nothing +tires him. And now, mother, good-night. Don't sit up for me; you have +had an anxious, sad day. I am going down to the _gunyahs_" (huts) "to +get a couple of boys to go with us, and to glean as much information as +I can about the country. I shall be back in an hour or two. Good-night, +youngster; good-night, Margaret." + +Kissing his mother, he took up his hat from a side table, and without +another word left the room. + +As he passed the bachelors' hut on his way to the paddock, he noticed +that one of the hands, a man named Keggs, whom they had only engaged a +short time before, was leaning against the door-post smoking a short +black pipe. He was not a prepossessing person, for his face, which was +of an unwholesome pink, was deeply marked with small-pox, and his +pale-coloured shifty eyes were inflamed-looking and unshaded by any +eye-lashes. Alec had not liked the appearance of the man, but, thinking +it a shame to be prejudiced by mere looks, he had engaged him, and, not +knowing his capabilities, had employed him about the head station. He +had several times noticed him prying into things with which he had no +concern, but thinking the man was inquisitive he had said nothing. Alec +observed that Keggs glanced keenly at him as he passed the hut, and +turning round some little time afterwards he could see, by the light of +the moon, that the man had followed him for a short distance to watch +where he was going. When Keggs saw that he was observed, he turned and +shrank back to the shadow of the hut. + +Stepping out with the free, springy stride that speaks of perfect +health and muscular strength, Alec reached, in about half an hour, the +squalid _gunyahs_ that formed the camp of a few native families that +were allowed to remain on the run. One or two naked, bushy-haired +fellows were crouching over the hot embers of a wood fire, on which +they were cooking great lumps of kangaroo or wallaby flesh. They sprang +up in alarm and seized their heavy _nullah-nullahs_ (clubs), which lay +by their sides, when they heard Alec's quick footstep, which they did +from a great distance, and in an instant were prepared for defence. But +they knew Alec's voice directly he called out, and putting down their +weapons they advanced to meet him. They aroused the old _gin_, Ippai, +from her sleep, when Alec told them who it was he wished to see, and a +moment afterwards she joined them at the fire, still wrapped in the +opossum rug she had been lying in. + +Sitting down on a log by the side of the fire, Alec was for the next +hour deep in talk with the natives. They readily answered his +questions, but it was difficult for him to arrive at the facts of the +case, as the Australian aborigines have an entire disregard for the +truth, and say anything that first enters their poor childish brains, +and anything that they think will please their questioner. It was only +by going over the same ground time after time, and with different +members of the party, that Alec succeeded in sifting out the truth from +what they told him. + +At last, when the Southern Cross was high in the sky, he thought that +he could learn nothing more from them, and rose to go. He arranged that +two young men, Prince Tom and Murri, fine specimens of the aboriginal +black native, should accompany him. He knew them both as excellent +guides and hunters, and, knowing their love of sport and wandering, he +felt sure that they would keep their promise of being up at the head +station before sunrise. + +The night was very dark when he left the camp, for the moon had set, +but he knew every inch of that part of the run, and could have found +his way about with his eyes shut. The hard, dry earth was covered in +all directions with sheep tracks, which looked like paths, and which +would have puzzled any stranger; but Alec bore straight along over the +little dry watercourse that intersected his route in one place, and +through the strips of scrub that lay between him and the house. He was +thinking too deeply to notice the plaintive cry, like the wail of a +child, of the little native bear in the great trees of the gully, or +the howls of the dingoes that every now and then disturbed so weirdly +the silence of the night. He saw the dim outlines of the horses move +away into the darkness as he came across the paddock, and he could hear +the quick sound of their cropping, but everything else was still. + +As Alec lightly vaulted over the gate between the paddock and the yard, +he violently struck against a man who was standing in the shadow of the +cart-shed, and who had evidently stationed himself there to watch +Alec's movements. + +"What are you doing here?" said Alec, angrily, for his temper was not +absolutely angelic, and it annoyed him beyond measure to be watched in +this manner. + +"I ain't a doin' nothink," answered Keggs, for it was he. + +"And that is what you are generally doing all day long, Keggs," said +Alec, sharply; "so that you can always find time to spy after me and +pry into our affairs. What I do, or what any one at the house does, is +no business of yours, and I'll not stand your interference. I tell you +plainly if I catch you at it again you go." + +"I seed yer goin' towards the native camp, and I on'y wanted to know if +you'd heerd anythink o' them missin' sheep." + +"Yes, I have been to the camp, but what I did there is no business of +yours," said Alec, haughtily, as he turned on his heel and walked to +the house. + +"Oh!" muttered the man to himself as Alec disappeared, "ain't it no +bisnis of mine? Well, I've foun' out what I wanted to know. You hev' +been to the camp, and I'll soon get out o' them niggers what you went +for, my fine master," and knocking the ashes out of his dirty pipe he +entered the hut. + +The house was quite dark and quiet when Alec reached it, for a +Queensland household, that is up before sunrise and works heartily all +day, is generally ready to go to bed by nine or ten o'clock. Alec +walked along the verandah till he reached the room that he and George +occupied in common, and entering at the wide open window he found the +match-box and struck a light. + +The room was the boys' own den, and presented a very boy-like +appearance. The walls were of the hardwood slabs of which the house was +built, and on them were nailed several pictures from the illustrated +papers that had struck the lads' fancy. Besides the two small +bedsteads, a couple of rough chairs, and a sort of compound washing and +dressing-table, there was no furniture, but on a rough shelf that ran +along one wall, and about the room in different places, was strewn a +variety of articles that spoke of the habits of the occupants. On the +two chests which held the boys' very limited wardrobe lay an old saddle +in need of repairs, and a heap of odd straps and old bridles; in one +corner of the room lay a pile of rusty bits, old stirrup irons, and +horse-shoes; and from a nail on the door hung a great unfinished stock +whip which George was plaiting. + +Geordie was fast asleep when Alec came in, but he was a light sleeper, +and sat up broad awake, but blinking in the candle light, before his +brother had said a word. + +"Well, Alec, what news?" + +"Hush, don't speak so loud! Margaret's window is open as well as ours, +and she may overhear us," said Alec, seating himself on the edge of +Geordie's bed, and speaking in a voice that was low but with an excited +tremor in it that betrayed the emotion that he felt. "The best of news. +I believe we shall find the gold, though the labour will be enormous +and the danger great." + +"But neither of us minds that. Forewarned is forearmed, and we will be +prepared. Did old Ippai remember the nugget?" + +"She is not likely to readily forget it, considering that Black Harry +nearly beat her head in when he lost it in a deep water-hole on the +creek where he was spearing fish. She and Moolong, that white-haired +old native down at the camp, both say that it came from the head of a +great valley which they call Whanga. They say it lies in the midst of +the mountains that are beyond the ranges we can see from the Yarrun +station. You know that Stevens, that shepherd we once had, said that he +had seen great blue-peaked mountains from the ranges when he went into +them searching for that missing flock we never found. Don't you +remember?" + +"Yes; and we thought he had never been to the ranges at all, and was +only 'blowing.'" + +"It seems he wasn't, for all of them down at the _gunyahs_" (huts) +"tell me the same story. It is rather difficult to make out their +meaning, as you know, but, as far as I can understand, they say that +Black Harry found the nugget in a sort of deep hole in the basin of a +waterfall at the end of this Whanga valley." + +"Did they tell you if Black Harry said there were any more?" asked +George, in an eager whisper. + +"I asked them that, and old Moolong said Harry told them that there was +no more, but that he believed it was a lie, and that he only had said +so that he might be the only one with such an ornament. If he had found +more he would have had to distribute them among the tribe, as you know, +and he did not want any one else to have such a necklace." + +"There _is_ more. I feel sure that there is more. Why should there be +only one piece?" said George, seizing hold of Alec's arm with his +burning hand. "Can we find the place though? Oh! Alec, it is too +terrible to think that the gold which can save Wandaroo is lying there +and we unable to find it." + +"But we can!" said Alec, in a thrilling whisper. "Murri, one of the two +black boys I have engaged to go with us, went there once with a party +of their tribe when he was quite a little chap. You know they never +forget the road to a place they have once been to. He can take us to it +straight enough if he will." + +"Did that party find gold there?" + +"No; a huge waterfall was pouring over the rocks, and the hole in which +Black Harry had found the nugget was a foaming pool. They did not look +anywhere else. They did not know the value that white men set upon +gold; the nugget--'the heavy stone,' as they call it--was only a +curious ornament to them, so they did not wait till the wet season was +over, when probably the stream would be dried up." + +"There hasn't been rain for months," said George meditatively, as +though to himself. + +"Not down here, but there may have been thunderstorms among the +mountains. Don't let us set our hearts too much upon finding it." + +"But I have." + +"And so have I," confessed Alec, with a little dry, nervous laugh. + +Poor lads! the gold fever was on them. + +"Hasn't Murri or any of them ever been since?" asked Geordie, +anxiously. + +"No; they say that the _myalls_" (the wild and savage aborigines) +"are very numerous and fierce about there, and that they are their +deadly enemies." + +"We must go well armed," said George, in a matter-of-fact voice, and as +calmly as though he were a man of forty. "And now, Alec, old boy, put +the dip out and tumble in. It is late, and we have an awful lot to do +to-morrow before we start." + +In a few minutes silence fell upon the room, and after tossing about +restlessly for a short time the sound of regular and deep breathing +from the boys' beds told that they were lost in the strange, dim land +of dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PREPARATIONS FOR A START. + + +Every one was astir betimes next morning, for an unusual sense of +excitement pervaded the whole household. Even Yesslett, who was +generally late for everything, was up in good time, and, with his usual +good-nature, lent every one a helping hand. His assistance was, +however, often rendered useless from his ignorance of colonial life, +for he had only been in Australia a month or two. + +Yesslett Dudley was Mrs. Law's nephew, who, after the death of his +father and the break-up of his old home in England, had been sent out +by his guardians to Australia, as his health was not good, and his +prospects little better. He was a curly-headed young rascal, with a +smile that was like sunshine in a house, and a voice that rang with +merriment and good humour. He was far wiser in book-learning than his +boy cousins, but could not compare with them in anything else. It is +true he could sit a horse and handle a gun, both after his own fashion, +but his ludicrous riding and his dangerous shooting would have been +subjects for constant ridicule to less kind fellows than his cousins. +They could not help despising him a little as a "jackaroo" and a "new +chum" just at first, but his pleasant hearty way of laughing at himself +and his many mishaps soon won their hearts, and instead of making fun +of him they began to teach him how to do things in a "true colonial +fashion," as they said, and that was their highest standard. + +Under their able tuition he soon improved in the manly arts; and as his +health became better in the pure air of those lofty downs and with the +simple life of the station, he not only began to grow stouter and +stronger, but also became more courageous and manly. Not that Yesslett +had ever been a coward, but his weak health had made him more timid and +nervous than strong and hale boys generally are. He possessed an +inexhaustible fund of good humour, and a capacity for fun and mischief +which, fortunately, few boys are blessed with. + +Alec's first thought as he left the house was to see whether the two +native boys he had engaged the night before had kept their promise of +coming to the station. There they were, sure enough, sitting by the +strong rails of the stock-yard grinning and laughing and chattering +away, and delighted at the prospect of the coming hunt, as they thought +the expedition to be. These two men were strong, active fellows, and +more to be trusted, perhaps, than the average native; they were +employed on the station at times during mustering and shearing, or when +the run was short-handed. They could both ride like monkeys, and could +speak a few words of queer pigeon English. Alec was glad to see them +there, for without the help of Murri he knew they could never find the +Whanga gully. He walked up to them and said-- + +"You go drive _yarroman_" (horses) "in um stock-yard." + +"_Yohi_" (yes), "all um _yarroman_ in um paddock?" asked Prince Tom. + +"Yes, all the lot," answered Alec; and the two black fellows ran off to +get to the other side of the horses and head them to the yard. Just as +thoughtless as children they rushed away without thinking of opening +the stock-yard rails; but Alec had expected as much, and walking round +the yard he removed the two heavy slip-panels himself, and stepped on +one side out of sight of the horses. In a few moments he heard the +heavy thud of hoofs on the dry turf as the little mob was driven from +the paddock and came galloping towards him. One or two of the horses +neighed loudly, resenting the ignominy of being driven by natives, but +after some reluctance they turned to the yard and rushed through the +opening in a little stampede. + +How noble the handsome creatures looked! Ten or a dozen of them, and +not a single "screw" amongst them; for it was Alec's pride, as it had +been his father's before him, to have the best horses in the colony. +They stood, quivering with the excitement of the little run, with the +morning sun shining on their burnished coats, as spirited and in as +good condition as horses well could be, though their only feed was the +short sweet grass of the paddock. They all pricked their ears and +looked up as Alec came round the cart-shed. They nearly all knew him, +for he had broken in all the young horses himself for the last five +years. As he came up to the fence, Amber, his favourite horse, which he +allowed no one but himself to mount, pushed his way through the others, +and with a low whinny of pleasure at the sight of his master, put his +head over the top rail for Alec to rub his smooth soft muzzle. + +He was a noble beast of a rich golden chestnut colour, and without a +white hair or a blemish on him. His goodly shoulders and grand +hind-quarters showed the strength of the horse, and his flat hocks and +springy though strong-thewed pasterns spoke of his swiftness as plainly +as his broad chest did of his powers of endurance. His head, which was +perhaps a trifle small, was exquisitely shaped, broad in the forehead, +and clean cut. The nostrils were wide, the eyes dark and tender, and +the ears sensitive and small. It could be seen by the whole shape of +the head, and by the slight arch in the curve of his tail, that Arab +blood flowed in his veins. No wonder that Alec loved him, for Amber was +as noble and intelligent a creature as ever man bestrode. + +Whilst Alec and the native boys were seeing to the horses, George was +carrying out his arrangements in the store. He finished weighing out +the week's rations for the shepherds on the distant parts of the run, +and put them ready for Yesslett, who was to act as ration-carrier in +his absence, to take to them that afternoon. He then called Dudley into +the store and showed him where everything was kept, and told him to +enter every article he sold to any of the men, or their wives, in the +store book to each man's account, and showed him the board on which the +price of everything was written. + +"For you will have to be store-keeper as well as ration-carrier whilst +I am away, besides being protector-in-chief to mother and Margaret. I +wish you were coming, too, Yess, but I don't think you could stand +camping out just yet," said George. + +"No," replied Yesslett; "perhaps I could not, and besides that," he +added, with an assumption of a manly manner that delighted and amused +George, though he was little more than a year older than his +cousin--"besides that, I shall have to look after the women." + +"Yes, of course," said George, with a little smile. + +"I say, Geordie," said Yesslett, in his natural, boyish, inquisitive +way a few moments afterwards, during which time George had been getting +ready the stores to take with them on their expedition, "whatever do +you want all those canvas bags for?" + +"Oh, they'll come in useful," said George, who did not mean to tell his +chatterbox of a cousin that he hoped they would be useful for bringing +home the gold they were going to seek. He half blushed at thus counting +his chickens before they were hatched, but with a little laugh he went +on choosing the strongest sewn ones from a little heap of 14-lb. shot +bags that lay in a corner of the store near the door. + +Yesslett understood that he would get no further answer from George, so +he remained behind the tall salt-meat cask, silently folding up the +great flour bag they had just emptied. + +The same idea seemed to strike some one else, for a moment afterwards +Keggs, who had already made one or two excuses for coming into the +store that morning, appeared again at the door, and looking in, with +what he considered an engaging smile, he entered, and said-- + +"You seem mighty busy this morning!" + +"Yes," said George, shortly, for he did not like the man, and Alec had +told him how he had been watching him the night before. + +"And wot might y'all be ser busy for?" + +"Because we've got something to do, and can't afford to waste time as +you do," said George, looking up at him. + +"P'raps you wouldn't mind sayin' wot all them little bags is for?" + +"To put things in--like this," said a deep voice from above him; and +before the astonished man could look up, Yesslett, holding the mouth of +the sack wide open, had leaped down on him from the top of the +salt-meat tub, and enveloped him completely in the rough dusty bag. + +They could hear him choking and coughing and cursing as he struggled to +get out. Before he had succeeded in extricating himself, Yesslett, with +a most provoking and impish laugh, had vanished into the house. Keggs' +inflamed eyelids looked redder and more painful than ever from his +white powdered face when at last he had wriggled out of the sack, for +George would not help him; and as he sneaked off he swore that he would +"serve the young beggar out." + +Breakfast at Wandaroo was taken, as is general on Queensland runs, at +about half-past seven or eight, when every one had gained an appetite +by the couple of hours' work he had done since sunrise. It was not a +particularly cheerful meal that morning, for Mrs. Law felt losing her +sons for so long a time, and the lads were too excited and busy to talk +very much. Fortunately Yesslett was in capital spirits, as indeed he +generally was, and Macleod, the general manager, was too old and too +hard-headed a man of the world to let so small a circumstance disturb +him. Although fond of the lads, he had known too many partings in his +lifetime to allow this one, which after all was not for so very long a +time, interfere with his breakfast. + +"I hope you will be at the head station as much as possible whilst we +are away," said Alec, addressing Macleod. "The South Creek station +doesn't want so much looking after now, and I shall feel more +comfortable if I know you are here." + +"Oh, aye, Alec, I s'all be heere," said the old Scotsman. "Yasslutt and +I can ferry weel look after the leddies." + +"Don't trouble yourselves about us," said Margaret; "we shall get on +all right, there is nothing to be afraid of, for Starlight and his band +are nowhere in the neighbourhood, and they are the only people we have +to fear." + +"How do you know that they are not about here?" + +"Macleod brought the news up from Bateman that they have been seen +lately about Bowen, and that they 'stuck up' a bank manager in one of +the new townships near there in his own house, took his keys, emptied +his safe, and rode off scot free, though it was broad daylight and the +town was full of men." + +"By Jove! Margaret, I almost believe you admire those sneaking +bushrangers," said George. + +"Oh, no, I don't," replied she, blushing a little at the accusation; +"but I do think them bold and daring, and I can't help rather liking +their dash and pluck." + +"Weel, Miss Mairgaret, theer's not much chaance o' their comin' to +Wandaroo," said old Macleod, in his caustic Scottish way, "so I greatly +fear you wull not haive the pleasure o' witnessin' 'the pluck and +daring' of ten weel armed and mounted men slinking on to a defenceless +station and robbing a pack o' women and lads o' their little a'. +Theer's nothing at Wandaroo to tempt bushrangers heether." + +"Except the horses," muttered Alec. + +"And we shall have the best of them with us," said George, turning to +his brother, for he had heard him, as he always did anything that Alec +said. + +"Well, it's about time we started," said Alec, when breakfast was over; +"it will be getting fearfully hot directly, and we may as well spare +the horses as much as possible at first." + +"Have you taken enough stores for a month for all of you?" asked Mrs. +Law, anxiously. "Those black boys eat such an enormous quantity." + +"All right, mother, I've seen to that," said Geordie. "We shall take +two pack-horses, and I've looked out everything and loaded them well. +As to Murri and Prince Tom, they will have to pretty well feed +themselves--there is plenty of kangaroo and wallaby and bandicoot for +them to catch and eat; we shall take Como, too, and he'll help us get +food enough, don't fear." + +"I hope you are going well armed," said Margaret the practical. "Take +plenty of powder and shot." + +"Thank you, madame, we will, and ball, too. Being so young and +inexperienced in bush life," said Alec, with a laugh at his sister's +advice, "we should probably have forgotten all about these trifles." + +"What do you want ball for, Alec?" + +"Possibly for natives, my gentle sister," whispered Alec to her, "if +they are unkind enough and unwise enough to interfere with us. But we +shall take care of ourselves, never fear. Don't let mother know that we +think we may meet any _myalls_, she does so worry herself." + +Shortly after this, having strapped up in their blankets the very few +clothes they were taking with them, they said good-bye to their mother +as cheerfully as possible, and went out to the yard. The horses, which +had been saddled, although fresh and excited, stood quite quietly, as +they had been trained to do when fastened to a post or rail, and the +two spare horses were loaded with the provisions, the one or two tin +pans and "billies," as the round pots for boiling water are called, and +the two boys' "swags." Prince Tom and Murri were already mounted, their +bare legs looking very ridiculous coming from under the old torn shirt +that each of them wore. They were both armed to the teeth with native +weapons, for in their belts of kangaroo sinew were thrust their +_nullah-nullahs_, and _waddies_ (clubs), their short throwing sticks, +and their most valued weapon, the _boomerang_. Each man had his native +stone hatchet fixed in his belt and lying along his spine, and they +carried, too, a few short spears strapped on to their saddles, and over +which their left legs passed. Kissing Margaret, who had come on to the +verandah to see them start, and shaking hands with Yesslett and +Macleod, the boys unfastened their horses and sprang into the saddle +with the perfect ease of accomplished horsemen. + +It was a beautiful sight to see those boys ride; never did their +graceful, well-knit figures show to such advantage as on horseback. +Accustomed to riding from their earliest childhood, they sat a horse as +though it were--as it surely must be--the most natural place for a man +to be. Once in the saddle they seemed to be actually part of the animal +they rode, their swelling thighs and muscular calves clasping the horse +firmly and composedly, but the whole body above the hips swaying and +giving easily to every motion of the horse. They looked two as handsome +lads as could well be seen as they rode out of the yard that morning. +Their dark eyes were flashing and their healthy brown faces were all +aglow with excitement, and they laughed aloud, as their horses pranced +proudly beneath them, from sheer joy in the beauty of the sunshine and +the brightness of the day. + +They turned, as they came to the gate of the paddock, and taking off +their soft, grey, broad-brimmed felt hats they waved a farewell to the +group on the verandah. The sun gleamed on the short curls of their +hair, and shone on the bright barrels of their guns and on the steel of +their bridles and stirrups as they shouted a cheery "good-bye." + +Everything was bright and promised well. So they left on their wild +search for gold. + +"Ah, good-bye, good-bye, my fine fellers," maliciously muttered Keggs, +who had been watching them with his blinking treacherous eyes from the +door of the bachelors' hut, where he was hidden in the shadow. "Better +men nor you are a-walkin' now who may be in your saddles afore long." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FIRST STAGES. + + +Unconscious of the evil glances and still more evil wishes of the man +hidden in the bachelors' hut, the boys rode on. They were happy, for +hope was strong in their hearts; the day was clear and invigorating, +for the sun had not gained much power as yet, though he shone royally +from a sky of cloudless blue; they were strong and well; the horses +they rode were fresh and powerful; and the feeling that at last they +were started on just such an adventure as all their lives they had both +wished for, gave a zest to life that they had never before experienced. +Could any one wish for more than this? + +It was a day to put the most miserable of men in high spirits, and it +can hardly be said that Alec and George were of that nature. Up on +those wide, open downs the air is clear and strong; a pleasant breeze +from the eastern sea blew on their faces and cooled their sun-tanned +necks, from which the loose unbuttoned collars of their flannel shirts +fell back. The keen, sweet smell of the wild marjoram rose from the +ground as their horse's hoofs crushed it as they rode along, and the +"chirr" of the crickets and the locusts in the ti-scrub made a +cheerful, though unobserved, music in their accustomed ears. + +For many miles they would be riding over their own land, for the run +was one of those huge tracts of country that were taken up by the +pioneer squatters in the early years of the settlement of that part of +the colony, and of course the boys knew their way about it better than +the natives did, so they led the way, and the black boys followed, +leading the spare horses. + +Como, the great tawny kangaroo hound, bounded along by the side of +George's horse, the pace being an easy one to his enormous stride, +every now and then turning aside to examine with inquisitive nose the +traces of kangaroo that had passed thereby. He was a splendid hound, +standing, when he put his great paws on George's shoulders, some inches +taller than his master himself. + +For some few miles the country was open and park-like, dotted here and +there with clumps of great gum trees, between whose ragged trunks they +could easily ride, as no brushwood grows in their shade, and every now +and then it was varied with strips and patches of scrub and wild +impenetrable bush. Much of the land had been cleared by firing, and the +gaunt skeletons of the burnt trees stood up here and there, stretching +their bare arms towards heaven, as though protesting against their +fate. They had been following, until now, the slight track that had +gradually been formed by the horses passing between the head station +and the hut on the Yarrun station, where two of the Wandaroo shepherds +lived. But where the track turned aside and crossed the deep gully, on +the other side of which, at some little distance, the Yarrun hut stood, +Alec called a halt. + +"Over yonder," said he, pointing to a low line of dim blue hills that +lay along the horizon to the north-east, "lie the ranges from which we +may perhaps see the first spurs of those great mountains we are looking +for. It was from those hills that Stevens said he had seen mountain +peaks in the far-distant north. He might have been lying, probably was, +for he was an awful liar, but Murri and the other boys also say that +the mountains are there. It is no use our making a rush at the hills, +and perhaps going over the highest part of all. We may as well strike a +valley, if there be one, and save both time and our horses; so we will +stop a minute to let the boys catch us up, and ask them." + +"Now, then, let's ask Murri or Prince Tom," said George, as the other +horses came up. + +Alec turned in his saddle, and, resting one hand affectionately on +Amber's glossy back, he asked Murri his opinion as to which was the +best road across the ranges. + +"High up _boudgeree cawbawn_" (much best) "for um black fellow, 'cause +black fellow walk and kangaroo there; low down _boudgeree_" (good) "for +white fellows, 'cause um _yarroman_" (because of the horses). + +"You know um road low down, Murri?" + +"_Yohi._ Mine been along o' that place plenty time, _bail gammon bong_. +Mine go first; white fellow follow 'long o' me." (Yes, I have been to +that place many times. No gammon. I will go first, you follow after +me.) + +From this point the country was new to the two lads, and they had to +get Murri to point out to them the direction in which they should go. +With that incomprehensible instinct which the Australian savage +possesses in such perfection, Murri knew the best road to be taken, and +pointed to a slight rise in the ground a few miles ahead, and said-- + +"Along o' that place first." + +By the time that they reached the little hill towards which Murri had +directed them the day had grown terribly hot, for the power of the sun +at mid-day in Queensland is very trying. Wandaroo was well within the +Tropics, being in about the same latitude as Bowen, but a little to the +north of it. The black boys, of course, did not feel the heat, and Alec +and George, being naturalised to it, were not affected much; but the +horses suffered a great deal, both from the sun and the countless +flies. + +Prince Tom knew of a spring in a little shady ravine on the far side of +the hill, and when they had "rose the ridge" they saw the welcome signs +of water below them. Thither they led the horses, and after they had +filled their "billies" for the tea, which is the bushman's constant +beverage, they allowed the thirsty brutes to drink a little. As they +had made a very good stage since morning, having crossed the vaguely +defined limits of their own run, and entered upon the vast crown lands +which, at present, were only inhabited by the _myalls_, they determined +to halt for a spell. + +The riding horses were unsaddled, and the two spare horses unloaded, +and then, having their fore feet "hobbled," they were turned loose to +graze and pick up their living as best they might. A horse hobble is a +short length of chain (the wilder the horse, the fewer the links), +which is fastened by two straps to the fore legs of a horse, so that, +although he is free to wander about and graze, he is quite unable to +escape very far. Some very clever and agile horses can manage to +shuffle off to a great distance, and they have been known to leap the +tall fences of a paddock with their hocks thus coupled together. + +Although an Australian horse can find sustenance where an English one +would starve, Alec's chief anxiety was the keep of his little troop. It +was totally impossible to carry fodder for so many horses, and he +feared that in the great dreary stretch of spinifex-covered desert that +the black boys said he would have to cross his horses would starve. +However, though he was not without foresight, he was not of that +desponding nature which lets the possibility of future ills blight the +pleasant present; so he opened one of the parcels of tea, and +cheerfully threw in a pinch or two, "and one for the pot," and, backing +away from the hot little fire, he flung himself down in the shade of a +few grey-leaved acacia shrubs, and waited till the tea "corroborreed," +as he called boiling. + +Whilst the boys waited for the tea to boil, Prince Tom and Murri +wandered away to pick up any little bush delicacy in the way of food +that they might discover. The one idea of an Australian black is "food" +and "the getting of food," and the amount they will consume at one +sitting, of flesh or anything else eatable, is incredible. They will +eat till they can literally take no more, and then will lie on their +backs till the effect of the gorge has passed off, when they will rise +and, if they can get it, begin over again, smiling. + +In a short time they heard a great creaking and cracking, and, looking +down the little hillside, saw Murri swaying and wriggling a smallish +green tree, and exerting himself mightily over it. Presently the brown +rotten roots gave way, and the little tree fell with a crash. In the +decaying wood was a mass of fat, white, struggling grubs. They saw +Murri pick out a number, and scoop them up in his hollowed hands; then +he came rushing up to the place where George was sitting in the little +gully. + +"Missa Law, mine find _bardee_. You _patter_" (eat) "all ob um. _Bardee +boudgeree cawbawn._" (Grubs are very good.) + +As Murri could not pronounce George's name, he always called him "Missa +Law." Alec, on the contrary, he always addressed by his Christian name, +as he had no difficulty in saying it. + +George took two or three of the grubs, and placed them in the hot ashes +of the fire, for they are really most excellent when roasted in this +way. The blacks always prefer to eat theirs uncooked. It was a very +extraordinary thing that Murri should have given him any, for as a rule +the natives are not generous, and they rarely give anything away. But +Murri was an exceptionally fine specimen of the Australian savage, +possessing many of those higher qualities as to which many travellers +accuse them of being absolutely deficient. + +It is often said that the aborigines are entirely treacherous and +wanting in a sense of gratitude, and this, it must be admitted, is true +as a general rule. But to this rule, as to all, there are some +exceptions, and Murri was a case in point. Some months before this +George had had occasion to go to the native camp to hire a boy or two +to help in driving in a little mob of cattle from one of the outer +stations. He had seen Murri, wrapped in his possum rug, lying by the +side of a huge fire, and groaning and writhing with pain. One of the +old _gins_, who was crouching by the side of him, said that he was +bewitched, and that he would die very soon, and evidently believed the +truth of what she said so firmly that she thought it useless to do +anything to help the invalid, and in consequence only sat groaning and +howling over him. George had always rather liked this man Murri, who +was more intelligent than any of the other men at the camp, so he +looked at him, and thought that there was nothing more the matter with +him than a good strong dose of medicine would cure; he therefore rode +back to the station, and procured a powerful but simple remedy, which +he administered straightway to him. + +That night George returned to the camp to see how the invalid was +progressing, and found the dying man restored to perfect health, and +walking about and chattering as usual. Since that time Murri had been +his sworn ally and bondsman, and seemed to have conceived a strong +attachment to the young white man. + +Towards evening, when the power of the declining sun had grown less, +Alec said that they had better push on; so the horses were caught and +re-saddled, and the little cavalcade rode on till after sunset. They +camped that night at the edge of a great dark forest, where the giant +trees were all tangled together by a wild luxuriance of tropical +creepers and vines. Its deep shades, that had never been desecrated by +the foot of man, looked dark and awful, and the leaves of the trees, +languid after the heat of the burning day, were motionless and silent +in the stilly air. Not a breath of wind was stirring, and the +atmosphere seemed still quivering with the heat radiated from the +baking earth. But the coolness of the night was at hand, and the heavy +dews, that would refresh all living things, were yet to fall. + +The little party had made good progress since the morning, for they had +ridden fast and well, the open nature of the country, for that first +day's journey, at least, having offered no bar to their progress. The +range of hills, which was the first point to be reached in their +journey, seemed in the clear, warm light before sunset to loom quite +close upon them, and they felt confident of getting well in amongst +them before very late next day. + +That night they slept the sleep of the weary, with their heads upon +their saddles and covered with their blankets. + +Their loaded guns they laid beside them, and carefully covered them +with their blankets, that the heavy dew might not spoil their +cartridges. Many a time has a man sprung up from sleep when attacked by +_myalls_, and found to his consternation that he could not fire his +gun, and all because he had not taken the simple precaution of keeping +his loaded weapon covered from the damp. + +It was not the first night by many a one that the two lads had camped +out, but still they had not lost all sense of novelty in doing so, and +the excitement of their position and the unaccustomed hardness of their +beds awoke them once or twice. But neither of them was foolish enough +to waste valuable time in lying awake, and after a little surprised +thought at the horsey smell of their leather pillows and an upward +glance at the deep clear blue of the vast starry heaven stretched above +them, they would pull their rough blanket closer about them--for even +tropical nights are cold when the dews are falling--and with a little +shake or two to settle themselves in their places they would roll off +to sleep again. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A TRAITOR IN THE CAMP. + + +The journey next day was hotter and more oppressive than the first, for +their way led them, in several places, through thick and tangled +forest, where the luxuriant undergrowth was so matted and wild that +they could not force their way without the greatest labour and loss of +time. Here again Murri's knowledge of the country was of the greatest +service, for he knew that there was a river thereabouts, which flowed +from the ranges, along the dry bed of which they could travel. It was a +poor road when he found it, for the sand was very deep in some places +and it was so rocky in others, that their horses had no small +difficulty in picking a road. It was, however, much easier to travel +thus than to be obliged to chop and hew their way through the +vine-bound thickets of the bush. + +Although they had passed all their lives in Queensland, the boys had +never seen such majestic forest as clothed, for the most part, the tops +of the banks of this creek, for all the bush within many miles of any +European settlements or stations is so frequently the scene of fires, +both accidental and intentional, that either it is totally destroyed or +its wild beauty is greatly spoiled. Here, it seemed, no devastating +flames had ever impaired the grandeur of the primeval forest. The giant +trees, of vast age and enormous girth, were bound together by loops and +ropes of creepers; every branch and stem was covered with quantities of +strange parasitical growths and ferns, and the dead and dying branches +of the trees were clothed and draped with hanging masses of grey moss. +Every now and then a rotten branch would fall with a crash, startling, +with wild echoes, the silence of the bush. + +In every cranny of the rocky sides of the ravine some green thing grew, +a cluster of drooping ferns or tall rich grasses, and here and there a +tapering palm raised its rose of leaves upon the slender column of its +graceful stem. About the trees in the golden heat, or in the cool +recesses of their shadowy branches, flew flocks of parroquets of every +gorgeous hue; bright green and crimson, amethyst and amber, they +flashed as they darted hither and thither, with the sunshine gleaming +on every burnished feather, till they glowed like living jewels. The +cooing of the many sorts of pigeons hidden in the woods, the clear +resonant note of the bell bird, and every now and again the grand, pure +song of the golden-throated organ magpie made sweet music for them as +they rode along. + +But, although the beauty around them was so great, the heat was +terribly trying in the deep bed of that dry river, and not a drop of +water was to be found in the rock pools along the course of the stream. + +"I don't know how you feel, Alec," George said, after they had been +riding several hours in this blazing heat, "but I am completely +parched. My clothes would be wet through with sweat if the sun didn't +dry 'em just as quick. I don't believe there's a blessed drop of +moisture left in my whole body." + +"Beastly, isn't it? I say, Geordie, what fools we were not to have +brought some water with us from last night's camp." + +"So we should, only that ass of a Prince Tom said we were sure to get +plenty in the water holes in the river. River! I call it a jolly old +sand pit." + +"Well, Murri says we are sure to get some at the place he recommends us +to stop at. There is a native well there." + +"I hope there is." + +Shortly after this Murri overtook them, and said that at the next bend +in the river was the place they ought to stay at, as, at this dry +season, there was no water beyond that for many miles. So at the place +indicated--it was at the junction to the main creek of what, in flood +times, would be a freshet, but what was then a dry and rocky little +watercourse--they dismounted and unsaddled their horses. They at once +followed Murri to the place where he remembered the native well was +situated, and found, to their intense disappointment, that it was +absolutely dry. There were many traces of blacks on the sand around the +well, and traces which both Murri and Prince Tom said were quite recent +ones, and if there had been any water there at all, which was doubtful, +they had consumed it every drop. + +The disappointment was all the keener as they had looked forward with +such certainty to finding water there. Still they were in no great +straits for it at present, although very thirsty and parched. + +"What shall we do? Push on to the next camp?" said George. + +"Oh, no, we must put up with it; we can manage to do without drink for +a long time yet, and the horses must rest. We must not knock them up +whatever else we do." + +"All right, I can manage if you can, old fellow. I was thinking of Como +more than myself," said the boy, looking down at his dog, who was +thrusting his dry, hot nose into his master's hand as though to tell +him how much he suffered. "Never mind, Como, old boy, you shall have as +much to drink as you like tonight." + +So without any useless grumblings they threw themselves down in the +shade and kept themselves as quiet and still as the plague of flies +would let them. Just then Alec noticed that Prince Tom had not unloaded +the pack-horse which had been given into his charge, though he had +hobbled her and turned her loose. This was a most absurd and annoying +thing to do, as not only was the mare greatly impeded in her feeding, +but the pack upon her back was every moment threatened with destruction +amongst the rocks and boughs that overhung the sides of the gully. +Alec, whose temper was always rather a quick and hasty one, had been a +good deal ruffled that day by one or two little signs of Prince Tom's +desire to shirk his share of the work, and the heat, and the flies, and +the want of water, too, had worried him considerably, so that it is not +to be wondered at that he was angry. He jumped up hastily when he saw +how Prince Tom had neglected Polly, and caught the skulking fellow--who +was leaning against a tree close to him eating a lump of damper--a +sounding box on the ears. He was very angry, and the black could see +it. + +"What for you leave um load on um _yarroman_?" said Alec, advancing +towards him as though he would repeat the blow. + +Prince Tom danced and leaped backwards with surprising agility to get +out of his way. + +"Black fellow werry tired," he answered, sulkily. "Bail water bong, +bail work" (no water, no work). "White fellow eat an' drinkee all um +day. White fellow strong. You go take pack off _yarroman_." + +Alec could hardly help laughing at the impudence of the fellow making +such an absurd statement, but he sternly bade him go and unload the +horse, and Prince Tom shuffled off and did it. Already several times +since they had left Wandaroo Alec had thought that Tom had shown signs +of insubordination and disobedience, whilst Murri, on the contrary, +cheerfully obeyed their bidding, and did everything that he could to +assist them. The fact that Prince Tom was so much less to be trusted +than Murri may be accounted for by the fact that Tom was a partly +civilised black, having lived about Wandaroo and other stations for +some years, whilst Murri had not very long been drafted into the native +camp on the station from the wild _myall_ part of his tribe, which +hunted in the immediate neighbourhood of Wandaroo. + +All that afternoon, whilst they rested thirstily by the dried-up native +well, Tom relieved his anger by singing _corroborree_ songs to himself +in a low voice, but with flashing eyes and an excited manner. An +Australian savage comforts himself with these wild chants at all times +of trouble or anger, and as they are short, and are repeated over and +over again, perhaps hundreds of times, and as the tune is but a few +harsh notes strung together, the effect upon a listener, who is not +also a native Australian, becomes exasperating in the extreme. + +This is what Prince Tom sang for hours and hours that day:-- + + "_Marra boor-ba, boor-ba nunga, + Marra gul-ga, gul-ga nunga, + Marra boor-ba, boor-ba nunga, + Marra gul-ga, gul-ga nunga._" + +He sang another one just at first, when he felt very angry with Alec, +and doubtless it was a great consolation to him, for all the +opprobrious terms in it were meant as descriptive of the elder Law:-- + + "The wooden-headed, + Bandy-legged, + Thin-thighed fellow. + The long-armed + Long-shinned, + Thin-thighed fellow." + +And then every now and then, with a sort of scornful laugh, he would +add-- + + "_Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya, + Mat-ta, mat-ta, yungore bya._" + + "Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow, + Oh, what legs, oh, what legs, the kangaroo-like fellow." + +This singing did not trouble the boys much; they made Tom move off to a +distance, and then the sound of his chanting only made them feel drowsy +in the hot afternoon air, and in the shade of the thick bushes they +slept till it was time to push on to their camping-place for the night. + +They noticed many signs of natives being in the neighbourhood, their +steps in the sand and the remains of their fires, but Murri said that +the party had gone off towards the west, probably in search of water, +as the water holes in that creek were all dried up. + +By sunset they were well amongst the hills of the ranges they had been +aiming for. They had left the bed of the river soon after they had +started again in the afternoon. The country had grown much wilder, +there was less bush about it, and the hills themselves were only +covered with coarse native grasses, and ti-scrub and _mulga_. They +camped that night in a rocky ravine, on either side of which the steep +hills rose to a little height, leaving only a broad strip of sky above +them. Here they were able to drink--themselves and their thirsting +animals for they found a native well which, when they had scraped out +the accumulations of sand that had drifted into it, gave them a little +supply of water. + +That night the boys lay down with their loaded rifles by the side of +them. They knew that strange blacks were in the neighbourhood, and +although they had not caught sight of them, the keen-eyed savages, as +Murri warned them, might have espied them and might make a raid upon +their little force for the sake of the horses and the provisions they +carried. + +Alec thought it wisest that they should keep a watch through the night, +and this was done. George took the first, Murri the second, Tom the +third, and Alec himself was to watch from about half-past two till +dawn. + +All went well during the first part of the night. Geordie called Murri +at the appointed time, and reported everything quiet, and so it +continued through Murri's watch. He roused Prince Tom, who rose with an +alacrity that surprised him, and lying down he was soon sound asleep. + +No sooner had Prince Tom's quick ears told him that Murri slept than he +rose from the side of the tree where he was crouching, and slowly, and +noiselessly as a shadow, moved to where Alec and George were lying side +by side. He made not the least sound as he stepped; each naked foot +fell upon the dry soft sand as quietly as a falling leaf upon the +grass. He stood behind them, stiff and motionless as a statue, and +listened to their breathing to judge whether they slept soundly. He +held his cruel _waddy_ (club) in his hand. Would he murder them? Was he +about to revenge himself on Alec thus? + +It was well for them that the thought of it never entered his childish, +savage brain. He would have killed them ruthlessly had the idea but +presented itself to him; but that was not his intention. George rolls +over and indistinctly mutters something; the savage grasps his +murderous weapon that is half raised for the blow. Lie still, Geordie, +_lie still_. But the boy does not wake, he only moves his head upon his +saddle-flap and sinks again to deeper slumber. + +Having assured himself that all are soundly sleeping, Prince Tom glides +silently away; he goes to the little heap that the loads of the two +pack-horses make, and with quick hands begins to turn the different +sacks and parcels over. Many a backward glance he flings over his +shoulder to where the sleeping boys lie. But they do not move. He +hastily takes the bags that hold the flour and sugar and rice, and +swiftly carries them a little way down the ravine, towards the place +where he can hear the cropping of the horses. Once more he comes back +and takes another load, of which his saddle and bridle form part, +depositing it with the first. + +Wake, Alec! Wake, George! Treachery and robbery are going on. Wake up, +wake up! But they lie still as death, unconscious of all that goes on +so near them. + +No sooner has Prince Tom taken as much as he thinks one horse can +carry, and rather more, than he steals away to where the horses are +feeding. He can only see them very indistinctly, for a pale, blue mist +hangs above the damp, sour ground--it is an impassable swamp in the wet +season--where they are feeding, but his quick ears guide him, and he +hurries rapidly towards them. He thinks he will take Amber, for he +knows how Alec values him, and it will be sweet to be revenged. He +creeps up quite close to the animal, and is stretching out his hand to +seize his forelock, when the horse perceives him and turns sharply +round. Amber always hates the black boys, and never has let one touch +him, and he thinks it cannot, under the circumstances, be wrong to +bestow a gentle kick upon this one. Like a wise animal he acts upon +what he thinks right, and lifting up his heels as quick as thought, he +catches Tom such a kick upon the shin of one of his legs as would have +disabled any one less hardy than a savage. As it is he suffers +intensely, but silently, and hobbles off towards the horse he has been +riding, which he catches without much difficulty. Saddling the +creature, and securing his booty of food, over which he gloats with the +gaze of a miser, he quickly mounts and rides slowly away. He walks his +horse at first that the sound of hurried footsteps may not arouse the +sleeping men, and enters the thin, blue sea of mist slowly, like a +dusky vision, but he quickens his pace as he leaves the camp behind, +and soon vanishes in the pale clouds of vapour that lie along the +bottom of the valley. + +The night wears away apace, and at last, when Alec awakes, the dawn is +close upon them. He feels chilly and shudders, and looking up he sees +that the night has almost gone. He soon remembers that he ought to have +been called for his watch, but as he sees George by his side he thinks +that nothing more is amiss than that Tom has fallen asleep at his post +and has not called him, as he should have done, three hours or so ago. +He jumps up and looks round, and directly that his glance falls upon +the little tumbled heap of provisions he knows what has happened. + +"Geordie, Geordie, wake up!" he cries. + +"Well, what is it? Good morning," says George, as cheerfully as +anything, and waking up at once, as wide awake as possible, like a +bird. + +"Oh, only that all our provisions are gone in the night, and that dirty +black thief, Tom, with them." + +"Nonsense!" + +But so it is. It is only too plain, for when they all three--for Murri +has joined them, looking the picture of fright, and thinking that he +will be punished for Prince Tom's fault--come to examine the remaining +part of the two spare horses' loads they find very little remaining. It +is principally flour that Tom has taken, the very thing of all others +that they chiefly require; he has left them one bag of it, one parcel +of rice, all the tea and some sugar, and some tins of American salmon. +All the things that they might manage to do without he has generously +left behind, and those to which they trusted for their stay in the +mountains he has taken! + +Murri was most anxious that they should follow Tom; he said that it +would be quite easy for him to track him, and that they would in all +probability catch him in the course of the day. + +"Mine can _mil-mil_" (I can see) "where him go. You soon cotch along o' +black fellow. Um _yarroman_ go slow, plenty much heavy on um back. +Missa Law chewt him with umriple" (rifle); "Prince Tom fall dead bong;" +and here Murri slapped his naked thigh and laughed with delight at the +thought. + +"We can't do that," said George, "it would only be wasting time, for he +has a four hours' start of us, and would take good care we didn't come +up with him." + +"We must go back, of course," said Alec, with a hard tone in his voice +which told how much it cost him to say the words. + +"Go back! not we indeed," said George, laying his arm about his +brother's shoulders, and looking at him with such a cheering smile on +his winsome face as would have inspirited the most desponding. + +"It is not for myself, lad, but for you. I would go on if I hadn't a +crumb of bread or an ounce of flour," said he, with his old +determination; "but I promised mother that I would look after you, and +I will." + +"Look after me, of course you will, and I after you, you jolly old +goose; but go back, _I shan't_. You may if you like. I shall go on +with Murri. I am not afraid." + +"Do you mean it?" said Alec, eagerly, and with a glad light once more +shining in his eye. "Yes, you do, I see. You are a good plucked one, +Geordie. We _will_ go on!" + +"You white fellow _patter_" (eat) "kangaroo and potchum and wallaby?" +here suddenly asked Murri, who had been listening intently and trying +to understand what they were saying. + +"_Yohi_, Murri, possum and wallaby, eat um all," said George, laughing, +"or any other blessed thing you can catch us, old man," he added. + +"No go back then," said Murri, grinning and nodding his head like a +mandarin; "plenty much kangaroo all along o' that place. Mine can catch +um. Prince Tom him _debbil-debbil_; him go find _myall_ in bush, him no +go back Wandaroo." + +This was a danger that the boys had not thought of, for if Tom managed +to join any of the wild tribes thereabouts, as seemed the most probable +thing for him to do, they would very quickly consume all the provisions +he had stolen, and would want to possess themselves of all that the +boys still had with them. Alec saw this at once, and determined to +hasten on and endeavour by forced marches to put such a distance +between them as would prevent any possibility of their being overtaken. