DISCOVERY OF A MASONIC RING.--FUNERAL PYRE OF BLACK DARNLEY.
Knowing the treacherous character of the bushrangers, Murden would not
allow one of his men to venture to the assistance of the wounded
robbers. He formed a circle around them, and with carbines on the cock,
his force waited until daylight before relieving their wants.
In vain Fred and myself offered to venture among the wounded, and take
to them water. Murden would not listen to the proposal for a moment; not
that he was naturally hard-hearted, but he knew the men whom he had to
deal with better' than ourselves; and he imagined that we should get a
few inches of cold steel for our charity.
As daylight appeared, one by one of the gang that had escaped uninjured,
were called out, manacled, and confined to a tree, to prevent all
possibility of flight. There were many fierce oaths uttered by the
wretches, as they felt the bracelets slipped over their wrists by
Murden; and two of the hardened villains boasted of the murders which
they had committed, and laid plans for a continuance of their crimes
when they escaped, as they expected to do.
It was with difficulty that the policemen could be restrained; and once
when Murden was absent for a few moments, and had left the charge of
the prisoners to Fred and myself, one of the men, carried away by sudden
rage at the taunts which the bushrangers hurled at him, raised his
carbine, and if Fred had not struck up the barrel just as he did, the
sheriff of Melbourne would have been spared the necessity of finding
hemp for one robber. As it was, the ball whistled harmlessly over his
head.
"You are mad!" cried Fred; "would you murder the wretches in cold
blood?"
"Ay!" shouted the indignant policeman; "they have committed many
murders, and it is time their career was ended."
"I grant that," returned Fred; "but these men are now in the hands of
the law, and are entitled to a fair trial. You are paid for protecting
them, as well as apprehending. Do not let your conscience ever accuse
you of murdering a prisoner."
"You are right, sir," returned the policeman, with evident respect; "I
was foolish to be so moved, and beg you to forgive me."
"I have nothing to forgive," replied Fred, amused at the man's
earnestness; "but if you wish to do a really good action, lend Jack and
myself aid to bind up the wounds of these poor, grumbling wretches."
"That I will," cried the policeman, laying down his carbine, and
following us to the bank of the river, where the sufferers were still
lying, groaning with pain.
Just as we began washing the blood from their wounds, Murden joined us.
He looked astonished to think that we took so much interest in the men,
and after a moment's hesitancy, said,--
"I have been trying to arrange with Smith to return to Melbourne with
his team, and carry these wounded men and my prisoners. He refuses to
consent until he has obtained your acquiescence in the measure. I have
told him that his goods, which are scattered around here, are nearly
ruined by rough handling, and that he will have to sell them at a
sacrifice at the mines. While he is gone, they can be stored at the hut,
and sold most any time to travellers at an advance, while, if taken
where the market is glutted, he is sure to lose on them."
We were so much surprised at the communication, that we looked at the
lieutenant in astonishment, and for a few minutes did not answer.
"Come, come," said Murden, with a smile, "don't look as though you had
lost all your friends. Say you will go with us. Two weeks' time is all
we ask, and then you can go to the mines in any other part of the island
you please."
"But you forget," I said, "that we are not rich, and can but ill afford
this inactive life. We came to Australia to make a living, and so far,
with the exception of the booty which we captured from Black Darnley's
gang, we have not made a dollar. Even our prize money will have to be
given up to the government, to be returned to its rightful owners, and
besides--"
"There, there, that will do, most honest Americans," said Murden, with a
smile. "Now listen to me for a moment. You made a good thing by seizing
on what treasure Darnley had. The government will be too rejoiced at his
death to care whether he had money at the time he was killed, or not.
Keep what you have got--say not a word about it to any one, for if you
do, you will be the laughing-stock of all Australia. The originality of
the act would surprise our good people, and you would be looked upon as
fit subjects for an insane asylum."
Fred and myself looked at each other, and I read in my companion's face
that he considered the advice, in our present circumstances, as being
sound and rational.
"We have resolved to keep the money," we said; "but as for retracing our
steps to Melbourne, we hardly think that it will pay. We have already
been two weeks in the country, and have not dug the first ounce of
gold."
"And you may be six months here, and yet be unable to do so. Let me
reckon, and see how badly you have done. In the first place, there are
one thousand pounds reward offered for Darnley, dead or alive. Prove to
me that he is dead, and the money is your own. For every bushranger
killed or captured, one hundred pounds are offered, and I need not tell
you that we have twelve here which I can verify--four dead, two wounded,
and six prisoners. That is not a bad night's work, I should think."
"But we think it wrong to accept of money for shedding human blood,"
Fred said.
"But you don't think it wrong to delay your journey half a dozen days
for the purpose of hunting men who would have cut your throats for a
sixpence. Throw aside all such ideas of propriety, and remember that you
are in a country where the struggle for gold engrosses all other
passions; men will look upon you as fools, to reject that which you are
entitled to. Go with me to Melbourne. Help escort these villains to the
city, for remember my force is weakened now, and I promise that you
shall receive more pay for the service than you can make at the mines."
