As I lay watching their movements, as well as the darkness permitted, I suddenly remembered that there was a canoe, or little punt, a miserable, leaky, flat-bottomed affair, lying under the bank before me. The reason Stevenson had not used it to paddle down to the bottom of the island (a mile off) was the necessity of constant baling to keep it afloat in going such a distance. Merely to cross and recross the stream she would do well enough, as she would carry two men. I was determined the thieves should not have her for transporting their saddles and swags, and went forward to remove her. I crept along until I came to the huge log of dead timber to which the canoe was attached. Here I was completely in the shade, and sheltered, moreover, by the massive trunk, behind the upper end of which I crouched. I had reached out my hand to loosen the painter, when my eye fell on an object moving along the surface of the water, which was comparatively light. It was the head of a man swimming across for the boat; and I resolved to secure him.
As he approached nearer, I saw it was a black fellow. I was not surprised at this, as I had been informed that the organized gangs of depredators who carried on operations on a large scale between the different colonies generally secured the services of some of these dexterous children of the soil to assist them in travelling through the bush by the remotest and most unfrequented tracks; and, above all, to aid them in swimming the horses across streams when flooded with the winter rains. He did not seem to anticipate any ambush or interruption, for he came boldly though silently on, and, reaching the boat, hauled himself on, and, grasping the rope, lifted himself out of the water by its aid, and in two steps ascended to where it was fastened. I had drawn my pistol from its belt, and the moment he reached out his hand, I pointed it at him, and said quietly, 'If you move, I shoot you!'
Beyond turning his face quickly to the spot whence my voice proceeded, the black made not the slightest motion, but remained in the same attitude, as if suddenly paralyzed by this unexpected rencontre; and I stood up to seize and take him up the bank. I confess I acted like a blockhead; but I was new to such matters then; yet, after the example I had already witnessed that evening of the cunning, dexterity, and agility of the blacks, I ought to have known better.
Instead of keeping him covered with my pistol, and ordering him to come up the bank to me, I descended the steep face of it to him, and, reaching out my left hand, took hold of his wrist to lead him up. The fellow yielded without uttering a syllable, and as if he had not the slightest intention of resisting, and ascended a step or two, thus bringing himself close to and just beneath me. Another step would have placed us on a level, and he was in the act of making it, when, quick as lightning, the rascal, finding himself quite close to me, threw his arm round my body and hurled himself back into the river, head foremost, dragging me with him, and, when under water, instantly making the most desperate efforts to get loose from my grasp. I was a good swimmer, fortunately, and in falling I had let go his wrist and seized him by his bushy head of hair, which I kept a tight hold of. I was desperately enraged at having been so simply done, and when we reached the surface I gave him a blow or two with the pistol. I soon found I was the stronger of the two; but still he struggled viciously.
'What for white fellow kill black drooper?'
'Trooper!' I said; 'what do you mean?'
'Mine belongin' to p'leece!' he roared, while voices from the other side, which the noise and splashing of our struggle had hitherto prevented me from hearing, called out to know what was the matter.
'You blockhead!' I said; 'why didn't you say so at first?' and I scrambled out.
'Who is there?' I said.
'Lieutenant Walters and the native police. Is that you, doctor? Will you bring the punt over?'
It was Stevenson's voice. In a few moments I and my late antagonist were on the other side.
'What have you and the darky been up to?' he said.
'I took you for a lot of horse-stealers. Who could have dreamt it was you? Back so soon, and on the island too!'
'But how did you manage to get into the river? You fell in, did you not?'
'It was this black fellow pulled me in,' I said. 'What for you pull me in along a water, eh? What for no speak?'
'What for you poke 'um pissel along a me, eh? What for you pabber "mine shoot"? You stupid white fellow—you! Crack um cobra belongin' to mine!' and he rubbed said 'cobra' very gingerly. However, as his head was as hard as the generality of blacks', there was no great harm done.
'Mistakes on both sides, apparently,' said Stevenson; 'but you had better get across as soon as possible. I will go over with you. Are the two boys safe?'
'Fast as a church, when I saw them last,' said I, seizing the paddle and sculling vigorously, for I was getting benumbed with cold. One of the blacks swam alongside, to bring back the punt, and hurried home to change. As we went Stevenson explained that, when some distance on his journey, he had met the troop on the plains, and was told that, having found a note awaiting his arrival, with orders on the subject from Brown, the lieutenant had determined to push on that very night, and beat up the blacks' quarters next morning, if possible. Knowing that his every movement was closely watched, and that information is passed on from tribe to tribe with wonderful celerity, he was obliged to be very cautious. Feigning that the note was an unwelcome summons to another place, he, in apparent ill-humour, gave orders that the troop should cross the river that evening, in order to be ready for an early start for the Avoca, where he pretended that his presence was urgently required. At midnight he sent out two or three scouts to examine the neighbourhood for any lurking spies, and, finding that his ruse had succeeded, he quietly saddled up and started, and met Stevenson on his way.
Upon approaching the station, they debated whether they should try to surprise and secure the four or five blacks at the Ferry Inn, and then recross the river by the punt, or whether they should get on to the island, and swim the river opposite the huts. As the blacks were on their guard, the first idea was abandoned; and the more readily, as it transpired that one of the troopers on a former marauding expedition had discovered a ford across the branch, by which they could reach the island without the necessity of swimming. They were thus enabled to ferry over their saddles and clothes.
While Stevenson was giving me these particulars, and I was changing my clothes and imbibing some hot tea, the troopers swam their horses across, and presently mustered before the huts. Their commander was a young fellow of four or five-and-twenty, in some respects well fitted for his post, for he was a dashing, reckless fellow, with plenty of courage and hardihood. But, as regarded discipline or organization of any kind, his troop was sadly deficient. They were simply black fellows clapped into uniforms, armed with carbine, sword, and pistol, and mounted on horseback; and wonderful airs they gave themselves as they strutted about. When I say they wore uniforms, I must except boots. These supposed essentials to the equipment of the cavalry soldier were dispensed with by them, except on grand occasions, such as the review of the force. Then, with great agony and numerous contortions, these were dragged on, and their usual springy, elastic gait was instantly changed to a most unsoldierlike and pitiful hobble. But on active service the boots were hung at the saddle-bow, while each sable warrior inserted his great toe into the stirrup, the spurs being lashed to the naked heel.
The hut-keeper and his wife had been roused to prepare supper, or breakfast, for it was now long past three o'clock, and soon the frying-pan was hard at work.
'Do you think any of your head-station blacks who were killed last night had anything to do with the murders?' asked Walters, when he had returned from inspecting the bodies.
'They knew of them, but took no active part, I believe; Pothook had overheard Peel telling poor Jimmy about them.'
'It was a good thought of yours, keeping these fellows,' said the lieutenant to me; 'shouldn't have caught them for months if they had got wind of our coming. Sorry that fool of mine gave you such a ducking; he always was a stupid blockhead. Now, the question is, Where are these fellows we want? What kind of country are they camped in? Can I get at them so as to surround their miamis? Who knows the locality? I must have that fellow Peel this time, he has dodged me so often.'