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FIGHT WITH THE MYALLS. + + +The little party made a very sparing breakfast that morning, as Alec +said they would have to place themselves on half rations of flour, and +trust to their guns and Murri's hunting for the rest of their food. +George shot a white cockatoo, of which they made a hasty broil, and +Murri caught a little mottled snake amongst the stones, which he +quickly cooked and ate. + +They were ready to break camp almost before the light mist had been +melted by the first rays of the sun. The morning was bright, and the +dew-drops that covered the short spare grass or hung on the leaves of +the stunted bushes that grew amongst the rocks gleamed like diamonds as +they trembled in the crisp morning air. The horses were fresh, for they +had found good feed on the little dried-up marsh, and the whole day was +cheery with the morning songs of the birds and the sounds of life that +proceeded from all living things that rejoiced in the early glory of +the day. + +Although the boys had suffered such a loss in the night they were not +desponding; it had made their undertaking more difficult, but it had +not rendered it impossible, and their spirits only rose the higher at +the thought of greater obstacles to be overcome. They still had forty +pounds of flour and about ten of rice, and George, who was head of the +commissariat department said that, with very careful management, and by +eating plenty of kangaroo or other flesh, it ought to last them five or +six weeks, and they did not expect to be away more than a month in all. + +Busy with these calculations and full of talk as to what had become of +Prince Tom and the horse he had stolen, and as to whether the box on +the ears Alec had given him the day before had been the cause of his +deserting them in this shameful manner, they rode along for some few +hours. The valley amongst the hills, along which they had been riding +since they had entered the ranges the evening before, was not only very +winding but very varying in shape as well. The place where they had +camped the night before, and from which Prince Tom had deserted them, +was a mere rocky defile, with the hills close on either hand. The +valley had widened out shortly after leaving this place, and they had +been able to travel a little quicker; but now that they began to +approach the other end of the pass it gradually narrowed again till the +rocks on either side almost met overhead, making the defile shadowy and +dark. + +Murri had told them that when they emerged from the rocks they would be +able to see the great mountains beyond, and the boys were eagerly +looking forward to seeing the land of promise which they hoped would +prove such an El Dorado for them. They were talking of the gold they +would find, and were laughing excitedly at the thought of so soon +seeing the mountains, forgetful of all the difficulties that still lay +between them and the far-off peaks, for the glamour of gold was upon +them, and their imaginations were dazzled with the dreams which they +themselves had conjured up. They had touched their horses with the +spur, and the animals were just breaking into a canter, for the sandy +ground was clear just there, when Murri, who was close behind them, +leading the pack-horses, called out to them in a voice which, although +low, was so eager and earnest that the boys almost unconsciously obeyed +it. + +"Stop, stop!" + +They pulled their horses up dead and turned round, Alec's hand +instinctively falling on the lock of his rifle, which he carried slung +at his back, for he was instantly aware, from the tone of Murri's +voice, that some near danger threatened them. + +"What is it?" he asked, in the same low tone. + +"You no _mil-mil_" (see)? "Black fellow go along o' this place, two, +four minutes ago. Um come down along o' that gully. Lookee, there um +footmark," said he, pointing to a number of traces on the shingly sand +that the boys had not noticed. "And there," he added, suddenly, his +voice growing hoarse with the intensity of his excitement, "there +footmark o' _yarroman_. That Dandy, mine _pitnee_" (I know). "Prince +Tom, him with _myalls_." + +This sudden announcement of their danger made the boys' hearts beat +high, and for a moment sent the strong blood surging in their ears. +They well knew what it meant. As they had thought possible, Tom had +succeeded in joining one of the numerous tribes of savages wandering +about the neighbourhood, and, telling them of the prey, had led them to +this narrow gorge, which he knew the lads must pass through. But there +was not an ounce of coward in either of the boys, and in a moment both +of them were ready for any emergency. + +Alec's voice was steady, though his face was pale, when, through his +closed teeth, he said, without turning to his brother, but keeping a +steady glance ahead-- + +"Geordie, is your rifle loaded as well as your revolver?" + +"Yes, both barrels." + +"Fix your reins round the D-iron on the pommel, so as to have both +hands free. Will Firebrace be guided by the knees?" + +"Yes, as well as Amber. Let us try to get to that great rock in the +middle of the gully. If we can get that behind us we shall, at least, +have no one at our backs." + +"Come along, then. Come on, Murri. Keep well behind me, Geordie." + +But George Law was not of the sort to seek to protect himself behind +any one, and he took no notice of this direction, but quickened his +pace a little and rode up alongside of his brother, without a word, to +face the danger, whatever it might be, equally with him. Alec knew what +he meant by doing so, and gave one of those little nods of the head +that meant so very much between the brothers. + +The next few moments, when they knew that dozens of pairs of keen and +hostile eyes were even then gazing at them from the rocks and crannies +and bushes that hid their coming foe, were perhaps the most trying that +the boys ever experienced. Every second they expected a shower of +spears to dart upon them from their enemies' hiding-places, and yet +they had to pass along the hundred yards or so that lay between them +and the rock they wished to reach quite slowly and calmly that they +might fire upon any native that aimed a spear at them. + +They had almost reached the rock where they meant to make their stand, +when the first spear, whistling as it flew, thrown with enormous speed +from a throwing stick, darted between George and his horse's head. It +buried itself deep in the shingle. Geordie turned like a shot, but +before he had time to lift his hand the black warrior had dropped +behind the rock, where he was completely hidden. This was the signal +for attack, and many spears were darted at them from either side as +they rode on. One struck Jezebel, one of the led horses, and made her +rear and kick out viciously, but as yet the boys and Murri were unhurt. +Como had one or two narrow escapes; in fact he was grazed by one spear. + +The boys' blood began to boil, for they could get no shot at all at any +of their assailants, and they themselves were quite open to attack. +Directly that they reached the rock George sprang from the saddle and +sang out in a voice, made clear and loud by excitement--what need was +there for whispering now?-- + +"Get down, Alec; they are aiming at Como and the horses, the brutes; we +must send 'em round to the other side of the rock with Murri. Keep them +safe, or we are done for." + +No sooner said than done. In an instant Alec was by his side, and, +making Murri understand what he was to do, they gave him hold of their +bridles. He led the horses to the other side of the little fortress, +and the boys stood there alone. Alec, with a true soldier's eye, had +seen the advantage of this position, which not only screened them from +attack in the rear, but offered a good protection at the sides as well. + +The _myalls_, who, in that part of Queensland, are a big, bold, and +finely-made race of men, seeing that they could not get at the boys +unless they left the shelter of the rocks and bushes where they were +hidden, now came out into the open and collected themselves for the +attack. There must have been twenty or thirty of them, all armed to the +teeth with spears and _nullah-nullahs_ and _waddies_, and there, on the +extreme left of the group, was Prince Tom, grinning like a demon, and +still mounted on Dandy. Besides the men there was a little crowd of +_gins_, who collected stones for their husbands, picked up their spears +when they were thrown, and goaded the warriors on when the fighting +began with their shrieks and wild yells. + +"There's that thief of a Tom, look!" said George to his brother; "I'd +dearly love to have a shot at him, but I might miss at this distance, +and that would never do." + +"Don't waste a single shot, Geordie; and look here, we mustn't fire +together, or they will be in on us and stick us in no time. I'll shoot +first, both my rifle and my revolver, and while I am reloading you keep +up a steady fire. It's our only chance. Do you understand?" + +Alec's heart was thumping in his throat so that he could hardly speak; +he knew how much depended on their keeping cool and never losing their +heads. Geordie's steady answer relieved him somewhat, and surprised him +too, for the boy's face to his very lips was white. + +"Aye, aye, Alec, I understand. God protect us now, for they are on us." + +The words had hardly left his lips before the blacks had made a run and +discharged a little cloud of spears at them. The boys dropped on their +knees, and the weapons striking the rock above them fell harmlessly +behind them. Then Alec fired. His hand was as steady as the rock itself +now that the supreme moment had come, and he aimed quite quietly. With +the two quick reports of his rifle two savages fell dead, and then +instantly dropping his rifle he picked up his revolver, and fired six +shots again in rapid succession. + +Hearing, for the first time, the awful report of the white man's +mysterious weapon, and seeing two of their number fall dead from no +apparent cause, stayed for a moment the black men's attack; but seeing +no evil results ensue from the other shots--for Alec was not accustomed +to pistol shooting and got a wrong elevation--they plucked up courage +again and renewed the attack. They had fallen back a little when Alec +first fired, but hearing that the mysterious noise had ceased they +again rushed forward. + +The little ravine that a moment before had appeared so quiet and +deserted had suddenly been changed to a scene of the wildest fury. The +savages were leaping and bounding about, uttering the most unearthly of +cries as they brandished their _waddies_ and their spears; the women, +whose thin bodies seemed here, there, and everywhere at once, added +their yells and shrieks to the awful clamour. + +Before Alec had had time to reload, a second volley of spears was +discharged at them, and George, as coolly as though aiming at pigeons, +fired in return. He hit one man, killing him, and wounded another, who +fell to the earth shrieking in his agony. By the time he had emptied +the six barrels of his revolver three more men, who had come up to +close quarters, had received disabling wounds, and the greater part of +the _myalls_, thinking that they had had enough of it, rushed off with +the women up the cliffs. But a few bolder spirits still remained to +dispute the field. + +Four great naked fellows, strong and muscular, and made hideous by the +paint with which they had daubed themselves, rushed in upon the lads, +_waddies_ in hand, and rending the air with their shrieks. The boys +gave one quick glance at each other as though to say farewell, and +seizing the barrels of their rifles in both hands they waited for the +assault. But before the _myalls_ reached them unexpected help came to +their aid. Just as the foremost of the men was within a few feet of the +rock, a figure dashed round from the other side of it like a flash of +light and dealt the gigantic savage so fierce and heavy a blow on the +side of the head with a stone that he held in his hand that it +stretched him silent and senseless on the sand. + +It was Murri who had thus rushed to their rescue. + +They now were but three to three, as Murri instantly attacked another +of the _myalls_ with the _waddy_ which he had snatched from the hand of +his fallen foe. George made a step forward, and quickly swinging his +rifle round he brought it heavily down upon the neck of another of the +men. But the blow was not a disabling one; he had aimed it at his head, +but the wary savage had bent on one side. Before George had time to +recover himself and lift his weapon for a second blow his opponent +sprang in, and striking him a sickening blow on the top of the head he +felled him to the ground. He would have had his head beaten in by the +savage had not Como leaped over his master's prostrate body and, +showing all his strong white teeth, flown at the enemy. This created a +momentary diversion. + +Alec saw George fall, and felt sure, from the nature of the blow he had +seen him receive, that he was dead. He dealt a wild blow at the man +with whom he was engaged and disabled him, and then, with such a yell +of fury as a lioness gives when she protects her young, he turned upon +his brother's foe. He sprang across Geordie's body as it lay face +downwards in the sand, and seizing in one powerful hand the descending +arm of the savage, who had kicked Como to one side and was aiming a +second cruel blow at the boy as he lay, he began a hand-to-hand +struggle with him. + +Alec dealt him a crashing blow between the eyes with his disengaged +fist as he leaped upon him, and then clasping him in both his arms he +tried to bring him to the ground. The _myall_ was a grand specimen +of the tall Queensland savage, strong and fully developed, and at an +ordinary time Alec would have been as a child in his hands, but the +sight of this murderous black slaying his brother Geordie, his only +brother, had stirred up such a mad tempest of passion in Alec's breast +that he was, for the time, as strong as any three. Every muscle in his +strong young body was strained, every sinew and fibre stiffened for the +effort, and as he felt the wild mad struggles of the savage to free +himself from his grip his grasp seemed to grow stronger, and his clutch +upon his hot and swelling throat to grow fiercer every second. +Gradually, as the seconds passed, the struggles of the black grew less +and less, but Alec never loosed his hold, so maddened was he with rage +and despair, till, with starting eyes, the head of the savage rolled +over on his shoulder, and when at last Alec's convulsive grip was +relaxed, and he turned with a sob of anguish to where his brother lay, +the black man fell down--dead. + +In the meantime Murri was not idle; he was engaged, upon pretty equal +terms, with the one remaining savage. They had neither done any damage +to the other, when suddenly the stalwart black, seeing the fate of his +companion at Alec's hands, sprang away from Murri, and made secure his +position by an ignominious flight. Murri started in pursuit, but he +soon saw the hopelessness or folly of it, and stopped. As he did so he +saw Prince Tom some little way down the gully, still mounted on Dandy, +who, wild with fear at the firing and at the proximity of the shrieking +savages, was rushing about the little glen, refusing to mount the steep +sides, as Tom was trying to force him to do. + +Seeing the state of fear the horse was in, Murri called him loudly by +his name several times, thinking that he might try to rejoin them. At +the first sound of his name the intelligent creature pricked up his +ears and, rearing suddenly, turned in the direction of his friends. As +he did so, Prince Tom, dislodged by the sudden bound of the horse, lost +his seat and fell heavily to the ground. He could not succeed in +disentangling himself, as the horse tore along at full speed; one foot +was held fast in the stirrup, and as the maddened horse rushed wildly +over the rocky ground to rejoin the others the unfortunate man's head +and body were beaten almost to pieces on the jagged stones. When Dandy +at last stopped, all trembling and foaming, by Murri's side, Prince Tom +was nothing but a bruised and battered corpse. + +When Alec's anger and revenge were satisfied, and he felt that the +murderer of his brother was dead beneath his hands, he passionately +threw himself down by the side of his brother, and, with the +unaccustomed tears pouring down his cheeks, he raised his poor pale +face from the sand. He could have lifted up his voice and howled like +any savage, for he loved this bright young brother of his more than all +else in the world beside. + +Geordie's face was white as marble, and his eyes were closed as though +in sleep, his bright dark waves of hair were covered with the sand in +which he had fallen, and a great wide wound, from which the blood had +flowed that stained one side of his head and neck, extended across the +crown. + +Alec, stooping over Geordie, whom he had partly raised and laid against +his heaving chest, was calling him by all the old familiar names of +their childhood, and was speaking to him as though he thought the boy +would hear his voice. He was quite oblivious to all that was going on +around him. He had fought a good fight, and it had gone against him, +inasmuch as he had lost the brother whom he loved beyond himself. What +did anything else matter to him then: the old home station; their wild +dream of gold; the struggle he had just gone through? All seemed +dreamlike and unreal, and the only fact that was patent to his mind was +that Geordie, his dear brother, his better self, was lying dead in his +arms. The noon-day heat of the tropical sun poured on him unobserved, +his own wounds and bruises were unfelt, and his whole soul seemed to +sob itself out in the one great cry he uttered-- + +"Oh, that it had been me instead!" + +There might have been something in his agonised accents that made +itself heard in Geordie's closed and senseless ears, and that called +back the life that was fluttering within him to depart, for at Alec's +cry a feeble tiny sigh just parted the dying boy's pale lips, and his +eyelids quivered as though they would unclose. + +Alec gave one wild shriek of rapture. + +"_Thank Heaven_, he is not dead! Murri, Murri," he cried, in his +new-born joy, "bring water. _Burrima, burrima_" (quickly, quickly). + +Murri, who had been so intent on his own part of the fight as not to +notice what had happened to the boys, turned round and loosed Dandy's +bridle as he heard Alec's cry. He now saw that "Missa Law," his friend +and favourite, was dead or badly wounded, and rushed to his side to +help. He saw at once what was necessary, and ran to the other side of +the rock, where he had tied the bridles of the five horses to the stem +of a sturdy little tree that grew in a cleft of the rock. + +The water, from one of the battered tins in which they carried it, was +quite tepid from the heat of the sun, but it served to revive George a +little, and the deathly pallor passed from his face. In a few moments, +as the effects of the stunning blow he had received began to pass away, +he opened his eyes and looked about him in a dazed, astonished way. At +last he looked up and saw Alec's face anxiously bending over him, then +he seemed to remember where he was. + +"What is the matter?" he said, faintly. "Are we all here, and have they +gone away? Tell me, are you hurt, Arrick?" + +It was an old pet name of his for his brother, formed when he was a +little lad and could not yet speak plainly. In his terrible weakness he +seemed to drop, unconsciously, into the old familiar habit. + +Alec's voice was husky when he answered, though he did his best to +speak quite calmly. + +"No, I'm all right, Geordie, lad; but you are hurt and mustn't talk." + +"My head, is it?" he said, vaguely; and then, as Alec and Murri lifted +him from the ground to carry him to the shade of a clump of trees that +stood a little to one side at the entrance to the glen, his eyes closed +with faintness, and he seemed to slip off again to insensibility. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LIFE OR DEATH? + + +All that long sultry day Alec fluctuated between hope and despair. At +one moment he thought George better, and the next that he was worse. + +Murri, who in his wild, untaught way was as tender and gentle as +possible, found some leaves of a herb which he said would heal the +wound. He moistened them with water and pounded them between two stones +and applied them to George's head. They seemed cool and refreshing. +Alec and Murri had formed a rough sort of couch of tall grasses and +leaves, over which they spread one of their blue blankets, and on this +they had laid George down. Over him Alec, who was as natty and +deft-handed as a sailor, rigged up another blanket as a sort of awning +to protect him from the sun. Sitting by the side of him all that +anxious day, with a heart full of fears for his brother and eyes that +were constantly on the alert for the return of the enemy, Alec swept +away, with a green branch, the noxious black flies that constantly +tried to settle on George's semi-conscious body. + +Murri assured him that, after such a terrible loss as they had +sustained that morning, the _myalls_ would not think of returning to +the attack, but Alec could not rest certain of it. He heard at a +distance their wild lament over their dead, the shrieks of the _gins_, +and the weird moans and cries of the men, but it seemed to him that +they were gradually growing fainter and further away. + +Murri, like the faithful henchman that he was, undertook all the +management of affairs, whilst Alec devoted his time to his brother. He +it was who hobbled and unloaded all the horses, and saw that they did +not wander far afield, though they were not anxious to go far, even in +search of food, in the great heat of the afternoon. He it was who found +water, and filled the "billies," and led the horses to drink. He it was +who killed the little bandicoot, of which Alec made a sort of barbarous +but nutritious soup for George; he it was in short who did everything +that day, and proved himself to be a true help to them. All day long +Como, who knew that something was amiss, kept wandering aimlessly +about, occasionally going as far as the native well that Murri had +found, to drink a little, but always coming back to lick the inert hand +of his master, which lay weakly and limply by the side of him. + +Towards evening, when at sunset a breeze sprang up, and the air grew +cooler, George revived a great deal. He was able to eat some of the +food that Alec had prepared for him, and soon managed to sit up a +little, with Alec as a support to his back, and talk. + +"I feel quite well now, Alec, and I mean to talk, so don't try to stop +me. Tell me, first of all, if you were hurt in the fight." + +"Nothing to speak of; I got one or two nasty thumps from a _waddy_, and +one rather awkward chop on the shoulder from my man's _nullah-nullah_, +but beyond feeling a little stiff I'm all right, I think." + +"Think! Do you mean to say you haven't looked at your shoulder yet?" + +"Not yet, I haven't had time; I've been too busy with you. Now don't +you excite yourself, or you will be ill again." + +"Excite myself! I should think I will. If you don't instantly take your +shirt off and let me see if you are badly hurt, I'll get up, and jump +about and shout. What a selfish beast I have been to lie here +comfortably insensible whilst you were in such pain. Now then, off with +that shirt." + +Alec did as he was bidden, for although George's voice was weak, there +was the old resolute tone about it, and Alec knew that he would do what +he threatened. He was glad, now that he came to think of himself, to +get the shirt off, for his shoulder felt very stiff and sore. Murri had +to help him, for he could not lift his left arm above his head. The +_myall's nullah-nullah_ had made a terrible bruise, which had already +turned black and blue, and in one place, where the flesh had been cut, +the shirt adhered to the wound. But it was nothing of any great +importance, and the hardy fellow scarcely felt anything of it beyond +the stiffness, and a certain amount of pain. Cold water and a little +bandage soon put it all right. + +The next day George said that he felt well, and was quite fit to go on, +but Alec utterly refused to do so. He said that a day's rest would do +none of them any harm, and that he thought they might stay there with +comparative safety, as the natives, after securing their dead, seemed +to have gone away. There was plenty of feed for the horses too, which +they might not get again in such abundance on the dry and parched-up +plains between that place and the mountains. George consented to his +brother's plan, though he chafed a little at the delay, for he felt +really well enough to go on. It was wonderful to see the difference +that a night's rest and coolness had made in him. Except that he was a +trifle pale, and that his head was bound up, he looked the same strong +cheery fellow as ever. He had a most wonderful vitality, and his health +being perfect and his constitution sound and strong, he was able to +throw off an illness that would have prostrated another man. + +He was up before daylight, and, regardless of Alec's injunctions to +"sit still" and "be quiet," he would insist on doing his share of the +work. + +"Fiddlesticks, Alec," was his polite remark to his brother when he +asked him not to get up. "I'm all right and jolly as possible, and if +you think I'm going to let you and Murri do all the work you are +mistaken." + +"You want your breakfast," said Alec, with a laugh. "You are hungry, +and think us slow. Don't do the virtuous and pretend it is anything +else--I know better. Well, here you are then, youngster; take this wood +and make the fire up. I'll go and fill the 'billy.'" + +After their breakfast, at which George certainly did not behave much +like an invalid, they saw that all the horses were close to, and then +they walked off with Murri to the entrance of the glen, near to which +they were encamped. Across an enormous plain of sand and spinifex and +tangled _mulga_ scrub, that was marked here and there with long dark +lines of bush where the creaks and watercourses ran, lay the great blue +mountains, towering high into the lambent sky, amongst which was hidden +the golden treasure that they sought. It was a glorious sight, for not +a cloud obscured the sky, and in that marvellous atmosphere every ridge +and azure peak stood out as clearly and sharply defined as though no +sixty miles of air lay between the mountain range and the place where +the boys stood. + +Whilst the lads were looking at this noble view, which lay spread +before them like a grand panorama, Murri, who did not care to waste his +time in any such unpractical proceedings, was carefully examining the +great trees, under whose shade they stood, to see if he could find +traces of opossum in them. Signs that any one but a native would +completely ignore were all that he had to guide him, and his quickness +of vision in detecting these traces was wonderful. Murri would saunter +to a tree that he thought looked promising, and if an opossum had +climbed it he would instantly detect the little scratches the animal +had made in ascending. He quickly found a massive tree which bore on +its bark the toe-holes of an opossum; he then sought for one of these +that had a little earth still sticking to it. When he had found it he +softly blew on the earth to see if it held together. It did not; it was +dry, and crumbled away at once, telling him by its so doing that the +marks were not very recent ones. If the opossum had climbed the tree +that morning the earth would have been damp, and would have held +together when he blew on it. + +"Bail potchum" (no 'possum) "on um tree. Must go catch kangaroo, you +_mil-mil_" (see); "clever fellow, Murri." + +The native was away for about two hours, and when he returned he +brought the body of a good large kangaroo with him, which he had +stalked and killed. + +This addition to their stores was very useful, and indeed, necessary, +for although they had managed to get Dandy back again, all the +provisions that Prince Tom had stolen from them and packed on him had +utterly and hopelessly vanished. Murri himself cooked the animal, as is +the right and prerogative always of the man who slays the game, and ate +an enormous quantity of it also; but eat as he could there was enough +for all of them that night, and for their first meal next day. They +kept a keen watch that night again, but they neither heard nor saw +anything of the _myalls_. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A TERRIBLE ENEMY. + + +The boys were up next morning, whilst still the stars shone undimmed in +the sky, and succeeded in catching their horses without very much +trouble. The fire had smouldered all night through, so that they had a +cheerful blaze very quickly, and boiled their tea in a few minutes. +They were anxious to make as early a start as possible, as they had +lost time the day before, and as soon as they could tear Murri away +from the still plenteous remains of their yesterday's roast they sprang +into the saddle. But the native was wiser than they, for, when they +were mounted, and Como was leaping round them and barking in a manner +that was highly indecorous in a dog of his years and sober aspect, he +stopped them, and said in his funny English-- + +"White fellow bail _pitnee_" (never thinks). "Mine must fill um bockles +plenty much water. Bail water bong along o' this stage. Hot, hot this +day. All um creek gone away." + +Saying this he filled all the canvas water bottles at the spring, and +then took a long drink himself, as though laying in a good store of the +precious commodity. + +Murri was right; the day was an intensely hot one, and every moment of +all that long forenoon the scorching sun gained greater power. The +country through which they were riding was quite shadeless for the +great rolling plains were only covered with a dense tall growth of +perfectly dry and withered grass and scrub. The twigs of the _mulga_ +and the stunted iron-bark bushes were so dry and brittle that they +rattled like bones when shaken by the horses as they passed through +them, and broke off short if they were touched. The earth was either +dried to a powder or baked so firm and hard that the horses' hoofs rang +on it as though on a pavement. The very trees that grew on the banks of +the gullies were shrivelled and brown. The one or two creeks that they +had to cross--taking the horses up and down the steep crumbling banks +with the greatest difficulty--were mere tracks of white and dazzling +sand, with here and there, in the shadow of the bank, a tiny pool, that +was fast drying up, remaining to prove that it ever had been a rapid +watercourse. This sand, as, indeed, did the whole earth, reflected the +burning rays of the sun till to move out of the shade was almost +intolerable. + +It was evident, from the parched and dried-up appearance of all +vegetation, and from the lowness of the water in the little pools of +the creek, that there had been no rain for very many months. There had +been no heavy rainfall at Wandaroo for a very long period, and it +seemed that this part of the country had suffered a much longer +drought. Flocks of birds were flying about the little stagnant pools in +the creeks, dashing themselves head first into the water in their +eagerness to quench their thirst. Crowds of animals, kangaroos and +wallabies principally, were congregated at the muddy margins to drink +at the fast-failing supply. No rain had fallen thereabouts for a year +or more. + +To make matters worse, infinitely worse, a stifling hot wind rose with +the sun, blowing from the west, all across the gigantic sand plains of +the interior where the air was dried and heated as though in some vast +furnace. Every breath that they drew was painful, and the heated blasts +of air dried up the moisture of their body and shrivelled their skin in +a manner that must be experienced to be believed. The animals, as is +always the case, seemed to feel the heat even more than the men; to +such an extent did the horses suffer that it seemed barbarous to ride +them, and had Murri not continually urged the lads to try to get to +Nooergup, where he said was an unfailing spring, they would have halted +for the sake of their cattle. They did make one good halt at mid-day to +rest the horses, which were far too jaded to eat, although they had +been so spirited in the early morning before the hot wind had sprung +up. + +It was towards the middle of the afternoon, some little time after they +had renewed their march, that the sky began to grow lurid at the +horizon and the day to grow faintly dimmer. The sun still poured down +its scorching rays upon them; the wind seemed to grow hotter and hotter +till men and animals fairly gasped for breath, and the air, tremulous +with the heat of the burning earth, was quivering to a height of twenty +feet above their heads. Every moment the sky grew duller, and in the +west a copper-coloured cloud rose slowly in the sky; gradually the +light of day grew red, and thin films of cloud rapidly sweeping across +the face of the sun changed his brightness to a dull blood hue. + +All the members of the little party well knew what this meant. Some +tribe of _myalls_ had carelessly left their camp fire not quite +extinguished, and the hot wind that was blowing had re-animated the +dying embers in the early morning and set fire to the bush. Every blade +of grass, every bit of scrub, and every leaf, were as dry as tinder, +and leaped into flame the instant that the rapidly-spreading fire came +to it. In a short time the whole district was blazing, and fanned by +the strong hot wind, the fire spread in all directions with +inconceivable rapidity. + +Directly that Murri, who was the first to detect the ruddy tint in the +western sky, had called Alec's attention to the fact of the bush fire, +they came to a halt to consult as to what had better be done. + +"With this strong wind the fire will travel much quicker than we can," +said Alec, with a tone of anxiety in his voice that was very natural in +their present danger; "or we could turn and ride back to our last camp, +for there is water there, and no fire could reach us on that open sandy +space." + +"The horses couldn't travel that far under eight hours; they are almost +done up as it is," said George. "Heavens, how hot it is! It is like +breathing in an oven." + +"No, I don't think they could; it has been a trying day for them, and +they are pretty well pumped. We _are_ unlucky beggars; everything seems +against us; you nearly killed by the _myalls_, Prince Tom robbing us of +our stores, and now all of us to be burnt up alive. There isn't a creek +or a pool that we can get into, and the fire is quickly marching up to +us. There! Didn't you smell the burning fern just then?" + +"Yes; by Jove! it is coming near; but don't be so despondent, Alec. It +isn't on us yet. Don't you think that by pushing on to the north or +south, as fast as ever we can make the horses go, we might reach the +end of the line of fire and head round it? Let us ask Murri." + +But the native, who had been scanning, with the keenest anxiety in +every line of his face, the advancing line of smoke, said that the fire +was already too extended for them to think of doing that, and that in +his opinion the only plan that offered them any chance of safety was to +push ahead with the greatest speed and try to reach the rocks at +Nooergup before the flames could meet them. He spoke with most unusual +excitement, his quick, restless eyes expressing better than his words +his sense of their imminent danger. + +"_Burrima, burrima_" (quickly, quickly), said he with rapid utterance. +"Nebbe mind um _yarroman_. Ride, ride, ride. Kill um _yarroman_, then +you not dead. Plenty much slow go, all fellow dead along o' this +place." + +Seeing from his manner that he thought their peril great, and knowing +full well the horrors of a great bush fire, the boys put their horses +to their best speed and galloped on. It almost seemed like courting +death to ride straight in the teeth of the advancing fire, but they +knew that they might rely upon Murri's word, so they acted as he +advised. The horses themselves soon became aware of their danger, for +when they had crossed the next low ridge, after an hour's rapid riding +along a fairly level stretch of scrub-covered country, the line of +leaping flame could be seen, stretching as far as the eye could see to +the north and south. The quivering limbs of the beasts, their dilated +nostrils and wildly starting eyes, showed how greatly they feared the +dreaded element. + +Now it was that they began to pass numbers of animals all hurrying and +rushing along in abject terror in the opposite direction to the +horsemen. Kangaroos and wallabies progressing by great leaps; emus +flapping their inefficient wings to help them in their flight; bush +rats and smaller creatures scuttling along by the side of wriggling +snakes and currish dingoes. Overhead were flocks of parrots, pigeons, +cockatoos, and other bush birds, all flying away from the great cloud +of rolling smoke and flame that seemed to stride with enormous steps +after the flying creatures. For the time all enmities between them +seemed forgotten; kangaroos and dingoes, snakes and rats and opossums, +rushed along side by side in the friendliness of a great common danger. + +Every moment as the three hurried on the heat became greater; the speed +of the horses now grew less just when there was the greatest need for +their swiftness. They could only be kept at the gallop by incessant +application of the spur, and the boys hated to punish in this way the +faithful creatures that had borne them so nobly, but they knew that the +horses' lives as well as their own depended upon their being able to +keep up their present pace for a mile or two more. + +They could now plainly hear the wild roar and crackling of the awful +fire as it consumed everything before it in its devastating march, and +the burning air that came in puffs and beat upon them, scorched and +withered them. Their very eyeballs seemed to dry within their sockets, +and the smarting lids, when they closed them, hardly kept out the awful +glare. The natural light of day was gone, for the whole sky was covered +with one vast cloud of lurid smoke, and everything looked red and +burning from the ruddy light of the sweeping flame. + +Still Nooergup, their haven of refuge, lay a mile ahead of them. Murri +pointed it out to them, and seemingly close behind it rose the moving +wall of flame. Could they but reach those barren rocks before the line +of fire encircled it and sped again on its way they were safe; but with +failing worn-out horses, and exhausted as the riders were with the heat +and want of air, it seemed impossible. + +The lips of all three were cracked and bleeding from the heat of this +awful _sirocco_, and their tongues were dry and rattling in their +parched mouths. They had drunk and lost by the rapid evaporation from +their canvas water bottles every drop of water that they had brought +from their last camp, and their unmoistened lips could hardly +articulate. When they did speak their voices were so harsh and hoarse +and changed as scarcely to be intelligible. Their speed was greatly +lessened from each of them having to lead one of the spare horses, for, +although these three horses were much less exhausted than those which +were ridden, they were in a much greater state of alarm, and much more +restive. + +Alec's noble and high-spirited horse, Amber, was much less jaded than +the horses that George and Murri rode, though it was more terrified and +alarmed than any of the others at the roaring and flaring of the now +nearing fire. Seeing that his own horse was rapidly failing, and that +Amber still had reserve stores of strength, George goaded on his +over-strained steed and caught up Alec, who was some few paces ahead. +His face, although scorched by the heat, looked very wan and drawn, and +no one could have recognised his clear, sweet voice in the sobbing, +croaking tones in which he spoke. At first he could hardly utter a +sound, but he forced his voice, and made himself heard above the +roaring of the advancing flames. + +"Arrick, old boy, push on. There is something in Amber yet, though +Firebrace is about done up. You can get through and on to the rocks. +Make Como come with you." + +"Geordie!" cried Alec, in a tone of reproach, and looking round at him +with his stiff and bloodshot eyes. "Leave you? We _both_ get through or +we _die together_ on this side." + +He said no more, but checked his horse, and brought him down to +Firebrace's pace, and Geordie knew that further remonstrance was in +vain. Would he not have acted just the same himself had he been the +better mounted? + +They were now within a hundred yards of Nooergup, which was just a +little mass of barren tumbled rocks, on a slight elevation, rising, +like an island, from the sea of stunted trees, scrub, and tall grasses, +that surrounded it on all sides. The rushing line of fire had already +reached it, and the huge flames, ten feet in height in their lowest +part, were already licking the rocks at the sides with flickering +blazing tongues, as though they would consume even the rocks that +impeded their progress. But the fire had not passed all along it yet, +and just where the rocks stood there was a break in the livid, roaring +line. + +Towards this the riders were madly goading on their panting horses. One +minute longer, and it will be too late! The very air seems fire; they +can only get their breath with the utmost difficulty. Murri has wrapped +his poor naked body in the blue blanket that was fastened to his +saddle, to protect himself from the flying sparks and the deadly heat. +There is a roaring in their ears as of a mighty sea, and a flame and +glare before their eyes as though heaven and earth are fire. It almost +seems that the flames are bending forward, and hurrying and rushing to +envelop them. + +There is still a narrow opening in the vivid line of fire. Only a few +seconds more, and they will be safe. Fifty yards! forty yards!! thirty +yards to go!!! And then----! George's horse staggers, and with a sob +like a human being in distress its legs almost give way. + +"Heaven help us now!" cried Alec, in despair. + +But even then he does not give up. He looses the horse he has been +leading, and leaning across, half out of his saddle, he gives poor +trembling Firebrace a blow across the quarters with his whip. George, +weakened by his wound, is almost insensible, but he sticks in his +saddle; and his horse, making one last awful effort, bears him between +the narrow gates of flame, and, placing his master in safety, falls +dead of a broken heart. + +The shock of the fall revives George, and, disentangling himself from +the stirrups, he springs to his feet. + +He is alone! + +The line of fire has passed on, the narrow opening is closed, and he is +behind the wall of flame, which is rushing on to consume in its fiery +embrace the brother who had saved him a moment before. + +[Illustration: "HE SEIZED THE NATIVE ROUND HIS SLIM, NAKED BODY." +(_p. 79._)] + +When Alec stooped to strike Firebrace, to urge him on to one final +effort, Amber, terrified beyond all control at the nearness of the +flames, swerved to one side, and by the time Alec had again turned his +head towards the rocks the disconnected line of fire had rejoined +itself, and presented an unbroken front to him. At this moment, when +every hope seemed extinguished, his mad courage came to his aid, and +suggested one last chance. A chance in a thousand, but still a chance. + +He saw that Murri had been as unsuccessful as himself, and that he was +still in front of the leaping line of fire; he shouted to him to +dismount, and, for all his huskiness, his voice rang out like a +clarion, and the man heard him, and blindly obeyed, like a child, in +his fear and confusion, doing exactly as he was bidden. + +"And now stand still," roared Alec. + +Backing his horse for some little distance to gain the necessary speed, +Alec, goading Amber with voice and spur alike, rushed like lightning +towards the soaring flames. Straining every muscle, he seized the +native round his slim, naked body, and by an almost superhuman effort +he lifted him from the ground. At the same moment he again dashed his +spurs into Amber's throbbing sides, and, giving the noble creature his +head, he boldly rode at the wall of fire. + +Like a greyhound the superb horse cleared the glowing heart of the +fire, and darting with inconceivable speed through the flickering +flame, which for one second surged and beat about him, he landed with +his double burden in safety on the glowing ashes of the ground the fire +had just passed over. A few strides more, and they were side by side +with George. