Chapter Forty Seven.

Chapter Forty Seven.Almost Soldiers.I awoke that next morning sore, miserable, and seeing everything through the very reverse of rose-coloured spectacles. For I was back at the Fort, and it now looked a very different place to the home I had journeyed so many months to find when I was sanguine and hopeful.There appeared to be a dead weight upon me; and as I first opened my eyes, I felt as if the best thing I could do would be to rouse up Esau, and go right away. But as I looked round, my eyes lit upon Mr Gunson lying insensible in his bed, with Mrs Dean seated patiently by his side, and I felt ashamed of my thoughts, for I could not go away and leave one who had shown himself so true a friend from our first meeting, and I at once determined, no matter how painful my position might be, to stay by his side, and tend him till he grew strong again.I shivered as I thought this, for I could just see his pale face below his bandaged head, and the ideas came—suppose he does not recover—never grow strong again? suppose he dies? The weak tears rose to my eyes at the thought, and I lay wistfully gazing at him in the silence of that bright morning, for I felt that I should be almost alone out there in that wild, new country. For Mr and Mrs John would certainly be more and more influenced by Mr Raydon; and as I could not stay at the Fort, I should never see them. The old plans of staying with them, and building up a new house somewhere in one of the lovely spots by the river, were gone, and I told myself that I should soon have to say good-bye to them.There would be Esau, though;—perhaps not: for Mrs Dean would naturally want to stay where there were women; and as she had become attached to Mrs John, the chances were that she would stay at or near the Fort, and that would influence Esau, who would be forgiven by Mr Raydon, and stay too, while I should go off into the wilderness all alone.Taken altogether, I was about as miserable and full of doleful ideas as a boy of my age could be. Not one bit of blue sky could I see through the clouds that shut in my future; and I was growing worse as I lay there with an indistinct fancy that I had heard Mr Raydon’s voice in the night, when a bright ray of sunshine came through the window, and made a ruddy golden spot on the pine-wood ceiling.It was only a ray of light, but it worked wonders, for it changed the current of my thoughts, setting me thinking that the sun was just peeping over the edge of the mountain lying to the east, and brightening the mists that lay in the valleys, and making everything look glorious as it chased away the shadows from gully and ravine, till it shone full upon the river, and turned its grey waters into dazzling, rippling, and splashing silver.I don’t know how it was, but that sunlight began to drive away the mists and dark vapours in my mind. I did not feel so miserable, though I was painfully stiff and sore. The future was bright, my case not so hopeless, and I was just making up my mind that Esau would never forsake me, and that Mr Gunson would not die, when Mrs Dean looked round.“Ah, my dear,” she said; “awake?”“Yes,” I said, springing up, all dressed as I was. “You have not been watching here all night?”“Oh, no; I only came on at daybreak. He’s sleeping very calmly.”“Has he spoken?”“Oh dear no, and is not likely to for long enough. Such a pity as it is, poor man!”“It is a terrible injury,” I said. “Yes, my dear; and how thankful I am it wasn’t my poor Esau. What should I have done if it had been he?”“It would have been terrible,” I said. “Or you, my dear,” she whispered hurriedly, as if in apology for not naming me before.“Oh, that would have been no consequence,” I replied, bitterly.“Oh, my dear,” she cried, with the tears in her eyes; “don’t—don’t talk like that. I know you’ve been in trouble, but we all have that, and they say it makes the happiness all the sweeter.”“Yes, they say so,” I replied gloomily.“Ah, it does, my dear. There, as Mr John said to me about you, ‘it will all come right in the end.’”“Here, what’s the matter?” said Esau gruffly, still half asleep. “Time to get up? Hullo, mother! Oh, oh! I recollect now. I was dreaming about old Quong. I say! Oh, my feet—my feet!”“There, there, there, my dear; they’ll soon be better,” said Mrs Dean, bending over him; and the sight of those two, with Esau’s pettish ill-humour, quite drove away the rest of my gloom for the time. For as Mrs Dean bent over her son, he pushed her away.“Don’t, mother; I do wish you wouldn’t.”“Wouldn’t what, my dear?”“Talk to me, and pull me about like that.”“Hush! not so loud, my dear. You’ll wake Mr Gunson.”“Bother Mr Gunson! There you go again. Can’t you see I’m growed up now?”“Yes, of course, Esau.”“No you can’t, or you wouldn’t talk to me like that. You always seem to treat me as if I was two years old; you’ll be wanting to rock me to sleep some night.”“Esau, my dear, how can you?”“Well, so you will. Pet, pet, pet, every time you get near me.”“Esau, my darling,” cried Mrs Dean, excitedly. “What are you going to do?”“Get up.”“With your feet like that?”“Well, they’ll be just the same if I lie here, and I’m not going to be ill.”“But you will be, dear, if you walk about.”“Then I shall be ill. I’m not going to lie here for you to feed me with a spoon, and keep on laying your hand on my head.”“Now, Esau, when did I try to feed you with a spoon?”“I mean mettyphorically,” grumbled Esau. “You always seem to think I’m a baby. Ah, if you begin to cry, I’ll dance about and make my feet worse.”Mrs Dean wiped her eyes furtively, and Esau put his arm round her and gave her a hearty kiss, which made her beam again.“Well,” he said, turning to me with a very grim look, “not much fun in getting gold, is there? I say, who’d have thought of our coming back again like this? What ’ll Mr Raydon say to us this morning?”I felt half startled at the idea of meeting him again, but my attention was taken up by a low muttering from Mr Gunson, and I went with Mrs Dean to his side, and stood watching her bathe his head till he sighed gently, and seemed to calm down.“Poor old chap!” said Esau; “he got a nasty one, that he did. I say, wonder how much gold him and old teapot had found?”“Oh, never mind that now.”“But I do,” said Esau; “and so would he mind if he could think and talk. Wonder where he hid it all? Let’s ask Quong, because it oughtn’t to be lost.”I made no answer, but stood watching the injured man, while Esau preferred sitting down and nursing first one foot and then the other, but always obstinately refusing to lot his mother touch them. “I say,” he said, after a pause. “Well.”“What’s old Raydon going to say to us? It was very jolly of him to come and help us as he did, but he looked pickled thunder at me and you here. He won’t let us stay. We shall have to start off again.”“I suppose so,” I said drearily, with my old troubles coming back; and we relapsed into silence, till there was a soft light step at the door, and Quong entered and looked sharply at the plain rough bed-place where Mr Gunson lay.“Come over see how d’ye do,” he said quickly. “Cap Gunson no go long die self?”“No, no,” I cried; “he will get well.”“Yes; get well, ploper quite well, and go wash gole. Makee flesh blead—flesh tea?”“No, not yet,” said Mrs Dean, who looked askant at the fresh-comer, and as if she did not approve of him.“Allee light. Wait. Good fi’ makee blead cakee.”“I say, Quong,” whispered Esau, “did you two find much gold?”Quong gave him a quaint laughing look. “You waitee littee bit. Allee same ask Mas Gunson. You sabbee?”“But he can’t tell us. I say, do you know where he hid what you got?”“No; no sabbee. Mas Gunson know allee same. You wait.”Just then I heard a cough in the enclosure, and drew back a little uneasily as the door opened, and Mr Raydon entered.“Good morning, my lads,” he said, gravely and coldly. “Ah, Quong, you here? Well, nurse, how is your patient?”“He seems very nicely, sir, and I don’t think there is much fever.”“Does he seem in great pain?”“Only at times, sir, and then I bathe his temples.”Quong looked sharply from one to the other, and began to fumble about under his blue cotton blouse till he produced from some hidden pocket a tiny thin bottle, less than my little finger, and gave it to Mr Raydon.“Velly good,” he said, eagerly. “You sabbee? Touch velly little dlop allee long Cap Gunson head. No makee hurt then.”“Ah, yes,” said Mr Raydon, taking the bottle. “I have seen this before;” and as Gunson just then uttered an uneasy moan, the cork was taken out, and a very tiny drop spread with a finger lightly about his temples.“Makee seep,” said Quong, smiling. “Velly good.”The essence certainly produced the required effect, and Quong showed his yellow teeth.“Not muchee,” he said. “Velly lit dlop. Velly ofen? No, no.”“I understand,” said Mr Raydon, handing back the bottle.“No,” said Quong. “No. Keep all along. You sabbee?”“Very well, I’ll keep it,” said Mr Raydon; and just then there was a tap at the door.“Come in.”Grey entered.“Want me?”“Bad news, sir,” said Grey, in a sharp whisper. “That man from the little valley—Barker he says his name is—”“Which was Barker?”“That sensible man you shook hands with.”“What does he want?”“Wants to see you, sir. They started that gang down the river with half a dozen armed miners, and they rose against them in the night.”“Yes,” said Mr Raydon, excitedly. “Well?”“They killed two, wounded all the rest, and they are all free again.”“And their own wounded men?”“Took them into the woods with them.”“This is bad news indeed,” said Mr Raydon, beginning to pace the room.“He wants to know what’s to be done,” said Grey.“I must think—I must think,” said Mr Raydon, hastily. “Two men away guarding that claim.”“Yes, sir. Weakens us.”“Yes,” said Mr Raydon; “and we must be weakened more. Two of our men must go to strengthen them at the claim. There must be four there.”“Won’t draw them away and give up the claim, sir?”“No,” said Mr Raydon, firmly. “Go back to this Mr Barker, and say I’ll be with him directly.”“Yes, sir,” said Grey; and he went out with all the quiet precision of a soldier.“Bad news—bad news indeed,” said Mr Raydon, half aloud. “More trouble to lay upon your shoulders, Mayne Gordon. All your fault.”I felt a chill run through me, and I believe a cold hard look must have come into my face.“Well, we must make the best of it. Of course you two lads must stop here.”“If you wish it, sir,” I said, “we will go directly.”“I do not wish it, boy,” he replied sternly. “Do you wish to leave those who have been your friends in the lurch now you have dragged all this trouble to their door?”“No, sir,” I said, as I set my teeth hard, determined to be cool, in spite of the injustice with which I felt that I was being treated.“No, of course not. You have some stubborn pluck in you—both of you.”Esau growled in a very low tone, and made his mother look at him in a startled way, as if she had suddenly awakened to the fact that her son possessed the nature of a bear’s cub.Mr Raydon took another turn or two up and down the room.“Mrs Dean,” he said, “I can do nothing more for your patient. No doctor could; time is the only thing. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Meantime my sister will come to you, and you can have either of my men’s wives to assist you in nursing. They are Indians, but well trained in that way. Do your best.”“Mother always does,” growled Esau.Mr Raydon gave him a sharp look, but Esau did not flinch.“Look here, you two,” said Mr Raydon, after a pause. “I am going to send two more of my men away, for the fellows in that gang are not going to beat me. The law-and-order party must and shall prevail. This will weaken my little garrison, so you two will have to mount rifles, and take the places of two of my absent men.”“Yes, sir,” I said, eagerly. “I’ll do my best.”“Thank you. Now, Esau Dean, what do you say?”“Course I shall do as he does. I’m ready.”“No, no, Esau, my boy. Your feet, your feet,” cried Mrs Dean.“Do be quiet, mother. There you go with the spoon again. Fellow don’t shoot off a rifle with his foot.”I saw Mr Raydon bite his lips to repress a smile.“I had forgotten your burnt feet. Do they feel very bad?”“Oh, pretty tidy, sir, but I don’t mind. I should like to have a pop at one of them as held me to that fire.”“Naturally,” said Mr Raydon.“But I’m afraid I can’t do much marching.”“You will be posted in one of the block-houses.”“That’ll do,” cried Esau. “Come along, Mayne Gordon.”“You have never used a rifle.”“Why, Mr Gunson there showed us all about it. Don’t you be afraid; I’ll try.”“Oh, Esau!” cried Mrs Dean.“And mother shall nurse me when I’m wounded.”“Oh, my boy—my boy!”“Silence, sir! Mrs Dean, he is only tormenting you. It is not likely that he will be hurt, but out here in the wilderness we do sometimes have to fight to protect the women and children. There, do not be uneasy; I see your son will do you credit.”Esau gave a gulp, and turned red in the face, while I suffered a twinge of jealousy on finding that the lad, whom I blamed as the cause of all the trouble, should be spoken to in this way while I was treated with a coldness that, in my sensitive state, seemed to freeze all the better nature within me.“A pretty mess this, sir,” said Barker, as we joined him out in the enclosure. “Those stupid donkeys have let loose a nice gang. They’ll be as savage as possible against everybody, and be coming down upon us just when we don’t expect it.”“But have they arms and ammunition?”“Plenty, sir. They stripped our men, and if we don’t look out they’ll strip us. Why, the little valley will never be safe again while they are about.”“No,” said Mr Raydon. “It’s a bad look-out, but we must take every precaution. You may rely on my helping you, as I promised, and if I am the unlucky one attacked first, I look for help from you.”“And you shall have it, sir. I answer for the lads up the valley. What do you propose doing first?”“Nothing,” said Mr Raydon.The man stared at him aghast, and Mr Raydon smiled.“But—but hadn’t we better get a party together, and hunt them down, sir?”“An excellent plan,” said Mr Raydon, “but impossible in this wild country. They would lead us a terrible dance, weary us out, and perhaps take advantage of our absence to plunder our places. The better way will be to keep a sharp look-out, and punish them if they attack us.”“But if they take us by surprise, sir?”“They must not,” said Mr Raydon, quietly. “My advice to you is, that you go back and make arrangements for mutual support, so that all can hurry at once to the place attacked. You will make it one man’s duty to act as messenger, and come directly to give warning here, and another to give notice up the valley at Gunson’s claim.”“And the two men there will come and help us? Yes: that’s good.”“There will be four of my men stationed there,” said Mr Raydon. “That is a very likely place for the first attack, if they can find their way over the mountains and through the dense forest. The trouble began by their trying to seize that claim.”“Why not let them go to it again, and attack them when they are settled down?” said Barker.“No, my man, it is not our line to attack; let that come from the enemy. Besides, I particularly wish Mr Gunson’s claim to be reserved for him till he has recovered. So if the enemy find their way there you will go up to my men’s help. If there is anything you want from the Fort here at your camp, you can send up, and I will supply you if I can.”“Thankye, sir, thankye. That’s very neighbourly,” said Barker. “I think the more of it because there’s a report about that you were dead against the claims being taken up.”I stared at Mr Raydon wonderingly, for his behaviour was inexplicable to me; but I had no time given me for thought. As soon as Barker and the two men who came up with him had gone, Mr Raydon chose two of his little garrison, and sent them, well armed, and with as big loads of supplies as they could carry, by the near cut over the mountains, that is by the track taken when he and his men came to our help.Directly after, in a sharp military way, he led us to his little armoury, and gave us each a rifle and pistol, with a few words of instruction as to where the weapons were to be kept in readiness for use; and, in addition, what we were to do in the places of the two men who had gone.I was glad of this, for it took up my time, and gave me something else to think about. It was pleasant too—the duty of having to help in the defence of the Fort where my friends were gathered.“Some day he’ll be sorry for it all,” I said to myself; and I was brooding over the past again, when Esau uttered a low chuckle, which made me turn to him wonderingly.“Only think of it, Mayne Gordon,” he said. “What a game!”“What is a game?”“You always being so dead on to me about going for a soldier, and here we are both of us good as soldiers after all. Why, if he’d let us tackle one of those guns,” he continued, pointing to a little cannon mounted in the block-house, “it would be like joining the Ryle Artilleree.”