"It is to help me to freedom," cried Smith, who had approached us
unperceived, during our conversation, and had listened to it
attentively.
"For you we will do any thing, old friend," we said, extending our hands
to the honest convict, who grasped them eagerly, and shed tears of joy
at the fair prospect which he possessed of once more being called a free
man.
After making up our minds in regard to the course which we intended to
pursue, we entered into the spirit of the undertaking with our whole
hearts. We prepared lint and bandages, and bound up the wounds of the
bushrangers, and placed them beneath the roof of the hut which they had
endeavored to storm the night before. After we had accomplished this
painful duty, we selected a place for the burial of those killed.
Beneath the branches of a cedar tree we scooped out the earth with a
broken shovel, and then were about to place the bodies of the
bushrangers in the grave, when the glistening of a ring on the middle
finger of the right hand of one of the dead men attracted my attention.
I stooped down and removed the ring, and attentively examined it.
To my surprise, I found that it bore the emblems of the masonic
fraternity--a square and compass upon a broad disk, while on each side
were small flakes of gold in their native state, placed layer upon
layer, like the scales of a fish. The ring I judged to weigh near an
ounce, and was a massive hoop of gold, and made by some artist of rare
talent.
I knew that the ruffian could not be a mason, and I was lost in
conjecture, for a few moments, as to the probable fate of the owner.
There was no doubt that the robber had taken a fancy to it, and to
obtain possession, had undoubtedly committed murder. While it was passed
from hand to hand, Smith suddenly exclaimed,--
"I knew the owner of this ring. It was I that freighted him and his
goods to the mines. He was an American, and had had the ring
manufactured in California expressly to order. I am certain that I am
correct, for when we passed this very stream, the owner requested me to
wear it while he bathed."
"But his name?" I asked.
"I only heard him called Edward by his companions; but I know that he
was an American, and he said he belonged in New York, or New England
city, I don't know which."
I could but smile at Smith's geography, although the scene before me was
not well calculated to provoke mirth. I sighed over the unhappy fate of
Edward, and handed the jewel to Murden, when he returned it, saying,--
"Keep it, my friend, and may you at some future day be enabled to trace
the family of the owner, and tell them of the sad fate which their
relative probably met."
[With this object in view, I have left the ring with the publishers of
the American Union, thinking that probably these sketches might attract
the attention of some person cognizant of the manufacture of the jewel,
and the rightful ownership. The publishers in Boston will be happy to
answer all questions concerning the property, and considering the scenes
which the ring has gone through, it may indeed be regarded as a
curiosity. I shall always retain the ring, and when I gaze at the
emblems which are engraved upon it, my thoughts will wander back to the
sad scenes which I witnessed while in Australia, and the violent death
of the wearer.]
"In with the bodies," cried Murden, "we have much to do before sunset."
As soon as the grave was filled in, the troop regained their former
jocularity, and they began dividing among themselves the property which
they had found upon the persons of the bushrangers.
The amount was not large, not more than a hundred pounds, yet Murden
received his share without a blush, appearing to think that he was doing
no more than his duty. Even the dead policeman was remembered, and as he
had left a widow in Melbourne, his portion was deposited with the
lieutenant, to be paid to her. As Fred and myself were offered our
portion, we declined, and begged that it might be given to the lady in
question, which action on our part raised us in the estimation of the
men immensely.
"Dare you venture across the prairie this forenoon?" asked Murden; "I
would not ask you, were it not necessary to use all despatch to reach
Melbourne as soon as possible; but to benefit you and your friends, the
convicts, I must get a sight of Darnley and his gang."
"If that is your object," we replied, "we are prepared to accompany you
as soon as you are ready. Let us get a cup of coffee and a piece of
broiled lamb, and then start."
"But my prisoners?" suggested the lieutenant.
"Leave them in charge of a portion of your men until we return," I
replied.
"That is easily said; but while I am gone, my men, who are but human,
will probably make free with that keg of rum, which I have thus far kept
from their reach; and if they are without restraint, would be just as
likely to let the prisoners escape, or shoot them, or get to quarrelling
among themselves, as any thing else."
"Where is the keg?" asked Fred.
The officer poked aside some bushes where he had placed it, and revealed
its hiding place.
"I'll soon quiet your anxiety," Fred said, and as he spoke he pulled out
the spigot, and the Jamaica rum mingled with the earth.
"A harsh proceeding, but the best under the circumstances," cried the
lieutenant, with a mournful look, as he heard the rum gush forth as
though saying "good, good;" "I love a drop of good liquor, but men, when
drinking, have no discretion."
