CHAPTER I.

Produced by Al Haines

[Illustration: Cover art]

[Frontispiece: BLOODWORTH PROMISES TO REVEAL ALL. (see p. 308.)]

THE BLACK

TROOPERS

AND OTHER STORIES

WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

4 Bouverie Street and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C.

CONTENTS

THE BLACK TROOPERS--

CHAP.

I. A MEETING--THE RIDE ROUND THE RUN

II. 'OLD MAN TOBY'

III. THE NIGHT ATTACK

IV. THE CONFESSION

V. PREPARATIONS FOR PURSUIT

VI. ON THE TRAIL

VII. THE END OF THE CHASE

CAPTAIN STAUNCY'S VOW

THE FORGED WILL

THE BLACK TROOPERS.

CHAPTER I.

A MEETING--THE RIDE ROUND THE RUN.

The drays with which I was travelling (it was in the month of March,

1849) had arrived as far as Lake Boga, on the Lower Murray River,

within a day's journey of our destination. We had halted for the

night close to a sheep-station established there. In the course of

the evening the gentleman in charge of it--Macfarlane was his

name--walked over to our camp; and I was informed by him that Mr.

Stevenson, the superintendent of the run I was about to visit, had on

the previous day ridden over to meet me, and had only returned home

that afternoon. Having ascertained from him that I was a medical

man, Mr. Macfarlane had come to invite me to his hut, and to ask me

to visit one of his blacks, who had been wounded by a party from a

tribe fifty miles up the river. These men had started originally for

the purpose of surprising the blacks on Stevenson's station; but,

traces of their presence in that neighbourhood having been

discovered, they were forced to beat a retreat. In their rage at

their disappointment, they had resolved, if possible, to slaughter

some of the Lake blacks, rather than return empty-handed; but there

also they were happily frustrated in their design, and only succeeded

in wounding one man, whose leg they broke with a musket ball.

After this second disappointment, it was confidently anticipated that

they would, as they generally did when their intended surprise proves

a failure, return home, and await a more favourable opportunity. But

they did not do so in this instance, as the result will show; for I

subsequently had an opportunity of witnessing a striking illustration

of the savage and barbarous mode of warfare of the Australian

aboriginal, an opportunity not often afforded to the white man.

I set the wounded black's limb as well as I could with bark splints,

and next day we started on our way to the banks of the Murray. The

drays had to cross the river in order to reach the station I was

going to. This was done by means of a punt, which had lately been

built by a man who had also opened an inn for the use of travellers

to South Australia, the road to which passed by the banks of the

stream.

As we came in sight of this building, which was of weatherboard, with

a verandah in front, I saw a man standing in the middle of the track

or road, and watching our approach; and upon drawing near I observed

that he was a black. When the driver, by whose team I was,

recognised him, he uttered an exclamation, and stopped his dray.

'If there isn't that villain himself I was talking about to you, sir!'

'What do you mean?' I said.

'Why, I told you those blacks we heard of at the Lake yesterday, and

who came to attack ours, wanted to kill one man in particular.

That's him! His name is Bobby Peel, and he's the biggest rascal in

the whole country round. It's a wonder he's alive yet, for when we

left the run for this last trip to town, six or seven weeks ago, the

black police were after him; and yet there he stands, as cool as you

please, as if he hadn't ever killed a white man. Look at him!' he

added, as his mate came up with his team.

'Why, it's Sir Robert! So he isn't settled yet. It isn't for want

of trying; for if he's been shot at once, he has been twenty times at

least. He'd a been dead long ago, only for our super, who won't let

our men shoot him, as any one of them would only be too glad to do.

There's not a place in the whole country round where he durst show

himself, only ours.'

'How is that?' I asked.

'Because he's allers been a-robbing the out-station huts, sneaking in

when the hut-keeper's away. He's a capital rider; and he'd get

horses as he'd stole planted away in the bush, tethered handy; and he

gallops off thirty miles one way, and robs a hut, and then gallops

back and shows himself at our station. Then, when the squatters

complain to our super about it, he says, "It couldn't ha' been Bobby,

cos Bobby was at my head station that day you say your hut was

robbed." Then next day, perhaps, away goes Master Bobby another way,

and plays the same game! You see he isn't like the other blacks,

who're afraid to travel alone after dark on account of the

"devil-devils" they believe walk at night in the bush. But he was

bowled out at that game at last, not long before we started this

trip, and the super threatened he'd shoot him himself if he heard

tell of any more of his games!'