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AFTER THE FIRE. + + +At first they were all too exhausted to speak. Alec loosed his grip of +Murri, and slipping from his horse, which was trembling in every limb +from the terrible strain it had gone through, staggered to where his +brother was standing. Geordie was half dazed with the agony he had +undergone, for when he found himself alone and shut off from the others +by the white, hot wave of fire that surged between them, he gave up all +hopes, even the faintest, of ever seeing his brother again. He had +stood quite still for a moment or two by the side of his dead horse, +gazing vacantly at the fire as it swept majestically forward, and the +revulsion of feeling was almost too great for him to bear when he saw +the leaping horse and its burden flying through the sheet of flame. For +an instant horse and rider, looming gigantic through the haze of smoke, +seemed to hang above him, and then the noble charger struck the +smouldering earth, and he knew that both horse and rider were saved. + +Both Alec and Murri were almost unrecognisable, so blackened and +charred were they with the fiery ordeal they had undergone: their hair +was singed, and Murri was painfully scorched in one or two places. The +native was the first to recover his composure; his nature was much less +sensitive and highly-strung than that of the English lads. He had been +terribly frightened, but that was over now, and, feeling the pangs of +thirst very keenly, the new sensation quickly removed remembrance of +the old. It was no use being overcome with an emotion that was past, +and it was of great use to supply a want that was actual and very +present; so in this very practical state of mind he walked off with a +tin from Amber's saddle to the place where he knew was the unfailing +little spring he had spoken of in the morning. + +The water was low in the little rock basin, but it promised them, at +any rate, a sufficiency. Murri hastily drank a tinful, and then carried +some to where Alec and George were sitting, exhausted and panting for +breath. Never had either of them drank with such rapture; the physical +bliss of that draught of pure cool water was the keenest they had ever +felt. It put new life into them, and, although the air was still like +the breath of a furnace, they sprang to their feet refreshed. Alec's +first thought, after he found that Geordie was unhurt, was for Amber; +he led him to the little pool, and before he quenched his own thirst, +which as yet was not half satisfied, he gave drink to the noble animal +that had saved him. + +Murri, who had quite regained his usual practical calm in the few +moments since they had been safely landed on the rocks, was standing by +them as Alec watered his horse. His head was moving from side to side, +and his quick eye glanced rapidly over everything. + +"Plenty hunglee by-'m-by. Mine go catch um wallaby; him can't run 'way +'cause along o' fire," he said, and, pointing to a scorched-up looking +creature at some little distance from them, he started in pursuit, +armed with the waddy from his sinew belt. + +"What a fellow he is--he thinks of nothing but eating," said George, +with a half laugh, for now that the awful tension of his nerves was +relaxed he could not help seeing the comic side of things, +notwithstanding their precarious position. "The instant that he escapes +death by burning he thinks he can make the very fire that nearly killed +him useful in catching his prey." + +"Well, it is a good thing for us that he is so business-like, for +everything we brought with us is on the other side of the fire." + +"Oh, and Como, too, and the horses!" said George, with a shudder. "In +my relief at having you safe I had forgotten everything else; and look, +Alec, poor Firebrace dropped dead the minute he had crossed the line of +fire." + +"It has been a narrow escape for all. I never expected that any of us +could be saved. When I saw the fire had cut me off from the rocks I +thought I was done for, and then I determined to make a rush for it, +and with the blood beating in my ears like the ringing of a bell I +turned Amber towards the fire." + +"Look!" suddenly and excitedly called out George, who was leaning +against the horse, which did not move a yard from them; "I believe the +flames are sinking just over yonder. We might get through and try to +save Como and the horses." + +Alec, following the direction of his eager, outstretched hand, saw that +in one part of the line, where there was a sandy little patch nearly +bare of vegetation, the flames had almost become extinguished. + +"Yes, yes," he cried; "come along. Quickly, quickly; we may save them +yet." + +The two lads, made strong by the thought that they might save the lives +of the poor creatures, rushed across the hot and still smoking earth +towards the little barren place. There was hardly any fire there, and, +darting across it, they stood once more in front of the blazing line. +Three of the horses--for Dandy had disappeared, never to be seen +again--maddened with terror, yet trembling with fatigue and exhaustion, +were rushing backwards and forwards in front of the advancing flames, +as though fascinated and enthralled by the very thing they dreaded. The +two boys, shouting at the same time, that they might be heard above the +roar of the fire, called aloud to them; and the poor distraught +creatures, hearing the voices of their lords and masters, who were as +gods to them, turned at once, and, throwing their heads in the air, +came rushing to them with loud neighs, just as one sees a dog which has +been lost in the streets come tearing to his master when he sees him +again in the crowd. They followed the boys closely, glad to touch them +with their hot, soft muzzles to make sure that they had found them, +with a mute appeal for water in their sunken eyes that was +inexpressibly touching. + +George let Alec lead them to the rocks and to the spring, and turned +back once more to look for Como, which he had not seen with the horses. +He could see nothing of his dear old friend at first, but after a short +time he thought he could distinguish some strange object lying quite +still and motionless just in front of the quickly-marching blaze at +some little distance from him. Towards this he quickly ran, and found +that it was Como lying singed and senseless, only a yard or two from +the flames. Drawing a deep breath, and holding his hat before his face, +he darted in and, scorched and blinded by the heat, dragged the heavy +body out of reach of the fire. He thought that there was still a look +of life about it, so passing both arms round the great chest of the +animal, which hung limply in his grasp, he started off at a run towards +the almost surrounded sand patch with the weighty burden in his arms. + +Well for him that he was fleet of foot as well as strong of limb, for +he only just reached the little barren spot before the broad arms of +the fire met again in a silent embrace that would have cut him off for +ever. The great flames soared up higher and stronger with a sweeping +flare, as they came together again, but boy and dog had passed between +them. + +"Geordie, Geordie!" said Alec, "what a frightful risk to run; you had +no right to do it." + +"But I couldn't leave Como to burn." + +"I fear he is dead after all." + +But he was not; there was life in the old dog yet, and after they had +poured water over him and down his throat he showed signs of life, and +feebly licked the face of his master, who was stooping over him. + +"Well," said Geordie at supper time, when coolness had come with the +night, and they were eating the wallaby that Murri had succeeded in +killing. "Well, we ought to be a united party after this. Everybody +seems to have been saving and helping everybody else." + +"It has been a day of terrible dangers," answered Alec, "but--let me +whisper it, Geordie--I have _enjoyed_ it. It is an awful thing to say, +perhaps, but anything so grand as that one leap into the great sheet of +flame I never felt. It was worth years of ordinary living." + +That night it was long before the lads could get to rest; they had been +excited too intensely by the adventurous day they had passed through +for sleep to visit them quickly. Murri, who seemed to have no more +nerve than a jelly-fish, after a few philosophical remarks upon the +advisability of going to sleep at once, had wrapped himself in his +blanket and fallen asleep at the same moment. The night had grown +cooler, for the hot wind ceased to blow at about sunset, and the heavy +pall of smoke having rolled away, the quiet stars shone down upon them +from a sky that was clear and deep once more. The fire, which seemed to +have received a check at one of the great deep gullies they had crossed +in the morning, looked as though it were dying down, although now and +again the eastern sky throbbed with a ruddy glow as some little patch +of scrub or bush caught fire and flared up brightly in the blue still +night. + +How solemn was the great silence of that wide expanse which, for a +time, was deprived of all life! Every breathing thing had fled before +the fire, and a silence as of death reigned over all the land. The +lads, for all their bold spirit and boyish lack of sentiment, felt the +impressiveness of it at last, and, ceasing their chattering, sank into +a stillness which soon flowed into sleep. + +Night crept on; the moon sank behind the grave white peaks of the +mountains that from their heights watched for the dawn of the day; the +steady-pacing hours swept over the burnt black earth; and then in the +fulness of its time the east glowed again, but with a rose that was not +the rose of ruin and fire but the warmth and glory of a new day's +birth. + +All three of them slept soundly through the night, and their slumbers +might have encroached on the morning had not a heavy shower of rain +fallen just before sunrise and awakened them. It almost seemed that the +fire which had devastated the land had brought the remedial rain in its +train, for, whereas there had previously been a drought of a year or +more in all that district, rain now fell in heavy refreshing showers +directly after the conflagration occurred. + +The fact of this rain falling then was of the greatest importance to +the little band of adventurers, for not only was there an immediate +alteration for the better in the temperature, but these heavy showers +would replenish the springs and refill the dried-up creeks, and make +the young grass grow that was so imperative a necessity for their +horses. + +There were some few bushes and little clumps of withered grass left +unconsumed among the rocks of Nooergup, and, as these offered a scanty +keep for the horses for one day, the boys agreed that they would not +leave their present camp till the next morning. The reason for this +decision was the worn-out condition of the horses, all of which stood +sadly in need of a day's rest, and the fact that until the burnt grass +sprouted again they would be unable to get feed for them. They knew +that after these showers, which fell both in the morning and the +evening of the day after the fire, the young grass would grow +incredibly quickly, and that the feeding of their horses would no +longer be a cause of anxiety to them. + +"Don't you wish that those pretty little black moustaches of yours, +Alec, would grow again after their singeing as quickly as the grass?" +said George, mockingly, to his brother, and looking at him with a +laughing face. + +"Don't you wish you had some to be singed, young Impudence?" said Alec, +throwing a little piece of damper at him which the resuscitated Como +instantly caught and swallowed, thinking it was meant for him. + +Murri, by whose valuable opinion they were always greatly guided, +thought the little rest was advisable, so they did not leave Nooergup +until the second day after the fire. + +It was a damp and misty morning when they started. George had taken his +saddle from poor Firebrace and transferred it to Vaulty, a strong +serviceable roan, which he rode henceforth. The sun soon dispelled the +light silvery cloud which hung above the steaming earth. When this soft +veil had been withdrawn they could see, across the charred and +blackened plain, the blue mountains of their hopes rising high into the +dazzling sky, apparently close to them. But in reality, as Murri +assured them, they lay three days' journey away. + +All that day they journeyed across the burnt monotonous plain, but +towards evening they reached the further edge of it, where the fire had +originated, and once more were in a region of thick scrub and dense +bush, which already looked fresher and almost green again after the +copious rains, so quickly does Nature restore herself. Here again, +after a day of silence and stillness on the wasted plains, they heard +the voices of birds and saw living creatures moving. Two large emus +that they came upon, near a little park-like patch of tall _casuarina_ +trees, almost led them to a small, recently-filled pool of water, for +the birds, only fearing their enemy man, and thinking that these +strange unknown creatures that were approaching them were quadrupeds +only, had no fear of them, and walked to their pool without any sign of +alarm. The boys stopped Murri from throwing his _boomerang_ at them, +for they could not find it in their hearts to reward such confidence as +the emus showed in them by letting them be killed. Quite inexplicable +behaviour Murri thought it. But then he wanted his supper, and was +totally without sentiment. Happy savage! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. + + +For two days longer they travelled on before they got amongst the low +bush-covered hills that formed the spurs of the great mountain range. +The time had not appeared long or dull to them, for they had been too +fully occupied in surmounting the difficulties of the journey for the +hours to hang heavily on their hands. Sometimes a series of intricate +and winding creeks and gullies would intercept their path, and in +leading their horses up and down the steep sides, and in making a +crossing for them over otherwise impassable places, hours would be +spent. At other times a long line of _mulga_ scrub would stop them, +through which, with the greatest damage to their skin and clothes, they +had to force a way. In passing these difficult pieces of scrub they +always made Murri come last in the line, that he might have the benefit +of the opening made by the other riders, and so save his naked body +from many scratches and painful little wounds. + +It certainly was not easy travelling, but they all were accustomed to +the bush, and none of them were afraid of a little hard work, though +they may have _liked_ it no better than other people. One or other +of the lads would perhaps indulge in a boyish growl at the heat, or the +thorns, or the weight of the rocks they had sometimes to move aside for +their horses to pass along these narrow gullies, but the other would +cheer him on by reminding him of the object for which he was working, +and the grumble would end in a laugh. + +They rested one night at the edge of the great dim forest that clothed +the lower hills, and next morning began the labour of climbing among +these giant mountains. The work would be continuous until they reached +the Whanga valley, which Murri said was in the very heart of the range, +over the first great spur that lay, a gigantic barrier, before them. + +In the early light of the coming day, when the shades of night still +seemed struggling with the dream of dawn that crept so palely along the +valleys and among the rocks, the mountains looked doubly grand and +majestic. So black, so unconquerable and vast they loomed against the +scarcely lighter sky, that to Geordie's impressionable nature they +almost seemed an effectual bar to their progress. Although it was still +too dark to see to catch their horses, the boys and Murri were astir, +for they had a long climb and a hard day's work before them. + +"If I did not well know, Alec, that you and I will let _nothing_ stop +us, I should almost have said that those dim awful mountains might have +been too much for us." + +The boy spoke in a hushed, low voice, for in that great stillness +before daybreak, when as yet all birds and living things are mute, and +when the very air, before the breath of morning stirs it, appears to +sleep, it seems a sacrilege to break the solemn silence that, like a +mantle, lies about the earth. + +"Nothing that man can conquer shall stop us, mountain or river," said +Alec, resolutely; who sometimes, as now, failed to read his brother's +finer meaning. + +"Oh, no, I know that. I don't think you quite understand. Of course we +shall get over. I'd dig the mountains down with my own hands before I +let them beat me. It isn't that; it was only a feeling. And now it is +gone," said he, suddenly, as a warm flush of rosy light flooded the +eastern sky, and was reflected on the white crags of the higher +summits. A flute-voiced organ magpie burst into glorious song the +moment that the daylight came, and its cheerful music banished the last +trace of mystery and awe from George's mind. + +A few minutes before they started, just at sunrise, Murri said that +they had better take some food with them besides their own dried +provisions, as they might be unable to catch anything on the higher +parts of the mountains they would have to cross. + +"Bail kangaroo, bail wallaby, up along o' there," said Murri, pointing +to the mountains. "Mine go catch um bird, bail chewt um, Missa Law; +_boomerang_ plenty much kill." + +Leaving their horses hobbled for a moment or two, the boys followed +Murri to the edge of the little pool to which the emus had led them the +night before. + +The little pond, which the rain had filled with clear brown water, was +in the centre of an open space, which, after heavy rains, would be a +good-sized pool. It was, except for the little sunken place in the +middle, quite dry. Round the edges of this brown space of dry mud trees +grew thickly. Murri was only armed with his curiously curved black wood +_boomerang_. All three of them hid themselves among the bushes and +waited patiently a few minutes for a flock of birds to visit the pool +for their morning drink and bath. + +They had not to wait very long, for presently a great flock of loudly +chattering and squealing white cockatoos came flying in a fluttering +crowd to the pool. + +Many perched on the little trees that grew around the open space. When +a great number of birds had arrived there Murri darted, with a loud +cry, from his hiding-place. The startled birds rising in a flock flew +wildly over the pool. Gaining an impetus by the run, and raising his +arm high above his head, Murri threw his _boomerang_ with all his +force. It travelled some distance almost on a level with the ground, +and then, with extraordinary swiftness, it darted upwards amongst the +flock of birds. As the _boomerang_ does not fly in a straight line, but +whirls about in the most eccentric and sudden manner, the cockatoos +could not escape it, and before it fell, not very far from Murri's +feet, three birds had been brought fluttering to the ground. + +By the time that Murri had picked up his spoils and the party was +mounted it was broad day, and they could see in all their grandeur and +beauty the mountains they had to cross. The lower spurs were of the +colour of dull gold, from the withered grass that covered them, whilst +others that were dark with the everlasting bush looked blue in contrast +with them. The more distant mountains, which lay fold upon fold behind +one another, were of a pure deep azure, whilst the nearer summits, +which were bathed in the morning sunshine, and which seemed to pierce +the very sky, were of bare rock as white as driven snow. + +The colours of the near landscape were bright and varied, the tints of +some of the wild grasses were reddish and rich warm browns, and the +pure green of the graceful mimosas glowed in the early sunlight against +a background of dark mysterious bush. The air, after the rain, was +fresh and exhilarating, and with happy hearts, forgetful of dangers +past, and bravely facing difficulties to come, and singing from pure +good spirits as they rode, the boys passed through the cool, grey +morning shadows, as gay at heart and happy minded as young +knights-errant in the youth time of the world. + +Although they would not have to ascend to the greatest heights of the +mountains to reach the pass by which Murri was to lead them to the +Whanga valley, they had still a most difficult climb to accomplish. +Their horses vastly increased the difficulty of their labours, though +it must be owned that at times they scrambled like dogs up places that +no horse but a colonial bred one would think of attempting. Had the +boys been without them they could have reached the pass in half the +time, and with less than half the labour that it took them with the +horses. Of course they did not ride them--that would have been +impossible--and to choose a suitable route for horses over a mountain +that is covered with rocks and crags and full of ravines and great +gullies is a work of not only great anxiety but of great labour. + +"I wonder how Yesslett would have liked this," sang out George to his +brother, who was in front, at one place, about half-way up to the pass, +where they had to clear a road for the horses. + +"Much better than you think, Master George. Just because we have seen +him a bit nervous at times we are apt to underrate him. I have studied +him, and there is much more in him than you give him credit for. +There's real pluck in him at bottom, I know. It has never had a chance +of coming out yet, but it will be there when the time for it comes." + +"Oh, I wasn't doubting dear old Yess's courage. He is three times the +man he was when he came. I was only thinking that bringing horses up +such a place as this would rather surprise that young Englisher." + +"And you, you stuck-up young monkey, are taking all the glory of it to +yourself instead of praising the strength and spring of our Australian +horses." + +"If you are going to argue with me over every word I say," said George, +with a laugh, "I shall go on ahead and ride with Murri; he, at least, +won't be able to differ from me. That is the advantage of talking with +him: one has it all one's own way, and he doesn't understand half one +says." + +"And that, I can well understand, leads to unanimity of opinion." + +As they climbed higher and higher towards the pass which lay between +two gigantic glittering peaks that towered above them, like vast +sentinels to guard the entrance to the unknown land beyond them, the +scenery became still wilder. The rich vegetation of the lower slopes +ceased, and a wilderness of crags and rocks took its place. Still there +was room for the horses to pass between them, and in places the very +roughness of the ground was the means of their getting along at all; +had it been smooth the horses could not have kept their feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +VERY NEAR TO DEATH. + + +Although they had started at sunrise the little party had not nearly +reached the pass by the hour that it was time for their mid-day halt. +Having to find a practicable route for the horses, and having to remove +so many objects that were obstacles in their way, had taken so much +longer a time than they had expected. The boys removed the saddles and +loads from the horses to ease them a little, and turned them loose to +find what food they could amongst the scanty growth on the rocks. There +was unfortunately no water for them, for the only little watercourse +near them was absolutely dry. The boys and Murri had each his own water +bottle with him, but Murri, with all the incurable thoughtlessness of +an Australian savage, had drunk all of his store in the early part of +the day. The boys were accustomed to this absolute want of foresight in +Murri, so they were not surprised, but it annoyed Alec every time he +displayed it. + +He had a much hastier temper than George, and although, as a rule, it +was well under control in the big affairs of life, he sometimes lost it +over small matters--just as most of us do. + +"Confound the fellow!" said he, in an annoyed voice. "He has drunk all +his water and wants some of ours. What an idiot the man is to be sure. +He must suffer for his own folly and go without any." + +"Remember he is nothing but a child in mind," said George. "They always +are. He either hopes that water will turn up somewhere or other, or, +what is more likely, doesn't think at all. He just felt thirsty, and +having the water at his saddle drank it up without another thought." + +"I suppose that is it. But he ought not to hope to find water in such +unlikely places." + +"I don't know that he does. But I think you are as foolish as he is if +you expect to find wisdom of that sort in such unlikely places as +Murri's brain. You never will remember mother's one solitary piece of +philosophy, 'Learn to _expect_ disappointment.' And now that I have +given my elder brother a lecture, which is very charming of me, I'll +give Murri some of my water. Come along, old stoopid," he sang out +pleasantly to the black. + +"You won't do anything of the sort, my young Solomon," said Alec, whose +face was bright again. "_I_ shall. I lost my temper like a jackass, and +I'll make up for it. You are quite right, most learned brother, so +preach away as much as you like." + +"I don't like preaching at all, any more than I like listening to +sermons, and if you dare say that I preach to you, Arrick, or ever have +preached, I'll come and gag you with this piece of soft damper," said +George, taking up a stiff piece of the flour and water he was mixing. + +Before they resumed their march, Murri pointed out to them the route +they would have to follow. He remembered every yard of the road; he was +wise enough in that way, although it was years since he had been there. +The only way that they could go was along a narrow sort of shelf that +formed a natural little path that led from the ravine they were then +in, along the wall-like face of cliff, to the top of the next great +ridge above them. + +After a halt of a couple of hours Alec said that if they did not get on +at once he feared they would not reach the pass before sunset. It was +only with great difficulty that they managed to get the horses on to +the narrow shelf that was their only path out of the ravine. Murri, +leading his horse, went first in the line, then came George with +Vaulty, and last came Alec, driving Amber before him, and leading the +one pack-horse, to which the loss of the two horses had reduced them. + +The ascent was very rough and steep, and quickly raised them to a great +height above the valley they had rested in. Fortunately, no green thing +grew on that rocky ledge to hide the inequalities of their path; it was +too stony and too exposed to the terrible heat of the tropical sun for +any vegetation to live upon it. Every now and then Murri had to roll +some great rock, that blocked the path, into the gulf beneath them, +which, striking the crags as it wildly plunged through air, would dash +itself in pieces upon the rocks below, the noise of its descent echoing +from side to side of the ravine in dull reverberations. + +As they mounted higher and higher the path became narrower, and the +precipice upon their right hand side became so sheer, that looking over +the edge of the rock they stood upon they could see straight down into +the valley a thousand feet below them. It was a fortunate thing that +the boys' heads were perfectly steady; had they been nervous or giddy +they must have fallen from their awful height from simple fright at the +depth of air below them. Alec began to blame himself for not having +examined the path before he ventured upon leading the horses on to it, +for it had now become so narrow that the animals could not have turned +round had the path suddenly ended or had they come upon any insuperable +object across it. However, it was as well to go on boldly now that they +had entered upon it and there was no help for it. He said to himself +that he was every bit as thoughtless as their hare-brained guide. + +They must have been climbing up this perilous track for nearly an hour, +for they had been very cautious and slow in their movements for fear of +an accident, when the horse that Murri was leading displaced a smallish +stone which, instead of falling over the edge of the precipice and +dashing itself a moment or so afterwards--with a noise made soft by the +distance--on the rocks so far beneath, rolled down the path with +momentarily increasing speed. George saw it coming, and, calling to +Alec to look out, sprang into the air to prevent it striking his feet. + +The stone passed by him without striking him, but as he retouched the +ground the piece of rock on which his feet descended, loosened from the +ledge by the sudden spring he had made, became detached from its +position, and, quivering for a second, fell silently in a little cloud +of dust and crumbling fragments over the edge of the awful chasm. A +moment afterwards a dull crash rose from the valley, where it had +shattered itself upon the rocks. But Alec did not hear the noise of it, +for before the great stone had reached the pointed rocks his ears had +been rent and every drop of blood in his body curdled by the piercing, +agonising shriek that Geordie uttered as he felt himself falling from +the path. + +For one half second after he had leaped George had felt the trembling +of the rock beneath him, and then, before he knew what was happening, +he felt himself falling with the stone. Then it was that that loud +despairing shriek burst from his agonised lips. He uttered no word nor +name; that wild, hopeless cry was but the expression of the deadly fear +and terror that he felt. + +The horror of Alec's situation was doubled by the fact that from his +position on the path he could not see what had happened. The path was +narrow, and between him and his brother were two horses, Amber, which +he was driving before him, and Vaulty, which George had been leading. +At the sound of that shrill shriek an icy sweat burst out upon him, and +he felt fear creeping in among the roots of his hair and roughening his +skin. For one instant he stood still as death, frozen by terror to +inaction, for he knew that it was George who cried. Then with rapid +throbs his bursting heart began to beat, and through his pallid lips a +cry broke forth-- + +"_Geordie, Geordie! What is it?_" + +No answer came to his loud call, and loosing the bridle of the horse he +was leading he flung himself down on the path. He could see nothing of +his brother, but he saw that the two horses before him were standing +perfectly still. Creeping on hands and knees, for there was not room +for him to pass between the horse and the wall of rock that rose on his +left hand side, he crawled between Amber's legs. Then, with a heart +that stood still for fear, he saw that Geordie had disappeared. Vaulty, +who was a few yards in front of him, was standing with all four legs +stretched out as though resisting some great strain, and his head was +pulled down to the very edge of the path. Not waiting to think what +these things might mean, Alec crept under the sweating belly of the +horse, which stood as still and stiff as though carved in stone. + +Before he had passed between the fore legs of the sturdy roan he took +one fearsome glance over the edge of the precipice. + +Horror! What did he see? + +There, a few feet below him, swinging at the end of the strained bridle +reins of his horse, was Geordie, hanging and swaying horribly, with +nothing between him and the awful rocks below but two thousand feet of +air. As Alec looked over the edge of the precipice he saw the deathly +face of his brother beneath him with strained, wide open eyes with a +ghastly look of terror in them, gazing straight up at him. George's jaw +was firmly clenched, and between the white, set teeth, which the +retracted lips displayed, he hissed in a thrilling, awful whisper-- + +"Make haste! make haste! _the bridle is slipping!_" + +With an indrawn shuddering breath of terror Alec pushed himself between +the legs of the horse, and leaning over the edge of the precipice he +grasped in his strong brown hand the two straps of the bridle that were +nearest to him. Just as he was about to gather into his grasp the two +other straps on the further side of the bit the leather on that side +gave way, and with a sickening jerk Geordie dropped two feet further +down, two feet nearer death. + +Neither of the boys uttered a cry as this frightful accident happened. +The struggle with death was too fierce for them to make a sound. +Horribly the boy swayed about at the end of the two straining straps +that alone suspended him above the vast abyss; the knuckles of his +hands were white with the fearful energy of his grasp; his head hung +back, and his dark curly hair fell away from his forehead, for his hat +had slipped off, and even then was floating with great birdlike swoops +to the valley below. His face was white as death, and his wild eyes +stared up at Alec's face with an expression of agonised entreaty in +them. + +Gradually Alec hauled in inch after inch of the bridle. From his +awkward position on the path, lying on his chest and leaning over the +edge, he was not able to exert all his strength, so that it was very +slowly that he was able to raise Geordie up. The sweat stood in great +beads on his brow, not merely from the labour, which was great, but +from his terrible anxiety lest these straps should break as the other +pair had done under a lesser strain. But the leather held firm, and he +blessed in his heart the man who had done that honest tanning. + +Alec saw, with renewed terror, when Geordie's tightly clasped hands +were almost within reach of his own, that a look of faintness began to +steal over his face, and that the eyes, which had been so widely open +in his agony, were gradually closing. If but for one instant +insensibility overtook him he must loose his grasp of the reins and +fall. The thought of this was too awful for contemplation, and was +trebly terrible now that he was so nearly within his brother's reach. + +"Hold on, Geordie. Hold on a minute longer, and I can reach you. Hold +on, hold on, _don't give way_!" shouted Alec, his voice almost rising +to a shriek as he saw the death-like look of faintness creeping faster +and faster over Geordie's face. + +Alec redoubled his already incredible exertions, straining every nerve +till the tendons in his bare brown neck stood out like bars and the +great swelling muscles on his arms and back seemed to turn to iron in +their strength. Then, making one grand final effort, he held George's +weight up by one arm alone, and stretching out the other seized his +brother's wrist in a grasp of iron, just as poor Geordie's overtaxed +strength gave way and his head rolled heavily to one side in total +unconsciousness. + +It was at this moment that Murri reached Alec's side; he had been some +way ahead of the two boys, so that, although he stopped the moment he +heard George's shriek, he had not been able to reach them before. It +was fortunate that he came up when he did, for with George's dead +weight hanging on to his outstretched arm Alec was quite unable to haul +his brother back to the path; but with the assistance of the black boy +he succeeded in raising the inanimate body of the senseless lad from +his awful position, and in laying him in safety again on the rocky +path. + +It was only with difficulty that they revived the fainting boy; the +mental shock and the bodily strain he had undergone in falling and +holding himself up by his hands for so long were more than he could +recover from at once. But in an hour's time the plucky fellow was +sufficiently well to go on, though he shook as with a palsy. + +"Don't speak of it; I can't bear to speak of it or think of it yet. +Wait till we are away from this awful place," he had said, as soon as +he could speak; so that no word was spoken until they had reached the +top of the pass and left that frightful pathway, and had descended some +little way down the gentle, wooded slopes of the other side, where, by +the side of a little marshy pool, they camped for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WHANGA. + + +After the terrible time he had passed through on the side of the +precipice, when he and death had looked so sternly in each other's +face, George's sleep was disturbed that night. Awful dreams, in which +he was again swaying, at the end of the bridle strap, above the ravine, +haunted his slumbers and drove away his rest. Once he had awakened +himself with a shriek, and had sprung up with the sweat of terror +bursting out upon him, as in his dream the straps had broken, and he +had fallen through the depths of space. The cry also awakened Alec and +Murri, who were sleeping by his side near the little fire they had +made, for the air was very cold at night upon the mountains at the +height at which they were. + +Murri, who lived in life-long dread of ghosts, _debil-debils_, and evil +spirits, was trembling with superstitious fear. He thought the cry had +proceeded from the awful blackness round them--for the sky was overcast +and the night was very dark--and cowering down he flung fresh wood on +to the fire and made a cheerful blaze. Even Alec and George were glad +of its bright companionship, for though they feared no invisible +visitant it was eerie and wild on that lone mountain side, with the +starless night sky above them, and a black stillness all around. + +They sat talking for some little time before they lay down to sleep +again, glad to hear each other's voices, and to feel the fellowship of +living waking men in that dark, awe-inspiring silence. George +encouraged Murri, and told him that there was nothing to fear, that +there was nothing there, just beyond the fire light, as the +superstitious black believed. Murri had crept quite near to him, and, +casting many a terrified glance around him, had told him in a low +whisper, and in tones of fear, that he knew there was nothing there; +and then, with that simple poetry of thought that all savages seem in +some degree to possess, he added that what had alarmed him was that the +darkness itself had stirred, and was moving towards him. + +"That is a grand idea and a terrible one, isn't it?" said George, +turning to his brother. "To make a sort of personality of the very +darkness. I believe superstition is catching, for I can myself almost +believe that I see the blackness moving." + +"Geordie, you are ill," said the matter-of-fact Alec. "I am sure you +are, or you wouldn't talk such nonsense. Blackness moving! indeed, it +is just a _draught_ of it you want." + +"Come a bit nearer the fire," said the boy, with a little uneasy laugh +at himself. "I can't see you, and it is rather gruesome and grim to +feel alone." + +"I wish you could go to sleep, I am sure you are overdone," said Alec, +quietly and kindly, looking earnestly in his brother's too bright eyes. +"We will make a halt here to-morrow, and give you a thorough rest." + +"Oh, no, not that; Alec, I can't bear to wait. We seem to have lost so +much time already. Let us get on." + +"What is the hurry?" + +"It is just the gold and nothing else. Ever since we started it has +been dazzling me and dancing before me. I can see nothing else, and +think of nothing else." + +"And I have been the same," said his brother, with little merriment. +"When I have been silent and you have thought me tired, my mind has +been busy making pictures of the gold and what it will procure us." + +"It is terrible, isn't it? We were quite happy before." + +"Yes, and shall be again when we have got this business off our minds. +I don't want heaps of money; all I wish for is to find enough to clear +off the debt from Wandaroo, and start again a free man, owing no one +anything." + +"What a nuisance money is after all. Look at Murri there, sound asleep +again already, without a penny to bless himself with, and yet perfectly +happy and free from care." + +"Yes, a noble sight! A thoughtless savage, without a care for +to-morrow, and snoring like a hog." + +"And I vote we follow his example as quickly as possible. So +good-night, old miser." + +"Good-night, young avarice." + +Pulling their blankets up to their ears, and settling their heads more +comfortably on their saddles, they fell asleep again, and this time +they slumbered on till dawn without disturbance. + +The descent on the other side of the pass, although difficult enough, +presented none of the dangers that the ascent had done the day before, +and the little party accomplished it quite early in the day. They now +found themselves in a strange land of mountains and valleys, little +narrow gullies of rock without a tree or shrub about them, and hills +covered so thickly with luxuriant bush and tropical vegetation as to be +quite impassable for the horses. Everything was so different from the +country round Wandaroo, that they might have been dropped down in +another world. + +It was evident that the terrible drought which the whole country had +suffered from on the other side the mountains had not prevailed here, +for trees and bushes, grasses, ferns, and flowers, were green and +flourishing, and were running wild with that wanton luxuriance that a +tropical sun engenders in a land where rain is frequent. Down some of +the valleys little streams were flowing, a rare sight for Australia, +and in one or two places the boys saw, for the first time in their +lives, silvery cascades of water dashing and tumbling from the heights +above to the clear basins below, into which their waters poured. + +It was by the side of one of these streams that they had made their +mid-day halt, and had cooked in his skin the young bandicoot that Alec +had shot in the morning. The boys were now so excited at the thought +that at last they were approaching the scene of their labours that they +did not make so long a halt as usual. This did not so much matter, as +the feed for the horses by the side of the stream was plentiful and +good. At last, in the early afternoon, they made their way through a +chaotic mass of rocks at the foot of a great grey mountain, and +rounding his grand shoulder, that for some time had shut out their view +of what was in front, Murri sang out-- + +"Missa Law, you _mil-mil_" (see) "mountain like um tooth. That fellow, +Tooingoora, Whanga along o' that fellow other side. Mine bail _pitnee +yarroman_ go there this day. One more sleep. _Yarroman_ go along o' +that fellow plenty much picannini _ingin_." (I don't think the horses +can get there to-day. One more night. Horses get there soon after baby +sun, or sunrise). + +"Oh, let us push on, Alec," said George, impetuously. "It can't be very +far, and we can perhaps get there to-night." + +"It won't be any use if we do, for it will be nearly dark, and we could +not do anything. But let us try; I am every bit as anxious as you are +to reach the valley. Geordie, do you know I believe I should die of +sheer disappointment if we find nothing." + +But Murri was, as usual in these matters, quite right. They could not +manage to get to the valley before sunset, though they did their best +to do so. They had to camp that night with still a few miles between +them and the fateful valley. + +Long before sunrise next day the boys were astir. They could not rest +after the first call of the laughing jackass in a neighbouring tree had +told them that dawn was at hand. They were too excited at the thought +that at last the day had dawned which might see them rich, rich beyond +their wildest dreams, with gold enough to pay off the odious debt on +Wandaroo, and more, much more, besides. It almost seemed to them, with +the Whanga gully so near, that they held the gold already. + +"Oh, never mind breakfast, Alec, do let us get on. A hunch of damper +will do for me. I am not hungry." + +"Neither am I, or I don't feel it if I really am, but I am going to +make a good breakfast, and so are you, young sir, so don't make a fuss. +We have a day's work before us, and it may be a hard one." + +It did not take them very long to get the tea and food ready, for they +had made their fire over night, against a log of wood, and it had +smouldered till morning. It is always advisable to do so when camping +out, as it then is not necessary to feed the fire through the night. + +After an hour's ride through country that was similar to that which +they had passed over the day before, they had rounded the mountain, +which Murri had said was Tooingoora, and at last they reached the +opening in the hills which the black boy said was Whanga. The boys' +hearts beat high as they looked up the valley which had been so +constantly in their thoughts, and with flushed, eager faces they turned +their horses' heads towards the entrance to it. + +"Geordie, I declare that now I am here, I am almost afraid to go in. I +know it is idiotic, but I am so nervous that I can hardly stay in the +saddle." + +"Get off and sit on the ground then," said George, with a little laugh, +for now that the time was at hand, when they must learn the best or the +worst, he was much the calmer of the two. + +"I suppose we shall put the worth of our venture to the test within the +next hour. What shall we do if we find nothing after all?" + +"Go home again, I suppose," said George, with more calmness than he +really felt. "We shall not be a bit worse off than we were before, at +any rate." + +"No, but we shall have suffered a great deal all in vain, and my +disappointment will be none the less keen because we are none the worse +off than before." + +"You, at any rate, will be worse off than before, old boy, for your +hair is half burnt off, and nearly all that fascinating moustache +singed away," said George, lightly. Nearly everything had a comic side +to it for him, and seeing Alec so gloomy and desponding he tried to +cheer him up. + +"How can you talk in that careless way of what is so important to us +all?" + +"To hide what I really feel," said Geordie, quickly, and looking round +with a face that was serious for a moment; and then he added, as though +to alter the impression his almost involuntary confession had made, "It +is no use being down in the mouth _before_ we find we have come in +vain, so let us be cheerful till then." + +"Oh, I could be cheerful enough if I knew for a certainty that we had +come on a fool's errand. It is only this anxiety and uncertainty that I +cannot bear." + +The Whanga valley, the entrance to which the party had now reached, was +a narrow opening, between two great spurs of Tooingoora, which ran back +for a mile or two till it ended in a precipitous mass of rocks at the +very foot of the great mountain itself. The opening to this valley, +which at its beginning was a mere rocky defile, was between two bold +crags, the bases of which were clothed in dense green bush, but the +summits of which were bare rocks of dazzling white quartz, that +reflected the sunlight brilliantly. There was a stream flowing noisily +down the centre of the valley, tumbling over the stones and boulders +that blocked its course in many tiny cascades. The scenery was very +impressive and grand, looking up the narrow defile, for the hills on +either side of it rose in huge broken cliffs, throwing the greater part +of the valley into deep shadow; but, where in one place it widened out, +and a clump of tall _quandang_ trees grew beside the stream, the sun +flooded it with brilliant light that fell upon the gleaming, flashing +water, making it shine like burnished silver, and mellowing the warm +tones of the rocks. Beyond all this, filling up the whole end of the +valley, rose the great mass of the mountain high into the clear blue +sky, its great white crags of quartz shining like fields of snow or ice +upon its hoary summit. + +The gorge--it can hardly be called a valley--was very far from level; +it rose steeply from the entrance all the way to the end of it, so that +riding along it was not at all easy. Murri pointed out in several +places signs of the recent presence of _myalls_, but as there were +no camp fires to be seen in the gully, and as he thought the traces +were several days old, he said that he believed "black fellow go away +two, four days." + +The boys grew very silent as they approached the head of the valley, +where they knew the hole was that the nugget had been taken from. Even +George, for all his light-hearted gaiety, was quiet, and rode along +with his eyes steadily fixed upon the end of the valley and his jaw +squarely set, in a way that made him resemble Alec more closely than +ever. Over country of the wild, rocky sort, of which the valley +consisted, it is always the best plan to leave your horse to choose his +own way, and both Murri and the boys followed this method. + +The black boy, who was ignorant of the object of the long journey they +had taken, and did not trouble his head to think why they should have +travelled so far to see the Whanga, was the merriest of the party. He +had no terrible anxiety about finding the gold to trouble him, and as +he had plenty to eat and plenty of "toombacco" he was as happy as the +day was long. He was singing a long, monotonous _corroborree_, with an +appreciation of his own efforts that was very delightful to witness, +occasionally interrupting it to shout at the horse he was leading, or +to call out something to the boys, who were ahead. + +For some little time they had heard a dull, roaring noise in front of +them, and as the boys approached the head of the valley, the air was +shaken by the heavy sound of a fall of water, but they could see no +cascade that could account for it. When the party was within a very +short distance of the great cliff in which the gully ended, Alec pulled +up his horse, turned round and said to Murri, who was slapping his +naked thigh in time to the song he was singing-- + +"Murri, whereabouts um hole where Black Harry find um 'heavy stone'?" +which was the name the blacks had given to the nugget that Harry had +worn. + +"Yo go on along um picannini creek, other side along o' that fellow," +answered he, making a sweep with his arm and indicating a great +buttress of rock which projected into the gully, and round which the +stream, "um picannini creek," was flowing. "Mine believe plenty much +water fill um hole like along o' that time picannini Murri come along +o' Whanga," added he, carelessly. + +Alec's heart sank as he understood what Murri meant. He remembered that +he had told him, at the camp at Wandaroo, that when he was there +before, with his tribe as a little lad, the pool was full of water. +Alec had hoped that it would be all dried up after the long drought +they had suffered, and, notwithstanding the stream which flowed down +the valley, he had trusted to the last that the water might not be +flowing through that one particular pool. + +"Geordie," said Alec, catching his brother up, "we must be prepared for +the worst. Murri says that he believes the hole is filled with water, +just as it was when he was a picannini and came here." + +As he spoke they all rounded the great abutting rock, and saw before +them a grand cascade of shining water falling in one huge column from +the cliff, and plunging, amidst sheets of silvery spray, into the deep +rock basin at its foot. + +Murri ceased his _corroborree_ for a moment, and pointing to the +foaming pool said in the most unconcerned manner-- + +"That's um hole yo come see. Yo like um?