I awoke that next morning sore, miserable, and seeing everything through the very reverse of rose-coloured spectacles. For I was back at the Fort, and it now looked a very different place to the home I had journeyed so many months to find when I was sanguine and hopeful.

There appeared to be a dead weight upon me; and as I first opened my eyes, I felt as if the best thing I could do would be to rouse up Esau, and go right away. But as I looked round, my eyes lit upon Mr Gunson lying insensible in his bed, with Mrs Dean seated patiently by his side, and I felt ashamed of my thoughts, for I could not go away and leave one who had shown himself so true a friend from our first meeting, and I at once determined, no matter how painful my position might be, to stay by his side, and tend him till he grew strong again.

I shivered as I thought this, for I could just see his pale face below his bandaged head, and the ideas came—suppose he does not recover—never grow strong again? suppose he dies? The weak tears rose to my eyes at the thought, and I lay wistfully gazing at him in the silence of that bright morning, for I felt that I should be almost alone out there in that wild, new country. For Mr and Mrs John would certainly be more and more influenced by Mr Raydon; and as I could not stay at the Fort, I should never see them. The old plans of staying with them, and building up a new house somewhere in one of the lovely spots by the river, were gone, and I told myself that I should soon have to say good-bye to them.

There would be Esau, though;—perhaps not: for Mrs Dean would naturally want to stay where there were women; and as she had become attached to Mrs John, the chances were that she would stay at or near the Fort, and that would influence Esau, who would be forgiven by Mr Raydon, and stay too, while I should go off into the wilderness all alone.

Taken altogether, I was about as miserable and full of doleful ideas as a boy of my age could be. Not one bit of blue sky could I see through the clouds that shut in my future; and I was growing worse as I lay there with an indistinct fancy that I had heard Mr Raydon’s voice in the night, when a bright ray of sunshine came through the window, and made a ruddy golden spot on the pine-wood ceiling.

It was only a ray of light, but it worked wonders, for it changed the current of my thoughts, setting me thinking that the sun was just peeping over the edge of the mountain lying to the east, and brightening the mists that lay in the valleys, and making everything look glorious as it chased away the shadows from gully and ravine, till it shone full upon the river, and turned its grey waters into dazzling, rippling, and splashing silver.

I don’t know how it was, but that sunlight began to drive away the mists and dark vapours in my mind. I did not feel so miserable, though I was painfully stiff and sore. The future was bright, my case not so hopeless, and I was just making up my mind that Esau would never forsake me, and that Mr Gunson would not die, when Mrs Dean looked round.

“Ah, my dear,” she said; “awake?”

“Yes,” I said, springing up, all dressed as I was. “You have not been watching here all night?”

“Oh, no; I only came on at daybreak. He’s sleeping very calmly.”

“Has he spoken?”

“Oh dear no, and is not likely to for long enough. Such a pity as it is, poor man!”

“It is a terrible injury,” I said. “Yes, my dear; and how thankful I am it wasn’t my poor Esau. What should I have done if it had been he?”

“It would have been terrible,” I said. “Or you, my dear,” she whispered hurriedly, as if in apology for not naming me before.

“Oh, that would have been no consequence,” I replied, bitterly.

“Oh, my dear,” she cried, with the tears in her eyes; “don’t—don’t talk like that. I know you’ve been in trouble, but we all have that, and they say it makes the happiness all the sweeter.”

“Yes, they say so,” I replied gloomily.

“Ah, it does, my dear. There, as Mr John said to me about you, ‘it will all come right in the end.’”

“Here, what’s the matter?” said Esau gruffly, still half asleep. “Time to get up? Hullo, mother! Oh, oh! I recollect now. I was dreaming about old Quong. I say! Oh, my feet—my feet!”

“There, there, there, my dear; they’ll soon be better,” said Mrs Dean, bending over him; and the sight of those two, with Esau’s pettish ill-humour, quite drove away the rest of my gloom for the time. For as Mrs Dean bent over her son, he pushed her away.

“Don’t, mother; I do wish you wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t what, my dear?”

“Talk to me, and pull me about like that.”

“Hush! not so loud, my dear. You’ll wake Mr Gunson.”

“Bother Mr Gunson! There you go again. Can’t you see I’m growed up now?”

“Yes, of course, Esau.”

“No you can’t, or you wouldn’t talk to me like that. You always seem to treat me as if I was two years old; you’ll be wanting to rock me to sleep some night.”

“Esau, my dear, how can you?”

“Well, so you will. Pet, pet, pet, every time you get near me.”

“Esau, my darling,” cried Mrs Dean, excitedly. “What are you going to do?”

“Get up.”

“With your feet like that?”