The drays had moved on as he was speaking, and drew up at the door of

the inn, for the punt-man to put them across the river; but no one

appeared, and we found upon entering that the publican was away, and

that the women of the place had locked themselves into one of the

rooms. Hearing our voices, and the teams stopping, they ventured out.

'Oh, Bill, is it you?' said the publican's wife to the driver; 'I'm

so glad! Send that horrid man away. You know it was him killed Mr.

Berridge. I wonder they let him go about that way; he ought to be

shot! He knew my husband was away, and the punt-man gone across the

river, or he wouldn't have dared to show.'

'He would run very quickly if any of the young Mr. Berridges happened

to come this way and catch sight of him,' said the other woman.

'They have often hunted for him.'

I turned to look at the man thus spoken of, and who seemed to be an

object of hatred to black and white alike. He was still standing in

the middle of the road, where he could command a view up and down and

across the river, so that no foe could approach him unobserved. He

seemed about twenty-five, slenderly built and tall, and was dressed

in a complete suit of cast-off European clothing,--brown linen

jacket, trousers, and waistcoat,--so that at a distance he might pass

for a European. His eye had that peculiar, watchful, suspicious

glance characteristic of the hunted man; it never for a instant

ceased to wander over the landscape, except now and then, when he

fixed them upon me as I stood with the others in the verandah. He

was a good-looking fellow for a black, but there was a dark and

desperate expression lurking beneath the appearance of carelessness

which he put on under the looks of our party.

'How he looks at you, doctor!' said the driver. 'Hullo! here he

comes. What's he got to say?' and, paying no regard to the women,

who ordered him off, the black walked up to where I stood.

'Name--you?' he said, looking keenly at me.

'He wants to know your name,' said the driver, Bill.

'This one--doc--doc?' he asked the man, and pointing at the same time

to me.

'See that, now!' said the other driver; 'if he doesn't know already

you're a doctor! How could he know that?'

'Easy enough!' said his comrade. 'Either he was at the Lake, or else

met some black from there, and they've told him about the doctor

setting the other one's leg; that's how he knows.'

Meanwhile Bobby went back to the middle of the road, and, after

casting a comprehensive glance all round, beckoned to me to go to him.

'Don't you go near him, sir,' said the women; 'it's well known he has

killed many white men, and you may depend his spears are lying handy

somewhere close by!'

But I had no fears on that score, and, curious to know what he could

want with me, I left the rest and approached him. He led the way to

the river bank, which was about thirty or forty yards in front of the

house, and very steep, and descended the cutting in it formed to

permit the drays to be driven down on to the deck of the punt. Here

he was hidden from the sight of those in the verandah, but he kept in

such a position that he could see over the top of the cutting if any

of the party approached. I told them, however, not to follow me, as

I intended to keep within call. Here Bobby threw off his jacket, and

showed me his left shoulder and arm, on which were the marks of two

wounds. Upon examining, I found that two slugs had lodged in them,

and the black intimated that he wished me to cut them out. One had

entered and lodged above the shoulder-blade, and was easily extracted

by the forceps of my pocket-case, aided by a slight incision. The

other had entered half-way up the arm, and travelled downwards until

it reached the elbow, where it prevented free motion of the joint.

This required rather a deep incision to get out, but he stood it

without flinching. The whole affair did not occupy many minutes; and

when it was over he said,--

'You got um--'bacca?'

I had a cake of cavendish in my pocket, and I gave it him, and he

then stretched out his arm with a pleased look at having again

recovered the free use of it. Then, taking me by the hand, he said,--

'_Good_ white fellow, you!' Then looking round at the house near,

and spreading his hand out, to indicate all the stations about his

native place, he said, while a savage scowl settled upon his face,--

'All about--white fellow--no good!' and he shook his fist and uttered

a fearful execration. For, ignorant as most blacks are of English,

in swearing at us they rapidly become proficient. Just then we heard

the noise of a horse's hoofs coming down the road, and, after giving

one look over the bank at the rider, Bobby turned to me and said,--

'Good-bye, doc, doc!' and plunged into the river, gained the other

side, and disappeared in the reeds, which just there grew in thick

patches. He had good reason for leaving in a hurry. The horseman

was one of the sons of a neighbouring squatter whom he, in

conjunction with others, had the credit of having killed. Vengeance

had overtaken all his companions in that exploit; but Bobby was still

at large.

