CHAPTER IXA DANGEROUS ACQUAINTANCE
T
THOUGH the boys were very much fatigued, they were up in time for an early breakfast the next morning. It consisted of mutton-chops, potatoes, bread, and coffee, and they were prepared, notwithstanding their hearty supper of the night before, to do full justice to it.
The shepherd had got over his first impression, and nothing could be more friendly than his manner toward them. He gave a still stronger proof of his confidence and friendship.
“So you think of going to the mines, my lads,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t know about the wisdom of your plans. It isn’t all that find the gold they look for. Are you expecting to come back with fortunes?”
“They would not be unwelcome, sir,” said Harry, “but we shall at any rate like the advantage of it, and we are young enough to try experiments.”
“That’s true; but about the gold I’m thinkin’ you’ll be disappointed. At any rate I’ll make you an offer—the two of you. Stay here and help me tend sheep. I’ll give you your living and clothes, and when you are twenty-one, I will make you a present of a hundred sheep each to start in business for yourselves.”
The proposal took Harry and Jack by surprise. They could not but observe that Lucy’s face brightenedwith hope as she awaited their answer. It was clear that she hoped it would be favourable. It must be acknowledged that this made a considerable impression upon them. Lucy was a pretty girl, and they felt flattered by her desire that they should remain. But their resolution was only shaken, not changed. They had but to look about them at the unbroken solitude to feel that life under such circumstances would be unendurable. Both of them had led lives of activity and excitement, and neither felt prepared to settle down, but they felt grateful.
“Jack and I thank you for your kindness, Mr. Campbell,” said Harry, “and consider your offer a good one. But it would be lonely for us here, and, though we may change our minds, we would like to try the goldfields first.”
“It’s only natural, lads,” said the shepherd. “You are young, and you crave excitement. When you are as old as I am, you won’t mind the quiet. But if you have bad luck at Bendigo come back here, and you shall be welcome to stay as long as you like, and to accept my offer if you feel like it then.”
“I am sorry you won’t stay,” said Lucy, with a shade of sadness.
“I wish we could be contented to do so,” said Harry. “You may be sure we won’t forget your kindness, Miss Campbell.”
“Do you mean me?” asked Lucy, smiling. “I never was called Miss Campbell before.”
“I will say Lucy, if you will allow me.”
“I would rather you did.”
“Then good-bye, Lucy. We shall always remember you.”
“And you will come back some day?”
“If we can.”
“Then good-bye, and don’t forget your promise.”
There was a suspicious moisture in the girl’s eyes, for she knew that when the young visitors were gone she would feel lonelier than ever.
“That’s a nice girl, Jack,” said Harry, after a pause.
“That’s so, Harry. I never saw a girl so nice before,” responded Jack emphatically.
“Do you know, Jack,” said Harry, turning to him with a smile, “it is just as well we are going away.”
“What do you mean, Harry?”
“If we stayed here till we were both young men, we might both fall in love with Lucy, and quarrel over her.”
“I might fall in love with her, but I would never quarrel with you, Harry,” said Jack affectionately.
“No, Jack, I don’t think you would. Nothing shall ever divide us.”
“You are very kind to a poor sailor boy,” said Jack. “You know a great deal more than I, and I am not fit to be your friend.”
“Take care, Jack, I may quarrel with you if you say anything against yourself. Fit or unfit, you are my chosen friend, and I should not be willing to exchange you for any one else I have ever met.”
The boys did not set out on their journey empty handed. Lucy, by direction of her father, had packed a basket with provisions enough to last them two or three days. The shepherd wished also to lend them some money, but this Harry declined.
“We might not be able to pay it back,” he said.
“I shan’t miss it, lads, if you don’t,” urged the shepherd.
“We might be robbed of it as we were of our other money, sir. We thank you all the same.”
But they gladly accepted the basket of provisions,without which, indeed, they might have fared badly in that uninhabited wilderness.
“How far is it to Bendigo?” Harry had asked the shepherd.
“Twenty miles or thereabouts,” was the answer. “You will be fortunate, however, if you reach there in three or four days.”
“If it were a straight road and good travelling we might be there by night. Give us the direction, and we will try it, sir.”
The two young travellers, refreshed by their night’s sleep and two substantial meals, made good progress, and by noon found themselves, despite the difficulties of the way, seven miles distant from the station where they had received such hospitable treatment. By this time they were hungry, and were glad to sit down at the base of a gigantic gum-tree and attack the provisions they had brought with them. They were in good spirits and chatted cheerfully. Many thousands of miles away from home, without a penny in their pockets, and with only a basket of provisions between them and starvation, they did not allow themselves to be depressed by their uncertain prospects, but looked forward hopefully.
