"O! pardon me thou bleeding piece of EarthThat I am meek and gentle with these butchers."Julius Cæsar,Act 3, Sc. 1.When "the Society" left Fern Vale they jaunted leisurely on for a short distance, when they were overtaken by Sawyer and his son-in-law, the notable Captain Jones, who made up to Mr. Rainsfield and told him they had come out to join his party against the blacks. Though these volunteers were not exactly the sort of men "the Society" would have desired to enroll they were determined looking characters, and had the appearance of those, who, if they could be trusted, could bemade serviceable in any desperate act. Therefore their aid was accepted, and they were forthwith admitted into the confidence of the brethren. Such is the influence of either perpetrated or contemplated crime that it breaks down all social demarcation and collects in the bonds of unity and friendship the most heterogeneous natures of man.The cavalcade had proceeded about half-way towards Strawberry Hill when some distance in advance of them a bullock crossed the road followed by a black on horseback at a hard gallop. Both animals Rainsfield at once recognised as his own; and, dashing spurs into his horse, he joined in the chase, followed by the remainder of the party, with the intention of sending one of his family's destroyers to a last account. The bullock ran with his head carried low and his tail erect at a speed which for some time kept him considerably in advance of his pursuer; but after a while his pace relaxed and the superior mettle of the horse soon brought him alongside thebovine fugitive. As the animals ran side by side the rider seized the uplifted tail of the bullock in a firm grasp, while he stimulated his horse to additional exertion, and with the application of very little force he tilted the beast over its own head, and it fell with its own velocity, breaking its neck.The black was quite conscious all this time that he was the object of pursuit; so giving a glance at his fallen prey to ascertain if his work had been effectual, and another behind him to see if his pursuers were in an unpleasant proximity, he continued his career through the bush until he arrived at the banks of the river Gibson. Into it he plunged without hesitation, and slipping from his saddle, as the horse entered the water, he held on by the bridle and stirrup, and swam by the animal's side. The black kept his eye upon the bank he had just left until he saw approaching through the bush a number of horsemen; who, as they reached the edge of river, presented their guns and fired. The nextmoment the horse rolled over in the stream, dyeing the water with his blood, and floated lifeless down the current.Nothing was visible, however, of the black. He had sunk ere their pieces were discharged; and the party knowing that he was untouched for some minutes watched vigilantly for his reappearance, but in vain. Barwang (for they had discovered it was he) did not show himself above the surface of the water; and they thinking that he was floating down concealed in some way with the carcass of the horse, followed it to watch. It at the same time occurred to them that he might have dived and was swimming for the other bank, assisting himself in eluding them by first floating some distance down the river. They had thus gone down the bank some two or three hundred yards, when they heard a loud hoarse laugh from behind them; and, turning to the direction whence the sound proceeded, they saw on the opposite side, some distance above where they stood, him for whose reappearancethey were watching. Barwang had escaped them by swimming against the current and not with it as they had anticipated he would; and once safely on the margin of the stream he felt he was secure, and stood pointing at his pursuers in derision and defiance. A dozen pieces were instantly pointed at him by the disappointed party; but he with another loud laugh darted into the scrub and, before the report of their guns was heard, was evanescent.The chagrined company then proceeded to Strawberry Hill, where Rainsfield proposed to lodge them; and where they would fix upon their future plans of action.That night the Society sat in grave debate, and various were the schemes proposed to effect visitation on the blacks of an exterminating retribution. The members at length became weary of making propositions that met with no support from the body, and were beginning to be silent when Dr. Graham renewed the energies of the meeting by remarking:"I'll tell you what it is all you fellows! you'd better 'keep your eyes on the picture.'"All the eyes of the assemblage if not kept on the imaginary picture that haunted the brain of this disciple of Æsculapius were at least kept attentively fixed on the features of the speaker, who continued. "See here! what is the good of the whole of us sitting here and looking at one another? There won't be a black in that scrub to-morrow; so if we don't go at them at once, they'll escape us as that scoundrel did to-day. They will be sure to know what we are here for, and will make themselves scarce at once; and if we once let them slip us we need never expect to get at them again for they are sure to take up their abode among the hills, gullies, or scrubs, where we could not follow them.""But is the river crossable?" asked one."Rainsfield will tell you," replied the Doctor."I have not been at the ford for some time," said Rainsfield, "and do not rememberthe usual depth of water. But the river has now gone down considerably, and I have no doubt it can be crossed; at any rate it shall soon be ascertained for I will do it myself this night in your presence so that you can judge by my success or failure.""Right," said Graham. "Then we all try it together, and that too as you say this very night. At once! say I. I go; so let who likes follow me:" and he started from his seat.The movement then became general, and in a short time the whole cavalcade were again on the move in the direction of the crossing-place near which Barwang had escaped them. About an hour afterwards the party were mustering in a state of saturation upon the edge of the scrub, after having passed through the still swollen stream, which they had had to swim. They noiselessly dismounted from their horses, arranged themselves on the bank of the river, fastened their steeds to adjacent trees, and then threaded the scrub under the guidance of Rainsfield, tothe camp of the blacks; which they speedily distinguished by the glare of the fires. The party then halted and arranged to divide themselves into two companies, one to advance from the spot where they then stood, while the other made a detour so as to encompass the camp. Then upon a given signal, they were to fire alternately into the midst of the blacks, and so long as any of the unfortunate wretches remained stationary to continue reloading and firing; but to close in upon them with revolvers if the victims showed any disposition to break through the compass of their rifles.They then advanced, and as quickly as possible encircled the unconscious aborigines, who lay, some in their gunyahs, and some stretched round the fires. All were in a deep sleep, into which they appeared to have fallen in a state of inert satiety, as was evident from the scattered remains of roasted meat that strewed the ground around them. Not a sound was to be heard in the whole campexcept the sonorous breathing of the supine gorgers; for even those watchful monitors, the dogs, had benefited by this rare occasion, by indulging in a glut that inoculated them with the same somnolent ineptitude.In a few moments after the Society had spread itself in the array of attack a low whistle was heard; when, almost simultaneously, eight flashes describing a semicircle on one side of the camp momentarily lit the dark avenues of the bush. They were instantly followed by a report, whose echoes mingled with the shrieks and dying groans of the wounded, and in an instant the unscathed portion of the prostrate forms stood erect; while the gunyahs disgorged their living inmates, called forth in their consternation and half unconscious lethargy, to offer marks for their concealed executioners. Other eight shots then told their murdering effects upon the huddled mass of the blacks, who remained in a perfect state of bewilderment hardly knowing which way to turn. Many rushedin the direction opposite to that whence the last fire had emanated, but only to fall by the shots of the first division of the Society, who, having thrown themselves down to avoid the chance of their colleagues' fire, had reloaded, and were ready for action. Again and again was this manœuvre repeated, and discharge followed discharge. The carnage had commenced, and many of the blacks sought a temporary shelter in their gunyahs, while the majority, not knowing what to do, remained in the open area, to be shot down by the rifles of the whites; who, when they tired of reloading their pieces, closed in upon the camp, and setting fire to their bark gunyahs drove the poor wretches from their retreat, and butchered them indiscriminately with their revolvers.One of the assailants, however, while dealing destruction around him, was active in searching for one above all others of the blacks he prayed to find. That searcher was Rainsfield, and the object of his