* * * * *

The squatting-station of which Mr. Stevenson was the superintendent

was of very considerable size, extending for twenty miles along one

side of the Murray, and for nearly the same distance back from the

stream, which there flows through a level country, consisting of open

plains alternating with belts and forests of timber, the latter

giving place in many parts to patches, more or less extensive, of

mallee scrub. Three-fourths of the run were reserved for sheep, the

remainder for cattle, the head station huts being placed on the river

banks, not far from the crossing-place. Besides the superintendent,

the only other occupant of his hut was a young gentleman named

Harris, who acted as overseer, and who was fitting himself for one

day being able to manage a station of his own.

I had been some weeks on the run when Stevenson invited me to

accompany him and the overseer on a visit of inspection they were

about to make round to the different out-stations. The main object

of this ride round was to supply the hut-keepers and shepherds with

some strychnine he had just received from Melbourne, and with which

he intended, if possible, to destroy the dingoes, or warrigals (wild

dogs), whose ravages amongst the sheep had of late been frightful,

twenty, thirty, and in one instance thirty-seven sheep of a flock

being bitten in a single night. And as every sheep bitten, however

slightly, dies (pining away as imprisoned by the wound), and as there

were eight or nine out-stations, each equally exposed to attack, the

losses may be imagined. Four hundred were killed, or died, during

the first fortnight of my visit; indeed, the gentleman who formed the

station some two years previously had sold it solely on account of

this pest. Stevenson had determined to try what systematic poisoning

of the run would do to diminish if not destroy this nuisance.[1]

[1] The dingo is now almost extinct in Victoria. Strychnine has

greatly hastened its extermination.

It was a beautiful morning in April, the beginning of the Australian

winter, when we started on our trip, which was to occupy two days.

Our first day's ride was almost one continued hunt, for on nearly

every plain we passed over one or more groups of kangaroo were

visible, and, as my companions had brought their two dogs with them,

chase was always given, and to me, who had lately been cooped up on

shipboard, the change was glorious. The day was warm, but a cool

breeze swept over the plains. We were mounted on stock horses,

fleet, and in excellent trim; the dogs were well-bred, and always

selected the foremost kangaroo of the herd, passing by all the rest;

and as this animal often runs in a circle, and the plains were

frequently two or three miles or more in diameter, the hunt was in

full view from the beginning to the end.

It was curious to watch the hawks, which to my surprise had followed

us all day, ever since we left the home station. They had found out

by experience that when the dogs accompanied the horsemen a dinner

was always left for them on the plains. High above us they followed

the course of the chase, and when kangaroo and dogs were lost in the

timber, we could always tell, by watching the hawks, the direction

they were taking. At the cattle-station where we passed the night,

the old stockman, Steve, assured me that these birds had learned to

distinguish between his cattle dogs and the kangaroo hounds, as they

never offered to accompany him in his daily rides unless he had the

latter with him.

The consequences of all this rough bush-riding were, however, rather

unpleasant to me, who had not mounted a horse except at rare

intervals for years; and when we started next morning to resume our

journey I had some difficulty in reaching my saddle, and hoped that

our ride home would be a more quiet one. In this, however, I was

disappointed, for we had scarcely left the cattle-station a mile

before the dogs sighted an emu; and, after killing that, some wild

cattle from the mallee were seen, and a long gallop after them

ensued, in which my horse, a wilful, hard-mouthed brute, would take

part, despite my protests to the contrary; so that by noon I was

completely done up, and heartily wished the day's ride were ended.

As we came up to an out-station hut close to the border of the

cattle-run, the hut-keeper stood at the door to receive us.

'I expected you yesterday, sir,' he said; 'or else old Steve.'

'Why?'

'Didn't you get my message?' the man asked.

'No; I got no message. What about?'

'There's been some games going on among the cattle,' replied the

hut-keeper. 'The shepherd thought he heard a shot early in the

morning, and saw them scampering out of the timber on to the plain

where his sheep were. Here is the shepherd coming now,' he added;

'he must have seen you riding across the plain.'