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WAYS AND MEANS. + + +It would be difficult to imagine anything more painful than the boys' +feelings at that moment; the disappointment was almost more than they +could bear. It is true they had built their hopes upon very slight +foundations, but their disappointment was none the less keen on that +account. They had thought about the gold so much, hoped for it so +ardently, and undergone such dangers to reach the spot where they +expected to discover it, that to find all their sanguine anticipations +blighted was very bitter to them. The dream of gold had been so bright +a one, and the chances of their dream coming true had seemed so +probable, that they almost felt they had a right to its +fulfilment--older people often feel the same about the achievement of +their desires, and with as little reason. + +"Well," said Alec, after a moment or two of silent contemplation of the +pool and cascade which had frustrated all their plans, "well, we have +been living in a fool's paradise, and this is what comes of it." + +"Beastly, isn't it?" said George. "But look here Alec, old man, perhaps +after all there is no gold at the bottom of that pool, so don't let us +fret about it." + +"I'm not going to fret about it," said Alec, as he got off his horse, +"but I am convinced that the gold _is_ there. Nuggets are never found +alone. That pool is a natural 'pocket,' as diggers call that sort of +place." + +"And we may not put our hands in it! Never mind, we have only lost what +we never had." + +"You jolly Irishman! Well, we may as well turn back. It is no use +staying here." + +"I beg to differ," said Geordie, who had thrown one leg over his +horse's head, and was sitting sideways on his saddle in an idle sort of +manner, and he slipped to the ground as he spoke. "At any rate let us +stay here to-day, and give the horses a rest before we turn homewards." + +His busy brain had already begun to think out several schemes for +getting at the bottom of the pool, but he would not mention them to +Alec for fear of again raising hopes that might prove false. His active +mind was generally the one to devise methods and plans, which he would +often have been quite unable to execute without Alec's steady-going +co-operation. But these two fellows always worked so well together, and +were so completely one at heart, that neither thought for one moment of +taking special credit to himself for any one part that he might have +originated or executed. + +Taking the horses some little way down the stream, where there seemed +to be more and better food for them than close to the waterfall, the +boys and Murri unloaded them, and hobbling them, as usual, turned them +loose. Alec suggested that if they were going to stay one night in the +gully--"And the rest," thought George--they had better pitch their camp +somewhere thereabouts, as they would be near the fall and yet out of +reach of its deafening noise. So they arranged their goods and chattels +close to one side of the gully where the steep cliff cast a grateful +shade. + +When this little business was satisfactorily settled--it took but a +very few minutes to arrange matters--Murri, who as usual was dreaming +of something to eat, and thought this an opportunity not to be +neglected, asked if he might go down the valley and try to catch +something. It did not matter what, for all is fish that comes to an +Australian aboriginal's net. The boys did not want him for anything, so +he started off with his _boomerang_ and spears and throwing stick +towards the clump of tall _quandang_ trees they had passed when coming +up the valley. + +Directly that George saw Alec engaged upon making some alteration in +the stuffing of one of the pack saddles, which had begun to chafe the +back of the horse that carried it, he started off by himself to make a +more careful survey of the pool and the waterfall. He wished to go +alone, so he walked off without saying anything to his brother. Alec, +although he had said that he should be quite cheerful if he knew the +worst, seemed very much depressed at the failure of all his hopes, and +sat rather gloomily over his work. He was paying close attention to +what he was doing, for he hated careless work of any kind, and did not +see Geordie leave the camp. + +The place certainly did not present a very hopeful appearance when +George came to examine it. The waterfall poured in one straight column +from the top of the perpendicular cliff, and dashed itself into the +pool beneath, which again overflowed to the stream below in a little +cascade, from the narrow lip of rock which formed the front edge of the +basin. George thought that the scene was a very beautiful and grand one +now that he could look at it with calmer eyes. The ravine, at the far +end of which the cascade fell, was very narrow, so that the lofty +cliffs on either side shut out the direct sunshine, except at mid-day, +when the sun was just overhead. The whole place was dim and full of +shadow, and the sound of the falling water and the coolness of the air, +moistened by the drifting showers of misty spray, made it a pleasant +retreat from the glare and tropical heat of the ardent day beyond its +limits. The rocks for the most part were bare of vegetation, but in one +or two places near the fall itself masses of tall grasses and ferns +grew with luxuriant greenness, and along the top of the cliff from +which the cascade fell a line of bushes grew, and creeping plants, +which hung far down the rock, swayed by the current of air made by the +great mass of falling water. + +The water looked cool and inviting, and George thought he would have a +dip into it before he began his exploration. He thought that by so +doing he might discover how deep the pool was. The basin into which the +waterfall plunged was some five or six feet above the level of the +stream, into which the water flowed by a second and much smaller +cascade. Undressing--a work that did not take him very long--on the +bank of the stream, George scrambled up by the side of the little +waterfall, and stood on the narrow wall of rock that confined the +waters of the basin, his well-made muscular body and legs looking +strangely fair when compared with his red and sun-browned face and neck +and arms. He stood for one moment with one foot in the water--how hot +the sun was on his naked body--and then plunged into the pool. + +He found that he could just touch bottom near the place where the water +flowed out, but that nearer the middle of the pool it was beyond his +depth. He did not go under the fall, though he went close to it, for +the volume of water was so great and fell in so heavy a stream. +Standing, a few minutes afterwards, in the sunshine to dry himself +before he dressed again, he made a rough mental calculation, and found +that the parts of the pool he had been able to bottom were about on a +level with the stream. With a pleased little nod he sprang lightly down +the rocks, which were hot to his naked feet, and scrambled into his +clothes. + +As soon as he was dressed he walked to the face of the great cliff over +which the water plunged, and began to examine it to find a place where +he might climb up. The rock near the fall was quite too steep for any +one to ascend, but a little way from it, where the ravine curved, +George found a place up which he thought he could manage to scramble. +As he was strong and a quite fearless rock climber, he was often able +to conquer difficulties that most people would have found insuperable. +Jamming tightly on to his head the cap he had extemporised the night +after he lost his felt hat at the precipice, two days before, George +began to climb. It was a work for arms as well as legs, for the cliff +was so steep in places that he had actually to haul himself up by his +hands; but Geordie was at home in this sort of climbing, and nimbly +scaled up places that from below looked absolutely perpendicular. + +It took even Geordie some time to get to the top, for the cliff was +higher than it appeared to be from the ravine, but at last he was able +to grasp the stout stem of a ti-bush that grew on the edge of the crag, +and holding this and throwing his chest on to the flat ground at the +top he was able to haul himself up. He sprang to his feet at once, for +he was in such perfect condition that even the violent exertion he had +just made had not put him out of breath. He found himself on a little +piece of comparatively level ground which rose, at first gradually, and +then by a steeper incline, till it joined the great bulk of Tooingoora, +which towered, majestic and grim, before him. The ground, just where he +was, was covered with a thick and tangled growth of scrub, through +which he could hear the sound of the swiftly running stream, which +poured itself with a roar over the edge of the height. + +George made his way between the bushes with some little difficulty, for +they were so matted together with a strong wiry sort of creeper, and in +a moment or two he reached the edge of the stream. He found that it was +flowing very rapidly, as though preparing for the leap it was about to +make, along a rocky watercourse, which at present was a great deal too +wide for its requirements, but the whole of which in flood times it +would probably occupy. + +George examined the bed of the stream very carefully, walking up it +some little way and then back again to the place where the water +plunged over the edge of the rock in one great smooth sweep. He seemed +to observe one part more than any; it was where a dried-up arm of the +watercourse branched out from the side of the running stream; it would +evidently be converted into a stream itself if only a very little more +water came down from the mountain, for its sandy bed was only just +above the level of the one that was then flowing. After examining the +nature of the ground just there, George gave a little satisfied laugh, +and said, in a deeply mysterious manner-- + +"Yes, I believe this will do." + +By the way he poked about among the loose rocks and stones, and +scratched in the sand with a short stick he had cut in the scrub, it +looked as though he were doing a little prospecting for gold on his own +account. But the thought that there was gold above the fall as well as +below it had not entered his head. Had he been a practical gold digger +he would have recognised at once, from the nature of the stones about +him, that he was amongst the gold-bearing rocks, or rather that the +stones were fragments, brought down from the mountain, of auriferous +quartz. + +Having satisfied himself of the practicability of his plan by this +personal survey, he leaped across the stream, and keeping along the +edge of the cliff he soon stood above the place in the main ravine +where they had camped. He saw his brother below him putting the +finishing stitches to his work, and taking up a little pebble he threw +it so that it almost dropped on the hat of the unconscious Alec. +Geordie greeted him with a stave of a song as Alec leaped to his feet +and looked around, and danced a little _corroborree_, all of his own +invention, so near to the edge of the cliff that Alec was almost +frightened out of his senses. + +"Come down, you young ape!" he yelled. + +"Ape yourself," replied Geordie; but he instantly swung himself over +the edge and began descending at a break-neck pace, and in a moment he +stood by the side of his brother. + +"You'll break your neck as sure as fate if you fling yourself about +like that. I never saw such a fellow as you are; you are just like a +cat on your feet. Where have you been?" + +"In the waterfall, up the waterfall, and over the waterfall, and I have +come to the conclusion that the waterfall is but a poor creature, and +that we can manage it after all." + +"Manage it! What do you mean?" + +"I mean what I say, and I think you will agree with me when you hear my +plan, and have examined the stream before it falls from the cliff." + +"Plan! what plan?" + +"Let me get something to eat first, and then I'll tell you all about +it. I had no breakfast this morning, and I want to 'patter um bittee +damper,' as Murri would say. Come and sit down on this rock, it is a +particularly soft and comfortable one, and well in the shade. Well, +sir, this is my idea," said he, throwing off his cap and giving his +still damp hair a little impetuous shake that was very characteristic +of him. "We must get to the bottom of that pool. It is too idiotic to +have come all this way on purpose, and then to go back without doing +it." + +"And how are you going to do it--dive?" + +"Be quiet, don't interrupt," said George, putting down by the side of +him the food which in his earnestness he had forgotten to touch. "I +will tell you what I believe we can do. It will take some time, and a +lot of hard work, but of course that doesn't matter." + +"No, of course not." + +"We must divert the stream from its present channel and send it pouring +over the cliff in another place. I have been up on to the top and have +found a branch of the watercourse which we can use if we can manage to +dam up the present channel." + +Alec had sat listening, perfectly silent up till now, but at this point +his admiration broke out. + +"What a splendid idea! When did you think of it?" And then, as the +thought struck him that diverting the stream would not solve their +difficulty, he suddenly added, "But that won't empty the pool for us, +that will be as full as ever." + +"You jolly old muff, do you think I had not thought of that?" + +"Well, and how do you propose to empty it?" + +"Drink it all, I suppose," said Geordie, with a bright laugh at the +sudden change from hope to doubt that took place in Alec's face. But, +seeing how anxious he looked, he laid one hand on his brother's knee to +give emphasis to what he said. The novelty and boldness of his own idea +had greatly excited him, though he tried to carry it off lightly; and +when he spoke his voice was lowered, as though there were any one +within some hundreds of miles who could overhear him. + +"No," he said, "the pool is no great difficulty after all if we can +only carry out my scheme. The bottom of it is on a level with the +stream, except just in the middle, where it is deeper, and the wall of +rock over which the second little waterfall flows is but a thin one. If +we can break through that all the water in the pool, or nearly all of +it, will rush out into the stream." + +"It will be slow work, but we ought to be able to do it." + +"We will do it, and not so particularly slowly after all, for I mean to +drill a hole into the rock and blast it up with gunpowder. Margaret +little thought when she told us, before we left, to be sure to take +plenty of powder, to what a purpose we should put it." + +"But how much have we?" + +"Plenty. We have used very little since we started." + +"Geordie," said Alec, as he rose from the stone, "in my opinion you are +a regular genius. Yes, you are; don't deny it." + +"Oh, very well," laughed George, "I will be one if you like. It is easy +enough to be a genius if that is all that is wanted. I've only just +thought of a sort of plan, and, mind you, I shall leave all the details +to you, for you always do things so much better than I do." + +"Not I; but I am ready to begin at once." + +"It is too hot yet, there is not a bit of shade up there on the top of +the cliff. We had better wait till a little later in the afternoon." + +"Let's go and examine the pool at any rate. It is not too hot for that, +and I want to have a look at that wall of rock. So come on." + +When they had returned to the camp after their visit to the waterfall, +they found that Murri had got back. All that he brought was one +kangaroo rat and a parrot. A very poor result for so long a morning's +hunting. + +"This all you get along um gully?" asked George, pointing to the black +fellow's very scanty spoils. + +Murri shook his head, and said, "Mine kill pigeums, two pigeums, along +o' _quandangs_. Murri plenty much hunglee. Mine go make fire, cook um +pigeums, and mine _patter_" (eat) "um bofe." + +This speech was so characteristic of the Australian black that neither +of the boys was at all surprised at it. Although Murri was in many ways +an exceptional specimen of the aboriginal race, it was not to be +supposed that he should be free from all their faults and failings. +Generosity can hardly be expected to be found among the virtues of a +man who, like his ancestors for countless generations, has always +thought of himself first, and of supplying his own requirements to the +full before he gives away of his superfluity. Murri had killed the +birds by his own skill and with his own strength, and who had so good a +right as he to cook and eat them? That was what he himself would have +said had he been asked, and he felt no shame in owning to George that +he had cooked and eaten them himself. It was as useless to talk to him +of generosity or self-sacrifice as it would be to try to make a man +blind from his birth understand the meaning of colours. + +Later in the afternoon, about two hours before sunset, the boys again +walked towards the waterfall. Alec, who was not nearly so good a +climber as George, utterly refused to climb up the cliff at the place +Geordie had first ascended it. He said that he had some respect for his +bones if Geordie had not, and climb up that cliff, which was no better +than a stone wall, he would not. It was with some little difficulty +that they found any less steep place, but they did at last discover +one, some little way to the right hand side of the fall. + +As soon as Alec had been shown the channel that George thought best for +their purpose, he began to work. He was never one to spare himself when +there was a difficult task on hand, and he flung himself into this new +labour with all his usual ardour. George found his energy contagious, +and they worked to such purpose that when they left off, some little +time before sunset, they had collected a great pile of rocks at the +edge of the stream with which they intended to begin their dam next +day. + +As it was evident, from the amount of work they had before them, that +their stay in the valley would be of some duration, the boys determined +to make more extensive preparations for camping than they usually did. +It was almost too late that night to do anything, but they devoted the +next day to building themselves a sort of little hut, which would not +only shelter them from the heat by day and from the heavy dews of +night, but would serve as some sort of protection if they were again +attacked by _myalls_. + +The one great danger in travelling in the wild parts of Queensland is +the probability of being attacked by the fierce black natives, and +every traveller in that little known country should be constantly on +his guard. It is only natural that the native black races should +retaliate upon the white intruders, at whose hands they have suffered +so much; and as they have not the courage, or indeed the weapons, to +enable them to attack a well-peopled station, they wait until they have +a chance of murdering a solitary shepherd, or surrounding and +surprising a small party when travelling away from civilised parts. + +It was the thought of their exposed situation in case of an attack that +guided Alec in his choice of a position for their camp. After examining +the gully on both sides, he found a place that he thought admirably +suited to his purpose. On the opposite side of the stream from that on +which they had first encamped, there was a little opening in the side +of the ravine. It was only a sort of wide crack in the rock, down which +perhaps in times of heavy rain a little waterfall might flow. The width +of it across the opening was about ten feet, and it was about the same, +or a little more, in depth, at which distance the two walls of rock met +at an angle. + +Alec, who was a practical fellow, saw that this would give him two +sides to his house, and, that if he built a wall of some sort across +the front of it, he would have the shell of a comfortable, although +triangular, shelter. Without waste of further time he and George set to +work to collect a number of the large stones that were scattered +thickly along all the edge of the stream and in it. With these they +slowly (for the work was none of the easiest beneath a blazing tropical +sun) built a wall about four feet high across the front of the little +opening. They knew, from the previous day's experience, that they could +not expect much of that sort of work from Murri, so they set him to +chop down a good big pile of brushwood from the scrub that grew a +little way down the gully. To this kind of labour Murri was much more +accustomed, as the natives build their _gunyahs_ of boughs of trees and +brushwood. He could use a hatchet quite as expertly as the boys, and in +a short time had cut quite as much as they would want for their +purpose. + +It took them the best part of the day to get their house finished, for +the stones of their wall would often slip when the boughs were being +forced in between them, and the covering in of the roof took some +little time, as they had great difficulty in fixing the thick ends of +the branches they used for that purpose in the rocky sides of their +house. But by working well they managed to get it done, and had +installed themselves and all their possessions, saddles, guns, +provisions, and stores of every sort--not a great quantity, +by-the-by--in their new camp before the sun had set. It certainly was +more comfortable than sleeping without any shelter, for the nights felt +cold after the great heat of the days, and the dews that fell were +quite heavy enough to wet their blankets and clothes right through. + +The floor of the "humpie," as the boys called it, using the word that +in Australia means hut or house or hovel, indiscriminately, was quite +dry, and the roof looked thick enough to keep out all wet, so that they +were in no small degree satisfied with their work when at last it was +finished. + +"I say, Geordie," said Alec to his brother, who was busy in front of +their newly-finished home making some Johnny cakes for their supper, +"I've been thinking that it would be foolish for us to announce the +fact of our presence here by firing our guns off. The noise would very +probably be heard by some wretched tribe of _myalls_, and they would be +bouncing here in no time to see what the row was all about; and I think +we have had enough of them for one journey." + +"I quite agree with you, most learned sir," said George, lifting up one +floury hand and pushing his cap back that he might see his brother the +better; "I don't want any more _myalls_ just yet. But why do you make +these wise remarks?" + +"Because I should like something more for my supper than Johnny cakes +and part of a tinned salmon. I was going to try to get a shot at +something, but I think we had better send Murri, whose shooting isn't +quite so noisy as ours. Hullo, Murri," he added, turning round to that +worthy person, who was hugging his knees by the side of the fire, "you +go kill something. Mine want pigeon, bandicoot, cockatoo, anything. +_Burrima_" (quickly), "you bail go _patter_ him all along yourself this +time." (Don't you eat him by yourself this time.) "If you do," he +added, dropping into his own vernacular, "I'll jolly well punch your +head." + +"You had better go with him. I won't put the Johnny cakes in till you +come back." + +"Yes, that will be the safest way, and I can have a look at the horses +and see that they have not strayed." + +Murri was willing enough to go. A new spirit seemed to possess him when +he was engaged in hunting or work of that kind, and his expressionless +face would light up, and a new fire would shine in his eyes. He seized +his _boomerang_ and other weapons, which were lying by the side of him, +and sprang to his feet to accompany Alec down the ravine. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +BUILDING THE DAM. + + +The next morning, almost as soon as it was light, the boys began the +serious work of building the dam across the stream. They chose a place +a little way below the branch channel into which they wished to turn +the water, where the stream was rather wider than it was lower down, +but where also it was shallower. They selected this place for the +reason that it was much less difficult to work in shallow water than in +deep, and this fact more than compensated them for the extra work +entailed upon them by the greater width of the stream. The work was +very heavy, and only the thought of the great reward they hoped to reap +from their exertions could have made them persevere in it. The whole +proceeding was a mystery to Murri, who could conceive no incentive +sufficiently powerful to make men work so hard as the two Laws did. + +"What for you put plenty much stone along o' water? Yo bail stop him. +That fellow strong," said he, pointing to the stream. "Yo go chewt" +(shoot) "um kangaroo, mine find chewgah bag" (sugar bag; a nest of wild +honey, of which there is plenty to be found in the bush), "that +_boudgeree cawbawn_, stop um water, that hard work, bail gammon bong." + +Thus argued the black philosopher, who disregarded gold--being ignorant +of its worth--and tried to make the boys see things in the same light +that he did. It must be confessed that he was not purely disinterested +in thus painting to them the superior delights of shooting and tracking +the wild bees down to their nests, for he hated work of any continuous +sort, and Alec had set him to cut great lumps and sods of the tussocky +grass that grew by the sides of the stream in the ravine. These Alec +meant to use to fill in the gaps between the stones that formed the +foundation of their dam. + +It was slow and rather disheartening work, for although the boys worked +steadily their progress that first day seemed very small. Many of the +stones and rocks that they used had to be carried for some distance, +and the force of the water as it poured down the steep incline, before +it leaped to the valley below, was so great that it was a constant +effort for them to keep their feet on the smooth water-worn rock upon +which they stood. Many of the stones, too, which they had carried with +such labour, and placed in position so carefully, were swept away by +the force of the water directly that they loosed them, and rumbling +heavily along the course of the stream plunged with a splash, heard +above the roar of the waterfall, into the pool below. But neither of +them had, from the first, expected to find the work an easy one, and +they went on stolidly replacing, with a larger and heavier stone, every +one that was swept away, and showed such dogged determination and pluck +that it was evident they did not mean to be beaten. + +They had been enormously cheered towards the end of the day, just when +both of them began to feel very fagged and tired from their continuance +at the unaccustomed labour, by a discovery that they made. They had +almost succeeded in laying all the stones necessary for the foundation +of their dam, and thought of knocking off work for that day; but there +was still one place that was a little weak, and Alec was anxious to +strengthen it before they went down to the humpie for rest and supper. + +"There's that one place near the bank that is still a bit shaky, +Geordie; I should like to fix that up before we give over." + +"Oh, bless the thing!" said George, in a voice whose tones conveyed but +little benison. "We have put a ton of rock there if we have put an +ounce." + +"Don't bother about it if you are tired. I daresay you are--it has been +a hard day. I can do it quite well." + +"As though I should let you lug those great rocks about by yourself! +Come on. I was only having a bit of a growl--it eases my stiff back." + +"Well let us get that big white stone up there--the current can never +sweep that away." + +"All right; a thumping big one for the last." + +Saying this they stepped out of the water and hobbled over the stones, +which were very painful to their feet, the latter being tender from +remaining in the water so long. The stone was a great lump of white +quartz, and it lay at the edge of the rapid stream. + +"I say, it _is_ heavy!" said George. + +They both stooped and put their hands to it together, and, loosening +the stone from the bed it had made for itself in the pebbles, they +rolled it over. As they did so George uttered a wild yell of delight. + +"Alec, Alec, _it is gold_!" + +[Illustration: "HE WAS SO OVERCOME ... THAT HE SAT STRAIGHT DOWN INTO +THE STREAM." (_p. 130._)] + +He was so overcome with this sudden proof that their hopes were not all +vain that he sat straight down into the stream with a splash, and, +laughing hysterically, stayed there patting the gold-studded face of +the stone with the palm of his hand. + +Alec, who as a rule was not so excitable as George, was himself unable +to say anything for a moment. His face became quite white as he seemed +to see his dreams realised before him. + +"Yes," he said at last, as he uttered a great sigh of relief, "it is +gold, real gold, and thank Heaven for it. You don't know," he added, as +he turned to his brother and pulled him up from the water, "how +terrible my doubts have been that after all we might not find it." + +The delight of these two young fellows, the one a boy and the other +just verging upon manhood, at finding their dream of gold likely to be +fulfilled would have been a horrible and unnatural thing to have +witnessed had it been merely a greed for wealth that possessed them, +but as it was nothing but the expression of their desire to be honestly +independent again it lost all its ugliness. As Alec said, with a happy +little tremble in his voice-- + +"We shall be _free_ men again! As long as that loathsome debt was +unpaid I could never have an easy hour; and now I hope, I believe, we +shall be able to pay it all off and owe no man a shilling." + +"Hurrah, hurrah!" sang out Geordie, a wild exultation giving his voice +a noble ring; "we shall be able to call Wandaroo our own again." + +They both felt from that moment that they could go on working all +night; all their fatigue had vanished, and a desire to finish their +work possessed them. But the sun would be setting soon, and they knew +they could do but little more that night; so they only rolled and +carried the great piece of gold-laden rock to their dam and +strengthened the one weak place with it. + +When they had scrambled down the cliff and had got back to the front of +the humpie they found that Murri had returned from the _quandang_ +trees, whither the boys had sent him, with a plump, richly plumaged +pigeon and a parrot. These Murri was already cooking. + +"You chewt um bird up along o' there?" asked that intelligent +gentleman, who thought that all exclamations of joy must be the +expressions of delight of a hungry stomach at the near prospect of +food. "Mine heard Missa Law give one coo-ee. Why yo sittum down in um +water?" + +"Because I very much fear, my dear Murri--and I blush to confess +it--that I was quite unable to keep upon my feet." + +"_Yohi_," (yes) grinned the savage, who did not understand a word. + +The boys were able next morning to proceed with filling in the cracks +and openings in their dam with sods of grass and earth, for they found +that the rocks and stones had stood firm. They left an opening a foot +or so wide at the side of the dam, through which the waters might flow +till they were ready to close the embankment. They found that the +pieces of tussocky grass roots, that Murri had cut the day before, were +too dry to be of much service, and they had to carry up, with great +labour, large lumps of the damp sort of turf that grew in the little +marshy place down the stream. These did admirably, and seemed to fit +themselves firmly in between the stones. + +It took a long time to cut and transport to the top of the cliff all +these heavy pieces of sod, for they had to use their arms so much in +the climbing that it was difficult to carry more than one or two pieces +of it at one time. But the boys were so excited that they toiled on +nearly all the morning without a break, and resumed the work, after +their mid-day rest, at about four o'clock, with unwearied zeal. Murri +looked on in dumb astonishment at such incredible behaviour. + +Some little time before evening set in they were ready to fill up the +last opening. The rest of the dam was finished, every little crack and +cranny that they could find had been filled up with a turf which was +well pressed home, they had strengthened it here and there, and, so +far, the work held good. The moment to try its firmness would be when +the last opening was closed and the dam would have to resist the full +weight of the water. The boys had collected a great pile of rocks and +stones and large and small sods of turf and earth by the side of the +narrow opening, through which the whole force of the stream now rushed. +They stood with a huge lump of stone hanging just over the opening. + +"Are you ready, Geordie?" + +"Yes." + +"Let go." + +With a mighty splash the stone fell just where it was wanted, and +without waiting a second both boys began piling on and round it lumps +of rock and turf and large rounded pebbles. It was an exciting moment, +for the flow of the waterfall had entirely ceased, and the strange +silence was fraught with a significance in their ears that was far +greater and more imposing to them than was the loud roar to which they +were accustomed. Wildly they continued piling on turf, and then lumps +of rock to fix it, till the opening was filled up to the level of the +rest of the dam. + +It was an anxious time for them as they saw the water rising, rising +rapidly, towards the top of their little embankment. In one or two +places it began to creep in a little wriggling streak over the topmost +layer of turf and rock; but it was never allowed to flow, for one or +other of the boys rushed into the water, that now reached half-way up +their thighs, and added more material and jammed it firmly down. Would +the dam hold out? Could it withstand the enormous pressure of the +water? Yes, _yes_. Hurrah! See there, a silver streak is flowing +into the old disused channel which the boys have so carefully cleared +for it. Every moment, every second it grows broader, deeper, and in a +short time a splash is heard where the new waterfall is beginning to +pour itself over the cliff, not into the pool but on to the dry hot +rocks of the gully some little way to one side of the basin. Every +moment this noise grows louder and louder, till in a very few seconds +the roar of this new cascade is as deep and thundering as the silenced +voice of its dead brother, and the water is pouring down the gully +along a fresh course till it joins the stream again just at the bend of +the ravine. + +It is a proud moment for those young engineers, and they feel that glow +of honest satisfaction in successful work which is worth so much more +than other peoples' praises, that are so often given for what one does +not value. + +"Well, I suppose we have done half the work," said Alec, as they sat by +the fire in front of the humpie when they had finished their supper. + +"Yes, but it is the harder half that is left to be done. It will take a +long time to drill a hole into the rock." + +"I don't know how we are going to do it, for we haven't a chisel or a +bit of steel that we can use for one." + +"Oh, yes we have," said George, whose more imaginative mind saw to what +different uses one article might be put. It is this imaginative quality +that makes a man an inventor and a devisor of new methods of working, +when an unimaginative person, though perhaps much more learned, will +continue using old ones just for want of the illumination that would +show him new and better means of obtaining the same result. + +"What is it?" + +"Why the steel extracting rod that is fastened to your revolver. We can +harden and temper it, after we have beaten it roughly into shape with +our tomahawks." + +It was with this primitive tool that they set to work next day to bore +holes into the wall of rock which retained the water in the pool. The +rock was all green and slimy with a sort of soft water moss, which they +had to scrape away before they could reach the stone itself. The old +course of the stream was only to be recognised by a few little pools of +water that lay along its track, and by the darker colour of the wet +stones which the sun had not yet dried. The stream flowed along its new +bed as naturally as though it had never known another. + +Fortunately for the boys the rock they had to work upon was not very +hard. It was a sort of dark blue slate; had it been quartz, the same as +were the upper rocks of the mountain, it would have taken them weeks to +make any impression on it. Impeded as they were by the want of proper +tools, it took them nearly two days to make a hole deep enough for +their first blasting. They knew it was useless to make a great wide +hole to place their powder in, as the explosion would then have no +force, so they had, with the utmost patience, chipped and drilled and +scraped at the rock until they had bored a sort of rough tube eight or +nine inches deep and a couple of inches across. + +Into this they packed a heavy charge of powder, and rammed it tightly +home, and then, as they had no proper fuse, they laid a train of damp +powder to it. Neither of the boys knew anything about mining or +blasting, so that they could only act in the way that their common +sense told them was best. Alec set fire to this train and then ran to +where George and Murri were standing at a safe distance. In a few +moments a tremendous explosion rent the air, and a vast cloud of heavy +smoke filled the end of the ravine. They could hear the falling of +heavy lumps of stone, but as there was no great rush of water down the +old course of the stream they knew that they had not succeeded in +breaking through the wall of rock. + +When the clinging white clouds of smoke had slowly rolled up and away +they went to the pool to examine what damage the explosion had done, +and they found that it had torn and shattered the rock to a great +extent, but that as yet the barrier stood firm. They were hardly +disappointed at this result, for they knew the rock to be of some +considerable thickness, and had not expected to break it all down at +once. With his usual energy Alec immediately began to clear away the +_débris_, and the heavy vapour had hardly floated off before he was at +work again, chipping and pecking away to make another blast hole. + +Murri who had been capering about in childish pleasure, that was tinged +with delightful fear, at the noise of the explosion, came up to Alec, +from the very safe distance to which he had run when the charge +exploded, and said-- + +"Mine _pitnee_" (I believe, or think), "_myalls_, come here along o' +that debil-debil. _Myalls_ hear um plenty much long way; um say +debil-debil along o' Whanga, and come see what him do. _Myalls_ come +daytime plenty much, afraid along o' dark-dark." + +This was an anxiety that was no novelty to the boys; they had thought +that some such result was probable, but, as the work had to be done, +they did it, without letting fears of possible eventualities interfere +with the business in hand. That night passed quietly without signs of +the nearness of any _myall_, and they began to hope that no tribe had +been near enough to the valley to hear the explosion. + +The next morning--the seventh day that they had been in the Whanga--the +two boys returned to their work of blasting the rock. The sun had not +risen when they left the humpie, and a cold mist hung above the water, +like a ghostly stream floating in the air, and following every curve +and bend of its prototype beneath. There was need for haste, for their +provisions, that had been so decreased by Prince Tom's theft, were +running short; the flour was almost gone; and if it had not been for +the fresh meat that Murri obtained for them they would have had to go +back before this. + +"What have you got left?" said Alec, when George told him the state of +affairs. + +"Well, there is really not more than four days' full rations of flour, +but we must put ourselves on short commons, and we can last out eight +or nine days then, if we can manage to get plenty of fresh provisions. +We must keep Murri at it, and see that he doesn't eat up three parts of +what he catches before he brings the spoil home to us. I have started +him off already." + +"Not only that, but we will work a bit harder, and hurry on matters as +much as possible. I think we can have our second explosion to-day, and +that will about do the job. I declare, when I think how much depends +upon what we may or may not find at the bottom of that pool, I can +hardly go on with the work." + +"It is disgusting to have to go on tinkering away at this fiddling +little hole," said George, who was taking a spell at the chisel, "when +all the time one wants to do some good slogging work with one's muscles +that would let the steam off a bit. Don't you feel like that?" + +"Yes; and once or twice, after I have been chipping away for about half +an hour, just as though I were breaking the tops of eggs, and have been +rewarded for all my pains by loosening a bit of rock about the size of +a pea, I have caught the top of the chisel two or three such thundering +whacks that it is a wonder to me it hasn't doubled up." + +About mid-day they had sunk the bore-hole to a sufficient depth for +their purpose and, quite silent from excitement, they proceeded to fill +it with a huge charge of powder. They generally stopped working at this +time, for the heat in the middle of the day was very great; but this +morning both boys were too tremblingly anxious to see the result of +their labours to let heat, or fatigue, or hunger, interfere with what +they were doing. Carefully ramming the powder down, and laying the +train to it, they applied the fire-stick that Geordie had run to fetch +from their smouldering fire. + +They hurried back from the mine to a safe place a little way down the +ravine, and stood there awaiting the explosion. Alec, whose face was +rigid with anxiety, stood leaning upon George, with his arm round his +shoulders. Geordie, for all his excitement, had time to feel how icy +cold was his brother's hand and to think how nervous and troubled the +poor fellow must be for his hands to be like that. They stood thus, +perfectly still and silent, for a moment or two; it seemed an age to +their excited fancy. The spark of creeping fire advanced slowly along +the train, and then, with a dull, low roar, the mine exploded, and for +a second they heard nothing but the rending of rock and the crashing of +great pieces of stone as they fell on the crags. A little later they +heard the patter, like rain, of the smaller fragments, that had been +thrown higher into the air, as they fell, with a sharp little rattle, +on the rocks. + +Then the boys heard a sound of seething, rushing water, and by the time +they had started to run towards the pool they saw a foaming mass of +tumbling water emerge from the grey curtain of the heavy smoke, and +tear wildly and rapidly along the old course of the stream. + +They knew that the waters had escaped from the pool. + +Stirred by one impulse, the two boys started to run to the pool before +the suffocating cloud of vapour had cleared off. By the time they had +reached the wall of rock, in which the last explosion had made a wide +breach, the air was pure enough for them to breathe, and they scrambled +up the rocks, and stood by the side of the opening, through which they +could hear the last of the water flowing. Although they could breathe +they could not yet see, for the dense vapour, which seemed to drift +above the surface of the basin, had not all disappeared. + +They stood there, motionless, waiting for the air to clear itself. +Their hearts were beating tumultuously, and their chests were high with +anxiety and excitement. They stood just as when they were children +together, Geordie with his hand on Alec's arm, both divining what the +other felt, though no word was uttered. + +It was not very long that they had to wait, for a faint wind stirred in +the gully, rustling the leaves of the shrubs and creepers on the cliff, +which wafted away, as though a veil were being withdrawn, the cloud of +blue-grey mist that had hung about the hollow of the basin. The boys +eagerly looked down. + +There below them, in amongst the stones, half buried in the sand, +shining up through the little pools of water that still remained among +the rocks, were lumps and nuggets of the precious metal. They looked, +and looked again. Yes, there, beyond a doubt, gleaming in the hot, +strong sunlight, was the dull, yellow gold they sought. It almost +seemed to their wildly excited minds that the rocky basin was covered +with it, for look where they would they could see the yellow gleam of +gold, pure gold. + +It was Geordie who spoke first. He was still clutching Alec's arm, with +a grasp that must have been painful in its intensity. A little half sob +of emotion and delight caught his breath as he said-- + +"It's gold, Alec, it's gold! A fortune, a great fortune, is lying at +our feet!" + +He held one brown arm eagerly stretched out, and pointed to the empty +pool beneath him, as though to emphasise what he said. + +Whilst the words were on his very lips, and before Alec had had time to +answer, a loud and piercing cry behind them made them turn their heads, +and there, rushing wildly towards them along the rocky ravine, was the +black figure of Murri, leaping great stones and boulders, plunging +through the stream, and running as they had never seen him run before. +His breath was almost gone, but he was just able to cry out in strange, +hoarse tones, that they could hardly recognise as his-- + +"Run, run, _burrima_, get um gun. _Myall_ have come. Um black fellow +along o' this place, one, two minute!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +UNWELCOME VISITORS. + + +Hearing this cry, the boys turned and leaped down from the rocks, and +joined Murri, who, panting for breath, and half frightened to death, +was standing by the stream, down which a little water still was +draining. He told them, in his queer English, that he had been +following a wounded kangaroo rat, just on the other side of the +_quandang_ trees, when he had looked up suddenly, and found that the +ravine was peopled with _myalls_, not a quarter of a mile from him. +They had seen him, he said, for as he turned to run a great many men +had started in pursuit. He could not say how many, for an Australian +cannot count above four, but he told them, "Plenty much black fellow +run kill Murri, bail cotch him." + +Without wasting time on useless speech, the boys turned, and whistling +to Como, who was lying in the shade of a great rock, they ran towards +the humpie. It was bitter, very bitter, thus to have the cup dashed +from their lips just when it was raised to them; it was hard that, just +when success seemed secured, they were not able to reap the fruits of +all their toil. But neither Alec nor George was of the sort to rail at +Fortune, and without a backward glance or an angry word they hurried +away. + +It is to be feared that this extremely sensible behaviour was not +prompted by a feeling of what was right and dignified; the two lads +were far too frank and human to feel anything but angry and provoked at +the evil turn things had taken. They were very natural fellows, and not +at all angelic, and therefore they felt this sudden check very keenly, +but they were possessed with the common sense that, in a time of +danger, springs from self-reliance and courage, and they knew that +their only chance lay in getting to their arms before they were cut off +by the enemy. There was no time to think of the gold, for their very +lives might be at stake, and the boys, very wisely, considered their +lives of far more value to them than tons of any metal, however +precious it might be. + +Racing madly along, over rocks and sandy shingle, quite regardless that +the mid-day sun was pouring down its burning rays upon them, and that +the air of the close gully was quivering in the heat, they reached the +shelter of the humpie at last. It was only just in time, for as they +darted through the opening in the low stone wall that barricaded the +house eight or nine great black fellows came within spear-shot. One of +them threw a slender spear at them just as Alec sprang into shelter; it +struck the fire-log, just beyond the humpie, raising a little shower of +sparks. The instant that they were inside the humpie the boys seized +their guns, which were always loaded, and put a heap of cartridges on +to the floor near to them both. They had their guns at full cock, and +had covered the _myalls_ in much less time than it takes to tell of it, +but they did not fire. Alec spoke, without lifting his head or raising +his eye from the sight of his gun. + +"Don't fire, Geordie. I can't bear killing these poor beggars. I can't +forget those we shot before, and that time it was in self-defence." + +"So is this." + +"No, not yet. They may be friendly, and mean us no harm whatever." + +Whilst the boys were thus hurriedly speaking the _myalls_ had stopped +in their advance, and stood talking together. It was just as Alec had +hoped--they were perfectly friendly, and wished them no harm; in fact, +they had not known that there were any white men present till they saw +Alec and George rush past them, and they were overwhelmed with +curiosity to examine them and their wondrous clothes and property. It +is the coast aboriginals, and those that are near the English runs, +that so hate the white man. He it is who has settled on their land +without their permission; driven away the kangaroo and emu by +introducing cattle, which not only deprive the black men of their food, +but trample and pollute their springs and water-holes into morasses of +mud and filth; and in return has brought the poor savage what he calls +civilisation, but which is really extermination. + +No wonder that the poor childish native retaliates, and endeavours +vainly to stem or drive back the irresistible wave which advances upon +him, and which must inevitably sweep him and his whole race away. It is +different with the quite wild _myall_, who has not yet learned what is +the fate that follows so closely on the white man's heels. He, poor +creature, after the first shock of terror has subsided, often receives +the pale stranger well, or, at least, without animosity, and shows him +where water is to be found, and which is the best road for him to +follow. + +Just so it was with this tribe of Wyobree warriors; they had seen Murri +run away from the mere sight of them, and had instinctively started in +pursuit. We are all alike in that--a remnant of our former savagery, +perhaps. Let anything start away and run from us, and instantly we feel +the desire to follow and catch, a natural instinct that all these +generations of our so-called civilisation have failed to stamp out. + +It seemed to the boys an age whilst the Wyobree men (as they afterwards +learned they were called) stood thus talking. They still kept them +covered with their guns, and the fact that the blacks stood so calmly +there--out of spear range, the _myalls_ knew--told the boys that they +were ignorant of the deadly power of fire-arms. Murri, with all the +hatred of the partly civilised savage for the totally wild, kept urging +Alec and George to fire upon the blacks. + +"Chewt um, Alec, chewt um, Missa Law. What for you bail kill um? +_Myall_ kill white fellow plenty much time. What for yo bail chewt um +black fellow dead bong?" + +But notwithstanding these pressing invitations to slaughter a few of +his countrymen, the boys reserved their fire. They knew it would be +useless to try to make Murri understand their reasons for so doing, so +they did not attempt to enlighten him, thus giving the poor fellow +another incomprehensible mystery to puzzle over. After some moments +longer of keen suspense the boys saw the foremost man of the party lay +down his spears, _nullah-nullah_, and throwing stick, and, advancing a +pace or two, he addressed them at a very rapid rate, apparently saying +the same thing over and over again. + +The boys, who knew but very little even of the language of the tribe +near their own run, were quite unable to follow what he said; but Murri +seemed to understand him. + +"_Myall_ say um bail go kill um white fellow. _Myall_ say um plenty big +_corroborree_" (night dance and singing), "along o' Parwango gully. Um +say yo go." + +"What's that? A big _corroborree_ at Parwango, and will we go with them +to it? Shall we, Alec?" + +"No, no, let us stay here, collect the gold, and get home as quickly as +possible. We have run enough risks already. Lie down, Como!" + +Alec told Murri to go to the entrance of the humpie and tell the men +that they could not go with them; and he did so, calmly enough now that +he saw the _myalls_ were friendly. But the black men did not seem +inclined to take a refusal; they spoke angrily when they understood +Murri's message, and their speaker returned to the rest of the party +and snatched up his weapons from the ground. Just then more savages +came upon the scene, and matters presenting rather a dangerous +appearance, the boys began to think whether it would not be safer for +them to agree to their demand and go with them than to enrage them +further with a refusal. + +Alec asked Murri if he knew how far the Parwango gully was from there, +and was told-- + +"Um Parwango bail long way. Plenty much near Whanga. Along o' there," +added he, pointing his lank, black arm to the north-west. "Mine +_pitnee_" (I think) "um black fellow go _bora_." + +"Oh, let's go, Alec, if they are going to hold a _bora_. No Englishman +has ever been present at one." + +"That is to say, has ever come away from one." + +"Well, we may just as well chance it as stay here and be prodded to +death with those nasty spears, and battered to a jelly afterwards. They +are getting angry, but they mean well as yet, so here goes." Without +another word, and disregarding Alec's call, Geordie laid down his gun +and stepped out into the sunshine, followed closely by his great dog. +He quietly walked up to the _myalls_, who received him in the +friendliest way; indeed in too friendly a style, for they wished to +examine him and all that he had on in the most curious manner. Murri, +who had followed close upon George's heels, was plied with a +multiplicity of questions which he answered as well as he could. + +It seemed that George had been right in his opinion of the friendliness +of the _myalls_, for from the moment he joined them they showed no +sign of ill-feeling or treachery. They were inquisitive and curious, +but were otherwise entirely amicable. Without further argument the two +boys and Murri accompanied them to the Parwango valley, which was at +the distance of about two hours' journey, and there they stayed, in the +little camp the Wyobrees had made for themselves, till after dark. They +witnessed one or two little _corroborrees_ (dances) amongst the men, +and then without let or hindrance they returned to the Whanga. The +_bora_ (a mysterious native ceremony) and the big _corroborree_ were +not to take place till the following night. + +When they left the Parwango valley the night was rather dark, for the +moon was in its first quarter, but Murri could find the way easily +enough, and they were back in their own valley after a walk of less +than two hours. Everything was as they had left it, and, as by this +time they were all thoroughly tired, they turned into the humpie, and, +flinging themselves down on the heaps of fern and leaves that they had +collected for their beds, they slept soundly till nearly sunrise. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GOLD! + + +A movement of Como, who always slept at his master's feet, awoke +Geordie next morning, and looking up he saw by the lightness of the sky +(for the leaves of the branches that formed the roof had shrivelled in +the heat of the sun, and he could see between the boughs) that day was +at hand. He gave a great yawn and half rolled over to go to sleep +again, when he remembered how much they had to do that day, and +determined to get up. He stretched himself, and gave himself a vigorous +shake and sat up. Alec still slept. + +"Now then, wake up, you lazy beggar!" called out George from where he +sat stretching his arms and rumpling his hair. + +Alec bounded up as though he were shot. "What's the matter, what's the +matter?" asked he in a startled voice. + +"All sorts of things are the matter, but getting up is the one on hand +just now, so turn out and come and have a dip in the stream--that'll +wake you up." + +The morning was cool before the sun was up, and the mists lay all about +the valley. Leaving Murri in the humpie still asleep, or pretending to +be so, the boys came out as they were, and, with Como barking a glad +morning bark and leaping by the side of them, they ran to the stream. +The water was cold, and the boys came out of it rosy and steaming, and +feeling fresh and strong. It did not take them long to get into their +clothes, and soon they were walking back to the humpie, where they +combed their crisp wet hair and made Murri get up and make a fire. + +They were in capital spirits, and whilst the "billies" were boiling for +their tea they walked together to have a look at their gold. There it +all lay, just as they had left it. Nuggets and lumps of pure gold, +yellow and heavy and chill; great pieces of rich quartz, with bits of +gold stuck all over it, and gold mixed with the sand that covered the +bottom of the rocky basin. The boys leaped down from the rocks into the +dried-up pool, and began picking up the heavy pieces of the precious +metal, for the mere pleasure of handling it. Geordie laughed aloud. + +"Isn't it wonderful? Look at this piece and that one, why it is pure +solid gold! Alec, how much do we owe that old beast of a Crosby?" + +"He lent us £4,000, and there's another £600 or £700 interest, I +suppose, by this time. Just think of the old usurer extorting 15 per +cent., and from a friend, too." + +"Well, do you think there is £5,000 worth of gold here?" + +"Yes, and more--much more; twice or three times that much, but we can't +take it all." + +"Nor want it. To get five or six thousand pounds worth is all that I +pray for. Funny to think, isn't it, that those yellow stones there mean +so much to us? Wandaroo, and freedom from debt; and a mile or so of +fencing; and a new strain of sheep perhaps! It makes me laugh to think +of it." + +And laugh he did, a jolly, happy peal, that rang through the clear +morning air and echoed from the rocks. + +"When you have finished that morning exercise of yours, my young hyena, +we'll go and get some breakfast," said Alec, whose own face was radiant +with pleasure, taking his brother's arm. "We will get as much gold as +we can carry, catch the horses, pack up, and be off for home this +morning, before any of those worthy, but probably changeable, Wyobrees +take it into their heads to visit us." + +It did not take the boys very long to eat their breakfast, they were +too excited to linger over it, and leaving Murri still solemnly +munching away--he had not nearly done--they went back to the pool. They +at once began to collect the pieces of gold, and to pile them into +little heaps. Some of these lumps still had bits of quartz attached to +them, and these the boys rejected, only taking those nuggets which were +free from them. It was evident from the rounded and worn condition of +the nuggets that they had been subjected to years, perhaps centuries, +of grinding and rubbing amongst the stones at the bottom of the pool, +into which they had been brought by the torrents, in flood time, from +the gold-bearing rocks of the mountain. The strange shape of the rock +basin, which the cascade had slowly formed, had prevented the stream +from carrying them still farther down the valley. + +"Why, Geordie!" suddenly exclaimed Alec, as he added a nugget weighing +five or six ounces to his rapidly increasing pile. "What a fool I am. I +clean forgot all about carrying the gold back with us. What have we got +to pack it in?" + +"Canvas bags, which your thoughtful little brother George brought on +purpose!" said Geordie, with a grin. + +"Well, you _are_ a young Solomon! You think of everything," said Alec, +a moment or so later, when his brother came back from his humpie with +the shot bags. + +"They'll each hold fourteen pounds weight of gold, not troy weight +pounds, but honest sixteen ounce pounds, the sort that I like, so that +we can tell somewhere about the value of our booty. What is gold worth +an ounce?" + +"Don't know exactly; something about four pounds." + +"Then each of these bags," said Geordie, after two or three minutes of +calculation--he was not very quick at figures--"will be worth between +seven and eight hundred pounds when it is full!" And he slapped his +thigh and capered about on the top of the flat stone on which he was +perched. + +Putting the value of the gold into figures in this manner seemed to +make its worth much more definite to the boys; it was hard to realise, +without the aid of numbers, of how great value were those rather +ugly-looking, heavy lumps of metal. + +"It makes one feel rich merely to handle it, doesn't it?" said Alec, as +he threw a smooth little nugget of gold into the open mouth of the bag +he was filling. + +"I should think it did just," answered Geordie, with an excited laugh; +"and listen to this," he added, as he took up his bag and bumped it on +the rock to make the pieces lie close together. "Doesn't that noise +suggest wealth? No paltry clinking, but a good rich solid _thud_, like +a piece of cold plum pudding." + +"Yes, delicious! And only think that all of this is going to swell old +Crosby's coffers." Alec spoke regretfully, and with a sound of avarice +in his voice that was not at all natural to it. There is something +terrible about great quantities of gold that seems to instil a spirit +of miserliness into most men, however generous, or even prodigal, they +may be. Geordie noticed this novel tone in Alec's voice, and said-- + +"But I don't think anything of the sort; I don't consider old Crosby's +or anybody else's coffers; all I think of, and so do you, is that we +shall be out of debt, and able to call Wandaroo our own again. If I +thought the gold was going to change you, and turn you into a +money-grub and a screw, I'd slit every bag open, and let the beastly +stuff roll out in the scrub as we rode along. So pull yourself together +and don't talk like that." Geordie got rather red in the face over this +long speech, which he delivered with great energy, for although these +two fellows always spoke out to each other, without fear of +misunderstanding, what they thought, neither of them liked to +sermonize. + +Alec only said, "Right you are, younker; it is beastly stuff in some +ways, and I won't think of it in that manner any more. What a beggar +you are to spot what I am thinking of. How many bags does that make?" + +"I am just filling number nine. I should almost think that----" + +But what it was that George Law almost thought at that interesting +moment was never known, for as he was speaking they heard a loud shout +at the camp, just round the bend of the gully. Como, who was lying +basking in the early sunshine, raced off to see what it was, and the +boys, leaving their filled bags on the rocky wall of the pool, +scrambled up the stones and leaped down to the bed of the stream. Just +as they started to run to the humpie, Murri, with a face of a dirty +slate colour from fright, came tearing round the cliff. + +"Run, run!" he shouted; "um Wyobree fellows here one more time; plenty +much _myall_, um kill us all. Climb up along o' that place," he said, +pointing to the cliff over which the waterfall poured; and only waiting +for him to come up to them the boys scrambled like cats up the crag, +and hid themselves in the thick brushwood at the top. Como had not come +back, but they could trust to his good sense to keep out of harm's way. + +No sooner had they reached this place of vantage than six Wyobree men, +in full paint and finery, and fully armed, came rushing round the bend +of the ravine. They had seen Murri run thither, and without waiting to +search the humpie, had followed in hot pursuit. + +It was evident that their friendly feelings of the night before were +completely changed. The desire to possess the white men's goods had +been too strong for them to resist. + +From where they lay crouching the boys could see the _myalls_ stop, +evidently puzzled at the surprising way their quarry had so entirely +vanished, but it was only for a moment; one of them very soon found +some of their old traces, and followed their tracks along the now dry +bed of the drained stream till they came to the emptied pool. The +astonishment of the Wyobree men at the change that had taken place +there was beyond measure; they looked about them in bewilderment and +talked rapidly together. + +Whilst they were standing consulting with each other, Murri whispered +that he recognised one of the men as the fellow who had acted as +spokesman for the tribe the night before. + +"Then you may be sure that they are here for no good," said George to +his brother. + +"No; so get your revolver ready." + +"But I haven't got it with me; I didn't put it on this morning." + +"And neither have I mine! There it is, see, on the rocks below. I took +it out of my belt when I was filling the bags, and forgot to pick it up +when Murri shouted out." + +"Then we are done for if they see us. We must trust to their not +finding us." + +But that hope was blighted even as he spoke, for in drawing back a +little from the edge of the cliff George loosened a tiny pebble, which +rolled over and fell on to the rocks beneath. + +Alec's agonised "Hush, _hush_!" was all in vain. The tiny sound had +struck the acute ears of the savages, and instantly betrayed the boys' +hiding-place. One of the men had fitted a spear to his throwing stick, +and before a second was passed a quivering dart whirred through the +bushes just above their heads. The Wyobrees lost no time; without +waiting a moment they began to climb up the cliff from the dry basin. +They did not stop to choose the easiest place of ascent, but boldly +began to scale up the very place over which the great waterfall used to +pour. + +The rock is very steep there, but they seem to find no difficulty in +climbing it. In another moment they will have reached the edge of the +cliff. They have left their spears down below, but their _boomerangs_ +are in their belts of kangaroo sinew, and they hold their _waddies_ in +their great strong jaws. + +The boys are absolutely unarmed. Their fate seems sealed. They had +risen to their feet when they saw that their hiding-place was detected, +and now, white to the lips from the very anguish of excitement that +they suffer, but quite calm, they look in each other's eyes steadily +and prepare to meet their death. The _myalls_ have almost reached the +top of the crag; the foremost man will be able to place his hands on +the edge in another moment. Suddenly, with a voice like a trumpet, Alec +yells out-- + +"Follow me! Run for your life; _we'll do the beggars yet_!" + +As he spoke--his face was pale no longer, and his eyes were blazing--he +darted off, closely followed by George, to the old course of the +stream. They wildly tore through the tangled scrub, heedless of the +wounds their arms and faces received, and leaped madly across the new +channel of the rapid stream. + +"Make haste!" shrieked Alec, his voice shrill with excitement. + +"What to do?" gasped George. + +Without pausing Alec plunged waist deep into the water that their +embankment retained, and shouted-- + +"_Burst the dam!_" + +Alec followed, and the two together began to push and beat and tear at +the stones they had so carefully built up a day or two before. + +But had they built too firmly? would the heavy rocks never give way? +Already the first man is breast high above the edge of the cliff; +others are close behind him. If once they get on to their feet the boys +know they are dead men. The two lads work like maniacs; they know that +death is but a yard or two away. Their hands are bleeding on the jagged +edges of the stones; they do not feel it; their muscles are strained +till their limbs are like iron, and the veins stand out like cords in +their necks and on their temples, and they know nothing of it. + +Push harder, lads; tear down the stones; do not die at the hands of +these butcher blacks! + +It is useless; the dam stands firm. + +"Once more, Geordie. Together now. Shove with your whole soul." Alec's +voice was hoarse, and he spoke through his wildly clenched teeth. + +One more fierce struggle they made, as though their very hearts would +burst. The great stones tremble; the whole dam sways. It gives, it +gives! They feel the stones totter, and clasping each other grimly +round the waist, as the mighty swirl of the escaping water almost tears +them from their feet, the boys stagger to the edge of the channel. + +The dam has given way; the pent-up waters pour along all white and +foaming, and the stream, rediverted into its old channel, adds all the +force of its great current to the escaping flood. With a loud roar the +waters rush forward, sweeping the rocks and stones of the dam along in +their resistless strength, and with a noise as of thunder, above which +the despairing shrieks of the _myalls_ rise for one brief second, the +hapless wretches are torn from their feeble hold of the rock and, swept +into the awful rush and crash of the cascade, are flung with the +rolling stones of the broken dam, and battered into silence and death +upon the frightful rocks below. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LEAVING THE VALLEY. + + +For an instant the two lads lay where they had stumbled together on the +bank, but the next they sprang to their feet and rushed to the edge of +the cliff, and kneeling down looked over. For a few seconds the roar of +the great volume of escaping water and the heavy rolling of the rocks +and stones borne along in its current boomed in their ears, but this +soon ceased, and only the usual noise of the falling cascade could be +heard. The pool could not be refilled, as the opening on the far side +of it had not been closed up again, and through this gap the stream +flowed out into its old, worn channel. + +Four of the _myalls_ lay dead and mangled among the stones beneath the +fall, and the body of one lay jammed across the opening in the rocks, +through which the water flowed, with his long black hair streaming in +the current like a dusky weed. One man only remained alive, and he was +bruised and cut and bleeding. He was dragging himself slowly and with +difficulty out of the rushing stream, and was evidently so badly hurt +that he could hardly stand. + +"Oh, Alec, isn't it awful?" said Geordie, with a shudder, as he looked +down. "And to think that we have killed those five men." + +"It was in self-defence; they would have murdered us without +hesitation." + +"Yes, I know. But I wish I were at home; I have had enough of death." + +"Let us go down and see what we can do for the one fellow that is +left." + +So saying, the boys descended from the cliff. Both of them were greatly +affected at the work they had had to do in self-defence; they were not +hardened to the sight of death, and to have thus swept five strong men +from life into the black and unknown sea of death was very terrible to +them. George, who was more emotional than his brother, was very pale; +the intense excitement and enormous physical strain that he had +undergone in the last few moments had quite unnerved him. He could +hardly walk, but he made a determined effort and pulled himself +together. Perhaps what did more to restore him to his usual state, than +his own determination to be himself, was the sight that he and Alec saw +as soon as they reached the foot of the cliff. + +The one half-stunned _myall_ that was still alive had managed to get +out of the stream, and was hurrying, as fast as his wounded condition +would let him, towards the valley, and close behind him was Murri in +full pursuit with _waddy_ in hand. They could see at a glance that +Murri meant killing this man. They both of them shouted at the top of +their voices to stop him, and, rather to their surprise, he stood +still. He probably thought that Alec and George wished to kill the man +themselves, for as Alec came up to him he handed him his _waddy_, and +said-- + +"Along um side o' head, bail um top, yo hit him." + +All that Alec vouchsafed in reply was-- + +"Get out of the way, you brute; I am not going to kill the man." + +It was very evident that the _myall_ thought very much the same way as +Murri, for as Alec and George caught him up, just round the bend of the +gully, he turned on them savagely like a wounded animal at bay, meaning +to sell his life as dearly as possible. The ground was covered with +sand and loose shingle just there, for after storms the swollen stream +swept over it. The Wyobree was a plucky fellow, for although badly hurt +and weakened by loss of blood, by great drops of which, indeed, he +could be traced all the way from the waterfall, he showed a bold front, +and manfully offered fight. The boys could not help admiring his savage +valour as, thus weakened, he stood up to his two foes. + +The lads could see that they would be unable to make him believe they +meant him no harm, so, not giving him time to strike a blow, they +sprang on to him from both sides at once and easily overpowered him. He +struggled and kicked and fought as long as he could, but the boys held +him down without difficulty until Murri came up, whom they made tell +the _myall_ that they would not hurt him. + +"What must we do with the creature now that we've got him? I can't see +why you didn't let him quietly sneak off," said George. + +"If we had not caught him he would have been home in no time, and we +should have had the whole tribe on to us before we knew where we were." + +"But we don't want to take home prisoners of war as well as plunder," +said Geordie, with a nod of his head towards the end of the gully where +the gold was. + +"I know we don't, but we will keep this gentleman--pretty fellow, isn't +he?--till we have caught the horses and are quite ready to start, and +then we can let him go." + +"In the meantime we'll take him to the humpie and bandage the poor +beggar's head up. That cut would have knocked most men over, but these +black fellows do stand pain wonderfully. Come along, old ugly," said +Geordie, putting his hand under the man's arm and helping him to rise. + +Between them, and followed by the wondering Murri, they led the _myall_ +to the humpie, and George, who felt all right again directly that there +was anything for him to do, managed to tie up the gash on the side of +the man's head, from which a great stream of blood was pouring. He was +not particularly clever at that sort of work, and the bandage was +doubtless a clumsy one, but it stopped the bleeding, and that was the +main point. + +The utter ingratitude and treachery of these Australian _myalls_ were +shown very brutally by this fellow whilst George was doing what he +could for him. Having dropped one of the strips of the flannel shirt he +had torn up for bandaging, Geordie stooped to the ground to pick it up, +and the _myall_ instantly aimed a deadly blow at the back of his head +with a short, heavy _nullah_, which the boys had not removed from his +girdle, and which he snatched from his thigh. But Alec, who was +standing by his left hand side, saw the movement of his hand, and +before the blow could descend he had struck the man to the earth with +one blow of his fist. + +"You infernally ungrateful brute!" he shouted, livid with passion at +the dastardly fellow. + +"Good gracious, Alec, whatever's the matter?" + +"Why, this black demon tried to beat your brains out the instant you +stooped down. I believe Murri is right after all. I've a good mind to +put a bullet through his wicked head." + +"Oh, no, you haven't. Loose him, Murri," for that worthy fellow had +pounced on him and was nearly throttling him with his hands. "You know +what they are well enough; they are born and bred and live in treachery +and cunning. They are like dingoes or snakes in that respect." + +"Yes, and deserve equally to be shot with those beasts." + +"But they are men, remember." + +"Well, I wouldn't lay another finger on him if I were you. Let the +brute bleed." + +"Very well," said George, composedly, sitting down, for he knew +perfectly well that he only had to wait a minute for Alec to cool for +him to think very differently. + +After a moment or two had passed without a word from either, during +which the _myall_ sat sullenly and silently with the blood flowing +from his wound, Alec said, in rather an ashamed voice-- + +"I say, Geordie, we can't let that beggar bleed to death." + +George sprang up with a glad face. + +"I knew you thought so. I only said 'very well' because I was sure of +it, and because I can't bear to act as though I thought I were a better +fellow than you, old man. Come on, give us the bandage." + +George very soon had completed his surgical work, and the wounded man +sat without offering to move hand or foot, having failed in his one +attempt at vengeance. + +"Give him a billy of water to drink, and then tie his feet together +with this strap and his hands behind his back, so that he can't get +away whilst we are catching the horses." + +Murri carried out Alec's instructions, tying the knots with much +vindictiveness, grumbling to himself all the time that it would be +better to kill the fellow at once and save all this bother. The +antipathy that all partly civilised Australian natives feel for those +that are still quite wild and savage is one of the strangest results of +their progress, and it was this feeling on Murri's part that prompted +him to urge the killing of the _myall_ upon the boys. + +Leaving the wounded man safely bound in the humpie and in the care of +Como, who had returned from the hiding-place to which he had flown at +the approach of the _myalls_, the boys and Murri went down the valley +in search of the horses. It took them some little time to find them, +for, although they all were hobbled, they had managed to ramble to a +good distance, and having been without work for the last week or ten +days, and having had plenty of good feed all the time, they were all +rather wild and difficult to overtake. It would have taken them a much +longer time had not Alec caught a glimpse of Amber, and calling to him +by name the docile animal recognised his voice, and came shambling up +to him as quickly as his shackled feet would let him move. + +Alec took the hobble from the horse's feet, having first put on his +bridle, which he had brought with him for the purpose, and lightly +sprang on to Amber's back. + +"Hurrah! I feel I am myself again now that I have a horse between my +legs. I've never been so long without mounting a horse since I first +learned to ride." + +"Don't sit grinning there, then, but just head the other horses round +towards the end of the gully and let me have one too." + +Alec Law could ride a horse bare-backed almost as comfortably as he +could a saddled one, and he cantered off after the other horses, +sitting erect and graceful as easily and naturally as though his feet +were in stirrups. Geordie looked after him admiringly as he rode along +in the sunshine; he might fairly have compared him with those Greek +horsemen who live for ever in the marble of the Parthenon frieze had he +ever seen or known anything of those most beautiful and gracious of +riders, but, unfortunately, he was quite ignorant of them and of Greek +art, too, so the opportunity for a beautiful simile was lost. + +As the three other horses were all hobbled, Alec easily overtook and +turned them, and a short time after Amber had given himself up to his +proud servitude they were all bridled and led to the humpie. There the +boys tied them up whilst they completed their preparations. + +There was little to be done in the way of packing, for their luggage +was of the scantiest description, and nearly all the carefully hoarded +provisions were exhausted. Still, there were the nine shot bags of gold +to be tied up somehow and secured to the saddles of the horses, for +although the pack saddle was almost empty they could not load the one +horse with all the great weight of gold. + +"I'm blessed if I know what to tie up the mouths of these bags with. +Here is every one of them gaping and showing his golden teeth, and we +can't carry them like that," said Geordie. + +"Oh, here's the infant Solomon at fault at last!" said Alec, addressing +an imagined audience. "I am glad that there is some one thing you have +forgotten, most sapient brother; I don't feel quite so small as I +should have done had you remembered everything we wanted, down to bits +of string. Nay, be not thus cast down," he went on, theatrically, for +his spirits had risen to a high pitch again now that things were +successful once more. "What a pity that the lovely Murri doesn't wear +stays, we might have used the laces." + +"The infant Solomon, as you cheekily call him, is himself again," said +Geordie, with a sudden laugh, as Alec's words suggested an idea to his +quick wit, "and thus he reasserts his supremacy over Alexander, the +dullest of his subjects." And then, as Alec did not understand him, he +explained, "The _myall's_ kangaroo sinew girdle, you old muff." + +Returning to the humpie for the purpose, they took the unfortunate +captive's girdle from him without the least hesitation and returned to +the fall. They had taken the dead bodies of the men from the water and +laid them in the shadow of the cliff, and all of them still had their +belts on, but a strange feeling, they did not quite know of what, +prevented the lads from robbing the dead. + +The tough sinew which they obtained by untwisting the _myall's_ belt +answered their purpose admirably, and with it they succeeded in +securely tying and sewing up the mouths of the bags. They loaded the +pack-horse with six of these precious little sacks, and secured one on +to each of the other horses. The rest of their packing, when this most +important part was finished, only took them a few minutes, and, taking +a last look round to see that they had left nothing behind them, and as +a sort of farewell to the place where so much had happened to them, +they mounted their horses. Before they left the humpie for the last +time, they untied the _myall_, who had never once moved from the +position in which they had placed him, and told him he might go. +Looking half ashamed of himself, as young folk do if detected in a +kindness, Alec gave the black fellow a strong knife that he always +carried with him, and said apologetically to Geordie as he did so-- + +"I know it is silly of me, but you know I was such a brute to the +fellow just now." + +George had pretended not to see what his brother was doing, but when he +spoke to him he said, + +"Don't make excuses, old fellow. Give him what you like. We're taking +thousands of pounds worth of gold away with us, and I can't help +feeling a bit that it is their property somehow." + +The _myall_ said nothing as he took the knife, and hardly deigned to +look at it; but the last thing the boys saw of him, as they rounded a +bend in the valley, was that he was carefully examining his new +possession. + +The sun was high in the heavens, for it was some time past noon, as, +laden with the gold they had come to seek, and in the gaining of which +they had endured so much, they left the Whanga valley. Ten days before +this they had ridden into the valley worse than penniless, because so +much in debt; and now they were leaving it with gold enough to pay off +all they owed and to put the run in thoroughly good order. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +"THERE'S MANY A SLIP." + + +The journey, which, owing to the many accidents and dangers that had +happened to them, had occupied the boys ten days in the going, was +accomplished in little more than half that time on the return. They met +with none of the difficulties that they had had to encounter on their +way to the Whanga, the fates at last seeming propitious. The large +tract of country that had been burnt by the great fire in which they +had so nearly perished was green again with the young grass that had +sprouted everywhere after the rain; and travelling across it was +rendered much easier in many places from the fact that the stretches of +dense scrub, which had so hindered them when they had crossed the +country before, were all totally consumed, leaving the country open. + +The heavy rains that had fallen since the fire had filled the creeks +again, so that they lost no time in the search for water, in which they +had wasted so many hours on the outward journey. + +The only causes of delay were the stoppages necessary for the providing +of provisions (for all the stores they had brought with them were now +completely at an end), and these were not of frequent occurrence, as +Murri generally succeeded in accomplishing his hunt either before +starting in the morning or during the mid-day halt. There was no +scarcity of birds, and the boys several times provided a meal by their +guns, although they were chary of firing more than was necessary for +fear of attracting the notice of any wandering _myalls_. + +The party had seen nothing of their old antagonists when they passed +through the gully where they had been attacked by Prince Tom and his +friends, and Murri said that in all likelihood the whole tribe had +wandered by that time to a very great distance from there. In all the +time since they had left the Whanga they had hardly seen a native. Once +they had come upon a woman and a child, who showed them where there was +a native well close by, and another time they had seen the smoke of +native fires at some little distance, but with these exceptions they +had seen nothing of the _myalls_. + +For the last few days the boys had talked incessantly of Wandaroo; what +would happen when they were back again; who would be the person to see +them first; and of all the little things that make a home-coming so +delightful to look forward to, and so happy in the fulfilment. Both +Alec and George were in wild spirits; the thought of their success and +what it meant to all of them; the delight and relief of their mother; +and the astonishment of the incredulous old Scotsman, Macleod, which +they foresaw and spoke of, were sufficient cause for their happiness, +and accounted for their excitement. Murri did not seem to enter into +their feelings; he was in no hurry to return, he was well enough off +and happy where he was; and he did not feel the calls of family +affection so strongly as the white man, though it must not be thought +that he was entirely without them. + +The evening of the sixth day since they had left the Whanga with their +precious burdens had arrived, and the little party had reached the long +creek which they believed formed the north-eastern boundary of their +great run. There was still an hour or so of daylight before them, but +they knew they could not reach the head station before dark, as their +horses, although in fairly good condition considering the heavy work +they had done in the last week, were not very fresh. But the fact that +night would have fallen before they could get in did not trouble them +in any way; they knew their road about the run as well by night as by +day, and if they did not know it the horses did, which was much the +same thing. Besides, there was a moon only a few days from full, which, +an hour after sunset, would make the night almost as bright as day. + +Alec and George were riding a little way ahead, and Murri, whose turn +it was to lead the pack-horses, was a few yards in the rear. They were +scrambling down the rather rotten side of the creek talking and +laughing gaily, for in their present state of excitement and high +spirits a very little in the way of a joke was enough to make them +laugh. At that moment they were both perfectly happy; success had +crowned their endeavours, and after many toils and trials and dangers +they were safely close at home once more. + +"Here we are on our own land again at last; and we can call it our own +now with truth. I say, Alec, doesn't the run look beautiful? I didn't +half appreciate it before. What an age it seems since we went away." + +"We shall be home in a couple of hours, I should think. I feel as +though we ought to have a band to meet us playing, 'See the Conquering +Hero comes,' for we have done even more than we hoped to do when we set +out. I wonder what they'll say when we tell them." + +"Oh, mother won't say anything; she'll just sit down; and be quite +overcome for a minute, and then will get up, looking very happy, +saying, 'Boys, you must be hungry.' Margaret will go rather red from +excitement, and will run round and hug us both, forgetting that she +ought to be sedate." + +"What will Yesslett do?" + +"That is more than mortal man can tell, for he will be leaping and +yelling about the place like a madman when we tell him, and there is no +knowing what he'll do in that condition. Macleod won't believe us a bit +when we say we have six or seven thousand pounds worth of pure gold. +Cautious, unbelieving old Scottie." + +"No, but he will when we bang the gold plump down on the table before +him." + +They had all crossed the creek by this time, and had climbed the steep +bank on the other side of it. There was rather a thick clump of trees +through which they would have to pass, and they entered it still +talking and laughing. The setting sun threw long shadows of the trees +towards them. + +"Yes," continued George, "the sound and sight of that will astonish him +above a bit. What a load it is off one's mind to have got all that +money safely home at last." + +"There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip," sang Alec, throwing his head +back slightly in that little way of his. + +"Don't be so ridiculous. Our work is at an end, we have got the gold +home. There can't be a slip this time, because the cup is already +_at_ the lip." + +Poor lad, his words were doomed to be proved false, for, as he uttered +the very words, an armed horseman leaped out from the shelter of the +trees by the side of them and shouted-- + +"Bail up!" + +This is the Australian equivalent to the English highwayman's "stand +and deliver." It has been adopted by bushrangers all over the colonies, +and by it they mean to say that unless the threatened person stops and +instantly throws up his arms above his head, to prevent his getting at +his pistol, they will fire upon him. But this time the man had waited a +little too long before shouting; the boys were close upon him, and +Alec, who seemed to grasp the situation the moment the man sprang out +from the trees, had clapped spurs to his horse and rushed at him. Amber +was not accustomed to the use of the spur, and leaped like a stag when +he felt it. + +Before the ruffian had time to take a steady aim, Alec was down on him +like a whirlwind, and charging full at him. The shock of the contact +with Amber's weight and great strength fairly knocked the bushranger +out of the saddle. The man, a heavy-browed, black-bearded fellow, gave +a great shout as he fell, evidently to call his comrades, for an +answering call was heard from the bank of the gully, in the direction +of the Yarrun station. Alec knew that their only chance of escape lay +in instant flight, so that he did not stop to touch the man, who lay +like a sack on the ground, but turning in his saddle as he passed on, +he fired a shot at the horse which quite disabled it. As George caught +him up, Alec said-- + +[Illustration: "AN ARMED HORSEMAN ... SHOUTED 'BAIL UP!'" (_p. 170._)] + +"We are in for it now. That fellow is Jim Kearney, I feel sure, the +forger and murderer. I've seen his portrait at the police station at +Bateman. We must ride like mad to escape them." + +"Why, Kearney is Starlight's right-hand man." + +"Yes, and it is Starlight and his band who are looking out for us." + +"We ought to have Margaret here." + +"How can you joke, Geordie, when in a minute we may have eight or ten +of the most bloodthirsty villains in Australia after us." + +"Can't help it, I am really as serious as you are, Heaven knows." + +They were all close together now, for Murri had overtaken them, and +were galloping along at a break-neck rate. As George spoke they could +hear behind them shouts, and the sound of many horses galloping at full +speed. The bushrangers had heard the cry Kearney had given as he fell, +and the sound of the shot Alec had fired at his horse. The pursuit had +begun. Above the noise their horses made as they tore over the ground +the boys could hear the faint shouts of the men in pursuit. + +"Now then, bail up." "If you don't stop we'll shoot every one of you." +"You can't get away." And such like cheering sentences, all uttered in +the angriest and savagest of tones, and interlarded with oaths and +curses. The men were still some way behind them, but the evening was so +calm that they could overhear nearly all that was shouted at them. + +"Look here, Geordie," said Alec, anxiously, after they had been riding +in this way for some time, "do you think that we had better bail up? I +don't believe our horses can hold out at this pace, and theirs are +probably fresher." + +"Bail up? Not we. Let them catch us if they can; we'll lead 'em a +pretty dance first. Ride as lightly as you can. We know the country and +they don't, and that is in our favour." + +"All right, I'm game if you are. I don't think we need ask Murri; he'd +ride anywhere if you led him, Geordie." + +"I wish there were a few more of us, we'd stand and meet them, but as +it is we shouldn't have a show." + +The chase was a long and stern one; neither party would give in, and a +rigorous silence had fallen on the boys, who, with determined faces, +rode steadily on. Occasionally, without slackening speed, they would +look over their shoulders to see if their pursuers were nearing them, +and each time that they did so they thought that they were a little +closer. The sun had set and the short twilight was fading into night, +and still the lads rode resolutely on. The mad gallop at which they had +all started had slackened, as the breath of the labouring horses became +short, yet, without sign of giving in, they raced along, the gradually +increasing sound of the horses behind them, which slowly but surely +crept upon them, goading them to their utmost exertions. Wandaroo was +still some miles away when, not more than a couple of pistol shots +behind them, they heard a pleasant voice cry out-- + +"It is no use, you know. You may just as well give in now as ten +minutes later. I'm Starlight, and I'll be hanged if I let you escape +me. _I'm going to have that gold._ You may have heard that when I say a +thing I mean it." + +The pleasantness of the voice did not induce the boys to draw rein, it +rather urged them all the more to evade him, if still there might be a +chance; for it confirmed what the man said, and what they had believed +before--that it was Starlight who was in pursuit. They had often heard +of the silver voice of this villain, who could sing like an angel +whilst he was perpetrating the most fiendish of acts. It was said that +he always spoke pleasantest when angriest, and that once when he had +ordered the wooden buildings of a station to be set fire to, which the +owners had barricaded and defended against him, one man who escaped +alive from the fire had said that his voice, as he gave the diabolical +command, was that of a seraph. This man, this Starlight, as he called +himself, on whose head a price was set by the Government, and who was +guilty of every crime and cruelty that a man absolutely without heart +or conscience could cram into a lifetime, was yet of so winning a +presence and manner and of so beautiful a face and voice, that twice, +when fairly trapped, he had befooled his captors into believing him to +be some one else and to let him go. + +"Do you hear what he says, Alec? The gold. How does he know of the +gold?" + +"He shall never have it. Not an ounce of it!" said Alec, in a resolute +voice that was as steady as his determination. + +Again Starlight shouted to them, his pure voice ringing quite clearly, +through the hushed evening air. + +"Don't be fools, you boys. I know you. If you will stop I won't hurt a +hair of your heads, but I'll shoot you, as sure as my name is +Starlight, if you don't pull up." + +"The mean hound," said Alec, angrily; "not hurt a hair of our heads. +Why he'd cut our throats, smiling all the time, if he had sworn on the +Bible not to do so." + +"Look here, Alec, they are certainly gaining on us. We are overweighted +with this gold. We must get rid of it." + +"That is just what I mean to do. Put on a spurt when we get into that +belt of gums, that we can gain a minute or so." + +Telling Murri of their intention, as they entered the narrow band of +gum trees they spurred their horses, and Alec, who was leading him +then, whipped up the pack-horse, and, regardless of their limbs, they +dashed between the smooth trunks, and, emerging into the brilliant +moonlight on the other side, tore down the little incline to the patch +of marshy ground that lay at the bottom. + +"To that little pool of water," said Alec, pointing across the low +ground, which the recent rains had again converted to a swamp; and +without decreasing their speed they turned towards it. Pulling up by +the side of the little shining pool for one brief moment, Alec said-- + +"Fling every one of the bags of gold into it. Make haste!" + +He threw his own in, with a heavy splash, as he spoke, and leaning +across the pack-horse he tore the little sacks from its saddle and +flung them in the water. Murri and George followed suit. + +"Ride through the pool," Geordie whispered hoarsely, "or they will see +it rippling, and guess what we have done." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +HOW THE BOYS RETURNED HOME. + + +But this unfair race could not be kept up; the horses that George and +Murri rode, although going their very best, began to show signs of +distress. It had been only the sheer pluck and spirit of the well-bred +horses that had enabled them to hold their own for so long, and now the +superior condition of the bush-rangers' untired horses was beginning to +tell. Looking back the boys could see that Starlight was rapidly +overhauling them, and that at this rate they must be overtaken before +another mile was past. Some of the worst mounted men of the gang had +tailed off from the main body, but were following up in a straggling +line. Amber, whom Alec held tightly in hand, was going as strongly as +ever; there was no signs of weakness as yet in his great stride, his +ears were laid back, for he could hear the heavy thud of the galloping +horses behind him, and the blood of his racing sires stirred in his +veins and made him eager to outstrip them. + +"I wish, I do wish, you'd push on, Alec. Amber has got it all in him. +You could be home in five minutes." + +"And leave you at Starlight's tender mercies, I suppose?" + +"Not a bit more than I now am. It is our only chance. You may find some +of the men about, and Vaulty," said he, laying his hand on the sweating +neck of the roan he rode, "may possibly keep up till you can meet us." + +"You know very well he's almost done up. How Murri has managed to keep +that beast of his on his legs I can't think." + +What Alec said was true; it was only too evident that Vaulty, sturdy +nag though he was, had knocked up at last, and was quite on his last +legs. It was heartrending work to be so near to succour and yet to be +so entirely beyond its reach. Not a mile away was the head station, +with all hands in for the night, and all ignorant how urgently their +help was needed at only a few minutes' distance from the house. The +agony that the two lads suffered was only intensified by their nearness +to the refuge, which they both felt they could not possibly reach, for +Alec could see by the way Vaulty stumbled that he could not hold out +more than a minute longer; and George knew in his heart, even when he +asked him to do it, that his brother would not leave him. + +Nearer and nearer came the sound of the horses behind them; they could +hear the muttered imprecations of the men, and once they heard +Starlight give a lovable laugh as he said, "We shall overtake them by +that black stump." Both the boys heard him, but they said nothing, +though they looked at one another with a steady, loving glance, which +seemed to say, "Well, whatever chance may befall us we have been +staunch and true, and we'll die as we have lived--together." They must +have been almost within pistol shot of the gang of bushrangers, when, +through the thinly growing trees of the great paddock which lay between +them and the house, they caught sight of the ruddy light of home. The +wood fire and the lamp in the kitchen shone from the open door, and +gleaming through the night seemed a bitter mockery of welcome to the +two lads. + +"Heaven help us, Alec!" said Geordie, and there was a sob in the poor +boy's throat as he spoke; "this is very hard." + +It almost seemed an answer to his prayer when, from the shadow of a +stately gum, not a hundred yards away, a horseman rode out into the +brilliant moonlight. + +"Help, help!" the two boys called at the top of their voices, and +eagerly strained their ears to catch the man's answering shout. + +Oh! bitter disappointment; oh! agony of futile rage that they felt when +they heard the mocking voice of Keggs cry out-- + +"'Elp, my fine fellers; yes, but it ain't you as I'll 'elp;" and then, +with the brutal triumph that men of his low and degraded type can never +help displaying, he added, "Dain't I tell yer that I'd be even with +yer? Why, I fun' out from them darned blacks as 'ow you'd gorne for +gold; _I_ fatched Starlight; _I_ told 'em w'ere ter stop yer; _I_ done +it, I done it all. And now ain't I level with yer?" + +"No, and never will be," sang out a voice behind them that they had not +heard before. + +When George recognised Keggs' voice and the meaning of what he said, a +wave of despair for the first time swept over him; the brave heart that +had stood out against so many dangers gave way at last before such +black treachery. The spirit that had fronted death without a tremor, +that had not quailed before perils and hardships that might without +disgrace have daunted an older and sterner man, grew faint when brought +face to face with such base ingratitude and such cruel perfidy. Such +deceit in one of their own men gave a shock to his trustfulness which +for the moment completely staggered him. He loosed his hold on the +bridle, saying, "It is useless to go on any longer." + +The effect upon Alec of the discovery that it was Keggs who had brought +Starlight down on them was very different. The man's words and the +taunting tone of his voice made the elder lad boil with indignation, +and it was with passionate anger that he realised the foulness of the +man's degraded character and the meanness of his behaviour--living upon +their food and their wages and yet betraying them. Snatching up his +pistol, on which his hand was resting, he rushed at the jeering +villain, who, to stop the boy, had drawn up his horse in the line he +knew they must follow. Taking a rapid aim, Alec, with no more +hesitation than he would have shown at shooting a mangy dingo, fired +twice full at the man, who fell with a shriek and howl of agony, +mortally wounded, with two bullets in his chest. + +Without staying to notice the fate of such carrion, Alec turned to look +for his brother, whom he had left, at some little distance behind, with +Murri. Vaulty, George's horse, had stopped when his rider had thrown +down the reins of his bridle, and stood quite still, trembling in every +limb. Just as Alec turned to ride back to them he saw that Starlight +and his gang were close upon them, and that George still sat his horse, +although looking quite dazed and stupefied. Murri was leaning across +from his horse and was taking hold of George's bridle as though to urge +him to continue his flight, but it was in vain, for at that moment the +bushrangers were upon them. + +Starlight having calculated the distance, and feeling certain that he +should overtake the boys before they could reach the head station, had +given orders to his men that they were not to fire. He acted in this +way from no feeling of mercy, for that was a sentiment he never +experienced, but from a motive of policy, as he feared the noise of +fire-arms might be heard by the men at the house, and bring them down +upon him. Whilst Alec was still at some little distance Starlight had +brought up his horse alongside of George, and turning his handsome, +lovable face to him, he asked him in that false, sweet voice of his-- + +"Where is all that gold you have found, my lad? You have given us a +stiff chase, and as we have won it you must provide the prize." + +"We have no gold," said George, still like one in a dream. + +"Come, come, you don't expect me to believe that," said Starlight, +laying his hand on George's arm. The action was gentle, it looked +almost like a caress, but the hand, although so soft, was iron-sinewed, +and the boy felt his arm grasped as though in a vice. + +Starlight's touch seemed to act upon him as a charm; it aroused him +from the state of stupor of despair in which he was plunged, and fire +coming back to his eye and life to his voice, he shouted-- + +"Loose my arm!" and swinging himself round in the saddle in his lithe, +quick way, he tore his arm from the bushranger's grasp. Starlight made +a rapid clutch at him as Geordie swerved aside, but missed his aim, and +the boy, seizing his opportunity, clenched his fist and swung his stout +young arm round with a backward blow, and striking the bushranger full +on the side of the head almost felled him from his horse. Several of +the men, thinking that things had now gone far enough, sprang to the +side of the boy, and one of them, dealing him a stunning blow with his +huge fist just behind the ear, roughly seized him round the waist with +one muscular arm and threw him heavily to the ground. There the lad lay +quite white and senseless, with the blood pouring from his nostrils, +across the gnarled roots of a burnt and blackened tree stump. + +During this little _mêlée_, Murri, who was not blessed with an entirely +valiant heart, noticed that the observation of the party was fixed upon +the little central group