concern weneed hardly say, was Barwang. Rainsfield had scanned the features of every black, as he buried a ball in each victim's heart; but without recognising the monster for whose blood he thirsted, and without which he would never be appeased. He searched long, but in vain. The fiendish leader of the tribe he could not discover; and he began to entertain fears that the wretch's cunning had enabled him to elude his grasp. Almost worn out with his work of death he was about relinquishing the search in despair when he spied a dark form creeping from a heap of bodies, and crawling away in the direction of the adjacent scrub. The fitful glare of a fire fell upon the features of the crouching form and disclosed the furtive glance of Barwang to the eyes of him who longed in his very soul for the meeting.The recognition was instantaneous on both sides, and at the same moment that Rainsfield sprang forward and fired at the black the other leaped from the ground and in aninstant, poising a spear in his hand, buried it in the body of his antagonist. Rainsfield tore the weapon from his breast, and seeing that the black was not killed by the shot he had fired at him, and it being the last he had, without time to reload, he drew his knife and sprang upon his enemy. The struggle was fierce, though short, for both the athletes were powerful men, and were determined upon each other's death, even if they perished themselves while effecting it. The black caught the right arm of his opponent as it descended with the weapon that was intended to terminate his existence, and with the other hand he seized the throat of Rainsfield, into which he buried his fingers like the talons of an eagle.Rainsfield taxed his strength to the utmost to disengage the hand from his throat, and save himself from strangulation while he effected the death of the black. Each strained and struggled as they, locked in each other's grasp, panted to eliminate the spiritfrom each other's bodies. After some time they stopped to gain breath, while they for a few moments silently eyed one another with looks of vengeance and rage. The conflict, however, was speedily renewed with fearful energy. Every nerve was strained to the utmost tension in both frames; when, in a moment, the black made several rapid lunges, battering with his hard cranium the breast of his foe; at the same time that Rainsfield managed to bury the knife up to its handle in the neck of Barwang. The loss of blood arising from the previous wounds, and these excessive strainings and shocks, soon produced their effects. Exhaustion speedily ensued; and the two belligerents, still firmly knitted in a death grasp, sank to the ground never again to rise in life.In the meantime the work of destruction progressed all around with unabated activity until no living black remained on whom to wreak a vengeance. Nearly the whole tribe had been sacrificed, for few escaped into thebush among the general slaughter. When the members of the Society contemplated the result of their labours they felt perfectly satisfied with the extent of their reparation, and surveyed the scene with a complacency ill befitting the work. How little did they remember that a work similar to this in result had been the cause of the reprisal that had brought desolation to the Rainsfield family! and less did they consider that they were incurring the displeasure of an indignant Maker. No! they thought not of the judgments of Divine wrath: the victims, in their imaginations, were only blacks, whose extermination was an ordination of Providence, and an advantage to civilisation. Besides which they looked upon the slaughter they had been engaged in as a just punishment to the savages for their perfidious treachery in the murder which they, the Society, were unable to prevent, but which they could, and did avenge. By this sort of reasoning they quieted their consciences, if any had been disturbed,and attempted to justify themselves in the eyes of their God.The forensic vision was that which most troubled them, for they knew, in the eye of the law of their country, they were guilty of an act which, if discovered, would cost them an atonement by the surrender of their lives. But they were aware that, with the exception of their own members, none could criminate them; while the probability of such an event occurring was very remote, for all were equally implicated. While, at the same time, the distance they were removed from the seat of government, and the ineffectual means supplied for the protection of the settlers in the border districts, would partly justify them in being armed in the present affray; and the magistrates of the territory being all of their own body, and consequently sympathising with their movements, they experienced very little apprehension of danger.We may here remark that this is not the only case in the land where similar influenceshave actuated the settlers to take summary vengeance on the blacks, for reprisals and peccadillos in themselves insignificant. Hundreds, ah! we may say thousands, have been shot with perfect impunity; and we hesitate not to say thousands more will continue to meet the same sad fate, until the last of the race shall have vanished from this terrestrial sphere. Yet we firmly believe their blood will sink into the soil, and at a future age, when the people have long since become extinct, will it cry aloud for vengeance; and woe to the land if the great Governor of the universe should listen to that cry.The party when about to leave the ground suddenly missed their companion Rainsfield, and, thinking that he might still be engaged on some operations of retribution in another part of the camp, called him aloud by name; but without meeting with any response. They waited impatiently for his return but after a time finding he did not return they commenced a search in the neighbourhood of thecamp, at the same time that they made the bush resound with their cooeys to attract him if he had strayed. Still to no purpose were their calls, for no responsive cry echoed to them; and not until they returned to the camp weary and dispirited as the first coruscations from the solar rays darted their luminous salutations over the eastern horizon did they discover his body with that of his last antagonist. His position, and the spear wound in his body, sufficiently explained his fate; and silently and sorrowfully he was removed, and carried by them to where their horses were secured. They then recrossed the river on their way back to Strawberry Hill, which had now become destitute of an owner.Shortly after their passage of the stream the cavalcade was met by John Ferguson, who had heard the firing, and guessing its import had ridden over for the purpose of inspecting the scene and satisfying himself upon the nature and extent of the slaughterhe knew must have taken place. But when he saw the returning party he rode up to them and addressing himself to Doctor Graham, who happened to be riding a little in advance, he said:"May I be permitted to enquire the nature of the firing which was carried on in the scrub last night?""Oh, certainly, sir," replied the Doctor, "you are permitted to ask whatever you like, for this is a free country. If you want to know the cause of the reports you heard last night I may inform you for your satisfaction that our friend Rainsfield had a warrant for the apprehension of Barwang, and that he attempted to put it in force, while we volunteered to assist and protect him. As might have been imagined we were attacked by the villains, and had to fire upon them for our own defence. In the affray we lost our friend Rainsfield, for he was killed by the wretch he was attempting to secure, and who at the same time met with his deserts.""Rainsfield is dead, did you say?" enquired John in hurried tones; "is life perfectly extinct?""Yes, dead!" replied the other, "as any herring. Go look at him yourself;" and he pointed behind him to where followed a horse with the body thrown across the saddle. "You can see there for yourself, where you may keep your eye on the picture."John silently surveyed the pale, discoloured, and distorted features which he had seen only a few hours before in life and perfect health, and with a deep drawn sigh, as he turned away, he muttered: "Poor fellow! such a terrible doom."The company then proceeded to the house of the Fergusons, when the melancholy obsequies of the previous day were repeated; after which the Society broke up, having ensured themselves against further interruptions from the blacks by the success of their first onslaught; and, although they arrangedto be ready upon any emergency, they had no anticipation of any future necessity.We must now in the course of our narrative precipitate our readers over a period of some six months after the events we have just related, which interval was passed with the occurrence of few circumstances worth detailing. Tom Rainsfield had been hastily recalled from town, but had not arrived until after the final scene of the tragedy had been enacted. The horrors of the events came upon him with such a shock, and so subdued his spirit, that it was some time before he could school himself to comprehend their full extent; and not until some weeks had elapsed could he bring his mind to the level of mundane matters, and then only with a