The man presently reached the hut, and corroborated the hut-keeper's

statement, adding that he thought he saw a spear sticking in the side

of a beast which passed nearer him than the rest of the herd.

'I knew there were blacks about the day before, for I see their

tracks; and I bet any money,' he added, 'it's that vagabond Bobby

Peel and his mob have been killing a beast.'

'He had better not go too far,' said Stevenson, with an ominous look.

'Which part of the timber was it, Dick, and when did it happen?'

'Day before yesterday; there was a traveller passed here that morning

on his way down to the river, and he said he intended staying that

night at the head station, and would tell you.'

'He never called. What kind of a traveller--a horseman?'

'No, sir; a shepherd looking for a job, with his swag on his back.

He must have passed the station and gone on to the public-house; yet

he promised faithfully to tell you.'

CHAPTER II.

'OLD MAN TOBY.'

'Well, Dick,' said Stevenson, after a thoughtful pause, 'you had

better go back to your flock. Show us the place you saw the cattle

come out of.'

The man pointed out a spot on the line of timber, about two miles

off, and left us, while we rode off to the place indicated. For some

time the superintendent remained in deep thought; then, addressing

the young man, he said,--

'You heard what the shepherd said about sending me a message by a

traveller?'

'Yes.'

'Well, three weeks or a month ago, when I was over on the Wakool, Mr.

James asked me if I had engaged the two men he had sent me, as I had

told him one day when he was passing our way that I was short-handed,

and asked him to direct any men who might be looking for work over to

me. Neither of those men ever came. One started two days before the

other, and there is no station between James's place and our own.

Still, I did not think it strange, as these men might have been mere

skulkers, walking from out-station to out-station, and only

pretending to look for a job. There are hundreds of such fellows

tramping about the colony. But now--I don't half like the look of

it!'

'Why, what do you fear?' I asked.

'I think it very strange that, of three men known to have started

with the intention of coming to Swan Hill (the name of the locality),

not one should have arrived. And this man mentioned by my hut-keeper

could only have stayed either at the public-house two miles beyond

us, or else gone fifteen miles down the river one way, or the same

distance up the stream to the Lake station, and that after dark too,

for he would only reach the ferry late in the afternoon. Now this is

so utterly improbable, that if I find, on inquiry, that he did not

call at the Ferry Inn that night'--

'Why, what do you suspect?' I asked, observing that he looked very

grave.

'That he has been killed by the blacks?' asked Harris eagerly.

'I fear so; and in that case he is not the only victim. You see,'

said Stevenson to me, 'owing to the crossing-place of the river being

near us, all passing travellers from the Edward, the Wakool, and

other places higher up, must come through our run; and only think, in

the twenty or thirty miles of wild country, what facilities are

offered in the innumerable swamps, reed-beds, and scrub-patches, for

the cutting-off of solitary travellers passing on foot through such a

wilderness, where the only inhabitants are the shepherd with his

flock, and the hut-keeper in the lonely out-stations eight or ten

miles from each other!'

'What will you do?' I asked.

'I will write to Mr. Brown, who is a magistrate on the Edward, and

mention my suspicions, and tell him to send one of his constables to

make secret inquiries at the different out-stations near that

locality as to the travellers who have passed that way during the

last two months. But, in the meantime, do not mention the matter to

any one. I do not think any of our home-station blacks are concerned

in it; still, if they know that anything of the kind has happened,

and suspect that we are aware of it, they will pass the word on to

the murderers (that is, supposing any murders have taken place). Do

you know, Harris, where the main body of our blacks are?'

'Old Steve told me to-day they were still on the Ballima, but were

going to shift their camp to Wingong; that is about six miles from

the home station.'

Just then we reached the timber indicated by the shepherd, and soon

found the tracks made by the cattle in rushing out on the plain; and

after following them up for a short distance we came upon the remains

of a dead cow. A number of the dingoes, or wild dogs before

mentioned, hundreds of which then infested the station, were busy at

the carcases; and, as Harris and the superintendent were each

provided with one of the formidable stock-whips used in driving

cattle, instant chase was given, the two dogs selecting one each, and

Stevenson following a third, which, after a smart gallop, he

succeeded in heading and turning on to the plain. I had no wish to

join in this chase, but my horse would not stay behind the others.