“Well, they’ll be just the same if I lie here, and I’m not going to be ill.”

“But you will be, dear, if you walk about.”

“Then I shall be ill. I’m not going to lie here for you to feed me with a spoon, and keep on laying your hand on my head.”

“Now, Esau, when did I try to feed you with a spoon?”

“I mean mettyphorically,” grumbled Esau. “You always seem to think I’m a baby. Ah, if you begin to cry, I’ll dance about and make my feet worse.”

Mrs Dean wiped her eyes furtively, and Esau put his arm round her and gave her a hearty kiss, which made her beam again.

“Well,” he said, turning to me with a very grim look, “not much fun in getting gold, is there? I say, who’d have thought of our coming back again like this? What ’ll Mr Raydon say to us this morning?”

I felt half startled at the idea of meeting him again, but my attention was taken up by a low muttering from Mr Gunson, and I went with Mrs Dean to his side, and stood watching her bathe his head till he sighed gently, and seemed to calm down.

“Poor old chap!” said Esau; “he got a nasty one, that he did. I say, wonder how much gold him and old teapot had found?”

“Oh, never mind that now.”

“But I do,” said Esau; “and so would he mind if he could think and talk. Wonder where he hid it all? Let’s ask Quong, because it oughtn’t to be lost.”

I made no answer, but stood watching the injured man, while Esau preferred sitting down and nursing first one foot and then the other, but always obstinately refusing to lot his mother touch them. “I say,” he said, after a pause. “Well.”

“What’s old Raydon going to say to us? It was very jolly of him to come and help us as he did, but he looked pickled thunder at me and you here. He won’t let us stay. We shall have to start off again.”

“I suppose so,” I said drearily, with my old troubles coming back; and we relapsed into silence, till there was a soft light step at the door, and Quong entered and looked sharply at the plain rough bed-place where Mr Gunson lay.

“Come over see how d’ye do,” he said quickly. “Cap Gunson no go long die self?”

“No, no,” I cried; “he will get well.”

“Yes; get well, ploper quite well, and go wash gole. Makee flesh blead—flesh tea?”

“No, not yet,” said Mrs Dean, who looked askant at the fresh-comer, and as if she did not approve of him.

“Allee light. Wait. Good fi’ makee blead cakee.”

“I say, Quong,” whispered Esau, “did you two find much gold?”

Quong gave him a quaint laughing look. “You waitee littee bit. Allee same ask Mas Gunson. You sabbee?”

“But he can’t tell us. I say, do you know where he hid what you got?”

“No; no sabbee. Mas Gunson know allee same. You wait.”

Just then I heard a cough in the enclosure, and drew back a little uneasily as the door opened, and Mr Raydon entered.

“Good morning, my lads,” he said, gravely and coldly. “Ah, Quong, you here? Well, nurse, how is your patient?”

“He seems very nicely, sir, and I don’t think there is much fever.”

“Does he seem in great pain?”

“Only at times, sir, and then I bathe his temples.”

Quong looked sharply from one to the other, and began to fumble about under his blue cotton blouse till he produced from some hidden pocket a tiny thin bottle, less than my little finger, and gave it to Mr Raydon.

“Velly good,” he said, eagerly. “You sabbee? Touch velly little dlop allee long Cap Gunson head. No makee hurt then.”

“Ah, yes,” said Mr Raydon, taking the bottle. “I have seen this before;” and as Gunson just then uttered an uneasy moan, the cork was taken out, and a very tiny drop spread with a finger lightly about his temples.

“Makee seep,” said Quong, smiling. “Velly good.”

The essence certainly produced the required effect, and Quong showed his yellow teeth.

“Not muchee,” he said. “Velly lit dlop. Velly ofen? No, no.”

“I understand,” said Mr Raydon, handing back the bottle.

“No,” said Quong. “No. Keep all along. You sabbee?”

“Very well, I’ll keep it,” said Mr Raydon; and just then there was a tap at the door.

“Come in.”

Grey entered.

“Want me?”

“Bad news, sir,” said Grey, in a sharp whisper. “That man from the little valley—Barker he says his name is—”

“Which was Barker?”

“That sensible man you shook hands with.”

“What does he want?”

“Wants to see you, sir. They started that gang down the river with half a dozen armed miners, and they rose against them in the night.”

“Yes,” said Mr Raydon, excitedly. “Well?”

“They killed two, wounded all the rest, and they are all free again.”

“And their own wounded men?”

“Took them into the woods with them.”

“This is bad news indeed,” said Mr Raydon, beginning to pace the room.

“He wants to know what’s to be done,” said Grey.

“I must think—I must think,” said Mr Raydon, hastily. “Two men away guarding that claim.”

“Yes, sir. Weakens us.”

“Yes,” said Mr Raydon; “and we must be weakened more. Two of our men must go to strengthen them at the claim. There must be four there.”

“Won’t draw them away and give up the claim, sir?”

“No,” said Mr Raydon, firmly. “Go back to this Mr Barker, and say I’ll be with him directly.”

“Yes, sir,” said Grey; and he went out with all the quiet precision of a soldier.

“Bad news—bad news indeed,” said Mr Raydon, half aloud. “More trouble to lay upon your shoulders, Mayne Gordon. All your fault.”

I felt a chill run through me, and I believe a cold hard look must have come into my face.

“Well, we must make the best of it. Of course you two lads must stop here.”

“If you wish it, sir,” I said, “we will go directly.”

“I do not wish it, boy,” he replied sternly. “Do you wish to leave those who have been your friends in the lurch now you have dragged all this trouble to their door?”

“No, sir,” I said, as I set my teeth hard, determined to be cool, in spite of the injustice with which I felt that I was being treated.

“No, of course not. You have some stubborn pluck in you—both of you.”

Esau growled in a very low tone, and made his mother look at him in a startled way, as if she had suddenly awakened to the fact that her son possessed the nature of a bear’s cub.

Mr Raydon took another turn or two up and down the room.

“Mrs Dean,” he said, “I can do nothing more for your patient. No doctor could; time is the only thing. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Meantime my sister will come to you, and you can have either of my men’s wives to assist you in nursing. They are Indians, but well trained in that way. Do your best.”

“Mother always does,” growled Esau.

Mr Raydon gave him a sharp look, but Esau did not flinch.

“Look here, you two,” said Mr Raydon, after a pause. “I am going to send two more of my men away, for the fellows in that gang are not going to beat me. The law-and-order party must and shall prevail. This will weaken my little garrison, so you two will have to mount rifles, and take the places of two of my absent men.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, eagerly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you. Now, Esau Dean, what do you say?”

“Course I shall do as he does. I’m ready.”

“No, no, Esau, my boy. Your feet, your feet,” cried Mrs Dean.

“Do be quiet, mother. There you go with the spoon again. Fellow don’t shoot off a rifle with his foot.”

I saw Mr Raydon bite his lips to repress a smile.

“I had forgotten your burnt feet. Do they feel very bad?”

“Oh, pretty tidy, sir, but I don’t mind. I should like to have a pop at one of them as held me to that fire.”

“Naturally,” said Mr Raydon.

“But I’m afraid I can’t do much marching.”

“You will be posted in one of the block-houses.”

“That’ll do,” cried Esau. “Come along, Mayne Gordon.”

“You have never used a rifle.”

“Why, Mr Gunson there showed us all about it. Don’t you be afraid; I’ll try.”

“Oh, Esau!” cried Mrs Dean.

“And mother shall nurse me when I’m wounded.”

“Oh, my boy—my boy!”

“Silence, sir! Mrs Dean, he is only tormenting you. It is not likely that he will be hurt, but out here in the wilderness we do sometimes have to fight to protect the women and children. There, do not be uneasy; I see your son will do you credit.”

Esau gave a gulp, and turned red in the face, while I suffered a twinge of jealousy on finding that the lad, whom I blamed as the cause of all the trouble, should be spoken to in this way while I was treated with a coldness that, in my sensitive state, seemed to freeze all the better nature within me.

“A pretty mess this, sir,” said Barker, as we joined him out in the enclosure. “Those stupid donkeys have let loose a nice gang. They’ll be as savage as possible against everybody, and be coming down upon us just when we don’t expect it.”

“But have they arms and ammunition?”

“Plenty, sir. They stripped our men, and if we don’t look out they’ll strip us. Why, the little valley will never be safe again while they are about.”

“No,” said Mr Raydon. “It’s a bad look-out, but we must take every precaution. You may rely on my helping you, as I promised, and if I am the unlucky one attacked first, I look for help from you.”

“And you shall have it, sir. I answer for the lads up the valley. What do you propose doing first?”

“Nothing,” said Mr Raydon.

The man stared at him aghast, and Mr Raydon smiled.

“But—but hadn’t we better get a party together, and hunt them down, sir?”

“An excellent plan,” said Mr Raydon, “but impossible in this wild country. They would lead us a terrible dance, weary us out, and perhaps take advantage of our absence to plunder our places. The better way will be to keep a sharp look-out, and punish them if they attack us.”

“But if they take us by surprise, sir?”

“They must not,” said Mr Raydon, quietly. “My advice to you is, that you go back and make arrangements for mutual support, so that all can hurry at once to the place attacked. You will make it one man’s duty to act as messenger, and come directly to give warning here, and another to give notice up the valley at Gunson’s claim.”

“And the two men there will come and help us? Yes: that’s good.”

“There will be four of my men stationed there,” said Mr Raydon. “That is a very likely place for the first attack, if they can find their way over the mountains and through the dense forest. The trouble began by their trying to seize that claim.”

“Why not let them go to it again, and attack them when they are settled down?” said Barker.

“No, my man, it is not our line to attack; let that come from the enemy. Besides, I particularly wish Mr Gunson’s claim to be reserved for him till he has recovered. So if the enemy find their way there you will go up to my men’s help. If there is anything you want from the Fort here at your camp, you can send up, and I will supply you if I can.”

“Thankye, sir, thankye. That’s very neighbourly,” said Barker. “I think the more of it because there’s a report about that you were dead against the claims being taken up.”