'I rather think the doctor here knows that ground better than any one, as he has shot ducks up and down the creek almost every day, and fished for eels in nearly every water-hole,' said Stevenson.
'But does he know the murderers? I have got orders to catch the next lot, and send them prisoners to town. It makes more impression on the rest than shooting.'
'Harris and I know them all. We will both go with you. When will you start?'
'In time to reach and surround their camp just before daybreak. Will you be good enough to give me a rough sketch of the ground near it?' he said to me.
I made out a plan; and, while he was studying it, Harris went to the woolshed and brought down a number of sheepskins, which each trooper quickly made into pads for putting on their horses' feet on approaching near to the camp, in order to deaden the sound.
'I see there is a swamp near the camp; can horses cross it?'
'No; it is all soft ground, boggy in many places—I have walked over it often,' I replied.
'Then we must try and cut them off from it, that's all. When we have had something to eat, it will be time to start.'
He sat down to the meal the woman had just brought in; and while he was engaged with it Stevenson took me aside. We went towards the kitchen, where the troopers were crowded together, eating their supper also, some sitting at the table, the rest squatted on the floor. After examining them through the window for a while, Stevenson pointed out three of the twelve, whom he knew to belong to the same tribe which had made the onslaught on his blacks that night.
'I saw those fellows just now, when you and Walters went to look at the bodies, spitting and stamping upon the tracks made by our blacks about the hut, and shaking their fists towards the camp they are going to attack. They are gloating over the prospect before them, and the scoundrels will kill lubras and children without scruple, for Walters alone will not be able to restrain them. He is altogether too young and reckless—in fact, too indifferent about the lives of these poor creatures; and in that respect he resembles too many of the squatters, I am sorry to say. Now, I am determined that my blacks shall not be cut up by these fellows, if I can prevent it. You will come with us, of course?'
'Not I. I have not the slightest wish to see the pour wretches killed or captured, I assure you.'
'Still I hope you'll come,' he urged. 'Your presence, as a stranger, will be even a greater restraint upon them than mine, who am supposed to have an interest in the destruction of these troublesome pests to the squatter. Walters will exert himself to obey the orders he has received, and take them alive; and I must offer these fellows some bribe or other to induce them to behave mercifully, and prevent the slaughter of women and children at least.'
'If you think my presence will have any good effect, I shall, of course, be only to happy to go with you. But the fact is, I am sick of bloodshed after what happened last night,' I said.
'I don't wonder at it; and yet, just look at those fellows,' he added, pointing to where the troopers were enjoying their sweetened tea, damper, and beef. 'What fills us with such loathing is to them a source of the keenest delight. They are in their glory now. Strange, is it not—this dreadful instinct to kill, even in the case of men living far apart, and who never, perhaps, saw each other before? And yet I must not be unjust to them either. They kill because they are under the impression that every death, or sickness, or other misfortune which occurs to themselves or friends, is the work of some distant enemy, who has bewitched or stolen away his kidney fat. But here comes Walters; I suppose he intends making a start.'
In a short time all were ready, our horses driven up to the stockyard and saddled. The troopers, under the guidance of Harris, mounted and started, while Walters and we then entered the hut once more, to look at the two blacks, to whom I had given a dose of something to make them sleep.
'I want to make sure of these fellows,' said the former. 'It would never do if, the moment our backs are turned, one of them jumped up and made off. He could easily reach the camp before daybreak, and all our trouble would be thrown away. Try them again, doctor, please.'
I did so. Little Toby could be roused only with difficulty. Pothook, however, was not so drowsy; and upon shaking him he opened his eyes and fixed them for a moment on Walters and a trooper, who, in their shining accoutrements, stood before him. His head almost instantly fell back, and apparently he was sound asleep again in a moment. Something, however, in the glance aroused my suspicions, and I quietly asked the lieutenant if the blacks here knew him.
'Oh yes! they all know me very well.'
'Then Pothook recognised you! I believe he is wide awake at this moment, and will continue so, as the shock of the discovery that you are here will rouse him thoroughly. He must be guarded. Shall we tie them together?'
'No need of that, if your hut-keeper will only mount guard over them for one hour. It is half-past four now, and day dawns at six. Call him in.'
Laidlaw came in, and, having received his orders not to lose sight of them for an instant until daylight, we mounted our horses and pushed on to overtake the troop.
'I am vexed that you should be dragged out on such a miserable expedition as this,' said Stevenson to me as we rode together; 'but you know my motives. I feel very sad when I think of the fate about to befall these unhappy wretches. I can venture to say this much to you. Were I to speak thus to nine out of ten squatters, they would stare at me in astonishment. It is enough for them that these blacks have killed white men. They must, therefore, be shot down if they run, or be hanged if they are taken alive. But I cannot help feeling that all those so-called murders were perpetrated by these ignorant savages in retaliation for innumerable atrocities practised by the overlanders and their men, who, until a year or two back, when this station was first formed, used to travel from the Sydney side with their sheep and cattle to take up this country. Had we white men only done our duty by these poor creatures, and used our superior power a little more mercifully when we seized and occupied their country, such atrocities as those we are now going to punish would never have occurred. It is enough to make one's blood run cold to hear some of my neighbours speak of these blacks. "How many did you shoot when you came over?" one will ask another. "Only eleven," he will reply. "How many did you?" "Fourteen altogether." And in town I have more than once met—gentlemen, I suppose I must call them—who openly asserted that they made it a point to shoot all they came across.'
'I have heard men say the same,' I replied, 'more than once, when in Melbourne. It is perfectly horrible.'
Walters riding up at this moment put a stop to the conversation, and presently we overtook the troop.
The blacks whom we were going to surprise were stationed six miles off, at the upper end of a long plain, and a hundred yards or so from the banks of a creek, which for some miles above their camp was closely bordered on one side by a swamp and on the other by mallee scrub. The miamis were pitched near the lower end of the swamp (which was on the right or station side of the watercourse), and in such a position that the blacks could see all over the plain the approach of danger, and, taking to the reeds, could escape across the creek into the mallee, which there ended, abruptly extending back in a solid wall at right angles with the bank for half a mile. After passing the camp, the creek wound through the centre of a perfectly level open plain, which plain was bounded on one side by a dense wall of scrub, and on the other by a line of open timber; both the mallee and the timber running parallel to the general course of the creek, at a distance of ten or twelve hundred yards, except at a spot one mile down, where a point or promontory of scrub approached the bank much more closely. At that part of the creek there was an out-station hut.
It happened, however, that the lower portion of the swamp, which protected the rear of the blacks from the approach of horsemen, was almost entirely detached from the upper by a bay or indentation of the plain; and guided by young Harris, who also knew the ground well, and favoured by the hour, the darkness, and a high cold wind which had sprung up, accompanied with a drizzling rain, the troops succeeded in passing the blacks and reaching this spot unobserved. Descending into the bed of the stream, which was nearly dry, and ten feet below the surrounding plain, nine of the twelve, with Walters and myself, then silently crept down it, until we came opposite to the fires. A scout sent forward to reconnoitre reported that, entirely unsuspicious that their dreaded enemies were near them, the blacks and their dogs were all lying close, and sheltered from the cold wind and rain beneath their miamis, and apparently all asleep. Walters had planted three sentries in the interval between the two swamps, and across the creek at the edge of the scrub, which terminated just opposite that spot; the lower part of the swamp continuing some two hundred yards farther down the watercourse. If any of the blacks, therefore, escaped into this lower patch of reeds, they would be prevented from passing higher up the creek, or across the intervening two hundred yards of plain, into the mallee scrub.