of George and his opponents. Taking advantage +of this very momentary chance he silently slipped from his horse, +without stopping it, and darting to a place where the stumps of several +burnt trees were still standing, his black body was instantly concealed +in the shadows. + +The next minute one of the men noticed that Murri's horse was +riderless. + +"Hallo!" said he, "where the blazes is that fellow gone to?" + +"Didn't see him go," answered one of the other men. "It don't matter, +it was only one of them blarmed nigs; he've sneaked off." + +This had not occupied a moment in happening, and it was just as Geordie +was flung to the ground that Alec came upon the scene. Seeing his +brother struck from his horse, and noticing that the body, which lay so +white and stark in the moonlight, was quite motionless, he felt sure +that this time death had claimed his own. He was maddened with passion +and rage, and singling out the man who had done it, a great, swarthy +fellow twice his own age, he rode at him like a fury. He was entirely +without personal fear, and believing that his brother, who was his +chief tie to life, was dead, he was utterly reckless of consequences to +himself. He had no weapon with him but the pistol he had just fired at +Keggs, but grasping this by the barrel he struck the man full in the +mouth with the heavy butt of it. The passionate blow bruised and cut +the bushranger's lips terribly, and shattered several of his great +white teeth, and maddened with the pain of it the fellow howled a curse +at Alec and drew his pistol from his belt. Alec aimed another rapid +blow at him with his weapon, but his hand being wet with sweat the +polished barrel of the pistol slipped from his grasp, and, as it darted +from his fingers, struck the bushranger a startling blow on his bronzed +cheek-bone just below the eye. The man was now absolutely beside +himself with the agony of these two blows, and like a wild beast he +turned to rend his enemy. + +The two men, Alec and the bushranger, were now quite at close quarters, +and pressing one hand to the bleeding cut on his cheek, and with an +infamous oath on his lips, the man again raised his pistol to fire. But +Alec had not taken his eyes from his opponent, and guiding Amber only +with his knees he suddenly stooped to his saddle as the man fired, and +before he was ready with his second shot had sprung upon him. He +clutched his outstretched arm and bore it down with his sheer weight, +and then, exerting all his strength, he grappled with the fellow, and +tried to tear him from his horse. + +They were not equally matched, for the man was not only much older and +heavier than Alec but much stronger too, but Alec was much the more +active, and being wiry and muscular he gave the bushranger as much as +he could well do. The other men looked on without offering to +interfere, for after all they were Englishmen although thieves, and a +rough feeling of fair play prevented them interrupting what was so +evidently a single combat. + +At first things seemed to go in Alec's favour, for the bushranger, not +daring to loose his bridle, could only use one hand, and it almost +looked as though Alec would unseat his enemy. But this state of affairs +only lasted a few seconds, for the man, feeling that Alec, who could +use both hands, was getting the better of him, clapped his spurs to his +horse and tried to tear himself out of the boy's grasp. But Alec did +not mean to lose his man; he was utterly regardless of what befell +himself, and was fully determined to be revenged on the man who had +taken Geordie's life. + +Feeling that the bushranger was endeavouring to separate himself from +him, Alec swore in his heart that he should not effect his purpose, and +as the bushranger's horse swerved to one side, Alec kicked his feet +free from his stirrups, and, exerting all his sinewy strength, leaped +on to the other horse. As he already had a firm hold of the bushranger +he was able to do this with greater certainty, and before the +astonished man knew what he was about the boy was firmly seated behind +him. The horse, feeling this double load, and goaded by the startled +spurring of its rider, darted madly away from the gang. The bushranger +yelled for help and tried to stop his horse, but failed to do so. He +struggled to free himself, but Alec had him at his mercy. Although the +man was so much stronger than the boy, he was rendered comparatively +helpless from the way in which Alec held him, for his left arm was +engaged in trying to stop his terrified horse, and by his sudden leap +Alec had managed to get his right arm behind his back, and in this +position it was next to useless. + +[Illustration: "ALEC KICKED HIS FEET FREE FROM HIS STIRRUPS, AND ... +LEAPED ON TO THE OTHER HORSE." (_p. 182._)] + +The fury of anger that possessed Alec gave him double strength for the +time, and aided by his position behind the man, he was more than his +match. The tables were quite turned, and the lad at that time was the +more powerful. Alec could hear the rest of the gang following them; +some were laughing at Pearson's terror, and some applauded Alec's +courage and address. The boy knew that, weighted as it was, the horse +must be overtaken in a moment, and that if he meant to unhorse the +brute in front of him he must use all his strength and lose no time in +accomplishing his purpose. + +Holding with a grasp of iron the bushranger's right wrist, which was +behind his back, in his left hand, Alec made a clutch at his hot, hairy +throat. For one moment he held him thus, digging his fingers deep into +the flesh and squeezing the great muscles of the man's strong neck with +all his force as he tried to choke him. But loosing his reins for one +moment, Pearson tore Alec's hand away and breathed free again. It was +not for long, for he had to snatch at his bridle again as the horse +plunged wildly when it felt its head free, and he feared lest he should +be thrown. The instant that Alec's arm was loosed he darted his hand +under the bushranger's thick strong-growing beard and seized him by his +throbbing throat again, and, possessed with a perfect madness of fury +he swayed the strong man to and fro till he almost shook him from the +saddle. Again the man wrenched himself free, but not before the veins +of his purple face were swollen almost to bursting. + +Alec heard the rest of the gang now close behind him, and felt that his +prey was escaping him, and that after all his vengeance would be +frustrated. His heart was thumping wildly, the loud pulsations of his +blood were surging in his ears, and his breath came in quick laboured +sobs, but his determination was unchanged, and grimly he held on to his +purpose. A life for a life; this man must die! Above the loud beating +of his throbbing heart, above the noisy galloping of the horse he rode +and the heavy steps of those of the men now so close in his rear, Alec +could hear the silver tones of Starlight's beautiful voice quite +clearly as he laughingly said:-- + +"Don't shoot at him. It'll give Pearson a lesson, he always was a +clumsy brute with a horse. The boy can't hurt him, and if he does it +doesn't much matter. It is capital fun, anyway. Look how the young +beggar sticks on. Don't shoot, I say; I reserve that for myself +afterwards, and you might hit poor Mr. Pearson, and that would be sad." +And again he laughed his bright melodious laugh. + +Still holding Pearson's writhing arm behind his back, Alec made one +last effort. The man, vainly trying to pull up or turn his terrified +horse, was leaning forward as far as possible to escape Alec's grasp, +but hearing the voices of his companions apparently so close behind him +he partly raised his head and looked back. Like an eagle darting on its +prey Alec was upon him. Plunging his hand with extended fingers among +the bushranger's black, curling beard, Alec grasped it with an iron +grip. He could feel the heat of the man's strong jaw and his burning +neck as he writhed his head to free himself, and his hot breath fell on +the boy's bare wrist. Twisting his hand more firmly in the mass of the +man's beard, Alec wrenched his head backwards till he could look in his +distorted face. Pearson again loosed his bridle, and, shrieking with +pain and fear, wildly tore at Alec's hand, but in vain, for the lad was +possessed for the time with the strength of three. + +Seeing that the rest of the gang was now only a yard or two behind him, +Alec suddenly loosed Pearson's arm, which he had been holding behind +the man's back, and, with lightning swiftness, struck him two blows +with his left hand, which was thus set at liberty, one on the temple +and one on the arch of his bent brown throat. Then making a gigantic +effort, using up the last of his strength for the time being, he +managed to shake the man from his saddle--just as the brutal fellow had +served Geordie--and flung him down among the hoofs of the horses in his +wake. + +Although the men tried to pull up or turn aside it was too late, and, +galloping at full speed after Alec, several of the horses passed +straight over Pearson as he lay stretched in front of them. Starlight, +who was quite callous to the sufferings of others and regardless of the +value of any life but his own, did not even try to evade the man, and +his horse struck Pearson's head mortally as it passed over him. + +Alec's strength was quite spent when he had thrown Pearson, and, +although he instinctively kept his seat on the horse, he was easily +overtaken and stopped. In a moment several of the men of the gang had +sprung from their saddles and torn him from his panting horse. Then an +angry Babel of voices rose around him in eager questioning, and in vile +imprecations against him for the trouble he had cost them and for the +lives that he had taken. + +Alec stood quite silent under their storm of anger and abuse; he made +no attempt at reply, for he was half dazed with the rapid current of +events, and was so benumbed with grief at the loss of his brother, that +now that his passion had spent itself he was careless of what happened +to himself. He felt the hot grasp of the men's hands upon him, and, +without any attempt at a struggle, he was pulled to the place were +Starlight was standing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A CONFERENCE OF BUSHRANGERS. + + +Most of the bushrangers had dismounted to ease their jaded horses, +whose heaving flanks and expanded nostrils spoke plainly enough of the +great exertion they had made in the chase that was just ended. The men +were standing about Starlight, who was leaning against the charred +stump of a burnt tree, flicking the side of his shapely leg with the +whip he carried. He looked up as the two men who had hold of Alec +brought the boy before him, and with a winsome smile he turned to him +and said-- + +"Well, young fellow, what do you think of yourself for having given us +such a chase as this? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + +Alec made no reply. He thought, and rightly so, that this sort of +remark required no answer. Starlight did not seem to notice the +omission, but went on in the same light, bantering tone-- + +"Don't look so sullen; you have done very well for a beginner. We have +killed your brother--oh, you need not lock surprised, I know all about +you, and besides you are as like as two peas--but you have killed two +of my men in return, and that ought to satisfy you. Now one of you +fellows there, just look about and see if you can find a little water +for the horses. I suppose it is no use asking you where we can find it, +Mr. Law, though it would only be hospitable of you on your own run to +show us where there is some." + +Although Starlight spoke so lightly and, seemingly, was so careless of +what went on around him, he kept a keen watch over every one and +everything, and the quick catch in the breath that Alec made when he +spoke of Geordie did not escape his rapid glance. Like the brute that +he was, he determined to torture the poor lad with references to his +dead brother from a sheer love of cruelty. Whilst some two or three of +the men went to search for water, giving the bridles of their horses to +the others to hold, Starlight continued his cruel amusement. To see +him, as he leaned so carelessly and gracefully against the burnt stump, +with the moonlight falling on his young and handsome face, and lighting +up the dimple that fluttered in his cheek when he smiled, one would +have thought him some happy fellow talking with a friend instead of the +cruel, heartless outlaw that he was. + +"It was hardly a fair struggle, was it, for Pearson was so much +stronger than your brother, who must have been tired too? It must be +unpleasant to have one's brother killed before one's face. Do you find +it so?" He looked up with a simple, inquiring glance at Alec as he +spoke, and laughed to see how white the boy had grown. + +Whilst he was speaking, one of the men who was holding the horses +walked up to him and remonstrated with him for his brutal behaviour. He +was a great, big, honest-looking fellow, with kind blue eyes and a +short curly yellow beard, who looked strangely out of place in the +company he was with, and whose reckless, dare-devil expression did not +seem quite natural to him. Alec could not hear what he said, but he +recognised the voice as being that of the man who had shouted out an +answer to Keggs when he was boasting that he was equal with the boys at +last. + +Starlight listened to what this young fellow had to say, and then, +without turning his head, he looked at him between his half-shut lids +and said in a slightly sardonic voice-- + +"You don't seem to enjoy your new profession, Mr. Crosby. Don't you +think you had better go back to that pleasant old fellow, your uncle, +and act the prodigal nephew? But understand this, once for all, I don't +put up with contradiction or allow interference. So let's have no more +of these sanctimonious airs; remember you are just as much a +bushranger--I'm not frightened of the word--as I am, although you have +not tried your hand at sticking any one up yet, or anything else, as +far as I can see, but eat and drink with the best of us." + +"And never will do anything for you, Heaven willing, from to-night," +said Crosby, as he stepped a pace or two to one side. + +"Oh, he'll come round," whispered Starlight to Wetch, the man on his +left, a trusty henchman this, who had no qualms of conscience, and who +had sold himself body and soul to his leader. + +A moment or two after this the men who had been looking for water came +back and said that they could find none, and Starlight, who owed his +success to the quickness of his movements, and to the fact that he +never lost time in unnecessary halts during his forays, ordered a +start. Whilst Alec was standing, guarded by the two men who had hold of +him, Como came bounding to his side. The dog had rushed to Geordie when +he was thrown to the ground by Pearson, but as the lad had made no +responsive movement when he had licked his hands and face he had left +him and sought Alec. The dog was wild with delight at finding one of +his masters, and sprang up and licked Alec's white cheek and fawned +upon him. One of the men kicked the dog to one side, and it howled with +pain. Starlight, whose back had been turned for a moment, looked round +and, seeing what it was, sang out-- + +"Quiet that dog; put a bullet through his head, some one." + +But this was too much for Alec to bear passively. A passionate love for +animals was one of his strongest feelings, and to hear the order given +for Como's death was more than he could endure. With a sudden wrench he +tore himself out of the grasp of the two men that held him, for he had +been standing so quietly that their hold upon him had gradually grown +slack. He knelt on the ground, and flung his arms round the dog that +his brother had loved so much, and with his black brows drawn down he +looked up at Starlight, and said, quite calmly-- + +"Don't shoot the dog." + +"Yes, I shall. I can't have that noisy brute yelping about me." + +"Then you'll shoot him through me," said Alec, in the same determined +voice. + +"I'm going to shoot you, I know, but not just yet," remarked Starlight +in a casual tone. + +"We want a dog up at Norton's Gap; why not take this one? It is a +handsome brute," said one of the men. + +"That alters the case," said Starlight, pleasantly. "I'm always open to +conviction. Will he follow us?" + +"Yes, he'll follow, if I tell him to," said Alec, unconsciously +caressing the velvety ear of the dog, who stood quite still now that he +had found his master. + +"All right, let him go, I won't hurt him," said Starlight; and then, as +Alec looked at him doubtfully, and still retained his hold on the dog, +he added, "Oh, I'm not a liar as well as a thief." + +"Stow that," growled one of the men. + +Starlight laughed, and, with a wave of his hand towards his companions, +he said to Alec, "Look at these fellows, they daren't call a spade a +spade. They have taken to the bush for years some of them, and lived by +robbing ever since, yet they have such tender feelings that they can't +bear to be told so. They are not afraid of the substance, but they fear +the shadow. I'm a thief and a murderer too, and I don't mind saying it. +And so are all of you," said he suddenly, turning to the men, who were +always silenced by his scorn. "What about the Denisons, and the Longs, +and that man up at Menyp, eh, and others besides? How did they come by +their deaths? So don't make fools of yourselves; you know as well as I +do that what I say is the truth. I shall be shot or hanged some day, +and so will every one of you. Deservedly too." + +"We shall all be lagged, and scragged too, as you say, guv, if we stay +here much longer," said one of the men with a laugh that was a coarse +imitation of Starlight's own. + +"That's the first sensible thing I've heard to-night. The horses are +breathed by this time. I've only one more thing to do and then we can +start." He was drawing his pistol from his belt as he spoke. "The whole +affair has been a fool's errand, and I'm heartily glad that that brute +Keggs has got what he deserved for telling us such a cock-and-bull +story of gold and making us waste so much time." + +"What's yer goin' ter do?" asked Middance, one of the two men who had +again taken hold of Alec. + +"Going to give the dingoes a feast, and to send that young person +you've got hold of into the pleasant company of his dear departed +brother. So perhaps you had better loose him. I don't suppose I shall +miss him, but, being so nervous, I might." + +This was enough for Middance and the other man who held Alec; they +loosed the lad and nimbly sprang aside. For one awful second Alec stood +like a statue in the dread presence of Death; he felt as though his +heart were grasped in an icy hand which froze his blood within his +veins. He could not stir, for the frightful thought of the sudden death +he was threatened with had benumbed and deadened every limb. + +Starlight cocked his pistol, raised it--Alec saw the moonlight gleam +upon the polished barrel--took a rapid aim at the breast of the +motionless boy, and, without a tremor of hesitation, fired full at him. + +The loud explosion rang across the open moonlit plain. + +But the smoke rolled away and the boy still was there, standing as he +had stood before; for just as Starlight fired, Crosby, who had seen +what he was about to do, sprang to his side and knocked up his arm. The +bushranger leaped round, his eye flashing ominously, and in a voice +that was unsteady with anger, he said-- + +"What now--what do you mean by that?" + +"Why, I mean that you are a fool to think of killing your golden goose +in that way. Do you think, just because he has no gold with him, that +he does not know where it is to be found. I know better than that. +Keggs' story was true enough, take my word for it. Don't let us lose +all the benefit of our work by killing the only person who can help us +in getting what we want. Let me ask the lad; I'll back he tells me." + +Crosby spoke so naturally and assumed a manner of such keen interest in +the affair that the astute Starlight himself was taken in. As the young +fellow walked across to where Alec was standing alone, Starlight turned +to Wetch, and said-- + +"Didn't I say he'd come round. He's just as mad after the gold as any +of us. He has got his head screwed on right, too. Leave him alone to +manage the boy." + +Whilst Starlight was thus whispering to his lieutenant, Crosby had +crossed over to Alec, and taking hold of his hand, and giving the lad a +little shake to rouse him from the half stupefied condition he was in, +he rapidly whispered in his ear in a low voice-- + +"You must say that you know where the gold is. It is your only chance. +Trust to me, and I'll help you out of this mess if it costs me my life. +Look me in the face, lad," said he, laying his two hands on Alec's +shoulders, "so that you will know me again. Say something, anything, it +doesn't matter what; only let them see that you are speaking." + +"I shall know you again well enough," said Alec, looking deeply into +the honest grey eyes before him, for the two men were of a level +height. "I have not so many friends," he added, with a dreary sigh, +"that I can afford to mistake one when he offers himself." + +"All right, Boss," Crosby sang out aloud as he turned again and faced +Starlight; and then, leaving Alec, he walked to the place where the men +were clustered together, and with a wink and a knowing little nod of +the head which satisfied Starlight that he was heartily one with them, +he said, "He knows where the gold lies; I shall be able to get it all +out of him, for he thinks I'm a friend, so if any of you fellows spot +us talking very friendly, just hold your tongues and don't let on." + +This last sentence was a bold stroke of policy on Crosby's part, for he +knew that if the men saw him talking with Alec they would be sure to +suspect something, so he thought he would disarm suspicion by telling +them some part of the truth. He was a shrewd, clear-headed fellow +enough, and knew that to tell the truth in part was the best way to +conceal the whole truth from them. + +"Ah," said Starlight, "that comes of having an honest face, and a pair +of innocent-looking eyes. Now you, Wetch, could never have made the boy +believe that you were anything but a villain." + +Starlight little thought that it was the pure and kindly soul that +shone from Crosby's eyes which made his whole face good and honest, or +that Wetch himself, ugly brute though he was, might have looked as +honest as Crosby had but his spirit been as guiltless and bright. It is +not noses and features and colour that mark a man's face as that of an +upright, honourable fellow; but it is the steady light that shines from +the eyes and the pleasant expressive lines of the honest mouth that +show the character of a man, and these things no knave or rogue can +imitate, stare though he may and smirk as he will. + +"Well, bring the boy along, then. Let him have Pearson's horse; it +seems he knows how to ride that beast," said Starlight, laughing as he +thought of the way Alec had stuck on the horse, "and his own has +bolted, more's the pity, for I should have liked that chestnut myself." + +"Now, then, look sharp, you fellows," said Wetch, impatiently; "the +moon has begun to sink, and it is a blarmed dark ride to Norton's Gap." + +Without further delay they all sprang to horse. One of the men brought +up Pearson's horse to Alec, and at a glance from Crosby he mounted it +without a word. Giving the signal to start, Starlight placed himself at +Alec's off-side, and drawing his pistol from his belt and showing it +him, he said-- + +"Look here, my young friend, if you try to make a bolt of it, I'll let +daylight--or, rather, Starlight--into that headpiece of yours; but if +you don't make a fool of yourself, and come along quietly, why you'll +be all right, and shall have something to eat in an hour or so into the +bargain." + +Without more ado the whole party set in motion, and, casting a last +look to the place where poor Geordie lay all white and still in the +moonlight, with a choking throat Alec turned his back upon Wandaroo, +and rode off at a good round pace southwards. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +YESSLETT PREPARES TO ACT. + + +The lamps were lighted at Wandaroo, and all the people about the +station had come in for the night; the men had finished their tea, and +were sitting about the place smoking their short, black pipes, and the +horses were all turned out and were cropping the young, sweet grass of +the paddock. Man and brute alike were aware that work for the day was +ended, and in their different ways each was enjoying his well-earned +rest. The large general room of the house at the head station was +quiet, for tea was cleared away, and, the kerosine lamp having been +turned up, Mrs. Law and Margaret were sitting with their sewing in that +busy idleness which women find so restful after a long day's work. +Yesslett Dudley was in the room, quiet, too, for a wonder, for he was +making one more attempt to finish a long delayed and often interrupted +letter to his old home. Every now and then sounds of life could be +heard from the kitchen, and the work of the ladies made slight +rustlings as they moved it, but otherwise, except an occasional word +from Mrs. Law and Margaret, the room was quite quiet. Yesslett went on +with his writing steadily for five or ten minutes, an unprecedented +period of repose for him; the ladies could hear him dipping his pen +savagely into the ink-pot, and then he would go on writing again. At +last, between his impatience at the ink and his distaste to silence, he +had to speak. + +"I say, Margaret, this beastly ink-pot has dried itself up again. I +never saw such a place for ink as Australia is. I believe the flies +drink it as well as bathe in it," said he, fishing out the body of a +drowned house-fly on the end of his pen. + +"You must remember that it is more than a week since you last wrote, +Yess, and that you didn't put the top on the ink-pot when you left +off." + +"Oh, how you do notice things, Maggie," said the boy, looking up with a +smile. "Is it a week really since I wrote this page?" + +"Yes, it is, Mr. Restless, and if you don't go on it strikes me it will +be another week before you get that one done." + +This speech of Margaret's was prophetic, for it was much more than a +week before Yesslett ended that letter. + +"Why, what is the day of the month, Maggie? I never can remember since +I've been here; there is nothing to remind one." + +"The 16th." + +"Is it! By Jove, we shall have the boys back in a day or two. They said +that they should not be gone more than a month or five weeks at most." + +"I wish they would come," said Mrs. Law, letting her hands fall on to +her lap; "I am beginning to get so anxious about them. Those horrid +_myall_ blacks in the north-east country are so cruel and savage." + +"Oh, don't trouble about them, aunt," said Yess leaving his place and +sitting down on the edge of the table by the side of Mrs. Law, where he +instantly began what he called "arranging" her work-basket. "Both Alec +and Geordie are careful fellows, and they are well armed and well +mounted. And those two black chaps, Prince Tom and What's-his-name, +aren't bad fellows, and will look after them." + +Ever since his cousins had gone away Yesslett had assumed the position +of the man of the house. He was Macleod's right hand man in the working +of the run, and had developed qualities of diligence and +trustworthiness that astonished those who had only known him as the +rollicking boy he had been aforetime. The two ladies grew to love him +very dearly in these anxious weeks, and began to place confidence in +him and rely upon him, as women will do, unconsciously perhaps, upon a +man, however young a one he may be, if only he show signs of +trustworthiness and steadiness. He was just the same gay, light-hearted +fellow that he had been before, but under this there was a budding +manliness of purpose and temper that spoke well for his future +character. Chief of all his functions was that of comforter to his +aunt, and right well did he fill it, for his heart was in the work. His +dead father had filled the boy's mind with generous thoughts of +deference and courtesy to women, and these good old-world notions of +kindness and chivalry, which none appreciate more keenly than women, +had gained Yesslett the name of Chevalier, with which the two ladies +had dubbed him. + +"Yes, the boys can take care of themselves, and I trust they are all +well," said Mrs. Law, taking up her work again and resuming it with +that pathetic patience which women, forced to inactivity, often show. +"They may be safe, but I want my boys back again for more reasons than +one." Mrs. Law was referring to the debt on the run, which had to be +paid in less than two days from that time, or the mortgage would be +foreclosed by Crosby, and the run would pass out of their possession. + +Knowing of what her mother was thinking, Margaret tried to divert her +thoughts to the business of the present hour, so she said-- + +"Where has Macleod gone to-day, mother?" + +"To Bateman. He left soon after breakfast. He wants to find a man in +the place of that Keggs. I always disliked that man, and Macleod says +that he is sure he has been out all night several times lately, riding +one of the horses. He doesn't know what it means, but it looks +suspicious, and we want to get rid of him." + +"I saw him leaving the bachelor's hut with a bridle on his arm as +though he were going to catch one of the horses, an hour or so ago," +said Yesslett. + +"Did you?" asked Mrs. Law. "I wonder what he is after. I wish the lads +were back." + +"Surely, mother, you don't think that Keggs' going out with a bridle on +his arm is likely to do them any harm?" said Margaret. + +"No. Oh, no, certainly not. But I should like them to be here, or else +I should like to be with them sharing their dangers," said Mrs. Law, +turning to Yesslett, a little flush mounting to her cheeks as she +spoke. "You did not think your old aunt had so much spirit, did you, +Chevalier mine?" + +"I always thought you were everything that a brave lady should be," +said Yess. + +"Ah, you don't know mother yet," said Margaret. "Did you never hear +how, when father was away once, she defended Wandaroo from the +_myalls_, soon after she first came here, and when the station was +quite a tiny place?" + +"No, I've not heard about that. You ought to have told me, aunt." + +"It is so many years ago, before Margaret was born, and you know what +an old lady she is getting," said Mrs. Law with a smile, "that I begin +to forget all about it." + +"But I don't," said Margaret. "Just you listen to this, Yess, and you +will hear how brave and calm a woman can be in the very midst of +danger." + +Margaret had drawn her thread through her work, and was, in her +excitement at the memory of the story, holding it tightly stretched out +to its full limit. She looked very beautiful as she turned her brown +richly-coloured face towards Yesslett, with the bright lamp-light +falling on her shapely head with its regal coils of black hair, and +Mrs. Law, with that unselfish pride which mothers feel in their +daughters' beauty, was thinking more of her comeliness than of what she +was saying. Yess, too, noticed how the girl's fine eyes glowed with her +enthusiasm, and was a little surprised to find how strong and bold a +spirit burned in these two women, whom he had only seen when engaged in +the quiet round of their daily toils. + +Perhaps he guessed then whence his own greater courage flowed. Daily in +the presence of these brave-souled ladies he had grown valorous and +more strong. Their intrepidity had slain the old nervousness he once +had felt. No man, or boy either, could live with two such women without +being raised to their high level, more especially when he felt that he +was their defender and protector, and was called upon to make every +effort on their behalf. + +"The _myalls_ were very numerous and wild about here when mother first +came to Wandaroo, and once, when father had to leave her for two days +quite alone, they began collecting in large numbers about the head +station. The natives had not been dispersed in those days, and they +were----" + +Here the girl's low voice suddenly ceased, and for a moment a startled +silence fell upon the room. The two windows were thrown wide open to +the night, and the cool odorous breeze just stirred the light curtains +that hung before them. + +What was it they had heard? + +From far away, from beyond, the end of the great paddock, there came +the sound of a single pistol shot. It was the shot that Starlight had +fired at Alec when Crosby had knocked up his arm. The noise of the two +barrels that Alec had emptied at Keggs had not reached the house. The +report was faint, but the night was so still that sound could travel +far. They all looked up. For a moment no one spoke. + +"What was that?" said Mrs. Law, in a low, intense whisper, laying her +work down, and with the palm of her right hand unconsciously drawing +off the thimble from her finger, as though preparing for action. + +In two silent strides Yesslett reached the window, and was leaning out +intently listening. Far away down the gully a morepork was calling. +Nothing more. Then came a muffled laugh from the kitchen, and the sound +of a chair pushed back. They had not heard it there. + +Both the ladies had grown pale, but on neither face was seen the shadow +of a fear. + +"It was a pistol shot, I'm sure," said Yess. + +"It cannot be the boys," said Mrs. Law; "they would know it would alarm +us too much." + +"What about Keggs?" said Margaret, making one of those intuitive leaps +at the truth which are so characteristically feminine. "You know that +Yess said he owed them a grudge." + +And now had come Yesslett's time for action. He certainly felt one +pulsation of his old nervousness at his heart, but the new courage that +came of his new strength and spirit instantly repressed it, and he +himself was surprised to find how calm he felt. He was standing at the +window where the moonshine fell into the room and mingled with the +yellow lamp-light. His fair, fluffy hair, moved by the tiny breeze, +shone like a halo where the light glowed in it. One hand rested on the +low window-sill as he turned and said quickly, but in a quiet voice-- + +"They may be in danger. I feel sure it is the boys. I will go straight +on across the paddock. Margaret, you run round by the bachelor's hut +and tell any of the men that are there to follow me as quickly as +possible to 'the Dip,' just beyond the end of the paddock; that's where +the sound came from." + +Without another word Yesslett leaped through the window, and dashing +across the garden scrambled over the fence into the yard; crossing that +at a run, he got into the paddock without losing time by going round to +the bachelor's hut. As he entered the paddock he saw Margaret's white +figure darting diagonally across the yard to the men's quarters. He +hurried along at a break-neck speed over the dewy grass, the startled +horses looking up and moving away as the boy dashed past. He had +travelled half-way across the paddock without slackening speed, for his +healthy out-door life in Australia had given him all the strength of +limb he wanted when he was in England, and he now was as long winded as +either of his two cousins. He was just on a level with a little patch +of wooded shade, called the "Gum clump" on the station, when he saw a +figure, a thin, black figure, running towards the house as swiftly as +he himself was from it. + +It was useless for him to attempt to hide, for he had been seen; so he +stood where he was till the man came up. It was a black boy; but Yess +could not tell whether it was one from the blacks' camp or a _myall_; +he did not know Murri well enough to recognise him in the deceptive +moonlight. He was not left long in doubt, for the man rushed up to him +and said in the most excited voice and in so great a hurry that Yess +could hardly understand him-- + +"Make um great haste, Missa Yessley. Come along o' me. Plenty much +white fellow ride quick, cotch us. Um chewt Missa Law dead bong; um +take Alec along ob um." + +All this was unintelligible to Yesslett, but it sounded very terrible, +and he could see that the man was in deadly earnest; so, without a +second's delay, he said that he was ready to go with him. He knew, +directly that the man began to speak, that he must be one of the two +black fellows that had gone with Alec and George, but he could not tell +which one. + +Murri turned at once, and started again at a swift pace to run towards +"the Dip," as it was called, at the end of the paddock. Yesslett +managed with difficulty to keep up with him. They climbed over the +fence together, and, straight as an arrow to its mark, Murri led the +way to the charred tree trunk, across the roots of which George had +fallen. Murri had had the sense to move the boy's body from the awkward +position in which it had fallen, and to raise his head a little. + +Yesslett darted to what seemed to be the lifeless body of his cousin. +Geordie's eyes were closed as though in a heavy sleep; his face was +deadly white, except where the blood that had poured from his nostrils, +when he was flung to the ground, had stained it with its awful stain. +At first Yesslett could detect no signs of life in the motionless body +before him, but slipping his hand beneath Geordie's open shirt, and +placing his hand above his heart, he thought he could detect a faint, +faint fluttering there. Yes; hurrah! there was a tiny movement, and +bending his cheek down to Geordie's pale lips he could just feel the +lightest breathing on it. + +"You get um water?" he said, with excitement ringing in every tone of +his voice, as he turned to Murri. + +"Bail water bong along o' this place," said Murri; shaking his head. +"All um water up at station." Then, as a sudden idea seemed to strike +him, he sprang up and said, "Mine go cotch um _yarroman_. Plenty much +water in um bockle." + +When Alec had ridden up alongside of Pearson, and leaped from his horse +on to the bushranger's, Amber had turned, and getting out of the +_mêlée_ had joined the horse from which Murri had so quietly slipped at +the beginning of difficulties. The bushrangers had not stayed to catch +them, but had swept on to overtake Alec and Pearson, and the two +Wandaroo horses had stopped not very far from where Geordie lay, and +were quietly grazing as well as they could with their bits in their +mouths. + +Murri succeeded in catching Amber without much difficulty, and brought +a tin bottle of water to Yesslett, who opened it and found that there +was a little water swilling about at the bottom of it. With this the +boy wetted George's lips and sprinkled his face, and he had the +satisfaction of seeing a faint look of life return to the face that +gleamed so white and ghastly in the moonlight. Fearing that the sight +of blood would alarm Margaret and his aunt when they got back to the +house, he washed it away with the rest of the water. + +A few minutes afterwards Yesslett heard the welcome sound of voices and +hurrying footsteps, and in another moment three or four men from the +station and the white-clad figure of Margaret, who had managed to keep +pace with the men, her awful anxiety giving her strength, were with +him. + +Margaret's great force of character stood her in good stead just then. +She turned deathly pale when she saw her brother lying there, but she +repressed all other expression of her emotion. The girl threw herself +down by the side of the senseless boy, and raising his head laid it +against the heart that was beating so strongly with love for him. She +chafed his hands, and lifting back the moist hair from his forehead +fanned him with a fold of her white skirt; but as his eyes remained +closed and he gave no further sign of life she turned to her cousin, +and in an agonised voice cried out-- + +"Oh, Yesslett, is he dead? Geordie, my poor Geordie!" + +"No, he is not dead, I think he is only stunned. We must get him back +as quickly as possible to the house. Aunt will know best what to do. I +think he must have fallen from his horse, for I can find no sign of a +wound about him." + +"Where is Alec? What does it all mean?" asked Margaret, who now seemed +to remember that her other brother was not present. "It is something +very terrible, I'm sure, for Alec would never leave Geordie in this +way. He must be dead, for as long as he drew breath he would never +desert his brother." + +"We thinks it is rather terrible, Miss," said Balchin, one of the men +who had been questioning Murri whilst Margaret was attending to her +brother, "From what we can make out of this black chap, Miss--it's +Murri, Miss, as went with Mr. Alec and George--they've been set on by +them bushrangers. He says, Murri do, that there was 'plenty much' of +'em, and that Mr. Alec shot wone of 'em dead, he was that mad like at +seeing of Mr. George being throwed, and that then they ups--yes, Miss, +the bushranger fellers--and takes Mr. Alec off along with them. That +was the way he says they went, Miss," ended Balchin, pointing with a +rough, red hand to the south. + +"Yew can see there's bin a many 'osses 'ereabouts, by the way the gress +is cut up," said one of the other men, pointing to the trampled turf. + +"Yes," said Yesslett, "but we can't do anything in the matter of +following them till morning, and we must get George home as quickly as +possible." + +As Yesslett spoke, two or three of the men stooped and picked up the +senseless boy. These great rough fellows showed the utmost gentleness +and care in the work, for they all were fond of the bright, cheery lad; +indeed, Balchin, who had been on the run for many years, and had known +him from the time he was a tiny child, could not make his voice steady +as he spoke, try as he might. + +Just before they came to the boundary fence of the paddock, Margaret's +quick eyes saw something lying quite motionless, at some little +distance away, in the shade of the great green tree. She pointed it out +to Balchin, and fearing, she hardly knew what, she asked him to go and +see what it was that lay so strangely there. + +"You stay here, Miss, don't you move," said the man, fearing that the +sight might be too awful a one for her to see; "I'll come back and tell +you, Miss." + +He started off at the heavy, slouching trot that was peculiar to him, +which looked so slow and ungainly, but which covered the ground so +quickly. Two snarling dingoes started up and sneaked away from the body +as the man approached. He rolled the dead man over with his foot, +looked once at the face, and returned to where the little party waited +for him by the gleaming fence. + +"It be that thief Keggs, Miss, he've got what he deserves; yes, sir," +said he, turning to Yesslett to include him in his remarks, "a bullet +through the heart. He it were as brought them bushrangers here, I'll +swear." + +Slowly and sadly the little procession moved on its way to the house. +Margaret was quite quiet; she walked along, dry-eyed, by the side of +her brother, holding in her warm one his cold and heavy hand. Yesslett +had dropped behind, and was trying to get every bit of information +about Alec's capture that he possibly could from Murri. The black boy +had not seen or understood all that had taken place, and his account of +what had happened to, and been done by, the elder Law was so confused +as to be of little assistance to them in forming plans for Alec's +rescue. + +One of the men had caught Amber and the horse that Murri had been +riding, and had taken them to a place, a little way along the fence, +where there were slip-panels, and getting them into the paddock, +followed the rest of the party to the yard. Vaulty, Geordie's horse, +was found next day, by one of the men on the station, a mile or two +away from the place where his rider had been thrown. + +The night was very calm, so calm that Mrs. Law, standing at the +entrance to the paddock from the yard, could hear the steps of the +horses and the low voices of the men before she could see the party +that was approaching her. She could not rest in the house, and had felt +compelled to come out of doors, though her limbs were trembling beneath +her to such an extent that she could not stand without support. She +could do nothing, for her agony of mind was not mitigated by activity +of body; all that she could do, poor soul, was to wait until the search +party came back, whilst all the time her mother's heart was torn and +racked with an agony of fear. The first words that she heard were +these--it was Margaret who spoke. + +"Run on, Yesslett, and try to prepare poor mother." + +Hearing those words she seemed to know the worst. She could not cry +out, her parched lips refused to move, but she grasped the top rail of +the fence with her icy hand to support herself. She could not get her +breath, and the warm air, that was heavy with the aromatic scent of the +gum trees, seemed to suffocate her. When Yesslett came upon her, as she +stood near the gate to the yard, she could not speak; she only lay her +trembling hand upon his shoulder and waited for him to begin. + +"It is Geordie, aunt; he is not dead but badly hurt," stammered poor +Yess, who was quite unprepared for seeing his aunt so soon. + +"Oh, thank Heaven for that," gasped the poor lady, bursting into tears, +natural tears, that relieved her from the strain of her suspense. + +Yesslett let her sob for a moment, and then, knowing that the best way +to soothe her was to call for her assistance, he said-- + +"But it all depends upon you, aunt. You must be calm and tell us what +to do, for Geordie is insensible, and we don't know how to act for the +best." + +"You are right, Chevalier. I am glad no one but you has seen me in my +weakness," said Mrs. Law resolutely, and making a determined effort she +became her own calm self again, and by the time the men carrying +Geordie arrived at the gate she was composed and gave her orders with a +steady voice. + +In this way, senseless, powerless, and death-like, George Law returned +to the home he had left so full of life and brightness and hope only a +few short weeks before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +WHAT BECAME OF ALEC. + + +Leaving Geordie lying for dead, Alec turned his back upon Wandaroo, and +surrounded by the gang of bushrangers, with whom he knew it was useless +for him to attempt to cope, he rode along he knew not whither. At first +he hardly noticed which way he was being taken; his grief was so keen +at the loss he had just undergone, and his chagrin at the frustration +of all their hopes, when so near their fruition, so bitter, that all +other feelings seemed withered up. A little later came the remembrance +of those at home, and with the desire of being useful to them and +helpful in the now quickly approaching time of their difficulties came +a new wave of feeling which seemed to rouse him from the mental apathy +into which he had fallen. + +Without showing signs of his awakened observation, he began to take +note of their route. He knew the whole country about Wandaroo so well +that he recognised his position almost at once, although it was night. +They had left the Wandaroo run behind them, and were then on Taunton's +run, a great tract of land that had been allowed to slip back to a +state of wildness years before, when the owner and his only son had +been murdered by the _myalls_. Many of the outlying stations had been +permitted to revert in this way some years ago when times were at their +worst in Queensland, and when the unprotected pioneer families were +often butchered by the blacks. + +The party must have been riding for fully an hour when Alec shook off +the cloud of lethargy that had enveloped him, for they were then many +miles from Wandaroo. For some time past Alec had heard the sound of the +men's voices as though he were in a dream, and without paying attention +to them, but at last he distinguished Starlight's voice; he was +speaking to Wetch, his worthy lieutenant. + +"They'll be tracking us to-morrow, and as there is no reason that we +should let on where we are to be found, I think we had better get on to +the Dixieville road, where our traces will be trodden out by the next +flock of sheep that passes along." + +This plan was carried out, and with the result that Starlight hoped +for, as it was at this very place that the Wandaroo black boys, who +tracked them next day, were thrown off the scent. + +After riding for some distance along the rough, dusty, and ill-made +track that did duty for a road between Bateman and the decaying little +township of Dixieville, the party turned aside again, and continued its +southerly direction. The appearance of the country began to be wilder +again, and the fences, and whatever signs there were that the land had +at one time been occupied, were broken and rotting away. These signs of +decay and failure of purpose made the scene more desolate than it would +have been had it never been touched, for there are few things sadder +than to see a tract of country that has once been under cultivation, or +turned to some useful purpose, reverting to its former state of +wildness. + +Alec judged from the talk and behaviour of the men that they were +approaching the place that, for the time being, they considered their +headquarters, and which they dignified with the name of home. They had +now been riding continuously for more than two hours since they had +left the neighbourhood of Wandaroo, and this part of the country was +new to Alec, although he had ridden once or twice along the Dixieville +road. The land had evidently been thickly wooded at one time, and in +places there were still great belts and patches of bush standing in all +its primeval majesty and gloom. Once or twice their road lay through +these wooded depths, and there the path was so dark that Alec did not +attempt to guide his horse. The moon had not yet set, but the silver +radiance which flooded all the topmost boughs failed to penetrate to +the depths below, and the track lay all in darkness, which was the more +profound in contrast with the patches of starlit sky that sometimes +could be seen through openings in the roof of shade above. Alec was an +old enough bushman to know that his horse would best find the way for +itself; indeed the creature seemed to know the road well enough without +guidance. + +Shortly after passing through one of these stretches of bush they came +upon a low, rambling building, from the open door of which a feeble +light shone out. Alec had long given up hopes of seeing any signs of +habitation thereabouts, and noticing this light, he instinctively +turned his head to look at it, thinking that perhaps there was a chance +of rescue for him there. Starlight, who was always near him, seemed to +divine his thoughts, for he laid his hand on Alec's arm to attract his +attention, and with a backward nod of his head towards the house, he +said-- + +"You needn't look there. It is no go. They are friends of ours--and +neighbours too, for we have nearly come to the end of our journey--not +openly friends, you know, but in a quiet way. They have given us many a +useful hint and timely warning before now, and we, on our part, have +been able to do many things for them. They often dispose of things for +us that we have stolen. You see I make no stranger of you." + +The cool way in which he talked, and the perfect openness of his +speech--hiding nothing of his own villainy, and not trying to make +himself out anything but what he was--might at another time, and under +different circumstances, have amused or interested Alec, but he could +not think of him in any other light than that of the murderer of his +brother, and every time that he spoke he raised Alec's anger and hatred +again to boiling point. + +Very soon after passing this building, which Alec heard one of the men +speak of as "Lingan's," the party, at a slackened pace, began to climb +the slightly ascending opening between two dark hills which gave the +name of Norton's Gap to the place. The ground was covered with coarse +tall grass, and the young scrub that springs up over all lands that are +deserted for any length