I stared at Mr Raydon wonderingly, for his behaviour was inexplicable to me; but I had no time given me for thought. As soon as Barker and the two men who came up with him had gone, Mr Raydon chose two of his little garrison, and sent them, well armed, and with as big loads of supplies as they could carry, by the near cut over the mountains, that is by the track taken when he and his men came to our help.

Directly after, in a sharp military way, he led us to his little armoury, and gave us each a rifle and pistol, with a few words of instruction as to where the weapons were to be kept in readiness for use; and, in addition, what we were to do in the places of the two men who had gone.

I was glad of this, for it took up my time, and gave me something else to think about. It was pleasant too—the duty of having to help in the defence of the Fort where my friends were gathered.

“Some day he’ll be sorry for it all,” I said to myself; and I was brooding over the past again, when Esau uttered a low chuckle, which made me turn to him wonderingly.

“Only think of it, Mayne Gordon,” he said. “What a game!”

“What is a game?”

“You always being so dead on to me about going for a soldier, and here we are both of us good as soldiers after all. Why, if he’d let us tackle one of those guns,” he continued, pointing to a little cannon mounted in the block-house, “it would be like joining the Ryle Artilleree.”

Chapter Forty Eight.Lost!We were not kept in doubt long about the proceedings of the enemy. I was in the strangers’ quarters next day, talking in a whisper to Mrs John, while taking her turn at nursing poor Gunson, who still lay perfectly insensible, and so still that I gazed at him with feelings akin to terror, when Mr Raydon came in and walked straight to the bedside. We watched him as he made a short examination, and then in answer to Mrs John’s inquiring look—“I can do nothing,” he said. “He is no worse. There is no fracture; all this is the result of concussion of the brain, I should say, and we can only hope that nature is slowly and surely repairing the injury.”“But a doctor, Daniel?” said Mrs John.“My dear sister, how are we to get a surgeon to come up here? It is a terrible journey up from the coast, and I believe I have done and am doing all that a regular medical man would do.”“But—”“Yes,” he said, smiling gravely, “I know you look upon me as being very ignorant, but you forget that I have had a good deal of experience since I have been out here. I learned all I could before I came, and I have studied a good deal from books since. Why, I have attended scores of cases amongst my own people—sickness, wounds, injuries from wild beasts, falls and fractures, bites from rattlesnakes, and I might say hundreds of cases among the Indians, who call me the great medicine man.”“I know how clever you are, dear,” said Mrs John.“Thank you,” he said, kissing her affectionately. “I wish I were; but I am proud of one achievement.”“What was that, dear?”“The prescription by which I cured you.” Then, turning sharply on me, his face grew hard and stern again.“Well, Mayne Gordon,” he said, “you have heard the news, of course?”“I have heard nothing, sir,” I said, eagerly, for it was pleasant to find him make the slightest advance towards the old friendly feeling. But my hopes were dashed the next moment, as I heard his words, and felt that they were intended as a reproach.“Your friends made a raid on one of the little camps nearest the river last night, and carried off all the gold the party had washed.”“Was any one hurt?” said Mrs John, excitedly.“Happily nothing beyond a few blows and bruises,” replied Mr Raydon. “It was a surprise, and the gold-diggers fled for help. When they returned in force the gang had gone. Taken to the forest, I suppose. Get back to your duty, Mayne,” he said; and I hurried away to find Esau deep in conversation with Grey about the last night’s attack.“Think they’ll come up here?” said Esau.“Like enough. If they do—”“Well?” I said, for the man stopped. “If they do?”“I shall be obliged to fire straight,” he said, slowly. “Men who act like that become wild beasts, and they must be treated similarly.”I shuddered slightly, as I thought of his skill with the rifle.“I know what you think,” he said, gravely; “that it’s horrible to shed blood. So it is; but I’ve got a wife here, and children, and out in a wild place like this, a man has to be his own soldier and policeman, and judge and jury too.”“It seems very horrible,” I said. “It is very horrible, my lad, but it’s not our doing. If these people will leave us alone, we shall not interfere with them.”“Of course not,” said Esau. “Wonder whether I could hit a man.”“I hope you will not have to try,” said Grey. “It’s what the Governor has been afraid of for years and years.”I winced again, for it was as if everything I saw or heard tended to accuse me of destroying the peace of the place.“Wonder whether they’ll come here to-night,” said Esau.“We must be ready for them; but I don’t think it’s likely,” said Grey. “They got a good deal of plunder last night, and plenty of provisions. I should say that they will do nothing now for a few days. They’ll wait till they think we are not on the look-out.”It proved as Grey said, and for the next few days there was no alarm. Communications had been kept up with the mining camps, and one morning, as I was talking with Mr John about the terribly weak state in which Mr Gunson lay, partaking of the food and medicine administered, but as if still asleep, Mr Raydon came up.“Gordon,” he said, “you and Dean have wandered about well, and gone in nearly every direction, have you not?”“Yes, sir,” I said, wondering what was coming.“Do you think you could find your way to Gunson’s claim?”“Of course, sir,” I said, smiling.“I do not mean by the valley,” he said, testily. “I want some one to go by the short cut over the mountains—the way I came to your relief.”“I don’t know, sir,” I said. “I have never been there, but I will try.”“Bravo!” said Mr John. “Mayne, you’re like Pat with the fiddle. He said he would try if he could play.”“Are you willing to try?” said Mr Raydon.“With Dean, sir?”“No; alone. I cannot spare two.”“Yes,” I said, eagerly; “I’ll go.”“I do not see what harm could befall you,” said Mr Raydon, musingly. “The direction is well marked, and the trees are blazed through the bit of forest. Any beasts you came near would skurry off. Yes; I think I will let you go. By the way, you may as well take your rifle and pistol.”“Yes,” I said, feeling quite excited over my mission. “Have you anything for me to take to the men?”“No; it is only a visit to an outpost, to let them see that they are not forgotten, and to ask them if they have seen the enemy, or want anything. But perhaps you had better go by the valley; it is surer.”“I should like to try the near way, sir,” I said.He gazed at me thoughtfully for a few moments.“Well,” he said, to my great satisfaction, “you shall try it. You ought to know every trail round. Go and make a hearty meal before you start, and then you need not take any provisions, for you can easily be back before dark. Which way shall you go at first?”“Up through the pines at the back,” I said.“No. Go down the valley to where that rounded rock stands up like a dome, and climb up at once, keeping to the left. Then go right over the side of the valley, and make straight for the big pine-forest you will see across the open, striking for the tallest pine at the edge. That tree is blazed with a white patch cut out by an axe. The trees right through are blazed, and from one you can see the next, and from that the next, so that you cannot go wrong.”“I see,” I said; “I see.”Then he went on and told me what to do when I got through the dense forest—this being a narrow corner which ran out into the open lands, and on the other side went right off into the wilds, where it was impenetrable. He roughly sketched out points, buttresses, and ravines, which were to serve me as landmarks to make for; and then I was to go to right or left, as the case might be; and one way and another, he marked down for me a series of prominences to make for, so as to gain one and then see another from it, till I reached to where I could look down into Golden Valley, as I called it now, right above Gunson’s claim.He made me repeat my instructions, impressing upon me that I was to treat the landmarks he gave me just as I did the blazed trees in the forest, making sure of another’s position before I left one, and, satisfied at last, he gave me a nod of the head, and said abruptly—“Off as soon as you can.”“I should like to go with you, Mayne,” said Mr John, eagerly.“No, no! Nonsense!” cried Mr Raydon. “I cannot spare you, John. I may want you to shoot down a few hundreds of the enemy.”Mr John took these words so seriously that I could not help laughing, when he saw them in the right light, came with me to my quarters, watched me make a good meal, and then walked with me to the slope beneath the dome, where he shook hands and stood to see me climb.“Be careful, my boy,” he said, at parting. “It is very steep and dangerous.”I laughed, and ran up the side feeling like a goat. There was something very delightful in the excursion, after the confinement within the block-house, and in the glorious sunshine and the bright clear air, I sprang forward, turning from time to time, as I climbed higher, to wave my hand to him, and look down on Fort and valley, till the inequalities of the wild, stony side hid him from my view.I felt in high spirits, for this task made me think that Mr Raydon was beginning to trust me again; and as I went on I thought about Mrs John and her gentle words, as she told me all would come right in the end. Then I began to think about poor Gunson, and wondered whether he would soon be better, as I hoped and prayed that he would.This made me feel low-spirited for a while, but the glorious scene around me chased these gloomy thoughts away, for there before me in the distance was the great pine towering up above its fellows at the edge of the forest.“Oh, it’s easy enough to find one’s way,” I said, and excited by my task I whistled, sang, and shouted, to have my voice come echoing back.“I want Esau over here,” I said aloud, as I shifted the heavy rifle from one shoulder to the other. “How he would enjoy it!” Then I began thinking of how attentive Mr Raydon was in his stern, grave way to poor Gunson, and it struck me that he must feel a great respect for him, or he would not be so careful, seeing how he disliked it all, in keeping guard over his gold claim.Then I had to think of my task, and climb over some rough ground, till I reached the first trees, which very soon hid the huge pine, and found it to be not quite at the edge of the forest. But I soon caught sight of it again, and on reaching it saw the great mark or blaze in its side, and from it the next. From this I could see another, and so found no difficulty in getting through the solemn groves.On the other side, as I stood by the last blazed tree, I had no difficulty in making out a vast mass of rock, for which I at once stepped out, and all proved to be so clear, there were so many landmarks in the shape of peculiar stones, falls, and clumps of trees, that I made my way easily enough, and felt no little pride in being so trusted to tramp through these vast solitudes with a pistol in my belt and my rifle over my shoulder.“How grand! how grand!” I kept on saying to myself, as I climbed to the top of some high point and looked around, while at such times a feeling of awe came over me at the silence and loneliness of the scene.I found my way at last to the top of a ridge where I could look down into a green valley, seeing here and there in the distance faint lines of smoke rising over the tops of the trees, and after a hot, rather difficult descent through the pines, just as Mr Raydon must have come to our help that day, I reached the little camp, and was greeted by the men with a cheery shout.They had not seen a sign of danger, they said, and as I looked round I saw no sign of the place having been disturbed. I heard too that the gold-washing was going on very busily below, but no party had gone higher than they were, Barker having urged upon his fellow-miners the necessity for keeping well together.After a rest and a mug of tea, which they soon had ready for me, two of them saw me up to the ridge above the valley, and gave me a hint or two about my way, with a warning to be careful; and, full of confidence, I started forward on my return journey.I soon lost sight of the men and trudged on, keeping a sharp look-out in the hope that I might see something in the form of game for a shot, and a change in the fare at the Fort, but the utter absence of animals was wonderful, and it was only at rare intervals that I heard the cry of a bird, or caught sight of a squirrel.I soon found that going back was not so easy, everything looking very different reversed, and consequently I went astray twice, and had to tramp back to the spot where I knew I had erred. Once I was brought up short by a terrible precipice; a second time by a huge wall of rock, going up hundreds of feet, ample proof that I was wrong.Returning to the starting-place was best, and each time I soon realised where I had strayed from the right track, and went on afresh.But these wanderings took up time, and evening was setting in as I reached the great patch of wood where the trees were blazed, and under the shade of these great pines it was twilight at once, and soon after, to my dismay, I found that it was quite dark. Still I knew the direction in which I ought to go, and pressed on as fast as I could, trusting to get through the forest; and then the four miles or so out in the open could soon be got over. So I thought, but if you try to realise my position it will be easy to understand how difficult it is to keep to a certain direction, when one has constantly to turn to right or left to pass round some big tree.Not very difficult, you may say. Trees are not so big as that. But they are out there. Just picture to yourself one of our pines starting from the ground with a beautiful curve, before growing up straight as an arrow, and so far round that I have seen them, when lying on the ground felled by the axe, about ten feet up from the roots, where they would not be so big, with the butt where it was cut, ten feet across or thirty feet round, while, down at the level of the ground, it would be a long way on to double that thickness.To walk round such trees as that, and avoid the great roots, means taking a good many steps, and when this is done again and again, in a place where there is no beaten track, it is very easy to go astray.It was so with me in the darkness of that forest, and I began to repent bitterly now of my determination, for I had volunteered to come, feeling positive of being able to find my way, while the more I tried to see, the more confused I grew; till, hot, panting, and weary, I came to a dead stand.The silence was terrible, for there was not so much as a whisper in the tops of the pines. The darkness had increased so that I had to feel my way, and in a hopeless state of misery I leaned against a tree, fancying I heard steps; then the heavy breathing of some huge beast; and at last, asked myself if I was to wander about there till I fell down and died of exhaustion and want of food.