melancholy feeling did he set to work to put the station in order.CHAPTER XIV."In smoothest terms his speech he wove,Of endless friendship, faith, and love;She listened with a blush and sigh,His suit was warm, his hopes were high."Sir Walter Scott.On a beautifully mild afternoon in that loveliest of Australian seasons, the transition between winter and summer, there reclined in an easy chair, on the verandah of the Fern Vale cottage, a young girl whose pale though handsome features seemed to be invested with an angelic air as they were contrasted with the deep mourning in which she was attired. We need hardly explain to the reader that this was Eleanor Rainsfield. At one side ofher sat our hero, attempting to relieve the weary hours of the invalid by some light and amusing reading, and on the other side sat his sister, who, while she was listening to her brother, was engaged in some of that description of work which constitutes at the same time young ladies' toil and amusement.During Eleanor's gradual return to convalescence John Ferguson had been assiduous in his endeavours to keep her mind diverted from the contemplation of her grief; and, forgetful of all his past resolutions to think of her only as a seraph exalted above his possession, their constant contiguity, if possible, more than ever made havoc in his heart, immersed him more than ever deeper in the sea of love, and made him yield a willing sacrifice to the ecstatic delirium of his dream.The attention of the trio, at the moment we have visited them, was suddenly attracted by the sounds of an approaching horseman, and looking up they perceived Bob Smithers riding wildly towards the house. Eleanor instantlyrose from her chair; and, leaning upon Kate, entered the sitting-room, while she said to John: "I expect the object of Mr. Smithers' visit is an interview with me, and if he desires it I will see him." Then addressing her friend, she said: "Leave me, dearest Kate, for the few minutes he is here. I don't expect he will stay long."In another instant Smithers pulled up before the house; and, throwing his bridle over the fence, he strode up to John, who was waiting for him with a welcome and an extended hand."How do you do, Mr. Smithers?" he said. "It is some time since you honoured us with a visit. I hope you're well.""I wish to see Miss Rainsfield," replied Smithers, without heeding the proffered hand or the inquiry after his health.John felt rather chagrined at the want of civility on the part of his guest; and, pointing to the half-opened window of the room in which Smithers could find the lady he desiredto see, he turned upon his heel and walked out of hearing.What was the nature of John's thoughts that this visit of Smithers gave rise to we will not attempt to divine, though we may safely assume they were of no pleasing nature from the cloud that came over his countenance as he left the house. And yet a gleam of hope would at intervals attempt to break through the gloom. As he stood leaning over the fence in front of the house, thus ruminating over the circumstance and its contingencies, he was startled by the precipitate approach of Smithers, who, clenching his fist and shaking it at him in a menacing attitude, exclaimed: "This is your work; but, by G—, you shall repent of ever having interfered in my private affairs." After the delivery of this minatory declaration the infuriated individual mounted his horse and galloped from the station.John remained for a few minutes musing upon the strange address he had just heard until a faint appreciation of the cause flashedacross his mind, and, his heart beating with salient palpitations, he entered the house to solve the mystery. With this intent he walked into the sitting-room, but found it empty. Eleanor had retired, and he was about to leave it again in search of his sister when his eye rested on an open note lying on the floor. The superscription, he perceived, was—"To Mr. Robert Smithers;" and in its caligraphy he at once detected the tracing of Eleanor's hand, and saw a solution of the mystery even before he glanced at the epistle's contents. If his heart beat quickly with pleasing apprehensions before his curiosity prompted him to pick up and read the note its proper functions were almost destroyed by the violent palpitations as his eyes devoured the following lines:—Dear Sir,—I hardly know how to break to you the subject on which I wish to address you. When I say it is with regard to our engagement you will understand what I mean, more especially when I tell you that I think,for both of our sakes, it were wise to annul it. To recount to you all the causes that have actuated me in the establishment of this desire would only be to reiterate all your various acts of contumely to myself and friends, and to relate all my daily sufferings. I will not say that I never loved you. When I was induced to consent to become your wife I would have endeavoured to have placed my whole heart at your disposal; but your conduct has not only been such as to estrange from you the most forgiving nature, but towards me it has been absolutely cruel.I say this not to stigmatize you for your ill-treatment of me, but to endeavour to show you that you can entertain no regard for me; and, in the absence of all mutual affection, such an union as ours would only entail misery on both of us. You will therefore perceive that it will be better for us to forget the relationship that has existed, and remain independent of one another.I bear you no ill-will, and desire to maintain a friendship for yourself and your kind relatives; but beyond the light of a friend I never can consent to regard you. So there will be no use of your attempting to alter my determination; it is already fixed.—Yours truly,Eleanor Rainsfield.John's astonishment when he read this was only equalled by his raptures; and it was not until he had twice re-read the note that he could withdraw his eyes from feasting on the blissful lines. "She has then discarded Smithers," he said to himself, "and there is hope for me." If there needed but one rivet to clench the fetters that bound the captive heart of our hero it was now fastened. He gave himself up like a voluptuary to the indulgence of his greatest earthly pleasure, the dissipation of love's charm, and the realization of his fondest hopes and wildest dreams; and, in the delirium of delight, his spirit ascended in imagination into the seventh heaven. He was, however, speedilybrought to a recollection of his existence in this terraqueous globe by his sister shaking his arm while she exclaimed:"Why, what is making you so absent, John? I have spoken to you four times, and you have taken no notice of me.""Have you, Kate?" replied John. "Well, I did not hear you, for I was thinking when you addressed me.""That was evident," replied the girl. "But tell me, John, what could have brought that man Smithers here? He has terribly upset poor Eleanor, and she has been obliged to go and lie down. I quite hate that horrid fellow, and wish he would never show his face here again.""I don't think it is very probable he ever will again, Kate," replied her brother."Well, I hope not. But what letter is that you have got in your hand?" said the girl as she glanced over the epistle that hung listlessly in the hand of her musing brother, who had attempted to conceal it, but notbefore Kate had spied the address. "Oh, show me the letter, John, dear John!" she continued. "I see it is addressed to that man, and from Eleanor I am sure; so it will explain all about it. Do show it to me."Her brother put it into her hands, and she read it with unqualified delight. Then looking up into his face, she exclaimed: "I am so delighted, John;" and, throwing her arms around her brother's neck, she kissed him in the exuberance of her joy, after which she bounded from the room, retaining possession of the cherished note.For the remainder of that day Eleanor confined herself to her room, but on the following forenoon she came out, with her pale, marble features, looking in John's eyes more lovely than ever. They were presently seated together, as was their wont, in the shade of the verandah; but somehow, on this occasion, the reading was not prosecuted with such spirit as usual, nor listened to with the accustomed interest, while the conversation was equallyvapid. Eleanor and John thus sat for some time alone, Kate being absent on her household duties, and William out on the station, without hardly uttering a word, until John, mustering sufficient courage to enter upon the subject that wholly engrossed his mind, without any preface, said:"I picked up a letter of yours in the room yesterday, Eleanor, after Mr. Smithers' departure."A deep crimson mantled the cheek of his pale companion as she replied: "I know it John; Kate has told me all."John gazed upon the features of the dear girl at his side, and met her eyes as they were raised from her lap to rest upon his face. He rapturously exclaimed: "Dear Eleanor if I could but tell you how dearly I love you I—" But he proceeded no further; a glance from the lustrous orbs of his companion had penetrated his heart, and he was silenced. Was it in fear? No! he had understood the glance, and comprehended its hidden secret. He wassilenced, but it was to impress a virgin kiss upon the lips of his fair enslaver; and there for a little