“Jack,” said Harry, “it seems so lonely here, I could easily believe that we two are alone in the world.”
“It does seem so,” said Jack.
“I feel a little like Robinson Crusoe on his island.”
“Am I to be Friday?” asked Jack, with a smile.
Jack had read very few books, but who is there who has not read Robinson Crusoe?
“I don’t think you are of the right colour, Jack, but I would a good deal rather have you than Friday.”
They were not so far away from human companionshipas they supposed, as they soon learned to their dismay. Suddenly they heard a crunching as of steps upon the brush, and turning, they saw, with alarm, a tall muscular man, with matted locks unprotected by a hat, a long untrimmed beard, and a suit hanging in tatters over his gaunt, bony figure. His eyes were fixed with a famished look upon the open basket of provisions.
The boys started to their feet in affright.
“Give me food!” said the stranger, in a hoarse voice.
Harry took some bread and meat from the basket and handed them to the stranger, who devoured them in silence. His appetite seemed enormous, and the boys saw in dismay that if he kept on there would be very little left. It was necessary in self-defence to limit the man’s rapacity.
“More, more!” he cried, when he had eaten all that had been given him.
“We have given you all we can spare,” said Harry firmly.
“Give me the basket, or I will kill you both!” exclaimed the tramp, his eyes suffused with blood, and gleaming with fierce anger.
As he spoke he raised a knotted stick which had served him as a cane, and swung it menacingly above his head.
Harry and Jack were brave boys, and not easily daunted, but the attitude of the stranger was so menacing, and his frame so indicative of strength, that they were both alarmed. Had their need of the provisions been less urgent they would have surrendered them without a struggle, but they felt that it was a question possibly of continued life or starvation, and this inspired them to resistance.
Holding the basket in his hand, Harry retreated behind a tree, and began to parley.
“You are asking too much,” he said. “We have given you a meal. We need the rest for ourselves.”
“No palavering, boy!” said the tramp roughly. “I need it more than you do. Give it to me, or I will kill you.”
“If I only had some weapon,” thought Harry.
While he was hesitating, the tramp, with a quick movement, sprang to where he stood, clutched him by the collar, and flinging him on his back put his knee on his breast, saying between his closed teeth, “Now I will kill you, young jackanapes! I’ll teach you to interfere with me.”
Poor Harry thought his last moment had come. He was powerless against his enemy, whose wild rage, shown in his distorted features, seemed capable of anything. His sole helper was Jack, who flung himself on the giant, and sought with his boyish strength to pull him away, but in vain.
“I’ll choke the life out of you, you young beast!” exclaimed the tramp, preparing to clutch Harry by the throat. The moment was a critical one for the poor boy, whose career came near ending then and there.
But assistance came when least expected.
A man who had approached, unseen by either of the three, jumped from the underbrush, and with one powerful blow sent the tramp sprawling on the ground beside his intended victim.
“You’re rather out of your reckoning, you mean skunk!” he exclaimed. “If there’s any killin’ to be done round here, I’m goin’ to do it.”
“Obed Stackpole!” ejaculated the boys in heart-felt delight, and they were rushing forward to greet him, but he waved them back.
“Yes,” he said, “it’s Obed himself. I’ll talk to you in a minute, after I’ve got through with this consarned villain.”
By this time the tramp, though startled and dazed, was on his feet, and preparing to make a desperate assault on the Yankee. But though quite as strong, and possibly stronger than Obed Stackpole, he had now to encounter a foe by no means to be despised. Moreover, he had laid down his knotted stick, and Obed had secured it. It was a formidable weapon, and Mr. Stackpole was quite ready to make use of it.
“Give me my stick!” shouted the tramp hoarsely.
“I mean to,” responded the Yankee coolly. “Where will you have it?”
He stepped back warily, as the other advanced, holding the stick in a strong grasp, while he kept his eyes steadily fixed on his opponent. He was cool, but his enemy was enraged, and rage made him incautious.
He made a desperate clutch at the stick, but with a powerful sweep Obed struck him on the side of the head, and he fell like an ox, stunned and insensible.
“That settles you, my friend, I guess,” said Obed. “You brought it upon yourself, and you’ve got no one else to blame. Watch him, Harry, to see that he doesn’t come to himself, while I tie his hands.”