We were not kept in doubt long about the proceedings of the enemy. I was in the strangers’ quarters next day, talking in a whisper to Mrs John, while taking her turn at nursing poor Gunson, who still lay perfectly insensible, and so still that I gazed at him with feelings akin to terror, when Mr Raydon came in and walked straight to the bedside. We watched him as he made a short examination, and then in answer to Mrs John’s inquiring look—

“I can do nothing,” he said. “He is no worse. There is no fracture; all this is the result of concussion of the brain, I should say, and we can only hope that nature is slowly and surely repairing the injury.”

“But a doctor, Daniel?” said Mrs John.

“My dear sister, how are we to get a surgeon to come up here? It is a terrible journey up from the coast, and I believe I have done and am doing all that a regular medical man would do.”

“But—”

“Yes,” he said, smiling gravely, “I know you look upon me as being very ignorant, but you forget that I have had a good deal of experience since I have been out here. I learned all I could before I came, and I have studied a good deal from books since. Why, I have attended scores of cases amongst my own people—sickness, wounds, injuries from wild beasts, falls and fractures, bites from rattlesnakes, and I might say hundreds of cases among the Indians, who call me the great medicine man.”

“I know how clever you are, dear,” said Mrs John.

“Thank you,” he said, kissing her affectionately. “I wish I were; but I am proud of one achievement.”

“What was that, dear?”

“The prescription by which I cured you.” Then, turning sharply on me, his face grew hard and stern again.

“Well, Mayne Gordon,” he said, “you have heard the news, of course?”

“I have heard nothing, sir,” I said, eagerly, for it was pleasant to find him make the slightest advance towards the old friendly feeling. But my hopes were dashed the next moment, as I heard his words, and felt that they were intended as a reproach.

“Your friends made a raid on one of the little camps nearest the river last night, and carried off all the gold the party had washed.”

“Was any one hurt?” said Mrs John, excitedly.

“Happily nothing beyond a few blows and bruises,” replied Mr Raydon. “It was a surprise, and the gold-diggers fled for help. When they returned in force the gang had gone. Taken to the forest, I suppose. Get back to your duty, Mayne,” he said; and I hurried away to find Esau deep in conversation with Grey about the last night’s attack.

“Think they’ll come up here?” said Esau.

“Like enough. If they do—”

“Well?” I said, for the man stopped. “If they do?”

“I shall be obliged to fire straight,” he said, slowly. “Men who act like that become wild beasts, and they must be treated similarly.”

I shuddered slightly, as I thought of his skill with the rifle.

“I know what you think,” he said, gravely; “that it’s horrible to shed blood. So it is; but I’ve got a wife here, and children, and out in a wild place like this, a man has to be his own soldier and policeman, and judge and jury too.”

“It seems very horrible,” I said. “It is very horrible, my lad, but it’s not our doing. If these people will leave us alone, we shall not interfere with them.”

“Of course not,” said Esau. “Wonder whether I could hit a man.”

“I hope you will not have to try,” said Grey. “It’s what the Governor has been afraid of for years and years.”

I winced again, for it was as if everything I saw or heard tended to accuse me of destroying the peace of the place.

“Wonder whether they’ll come here to-night,” said Esau.

“We must be ready for them; but I don’t think it’s likely,” said Grey. “They got a good deal of plunder last night, and plenty of provisions. I should say that they will do nothing now for a few days. They’ll wait till they think we are not on the look-out.”

It proved as Grey said, and for the next few days there was no alarm. Communications had been kept up with the mining camps, and one morning, as I was talking with Mr John about the terribly weak state in which Mr Gunson lay, partaking of the food and medicine administered, but as if still asleep, Mr Raydon came up.

“Gordon,” he said, “you and Dean have wandered about well, and gone in nearly every direction, have you not?”

“Yes, sir,” I said, wondering what was coming.

“Do you think you could find your way to Gunson’s claim?”

“Of course, sir,” I said, smiling.

“I do not mean by the valley,” he said, testily. “I want some one to go by the short cut over the mountains—the way I came to your relief.”

“I don’t know, sir,” I said. “I have never been there, but I will try.”

“Bravo!” said Mr John. “Mayne, you’re like Pat with the fiddle. He said he would try if he could play.”

“Are you willing to try?” said Mr Raydon.

“With Dean, sir?”

“No; alone. I cannot spare two.”

“Yes,” I said, eagerly; “I’ll go.”

“I do not see what harm could befall you,” said Mr Raydon, musingly. “The direction is well marked, and the trees are blazed through the bit of forest. Any beasts you came near would skurry off. Yes; I think I will let you go. By the way, you may as well take your rifle and pistol.”

“Yes,” I said, feeling quite excited over my mission. “Have you anything for me to take to the men?”

“No; it is only a visit to an outpost, to let them see that they are not forgotten, and to ask them if they have seen the enemy, or want anything. But perhaps you had better go by the valley; it is surer.”

“I should like to try the near way, sir,” I said.

He gazed at me thoughtfully for a few moments.

“Well,” he said, to my great satisfaction, “you shall try it. You ought to know every trail round. Go and make a hearty meal before you start, and then you need not take any provisions, for you can easily be back before dark. Which way shall you go at first?”

“Up through the pines at the back,” I said.

“No. Go down the valley to where that rounded rock stands up like a dome, and climb up at once, keeping to the left. Then go right over the side of the valley, and make straight for the big pine-forest you will see across the open, striking for the tallest pine at the edge. That tree is blazed with a white patch cut out by an axe. The trees right through are blazed, and from one you can see the next, and from that the next, so that you cannot go wrong.”

“I see,” I said; “I see.”

Then he went on and told me what to do when I got through the dense forest—this being a narrow corner which ran out into the open lands, and on the other side went right off into the wilds, where it was impenetrable. He roughly sketched out points, buttresses, and ravines, which were to serve me as landmarks to make for; and then I was to go to right or left, as the case might be; and one way and another, he marked down for me a series of prominences to make for, so as to gain one and then see another from it, till I reached to where I could look down into Golden Valley, as I called it now, right above Gunson’s claim.

He made me repeat my instructions, impressing upon me that I was to treat the landmarks he gave me just as I did the blazed trees in the forest, making sure of another’s position before I left one, and, satisfied at last, he gave me a nod of the head, and said abruptly—

“Off as soon as you can.”

“I should like to go with you, Mayne,” said Mr John, eagerly.

“No, no! Nonsense!” cried Mr Raydon. “I cannot spare you, John. I may want you to shoot down a few hundreds of the enemy.”

Mr John took these words so seriously that I could not help laughing, when he saw them in the right light, came with me to my quarters, watched me make a good meal, and then walked with me to the slope beneath the dome, where he shook hands and stood to see me climb.

“Be careful, my boy,” he said, at parting. “It is very steep and dangerous.”

I laughed, and ran up the side feeling like a goat. There was something very delightful in the excursion, after the confinement within the block-house, and in the glorious sunshine and the bright clear air, I sprang forward, turning from time to time, as I climbed higher, to wave my hand to him, and look down on Fort and valley, till the inequalities of the wild, stony side hid him from my view.

I felt in high spirits, for this task made me think that Mr Raydon was beginning to trust me again; and as I went on I thought about Mrs John and her gentle words, as she told me all would come right in the end. Then I began to think about poor Gunson, and wondered whether he would soon be better, as I hoped and prayed that he would.

This made me feel low-spirited for a while, but the glorious scene around me chased these gloomy thoughts away, for there before me in the distance was the great pine towering up above its fellows at the edge of the forest.