let us leave them in the full enjoyment of inamoratos' bliss.We have said that John interpreted by a look the secret of Eleanor's heart; and let not loves' sceptics think such is only a figure of our imagination. Such glances have been read from the earliest eras of the world, and will continue to be so to the latest. Lovers' eyes are to each other like telegraph-dials, and reflect in their own mysterious characters the messages from the heart as the electric needle indicates the wishes of some unforeseen communicant. Their flashes are instantaneous, and they impress upon the hearts' tablets of their correspondents, with unmistakeable accuracy, the sentiments of the inosculated spirits. Theirs is a language secret and unknown but to the souls communicating, and unmeaning and unnoticeable to mortals, until made neophytes to the creed of Cupid.John and Eleanor for some time enjoyeduninterruptedly the commune of their plighted hearts, each discovering in the other a reciprocity which heightened the ardour and enhanced the raptures of their own loves. Their tongues were no longer tied. John was all volubility and animation; while the colour that the excitement of her affection called forth irradiated the cheeks of Eleanor, and imparted to her features a loveliness that John gazed upon with ecstacy. Their privacy, however, was at length broken in upon by William, who bounded into their presence in a state of high glee, while he exclaimed:"I've got some news to astonish you. Our friend Captain Jones has bolted, and has swindled his much-respected father-in-law to the tune of about five hundred pounds.""Bolted, has he!" exclaimed John; "what is that for?""Simply because it has pleased the gentleman on two previous occasions to enter the matrimonial state, and that both better halves, and sundry little pledges, are all living toattest to his identity. One of his former helpmates," continued William, "traced him to his late retreat, and claimed him as her lawful spouse; and he, thinking, I suppose, adénoûmentwould be rather unpleasant, has deemed it expedient to abscond.""And will the poor girl he last married have no redress?" asked Eleanor."Very little, I fear," replied John."I expect from what I have heard," continued William, "that old Sawyer intends to keep it as dark as possible. From Jones' bigamy the quondam Mrs. Jones becomes again Miss Mary Ann Sawyer, and he purposes looking out for another match for her.""But she surely," said Eleanor, "would not lend herself to so base a deception and gross impropriety.""I am not so sure of that," said William."I suppose," remarked John, "if they can't punish thesoi disantCaptain Jones they think the wisest thing they can do is to make the best of it by keeping it as quiet aspossible; and I have no doubt they will find many a swain who will not scruple to offer the lady a name.""Well that is dreadful!" exclaimed Eleanor."So it is," replied John, "but it is partly their own fault. They were so blinded by the notion of getting a gentleman to marry their daughter that they took no trouble to investigate the man's character, or even to ascertain anything about him; consequently they fell into the trap of a base scoundrel."CONCLUSION."I have done: pray be not angryThat shall I wish you well: may heaven divert,All harms that threaten you; full blessings crownYour marriage."Shirley.We must again hurry our readers over another period of some three months, and request them to accompany us for a few minutes up the bank of the creek flowing through Fern Vale. At a pretty little secluded spot overhung by the bright acacia two grassy mounds, encompassed by a neat white fence and adorned with two white slabs of wood, pointed themselves out as the graves of the sufferers in the Strawberry Hill massacre.Leaning over the railing of one of these enclosures was a young man, who might have been recognised as Tom Rainsfield, and at his side, encircled by his arm, our friend Kate Ferguson. After some few moments of silence Tom pressed to his heart the willing form of the lovely girl that graced his side, and said:"Dearest Kate, why not let us be married at the same time as John and Eleanor? Strawberry Hill is all ready for a mistress, and I am sure the very trees about the place are impatient to have domesticated amongst them the sweet successor of that good and amiable creature who lies beneath that sod. We could not have a better opportunity than John's marriage, for we could all go to New England together, and the double ceremony could be performed at the same time.""But that is so soon, Tom," replied Kate."It cannot be too soon, my dear," exclaimed the advocate for despatch; "why postpone our happiness?""Poor Will will be so lonely with Johnand Eleanor going away," said Kate, "if I leave him too. We ought to delay it until they return.""What for twelve months, Kate!" cried Tom. "It would drive me wild. I could not wait more than one at the very outside, and if you say another word of opposition I will run away with you. So now, dearest, let it be settled; we must be married next month altogether."No further objection was urged by the fair polemic, and a mutual inosculation sealed the compact.About a month from this date a traveller approaching Acacia creek might, from the joyous appearance of every face he saw, have been sensible of the existence of some happy occasion; and, if he had but stepped into the house and seen those who sat around the breakfast table, he would have been aware that the festivities were occasioned by a matrimonial ceremony; and, upon the slightest scrutiny, he would have discovered that twoyoung couples had been bound by the Gordian knot.The first move that was made after the despatch of the formal meal was the departure of John Ferguson and his now blooming bride. He led her to the arms of his mother; and, as the good lady embraced her sweet daughter-in-law, tears of joy coursed down her benign and matronly cheeks, and, imprinting another kiss on the lips of her son's choice, she bestowed her parting blessing. The rest of the leave-taking was soon effected and the young couple mounted their horses and rode away.We may remark for the information of our readers that it was John's intention to proceed to Brisbane and Sydney, there to spend the honeymoon, and afterwards to take a trip "home;" by which term he knew old England though he had never seen it, nor had any ties of consanguinity to bind him to it. They were to return to the colony in about twelve months; after which Tom Rainsfield had promiseda similar journey to Kate. In the meantime, however, Tom and his wife intended to take up their abode at Strawberry Hill, and thither they started almost immediately after John and Eleanor. As they left the paternal roof of the Fergusons a similar commingling of tears was effected between Kate and her mother as was witnessed upon the previous departure. Mr. Ferguson warmly grasped the hand of his son-in-law, while Mr. Wigton informed Tom that he had made up his mind to spend a short time with his friend William, to relieve his solitude and endeavour to persuade him to follow the example of his brother, and afford him, Mr. Wigton, the pleasure of tying another knot in the family. He would also, he said, while he was in the neighbourhood, avail himself of the opportunity of visiting his friends at Strawberry Hill.William promised to confer the happiness on Mr. Wigton of being fettered by his medium whenever it was his determination to beso foolish as to enter the married state: but affirmed for the present he had no intention of following in the steps of his brother and friend, and had not the most remote idea of assuming a marital character.Tom laughed at William's little sally, and gave him one of those jocose applications of the extended thumb to his ribs which in concomitant natures are thought so amiably vivacious and funny; and then turning to Mr. Wigton, expressed the delight he would feel at his making Strawberry Hill his home. Amidst the congratulations of his friends, Tom now led his bride to the door, and safely depositing her in her saddle, waved the last adieu as they cantered off.THE END.EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY THE CALEDONIAN PRESS.MR. NEWBY'SNEW PUBLICATIONSIn 2 vols., demy 8vo, price 30s. cloth,THE TURKISH EMPIRE: in its Relations with Christianity and Civilisation. ByR. R. Madden, F.R.C.S., and M.R.I.A., Author of "Travels in Turkey, Egypt, and Syria," "The Life of Savonarola," "Memoirs of the Countess of Blessington," etc."Dr. Madden's work is the result of two processes seldom conjoined in a history of this kind—namely, the most complete reading and research, and the most vigilant personal observation, accomplished by years of residence in Turkey at different periods, from 1824 up to the present time. Altogether his work is a most admirable one; and for accuracy of fact, lucid arrangement, and agreeable style of narration, will prove alike acceptable to the student and to the general reader."—Dublin Evening Post, March 18th."A most invaluable book. 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"O! pardon me thou bleeding piece of EarthThat I am meek and gentle with these butchers."Julius Cæsar,Act 3, Sc. 1.
"O! pardon me thou bleeding piece of EarthThat I am meek and gentle with these butchers."Julius Cæsar,Act 3, Sc. 1.