The dingo held his own for a mile, but he had too much of the cow

inside him for a longer run, and the superintendent soon overtook

him, and brought his whip down in a style that poor dingo could not

have relished. The unfortunate animal tried to escape the infliction

by crouching to the earth and letting the horse shoot past him, and

then doubling away at an angle to right or left. But the stock

horses we were mounted on could double almost as quickly as he, and

after a severe run of about twenty minutes he gave in. In his

doublings he had again approached the timber, and he now lay down at

the foot of a tree in a small detached clump, and awaited his fate.

I said I had no desire to join in the hunt. The fact was, I was

awkwardly burdened. It happened that young Harris had, for the

purpose of gaining practical experience, formerly resided at one of

the out-stations we had visited. He had returned to the head station

to live, but had all his clothes still at the hut. Being desirous of

removing them, he had emptied his box on to the horses' backs.

Stevenson had a great heap in front of him, which he threw to me when

he started. I had a quantity also, and as Harris could not use his

whip while carrying his lot, he hastily transferred that as well to

me. I was thus barricaded to the chin with flannels and cotton

shirts, trousers, coats, etc., for it was an outfit he had brought

from England, provided by an anxious mother. I could scarcely see

before me, and when he started off after the superintendent I

actually had to grope for the reins. I had hardly thrown my arms

over the 'swag' (to use a colonial phrase), when off started my

excited horse after the others. As I galloped about, the articles

worked loose one after another, and I must have cut a ridiculous

figure, as I helplessly scudded hither and thither, dropping a shirt

here, and a pair of trousers there. I faithfully tried to fulfil the

duty assigned me, and held on to the bundles as long as I could, but

at last a shirt, which worked loose and streamed out like a banner,

got over my head and blinded me, and I was obliged to let them go, in

order to see where I was rushing to.

We all dismounted and surrounded the dingo. It was a touching sight

(to me, at least, who was not a squatter) to see with what stoical

resignation it met its doom. After it once lay down it never moved,

except to turn its head to watch the preparations being made to

finish him. It was not long left in agony. But I could not have

credited that the eye of an animal like that could have been capable

of so much expression! There seemed to me a mingled resignation and

despair in its glance as it calmly looked at its executioner until

the film of death gathered over its eyes.

'Why, doctor! you look quite sentimental over it! There's one rascal

the less. No more mutton for you, at any rate,' said Stevenson, as

he turned away.

After this small tragedy, we returned to the dead cow, picking up

Harris's traps by the way. We found upon examination that its leg

had been broken by a ball, and that it had been afterwards despatched

by spears; although, as Stevenson would not allow the blacks on his

station to possess firearms, his men being strictly forbidden to

supply them, it was a mystery where the gun came from which inflicted

the wound.

'Not that we ourselves apprehend any danger now-a-days from them

possessing them,' said Stevenson to me, in explanation. 'But, as you

are aware, they are always engaged amongst themselves in a murderous

kind of warfare,--sneaking by night on each other, and killing by

stealth,--and as I found that the possession of the guns we gave them

encouraged that sort of thing, I took them away again.'

'Perhaps Bobby Peel has been robbing some hut again, and stolen a

gun,' said Harris; 'it's a wonder to me they can't catch that fellow.'

'He is an ungrateful rascal,' said Stevenson, as he remounted his

horse, 'to kill my cow with it, if he has. I have got into very bad

odour with my neighbours for standing between such a pestilent knave

and summary vengeance. The fellow dare not show his face anywhere

within thirty miles round; he would be shot down like a dingo if he

did. And this is the return he makes for it! I only hope, however,

he is not concerned in any foul play with those missing men. I

strongly suspect him. Robbing a hut now and then for a supply of

flour, or killing a sheep, I could wink at, though, forsooth, he

might leave my cattle alone, and only rob those who have injured him.

But bloodshed is a very different matter, and so he will find.'

We visited another out-station, and then turned our horses' heads

towards home. It was sunset, and as we had been, with short

intervals of rest at the different huts, in the saddle since dawn of

the preceding day, I was not at all sorry that the end of our ride

approached. But we were not to reach the head station without having

another chase.

The dogs had rejoined us a short time after we left the slaughtered

beast, and as we were crossing a small plain, and were within half a

mile of the timber, all at once they picked up some scent and set off

at a smart pace.