“Oh, it’s easy enough to find one’s way,” I said, and excited by my task I whistled, sang, and shouted, to have my voice come echoing back.

“I want Esau over here,” I said aloud, as I shifted the heavy rifle from one shoulder to the other. “How he would enjoy it!” Then I began thinking of how attentive Mr Raydon was in his stern, grave way to poor Gunson, and it struck me that he must feel a great respect for him, or he would not be so careful, seeing how he disliked it all, in keeping guard over his gold claim.

Then I had to think of my task, and climb over some rough ground, till I reached the first trees, which very soon hid the huge pine, and found it to be not quite at the edge of the forest. But I soon caught sight of it again, and on reaching it saw the great mark or blaze in its side, and from it the next. From this I could see another, and so found no difficulty in getting through the solemn groves.

On the other side, as I stood by the last blazed tree, I had no difficulty in making out a vast mass of rock, for which I at once stepped out, and all proved to be so clear, there were so many landmarks in the shape of peculiar stones, falls, and clumps of trees, that I made my way easily enough, and felt no little pride in being so trusted to tramp through these vast solitudes with a pistol in my belt and my rifle over my shoulder.

“How grand! how grand!” I kept on saying to myself, as I climbed to the top of some high point and looked around, while at such times a feeling of awe came over me at the silence and loneliness of the scene.

I found my way at last to the top of a ridge where I could look down into a green valley, seeing here and there in the distance faint lines of smoke rising over the tops of the trees, and after a hot, rather difficult descent through the pines, just as Mr Raydon must have come to our help that day, I reached the little camp, and was greeted by the men with a cheery shout.

They had not seen a sign of danger, they said, and as I looked round I saw no sign of the place having been disturbed. I heard too that the gold-washing was going on very busily below, but no party had gone higher than they were, Barker having urged upon his fellow-miners the necessity for keeping well together.

After a rest and a mug of tea, which they soon had ready for me, two of them saw me up to the ridge above the valley, and gave me a hint or two about my way, with a warning to be careful; and, full of confidence, I started forward on my return journey.

I soon lost sight of the men and trudged on, keeping a sharp look-out in the hope that I might see something in the form of game for a shot, and a change in the fare at the Fort, but the utter absence of animals was wonderful, and it was only at rare intervals that I heard the cry of a bird, or caught sight of a squirrel.

I soon found that going back was not so easy, everything looking very different reversed, and consequently I went astray twice, and had to tramp back to the spot where I knew I had erred. Once I was brought up short by a terrible precipice; a second time by a huge wall of rock, going up hundreds of feet, ample proof that I was wrong.

Returning to the starting-place was best, and each time I soon realised where I had strayed from the right track, and went on afresh.

But these wanderings took up time, and evening was setting in as I reached the great patch of wood where the trees were blazed, and under the shade of these great pines it was twilight at once, and soon after, to my dismay, I found that it was quite dark. Still I knew the direction in which I ought to go, and pressed on as fast as I could, trusting to get through the forest; and then the four miles or so out in the open could soon be got over. So I thought, but if you try to realise my position it will be easy to understand how difficult it is to keep to a certain direction, when one has constantly to turn to right or left to pass round some big tree.

Not very difficult, you may say. Trees are not so big as that. But they are out there. Just picture to yourself one of our pines starting from the ground with a beautiful curve, before growing up straight as an arrow, and so far round that I have seen them, when lying on the ground felled by the axe, about ten feet up from the roots, where they would not be so big, with the butt where it was cut, ten feet across or thirty feet round, while, down at the level of the ground, it would be a long way on to double that thickness.

To walk round such trees as that, and avoid the great roots, means taking a good many steps, and when this is done again and again, in a place where there is no beaten track, it is very easy to go astray.

It was so with me in the darkness of that forest, and I began to repent bitterly now of my determination, for I had volunteered to come, feeling positive of being able to find my way, while the more I tried to see, the more confused I grew; till, hot, panting, and weary, I came to a dead stand.

The silence was terrible, for there was not so much as a whisper in the tops of the pines. The darkness had increased so that I had to feel my way, and in a hopeless state of misery I leaned against a tree, fancying I heard steps; then the heavy breathing of some huge beast; and at last, asked myself if I was to wander about there till I fell down and died of exhaustion and want of food.