of time. Towards the end of this flat and open +sort of valley, in a very dreary-looking corner, out of sight of +Lingan's, and shut in from the world of men by the black and low bare +hills, were the crumbling ruins of a once large homestead. + +The outer timbers of which the house was built were still standing, and +some sort of door hung between the heavy, rough-hewn posts, but in many +places the shingle roof had fallen in, pieces of the weather boarding +were torn away, and the one chimney was tottering to its fall. Here and +there great pieces of the bark which had once covered the walls were +flapping backwards and forwards in the soft night breeze, like the dark +wings of some foul carrion bird. No smoke rose from the wide, old +chimney, and no light shone out a welcome to them from the crazy doors +or windows. The whole place was the picture of squalid discomfort and +neglect; yet this house was the nearest approach to a home that any of +these wretched men could ever expect to possess. For a life of danger, +discomfort, wickedness, and squalor, with an occasional spell of foul +indulgence and debauch, had these men outlawed themselves from the +society of their fellows. + +"Here we are, back again, minus two of our number, Pearson and Kearney, +but I expect Kearney will turn up again. I don't think he was hurt," +said Starlight, as the gang, having crossed what had once been the +paddock, passed through a gap in the rotting fence into the yard. + +"Yes, and a beastly hole it is to come back to," grumbled one of the +men. "Not a soul about the place, and not a spark of fire alight. I +wonder where that idiot Foster is." + +It was evident that the men were sullen and out of humour at the ill +success of their expedition, on which they had been absent for several +days. They dismounted in silence, and each man, after unsaddling his +horse, led it to a small paddock, the fence of which had been repaired +in a hasty, untidy way, and turned it loose. + +Starlight led Alec to the house, and kicking open the ill-hung door, +shouted out-- + +"Foster!" + +They were standing in a dark, close sort of passage, very unlike the +usual entrance to a Queensland squatter's house, and Alec could see +absolutely nothing but Starlight's black figure outlined against the +grey space of sky that feebly shone through the open doorway. Como had +followed him into the house, and he could feel the dog close by him. +The presence of the dog, which kept quite close to his master, was a +comfort to Alec; he could not feel quite alone as long as the faithful +creature was there to thrust his cold muzzle into his hand, or to lay +his great paw up on his knee from sheer love of companionship. Upon +Starlight calling out a second time, they heard some one moving in a +room close by them, then the sound of a match being struck, and the +next minute a door was thrown open, and a blowsy, dishevelled-looking +man appeared, holding a flaring tallow candle above his blinking eyes. + +"I didn't hear you. I was asleep. So you've got back, have you?" said +he, in a high, thin voice. + +"Bless the man! I should think you could see that for yourself. Look +alive now, we are all hungry, and want something to eat in less than no +time." + +Starlight led the way into the room as he spoke, and Alec followed, and +all the men speedily were collected there, for Australians do not +trouble themselves about grooming their horses or making them +comfortable. They soon had a fire blazing, for there was a stack of dry +wood in one corner of the room, and it was not unpleasant, though the +night was far from cold. Foster brought in damper and part of a sheep, +which some of the men proceeded to cut up and cook in a rough and ready +method at the fire. A short time served for this, and when it was +ready, Starlight turned to Alec with an air of the greatest politeness, +and said-- + +"May I offer you a little of your own mutton, Mr. Law? It comes from +Wandaroo, as we all of us prefer your strain of sheep to any other +about here. Not so large as some, but of a finer flavour." + +Although so sick at heart, and so thoroughly wretched, Alec could not +help smiling at the cool impudence of the man, and he accepted a piece +of his own sheep in a thankful spirit, for it was long since he had +eaten, and he was completely worn out. Directly that supper was +finished--it did not take Foster long to clear away--pipes were +lighted, and a small keg of whisky being brought out from underneath a +sort of rough side table, on which were piled the men's hats, pistols, +and whips, the men began to smoke and drink and, what they called, +"enjoy themselves." It appeared to Alec to be a poor sort of enjoyment +that they experienced, for there was a furtive look of watchfulness on +the faces of all of them, although they tried to hide this expression, +and to wear a look of ease. He could see this eager look intensified if +there were any unusual or sudden noise. Once when the faint sound of a +dog barking down at Lingan's was carried to them on the quiet night +air, two or three of the men sprang quickly to their feet and looked +out in a way that spoke plainly enough of the constant state of painful +strain their minds must be in. + +Very little more was said to Alec that night about the gold seeking he +was known to have been away upon. Starlight was trusting to Crosby's +powers of persuasion to get the information that he wished for from the +boy, so that he had not questioned him again himself. Since Crosby had +spoken his little message of friendship to Alec he had not dared to +talk to him again; he had, indeed, studiously avoided approaching him +so that the men might have no cause for suspicion. + +Although he tried hard to keep awake, nature was too strong for Alec, +as she is for all of us, and soon after he had ended his supper he +nodded where he sat. The grief and excitement that he had suffered that +day, and the enormous fatigue he had endured, had quite worn him out, +and he felt that if his life depended upon it he could not keep awake. +Wetch, whose gloomy face was brightened for a time by the combined +influence of whisky and tobacco, was the first to notice Alec's +condition, and in, for him, a not unkind voice, he said-- + +"That chap there, Law, 'll be rollin' over into the fire before long if +he don't go and lie down. Where shall we putt him, Boss?" + +"'E can hev' my room on t'other side of the pessage," said one of the +men, a little fellow, sallow and thin, whom they called "the cobbler," +or "snob," indiscriminately. + +"Thank you," said Starlight, in his most affable tone, "but I prefer to +have that rather slippery young gentleman under my own eye. You can +have that corner of the room if you like," said he, turning to Alec, +who was blinking like an owl. "There is a blanket there, and perhaps +you will excuse us going on with our conversation." + +The poor lad was only too glad to accept this offer, and rising from +the overturned box on which he had been sitting, he stumbled across the +room to the corner that Starlight indicated, and throwing himself down +on the dirty blanket which was lying there, he instantly fell into a +profound, deep sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +CROSBY ACCOUNTS FOR HIMSELF. + + +It was broad daylight when Alec awoke; the sun was pouring a brilliant +flood of light into the room through the broken, unscreened window, and +he could hear the loud "chirring" of the locusts outside in the morning +heat. The room he was in looked even dirtier and more miserable than it +had appeared the night before. The floor could not have been cleaned +for years, and dust lay thick upon everything that was not in constant +use. The white wood table was unscoured, and was littered with bones +and crumbs and fragments of stale food. Foster sometimes swept all +these remains with his dirty hand on to the floor, but as yet, this +morning, he had neglected to do so. A greasy old newspaper that was +crumpled and torn with use was lying on the floor, where one of the men +had let it fall the night before; and a rusty candlestick, that was +clogged with tallow, was standing at the edge of the table where the +reader had left it when he rolled to bed. The frowsy hammock in which +Starlight had slept was empty, the draggled blue blanket he had used +was hanging over the side. Besides Alec there was no one in the room. + +For half a moment, when he first awoke, he did not recognise the place +he was in, but sitting up and looking round the uncleanly, slovenly +room, with a shudder of disgust at his surroundings, he remembered only +too vividly where he was. He got up and found a battered galvanised +iron bucket full of water at the other side of the hearth, and at this, +taking off his tattered shirt, he proceeded, without soap or towels, to +wash himself. He had moved into the stream of hot sunshine that poured +into the room to dry himself, and with bended head was shaking the +water out of his hair in a little dazzling shower of spots, when the +creaking door was opened and Martin Crosby stepped into the room. + +"Oh, you are awake at last?" said the great genial red-faced fellow, +walking across the room and slapping Alec on his naked back. "I've been +in to look at you once or twice, and each time found you sleeping like +a top." + +"Yes, awake and hungry." + +"All right, put your jumper on, and I'll get you something. We can have +a talk while you are eating." + +"Where are Starlight and the other fellows?" said Alec, struggling into +his shirt, which clung to his damp skin. + +"They are down at Lingan's, and won't be back just yet. They left +Foster and me to keep our eyes on you, so that you could not give us +the slip." + +"That's just what I want to do. You will help me, won't you?" said poor +Alec, almost trembling with eagerness. "Remember your promise of last +night." + +"Yes, I'll help you to clear out of this vile den if I possibly can do +it. Heaven knows how willingly I would get out of it myself," said +Crosby, earnestly. + +"Leave with me, then," whispered Alec, grasping his arm. + +"I can't. It's no use. I'm in with them too deep. If I did leave +there's nothing I could turn my hand to, and nowhere that I could go. +I'm done for. You don't know me I can see. I'm the man that did for +Squiros down in Brisbane. But I'd do it again, without a moment's +hesitation, if I saw that villain serving that poor woman as he did +before." + +"No, I don't know anything about it. Who was Squiros?" + +"He was a low, South American sort of Spanish cove, who was mate to a +ship from Rio. I met him at Ridley's. What! don't you know Ridley's? +Then it is evident you don't know Brisbane--and none the worse for +that," he added _sotto voce_. "Well, we had one or two bits of rows; he +was always bumming round there and bossing everybody; and then one +night I saw him striking a pretty, decent girl, from Troman's store in +Wood Street, that I knew, so I ran up and caught him one with the stick +I carried. I didn't mean to hit the little beast so hard, but I was +angry, and had a drop on board, and the chap fell down without a word +at my feet. + +"I tried to bring him round, but he never stirred a muscle. I should +have faced it out if I'd been by myself, but Annie was in an awful +fright, and lugged me away when the folks began to come up. I got out +of Brisbane that night, and had the bad luck to drop in with Kearney--I +used to know him years ago--and I told him all about it, and he brought +me up here to be out of the way. It served that little brute right, but +I can't forget his ghastly face as he fell under the street lamp. + +"If it weren't for that I'd have cut this concern as soon as I found +out who and what Starlight was. But I'm tied here; wherever I went +every one would know that I was Squiros' murderer." + +During the last few words, unseen by either of the two men, Foster had +been standing by the door that Crosby had left partly open when he came +into the room. He had heard all the last words of Crosby's self +accusation, and, perhaps feeling sorry for the evident distress of the +young fellow, or perhaps moved by that desire to be the first to tell a +startling piece of news, which we all feel, he said with a loud laugh-- + +"Well, you must be a fool to believe that any longer. Why, that Squiros +chap is as well as you are, and is 'alf-way back to Rio by this time. +We knew it three days a'ter you came 'ere, but Starlight told us not to +let on about it as he wanted to keep you in our lot." + +With clenched great fists and indrawn breath Crosby listened to +Foster's story. His ruddy face flushed redder, but the hardened, +reckless look upon it passed away. + +"Thank Heaven!" he uttered brokenly and fervently, and his eyes for a +moment grew dim. As Foster, still laughing at the credulity and +simplicity of the fellow, left the room with the saddle and bridle he +had come for, Crosby turned to Alec with a great sigh of relief, and +said-- + +"Then I'm not a murderer;" he laughed an excited sort of laugh as he +spoke, and his face brightened. "What a weight that man has taken from +my heart. All these two last weeks I have felt utterly hard and +reckless, and I didn't care a jot what I did or what became of me. +Confound you, Starlight," said he, bitterly, and bringing his fist down +on the table with a sounding crash, "I'll not forget this." + +"Hush!" said Alec, moving round to where Crosby sat. "Don't speak so +loudly; there's no knowing, in this den of thieves, who may be +listening. I am glad of this for your sake," said he, laying his hand +warmly on the other fellow's shoulder, and giving him a little +congratulatory shake by it. "For my sake, too, for you will try to get +away with me, now. Won't you?" + +Crosby nodded and looked up. His face was wonderfully changed in +expression in the last few minutes. The strained, uneasy expression +that was visible behind the dare-devil recklessness of it was gone, and +even the anxiety that was still apparent in it looked less hard and +corrosive. + +"I don't know how it is to be done," he said, "but we will try. +Starlight, confound him, is so sharp. Whatever you do, be careful +before him." + +"If I could only let them know at Wandaroo where I was they might send +help." + +"That would be no good, I fear. Starlight is not one to be taken +unawares, he'd get to know of it. Besides, in the first place, it is +impossible to send any message." + +"If I could only let them know that I was alive I shouldn't care. I +have a mother and sister, and they will be breaking their hearts at +their double loss. I know Margaret----" + +"_Margaret!_ Is Margaret Law your sister--a beautiful, tall, dark girl? +What an idiot I've been; why of course she is, you are very like her." + +"Have you ever seen my sister?" asked Alec, with the utmost +astonishment. + +"Yes," said the great fellow, blushing a rosy red, like any girl; "many +times last year at my uncle's house." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Alec, a sudden light bursting upon him. +"Then you are old Peter Crosby's nephew!" + +"Yes. I used to live with him. He adopted me when I was a lad, but he +has turned me out since then; he said he couldn't afford to keep me any +longer; I ate too much." + +"Miserly old brute! Why he is as rich as Croesus." + +"He was quite right, poor old chap," said Crosby, with that tenderness +which the very strong and healthy often have for the old and weak. "I +have been an awful fool, and haven't lived as decently as I might. He +is old now, and couldn't bear to see me squandering my money, although +it was my own; he thought I should be asking him for more when mine was +all gone. So he turned me out before that time came. He was very good +to me when I was a little un." + +Whilst Alec was talking with Crosby, Como, having made a little tour of +inspection round the house on his own account, came into the room, and +seeing food on the table and no one very near it he thought he could +not do better than help himself. This he could easily do, as he stood +so high that his head was above the level of the table. Having +demolished the food, that in his excitement Alec had hardly touched, +the dog approached his master, looking, but for a crumb on the side of +his mouth, the picture of canine innocence. With a sideway wriggle of +his hind quarters, and with a preliminary wave--it was too stately a +movement to be called a wag--of his tail, he laid his head on Alec's +knee. + +Alec always respected dogs' feelings--which are much more acute than +most people think--so he noticed the dog, and, without interrupting his +talk with Crosby, he caressed Como's tawny head and ears. He was +listening to his companion, yet all the time there was a mental picture +before him of Como's master lying unburied by that charred black stump, +and exposed to the garish sunlight. He could not forget his loss, it +was too recent, and the pain of it too keen; the events of the last +night seemed burned into his mind in a series of indelible pictures. +Suddenly an idea flashed into his mind, and leaping up from his seat, +he exclaimed-- + +"Can you get me a bit of paper and ink or pencil?" + +"Whatever for?" asked Crosby, surprised by Alec's abrupt movement, and +by the earnestness of his face and voice. + +"Como will take a message." + +"And who in the name of fate is Como?" + +"This dog here. Hundreds of times has Geordie--my brother," Alec +explained in a voice that shook though he tried to keep it steady, +"sent him home to the head station with messages from all parts of the +run. He might find his way from here. Anyway it is a chance. Eh, Como, +will you?" said Alec. + +The dog knew that they were speaking of him, and with ears pricked up +and inquiring eyes, he looked at Alec as though waiting for an +explanation. + +It was with difficulty that Crosby could find what they wanted, but at +last he discovered, on the decrepit side table, which was littered with +bridles, foul empty bottles, odd bits of iron and straps and rubbish of +all sorts, a stockman's dusty pocket-book, in which there were a few +unused pages, and with a stump of pencil still fastened in it by the +sticky and worn elastic band. + +"Here we are!" said he, bringing these trophies in triumph to Alec. +"You must look sharp, for I expect they will be coming back directly." + +For a moment Alec sat quite still without putting pencil to paper; he +had so much to say that he didn't know where to begin. At last he began +to write swiftly. He looked up, after a minute or two, at Crosby, who +was leaning out of the window, whistling softly to himself, and said-- + +"How am I to tell them where I am? I can't describe this place." + +"Oh, say Norton's Gap, south of the Dixieville road, just after you +have passed by Badger's Creek. Tell them to ask for Lingan's. Most +people know where that is, though it is out of the way and few come to +it." + +For a moment or two the stump of pencil rapidly travelled over the +paper, and then again Alec paused. + +"I don't know what is best to be done. They can't send enough men after +me to capture Starlight and all the rest, for, not counting you, of +course, there are seven of them including Foster." + +"Yes, and probably Lingan and his son would help them, and Lingan's +son's wife, too, Big Eliza, who rather likes Starlight, and who is a +regular Tartar, and nearly six feet high into the bargain. I can't +think why a man, when he does want to marry, chooses a woman like a +grenadier with a head of hair like a bearskin." + +Alec could not help smiling at this pleasant portrait of Mrs. Lingan, +junior, for Martin had a very dry and humorous way of saying things. + +"I don't like the idea of sneaking off without a bit of a row with +them," said Alec, who was still longing for vengeance; "but I suppose +that we must as they are so strong. If I could only have it out with +Starlight I shouldn't so much mind." + +"You must look on that as a pleasure deferred. Now, then, have you got +that letter ready?" + +"Yes. I have told them to try to communicate with me through you. I've +said that to-morrow night at eleven o'clock you will be on the track +that leads from the Dixieville road to Lingan's. I have said what you +are like. I expect old Macleod, our manager, will come, and you and he +may be able to concoct a plan. I don't think I can say any more." + +"Come on, then." + +"Will you do it?" + +"Do it! of course." + +Alec called Como, who was sitting on his haunches in the sun idly +snapping at the flies which buzzed about him, and with a bit of frayed +string that Crosby produced from his pocket, he tied the all-important +letter round the neck of the dog. He folded the paper as small as +possible, and placed it underneath the dog's neck, and hid the string +in the hair of his neck, where it was longer and thicker than +elsewhere. + +"I don't think Starlight will see that." + +"Not unless he stops him." + +"Oh, he won't do that if Como once gets a start." + +They took the dog to the front of the house, and Alec, pointing towards +Wandaroo, tried to start him off. But the dog did not seem to +understand; in vain Alec said, "Home, Como," "Home, then," "Good dog," +"Go home," any one of which would have been enough from Geordie. He was +in despair about it, for the dog would not leave him, and he could +conceive no other plan of communicating with the station. At last +Crosby came to his rescue with a suggestion. + +"Try to make him go back to your brother. He may know what you mean +when he hears his name." + +It was hard for poor Alec to say it, believing, as he did, that his +brother was lying dead in the trampled grass where he had fallen the +night before, but he remembered how much was at stake, and manfully +controlling his voice, he spoke again to the dog, who was looking up at +him wistfully. + +"Hi, then, Como. Home. Take that to Geordie." + +It almost seemed that he did recognise the name, for with a quick, +short bark, and an intelligent flourish of the tail, he started off to +Wandaroo. + +Very anxiously they watched the dog, as with his long stride he quickly +covered the ground, though he appeared to be trotting so easily. He +travelled at the same easy pace, and without looking back, till he came +to the corner which hid Lingan's house and buildings from the place +where they stood. Here the dog suddenly made a bolt of it, and rushing +madly along was out of their sight in a moment. They could hear the +noise of several men shouting, and then the sharp crack of a pistol +shot. Alec turned pale and bit his lip, and looked to Crosby for +confirmation of his fears. + +"They've seen him, the brutes, and tried to stop him by force, as they +failed to do it by persuasion. He may have got off. We must go in. +Don't let Starlight see us here. And try not to look so anxious." + +They returned to the house, and a moment or two later Starlight and two +of the other men came into the room. In a perfectly natural manner, and +with rather a complaining tone in his voice, Crosby said-- + +"What a time you have been. I thought you were never coming back again. +I don't want to be boxed up here all day." + +"We wanted to see what Lingan had got for those bullocks for us, and it +took some time to settle up." + +"What bullocks?" + +"Some that strayed up here, and whose marks we couldn't make out," said +one of the men. + +"Don't be a fool, Evans. Why, some bullocks that we drove off from +Sheridan's station, all the marks on which we got rid of. But it was +before you joined us, Crosby, so you don't get any of the plunder," +said Starlight. + +"What was that shot I heard just now?" asked Crosby, in an incidental +manner. + +With what sickening anxiety Alec awaited Starlight's answer! He almost +feared to listen, yet he could hardly breathe till he heard what was +Como's fate. + +"Oh, just as we were coming out of Lingan's yard we saw that dog, that +great beast of yours, Law, trotting calmly off. We called to it, but +that made it start off at full rush, so I lugged out my snapper and let +fly at it." + +"Well?" said Martin. + +"Why, the brute got away. He was going too quick, I think. But it +doesn't matter. We don't want a great hulking brute of that sort about +the place. He would eat as much as any two men." + +When Starlight so lightly dismissed the matter, he little knew what +momentous results to him and his gang depended upon that "hulking +brute" getting safely away. Alec breathed freely again when he heard +that Como had managed to give them the slip, and Martin could not +prevent a faint smile flickering in his sunny face. Starlight noticed +it, and said-- + +"What are you grinning at, Crosby?" + +"At my own thoughts, which are distinctly comic." + +"Well, don't keep the joke to yourself." + +"Ah, that's the funny part of it. _You_ wouldn't think it at all +amusing." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +COMO'S ERRAND. + + +Although the heat was great, for the sky was cloudless, and the shade, +where there was any, inviting and cool, Alec's trusty messenger tarried +not for rest or coolness. He seemed to know the importance of the news +he carried, for he trotted along without a pause. The only time that +Como had travelled that way had been the night before, but with that +unerring instinct, which we can so little understand, he made straight +for Wandaroo. Except once, to drink at a little cattle-trampled pool +which the recent rains had partly filled, he never stopped till he +reached the head station, where he arrived dusty, foot-sore, and +panting, about two hours after he left Norton's Gap. + +Dogs generally seem to possess a keen sense of duty, a quality which +is, unfortunately, only too often wanting in man, the nobler animal; +and Como made no fuss, and took no credit to himself for this arduous +morning's work, knowing that, after all, he had only done what he +ought. Mankind, on the other hand, which will not admit the extent of +its moral obligations, generally greatly plumes itself when it does +occasionally recognise one of its bounden responsibilities, never +thinking for a moment that the virtuous action which it considers it +has done is really an imperative duty. + +Como, who was a privileged animal, made straight for the large general +room of the house, and without being seen by any one, entered the door. +Finding the room quite silent and empty, he passed carefully out +between the muslin curtains on to the sunny boards of the broad +verandah. He looked up and down it, but finding that it was as +unoccupied as the room, he turned, and pattering along the planks, ran +to the kitchen. + +Mrs. Beffling, the cook, was standing over the fire, screening her hot, +red face from the blaze with a tin plate, cooking something nourishing +for the patient, and being intent upon her work, as a good cook should +be, she did not observe the presence of the dog. But Como, thinking it +was time that some one noticed him, lifted a paw and laid it on her +dress. The good woman looked down, and recognising the missing dog, she +dropped the tin plate with a crash upon the floor, and lifting up her +hands, opened her mouth preparatory to a good scream, but remembering +the instructions given that morning by the doctor she snapped her jaws +together again before a sound had had time to come out. + +Taking the little saucepan from the fire, and placing it carefully on +the hob of home-made bricks by the side of the grate, she waddled from +the kitchen along the cool, dark passage to the door of the boys' room. +There she softly knocked, and Margaret came out. + +"Ho! come into the kitching, miss, I've had sich a turn," Here the good +old creature thought it would be "genteel-like" to appear faint, so she +tottered and gave a gasp. + +"Now, Beffy, don't be an old silly. What is it?" + +"Ho, miss, Como've come back." + +"No! Where is he?" said Margaret, coming out and quietly closing the +door behind her. + +"He were in the kitching, miss, a minnut ago. I were standin' over the +fire a hottin' up that bought beef-tea, miss, which it do not compare +to mine, though I says it as shouldn't. For my _best_ beef-tea, which +I'm sure I should make for poor dear Master George, is as stiff as glue +when cold, and almost gums the lips together when took hot. I learnt +how to make it in England, miss, when I was kitching maid, under a aunt +of mine who was cook, at Kepton Park, wheer the Honrabble _and_ +Reverent Mr.----" + +"Yes, yes, but what about Como?" + +"Ho, to be sure; Como, of course, yes, miss. I were a-standin' over the +fire a-hottin'----" + +"Oh, you've told me that before." + +"When in leaps Como as bold as brass, and he jumps up agen me, he do, +as though to say like 'Beffling, I'm clemmed.'" + +This was rather a stretch of imagination on the part of the worthy old +soul, but she was so excited that she could not help a little +exaggeration, which was quite harmless she thought, and made the story +so much more interesting. + +However, there was Como true enough when they reached the kitchen, and +glad was he to see Margaret when she came in. He had taken a drink of +water from one of the tins in the kitchen, and then had stretched +himself at full length in his old place beneath the table under the +window. He sprang up when he saw Margaret, and rushed to her, and the +girl, with tears in her eyes, knelt down on the floor and fondled the +dog. They made a very pretty picture, Mrs. Beffling thought, as she +stood with her bare red arms akimbo, and her head on one side looking +at them. + +"Poor old Como, how hot and tired you are. Have you come from Alec?" +said the poor girl, with tears in her voice. "Oh! Alec, Alec, where are +you? If you could only tell us, Como, if he be alive and where he is. +We are in such trouble, doggie." She laid her arms round Como's neck +and wiped away upon his smooth forehead a great tear from her cheek. +The dog tried to lick her face, forgetting for a moment, it is to be +feared, the letter round his neck, in his chivalrous efforts to comfort +beauty in distress. Poor Geordie was quite right, Como had the feelings +of a true gentleman. + +Suddenly Margaret felt the folded bit of paper that was tied under +Como's neck. In a voice that rang with excitement, she cried out-- + +"Give me a knife! quick, quick!" + +"Lawks! miss, what for?" said Mrs. Beffling, starting. "You isn't going +to kill the dog, sureli!" + +"Don't be a donkey," said Margaret, holding out her hand, and +forgetting all her boarding-school manners in her excitement. + +"No, miss, for sure," replied the cook, snatching a knife from the +table and handing it to her. + +"Stand still," said Margaret, trembling with eagerness, as she slipped +her forefinger under the string and raised it from the dog's neck. She +sawed the string through, and, with fingers that shook so from +nervousness that she could hardly untie the knots, she at last opened +the letter and spread it out. She did not rise, but kneeling where she +was on the floor, with the light from the kitchen window pouring on to +her flushed cheek, she read the letter:-- + + "DEAREST MOTHER,-- + + "I don't know how much you know of what has happened to us. Murri + may have told you if he got off. If you know nothing prepare + yourself for a great trouble. We had almost got home last night + when we were set on by bushrangers and (I don't know how to tell + you, it is so terrible) Geordie, when I was away from him for a + minute, was thrown from his horse and killed. I feel as though it + were my fault, though I don't think I could have helped it if I had + been close by. I am just heartbroken, and if it were not for you + and Maggie I should not care if I never came back. You are all I + have now. Crosby says I must make haste; he is a fellow here who is + helping me. I am kept by Starlight at a place called Norton's Gap, + which lies south of the Dixieville road, directly after you have + passed Badger's Creek. Crosby says ask for Lingan's. This place is + close to Lingan's. Let Macleod, or some one, be on the path between + the Dixieville road and Lingan's to-morrow night at eleven to try + and arrange things. Crosby will be there. He is a big, handsome + fellow, with a yellow beard and hair, and clear blue eyes. You will + easily know him." + +Ah! Margaret, Margaret, what makes you start in that way? You would +blush if any one were looking at you now; as it is, you grow pale. + + "Let the police at Bateman know where Starlight is; they will be + here soon enough then. This is the last bit of paper I have got. I + myself am quite well and unhurt. Would it were Geordie instead. He + was worth a dozen of me. If you have not found him he is lying by + that split gum we burnt, just beyond the Dip. I killed the man that + knocked Geordie off his horse. Don't agree to any ransom for me. + Crosby says Starlight will try it on. + + ALEC." + +All the last few lines were so cramped and crowded together that +Margaret could hardly make their meaning out. But she did at last, and +letting her hands, still holding the letter, sink idly into her lap, +she stayed where she was without moving and deep in thought. It was the +clattering of horses into the yard that made her look up, and the next +instant Yesslett dashed into the kitchen. + +"How is he now, Mrs. Beffling?" he whispered, as though his voice would +disturb Geordie at the other end of the house. "What did the--oh, +Margaret, I didn't see you. What did the doctor say? How long was he +here?" + +"He got here at seven, just after you and Balchin started out with +Murri and Baluderree. He says it was concussion of the brain, but that +if we keep him quite quiet he will soon get all right. It was the +greatest wonder, he says, that he was not killed straight off." + +"Has he gone?" + +"Yes, he has told mother what to do, and he has been gone half an hour. +Macleod has gone with him to tell the police all about it, and to make +them try to find Alec, but we don't know whether they are at Bateman or +Parra-parra." + +"Ah! poor old Alec, we shall have to think about him now that Geordie +is going on all right. If we only knew where he was we wouldn't wait +for the police. We can't trace them, Margaret, beyond the Dixieville +road. Murri and that other black boy from the camp easily tracked them +that far, and then we lost them; a mob of cattle had passed along early +this morning or last night and trampled out every hoof mark." + +"Never mind, Yess; this will tell you where he is," said Margaret, +rising and holding out the letter. "Como brought it just now. Make +haste and read it. I must go and tell mother." + +Yesslett read the letter with many little muttered expressions of +astonishment and sympathy. What he said when he ended it and handed the +crumpled paper to Margaret was very characteristic of him. + +"Look here, Margaret. Macleod may be away a day or two, and even then +may not bring the police with him. I can't bear to think of Alec eating +his heart out and believing that Geordie is dead, whilst all the time +he is alive and getting better every hour. I shall go and let him know +that we are working for him, and that Geordie is alive." + +"But, Yesslett, it will be running such a risk." + +"Not if I go alone," said the boy, shrewdly. "In the first place, they +can't know that Alec has sent the letter to us, and they will think +that one--er--_man_ would never trust himself with them alone. I shall +be all right, never fear." + +He spoke boldly, though modestly, and the light that glowed in his +steady eyes said more than his words. He had not, however, quite got +rid of a trick of his old nervous manner, that of rubbing the palm of +his hand on the back of his breeches. This he still did when greatly +moved or excited. + +"We ought to speak to mother about it." + +"No, don't say anything to her. She has enough on her mind without +another responsibility. I shall go on my own hook." + +"It is good of you to do all this for us. You are going into danger for +our sakes, Chevalier. At any rate, take my advice in this. Don't go in +those clean breeches and shirt. Make yourself look dirty and more like +a station hand, so that if any of the bushrangers do see you they won't +want to stick you up, and you can go to that place near Norton's +Gap--what does Alec call it?--as though you wanted a job." + +"That's not a bad idea, Margaret." + +"You won't be going just yet. I want to see you before you start to +send a message to Alec. It will be no use your getting there before +evening. I must go now. Beffy, see that Mr. Yesslett has a good +breakfast, he has had nothing to-day. And get something for Balchin at +the same time." Saying this, with the letter in one hand and the little +saucepan of beef-tea in the other, Margaret left the kitchen very +thoughtfully. + +"Yes, miss, for sure. I likes to see men eat well, and you must be +keen, Master Yesslett. Draw up t' table--if y' likes to wait I'll get a +cloth. Begin a' the bread 'n' butter whiles I poach 'e a couple of +eggs. I knows how y' like 'em, not hard, but set like. Then I'll have a +chop down in a brace o' shakes, as my aunt used t' say. There, there, +begin, then. Don't sit a thinking; nothin' 'll come out o' your head if +y' put nothing into y' stomach." + +"I've got a great deal to think of," said Yesslett, looking up, with a +smile at her quaintness. "There is Alec in the hands of the +bushrangers, and only me to get him out." + +"Ah, an' fine an' hungry he'll be, I'll be bound. But you won't help +him by refusin' y' vittle, so here's th' eggs to go on with, an' if the +sizzlin' o' them chops don't give you a appetite for 'em, I don't know +what will." + +"Tell Balchin to come in, then. He's as hungry as I am." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +YESSLETT'S ADVENTURE. + + +Yesslett did not start for several hours after he had formed the +resolution of riding to Alec's assistance. He made inquiries from +different people about the station, and found that he could easily ride +to Norton's Gap in two hours and a half, and as he did not wish to +arrive there much before sunset, he waited till the long, slow +afternoon had passed its prime. He had taken Margaret's advice, and had +changed his clothes for old and very shabby ones; he had found an old +hat, that looked disreputable even in that part, where new ones were a +rarity, and with this flapping a limp and torn brim over his forehead, +and with burst and ragged boots, long innocent of blacking, he looked +in as poor a plight as any out-of-work lad could do, and as little like +the clean and fairly well-clad Yesslett Dudley as it was possible for +him to appear. + +There was one thing he had determined to do, of the advisability of +which he was not fully convinced, and that was to take Alec's horse +Amber with him. He knew he could not ride the chestnut himself, for the +spirited creature would never let any one but Alec mount him, so he +intended leading it by the bridle. His reason for this resolution was +hardly plain to himself, but he had some half-formed idea in his brain +of possibly managing an escape for his cousin, and he knew that Amber +would be invaluable in any such attempt, could he only succeed in +getting Alec away for a moment from the men who detained him. Yesslett +had no definite plan in his mind when he resolved to take this second +horse; he was trusting, in a very boyish manner, to that good fortune +which it is so difficult for the young to believe does not always await +them. It was this blind confidence that "something would turn up" which +prompted his action, and trusting implicitly to Providence, though at +the same time with a certain belief in himself, he set out on his +Quixotic errand. + +Yesslett travelled quietly, wishing to keep his horses as fresh as +possible on the chance of his requiring their services that night. He +followed the same route that he had passed over in the morning when +tracking the bushrangers, and struck the Dixieville road very near the +place where Alec had turned on to it the night before. The road was +very little used since the dwindling township of Dixieville had gone +down in the scale, and at that hour it was quite deserted. Yesslett +had, however, carefully primed himself with instructions before he left +Wandaroo, and keeping to the road till he came to what he thought, from +the descriptions of it given to him, must be Badger's Creek, he turned +southward by the side of the shadowy gulch and rode boldly on towards +the dark, wild stretch of bush before him. There was no definite road +to Norton's Gap and Lingan's, but the frequent passage of the +bushrangers' horses and the marks of the Lingan's carts and cattle had +formed a sort of track which was indistinct and broad over the more +open ground, but which narrowed in again to something bearing the +semblance to a path when the way lay through the uncleared bush. + +It was nearly sunset by the time that Yesslett had come to the edge of +the last belt of bush. He could see the rambling and ill-kept building +of the Lingan's station from there, and knew that he had arrived at the +end of the first stage of his work. What lay beyond he could not tell; +it all depended on chance; he would have to adapt his plans to +circumstances. He felt that he was pitting himself against an unknown +force, but he believed, as indeed seemed probable, that his very +insignificance would be his security. No one would believe that a boy +would thus attempt to challenge, single handed, Starlight and all his +band. Yesslett himself was quite aware of his own weakness, and that +was where his strength lay; he knew that to attempt an appeal to force +would be ridiculous, and that his only chance of success in getting +Alec away lay in craftiness and cunning. + +He did not leave the shelter of the trees and undergrowth of the bush, +by which he was quite screened from observation from the house, but +directly he saw the buildings he turned to the left and leading his +horses into the thicknesses of the bush he fastened them both securely +to the trunk of a tree. Both horses had been trained to stand quite +still, without pulling at the bridle or endeavouring to get away, when +fastened in this manner, and as Yesslett had let them drink only a +short time back, and as he had been wise enough to bring a feed of +maize--a luxury they rarely got--for each horse, he felt sure that they +would remain there quietly enough, at any rate, for an hour or two. He +carefully marked the position of the tree to which he had tied the +horses, even walking to it several times from the path so that he might +make quite sure of finding it at night. At last he was satisfied that +he could not mistake the place, and putting on a bold front he left the +bush and stepped out into the open ground that lay between it and +Lingan's. + +Yesslett remembered that Alec had said in his letter that the house he +was kept at was close to Lingan's, and as he wanted to reach the former +place he began to look about him for Lingan's buildings. He could see +no sign of a house except the one before him, and he thought he should +have, after all, to go to the door and ask. The place looked deserted; +he could see no sign of any one about the house or yard, a mildewed +look of sloth and neglect lay upon everything; and instead of being +alive with all the usual busy sounds of station life the whole place +seemed asleep. Yesslett had approached within a hundred yards of the +fence, which enclosed what had once been the garden, when he saw a +faint path that seemed to lead along the little valley between the +hills at the back of Lingan's. Thinking that this might take him to the +place he sought, he turned aside, leaving the buildings on his left, +and began to follow this track. + +It was not very long before he saw, as he ascended the valley, the +house for which he was searching, and without waiting to think what his +line of action would be he walked calmly towards it. It must be owned +that there was a very quickly beating heart beneath this quiet +exterior; but Yesslett had made up his mind to see the inside of that +ugly tumbledown dwelling, for he felt convinced that that was where his +cousin was kept prisoner, and he was more determined than before, now +that he was actually on the spot, to get him out some way or another. + +There were several men lounging about outside the house with that +appearance of weariness which idleness produces when time hangs heavily +upon one's hands. They were leaning against the house on the posts of +the old fence, as though the exertion of standing up was more than they +could manage. They spoke a word to each other now and then without +moving their short pipes from between their teeth. They watched with +interest the dusty and rather ragged looking boy as he walked towards +them, for visitors to this place were rare; and in their state of +tedium and weariness any interruption was welcome. They did not say +anything to Yesslett till he approached quite close to them, but they +looked at him fixedly; and he found their deliberate scrutiny rather +embarrassing, but his appearance must have remained natural enough as +nothing about him seemed to strike them as curious. When he had come +quite near to them, one of the men, who was sitting on a stump of wood +by the side of the door, leaning forward with his elbows on his parted +knees, and his hands lightly clasped before him, said to him-- + +"Well, young Ugly, what d' you want at this shanty?" + +"Is this Lingan's?" said Yesslett by way of answer. + +"No, this ain't Lingan's. This yere do--main is Star----" + +"Now, then, don't be a fool," interrupted another of the men in a surly +voice, turning his head fiercely towards the first speaker. + +"Fool yerself, Wetch! I ain't said nothing." + +"No, but you was just a-goin' to," said Wetch, in the same savage +voice. "No, this ain't Lingan's. This is Brown's run, this is, and old +Brown's out just now. You must a' passed Lingan's to get 'ere." + +"Does _he_ want a boy? I couldn't see any one stirring down below +there," said Yesslett, with a backward nod of his head. + +"No, he don't want a boy, so you can clear," said Wetch, drawing his +dirty pipe from his dry, cracked lips, and making a wave with it in the +direction of the valley. + +"Well, do you know any one about here who is in want of a lad?" said +Yesslett, as loudly as he dare, on the chance of Alec's hearing and +recognising his voice. + +"What are you yellin' at--I ain't deaf?" + +"No, but you are very stupid," said a rich voice from the doorway; and +looking up Yesslett saw Starlight, with a folded paper in his hand, +standing on the lintel. "What is that you want, boy? Here, come into +the house, there's a light there; it is getting so dark outside that I +can't see you." + +Thus, in the easiest manner in the world, Yesslett gained the first +step of his purpose. He followed Starlight into the room and cast a +rapid glance around it. There was only one tallow candle burning on the +table, at which Starlight had been writing, but the room was not very +dark, for although dusk had fallen, the warm glow from the sunset sky +still lingered there. He could see that Alec either had not heard his +voice or had not recognised it, for he did not look up as he came into +the room, but sat, with one leg tucked up under him on the rough bench +leaning dejectedly at the side of the table. + +As Yesslett followed Starlight into the room he managed, unseen by the +bushranger, to grasp Alec's forearm firmly to attract his attention, +and under cover of Starlight's voice, who was speaking to him, he +stooped down as swift as a swallow, and breathed so faint a whisper +into Alec's ear that he barely caught it-- + +"Geordie is all right." + +So utterly surprised was Alec at finding Yesslett in the room, so +astonished at the suddenness of it, and so overjoyed at the glorious +news that that faint whisper conveyed to him, that he could not repress +a start and an ejaculation of wonder. + +"What's that?" said Starlight, sharply. + +"I didn't speak," said Yess, innocently. + +"Let me look at you," said Starlight, taking the candle from the table +and holding it above Yesslett's face. "I think I can give you a bit of +a job if you are honest. I am always most particular about employing +honest people only." Here Starlight winked exquisitely, with the eye +that was hidden from Yesslett, at some of the men who had come into the +room. "Are you honest?" + +Now Yesslett was the soul of fun, he never could resist a joke, and +now, although in the very hands of as murderous a gang of fellows as +was ever gathered together, the thought of giving Starlight a home +thrust was to his mind so exquisitely comic as to be quite +irresistible. Looking as innocent as a babe, he gazed straight into +Starlight's eyes and said, without a flicker of a smile-- + +"Honest! I hope so, as such things go. I am poor, so perhaps I haven't +the same honesty as you and these other gentlemen have, who have horses +and dollars too, but honesty enough to prevent me wanting to steal 'em. +Is that honest enough, sir?" + +Alec sat perfectly aghast at Yesslett's impudence and temerity; but +Starlight only broke out into a peal of his beautiful, irresistible +laughter, and turning to Crosby, said-- + +"That is a nasty jar for such of us as have consciences--you and me, +for instance, Crosby." Then turning to Yesslett, he said, "You can earn +a supper and a shilling by taking this letter to that house just down +below there. If they ask you where you got it, you must say that a man +met you on the Dixieville road and gave it you, and paid you for taking +it to Lingan's." + +"Oh! but he didn't, you know--you gave it me," said Yesslett, looking +exceedingly simple. + +"Poor but honest!" said Starlight, in a theatrical tone, to the five +or six guffawing fellows in the room. "Gentlemen, behold what you, +_perhaps_, were once. A long time ago," added he, in a half whisper. +"My boy, these scruples do you credit; but let me point out to you that +you will be my paid agent, my representative, and that if there be any +slight falsehood about it," here he gave a little sigh, and gently +shook his head, "mine alone will be the blame, and I alone will +undertake to bear the consequences. One or two extra are of little +consequence to me," whispered he to the man who was nearest to him. + +"All right," said Yesslett, who began to enjoy playing his part now +that he saw how well it was going. "Where is the shilling?" + +"Oh, the sophistication of the youth of this generation!" said +Starlight, with mock melancholy, as he produced the shilling from his +pocket. "I have observed that these honest folk are always the most +doubtful of others' honesty. Excuse me, I must shut my eyes--it is too +painful; I feel convinced that this simple child of nature is about to +ring that sterling coin." + +"I always bites them," said Yesslett, with a countrified grin, and +suiting the action to the word. + +"This is appalling. So young and yet so full of guile. It looks as +though you were doubtful of my character," said Starlight, in a voice +as of one pained and surprised at any such insinuation. + +"Oh, no, sir," said Yess, shaking his head in an innocent puzzled +manner, but enjoying his own double meaning with the keenest zest, "I'm +not doubtful of it at all." + +One or two of the men, who were of a humorous turn, roared with +laughing at this keen thrust, which was all the more delightful at +coming from so innocent and simple a lad as Yesslett appeared to be, +and Starlight joined heartily in the laughter, and said-- + +"Take the simpleton away before he makes me ill." + +"I don't see nothin' t' laff at," said Wetch. "Give the boy his supper +and let him go." + +"'Tis excellent advice, most learned Wetch," said Starlight; and then +turning to Kearney, who had rejoined them that morning, he added, "but +it appears, in Wetch's case, at any rate, that 'mirth dwelleth not with +wisdom.' That boy would be a fortune to us, Kearney, with that innocent +face of his." + +"Ah, but it would so soon change!" + +At which both worthies laughed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +ESCAPE FROM NORTON'S GAP. + + +Whilst Starlight was joking with Kearney, Alec got up from his seat by +the table, and without taking any notice of Yesslett he strolled to the +open window, at which, as was his frequent custom, Crosby was leaning +out whistling softly to himself. Supporting himself carelessly against +the