When "the Society" left Fern Vale they jaunted leisurely on for a short distance, when they were overtaken by Sawyer and his son-in-law, the notable Captain Jones, who made up to Mr. Rainsfield and told him they had come out to join his party against the blacks. Though these volunteers were not exactly the sort of men "the Society" would have desired to enroll they were determined looking characters, and had the appearance of those, who, if they could be trusted, could bemade serviceable in any desperate act. Therefore their aid was accepted, and they were forthwith admitted into the confidence of the brethren. Such is the influence of either perpetrated or contemplated crime that it breaks down all social demarcation and collects in the bonds of unity and friendship the most heterogeneous natures of man.
The cavalcade had proceeded about half-way towards Strawberry Hill when some distance in advance of them a bullock crossed the road followed by a black on horseback at a hard gallop. Both animals Rainsfield at once recognised as his own; and, dashing spurs into his horse, he joined in the chase, followed by the remainder of the party, with the intention of sending one of his family's destroyers to a last account. The bullock ran with his head carried low and his tail erect at a speed which for some time kept him considerably in advance of his pursuer; but after a while his pace relaxed and the superior mettle of the horse soon brought him alongside thebovine fugitive. As the animals ran side by side the rider seized the uplifted tail of the bullock in a firm grasp, while he stimulated his horse to additional exertion, and with the application of very little force he tilted the beast over its own head, and it fell with its own velocity, breaking its neck.
The black was quite conscious all this time that he was the object of pursuit; so giving a glance at his fallen prey to ascertain if his work had been effectual, and another behind him to see if his pursuers were in an unpleasant proximity, he continued his career through the bush until he arrived at the banks of the river Gibson. Into it he plunged without hesitation, and slipping from his saddle, as the horse entered the water, he held on by the bridle and stirrup, and swam by the animal's side. The black kept his eye upon the bank he had just left until he saw approaching through the bush a number of horsemen; who, as they reached the edge of river, presented their guns and fired. The nextmoment the horse rolled over in the stream, dyeing the water with his blood, and floated lifeless down the current.
Nothing was visible, however, of the black. He had sunk ere their pieces were discharged; and the party knowing that he was untouched for some minutes watched vigilantly for his reappearance, but in vain. Barwang (for they had discovered it was he) did not show himself above the surface of the water; and they thinking that he was floating down concealed in some way with the carcass of the horse, followed it to watch. It at the same time occurred to them that he might have dived and was swimming for the other bank, assisting himself in eluding them by first floating some distance down the river. They had thus gone down the bank some two or three hundred yards, when they heard a loud hoarse laugh from behind them; and, turning to the direction whence the sound proceeded, they saw on the opposite side, some distance above where they stood, him for whose reappearancethey were watching. Barwang had escaped them by swimming against the current and not with it as they had anticipated he would; and once safely on the margin of the stream he felt he was secure, and stood pointing at his pursuers in derision and defiance. A dozen pieces were instantly pointed at him by the disappointed party; but he with another loud laugh darted into the scrub and, before the report of their guns was heard, was evanescent.
The chagrined company then proceeded to Strawberry Hill, where Rainsfield proposed to lodge them; and where they would fix upon their future plans of action.
That night the Society sat in grave debate, and various were the schemes proposed to effect visitation on the blacks of an exterminating retribution. The members at length became weary of making propositions that met with no support from the body, and were beginning to be silent when Dr. Graham renewed the energies of the meeting by remarking:
"I'll tell you what it is all you fellows! you'd better 'keep your eyes on the picture.'"
All the eyes of the assemblage if not kept on the imaginary picture that haunted the brain of this disciple of Æsculapius were at least kept attentively fixed on the features of the speaker, who continued. "See here! what is the good of the whole of us sitting here and looking at one another? There won't be a black in that scrub to-morrow; so if we don't go at them at once, they'll escape us as that scoundrel did to-day. They will be sure to know what we are here for, and will make themselves scarce at once; and if we once let them slip us we need never expect to get at them again for they are sure to take up their abode among the hills, gullies, or scrubs, where we could not follow them."
"But is the river crossable?" asked one.
"Rainsfield will tell you," replied the Doctor.
"I have not been at the ford for some time," said Rainsfield, "and do not rememberthe usual depth of water. But the river has now gone down considerably, and I have no doubt it can be crossed; at any rate it shall soon be ascertained for I will do it myself this night in your presence so that you can judge by my success or failure."
"Right," said Graham. "Then we all try it together, and that too as you say this very night. At once! say I. I go; so let who likes follow me:" and he started from his seat.
The movement then became general, and in a short time the whole cavalcade were again on the move in the direction of the crossing-place near which Barwang had escaped them. About an hour afterwards the party were mustering in a state of saturation upon the edge of the scrub, after having passed through the still swollen stream, which they had had to swim. They noiselessly dismounted from their horses, arranged themselves on the bank of the river, fastened their steeds to adjacent trees, and then threaded the scrub under the guidance of Rainsfield, tothe camp of the blacks; which they speedily distinguished by the glare of the fires. The party then halted and arranged to divide themselves into two companies, one to advance from the spot where they then stood, while the other made a detour so as to encompass the camp. Then upon a given signal, they were to fire alternately into the midst of the blacks, and so long as any of the unfortunate wretches remained stationary to continue reloading and firing; but to close in upon them with revolvers if the victims showed any disposition to break through the compass of their rifles.
They then advanced, and as quickly as possible encircled the unconscious aborigines, who lay, some in their gunyahs, and some stretched round the fires. All were in a deep sleep, into which they appeared to have fallen in a state of inert satiety, as was evident from the scattered remains of roasted meat that strewed the ground around them. Not a sound was to be heard in the whole campexcept the sonorous breathing of the supine gorgers; for even those watchful monitors, the dogs, had benefited by this rare occasion, by indulging in a glut that inoculated them with the same somnolent ineptitude.
In a few moments after the Society had spread itself in the array of attack a low whistle was heard; when, almost simultaneously, eight flashes describing a semicircle on one side of the camp momentarily lit the dark avenues of the bush. They were instantly followed by a report, whose echoes mingled with the shrieks and dying groans of the wounded, and in an instant the unscathed portion of the prostrate forms stood erect; while the gunyahs disgorged their living inmates, called forth in their consternation and half unconscious lethargy, to offer marks for their concealed executioners. Other eight shots then told their murdering effects upon the huddled mass of the blacks, who remained in a perfect state of bewilderment hardly knowing which way to turn. Many rushedin the direction opposite to that whence the last fire had emanated, but only to fall by the shots of the first division of the Society, who, having thrown themselves down to avoid the chance of their colleagues' fire, had reloaded, and were ready for action. Again and again was this manœuvre repeated, and discharge followed discharge. The carnage had commenced, and many of the blacks sought a temporary shelter in their gunyahs, while the majority, not knowing what to do, remained in the open area, to be shot down by the rifles of the whites; who, when they tired of reloading their pieces, closed in upon the camp, and setting fire to their bark gunyahs drove the poor wretches from their retreat, and butchered them indiscriminately with their revolvers.
One of the assailants, however, while dealing destruction around him, was active in searching for one above all others of the blacks he prayed to find. That searcher was Rainsfield, and the object of his concern weneed hardly say, was Barwang. Rainsfield had scanned the features of every black, as he buried a ball in each victim's heart; but without recognising the monster for whose blood he thirsted, and without which he would never be appeased. He searched long, but in vain. The fiendish leader of the tribe he could not discover; and he began to entertain fears that the wretch's cunning had enabled him to elude his grasp. Almost worn out with his work of death he was about relinquishing the search in despair when he spied a dark form creeping from a heap of bodies, and crawling away in the direction of the adjacent scrub. The fitful glare of a fire fell upon the features of the crouching form and disclosed the furtive glance of Barwang to the eyes of him who longed in his very soul for the meeting.