Chapter Forty Nine.I make a Discovery.All this was very cowardly no doubt, but circumstances alter cases, and it is only those who have lost their way in some wild solitude who can realise the terrible feeling of bewilderment and dread which comes over him who feels that he is lost where he may never find his way again, perhaps never be found.Fortunately these emotions come as a shock, and soon after there is a reaction. Hope revives as it did to me, and getting over the first horror and excitement, I stood leaning against the tree thinking out my position. I was lost, that was certain; and if I went on stumbling about in the dark I might perhaps be going either farther away from my destination, or perhaps round and round in a great circle. Upon thinking it out coolly there were two courses open: to lie down on a bed of pine-needles till daylight, or to try and get a glimpse of the stars through the trees, and guide myself by them.“If I stay,” I thought, “I shall frighten Mrs John horribly, and it will be very cowardly. As to being lost altogether, that’s all nonsense; Mr Raydon and his men would soon find me or send Indians to hunt me out. I’m going to find the way back.”I drew a long breath, closed my eyes, and knelt down there in the utter darkness for a few minutes, to spring up again confident and refreshed to begin peering up through the trees for the stars. For I wanted to make out the Great Bear; and I quite laughed as I thought that it was the shining one I sought, not a grizzly. If I could see that, I thought I could shape my course due south-east. That must lead me out of the forest, when, even in the darkness, the rest was easy.It might have been the most cloudy night ever seen, for the blackness above me was dense, the branches effectually shutting out every star, and I had to pause and wonder whether there was any other way by which I could steer my steps. But I could find no way out of my difficulty, and I was beginning to think that I should have to stay where I was and wait for day.But I could not do that. I tried sitting down for a short time, but the darkness and want of action became too oppressive, and leaping up I began to walk slowly and carefully on, with my free hand extended to guide myself by the trunks of the trees, of whose proximity I was, however, generally made aware by my feet coming in contact with their roots.My progress was very slow, and so silent that I was able to listen intently for a signal, the hope having sprung up in my breast that, as it had grown dark, Mr Raydon might have sent Grey or one of the other men to meet me, and in all probability they would fire guns to give me an idea of the direction I ought to take.I had read of such things, and felt that in all probability this was what Mr Raydon would do. But time went on as I slowly crept along from tree to tree, cautiously picking my way, till I began to feel convinced that my chance of escaping this night was hopeless, and once more I stood gazing straight before me, till I fancied I saw a gleam of light close at hand. It was so strange and misty-looking, that it was as if a bit of phosphorus had been rubbed upon the back of a tree.As I stared at it, the dim light died out, and all was so black once more that for the moment I thought it must have been fancy, but as I was coming to this conclusion, there it was again, and now fully convinced that it must be phosphorescent wood, I stepped forward cautiously to touch it, when it went out again. But I stretched out my hand, and leaning forward touched the trunk of a tree which grew luminous once more, till as I changed my position there it was out again. I repeated my movements, feeling puzzled at its coming and going so strangely, and then like a flash of mental light the reason came to me, and I turned sharply round with my heart beating, to look for the gleam of which this must be the reflection.I was quite right, and I was ready to shout for joy, for there, glimmering among the trees, some distance from where I stood, I could see that there was the blaze of a small fire, which rose and fell, and flickered, sending flashes of light up among the branches overhead; and I knew at once that it must be the fire in connection with some camp, but whether Indian or English it was impossible to say. But that did not matter. The Indians all about were peaceable, and very friendly to the people of the Fort. They knew a few words of English too, so that with an intense feeling of relief, thinking that I could at least get food and shelter, if I could not obtain a guide, I stepped out more freely, the light growing now, and enabling me to see dangers in my path in the shape of the thick-growing trees.I was not long in finding out as I approached that the party around the fire were not Indians; and as I grew near enough to see the rough, ruddy faces of a party of men, I thought it would be better to announce my coming with a shout, lest my sudden appearance should be taken as that of an enemy. Somehow or other, though, I deferred this till I had made my way close up, when I heard a voice that sounded familiar say—“Well, it’s ’bout time we started. Be late enough when we get there. Wonder whether any one ’ll be on the look-out.”As I heard these words, a cold perspiration broke out on my cheeks, and I felt as if something were stirring the hair about my forehead, for I had just been walking into the lion’s den; and if I had had any hope that my ears were deceiving me, there, plainly enough, in the bright glow cast by the fire, stood the second of the two men we had encountered first in the steamer.It was he plainly enough, and he had one hand in a sling; while, as I peered forward round one of the trees, I counted eight men about the fire; and they all seemed to be well armed.Where were they going? I asked myself. Along the track by which I had just come? They must be, I thought, and bent on seizing Gunson’s claim. They would surprise the four men; and there would be blood shed, unless I could warn the poor fellows first.“I’ll go back at once,” I thought; and then with a horrible sensation of depression, I realised that this was impossible, for I did not know in which direction to go.I had hardly thought this when I saw the whole party afoot, moving off in the direction away from me, and quickly making up my mind to follow them out of the forest, and as soon as I could make out my whereabouts, to get on somehow in front, and go on ahead, I followed them. It was no easy task, for I had to get some distance round, away from the fire, and I should have lost them if one of them had not laughed aloud at some remark. This told me of the direction in which they were, and I crept on in dread lest I should get too close and be seen, and again in dread for fear I should be left behind.To my great satisfaction they kept on talking, as if in not the slightest fear of being overheard, and I followed as near as I dared go, till in a few minutes, to my great delight, I found that we were out in the open, and I could see the stars.“Now,” I thought, “whereabouts are we? If I could only make out that large mass of rock that lay off to the left where I passed through the forest in the morning, I could soon get on before them. Why I must have walked right back, and—”I stopped short, quite startled, for to my great astonishment I found, instead of going in the direction leading to Gunson’s claim, I had come through the forest on the side I had been seeking for.“Then they are not going to Golden Valley,” I said to myself; and then it came to me like a flash of light—they were going to attack the Fort!Of course; and that was what was meant about any one being on the watch.My heart now beat violently, and I began to hasten my steps to get on before the party, and warn Mr Raydon of their coming. But at the end of a minute I had to check my pace, and follow more cautiously, as I tried to think where I could get before them; and the more I tried to think, the more confused and troubled I grew, for, as far as I could make out, there was no way but the track which they seemed to know; and to have gone to right or left meant to encounter some place impossible to climb in the dark, or a precipice down which I might fall. It was difficult enough in broad daylight—impossible in the dark; and in spite of all my thinking, I was at last despairingly compelled to confess that until the open ground was reached in front of the Fort, I could do nothing but follow while the enemy led.I thought of a dozen plans to warn the defenders of the Fort, so as to put them on the alert, but the only one that seemed possible, was to wait till we were all pretty near, and then fire my rifle to give the alarm.That I knew meant making the ruffians turn on me, but though the risk was great, I hoped to dash by them in the darkness, and reach the gate.All this time I had been cautiously creeping along behind the gang, for at a word from their leader, the men had suddenly become very silent, and the only sound to be heard was the rattle of a stone kicked to one side, or a low whisper, evidently an order about the advance.A curious feeling of despair was creeping over me, and I felt more and more convinced that I could not get to the front, so that all I should be able to do would be to wait till they were near the gate, and about to scale the palisade, for that was what I felt sure they meant to do, and then fire, let the result be what it might to me.My difficulties grew greater every minute, as we advanced, and the strain upon me heavier than I could bear. In anticipation I saw the scoundrels creeping up to the Fort, cautiously getting over and silencing whoever was on guard; and then, with a feeling of horror that was almost unbearable, I saw in imagination the whole place given up to pillage and destruction, at a time too when I knew that there were many bales of valuable furs in the stores.My progress at last became like a nightmare, in which I was following the attacking party, and unable to do anything to help my friends; so that when we were within, as a German would say, half an hour of our destination, I was in no wise startled or surprised to faintly make out in the darkness the figures of two men who suddenly rose up on either side of me; a hand was clapped over my mouth, and I was dragged down, and a knee placed on my chest.I divined it all in an instant, and tried to resign myself to my fate, as I saw that, being well on their guard against surprise, two of the gang had fallen back and seen me, with the result I have described, so that I was absolutely stunned after a feeble struggle, when a voice at my ear said in a harsh whisper—“What is the meaning of this treachery, Gordon? Who are those men?”My hand caught the speaker’s, and I uttered a low sob of relief.“Mr Raydon—the men—going to attack the Fort.”“Ah!” he panted. “You hear, Grey?”“Yes.”“But why did you not warn us?”“They were before me. I could not get by,” I whispered. “I was going to fire to alarm you all.”I heard Mr Raydon draw a low hissing breath.“How did you know this?” he said.“Lost my way in the forest, and saw the light of their fire.”“And the men at the claim?”“All right, sir.—I heard these wretches say they were coming on.”“Lost, eh?” said Mr Raydon.“Yes, sir. I’ve been wandering for hours.”“We were in search of you, and drew back to let these men go by. You hear his story, Grey?”“Yes, sir. Quite right. He would lose his way in the dark. What orders?”“His plan will be the best,” said Mr Raydon. “Gordon, finding you in such company made me suspicious.”“You always do suspect me, sir,” I said, bitterly.“Silence, and come along. Grey, I shall wait till they are close up, and about to make their attempt; then at the word, fire and load again. They will be taken by surprise, and think they are between two parties. The surprise may be sufficient. If not it will alarm those within.”“And then?”“Be ready to fire again, or make for the far side. We must get in there. Forward! I’ll lead.”Mr Raydon went on first and I followed, Grey bringing up the rear. I was hurt, for it was evident that Mr Raydon’s ideas of my character were poor indeed, and that at the slightest thing he was ready to suspect me of any enormity. But as I paced on quickly behind him I grew more lenient in my judgment, for I was obliged to own that my position was not a satisfactory one. I had not returned as I should have done, and when I was found, it was in company with a gang of men who were about to attack and pillage the Fort.I had no farther time for thoughts like these. We were gaining rapidly on the gang now, and in a few minutes’ time we could hear footsteps, and then they had suddenly ceased, and a whispering began, as if the leader of the party were giving orders.Mr Raydon touched me to make out that I was close up, and I felt Grey take his position on the other side, while my heart beat so loudly that I half thought it might be heard.All at once Mr Raydon pressed on my shoulder, and leaned over me to whisper to Grey.“They ought to have heard this approach,” he whispered. “This is not keeping good watch.”“Dark—very quiet,” said Grey, in what sounded to me like a remonstrant tone; and directly after a loud clear voice rang out from the block-house at the left-hand corner near the gate.“Who goes there? Halt, or I fire.”A low murmur arose in front of us, and Mr Raydon drew a deep breath, as if relieved. Then there was a quick advance, the flash of a rifle, and the sharp clear report.“Only one,” cried a hoarse voice. “Too dark to see. Over with you, boys!”Bang! Another shot; and then, as I panted with excitement, Mr Raydon whispered—“Now, altogether, fire!”I had raised my piece at his warning, and drew the trigger; but though there was a sharp report on either side of me, my piece did not speak, and suddenly recollecting that I had forgotten to cock it, I lowered it again.“Who’s that behind? Who fired there?” cried the hoarse voice of the leader from the darkness ahead.It was just as I was ready, and raising my piece, I fired, the butt seeming to give my shoulder a heavy blow; while directly after came three flashes from the block-house, as many roars, and, like their echoes, Mr Raydon and Grey fired again, after a rapid reloading.This was too much for the attacking party. They were so thoroughly taken between two fires, that the next thing we heard was the hurried rush of feet, and I saw very faintly what appeared to be a shadow hurry by me, while a couple more shots from Mr Raydon and Grey completed the enemy’s rout.“Cease firing, there!” roared Mr Raydon.A loud hail came back from the block-house, and a few minutes later we were being admitted through the well-barred gate, whose fastenings dropped with a loud clang. Then I walked up to the quarters with Mr Raydon, where the next thing I heard was Mr John’s voice.“Found him?”“Yes; all right, and the enemy beaten,” said Mr Raydon, cheerily. “Go and tell them inside.”“No need,” said Mr John; “they have heard. Where are you, Mayne? Ah, that’s better. Why, my dear lad, you have scared us terribly.”“I lost my way,” I said, hastily.“But what was the meaning of this firing?”“The enemy coming in force,” said Mr Raydon. “We have beaten them off though without bloodshed, and Mayne Gordon here has had another lesson in the dangers of opening up gold-claims to the scum of the earth.”“That you, Mayne Gordon?” said a familiar voice soon after, as I approached our quarters.“Yes,” I said. “Not hurt, are you, Esau?”“Not a bit; nor you neither?”“Yes,” I said, bitterly; “wounded again.”“Eh? whereabouts? Here, come on. Mother’s got lots of rag.”“No, no,” I said, laughing sadly. “Not that sort of wound. It was with words.”“Go on with you. Frightening a chap like that,” cried Esau. “I thought it was real.”

All this was very cowardly no doubt, but circumstances alter cases, and it is only those who have lost their way in some wild solitude who can realise the terrible feeling of bewilderment and dread which comes over him who feels that he is lost where he may never find his way again, perhaps never be found.

Fortunately these emotions come as a shock, and soon after there is a reaction. Hope revives as it did to me, and getting over the first horror and excitement, I stood leaning against the tree thinking out my position. I was lost, that was certain; and if I went on stumbling about in the dark I might perhaps be going either farther away from my destination, or perhaps round and round in a great circle. Upon thinking it out coolly there were two courses open: to lie down on a bed of pine-needles till daylight, or to try and get a glimpse of the stars through the trees, and guide myself by them.

“If I stay,” I thought, “I shall frighten Mrs John horribly, and it will be very cowardly. As to being lost altogether, that’s all nonsense; Mr Raydon and his men would soon find me or send Indians to hunt me out. I’m going to find the way back.”

I drew a long breath, closed my eyes, and knelt down there in the utter darkness for a few minutes, to spring up again confident and refreshed to begin peering up through the trees for the stars. For I wanted to make out the Great Bear; and I quite laughed as I thought that it was the shining one I sought, not a grizzly. If I could see that, I thought I could shape my course due south-east. That must lead me out of the forest, when, even in the darkness, the rest was easy.

It might have been the most cloudy night ever seen, for the blackness above me was dense, the branches effectually shutting out every star, and I had to pause and wonder whether there was any other way by which I could steer my steps. But I could find no way out of my difficulty, and I was beginning to think that I should have to stay where I was and wait for day.

But I could not do that. I tried sitting down for a short time, but the darkness and want of action became too oppressive, and leaping up I began to walk slowly and carefully on, with my free hand extended to guide myself by the trunks of the trees, of whose proximity I was, however, generally made aware by my feet coming in contact with their roots.

My progress was very slow, and so silent that I was able to listen intently for a signal, the hope having sprung up in my breast that, as it had grown dark, Mr Raydon might have sent Grey or one of the other men to meet me, and in all probability they would fire guns to give me an idea of the direction I ought to take.

I had read of such things, and felt that in all probability this was what Mr Raydon would do. But time went on as I slowly crept along from tree to tree, cautiously picking my way, till I began to feel convinced that my chance of escaping this night was hopeless, and once more I stood gazing straight before me, till I fancied I saw a gleam of light close at hand. It was so strange and misty-looking, that it was as if a bit of phosphorus had been rubbed upon the back of a tree.

As I stared at it, the dim light died out, and all was so black once more that for the moment I thought it must have been fancy, but as I was coming to this conclusion, there it was again, and now fully convinced that it must be phosphorescent wood, I stepped forward cautiously to touch it, when it went out again. But I stretched out my hand, and leaning forward touched the trunk of a tree which grew luminous once more, till as I changed my position there it was out again. I repeated my movements, feeling puzzled at its coming and going so strangely, and then like a flash of mental light the reason came to me, and I turned sharply round with my heart beating, to look for the gleam of which this must be the reflection.