warped frame, from which the paint had bubbled up and chipped away, +and with his brown flushed face turned up to the stars, which now began +to burn in the fast darkening sky, Alec said in a low voice to his +friend-- + +"Go on whistling, don't look round. That fellow who has just come in is +my cousin, Yesslett Dudley. He has come to try to get us off. They have +had my letter. He says my brother is not dead; I could hardly help +yelling with delight." + +Alec spoke in a whisper, and Martin kept on whistling his tune as +though in utter vacancy of mind, but, without looking at Alec, he +nodded his head in time to the music to show that he heard him and +understood. + +"When he has had his supper--plucky beggar, how well he does it," Alec +went on in the same low voice--"and goes out with that letter of +Starlight's, you must follow him, and hear what he has to say." + +Fearing to attract attention by remaining more than a minute or two at +the window with Alec, Martin stepped back to the table, where Yesslett, +with an appearance of great enjoyment, was pitching into a piece of +cold meat and a great lump of damper. + +People say there is such a thing as honour amongst thieves; there may +be, but thieves seem very doubtful of it themselves, for living in a +state of outlawry, and often with a price upon their heads, they grow +exceedingly suspicious of each other, and are in constant fear of +treachery from one member or another of the gang. This was the case +just now. The letter that Starlight had just written, which he had +hired Yesslett to take to Lingan's, was the present object of +suspicion, and several of the men had whispered together about it. At +last Yesslett, having finished his supper; pushed the seat back and +rose from the table, and Starlight handed him the letter, saying-- + +"There now, be off. Mind you fulfil your part of the contract. I've +given you the shilling and the supper; you therefore must deliver the +letter, and say what I told you." + +"Before the boy takes the letter, me and one or two wants to know +what's in it," said Middance, a short, stout man, who was standing by +the door rather sheepishly swinging one leg. + +"Know what's in it!" said Starlight, turning towards him as quick as +lightning, and speaking with an angry tone in his voice, which all the +music of it failed to hide. "That's just like you. A miserable, +sneaking lot of pickpockets that cannot trust me to do a single thing +for your benefit and my own without doubting me and poking and prying +into it. Stand out of the way there, Middance, and let the boy +through," said Starlight, in a voice that somehow the man obeyed +without a murmur. Then turning to Yesslett, he added, "and now, boy, be +off, and don't let me catch you stopping to listen to what I say." + +Martin Crosby had quietly slipped out of the room before Middance had +placed himself in the doorway, so that when Yesslett, who was quickly +outside the house, had crossed to the path, he found the great fellow +awaiting him in the shadow of a mossed and stunted tree. + +Directly that he thought Yesslett was out of hearing, Starlight turned +again to the startled looking men. + +"I will tell you what that letter contained, since you must know. Oh, +never mind that fellow Law," said Starlight, impatiently, in answer to +the nods and signals of one of the more cautious of the men, "we have +got him safe enough, for some time at least, and he knows who and what +we are, so it's no good our humbugging him. He knows we're thieves, so +what's the use of our aping honest men. Well, that letter was one I +have manufactured for the purpose of inducing Lingan and that lubberly +son of his to go to Bateman to-morrow. They'll rise to the fly, I know. +And this is the reason I've done it. + +"We have made Norton's Gap our headquarters for some time past, and it +is about time we flitted. I don't hold with keeping in one place too +long, as you know, and I've a sort of notion that our whereabouts is +suspected, and that won't do for us. What I mean to do is this. +To-morrow both the Lingans will start early for Bateman, and when they +are out of the way we'll just drop down there in a friendly way, make a +clean sweep of everything in the house--I know there is a pile of +dollars--and then quietly vamose the ranche." + +This was such a piece of base ingratitude--for the Lingans had been +invariably faithful and friendly to the bushrangers--that some of the +men murmured a feeble dissent, but none of them had the moral courage +to boldly oppose Starlight's determination. There is a sort of bravado +in vice amongst a band such as this; none of the men likes to own +himself feebler in evil-doing than his fellows. Besides this there was +something so fiendish in Starlight's unblushing iniquity, in his total +want of morals, and in the pride he seemed to take in his own infamy +and degradation that it overpowered the men, whose sense of right and +wrong was dulled, if not destroyed, by the life of crime that they +lived. + +"What about Big Eliza?" asked one of the men. + +"Oh," said Starlight, with a smile that would not have disgraced an +angel, "she'll squeal a bit, and perhaps call me some hard names, for +the fool thinks that I like her just because she chooses to like me. +_She_ won't do us any harm. I verily believe I could tell her what +I intend doing without her saying a word to her husband, or trying to +stop us." + +And so he truly might have done. He knew only too well what his +influence over women was. He was aware of his own beauty, and +recognised its power; he therefore never neglected his appearance, and +was always becomingly dressed. "From no sense of vanity I can assure +you," he once said to Crosby, smoothing down his breeches to the curves +of his thighs as he spoke, "but I know the value of my stock-in-trade +too well to let it deteriorate as long as I can help it." + +"Don't be too sure of Big Eliza," squeaked Foster from somewhere in the +background. "She've got a temper of her own." + +"Did you never like or respect any one?" said a quiet voice from the +window where Alec still was leaning. + +Before Starlight had made the light reply that was on his lips as he +turned his smiling face to the window, the mocking, sneering voice of +Middance, who was striving to emulate his leader in cynicism, said-- + +"That shows you don't know much o' we wicked uns, or you wouldn't ask +that question. Don't you know that the wust of us," here the blackguard +assumed what he thought was a religious snuffle, "the very wust, al'ys +loves one pussun. Starlight loves his mother." + +Swift as the swoop of an eagle Starlight turned on the fellow, and, for +the first time in the memory of the gang, livid with passion, struck +him a crashing blow full on his jeering mouth. Middance fell like a +log, for although Starlight was not tall his muscles and sinews were of +steel. Standing over the prostrate man, Starlight said, in a voice that +literally quivered with rage-- + +"Dare to mention her name again, and, as I live, I'll strangle you!" + +Middance did not move or speak: he was awed by Starlight's unusual +passion, for there was something grand about the anger of this +generally unmoved man. + +Starlight soon regained command of himself, and, as though ashamed of +his display of emotion and anger, he moved to the window where Alec +stood astonished at the sudden scene, and in his customary low tone, he +said-- + +"I have surprised you, I see. You think a man is all good or all bad. +Ah, wait a few years longer, and you will learn to take wider views. +Men are many-sided cattle." + +And then, as though to correct any false impression he might have +created as to his possessing more than one side himself, he crossed the +room and said something, in the same melodious voice, to one of the +men, so blasphemous that, accustomed though he was to the not too +choice language of a station, Alec flushed hot, as if the very hearing +of it seared him. + +Shortly after supper the men went off to bed. They did not sit smoking +late that night, for a feeling of restraint was upon them after the +unusual scene of that evening. Crosby had come in some time before, +looking, Alec thought, eager and excited; he said in answer to one of +the men that he had seen the boy go towards Lingan's and had then come +in. Alec dare not court the attention of the men by crossing the room +and speaking to Martin, and he had to wait till Starlight had put out +the light and sprung into his hammock, which he had let down from the +hooks in the ceiling to which it was fastened in the daytime. + +Besides Starlight and Alec there were two other men sleeping in the +room, which was a good sized one, and it was to the circumstance that +he was thus so well guarded that Alec owed the fact of his not being +secured in any way. These two men were Kearney and Martin Crosby. + +Alec lay in a perfect fever of anxiety, his very flesh tingling. For +some little time sounds could be heard about the place, as Foster, who +was general factotum and drudge, moved in the passage or the other +rooms, but at length these subsided and the house grew still. Gradually +silence fell upon the room, and Alec could hear the breathing of the +men grow rhythmical and deep. The night was very dark, for heavy clouds +had rolled up from the sea, which lay beyond the eastern hills. As Alec +lay gazing with wide open eyes at the dull grey square of the unclosed +window he could not see a star. Every now and then warm puffs of air, +heavy with the scent of the white jasmine growing wild and rampant in +the ruined garden, came in from the outer night. + +Alec could feel, he hardly knew how, that there was one person still +awake in the room besides himself; he felt sure that it was Crosby, +that he was watching his opportunity, and that he only bided his time +till all the men had sunk to rest. It must have been nearly midnight. +At last, when all the house was hushed in sleep, and when the very +sighing of the trees outside seemed but the breathing of their slumber, +Alec felt, before his quick ears had heard a sound, Crosby's warm +breath upon his cheek. Martin had left his corner of the room, and, +lying on the floor, had drawn himself, like a serpent, to where Alec +lay. Knowing that the slightest sound broke Starlight's sleep, he +placed his lips close to Alec's ear, and in the faintest whisper, he +said-- + +"Your cousin has horses just beyond Lingan's. Get up and creep through +the window. Don't make a sound. I'll follow." + +Without a word, only grasping Crosby's great arm to show that he +understood, Alec slowly rose up, and like a ghost began to steal across +the room. He scarcely dared to breathe, and although his bare feet made +not the least sound upon the floor he paused for a second after taking +every step. As he passed by Starlight's hammock the bushranger turned +in his sleep, and threw back the blanket from his throat. Alec felt the +little draught of air it made. For a moment he stood quite still, +fearing that Starlight might wake, but with a sigh he sank again into +the depths of sleep. Alec reached the window, and leaning over the sill +he glided, rather than climbed, through it without a sound. + +The sweat was standing in beads upon his forehead, and the backs of his +wrists were damp from anxiety and excitement as he stood out there in +the scented darkness awaiting the coming of his friend. A moment +passed, and another, still no Crosby. Had anything happened to him? +Time passed so slowly to Alec in his agony of suspense that he thought +something must have befallen his friend. He had made one step towards +the window to see what was causing the delay when he saw Martin--for +his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness of the night--slowly +rising to the window ledge. + +For a moment not a sound was heard; then, just as Crosby was half +through the window, the woodwork, unaccustomed to the strain, cracked, +and with a loud noise a great piece of it gave way. + +Without wasting a second, Martin rushed to where Alec was standing. He +knew it was useless then to attempt any concealment, for the noise was +enough to have roused the seven sleepers. He seized Alec by the arm and +said, as he turned him towards the valley-- + +"This way. Come along. Speed is our only chance now." + +He was right, for as they stumbled blindly across the broken ground of +the garden, tripping over some obstacle at every other step, and +travelling very slowly for all their haste, they heard Starlight spring +from his hammock and strike a light. Although only just aroused from +his first deep sleep the bushranger had all his wits about him at once, +and he seemed to know instinctively what had happened. Whilst still +quite close to the window, the fugitives heard him shout out in a +clear, loud voice-- + +"Kearney, Kearney, Crosby, wake up! Look alive! The boy has gone!" + +But Starlight was a man of action; he was never one to wait for others +when he could do a thing for himself. Before Alec and Martin, with all +their eagerness, had travelled forty yards, he was leaning out of the +window holding the candle above his head. The flame never flickered in +the still and sultry air. In an instant he had seen them; either the +light had fallen on them from the window or else their white clothes +showed up against the line of dark trees beyond them. Anyway Starlight +saw them, and Alec heard him sing out-- + +"There he is--why, there are _two_!" + +Crosby also had heard it, and judging from the sound of Starlight's +voice he knew he was at the window. He turned for one second and saw +the light gleaming on the bright barrel of the pistol that Starlight +was pointing at them. He just had time to lay his powerful hands on +Alec's shoulder and swing the lad in front of him that he might cover +him with his own great body from Starlight's fire. + +Alec did not know what he meant by this, and half looked round, but +Crosby urged him on. That moment Alec heard two reports of a pistol +follow each other in instantaneous succession, and feeling his +shoulders gripped with a convulsive clutch he heard Martin say in a +broken voice-- + +"_I'm shot!_" + +He understood then what his friend had done for him; he knew that to +screen him from Starlight's fire he had interposed his own body, and to +save his life Martin had risked his own. He could not say anything of +this just then; his feeling of his friend's devotion was too deep for +words, and all his thoughts and all his energy were at once centred on +getting Martin safely away. There was no time to waste in talking, for +Alec heard answering shouts from the men in the other part of the +house, and he knew that in a moment they would be in full pursuit. All +that he said was-- + +"Can you keep up?" + +Martin just said, "I'll try," and seizing Alec's right arm, partly to +guide him and partly to support himself, he tore along again. Although +his right arm hung broken and useless by his side, and although he +could feel the hot blood pouring down his body from the wound in his +broad breast, where the bullet had struck him after passing through his +arm, he never faltered. For one brief second when he was struck the +world seemed to swim before him, but clenching his strong teeth +together he regained command of himself and resolved, with the noble +obstinacy of natures such as his, that he would hold out until he had +taken Alec to the place where the horses were, or die attempting it. + +[Illustration: "TO SCREEN HIM FROM STARLIGHT'S FIRE HE HAD INTERPOSED +HIS OWN BODY." (_p. 256._)] + +As they rushed down towards Lingan's they plainly heard the men leaving +the house and starting after them. There was some confusion at first, +which gave them a little advantage, but Starlight, who remained quite +cool at this crisis, calmly gave instructions to the men, and said that +it was towards Lingan's that Alec and Crosby were running. Directly +after this they heard two or three men start in pursuit, with the +directions to shoot the runaways if they were unable to catch them. The +rest of the gang, with Starlight at the head of them, rushed to the +little paddock to saddle their horses. + +Both Law and Crosby were barefooted, as Alec had left the house without +thinking to bring his shoes, and Martin, although he had had his in his +hand, had been unable to put them on. Both of them badly cut and +bruised their feet against the sharp stones of the valley, but neither +of them stopped, or even slackened speed, for that; indeed, in the +great dread of being caught before they could reach the horses, neither +of them so much as felt the pain. + +At last they reach the entrance to the valley, and behind them, not far +off, they hear the heavy tramping of the men. Neither of them speaks, +but Alec feels that Martin is leaning more heavily each moment on his +arm. One thing only is in their favour; their bare feet fall noiseless +on the coarse rough grass on to which they now have turned, and their +pursuers cannot tell which way they go. At this moment heavy drops of +rain begin to fall from the lowering clouds above them--great, heavy +drops of water that the heated air has warmed. Now they pass by +Lingan's. The house is dark and wrapped in sleep. A sheep-dog hears the +footsteps of the men, as they tear down the hill, and barks once. How +strange it sounds with all else so still. As they reach the little open +space of ground, on the other side of which the long low line of black +bush stretches, where Yesslett and the horses await them, they hear +behind them the laboured breathing of the men. It is evident that they +are gaining fast upon them. Crosby, growing faint from loss of blood, +goes slower every moment; he feels he cannot maintain this killing +pace. Alec hears his breath grow short. At last, when they have almost +reached the place where Yesslett stands waiting with the horses, he +says--his words are broken and his voice is faint-- + +"I can't--keep--up. Run on. He's waiting--horses--little way--straight +ahead." + +For answer Alec takes Crosby's arm that holds his own, places it round +his shoulders, and putting his strong right arm about Martin's waist, +half lifting him, he helps him forward. As he does so he feels the poor +fellow's shirt is warm and thick with blood. Close behind him now Alec +hears the men in pursuit. Kearney--he knows him by his voice--growls an +oath as he kicks his foot against a stone. Crosby hears nothing, he is +too faint. + +Now the men wander away from them, a little to one side, and +now--"Thank Heaven!--here are the horses!" + +Yesslett stands between them, holding both. He has stood so long, +gazing with aching eyes into the darkness, that when at last he +suddenly sees the two figures before him, he almost shrieks aloud. + +"Oh, Alec--" he begins. + +"_Hush_, don't speak. Keep Amber still; he must bear two of us +to-night. Now, Crosby, mount," he says, in an intense, low whisper. + +But Martin only shakes his head; he has no strength left. + +"For Heaven's sake, try!" + +No, he cannot do it. But Alec, though almost in despair, for every +second he expects to feel the hands of the bushrangers upon him, will +not give in. He pushes Crosby to the horse. "Stand still there. Whoa +there, Amber!" and placing one bare heavy foot of the fainting man in +the stirrup, he stoops, and half lifts, half pushes Martin into the +saddle. Then, springing up behind, he holds him up with one rigid +arm--he seems to have the strength of ten to-night--and grasps the +reins with the other. + +"Now, Yesslett--_quick!_" he says, and puts his horse in motion. + +As he starts a figure wildly crashes through the bushes, and, grasping +Yesslett's bridle, Kearney, in a triumphant voice, yells out-- + +"Not so fast, my master." + +That very moment Starlight, who, with the mounted men of the gang, had +followed them at a break-neck pace from the house, dashes on to the +open ground, and dimly catching sight of something moving at the edge +of the bush, draws his fatal pistol from his belt and fires. + +A blinding blaze, a crash, one wild shriek of agony, and Yesslett feels +his bridle free; for Kearney falls by the hand of his own leader. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A WILD NIGHT-RIDE. + + +The instant Yesslett felt that his bridle was free, he leaped upon his +horse; how he managed to scramble up he could not tell, but grasping +the pommel of his saddle, and with it a good handful of his horse's +mane, he succeeded somehow in hauling himself to his seat. Alec turned +as he heard the report of the pistol; he knew not what new misfortune +had happened to them. + +"What's that? Are you hurt, Yess?" + +"No, no, ride on!" rang out Yesslett's clear boy's voice. "They've shot +one of their own men who tried to stop me." + +And now the rain began to fall in earnest. Whilst in the bush they were +sheltered from it, though they could hear the rustling and the +pattering of it on the leaves as it fell on the dense mass of the +foliage overhead. Out in the open, when they had passed the belt of +bush, they were wet to the skin in a moment. Their shirts clung close +about their bodies, and as Alec and Martin were hatless, the rain +streamed and trickled from their hair. + +Notwithstanding his double load Amber kept up nobly, though Alec well +knew that their present pace could not be maintained, but as long as he +could hold out Alec did not mean to give in. Trusting entirely to his +horse, for the darkness was profound in the depth of the bush, Alec +tore madly along the rough and treacherous path. Wet leaves and twigs +lashed his face as he passed, and once Amber stumbled and almost fell +over a smooth bare root that lay exposed across the track. But fortune +was kind, and no accident befell them. Yesslett followed close behind +him, riding as recklessly as he. + +At first it was as much as Alec could do to keep Martin in the saddle, +for the half-swooning fellow swayed and lurched terribly from side to +side. Once he lost consciousness entirely, and his heavy head fell back +upon Alec's shoulder, and his body became inert and helpless. But the +pouring rain which beat upon his upturned face when next they crossed a +stretch of open ground seemed to revive him, for with a mighty effort +he pulled himself together and sat up. + +They had lost all trace of path by this time, having left the better +marked bush track behind them, and neither Alec nor Yesslett had any +idea which direction to take; but here Crosby came to their assistance, +for dark though it was, he was able to recognise some landmarks, and +could guide them aright. They were now close to the Dixieville road, he +said, and they struck it shortly afterwards some good distance below +Badger's Creek, and to the westward of it. + +"Here, collar the reins," Alec had said, as soon as he found that +Martin had recovered a little, and knew where they were. "I can't see +where we are going, and my left arm is quite stiff, and as I don't mean +to loose my hold of you, old fellow, my right arm is employed. I wish I +could ease you, for you must be suffering agonies with that broken arm +of yours." + +"I can bear it," said Crosby, in a low voice. + +"Shall we go slower now that we have distanced them?" said Alec. "Amber +is about knocked up, and no wonder, poor old chap, with two great men +on his back." + +"Distanced them! What do you mean?" said Yesslett, who was now riding +alongside of Alec. "Listen! Can't you hear the galloping of their +horses? They are not a hundred yards behind!" + +"I hear them if you can't," said Martin, faintly. "This horse of yours +cannot carry two of us, and still keep up his speed. Let me slip off, +you could outstrip them then. They'd pass me by without seeing me. It +doesn't matter if they don't, for I'm nearly done for." + +Alec did not waste breath in contradicting him; he only turned his head +sideways to Yesslett, clasping Crosby's body even tighter than before. + +"Yes, I hear them now. I thought we had left them far behind. Give me +back the reins, I can manage. Our work is not all done yet. Yesslett, +it again depends on you. We will dash on ahead a little way, and then +I'll turn Amber off the road. You tear on at full gallop towards +Bateman; let them hear you, they may not notice that one of us has +dropped behind. Which horse is it you have?" + +"Herring." + +"He'll carry you well enough. Take it out of him. They dare not follow +you into Bateman. Now then for a dash." + +Amber answered to Alec's voice and heel, for the horse had as brave a +spirit as his master, and, although labouring terribly, managed a very +quick burst of a hundred yards or so. Saying to his cousin, "Now +Yesslett, keep on; ride like mad; don't spare the horse," Alec then +suddenly wheeled to one side, and quietly pulled up some little way +from the road. He could hear Yesslett tearing along, and a moment +after, like the gust of a storm, three or four horses dashed madly +past. + +In a few minutes afterwards, thundering and splashing along the muddy +road, Yesslett reached Badger's Creek. He recognised it as the place +where he had turned off the road to ride to Norton's Gap that +afternoon. Plunging along, at times fetlock deep in mud, he was passing +Badger's Creek at racing speed, when a body of horsemen, coming in the +opposite direction, managed to catch his foaming horse and pulled him +up short. Yesslett, of course, could recognise no one of them, but he +hoped they might be honest men, and hardly giving himself time to take +breath, he began-- + +"I don't know who you are, but will you help me? My name is Yesslett +Dudley; my cousin, Alec Law, and a wounded man are just behind, and +Starlight and his men are after us. Here they come, here they come!" +said the boy, mad with excitement. + +"A' richt, Yasslutt. Ye're amang frens." + +As Macleod spoke--for it was he, with a little band of police and +friends which he had collected in Bateman for the purpose of seizing +Starlight and his gang at Norton's Gap--the four bushrangers came +rushing to their doom. As they dashed up quite close to where he and +his friends were standing, Yesslett heard Starlight say to the men, for +he had to raise his voice to make himself heard above the noise of the +horses-- + +"Where on earth have those plucky young beggars got to? I can't hear +them. If they escape us I shall think my luck has gone at last." + +As he spoke, the leader of the capturing party--Collman, the chief +store-keeper of Bateman--sprang out from the side of the road, and +snatched at his bridle, saying-- + +"Your luck _has_ gone at last. We've got you this time, Starlight." + +But the bushranger was too quick for him. He instantly saw the trap he +had tumbled into, and pulling his mare up suddenly and lifting her head +round by sheer strength he put her straight at the fence which divided +the road from the edge of the precipitous side of the creek. As the +beautiful grey rose to the leap, Starlight shouted out, with a laugh-- + +"No, not you; you haven't got me yet!" + +They could hear him crashing down the steep, rocky side of the ravine, +brushwood and dead scrub cracking before him, and loosened stones +leaping down, and then, at last, a great sudden splash as the horse and +rider plunged into the swollen stream of the flooded creek. No one +dared risk his neck by following; indeed, it would have been useless to +seek him that night, it was so dark. + +When a search was made the following morning no trace of Starlight or +his horse could be found, though the party sought him far down the +creek. Thus, as mysteriously as he had lived--for no one knew who he +really was or whence he came--Starlight vanished from the country side +which he had infested and plundered for so long with impunity. As his +body was not found they could not even tell whether he was really dead +or whether he had added another to his long list of daring escapes. He +disappeared without a sign, leaving no one to mourn him but Mrs. +Lingan--for Big Eliza's heart was womanly and tender if her exterior +was masculine and hard--and she, poor soul, could only weep for him in +secret, She never learned his intended treachery towards herself. + +The three other men, who had not been quick enough, or who had not had +the courage to follow Starlight's bold example, were quickly captured +by Macleod and the party with him. Although they fought like demons, +they were soon overpowered, and with their hands secured behind their +backs they were ignominiously led into Bateman, a couple of hours +afterwards, in the charge of the valiant Collman. These three were +Wetch, Middance, and a German named Schnadd. They were sent down by the +police to Bowen, where they were tried, some weeks after, and hanged +for murders they had committed in the spring of that year. Thus +Starlight's gang was broken up, the only two members of it remaining, +Foster and one other man, decamping before the raid was made next day +upon Norton's Gap. + +When the three bushrangers had been secured and sent off in safe +custody to Bateman, Yesslett at once led Macleod, and the one or two +men of the band that remained, to the place where Alec and Crosby had +turned off from the road, but though they spent some little time +looking for them they were unable to find them. + +"Don't fash yoursel' aboot it, Yasslutt," said Macleod. "Alec knows +verra weel whaur he is, an' he's joost gan hame ower Taunton's auld +roon. If we ride back shairply we wull be theer befure him." + +It had happened just as Macleod had suspected; not knowing of the +relief party that was coming to their rescue, and believing that +Yesslett would ride into Bateman without stopping, Alec had determined +to turn away from the road, so that crossing Taunton's and getting on +to their own run he could reach home quicker than by following the +road. He had become terribly anxious about Crosby, for when he next +spoke to him, after the bushrangers had dashed past, he gained no +reply. The man had fainted from loss of blood. Amber, full of spirit +though he was, could no longer go at more than a foot pace; the last +wild burst, with his double burden on his back, had quite exhausted +him; thus Alec was compelled to slowness when more than ever he wished +for speed. He still managed to keep Martin from falling from the horse, +but the strain upon him was growing very severe, for the inert body of +the man swayed with every movement of the horse, and he had by sheer +strength to sustain his whole weight. Crosby's broken arm hung limp and +useless by his side, and his heavy head fell back on Alec's shoulder. + +In his impatience it seemed to him that they did not more than creep; +how slowly the night rolled past; it must surely soon be day. He felt +that Martin's body began to grow cold in his arms, his wet clothes +clinging about him, and chilling him to stone. He feared that he might +slip from insensibility to death before the help, that was now so near +at hand, could be reached. The horror of those long hours, in the +silence and the darkness, with the dead or dying man, he knew not +which, lying inertly in his stiffening arms, he never forgot. + +The rain had ceased, and above the dark outline of the distant hills +the late rising moon rode slowly through the sky. Dimly, through the +widening rifts between the clouds, she shone upon them, tinging the +drifting vaporous edges with a dull ochreous yellow. By her pale light +Alec saw that Martin's wound still bled. This gave him some faint hope, +for he saw that life was not extinct. Pulling up a handful of his +blood-stained shirt, and crumpling it into a ball, Alec placed it over +the wound and firmly pressed it there to stop the bleeding. He was very +tender with him, and he almost felt, despite his anxiety to get his +friend safely home, that there was something akin to happiness in thus +being the one to minister, however roughly, to his wants; and to feel +that he alone, with his right arm, upheld him on the horse, added a +sort of suppressed exultation to his love for the man who had +sacrificed so much to his friendship for him. + +As the night cleared, familiar sounds awoke in the bush, the edge of +which he was skirting; the very voices of the night birds seemed to +give him welcome home to Wandaroo. At last he reached the fence of the +great home paddock, and managed with his one arm to move the top rail +of the slip panels. He passed through, Amber neatly stepping the bottom +rail. How near he felt to home at last. The very fragrance of the +moistened earth seemed different from any other in his loving nostrils. +At length the last hill was climbed, and the house, with many windows +ablaze with lights, was in full view. + +With a wildly beating heart, Alec crossed the yard and reached the +door. He could not get off his horse without some help, so sitting +where he was he called to those within. The door was flung open, a +blaze of light poured out and fell upon the foam-flecked, sweating +horse, the blood-stained, hatless, and white-faced rider, and the +apparently lifeless burden that he held in his arms. Half terrified, +the woman who appeared drew back, and Margaret, beautiful, calm +Margaret, took her place. + +"_Alec!_ Is it you? Thank God!" + +For a moment Alec tried to speak; but in vain. The words would not +come. Margaret saw his trouble, and guessed its object. + +"All goes well," she said. + +Others then came rushing out from the house and took Alec's burden from +him, and helped him from the horse, but it was Margaret who first +caught Martin in her brave strong arms; it was Margaret who helped to +carry him into the house; and when she stooped over the bed on which +they laid him to see if still he breathed, it was Margaret who, with +her warm red lips, kissed life back again to the cold pale ones of her +lover. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +IS IT TOO LATE? + + +It was the morning of the second day after Alec's return to Wandaroo +with his senseless burden in his arms. The sun was stealing into the +room through the half drawn curtains of the open windows, the scent of +the garden flowers was in the morning air, and from his cage in the +verandah a bird was pouring out its heart in song. Breakfast was over +two hours ago, and Mrs. Beffling was already coming to inquire "whether +the poorly gentlemen were ready for a little lunch." The room was full +of pleasant sounds of life and happy talking, for now that Alec, his +brown face ruddy with the glow of the sun, came in through the window, +all the family was assembled. + +Geordie had been allowed to leave his room that morning; he was pale +and a little less noisy than was his wont, but, excepting a slight +tendency to stagger when he walked, he was otherwise much his old self. +He only wanted what Mrs. Beffling called "cockering up a bit," to be as +strong and hearty as ever. Yesslett was by his side, proud to be +employed by such a hero of romance as Geordie was. He himself was very +modest of his own share in the late adventures, though when his aunt +had kissed him and thanked him for the service he had rendered them all +by helping Alec to escape, he certainly felt a glow of pride and +happiness in his heart. He and Macleod had reached home, on the night +of the escape from Norton's Gap, only half an hour or so before Alec +arrived. + +And who is that with one of Alec's coats slung loosely over his +bandaged arm? He is standing by the window talking earnestly with +Margaret, who, with parted, half smiling lips and downcast eyes, plays +with a fragile pink rose from the garden as she listens to his low +words. Martin looks pale, and, although standing squarely on his feet, +he leans against the window as though he still felt weak. He had lost +enough blood, the doctor said, to kill an ordinary man and had been +ordered to lie in bed, for some days at least, but Martin was too happy +to waste his time a-bed. He thought he had recognised in his sweet +nurse's face that which he longed to see there, and had, weak though he +was in body, that morning put to the test the question he had not dared +to ask when strong and well in his uncle's house, some months before, +in Brisbane. He had no ring or gage of love to give when they plighted +troth in the garden, but he had pulled a rosebud from the creeping bush +that grew against the house and gave it to Margaret. + +"It is like the flower of love," he said, "that is daring now to +blossom in my heart." + +As Alec came in through the open window, and looked from one to the +other of them, Margaret slowly blushed from throat to forehead, but +raised her honest eyes to his and looked him frankly in the face. She +was ashamed of nothing, but was proud of the great gift she gave and +took. Crosby laid his hand affectionately on Alec's shoulder, and +looked as though he were about to speak, but Alec, who, from what +Martin had told him before, knew something of all this, said-- + +"I understand. Margaret, I am very glad. Shall I tell mother?" + +She shook her head. + +"No, it will come best from myself. I will tell her at once." + +"Margaret," said Mrs. Law at this moment from the other side of the +room, "here's Beffling been asking Mr. Crosby three times what he would +like for his lunch." + +"There's some o' my beef-tea, sir, reel kind, which I can hot it in a +minnut. With a strip or two of toast it do relish of a mornin'. I'm +sure, sir, if I may mek so bold as t' say, you wants a little something +to bring back the colour to your cheeks. Or a chop now, done rare, but +brown o' the outside," said the buxom old creature, holding up one fat +finger to emphasise her description and smiling a seductive smile. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Beffling, I should like them both, I'm sure," said +Crosby, stepping forward with a beaming face from the window, "but I +feel as though I had everything I want on earth, and therefore am not +hungry." + +"Lucky bargee," said Yesslett to Geordie, who answered with an impudent +grin, for he had begun to suspect what turn things were taking. + +"Which both it _shall_ be," said Mrs. Beffling, accepting the first +part of Martin's sentence, but utterly ignoring the latter half of it. +"Also the hegg beat up in milk for you, Mr. George; yes, you must, the +doctor says so, and I shall send it in whether you drinks it or no, and +every _drop_ is expected to be took." Quite breathless after this, but +smiling on the invalids as though they conferred a personal favour on +her by being ill, the kind-hearted old soul retreated to her fortress, +where she instantly set about preparing these few trifles for the +interesting convalescents. + +To see her beaming face when she brought in a tray was better than any +doctor's stuff; and often and often have patients taken her nourishing +things when they loathed the very idea of food, sooner than disappoint +her or wound her feelings by refusing them. + +"Yess," whispered Geordie, "you'll have to help me out with my jorum; I +haven't got over my breakfast yet." + +"All right," said Yesslett, in the most obliging manner. He ought to +have ridden over to the South Creek Station that morning, but he had +struck, and nothing would induce him to go before to-morrow he said, +for he had not heard any of the boys' adventures yet, as Geordie had +not been allowed to talk much till that morning, and Alec had spent +nearly all yesterday either in Geordie's or Martin's room. Now, at +last, he had both of them, and Crosby as well, to question and to +listen to, "and that's what I mean to do," he said. + +He did not do it then, however, for almost directly after Mrs. Beffling +had left the room the door was flung wide open and Macleod appeared, in +what, for him, was a white heat of indignation and anger, for the +sincere, cold-blooded, but affectionate old Scotsman rarely expressed +any emotion whatever. + +"Did ony mon iver heer tell o' sich doen's? Ah've joost ridden uver +fra' Bateman, an' theer ah've seen, 'deed leddies it's true, that foul, +whamsie scrappit, Crosbie o' Brisbane. He's got a bit of a lawyer chap +wi' him, as a whitnuss, I suppoose, as all his doen's are legal +accordin' to law. He says he's coomin' to Wandaroo to put a mon in +legal possession o' the roon; and that unless we can produce £4,887 +18s. 7d.," here the precise Macleod looked at a strip of paper, torn +from the edge of some journal, on which he had written the amount, +"this verra dae we all must pack; for this is the last o' the daes o' +grace agreed to i' the deed, and time is oop at twalve the dae. He says +he'll be heer at haif-past eleven to gie us time to make payment in +coin o' the realm or gould as agreed upon. He lached as he said it, the +black souled scoondrel, an' I rhode back streicht awa'. It's aboon +eleeven noo. What mun we do?" + +Mrs. Law shook her head. She could do nothing. Although all her fears +were now being brought to pass she could not feel wholly unhappy or +wholly crushed; she had dreaded a greater loss, and now that her sons +were both restored to her, after so nearly losing both, she could not +help feeling that everything else was small compared with that great +mercy. + +"I suppose we must go," she said. "The blow is harder coming from one +we trusted as a friend." + +Geordie sprang up as Macleod finished speaking. His pale face was +brilliant with excitement. Alec had told him that as yet he had said +nothing of the gold, and that he meant to wait till George was strong +enough to go with him to rescue it from its hiding-place. His voice was +vibrating with triumph and delight as he said-- + +"Go, mother? Not we, indeed! What must you do, Macleod? Why, start off +with Alec and see what he thinks about matters. Alec, you know. Take +two or three men, and just look sharp about it. I wish I were strong +enough to go. I believe I am; I feel quite right." + +But he found his strength was not equal to his courage when he came to +try. + +"Yesslett, you go with Alec. It is more exciting than anything Crosby +or I can tell you. And now I am not going to say another word about it +till Alec comes back." + +He was quite resolute, and notwithstanding the entreaties of Mrs. Law +and Margaret and Martin he would not give them any further clue to his +meaning. + +Alec darted from the room, followed by Macleod and Yesslett, and a +moment afterwards they saw them from the verandah, riding towards "the +Dip" in the paddock, accompanied by Willetts and Howard from the Yarrun +Station, who happened to be ready mounted in the yard. + +Rather more than half an hour after Alec's departure to "the Dip" there +was a great commotion amongst the dogs about the yard; they ran barking +to the other side of the house, as they never did but when strangers +rode up to the station. A moment or so afterwards Mrs. Beffling came +in, all floury as to her arms, and said that two gentlemen, "leastways, +ma'am, they wears coats and cloth trousers," had ridden up to the +house, and that they wished to see Mrs. Law. + +"Yes, I expected them. Show them in here, Beffling," said Mrs. Law, +quite calmly. + +Geordie was surprised to see how quietly his mother awaited her +unwelcome guests. He was alone in the room with Mrs. Law, as Crosby and +Margaret had gone into the garden just before. + +It rather astonished George to find that Mr. Crosby, when he came in +the next moment, was not a cruel, miserly-looking man, for he had +depicted him in his imagination as a little, thin, and eager-faced man, +with hungry eyes and bird-like claws. Old Crosby was small, to be sure, +and had thin, tightly pursed-up lips, but the general expression of his +face was kindly, almost benign. His voice, when he spoke, matched it, +for it was smooth, insinuating, and false in every tone of it. He came +in smiling and settling his yellow, unwholesome-looking neck in his +limp shirt collar. His friend followed close behind him. + +"Very sorry to have to come on unpleasant business, ma'am. Perhaps you +expected us? It gives me great pain to have to resort to extreme +measures, great pain, I assure you. I hope you have the money ready," +said Crosby, hypocritically. + +Here he tried to smile, and wiped his flushed and swollen looking face, +for he lied, and he knew that he did it clumsily, and he felt the +contemptuous eyes of Mrs. Law and Geordie upon him. It was the one wish +of his heart to get Wandaroo into his greedy clutches, and he felt that +it was his already. Still Mrs. Law did not speak, and, feeling the +silence very confusing, old Crosby continued-- + +"You see I'm in sad want of money, sad want, or I should never dream of +foreclosing. No one but a friend would have lent you so much on the +place." +_friend_ +"No one but a _friend_, like you, would have extorted 15 per cent. upon +the sum that was lent us," said Mrs. Law, quietly. + +"Oh, it's a sad business, a sad business. Women never understand these +things. Women ought never to meddle in business." + +"Men ought never to take advantage of them if they do," said Geordie, +hotly. + +"Who's that?" said the old man sharply. "Oh I see; very like his +father, very. Just what he would have said. What do you make the time, +Mr. Tuckle?" said Crosby, nervously fingering his watch, which he had +pulled from his pocket with a shaky hand. + +"Twenty minutes to twelve, sir." + +"Then you still have twenty minutes to pay me in," said Crosby, with an +oily cackle of laughter. "I'm sorry to have to insist upon strict +punctuality, but I must. Times are so hard, and I've had such a capital +offer made me for Wandaroo by a rich Englishman, just out--Harrison +Tait. Mr. Harrison Tait, that's his name. Up till twelve Wandaroo is +yours, ma'am, and then--unless, of course, you pay--it's mine. I think +I'm right, Mr. Tuckle?" + +"Yes, to-day is the last day of grace, and it ends at twelve," said the +lawyer, who did not seem to greatly like the part he had to play in +this painful scene. He had been sent up by Mr. Tait to report to him +upon the estate, the title-deeds of which old Crosby had agreed to hand +over to him at once. + +"Won't you gentlemen take seats?" said Mrs. Law, in her most dignified +way; and then, to keep up the reputation for hospitality which Wandaroo +had always possessed, she added, "And may I offer you any refreshment? +I suppose I can do so for, at least, the next twenty minutes." + +As Mrs. Law was speaking Martin and Margaret stepped into the room. Mr. +Crosby grew even more flushed and purple than before when he saw his +nephew. + +"Hey, you fellow! Confound you, what are _you_ doing here?" he said, in +the most insulting manner. + +"You will kindly remember, sir," said Mrs. Law, waxing indignant, "that +this is not your house as yet, and that this gentleman is my guest." + +"Gentleman, indeed! He is my nephew." + +"The two things certainly are not very compatible," said Mrs. Law, +quietly. + +"What am I doing here?" said Martin, with an amused look on his face. +"Why, I am wooing my wife. This lady, notwithstanding the fact that she +will thereby become your niece, which _is_ a drawback, has consented to +marry me." + +"Marry her!" almost shrieked the elder Crosby. "Why, she is a beggar." + +"And so am I, and a very lucky beggar, too. Now, don't put yourself +about, or you'll have an apoplectic fit as sure as fate. You know what +the doctor said. You do look as though you were going to have one this +morning." + +"Martin!" roared the passionate old man, "if you marry--" + +"Don't go on. I know exactly what you are going to say. You will +disinherit me. Eh? For goodness sake do it, and have done with it at +once. That threat is quite worn out. Don't foam at the mouth, it's +unseemly." + +"Hush," said Margaret, laying her hand on Martin's arm. "Remember he is +your uncle after all." + +As the minutes sped by and no Alec appeared, Geordie began to grow +terribly anxious lest, after all, Alec could not get at the gold in +time, and that Wandaroo would, as it were, slip through their very +fingers for the want of a single hour's work. He could not sit still, +but fidgetted about the room in a state of sickening suspense. Every +half minute he went out on to the verandah to see if the party were yet +returning, and, as the minutes passed, and no Alec came, an awful +feeling of despair began to creep over him. It was too cruel to be +borne, that after all their labour, all their dangers, and all their +sufferings, the gold they had won should yet be too late for its +purpose. Margaret and Mrs. Law, having given up all hopes, and not +understanding Geordie's excitement or Alec's sudden departure, were +quite calm now that the hour had come. + +Ten minutes to twelve; nine minutes to; eight minutes to; still no sign +of Alec. Geordie was on the verandah, gazing eagerly across the +paddock. Not the sound of a hoof could he hear. He could have yelled +from the intensity of his distress and mortification; as it was he only +thrust his hands deep into his trousers pockets, and grimly clutched +their contents. + +Seven minutes to twelve! + +"We may as well go," said old Crosby, mopping his perspiring face. "It +is no use our waiting." + +"It isn't twelve yet," cried George, rushing into the room. + +"Well, six minutes won't do much for you, I expect," said Tuckle. + +George hurried back to the verandah. Was that the sound of horses madly +galloping up the hill? Yes, _yes_, it was! Hurrah! He could see them +now rising over the ridge and entering the yard. He rushed along the +verandah, weak though he was, and shrieked-- + +"Make haste. Bring it in, bring it in. You'll be in time yet." + +For he saw that the riders held the muddy, black and streaming bags of +gold. + +[Illustration: "'YOUR PRICE IS THERE!'" (_p. 279._)] + +Inside the room Mr. Crosby had just risen from his chair; there was an +evil look of triumph on his shiny, crimson face. He slipped his watch +back into his pocket as he rose. + +"Two minutes to twelve; nothing _can_ help it now. _Wandaroo is mine!_" + +As he spoke, whilst the very words were on his lips, the door burst +open, and panting, breathless, sweating with the heat and labour, Alec +and the other men dashed headlong into the room. His hat was off, his +curly hair was tumbled, his eyes gleamed with happiness and intolerable +excitement, and his voice rang high with a mad triumph. + +"Hold hard! _'tis not_, for your price is there!" As he spoke he and +the other men threw down their burdens--the room shook with the +ponderous weight--and many of the bags bursting open with the fall +poured their treasure of gold in a stream at Crosby's feet. + +For a moment there was a thrilling silence in the room. The feelings of +all were too high-strung for words. The first to break it was Mr. +Crosby; his face was grey and ghastly, his whole figure had become +altered and stricken in that one minute. In a dry, shrill voice, he +whined to Tuckle-- + +"I won't have it; I refuse it. Must I take it?" + +"I fear you must. English coin is so scarce in the Colony that the +Government at Brisbane has decided that, for a time, gold, such as +this, is legal tender at £4 the ounce." + +Macleod laughed. "Wull ye tak' the whole amoont wi' ye noo?" + +"Send it after us to Bateman," said Tuckle, speaking for Crosby, as he +went out to get their horses. + +Martin saw that his uncle had received a cruel blow, and that he looked +ill and very aged, and, feeling pity for him, he offered him the +support of his arm, but the old man flung it aside and tottered from +the room alone. + +The action was typical of his life. He had always spurned that which +should have been his greatest happiness. He never saw his nephew again, +for after reaching Bateman that day, overwhelmed with chagrin and +futile passion, he was struck down with the fit the doctors had +foretold. He died before Martin could reach him, and before he could +alter, had he wished to do so, the will which made his nephew his sole +heir. So that after all the gold for which the boys had been in quest +did not go out of the family, for the morning that Martin and +Margaret--sound friends and true lovers--became one, "till death does +them part," Alec and Geordie received back from their new brother the +title-deeds of Wandaroo, which he had found amongst his uncle's papers, +and for which he steadily refused to take an ounce of the--to +him--unnecessary gold. + + +THE END. + + +PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Quest of Gold, by Alfred St. Johnston + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42829 *** |