The recognition was instantaneous on both sides, and at the same moment that Rainsfield sprang forward and fired at the black the other leaped from the ground and in aninstant, poising a spear in his hand, buried it in the body of his antagonist. Rainsfield tore the weapon from his breast, and seeing that the black was not killed by the shot he had fired at him, and it being the last he had, without time to reload, he drew his knife and sprang upon his enemy. The struggle was fierce, though short, for both the athletes were powerful men, and were determined upon each other's death, even if they perished themselves while effecting it. The black caught the right arm of his opponent as it descended with the weapon that was intended to terminate his existence, and with the other hand he seized the throat of Rainsfield, into which he buried his fingers like the talons of an eagle.
Rainsfield taxed his strength to the utmost to disengage the hand from his throat, and save himself from strangulation while he effected the death of the black. Each strained and struggled as they, locked in each other's grasp, panted to eliminate the spiritfrom each other's bodies. After some time they stopped to gain breath, while they for a few moments silently eyed one another with looks of vengeance and rage. The conflict, however, was speedily renewed with fearful energy. Every nerve was strained to the utmost tension in both frames; when, in a moment, the black made several rapid lunges, battering with his hard cranium the breast of his foe; at the same time that Rainsfield managed to bury the knife up to its handle in the neck of Barwang. The loss of blood arising from the previous wounds, and these excessive strainings and shocks, soon produced their effects. Exhaustion speedily ensued; and the two belligerents, still firmly knitted in a death grasp, sank to the ground never again to rise in life.
In the meantime the work of destruction progressed all around with unabated activity until no living black remained on whom to wreak a vengeance. Nearly the whole tribe had been sacrificed, for few escaped into thebush among the general slaughter. When the members of the Society contemplated the result of their labours they felt perfectly satisfied with the extent of their reparation, and surveyed the scene with a complacency ill befitting the work. How little did they remember that a work similar to this in result had been the cause of the reprisal that had brought desolation to the Rainsfield family! and less did they consider that they were incurring the displeasure of an indignant Maker. No! they thought not of the judgments of Divine wrath: the victims, in their imaginations, were only blacks, whose extermination was an ordination of Providence, and an advantage to civilisation. Besides which they looked upon the slaughter they had been engaged in as a just punishment to the savages for their perfidious treachery in the murder which they, the Society, were unable to prevent, but which they could, and did avenge. By this sort of reasoning they quieted their consciences, if any had been disturbed,and attempted to justify themselves in the eyes of their God.
The forensic vision was that which most troubled them, for they knew, in the eye of the law of their country, they were guilty of an act which, if discovered, would cost them an atonement by the surrender of their lives. But they were aware that, with the exception of their own members, none could criminate them; while the probability of such an event occurring was very remote, for all were equally implicated. While, at the same time, the distance they were removed from the seat of government, and the ineffectual means supplied for the protection of the settlers in the border districts, would partly justify them in being armed in the present affray; and the magistrates of the territory being all of their own body, and consequently sympathising with their movements, they experienced very little apprehension of danger.
We may here remark that this is not the only case in the land where similar influenceshave actuated the settlers to take summary vengeance on the blacks, for reprisals and peccadillos in themselves insignificant. Hundreds, ah! we may say thousands, have been shot with perfect impunity; and we hesitate not to say thousands more will continue to meet the same sad fate, until the last of the race shall have vanished from this terrestrial sphere. Yet we firmly believe their blood will sink into the soil, and at a future age, when the people have long since become extinct, will it cry aloud for vengeance; and woe to the land if the great Governor of the universe should listen to that cry.
The party when about to leave the ground suddenly missed their companion Rainsfield, and, thinking that he might still be engaged on some operations of retribution in another part of the camp, called him aloud by name; but without meeting with any response. They waited impatiently for his return but after a time finding he did not return they commenced a search in the neighbourhood of thecamp, at the same time that they made the bush resound with their cooeys to attract him if he had strayed. Still to no purpose were their calls, for no responsive cry echoed to them; and not until they returned to the camp weary and dispirited as the first coruscations from the solar rays darted their luminous salutations over the eastern horizon did they discover his body with that of his last antagonist. His position, and the spear wound in his body, sufficiently explained his fate; and silently and sorrowfully he was removed, and carried by them to where their horses were secured. They then recrossed the river on their way back to Strawberry Hill, which had now become destitute of an owner.
Shortly after their passage of the stream the cavalcade was met by John Ferguson, who had heard the firing, and guessing its import had ridden over for the purpose of inspecting the scene and satisfying himself upon the nature and extent of the slaughterhe knew must have taken place. But when he saw the returning party he rode up to them and addressing himself to Doctor Graham, who happened to be riding a little in advance, he said:
"May I be permitted to enquire the nature of the firing which was carried on in the scrub last night?"
"Oh, certainly, sir," replied the Doctor, "you are permitted to ask whatever you like, for this is a free country. If you want to know the cause of the reports you heard last night I may inform you for your satisfaction that our friend Rainsfield had a warrant for the apprehension of Barwang, and that he attempted to put it in force, while we volunteered to assist and protect him. As might have been imagined we were attacked by the villains, and had to fire upon them for our own defence. In the affray we lost our friend Rainsfield, for he was killed by the wretch he was attempting to secure, and who at the same time met with his deserts."
"Rainsfield is dead, did you say?" enquired John in hurried tones; "is life perfectly extinct?"
"Yes, dead!" replied the other, "as any herring. Go look at him yourself;" and he pointed behind him to where followed a horse with the body thrown across the saddle. "You can see there for yourself, where you may keep your eye on the picture."
John silently surveyed the pale, discoloured, and distorted features which he had seen only a few hours before in life and perfect health, and with a deep drawn sigh, as he turned away, he muttered: "Poor fellow! such a terrible doom."
The company then proceeded to the house of the Fergusons, when the melancholy obsequies of the previous day were repeated; after which the Society broke up, having ensured themselves against further interruptions from the blacks by the success of their first onslaught; and, although they arrangedto be ready upon any emergency, they had no anticipation of any future necessity.
We must now in the course of our narrative precipitate our readers over a period of some six months after the events we have just related, which interval was passed with the occurrence of few circumstances worth detailing. Tom Rainsfield had been hastily recalled from town, but had not arrived until after the final scene of the tragedy had been enacted. The horrors of the events came upon him with such a shock, and so subdued his spirit, that it was some time before he could school himself to comprehend their full extent; and not until some weeks had elapsed could he bring his mind to the level of mundane matters, and then only with a melancholy feeling did he set to work to put the station in order.
"In smoothest terms his speech he wove,Of endless friendship, faith, and love;She listened with a blush and sigh,His suit was warm, his hopes were high."Sir Walter Scott.
"In smoothest terms his speech he wove,Of endless friendship, faith, and love;She listened with a blush and sigh,His suit was warm, his hopes were high."Sir Walter Scott.
On a beautifully mild afternoon in that loveliest of Australian seasons, the transition between winter and summer, there reclined in an easy chair, on the verandah of the Fern Vale cottage, a young girl whose pale though handsome features seemed to be invested with an angelic air as they were contrasted with the deep mourning in which she was attired. We need hardly explain to the reader that this was Eleanor Rainsfield. At one side ofher sat our hero, attempting to relieve the weary hours of the invalid by some light and amusing reading, and on the other side sat his sister, who, while she was listening to her brother, was engaged in some of that description of work which constitutes at the same time young ladies' toil and amusement.