My feelings were not very pleasant as I stood by my horse's head shivering, and watching over the edge of the bank the showers of sparks which the wind, now increased to a gale, caught up and scattered over the plain. I felt sorry for the miserable destiny of the poor creatures for whom we had prepared so unpleasant an awakening. But I cannot say my sentiments were at all shared by my companions. The rascals were all alive with energy, and waited impatiently for the moment when they were to be let loose on their unfortunate countrymen. Not that they had the slightest desire to avenge the deaths of the white men; they were not so weak; but because, under the guise of duty, they hoped to wreak their vengeance upon those whom they regarded as their hereditary enemies. I had heard their commander tell them to capture, not kill; and very much disgusted they were with the order. I fully appreciated Stevenson's reluctance to let loose such a set on his blacks.
The different colonial governments, well aware of the savage and bloodthirsty character of these same native border police, had often meditated suppressing the force altogether. But they had hitherto found themselves unable to do so. White constables are useless on the borders. It is only the aboriginal, with his keen senses and power of tracking his enemy, who can be depended upon to protect the settlers in those districts where native outrages prevail, or to inflict chastisement upon the perpetrators of them.
With the first faint streak of dawn the cry of the mopoke rang through the foliage above our heads. It was the signal agreed upon, and emerging from the bed of the creek the troopers silently placed themselves in a semicircle between the reeds and the eight or ten miamis which constituted the camp; and, removing the pads which had deadened the sound of their advance, waited until the blacks should become aware of their presence. Like most savages who are given to surprise their enemies, the Australian aboriginal is yet careless in guarding against surprise. It was broad daylight before a shrill cry announced that they were at last aware of their danger. Springing up from their sleep, and taking in the whole situation at a glance, they fled in a body over the plain, the only way left open for them. Guided by Harris and Stevenson, who had remained behind the reeds, but who now rode out and across the course of the fugitives, the troopers galloped after, and soon succeeded in securing the murderers, of whom one only offered any resistance.
When the troopers passed through the camp, each man gave a sharp look at the miamis, to see that no blacks remained. These were merely sheets of bark, or boughs set up on end, so as to form a sloping wall between the fires and the wind, so that they could not conceal anybody. Owing to the haste, apparently, with which the blacks had sprung up, one of these miamis had got knocked down, and the boughs had fallen on the fire in front, where the leaves, damp with the rain which had fallen, were smouldering. Beneath these fallen boughs, and running the risk of being burned to death, lay hidden the black Walters so much wished to capture. He had had the presence of mind, on the alarm being given, to roll himself close to the fire, and, lying flat under his blanket, to knock away the prop which supported the bark and boughs of his miami; and as I rode up to the camp from the creek, for I had remained behind the troop, having no desire to be other than a mere spectator, Bobby Peel, dressed once more in cotton shirt, jacket, and trousers, was just rolling himself from beneath them.
My first impulse was to detain him, but he gave me such an appealing, eloquent look, that I hesitated. I remembered what Stevenson had told me as to the infamous treatment endured by this man's tribe; how Peel's first experience of white men was being fired on when awaiting the approach of a party of overlanders who came near, making signs of friendship until within range, when they delivered a volley which killed his father and two brothers. Old Toby had often shown me the patch of reeds he and Peel, then a lad, took shelter in on that occasion. I had warned Stevenson I would not in any way aid in the capture, even if I saw them escaping. In the short time I had been on the run, I had mingled much with them, had taken long shooting and botanical excursions with two of these very murderers, and been of service to them professionally; for European disease was rife amongst their miamis, and that they were grateful to me I could easily see by the gleam of pleasure which lightened up their visages when 'doc, doc,' as they called me, appeared amongst them. Moreover, as I looked round, there seemed no possibility of escape for Peel. The mallee and swamp were guarded, and across the plain he could not move unseen. Was it for me to hasten the miserable creature's doom by a few minutes? I could not do it; and when the black, raising himself on his elbow, after a keen look at the troop, at that moment in full career after his countrymen, pushed the wet boughs farther on to the fire, so as to raise a dense smoke, which the high wind blowing carried along the ground, and ran unobserved under its shelter to the reeds, I did not interfere to prevent him.
A very short time, however, elapsed before Walters was on his track. Not finding him with the rest, and suspecting what had actually occurred, he galloped down to the camp, and his men soon found the foot-marks of the fugitive in the wet grass. But upon following these through the swamp, the bird was flown. Peel had crept to the margin of the creek, and there seeing the sentry by the mallee, instantly suspected that the upper swamp also was guarded, for he knew well the number of the troop. His only resource, then, was to enter the bed of the creek and run down it until near enough to the point where the scrub approached its banks, to afford him a chance of reaching it before being overtaken. This was, as I said above, only a thousand yards or so away in a straight line, but by the creek bed, owing to its great winding, the distance was nearly doubled. To succeed, he required a far longer start than Walters' vigilance had left him, for not many minutes had elapsed from the time he had disappeared in the reeds, before the lieutenant had sent troopers down to guard the bed of the watercourse and the plain on both sides; after which he put three expert trackers on the trail. Then, riding to where Stevenson and I were patching up two or three wounded blacks,—for, in spite of all his injunctions and efforts, some of his men would use their weapons,—and hastily ordering the prisoners to be taken to the head station, whither Harris also went, to bring the spring cart for one of the wounded men who had bled very much, he invited me to join him in the hunt; for I had in the course of conversation the previous night expressed a wish to witness a specimen of the tracking powers of his men. I eagerly consented, not only because I was desirous of seeing exercised some of those keen faculties which the savage possesses in such perfection, but because I somehow felt a great interest in the fate of the miserable fugitive, and wished to be present to witness the result of the chase, whatever it might be, whether escape or capture. I could not help secretly hoping, as I noted the eager and ardent way in which his own countrymen set to work to hunt him down, that the poor wretch might escape. But there was, to all appearance, but small hope of that.
The creek down the bed of which the fugitive had fled was not an ana branch of the Murray, but one of the ordinary watercourses called by that name in Australia, which is, however, only properly applicable to an inlet of the sea. A raging torrent in winter, it was in summer a succession of 'water-holes' or pools, with spaces of dry ground between them. Some of these water-holes were from fifty to a hundred yards in length,—a few much larger, but in general they resembled small ponds,—the breadth being some forty or fifty feet. In depth many greatly exceeded this. The banks were fringed with the 'yarra' trees, which almost invariably, even when they are passing through plains otherwise treeless, margin the smaller watercourses of Australia, and which in this particular creek grew more closely than usual together at that level of the bank reached by the floods in winter-time. Unlike the generality of Australian timber, which shoots up to a considerable height before giving off any branches, these yarra trees in form more often resemble those of English growth (such as the oak); the trunk, gnarled and stunted, dividing at a few feet into large branches, the inner ones growing with an inclination downwards towards the water, into which at flood-time their ends often dip. From the blacks' camp to the out-station hut, a mile off, the course of the creek somewhat resembled the letter S.