'What on earth have they got hold of now?' said Stevenson. 'There

are no kangaroo likely to be here, so near home.'

We followed hard after, however, and managed to keep them in sight,

until presently they broke into full speed and disappeared in the

timber. They had sighted the game they were after, whatever it was.

We rode in the direction they had taken, but, not seeing them, we

pulled up to listen if they gave tongue. _They_ did not, but

somebody else did, without mistake; for we all at once heard most

vociferous cries of distress from a human voice. We galloped up as

fast as possible, and arrived just in time to save from destruction

'old man Toby,' one of our head-station blacks, who was walking

quietly along when, he happened to hear the rush of the dogs behind

him. He had instantly made for a tree, but was too late; for Rush, a

dog lately brought from Melbourne, who was young, and unused as yet

to blacks, sprang up as if he would tear him down. Old Toby,

however, managed to keep on his feet, and resisted most gallantly.

He had his yam-stick in his hand (a pointed stick used for digging up

a small edible root which grows on the plains), and with this he met

the rushes of the dogs, jobbing them with the sharpened end, and

tearing them as badly as they had torn him. It was wonderful, during

the half-minute or so that we were galloping up, to witness the

coolness and dexterity, and, above all, the agility the old fellow

displayed in avoiding the bounds the dogs made at him; while leaping

to one side to avoid the onset of one, he would meet the other with a

dexterous prod of his insignificant-looking weapon, which would send

it sprawling with a wound in its side.

The stock-whips soon brought the animals to their senses; and we

found, upon examining them all, that the dogs were the worst off for

the encounter; for one had an eye wounded, and the other had a very

ugly tear in his flank, which required to be sewn up.

CHAPTER III.

THE NIGHT ATTACK.

One evening, about ten days after our ride, I was sitting in the hut

with young Harris. I had been engaged in cleaning my own gun, as

well as a rifle belonging to the superintendent, who had ridden over

on the previous day to the Edward River, and was expected home that

night. While the barrels were drying before the fire--which occupied

the centre of a hearth extending nearly the whole breadth of the

hut--I put on my hat and walked down to the miamis of the blacks, two

or three families of whom the superintendent allowed to camp in his

paddock; the main body he kept at a distance. Old Toby's wounds were

fast healing, a circumstance he seemed rather to regret, as he had

been pensioned by three substantial meals daily from the kitchen, and

was getting quite sleek and fat. I went from fire to fire, chatting

with the occupants, Jimmy and Billy who, with their lubras, occupied

two of them.

Polly and Kitty were two fine young women. One had a picanniny about

twelve months old; the other a little boy of four or five years. The

latter was coiled up fast asleep; but the other was kicking and

sprawling in his mother's arms, while Jimmy, its father, on the other

side of the fire, sat gravely cutting away at a boomerang he was

fashioning, now and then stopping to notice the child, which was

crowing at him, or to say, in an insinuating tone to me, 'Doc, doc!

you carry 'moke um bacca?' Billy sat at the second fire close by,

busy in preparing a new pipe he had got, and making it fit for black

fellows' use. This process consisted in rubbing it thickly with fat,

and tying a greasy rag round it, and burning it in the ashes. At the

third fire were my old patient Toby, and two lads of eighteen or

nineteen respectively, named Pothook and 'little Toby,' to

distinguish him from 'old man Toby,' who was either his father or

grandfather, I could not make out which.

The miami where these last were was at some little distance from the

other two, and I thought I saw a fourth figure; but when I came up I

found only the old man and the lads. I asked where the other man

was, but they denied that any other man had been there. I could see,

however, they were lying, and believed that, from the glimpse I had

got, it was Bobby Peel, although he was without his European

clothing, and had on a 'possum-skin cloak. I had distinctly seen his

face by the light of the fire, as I quietly approached from the huts

across the grass of the paddock; and, although I had not met him

since the day of our first interview, his features were too strongly

impressed upon my memory for me to forget them. I found shortly

afterwards that he had excellent reasons for keeping out of the way.