I was quite right, and I was ready to shout for joy, for there, glimmering among the trees, some distance from where I stood, I could see that there was the blaze of a small fire, which rose and fell, and flickered, sending flashes of light up among the branches overhead; and I knew at once that it must be the fire in connection with some camp, but whether Indian or English it was impossible to say. But that did not matter. The Indians all about were peaceable, and very friendly to the people of the Fort. They knew a few words of English too, so that with an intense feeling of relief, thinking that I could at least get food and shelter, if I could not obtain a guide, I stepped out more freely, the light growing now, and enabling me to see dangers in my path in the shape of the thick-growing trees.

I was not long in finding out as I approached that the party around the fire were not Indians; and as I grew near enough to see the rough, ruddy faces of a party of men, I thought it would be better to announce my coming with a shout, lest my sudden appearance should be taken as that of an enemy. Somehow or other, though, I deferred this till I had made my way close up, when I heard a voice that sounded familiar say—

“Well, it’s ’bout time we started. Be late enough when we get there. Wonder whether any one ’ll be on the look-out.”

As I heard these words, a cold perspiration broke out on my cheeks, and I felt as if something were stirring the hair about my forehead, for I had just been walking into the lion’s den; and if I had had any hope that my ears were deceiving me, there, plainly enough, in the bright glow cast by the fire, stood the second of the two men we had encountered first in the steamer.

It was he plainly enough, and he had one hand in a sling; while, as I peered forward round one of the trees, I counted eight men about the fire; and they all seemed to be well armed.

Where were they going? I asked myself. Along the track by which I had just come? They must be, I thought, and bent on seizing Gunson’s claim. They would surprise the four men; and there would be blood shed, unless I could warn the poor fellows first.

“I’ll go back at once,” I thought; and then with a horrible sensation of depression, I realised that this was impossible, for I did not know in which direction to go.

I had hardly thought this when I saw the whole party afoot, moving off in the direction away from me, and quickly making up my mind to follow them out of the forest, and as soon as I could make out my whereabouts, to get on somehow in front, and go on ahead, I followed them. It was no easy task, for I had to get some distance round, away from the fire, and I should have lost them if one of them had not laughed aloud at some remark. This told me of the direction in which they were, and I crept on in dread lest I should get too close and be seen, and again in dread for fear I should be left behind.

To my great satisfaction they kept on talking, as if in not the slightest fear of being overheard, and I followed as near as I dared go, till in a few minutes, to my great delight, I found that we were out in the open, and I could see the stars.

“Now,” I thought, “whereabouts are we? If I could only make out that large mass of rock that lay off to the left where I passed through the forest in the morning, I could soon get on before them. Why I must have walked right back, and—”

I stopped short, quite startled, for to my great astonishment I found, instead of going in the direction leading to Gunson’s claim, I had come through the forest on the side I had been seeking for.

“Then they are not going to Golden Valley,” I said to myself; and then it came to me like a flash of light—they were going to attack the Fort!

Of course; and that was what was meant about any one being on the watch.

My heart now beat violently, and I began to hasten my steps to get on before the party, and warn Mr Raydon of their coming. But at the end of a minute I had to check my pace, and follow more cautiously, as I tried to think where I could get before them; and the more I tried to think, the more confused and troubled I grew, for, as far as I could make out, there was no way but the track which they seemed to know; and to have gone to right or left meant to encounter some place impossible to climb in the dark, or a precipice down which I might fall. It was difficult enough in broad daylight—impossible in the dark; and in spite of all my thinking, I was at last despairingly compelled to confess that until the open ground was reached in front of the Fort, I could do nothing but follow while the enemy led.

I thought of a dozen plans to warn the defenders of the Fort, so as to put them on the alert, but the only one that seemed possible, was to wait till we were all pretty near, and then fire my rifle to give the alarm.

That I knew meant making the ruffians turn on me, but though the risk was great, I hoped to dash by them in the darkness, and reach the gate.

All this time I had been cautiously creeping along behind the gang, for at a word from their leader, the men had suddenly become very silent, and the only sound to be heard was the rattle of a stone kicked to one side, or a low whisper, evidently an order about the advance.

A curious feeling of despair was creeping over me, and I felt more and more convinced that I could not get to the front, so that all I should be able to do would be to wait till they were near the gate, and about to scale the palisade, for that was what I felt sure they meant to do, and then fire, let the result be what it might to me.

My difficulties grew greater every minute, as we advanced, and the strain upon me heavier than I could bear. In anticipation I saw the scoundrels creeping up to the Fort, cautiously getting over and silencing whoever was on guard; and then, with a feeling of horror that was almost unbearable, I saw in imagination the whole place given up to pillage and destruction, at a time too when I knew that there were many bales of valuable furs in the stores.

My progress at last became like a nightmare, in which I was following the attacking party, and unable to do anything to help my friends; so that when we were within, as a German would say, half an hour of our destination, I was in no wise startled or surprised to faintly make out in the darkness the figures of two men who suddenly rose up on either side of me; a hand was clapped over my mouth, and I was dragged down, and a knee placed on my chest.

I divined it all in an instant, and tried to resign myself to my fate, as I saw that, being well on their guard against surprise, two of the gang had fallen back and seen me, with the result I have described, so that I was absolutely stunned after a feeble struggle, when a voice at my ear said in a harsh whisper—

“What is the meaning of this treachery, Gordon? Who are those men?”

My hand caught the speaker’s, and I uttered a low sob of relief.

“Mr Raydon—the men—going to attack the Fort.”

“Ah!” he panted. “You hear, Grey?”

“Yes.”

“But why did you not warn us?”

“They were before me. I could not get by,” I whispered. “I was going to fire to alarm you all.”

I heard Mr Raydon draw a low hissing breath.

“How did you know this?” he said.

“Lost my way in the forest, and saw the light of their fire.”

“And the men at the claim?”

“All right, sir.—I heard these wretches say they were coming on.”

“Lost, eh?” said Mr Raydon.

“Yes, sir. I’ve been wandering for hours.”

“We were in search of you, and drew back to let these men go by. You hear his story, Grey?”

“Yes, sir. Quite right. He would lose his way in the dark. What orders?”

“His plan will be the best,” said Mr Raydon. “Gordon, finding you in such company made me suspicious.”

“You always do suspect me, sir,” I said, bitterly.

“Silence, and come along. Grey, I shall wait till they are close up, and about to make their attempt; then at the word, fire and load again. They will be taken by surprise, and think they are between two parties. The surprise may be sufficient. If not it will alarm those within.”

“And then?”

“Be ready to fire again, or make for the far side. We must get in there. Forward! I’ll lead.”

Mr Raydon went on first and I followed, Grey bringing up the rear. I was hurt, for it was evident that Mr Raydon’s ideas of my character were poor indeed, and that at the slightest thing he was ready to suspect me of any enormity. But as I paced on quickly behind him I grew more lenient in my judgment, for I was obliged to own that my position was not a satisfactory one. I had not returned as I should have done, and when I was found, it was in company with a gang of men who were about to attack and pillage the Fort.

I had no farther time for thoughts like these. We were gaining rapidly on the gang now, and in a few minutes’ time we could hear footsteps, and then they had suddenly ceased, and a whispering began, as if the leader of the party were giving orders.

Mr Raydon touched me to make out that I was close up, and I felt Grey take his position on the other side, while my heart beat so loudly that I half thought it might be heard.

All at once Mr Raydon pressed on my shoulder, and leaned over me to whisper to Grey.

“They ought to have heard this approach,” he whispered. “This is not keeping good watch.”

“Dark—very quiet,” said Grey, in what sounded to me like a remonstrant tone; and directly after a loud clear voice rang out from the block-house at the left-hand corner near the gate.

“Who goes there? Halt, or I fire.”

A low murmur arose in front of us, and Mr Raydon drew a deep breath, as if relieved. Then there was a quick advance, the flash of a rifle, and the sharp clear report.

“Only one,” cried a hoarse voice. “Too dark to see. Over with you, boys!”

Bang! Another shot; and then, as I panted with excitement, Mr Raydon whispered—

“Now, altogether, fire!”

I had raised my piece at his warning, and drew the trigger; but though there was a sharp report on either side of me, my piece did not speak, and suddenly recollecting that I had forgotten to cock it, I lowered it again.

“Who’s that behind? Who fired there?” cried the hoarse voice of the leader from the darkness ahead.

It was just as I was ready, and raising my piece, I fired, the butt seeming to give my shoulder a heavy blow; while directly after came three flashes from the block-house, as many roars, and, like their echoes, Mr Raydon and Grey fired again, after a rapid reloading.

This was too much for the attacking party. They were so thoroughly taken between two fires, that the next thing we heard was the hurried rush of feet, and I saw very faintly what appeared to be a shadow hurry by me, while a couple more shots from Mr Raydon and Grey completed the enemy’s rout.

“Cease firing, there!” roared Mr Raydon.

A loud hail came back from the block-house, and a few minutes later we were being admitted through the well-barred gate, whose fastenings dropped with a loud clang. Then I walked up to the quarters with Mr Raydon, where the next thing I heard was Mr John’s voice.

“Found him?”

“Yes; all right, and the enemy beaten,” said Mr Raydon, cheerily. “Go and tell them inside.”

“No need,” said Mr John; “they have heard. Where are you, Mayne? Ah, that’s better. Why, my dear lad, you have scared us terribly.”

“I lost my way,” I said, hastily.

“But what was the meaning of this firing?”

“The enemy coming in force,” said Mr Raydon. “We have beaten them off though without bloodshed, and Mayne Gordon here has had another lesson in the dangers of opening up gold-claims to the scum of the earth.”

“That you, Mayne Gordon?” said a familiar voice soon after, as I approached our quarters.

“Yes,” I said. “Not hurt, are you, Esau?”

“Not a bit; nor you neither?”

“Yes,” I said, bitterly; “wounded again.”

“Eh? whereabouts? Here, come on. Mother’s got lots of rag.”

“No, no,” I said, laughing sadly. “Not that sort of wound. It was with words.”

“Go on with you. Frightening a chap like that,” cried Esau. “I thought it was real.”

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