We soon overtook the trackers, who had not much difficulty in following, as the fugitive had not had time to resort to any elaborate artifices. At one spot he had taken to the water, and some time passed before the place where he left it could be ascertained. The margin of that particular water-hole was rocky in some places. A slight drizzling rain had continued to fall, but beneath the trees the ground as yet was comparatively dry. The drippings from the fugitive's clothes would quickly betray his passage, but none such could be seen. It was concluded that he lay hidden in a patch of reeds which grew in a shallow part of the water at one end, and search was being made there by two of the blacks as we rode up. The third, however, more cunning than the rest, instead of joining them, ascended on to the plain, and commenced making casts round about in the neighbourhood. At first he also was unsuccessful, but in working his way round the water-hole he caught sight of a tuft of pretty thick bushes some thirty feet or so out. Instantly he ran up to them, as if pretty certain of there finding what he was looking for, and, stooping, he drew out a couple of dead, flattened, bushy boughs. Beneath these were the footmarks of the hunted man.
The bush in Australia is everywhere littered with dead trees and branches, the beds of the creeks in particular, where they are torn from the banks and deposited in heaps by floods. The leaves of one small bushy species adhere most tenaciously for months after death, and are not easily broken. Picking up two of these as he fled, and keeping them dry as he entered the water and swam, Peel had placed them on the dry, rocky part of the bank. Hastily pressing and squeezing as much moisture as possible out of his clothes, he had lifted himself out upon them, and allowed them to receive the droppings from his person. Shifting one before the other, and always keeping upon them, he had ascended the bank, and in this manner reached the tuft of bushes without leaving any moisture or footprint to betray him. We found that the bend of the creek at this spot would hide him from view.
After leaving the tuft of bushes, he had run for some distance at full speed, and again descended into the bed. Upon coming to that part where it approached the mallee sufficiently close to enable the fugitive, had he left the creek, to reach the scrub before the horseman on watch could overtake him, the trackers found that the traces still continued to keep within the banks. By this they were sure that he had not had time to try it, and that Walters had been too quick for him. His resorting to these artifices was another proof, and the trackers now proceeded cautiously, for fear he should double on them and take the back track.
We at length came to a water-hole of great size, being nearly three hundred yards in length, and in parts very broad. Along the side of this the tracks led for a good distance, and then suddenly disappeared. The mallee came closer here than in any other part; and the trooper on sentry there was riding up and down in its front. He examined the ground where he was; and the blacks with us, thinking that by chance he might have dodged in unobserved by the sentry, examined the plain in their own vicinity; but no marks could be seen. The fugitive had evidently taken to the water. But had he left it, and how? was the question; for, search as they would, not a mark to indicate the whereabouts of his exit could be seen. The long, dry summer had sunk the water so much, that on both sides a broad margin of damp clay bank extended, which would have quickly betrayed his passage; and the blacks had soon ascertained that Peel had not repeated his former ruse. They decided, therefore, that he was still in the water, concealed; and that, moreover, there was another black concealed there with him.
The farther end of the larger lagoon was connected by a narrow, shallow strait, a few feet wide, with a smaller one; and on walking round this, one of the troopers had come upon some other tracks, which also led to the margin of the pool, and there disappeared. An examination of these soon led to the decision that they had very recently been made, that they were the footmarks of a black, and that it was not Peel. And upon examining the narrow strait of shallow water, they furthermore asserted that the individual, whoever he was, had passed through it hurriedly on his way to the larger lagoon.
When Walters conveyed this information to the superintendent and myself, who were present, I was much surprised. I could not imagine how it could be possible for the men to be concealed in such a place.
'How can they tell that anybody has passed through this water?' I said to their commander. 'It is only two or three feet deep, but the bottom is invisible, owing to the dark colour of the clay, and the shade cast by the trees.'
'They examined the edge of it,' he replied, 'and found that a ripple or wave had recently washed over the pebbles, grass, and clay of the bank for several inches. If he had walked gently through, the mark left would have been much slighter than if he had passed through in a hurry. This fellow rushed through in a hurry, evidently. Probably just then he caught sight of the troopers coming over the plain to station themselves by the scrub here, close by, and made for the larger water directly.'
'Perhaps,' I suggested, 'the tracks are Peel's, made by walking backwards out of the water, to deceive you.'
'He knew well he could not deceive the blacks that way,' said Walters. 'No! this is the track of a man running, and running fast. Doubtless it was one of the head-station blacks, from the public-house, who had heard or suspected something, and was coming to give the others warning, but was too late. Whoever he is, he is hidden somewhere in the water still, and Peel too, most likely.'
'In the water?' I said, astonished.
'Yes; amongst the reeds.'
'But,' said I, 'there are no reeds, or scarcely any; only those narrow strips, barely a yard or two in width, round the margin; and you can see right down into them from the banks, and detect any man's head above the surface, even if it were in the thickest patch I see hereabouts; for they are not more than ten or twelve inches above the water, at most.'
'Yes; if they were such fools as to keep their heads above water,' replied the lieutenant. 'But these chaps are stowed away underneath.'
'With their heads under water? What do you mean?'
'I mean that you might pass this lagoon, walk round its banks, and look as closely as you will down upon those scanty reeds fringing the margin,—you will see nothing, and hear nothing but the rustling of the wind in the leaves. And yet a hundred blacks might be lying hidden there all the time! And so closely will they be concealed that a flock of wild ducks might alight and see nothing to startle them, so solitary and quiet will be the aspect of the place.'
'How can they manage it?'
'Simply enough. Almost every one of them keeps about him, concealed in his thick, bushy hair, a piece of hollow reed tube. When closely pressed, they take to the water, and, diving beneath, thrust their heads into a patch of reeds. Turning on their backs first, they allow their faces to come near enough to the surface for the tube to project, and they breathe through it. The sharpest eye could not detect this, hidden as it is amongst the thick growth; and even without it, it would be impossible to detect their nostrils, which, in that case, they only allow to project above water. See!' he added; 'they are groping for them.'
Some spears had been brought from the deserted camp for this very purpose; and, walking round the margin, two of the troopers thrust these in all directions into the water, but for some time without any result; the other black continuing his search round the banks for the trail, in case they had after all left it. All at once, however, I noticed one of them, as he was bending forward, and probing with his weapon, slip and partly fall in. His spear had been jerked out of his hand, and a movement in the reeds betrayed the cause. Running up, I caught sight, for an instant, of the twinkling soles of the feet (which are much lighter-coloured than the skin of the rest of the body) of the diver, as he proceeded to swim under water to some other part of the lagoon. But his pursuers had also seen them, and had been able to follow, with their keener gaze, the passage of the dark body itself, which, after the first glimpse, was invisible to me, to its new hiding-place. There was not the slightest disturbance of the surface, or any greater movement amongst the wind-tossed reeds than was observable elsewhere on the water-hole, to betray its whereabouts, yet the blacks unerringly selected the spot, and with poised spears were about to thrust the unfortunate through, whoever he was, when Stevenson interposed.