After staying some time, and having my pockets emptied of the tobacco

which was in them, I left and strolled on to the river. As I drew

near its margin I heard a slight splash, as of a turtle startled by

my step, and throwing itself into the water; but all was quiet when I

reached it; no cry of duck or other waterfowl broke the stillness of

the night; and the stream itself, fifty or sixty feet in depth,

flowed on silently. The banks were very steep, and the surface of

the water was some four yards beneath the level where I stood. There

were no trees growing anywhere near; but the dead trunks of several

left by former floods projected above the water, or rested against

the banks, where, in the dim light, they resembled so many huge

antediluvian reptiles. The opposite side of the river, which was 100

yards wide, was an island formed by an _ana_[1] branch, which left

the main stream four miles above the paddock, and joined it again

just below it. As I stood looking down on the dark waters, and up

and down the reach, and observed that the blacks' fires were less

than fifty yards off, I could not help thinking how easily their

enemies, if still in the neighbourhood, could, under cover of the

river banks, steal unawares upon them. I little thought that in the

deep shade beneath the very spot I was then standing on, in the water

at my feet, and with their heads concealed behind one of the tree

trunks on the margin, already lay hidden the murderous band who,

twice baffled, had stolen back for their revenge.

[1] _Ana_ branch is a channel which, leaving the main stream above,

again joins it below. These ana branches are very characteristic of

Australian rivers, often forming networks of creeks, which supply

vast tracks of country, back from the main stream, which would

otherwise be destitute of water.

As I walked past them on my way back to the hut, the blacks began one

of their monotonous chants, to which the two women beat time with

sticks, which they struck together, their eyes sparkling and white

teeth glistening in the firelight, as they shouted a merry

'Good-night, doc, doc,' to me.

At the door of our hut I found the superintendent, who had just

dismounted. Harris had gone to bed. 'I have some news for you,'

Stevenson said to me when we had entered.

He hung his saddle up on a peg projecting from the partition which

divided it into two parts, one being used as a storeroom, the other

as a bed and sitting, as well as a dining-room. The beds being

boards or sheets of bark, with sheepskins laid on them, on which were

stretched mattresses stuffed with the 'wongul,' or down of the reeds

which abounded everywhere near the river banks. There were four of

these beds in the room, two on each side; they were placed on posts

driven in the ground, and in the day-time were used as seats. The

only other articles of furniture were a movable table standing

against the partition, an easy chair made out of a flour-cask, and

some shelves fixed on the walls. The centre of the room was

therefore clear. After ascertaining that no blacks were lounging

about the hut, Stevenson continued,--

'You know I wrote to Brown, the magistrate over on the Edward, and

sent the note by Scott's overseer, who happened to pass here the day

after our ride round the run. That was eight or ten days ago, and up

to the day before yesterday I had got no answer; so I rode over to

find out the reason. And would you believe it?--for nearly a week

the fellow had actually taken no steps whatever in the matter.'

'How was that? Had he got your note?'

'Oh yes, he got it; and a pretty fellow he is to have J.P. written

after his name. Can you credit it?--on the very morning after he got

my letter, he had discovered that the horse-stealers had swept his

paddock! Above all, had taken his two hunters! For you must know he

keeps hounds to hunt the dingo, as the fox is hunted in England.

Actually had the impudence to tell me he was surprised and shocked to

hear that I was laying poison for those animals!--hoped I would give

up such a design! They ought to be hunted, he said, _fairly_; not

poisoned like rats, or other vermin. This to me! who had lost from

first to last, during the few months I have been here, nearly a

thousand sheep by these creatures. His is a cattle-station

principally, and his sheep country is all open plain, so that he is

not troubled by these pests. He can bear other people's misfortunes

in that line very easily. I told him a piece of my mind'--

These same dingoes were the plague of poor Stevenson's life, and when

once started on the subject he forgot everything else; so I ventured

to interrupt and bring him back to the point.

'But how was it nothing was done about these suspected murders?' I

inquired.

'How? Why, because the fellow sent all three of the constables

attached to the lock-up there off in different directions to look for

his horses! The lives of poor fellows travelling in the bush are

nothing compared to his hunters! I told him I should report his

conduct to the authorities in Melbourne, and so I will too!'

'But has nothing been yet done?' I asked.

'One of the constables came back three days ago, and he has been

making inquiries at the most likely out-stations. He returned before

I left; and from his report my suspicions are confirmed. Eleven

travellers called in the course of the last three weeks at the places

he visited, on their way to this crossing-place, from the Edward.