Obed whipped a strong cord from his pockets, and secured the wrists of the prostrate enemy, tying them securely together.
“Will you tie his feet, too?” asked Jack.
“No, it is not necessary. He can’t do any harm now. I came in the nick of time, boys, didn’t I?”
“Indeed you did!” said Harry earnestly. “He was beginning to choke me.”
“What was it all about?”
“We had given him a meal, but he wanted tomake off with the basket besides. As this would have left us utterly without food, I objected.”
“The mean skunk! I’m glad I came up in time to settle him.”
“Won’t you have something to eat yourself, Mr. Stackpole?” asked Harry, bethinking himself that his deliverer might need refreshment.
“I don’t mind if I do,” answered Obed. “The fact is, I’m feeling kinder hollow. I feel a gnawin’ at my vitals that isn’t pleasant. This is prime fodder; where did you raise it?”
While Obed was eating—with hearty relish, it may be added—Harry related briefly what had befallen Jack and himself since they had parted company.
“You’re in luck, boys,” was Obed’s comment. “You fared better than I, for you’ve had your square meals, while I’ve had only one besides this.”
“Where was that?” asked Harry.
“At the same place where you passed the night. I got there about an hour after you left, as well as I can make out. The gal was very kind, and gave me a tip-top breakfast. I ate till I was ashamed, and then left off hungry. That’s why I’ve got such an appetite now. Yesterday I didn’t have but one meal, and I’ve had to make up for that.”
“Did Lucy tell you we had passed the night at her father’s house?”
“Lucy! Seems to me you got mighty familiar,” said Obed, in a jocular tone. “She didn’t tell me what her name was. I suppose she looked upon me as a dried-up old bach.”
“She’s a nice girl,” said Harry emphatically.
“So she is. I’m with you there. But about your question—I asked her if she had seen anything of two chaps about your size, and she told me enough to showme I was on your track. She told me which way you went, and I follered. She was a little shy at first, not knowin’ but I might be an enemy of yours, but when she’d made up her mind to thecontraryshe up and told me everything. Well, I struck your trail, and here I am.”
“I for one am delighted to see you, Obed,” said Harry cordially.
“And I for two,” added Jack, smiling.
Mr. Stackpole seemed gratified by the pleasure evinced by the boys.
“Well,” he said, “we’re together once more, and now we must hold a council of war, and decide what’s to be done.”
“With him?” asked Jack, pointing to the tramp.
“With him first of all; I take it you don’t want me to invite him to join our party?”
“His room is better than his company,” said Harry.
“I agree with you. According to my idea, we may as well leave him where he lies.”
“But won’t he starve?”
“He can get his hands free after awhile,” said Obed, “but not till after we are at a safe distance. You needn’t be afraid about him. Anyhow the world wouldn’t lose much if he did take passage for another.”
“That’s so, Obed, but I wouldn’t like to feel that we were responsible for his death.”
At this moment the prostrate man opened his eyes, and as his glance lighted on Obed, they gleamed with the old look of rage. He tried to get up, and of course discovered that his hands were tied.
“Loosen my hands, you scoundrel!” he exclaimed.
“If you mean me by that pet name, my esteemed friend,” said Obed, “I respectfully decline. I’d rather look at you with your hands tied.”
“Do you want me to kill you?” demanded the tramp furiously.
“Not at present! when I do I’ll let you know. Come, boys, we may as well be going. This gentleman would rather be left alone.”
“Unloose me first, and I won’t harm you,” said the other, trying to struggle to his feet.
“I don’t mean you shall. Good-bye, my friend. I can’t say I wish to meet you again. I will take the liberty to carry off your stick, as you won’t need it with your hands tied.”
Obed and the boys started off, followed by the most fearful execrations from their late acquaintance. They had scarcely gone a quarter of a mile when they met two mounted police, who halted their horses and inquired: “Have you seen anything of a man, tall and spare, dark hair and eyes. We have traced him to this neighbourhood, and think he must be near.”
“What has he done?” asked Obed curiously.
“Murdered a man at the mines in a drunken brawl.”
“We’ve just parted company with him,” said Obed. “I found him experimentin’ on my young friend here, but come up in time to block his game.”
“Put us on his track, and we will share the reward of a hundred pounds with you.”
“I’ll do it. Boys, stay here and I’ll go back with these gentlemen. I’ll join you in an hour.”
Obed was as good as his word. Within an hour he was back again, with the two policemen, followed by the man whom we have called the tramp.
His hands were more securely fastened now by a pair of handcuffs.