'No, we must have none of that kind of work, Walters,' he said. 'Get him out alive;' and after poking and following the fugitive to two or three different parts of the lagoon, finding it useless to persist, he at length popped his head above water, revealing to our gaze the features, not of Bobby Peel, but of the boy Pothook, whom we had left at home. Finding a brandy bottle on the shelf of our hut, his custodian had gone to get some water to mix himself a glass, thinking that as the boy was snoring he must be asleep; and the lad had seized the opportunity, slipped out, and made off, and was out of range before the hut-keeper had missed him. But Pothook was too late to warn his friends.
He was in mortal terror at finding himself in the hands of the dreaded troopers, and would not come out of the water until he had made Stevenson and me promise they should not kill him.
'Where Bobby Peel?' asked the superintendent of the lad.
'Him pull away over yonder,' he replied, pointing to the out-station hut, which was invisible, being hidden by some bushes out in the plain.
'Likely story that!' said the lieutenant contemptuously. 'It's no use asking him anything; he wants to get us away from here; and he'll lie till he's white in the face to do it. No! Peel is in this water-hole, I am positive. We shall have him presently, never fear. I must have that rascal this time; he has dodged me so often. But I think he won't slip through my fingers now.'
But 'the rascal' seemed destined not to be caught. The blacks stripped and swam about the lagoon, groping amongst the remaining reeds, and now and then diving to take a look below, but in vain. Half an hour had altogether been spent in the search, and still there were no signs of the fugitive.
'I begin to think the boy may be speaking the truth after all,' said the superintendent to me; 'though why Peel should make for the hut, where the men hate him so much, is a puzzle to me. Surely he would not dare. I will ride across and see.'
Just at that moment, however, we observed one of the blacks, who was coursing round the water-hole like a baffled bloodhound, suddenly stop, and look up at the branches of the trees which everywhere surrounded it. These had been examined by them upon first coming, in order to make sure that no boughs hung near enough to the surface for any swimmer to lift himself out by their aid. But the water was so low at this time that every branch was at first sight apparently too far out of reach. Finding no trace, however, on the broad clay margin on either side, the idea again suggested itself, and a more minute examination of the different trees was made; but the bough which approached the water most nearly was five or six feet from the surface, and belonged to a tree which was situated on the side nearest to the hut. Jumping into the creek, however, the black above mentioned swam out until he came beneath it, and, although the water-hole was at least fifty feet deep, to our surprise the man's body presently emerged until he stood up, and, reaching out his hands, grasped the bough and swung himself up on to it. The manner in which Peel had left the water was now made manifest. A large tree was there sunk,[1] a bough of it coming to within a few inches of the surface. From the banks this was invisible, owing to the dark shade cast by the branches above; but the fugitive, who was familiar with every foot of the water-hole from infancy, had availed himself of it, and had landed on the side nearest to the hut, and away from the scrub.
[1] The Australian woods, with a few exceptions, sink in water.
The black scrambled along until he reached the trunk, and, slipping down, looked at the ground at its foot. The grass along the edge of the plain above, for the breadth of a few feet back from the bank, had already been examined up and down the water-hole on his side, but without effect, and no tracks could now be seen at the foot of this particular tree. The black, however, again looking up, observed that a long bough projected out over the plain, and walking out to the end of this he again examined the ground. One glance was sufficient for him, although I could see nothing, and giving a cooey to the rest, who were still hunting in the bed of the creek, Walters and his companions joined him.
'Got it—track belongin' to Bobby,' said the trooper, pointing to the ground, and trotting farther out on the plain towards the hut.
'Now what dodge has the fellow been up to?' said Walters. 'If he is skulking in this myrtle patch, hoping to double back to the creek, he is mistaken. Unless he has passed my men on the plain, which isn't likely, we'll soon have him.'
I observed Stevenson looking round for Pothook, but that youth had prudently slipped off. We afterwards questioned him as to what took place when he and Peel met each other. It seems that, cut off from his only chance, the scrub on one side of the creek, and informed, by the way, that the bed of it lower down was guarded, the black had for a few moments given up all hope of escape. He looked in despair between the trunks of the yarra trees towards the out-station hut, which lay a quarter of a mile off, hidden in a belt of myrtle and quandong bushes, some three or four hundred yards long, and extending across the bend so as to shut out the view of the great plain beyond. That plain, he knew, was carefully guarded, and, moreover, it led to the home station. But as he looked he saw an object which excited a gleam of hope, and inspired him with a desperate resolve. The sunken tree was some distance back from where he stood, and to avoid showing his return traces he jumped into the water and swam to it, emerging in the manner described, while the boy took to the creek, intending to remain concealed under the surface until the danger which he fancied menaced himself passed by. In going towards the hut, Peel ran no danger of being seen by the black stationed by the mallee, for on such a level plain the yarra trees which fringed the water-hole completely screened from those at a distance on one side whatever passed on the other side of the creek.
The open space between the part of the banks where we now stood and the belt of small timber above mentioned, was less than a quarter of a mile, and while the blacks who had been swimming in the water-hole were dressing themselves, Walters galloped across it, and through the bushes and on to the large plain beyond, to see whereabouts his sentries were. He could see two, who were riding up and down just within sight of each other, while between and beyond them, far out, was the shepherd with his flock. There was not a bush to conceal the view, and far away, by the edge of the distant timber, the blacks and their guard were still in sight, on their way to the home station. The timber opened opposite to him, and through this opening he could see miles away on to another plain beyond. The road from the punt to the upper part of the river passed that way, and came up to near where he stood, crossing the creek near the out-station hut, and going through a narrow portion of the mallee, which had been cleared for the purpose. On this road, at a considerable distance off, was a solitary horseman, apparently riding to the home station.
Meanwhile the blacks had again taken up the trail, which led straight to the brush in which the hut was concealed. Just before we reached the edge of this, Walters joined us again.
'I can't make the fellow out,' he said; 'he can't have crossed the plain; and if he is skulking here, we shall soon have him.'
The sentry across at the mallee had been called over, and, with another man, now watched in the open, to give notice if Peel doubled out and made back tracks for the creek again; and we proceeded to enter the bushes of quandong and myrtle. All at once there was a commotion amongst the trackers, who sprang to their horses, shouting something to Walters, who thereupon raged and stormed; and no wonder. The distant horseman he had a few minutes before seen was the very man he was after.
'Has either of your men here got a horse?' he asked the superintendent hastily.
'Yes,' replied Stevenson (who, I suspected, had been for some time aware of the trick Peel had played), 'the shepherd has one. He bought it to shepherd his flock with on these level plains, as he was always losing his sheep. He is a very little man, and consequently could only see a short distance.'
'But he hadn't it to-day, had he?'
'No. The fact is, he was taken in, knowing nothing about horses, and bought a thorough buck-jumper, who pitched him off as fast as he got on. And the brute won't let you catch him in hobbles; so, as he expects to sell it again, he keeps it tethered about the hut handy. I am afraid,' added Stevenson to me, as Walters, too impatient to listen further, spurred on after his men,—'I am afraid that vagabond has been up to some mischief. I hope Watkins, the hut-keeper here, is all right. Peel would be desperate, and not stick at a trifle in the fix he was in. I suspected what he had been up to.'