During Eleanor's gradual return to convalescence John Ferguson had been assiduous in his endeavours to keep her mind diverted from the contemplation of her grief; and, forgetful of all his past resolutions to think of her only as a seraph exalted above his possession, their constant contiguity, if possible, more than ever made havoc in his heart, immersed him more than ever deeper in the sea of love, and made him yield a willing sacrifice to the ecstatic delirium of his dream.
The attention of the trio, at the moment we have visited them, was suddenly attracted by the sounds of an approaching horseman, and looking up they perceived Bob Smithers riding wildly towards the house. Eleanor instantlyrose from her chair; and, leaning upon Kate, entered the sitting-room, while she said to John: "I expect the object of Mr. Smithers' visit is an interview with me, and if he desires it I will see him." Then addressing her friend, she said: "Leave me, dearest Kate, for the few minutes he is here. I don't expect he will stay long."
In another instant Smithers pulled up before the house; and, throwing his bridle over the fence, he strode up to John, who was waiting for him with a welcome and an extended hand.
"How do you do, Mr. Smithers?" he said. "It is some time since you honoured us with a visit. I hope you're well."
"I wish to see Miss Rainsfield," replied Smithers, without heeding the proffered hand or the inquiry after his health.
John felt rather chagrined at the want of civility on the part of his guest; and, pointing to the half-opened window of the room in which Smithers could find the lady he desiredto see, he turned upon his heel and walked out of hearing.
What was the nature of John's thoughts that this visit of Smithers gave rise to we will not attempt to divine, though we may safely assume they were of no pleasing nature from the cloud that came over his countenance as he left the house. And yet a gleam of hope would at intervals attempt to break through the gloom. As he stood leaning over the fence in front of the house, thus ruminating over the circumstance and its contingencies, he was startled by the precipitate approach of Smithers, who, clenching his fist and shaking it at him in a menacing attitude, exclaimed: "This is your work; but, by G—, you shall repent of ever having interfered in my private affairs." After the delivery of this minatory declaration the infuriated individual mounted his horse and galloped from the station.
John remained for a few minutes musing upon the strange address he had just heard until a faint appreciation of the cause flashedacross his mind, and, his heart beating with salient palpitations, he entered the house to solve the mystery. With this intent he walked into the sitting-room, but found it empty. Eleanor had retired, and he was about to leave it again in search of his sister when his eye rested on an open note lying on the floor. The superscription, he perceived, was—"To Mr. Robert Smithers;" and in its caligraphy he at once detected the tracing of Eleanor's hand, and saw a solution of the mystery even before he glanced at the epistle's contents. If his heart beat quickly with pleasing apprehensions before his curiosity prompted him to pick up and read the note its proper functions were almost destroyed by the violent palpitations as his eyes devoured the following lines:—
Dear Sir,—I hardly know how to break to you the subject on which I wish to address you. When I say it is with regard to our engagement you will understand what I mean, more especially when I tell you that I think,for both of our sakes, it were wise to annul it. To recount to you all the causes that have actuated me in the establishment of this desire would only be to reiterate all your various acts of contumely to myself and friends, and to relate all my daily sufferings. I will not say that I never loved you. When I was induced to consent to become your wife I would have endeavoured to have placed my whole heart at your disposal; but your conduct has not only been such as to estrange from you the most forgiving nature, but towards me it has been absolutely cruel.I say this not to stigmatize you for your ill-treatment of me, but to endeavour to show you that you can entertain no regard for me; and, in the absence of all mutual affection, such an union as ours would only entail misery on both of us. You will therefore perceive that it will be better for us to forget the relationship that has existed, and remain independent of one another.I bear you no ill-will, and desire to maintain a friendship for yourself and your kind relatives; but beyond the light of a friend I never can consent to regard you. So there will be no use of your attempting to alter my determination; it is already fixed.—Yours truly,Eleanor Rainsfield.
Dear Sir,—I hardly know how to break to you the subject on which I wish to address you. When I say it is with regard to our engagement you will understand what I mean, more especially when I tell you that I think,for both of our sakes, it were wise to annul it. To recount to you all the causes that have actuated me in the establishment of this desire would only be to reiterate all your various acts of contumely to myself and friends, and to relate all my daily sufferings. I will not say that I never loved you. When I was induced to consent to become your wife I would have endeavoured to have placed my whole heart at your disposal; but your conduct has not only been such as to estrange from you the most forgiving nature, but towards me it has been absolutely cruel.
I say this not to stigmatize you for your ill-treatment of me, but to endeavour to show you that you can entertain no regard for me; and, in the absence of all mutual affection, such an union as ours would only entail misery on both of us. You will therefore perceive that it will be better for us to forget the relationship that has existed, and remain independent of one another.
I bear you no ill-will, and desire to maintain a friendship for yourself and your kind relatives; but beyond the light of a friend I never can consent to regard you. So there will be no use of your attempting to alter my determination; it is already fixed.—Yours truly,
Eleanor Rainsfield.
John's astonishment when he read this was only equalled by his raptures; and it was not until he had twice re-read the note that he could withdraw his eyes from feasting on the blissful lines. "She has then discarded Smithers," he said to himself, "and there is hope for me." If there needed but one rivet to clench the fetters that bound the captive heart of our hero it was now fastened. He gave himself up like a voluptuary to the indulgence of his greatest earthly pleasure, the dissipation of love's charm, and the realization of his fondest hopes and wildest dreams; and, in the delirium of delight, his spirit ascended in imagination into the seventh heaven. He was, however, speedilybrought to a recollection of his existence in this terraqueous globe by his sister shaking his arm while she exclaimed:
"Why, what is making you so absent, John? I have spoken to you four times, and you have taken no notice of me."
"Have you, Kate?" replied John. "Well, I did not hear you, for I was thinking when you addressed me."
"That was evident," replied the girl. "But tell me, John, what could have brought that man Smithers here? He has terribly upset poor Eleanor, and she has been obliged to go and lie down. I quite hate that horrid fellow, and wish he would never show his face here again."
"I don't think it is very probable he ever will again, Kate," replied her brother.
"Well, I hope not. But what letter is that you have got in your hand?" said the girl as she glanced over the epistle that hung listlessly in the hand of her musing brother, who had attempted to conceal it, but notbefore Kate had spied the address. "Oh, show me the letter, John, dear John!" she continued. "I see it is addressed to that man, and from Eleanor I am sure; so it will explain all about it. Do show it to me."
Her brother put it into her hands, and she read it with unqualified delight. Then looking up into his face, she exclaimed: "I am so delighted, John;" and, throwing her arms around her brother's neck, she kissed him in the exuberance of her joy, after which she bounded from the room, retaining possession of the cherished note.
For the remainder of that day Eleanor confined herself to her room, but on the following forenoon she came out, with her pale, marble features, looking in John's eyes more lovely than ever. They were presently seated together, as was their wont, in the shade of the verandah; but somehow, on this occasion, the reading was not prosecuted with such spirit as usual, nor listened to with the accustomed interest, while the conversation was equallyvapid. Eleanor and John thus sat for some time alone, Kate being absent on her household duties, and William out on the station, without hardly uttering a word, until John, mustering sufficient courage to enter upon the subject that wholly engrossed his mind, without any preface, said:
"I picked up a letter of yours in the room yesterday, Eleanor, after Mr. Smithers' departure."