Murden turned away with a sigh, as though the strong fumes which
assailed his nostrils were suggestive of lost hopes, and for the
remainder of the day, he was melancholy.
On reëntering the stockman's hut, we found him seated beside his
daughter's rude couch, tenderly bathing her head with fresh river water.
She was conscious now, but still very weak and feeble, and spoke in
whispers. She held out her hand to us when we entered, and smiled, as
though thanking us for the care which we had taken to revenge her
injuries.
Her pulse we found to be more regular, and if she received no fresh
shock, we thought there was a prospect of her being entirely well in a
few days, and so we told her.
At our request Murden stationed one of his men at the door with strict
orders to admit no one who would be likely to disturb her, and after we
had partaken of our rude repast, we got ready for our hot ride over the
plain to the forest.
Before we started, however, we paid a visit to the bushrangers, still
chained to trees, and incapable of assisting each other. We were greeted
with derisive shouts and fierce taunts, which did not disturb our
equanimity in the least; and when the robbers discovered such to be the
case, they again stretched themselves upon the ground, as well as their
irons would permit, and relapsed into sullenness.
Murden left eight of his men to take charge of the prisoners, with
strict orders for two of them to keep guard without rest or sleep. We
were about to mount our horses, when a brawny ruffian we had made
prisoner the night before shouted,--
"Aren't you going to give us something to eat, or are we to be starved
like dogs? You are all cowards, and dare not give us fair play, and an
open fight, but I didn't suppose that you were so frightened as to
refuse to let us have a mouthful."
"Dress a sheep for them, and let them eat their fill," ordered Murden;
"but mind that they escape not, on your lives."
We rode off, followed by the shouts and maledictions of the gang, and
even when we were one hundred rods distant I could hear the ruffians
call after us, bidding us return and learn bravery from them.
"You now know why I feared to leave the prisoners in charge of my men
when a keg of rum was near at hand. The bushrangers, knowing that
hanging is certain, would try and provoke a sudden and easier death. I
do not fear the temper of the men when free from liquor."
Smith, Fred and myself, besides two policemen, composed the party, and
regardless of the heat, which poured down as though it would melt our
brains, we urged our panting horses over the plain, and hardly drew rein
until we reached the edge of the forest, where we halted for
consultation.
It was a bold experiment to venture with a small force to the retreat of
the once formidable outlaw, for there was no telling whether or no a
portion of his gang were living at his haunt. The officer looked up to
us for advice, and we consulted the hound, which had accompanied us, and
now stood by our sides panting and lolling out his great tongue, and
wondering, I suppose, why we did not stop at the river.
"Let us dismount, and shade the animals as well as possible," I advised,
"and then trust to the sagacity of the dog to detect an ambush. My life
on his shrewdness."
The advice was acted on, when leaving one man to take charge of the
animals, we examined our guns and pistols, and made sure that they were
in order; and then, with a few words of encouragement to the hound,
which he appeared to understand, we moved along the path we had
travelled when on our first visit.
With guns on the cock, and examining every thicket of bushes to see if
it concealed an enemy, we made but slow progress. Yet trusting more to
the dog than to ourselves, we at length came in sight of the scene of
our former exploits. All was quiet and still in the vicinity. Not a twig
moved, unless displaced by a gaudy-colored parrot, too lazy, under the
withering influence of the heat, to even chatter.
The hound had bounded into the enclosure, and rushed towards a pile of
branches which had been placed in the clearing since we were there.
Regardless of every thing else he tore away at the wood with his teeth,
and uttered fierce growls, as though he had found an enemy beneath that
pile, and was determined to get at him.
We sent a man to examine the neighborhood, and then went to our
four-legged friend's assistance. With angry growls the dog helped us to
throw aside the branches, but long before reaching the last one, we
suspected the contents of the pile. A horrible stench had for some time
warned us that we were in the vicinity of carrion.
The last branch was removed, and lying in all their ghastly ugliness
were Black Darnley and his crew. Darnley had greatly altered since his
death; but there was no mistaking that massive mouth, filled with strong
teeth, firmly set together, as though striving even with his last breath
to overcome the King of Terrors.
"Are you satisfied?" we asked of Murden, turning away from the sickening
sight with a shudder.
"I am," he replied. "Black Darnley has committed his last crime in this
world; and the man who has caused the police of Australia to turn pale
with fear is now but a home for worms."
"Let us rid the earth of his remains," cried Fred, "and not let them
fester here to breed pollution in the air."
"Well said," replied we all; and after every one had satisfied his
curiosity, we gathered up dry branches and leaves and heaped them upon
the pile, and then set it on fire, and as the flames roared and
crackled, and licked the green corpses, we took our leave of that black
forest, the home of bushrangers, natives, and poisonous reptiles.
As we turned to have a last glance at the fire, we saw the hound
stalking solemnly around that putrid pile, and watching as though not
satisfied until every particle of his enemy had mingled with his mother
earth.