'So I thought,' I replied, as we rushed on after the trackers.
Just as they reached the hut door, a man was crawling out on his hands and knees. This turned out to be the hut-keeper, who was covered with blood, which had flowed from a wound on his head.
'Why, Bill! what's the matter?' said the superintendent. 'Did Peel do that?'
'Oh, is that you, Mr. Stevenson?' said the man, looking up at our party, and raising himself with difficulty. 'Yes, it was; are you after him?'
'Yes, we are; but how came you to let him do that?'
'You had best put your men on his track at once, Mr. Walters. He's got King's horse.'
'We know he has, the villain!' said Walters, as he directed the three trackers to follow instantly (Peel was still in sight, but soon disappeared in the timber), while he and the rest waited behind a few moments to hear the hut-keeper's account of the attack made on him, which he gave as I bound up his wound.
It appeared that, while engaged in his usual morning work of shifting the hurdles, after the flock had gone out at daylight, he saw some one riding (as he thought) through the bushes towards his hut, and left his work to see who it was. To his surprise, he found the shepherd's horse, which he himself had tethered out that morning at the edge of the myrtle, tied to the door, but immediately concluded that the man himself had come for it, as he was daily expecting to sell it, and that perhaps the intending purchaser had joined him while with his flock. He therefore entered the hut quite unsuspiciously; but it was apparently empty. While turning round, he was felled by a blow with his own gun; and, staggering forwards, fell close to his bed. He was not entirely stunned, and instantly rolled himself underneath it. At first he thought that Peel (whom he had recognised) was going to drag him out and finish him, but the black was in too great a hurry. He stayed long enough, however, to saddle the horse, and load himself with the tea and sugar bags, as well as the flour and half a damper which was on the table. Moreover, the man found that he had taken down his looking-glass, which hung on a nail in the wall. His object in doing this was that he might whiten his face with the dirty outside of the flour bag. With a cabbage-tree hat and a shooting coat which he put on, at a distance he would not look like a black, and he could pass the sentries unsuspected. In fact, we heard afterwards from them that he went between them, walking, and leading his horse, and pretending to read an old newspaper he had picked up off the table in the hut. It was so natural that a passing horseman coming from higher up the river should call at the out-station, and he turned his whitened, or rather whitey-browned, face towards them both so coolly, that, disguised as he was in hat and coat, and having the horse as well, it was no wonder that, at several hundred yards distance, they should be deceived.
I felt rather queer when I saw the hut-keeper's condition, and reflected that, had he been killed, I should have been indirectly the cause of his death. And what if the black, driven to desperation, committed more murders? There was no chance now of their catching him. He was making straight for the large reed-bed, which extended miles down the river below the head station.
'I don't see the use of following him any longer. He has got off clear!' said Stevenson, after we had gone some miles. 'Upon my word, he deserves his liberty too.'
We at last reached the reeds, and followed the traces along their margin, thick timber with brush being on our right. In passing the head station all but two of the most expert of the troopers were sent away. With these, the superintendent, Walters, and I, continued the chase, although with very slight hopes of capturing the fugitive, now that he had succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of the reedy swamps, which communicated with the main body of the mallee, extending in the direction of South Australia for hundreds of miles down the river.
'Dodged me once more!' said Walters. 'Oh, if I had only thought of telling one of my men to call as he passed the hut where he stole the horse! We should have had him, for they would have been on the look-out. But now— What's the matter, Doolibut?'
The track had hitherto led for several miles in a straight line, parallel with the river; but now the leading black pulled up his horse and looked about him. The hoof-marks had changed their character, and swerved from their former course, zigzagging in different directions; these signs indicating that a severe struggle had here taken place between the horse and his rider.
'His horse has been playing up!' said the superintendent. 'These are the marks made by his hack jumping about. I wonder the beast went so far with the black on his back without doing so before, for he is a regular brute. No one on the station will ride him.'
It seemed, however, that Peel had conquered, for presently the tracks of the horse once more galloping were taken up, and we followed them on. But again we came to the marks of a struggle; and these increased in number at every mile or so, until we came to a place about half a mile from the scrub for which the black was making, and where the reeds and the timber, mingled with brush, approached each other closely. We were passing along a narrow, winding opening or path between these, having the reeds on our left, when once more the leading black pulled up, and after a brief glance at the ground, dismounted.
The sandy, loose soil on which the trees grew was margined by and intermingled with the soft boggy ground on which were the reeds, here five or six feet in height, and very dense. The spot was thickly overgrown with ferns and small bushes, which in several places were broken and trampled, while the ground was deeply imprinted with hoof-marks. Besides these, however, the blacks evidently saw other signs; for, pointing to one particular place, and speaking eagerly to each other, they stooped down to examine it more narrowly; and then, walking on a few steps, came to the foot of an immense tree, which, growing on the very margin of the swamp, had one portion of its roots bathed by its waters, there being hardly room for a man to pass between the reeds and the trunk on that side. On the other were some bushes, which concealed the view immediately beyond.
'Why, there is the horse!' said the superintendent suddenly, pointing to the right amongst the trees. 'He has left it, and taken to the swamp on foot. He's safe now.'
The two blacks paused and raised themselves up as he spoke; and, following the direction in which Stevenson pointed, one of them walked forward a few paces to look. He stood a single instant, and was in the act of turning to rejoin his companion, when a puff of smoke rose beyond the bushes, we heard a report, and saw him fall to the earth. He was shot right through the heart.
The other trooper, knowing that Peel's gun was a single barrel, and that he had now no charge left, ran round the bushes to fire; and Stevenson and I rode in the same direction. Beyond these bushes was a small open space, margined on one side by a pool of water. Half in this water and half out lay an immense prostrate tree; and sitting on the ground, leaning his back against this, was Bobby Peel. He knew that his last hour was come, for he had evidently made up his mind to die. He had delayed too long leaving his horse, for the animal had at length succeeded in throwing him; and in the fall he came on one of the roots of this large tree, and his leg was broken. He had dragged himself round to the edge of the pool, probably for the purpose of obtaining a drink of water, to assuage the thirst which is always the greatest torture in such calamities.
The dead tree against which he was leaning was that kind of Eucalyptus the bark of which is cellular, and very thick. This bark had peeled off the trunk, and lay in great hard dry flakes by its side; and the black had employed himself in breaking up this heavy, brittle material into pieces about the size of a cheese-plate. Several heaps thus prepared lay ready to his hand on both sides of him. He was busy in reloading his gun; and for a few moments, from my horse's back, I had an opportunity of noticing these particulars, for, owing to the dense brush which surrounded the place in which he was, it was some little time before the troopers could fairly approach him.
'Take him alive, Mr. Walters,' I urged. 'Don't let your fellow shoot him. Tell him to surrender, and lay down his gun, Stevenson.'
But Walters was naturally much incensed at the loss of his man, and felt very little inclination to do anything of the kind; and to the superintendent's summons the black replied by a volley of curses and imprecations against all white men,—in the midst of which the trooper fired, and the ball passed through Peel's chest.