A deep crimson mantled the cheek of his pale companion as she replied: "I know it John; Kate has told me all."
John gazed upon the features of the dear girl at his side, and met her eyes as they were raised from her lap to rest upon his face. He rapturously exclaimed: "Dear Eleanor if I could but tell you how dearly I love you I—" But he proceeded no further; a glance from the lustrous orbs of his companion had penetrated his heart, and he was silenced. Was it in fear? No! he had understood the glance, and comprehended its hidden secret. He wassilenced, but it was to impress a virgin kiss upon the lips of his fair enslaver; and there for a little let us leave them in the full enjoyment of inamoratos' bliss.
We have said that John interpreted by a look the secret of Eleanor's heart; and let not loves' sceptics think such is only a figure of our imagination. Such glances have been read from the earliest eras of the world, and will continue to be so to the latest. Lovers' eyes are to each other like telegraph-dials, and reflect in their own mysterious characters the messages from the heart as the electric needle indicates the wishes of some unforeseen communicant. Their flashes are instantaneous, and they impress upon the hearts' tablets of their correspondents, with unmistakeable accuracy, the sentiments of the inosculated spirits. Theirs is a language secret and unknown but to the souls communicating, and unmeaning and unnoticeable to mortals, until made neophytes to the creed of Cupid.
John and Eleanor for some time enjoyeduninterruptedly the commune of their plighted hearts, each discovering in the other a reciprocity which heightened the ardour and enhanced the raptures of their own loves. Their tongues were no longer tied. John was all volubility and animation; while the colour that the excitement of her affection called forth irradiated the cheeks of Eleanor, and imparted to her features a loveliness that John gazed upon with ecstacy. Their privacy, however, was at length broken in upon by William, who bounded into their presence in a state of high glee, while he exclaimed:
"I've got some news to astonish you. Our friend Captain Jones has bolted, and has swindled his much-respected father-in-law to the tune of about five hundred pounds."
"Bolted, has he!" exclaimed John; "what is that for?"
"Simply because it has pleased the gentleman on two previous occasions to enter the matrimonial state, and that both better halves, and sundry little pledges, are all living toattest to his identity. One of his former helpmates," continued William, "traced him to his late retreat, and claimed him as her lawful spouse; and he, thinking, I suppose, adénoûmentwould be rather unpleasant, has deemed it expedient to abscond."
"And will the poor girl he last married have no redress?" asked Eleanor.
"Very little, I fear," replied John.
"I expect from what I have heard," continued William, "that old Sawyer intends to keep it as dark as possible. From Jones' bigamy the quondam Mrs. Jones becomes again Miss Mary Ann Sawyer, and he purposes looking out for another match for her."
"But she surely," said Eleanor, "would not lend herself to so base a deception and gross impropriety."
"I am not so sure of that," said William.
"I suppose," remarked John, "if they can't punish thesoi disantCaptain Jones they think the wisest thing they can do is to make the best of it by keeping it as quiet aspossible; and I have no doubt they will find many a swain who will not scruple to offer the lady a name."
"Well that is dreadful!" exclaimed Eleanor.
"So it is," replied John, "but it is partly their own fault. They were so blinded by the notion of getting a gentleman to marry their daughter that they took no trouble to investigate the man's character, or even to ascertain anything about him; consequently they fell into the trap of a base scoundrel."
"I have done: pray be not angryThat shall I wish you well: may heaven divert,All harms that threaten you; full blessings crownYour marriage."Shirley.
"I have done: pray be not angryThat shall I wish you well: may heaven divert,All harms that threaten you; full blessings crownYour marriage."Shirley.
We must again hurry our readers over another period of some three months, and request them to accompany us for a few minutes up the bank of the creek flowing through Fern Vale. At a pretty little secluded spot overhung by the bright acacia two grassy mounds, encompassed by a neat white fence and adorned with two white slabs of wood, pointed themselves out as the graves of the sufferers in the Strawberry Hill massacre.
Leaning over the railing of one of these enclosures was a young man, who might have been recognised as Tom Rainsfield, and at his side, encircled by his arm, our friend Kate Ferguson. After some few moments of silence Tom pressed to his heart the willing form of the lovely girl that graced his side, and said:
"Dearest Kate, why not let us be married at the same time as John and Eleanor? Strawberry Hill is all ready for a mistress, and I am sure the very trees about the place are impatient to have domesticated amongst them the sweet successor of that good and amiable creature who lies beneath that sod. We could not have a better opportunity than John's marriage, for we could all go to New England together, and the double ceremony could be performed at the same time."
"But that is so soon, Tom," replied Kate.
"It cannot be too soon, my dear," exclaimed the advocate for despatch; "why postpone our happiness?"
"Poor Will will be so lonely with Johnand Eleanor going away," said Kate, "if I leave him too. We ought to delay it until they return."
"What for twelve months, Kate!" cried Tom. "It would drive me wild. I could not wait more than one at the very outside, and if you say another word of opposition I will run away with you. So now, dearest, let it be settled; we must be married next month altogether."
No further objection was urged by the fair polemic, and a mutual inosculation sealed the compact.
About a month from this date a traveller approaching Acacia creek might, from the joyous appearance of every face he saw, have been sensible of the existence of some happy occasion; and, if he had but stepped into the house and seen those who sat around the breakfast table, he would have been aware that the festivities were occasioned by a matrimonial ceremony; and, upon the slightest scrutiny, he would have discovered that twoyoung couples had been bound by the Gordian knot.
The first move that was made after the despatch of the formal meal was the departure of John Ferguson and his now blooming bride. He led her to the arms of his mother; and, as the good lady embraced her sweet daughter-in-law, tears of joy coursed down her benign and matronly cheeks, and, imprinting another kiss on the lips of her son's choice, she bestowed her parting blessing. The rest of the leave-taking was soon effected and the young couple mounted their horses and rode away.
We may remark for the information of our readers that it was John's intention to proceed to Brisbane and Sydney, there to spend the honeymoon, and afterwards to take a trip "home;" by which term he knew old England though he had never seen it, nor had any ties of consanguinity to bind him to it. They were to return to the colony in about twelve months; after which Tom Rainsfield had promiseda similar journey to Kate. In the meantime, however, Tom and his wife intended to take up their abode at Strawberry Hill, and thither they started almost immediately after John and Eleanor. As they left the paternal roof of the Fergusons a similar commingling of tears was effected between Kate and her mother as was witnessed upon the previous departure. Mr. Ferguson warmly grasped the hand of his son-in-law, while Mr. Wigton informed Tom that he had made up his mind to spend a short time with his friend William, to relieve his solitude and endeavour to persuade him to follow the example of his brother, and afford him, Mr. Wigton, the pleasure of tying another knot in the family. He would also, he said, while he was in the neighbourhood, avail himself of the opportunity of visiting his friends at Strawberry Hill.
William promised to confer the happiness on Mr. Wigton of being fettered by his medium whenever it was his determination to beso foolish as to enter the married state: but affirmed for the present he had no intention of following in the steps of his brother and friend, and had not the most remote idea of assuming a marital character.
Tom laughed at William's little sally, and gave him one of those jocose applications of the extended thumb to his ribs which in concomitant natures are thought so amiably vivacious and funny; and then turning to Mr. Wigton, expressed the delight he would feel at his making Strawberry Hill his home. Amidst the congratulations of his friends, Tom now led his bride to the door, and safely depositing her in her saddle, waved the last adieu as they cantered off.
THE END.
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