The gun, which was nearly reloaded, fell from his hands, and Walters dismounted and walked forward to take possession of it. But the moment he appeared within the little open space the black, seizing a handful of the pieces of heavy bark, hurled them edgeways at his head and face with a rapidity and certainty of aim perfectly wonderful. The first piece he flung struck Walters across the forehead; and piece followed piece in such quick succession that the lieutenant was compelled to turn his back while he drew and cocked his pistol. For some time he found it impossible to aim, so unerringly did the missiles come rapping at him; but when at length he fired the black fell dead.
Years have passed, but all the incidents of that exciting and tragic chase are still fresh in my memory. The fierce strength of that last terrible effort almost appalled us, and we were loud in our regrets that so much skill and endurance should come to such an end. Times have changed since then, but it remains a reproach to our civilisation that the aboriginal races are fast vanishing before it. At the same time, there is cause for thankfulness that the efforts of Christian benevolence have not been in vain on behalf of the natives. There are still occasional outrages, but reckless treatment of the blacks is now held in check by a healthier public opinion.
In the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four there stood on the old quay at Appledore—a maritime village in the north of Devon—a sombre-looking abode of respectability, with an air of faded greatness about it, which towered above its more humble neighbours, and commanded an unbroken view of the so-called 'Pool.'
That self-same 'Pool' is not unworthy of notice; for there the tidal waters of the Torridge and the Taw form a spacious basin, in which shipping of no mean tonnage may swim and swing. It is there that those waters assume the hue and mimic the mien of their capricious stepmother, the ocean, becoming greener and more wavy; and when the old lady, rushing in over Bideford Bar, takes these children in her arms, the swelling and dancing and splashing of that Pool in the pride of its heart is beyond all common belief. It is there, too, that, having parted company for a time, and sailed miles into the country, they return again, and, bidding their tidal convoy farewell for a season, allow her to glide out by the side of the Burrows, until she joins once more with the Atlantic in Bideford Bay.
There are not a few who leave smoky cities, and breezeless plains, and monotonous landscapes, during the summer months, for seaside air and scenery; and to such we would say, Search out this meeting of the waters. Make acquaintance with North Devon, and pay your respects to Northam, the birthplace and the resting-place of that valiant adventurous knight Sir Amyas Leigh. Run down from thence to the Burrows, with its thousand acres of greensward like a bowling-green, studded with grazing cattle, and fenced by a long sea-wall of innumerable pebbles, beyond which is a strand that would amaze Ilfracombe or Weston. Inhale there the strong sea-breezes fresh up from the Atlantic. Walk fearlessly out into the surf, to meet the breakers rolling majestically, and harmless withal as the ripples on a mill-pond. Creep over the slaty rocks with oarweed strewed, surveying thence the frowning head of Hartland, or the burnt turf slopes and beetling cliffs of Baggy, and you will meet with marine enjoyments which few of the more fashionable resorts have ever dreamt of, and can never hope to supply.
In one of the front rooms of that sombre abode of respectability sat the wealthiest and most renowned of Appledore's merchants—and then they were princes indeed. Mr. Phillipson was a shrewd and determined man. Descended from ancestors who had contributed much to the commercial prosperity of Devon, when Bideford was one of the most stirring and thriving of British trading ports, he inherited their business habits, their passion for speculation, their greed for gain, and consequently their remorseless rapacity; and, at the time of which we write, he was busily engaged in the American and Russian trade, which yielded him a handsome income. Though well educated, and accustomed to good society, his manners were anything but refined; and so rough and coarse was his language at times that the common people honoured him with epithets not very flattering to his respectability. It was said by those who pretended to know that he was a hard drinker. There were whispers, too, that he had so far departed from the line of rectitude as to traffic in contraband goods, and that some of his craft were in fact no better than out-and-out smugglers. These rumours, however, were attributed by all genteel inhabitants to the tongue of scandal; for true it is that evil-speaking, lying, and slandering were very strong-handed in that maritime village. And so it came to pass that money and station did then what they have always done, and will always do—stave off suspicions, make the possibility of crime a hard thing to be believed, and keep a fence around the character which it is next door to sacrilege to touch.
It was a winter morning. The fire which burned brightly on the hearth was clear and glowing as a frosty air could make it; and as the merchant gazed on the ruddy mass and flickering flame, he seemed absorbed in some dreamy reverie; but, recovering occasionally from the fit of abstraction into which his musings had thrown him, he cast his eyes hurriedly and anxiously on the papers that lay on the table before him.
His reverie was interrupted at the moment he had apparently come to some definite conclusion. A servant entered and announced that Captain Stauncy wished to speak with him.
'Show him in,' he said smartly, as though annoyed at being interrupted and intruded on just then; adding, in a more self-possessed tone, 'See that no one is admitted whilst the captain is here.'
James Stauncy entered, and a goodly specimen of a British tar was he. His manly, open, sunburnt countenance, his broad and strong-built figure, his smart and jaunty air, his bold and sparkling eye, his spruce and expensive fittings, proclaimed him a worthy son of Neptune. Under other circumstances, and with opportunities more favourable, he would have become an extraordinary man. Generous and disinterested, brave and devoted, self-possessed and strong-minded, he would have stood out from and proved himself superior to his class. But his education had been scanty; and, having reached the quarter-deck through the hawse-hole, as the sailors express it,—that is, having passed through all possible gradations, from the cabin-boy to the captain,—he had not been able to rub off the rough manners of early days, nor had he furnished his mind with any literature beyond that of the log-book.
The habits and associations of the forecastle had marked him strongly; and the only wonder is that, having passed through many a slough in his sailor's career, there was comparatively so little mire adhering to him. His moral code was for the most part comprised in one word,duty, comprehending fidelity to his employer and devotedness to his family; and faithfully must it be recorded that he seldom felt much scruple about the means, provided the ends were 'all right' in his estimation.
Having respectfully saluted his superior, he seated himself near the fire, at the request of the merchant, who, without giving him an immediate opportunity of explaining his errand, said, 'You will join me, Mr. Stauncy?' and, taking a bottle of brandy from the cupboard, he held it for a moment in his hand reflectingly; then, raising it between his eye and the window, he smiled as he surveyed the brilliant liquor, and observed, 'Here's something, captain, that never blushed at the face of a gauger: help yourself;' and he helped himself, remarking, as he smacked his lips, 'Prime stuff for priming, Mr. Stauncy, I'll warrant you. Captain,' he added, evidently speaking out of the fulness of his heart, and continuing audibly what he had been revolving mentally, 'the road to fortune is what we make it—long or short, broad or narrow. There is the long roundabout turnpike road, and there is the short cut through brake and spinney. I was thinking about this just as you entered, and I should like to have your opinion. It strikes me that two words comprehend everything—work and wit: work is the turnpike—wit is the short cut.'
'I don't know, Mr. Phillipson,' replied the captain; 'short cuts for a sailor are often dangerous things; and the fellows that I am acquainted with who live by their wits are a ragged lot, sure enough.'
'Bah! you don't understand me; but you'll be wiser some day. I tell you what it is, Stauncy: the higher up you get in life, the shorter the cuts are. Chances multiply as you run up the ladder. What is knavery amongst the poor at the bottom is "unfortunate speculation," or something of that sort, amongst the wealthy at the top; whilst all the way through, according to a graduated scale, artifice, or roguery if you like, changes both its name and its aspect. Dangerous at one end, it gradually becomes safer and safer; for, whilst it exposes the witsyouspeak of to a few lessons on the treadmill, it rewards the witsIspeak of with the fawning homage of everybody. I would only observe,' he added, helping himself at the same time, 'that you and I are fools if we don't make our brains serve us as others do. And now, what is it?'
'I came, sir,' replied Stauncy, 'to ask for orders, as we shall be ready to move off to-morrow morning. The men say that the vessel is bound to Jersey or Marseilles.'
'Never mind what the men say,' exclaimed the merchant; 'there is gossip enough in this place to ballast a man-of-war. The Sarah Ann is bound to a far more comfortable and profitable port.'
'Any where you please, sir,' said the captain, who had been accustomed for some time to receive orders at the last moment. 'I am not particularly curious; and, indeed,' he added, laughing, 'it's part of my agreement, you know, to ask no questions, and do as I'm bid.'
'Exactly so,' Mr. Phillipson responded. 'Ido as I am bid by circumstances and chances;youdo as you are bid by my honourable self; and, as I have always endeavoured to be faithful to my masters, so you have always been faithful to me.'
'Thank you, sir,' replied Stauncy, evidently flattered. 'I hope I know my duty;' and, preparing for himself a fresh potation, he added, 'Long life to you, sir, and all the success you wish for.'
'All the success I wish for, Stauncy, is more than I can expect to secure; but you can help me, if you will, to a large slice of it. I have trusted you more than any man living.'
'Mr. Phillipson,' replied the captain, 'all I say is, I've endeavoured to do my duty.'
'Youhave, Stauncy; and I'll make a man of you when you return from this voyage. You'll be able to sing "With shiners in my sack" to some purpose.'
'It'll be a short cut, then,' answered the captain, who had often heard the same thing before, but whose love of money was keener than his sense of disappointment; 'and maybe I shall get to the top of the ladder after all. I suppose we are bound for kegs, as usual?'
By this time the potency of their morning beverage began to betray itself. The merchant, no longer irresolute, put on the air of a determined man, ready to do the utmost bidding of his covetous spirit. And the captain, no longer calm and self-controlled, grew self-complacent, and, in the pride of his heart, felt brave and true enough to do anything.
'Kegs!' replied the governor; 'no. The last was a poor speculation, and Lundy Cave is gorged enough by this time. I'm for a short cut, Mr. Stauncy, a short cut; and, if I can only get a bold heart to help me, I'll go through with it.'
'Here you are then!' exclaimed the captain. 'A bold heart? It isn't muchIfear. I should like to see what I wouldn't face. Why, I once ran for the bar with a king's ship at my heels, when it was blowing a gale of wind, and hardly half-tide on; when the bay was like a boiling caldron, and every wave sprinkled our topmast-head. Twice we were on our beam ends; and, as we neared the South Tail, a huge sea struck us, which cleaned our deck and carried away the rudder, leaving us to the mercy of the surge, which roared and hissed as it leapt around such daring prey. My heart feared nothing, however, and, by manoeuvring with the sails, we got safely through it, and reached the Pool. Then there was that affair in Cawsand Bay, when Heard, the vagabond, betrayed me, and I was taken on board the three-decker'—
'Say no more, Stauncy,' responded the merchant, interrupting him. 'You have a heart bold enough, I know; but the courage you are thinking of is not exactly what I want just now. There are plenty who could be cool and resolute under such circumstances; but show me the man whose conscience is not governed by human laws, but by human rights; who, with such a conscience, can face the shame which the violation of those laws may incur. Show me the man who, in a land where poverty is a crime and wealth a virtue, and where imposts are so levied as to oppress the class least able to bear them, has spirit enough to give the revenue the go-by rather than slave on, without the chance of doing what his heart tells him he ought to do, for himself and family.'
'Ay, ay, sir,' said the captain, wondering at the merchant's earnestness, and little suspecting his base design in giving utterance to such atrocious sentiments; 'our circumstances, you mean, must determine our duties, and not our one-sided laws. I should think I've courage enough to follow out that creed any day.'
'I believe it, captain, and I'll put you to the proof now: help yourself.' Then, rising from his chair and pacing the room, he continued, 'The worst of a thing does not always appear at the first; but my scheme has this advantage, that you can see all its darkness, if there be any, at once. I want to improve the state of my pocket, and of yours too, Stauncy, and nothing can be easier. The way of it is'—And then, approaching close to the captain, he whispered for a few moments in his ear.
The seaman compressed his lips and was silent, whilst the merchant continued to pace the room, ejaculating occasionally to himself, and waiting until his victim had taken in the idea.
'FIFTY POUNDS, AND THE QUARTER-DECK OF THE "ARIADNE."''FIFTY POUNDS, AND THE QUARTER-DECK OF THE "ARIADNE."'
'Fifty pounds, Stauncy!' he at length exclaimed; for he began to fear lest the captain's heart was misgiving him, and promptly stated a sum about which he had long haggled with himself an hour or so before,—'fifty pounds and the quarter-deck of the Ariadne when she is launched. A mushroom like that is not kicked up every day.'
'The money is tempting, Mr. Phillipson, but the scheme is new. I don't see any bravery in it either.'
'The less the bravery the less the risk, captain; and let the waves cast up what they may against smugglers, they will never tell tales after such a pretty funeral.'
'Not likely, sir, not likely. Fifty pounds, you said, Mr. Phillipson? Well, I don't see why I shouldn't do as I'm bid, and ask no questions. Pay me down the money, and I'm at your service.'
'I said,' observed the merchant, 'that the less the bravery the less the risk; but you must remember that in my case the risk is considerable. I put myself completely into your hands, and must therefore secure myself by a pledge from you, if I secure you by paying down the money.'
'What pledge do you want, sir?' said Stauncy, colouring, and looking displeased. 'One halter has been about our necks for many years, and I'm not the man to slip it, unless we can slip it together. Do you think I shall turn king's evidence?'
'No fear of that,' said Mr. Phillipson blandly. 'I'm as sure of you as I am of myself. All I want you to do is, to promise that my name shall never be mentioned in the matter, come what may.'
'Granted,' said the captain; 'I promise.'
'Stop, stop!' exclaimed the merchant hurriedly; 'let us do it regular—and make it what it ought to be.'
'Anything you like,' responded the captain. 'What I say I mean. I'll pledge my life if you will.' And then, by a solemn vow, the blinded and seduced sailor bound himself never to divulge the name of his tempter, imprecating fearful judgments on himself if he violated his promise.
'I am satisfied,' said the merchant. 'Here's the money, Stauncy; and now all you have to do is to whistle for a breeze.'
A gust of wind that moment rushing through the passage shrieked into the keyhole. The fire cracked and flared with intense excitement. The merchant's dog, which had lain quietly under the table, gave one short bark and one long howl; and so they separated.