Now only five or six have arrived here from that part. I inquired

before I started at our own men's huts, and all agree in that.'

'Then you may depend that rascal Peel is concerned in the matter,'

said Harris, sitting up in bed.

'I forgot to tell you,' said Stevenson, 'that I came upon that fellow

yesterday as I was drawing a carcase across the run, and leaving the

poisoned baits in its track. It was in a scrub which my horse could

hardly get through; and I had no idea that any human being was near

me at the time. He might have speared me easily enough too, for I

was unarmed and dismounted, and he touched me on the shoulder as I

was stooping to place the bait to the ground. The fellow has some

gratitude, I suppose; for, much as he hates white men, he knows he

owes his life to me.'

'Twenty times over!' said Harris; 'for he would have been finished

long ago but for you.'

'You told us, doctor,' continued the superintendent, 'that you

extracted some slugs from his arm and shoulder the day you first saw

him. How long, do you think, had those wounds been there?'

'About ten days or so, I should think.'

'What were the slugs like? a bullet cut up?'

'Yes.'

'Then the rascal is decidedly guilty! I will tell you how I found it

out,' said Stevenson. 'Ever since you told me of the circumstance I

have wondered how he got those wounds; and on my rides about this and

neighbouring runs I have inquired, but could not hear that he had

been shot at lately. In fact, ever since he was detected in those

hut robberies, he has kept quiet, and out of white men's sight.

'Yesterday, on my way to the Edward, I called at the inn on the

Wakool. In the bar I noticed a beautiful specimen of the "loouee,"

as the blacks call a rare bird which inhabits the mallee; and I asked

the innkeeper who had stuffed it and set it up for him. He replied

that a man who had been up on the Darling, making a collection of

birds, had stopped there, and sold him this specimen. "But," added

the man, "didn't he call at your place?"

'"No," I said; "did he tell you he was coming over?"

'"He told me that he intended staying a week at Swan Hill before

going to town by the mail-cart. He sold me his horse, as he said he

was going to walk across, and shoot birds along the swamps and

reed-beds. Perhaps he altered his mind, and went somewhere else."

'Upon hearing this I told the innkeeper in confidence my own

suspicions; and, as the distance was not great, we both rode over to

the out-stations the man must pass on his way. At one of these the

hut-keeper told us that such a man had slept at his place one night,

and had left to shoot in the neighbourhood promising to come back to

sleep there again; but he never came; and in the course of our

conversation it came out that, before starting in the morning, the

man, having used all his large shot, had cut up some bullets he had

into slugs of different sizes, to load one barrel, in case he fell in

with turkey or wallaby. So that he has been waylaid and murdered is,

I fear, only too certain; and Peel must have been wounded by him. It

was with the unfortunate man's gun, too, that that cow was shot which

we found killed on the day of our ride round the out-stations. But,'

continued Stevenson, 'is that woman going to give me anything to eat

or not? I have had nothing since breakfast this morning, and am

starving;' and he went out to the door to call out to the kitchen to

hasten operations.

The night was calm, but dense clouds threatening rain obscured the

moon. The fires of the blacks gleamed brightly from the low ground

near the river, which was open and quite free from trees or bushes;

and a cheerful blaze also shone from the window and from between the

slabs of the kitchen, a separate hut, where the hut-keeper's wife was

giving the finishing touch to the steak she was cooking for the

superintendent's supper. All was peaceful and quiet; the hissing of

the frying-pan and the distant chant of the blacks being the only

sounds audible; except at intervals when the mopoke uttered its

cuckoo-like cry from the timber ranges across the river. In a few

moments the woman brought in the dishes, and Stevenson, having

satisfied the first cravings of his hunger, was about to renew the

conversation which the meal had stopped, when all at once the

monotonous song of the blacks was interrupted by several musket shots

fired in rapid succession. Shrieks and yells succeeded; and we

instantly guessed what had happened. Our blacks had been attacked by

their enemies!

Our first impulse was to rush off to their assistance; but the guns

were in pieces, and a brace of pistols kept in the hut were unloaded.

Stevenson hastily proceeded to charge the latter, while young Harris

and I endeavoured as speedily as possible to put the other weapons in

order. Through the open door the fires were visible; and now and

then dark objects would flit rapidly past them and disappear.

Mingled with the screams of the women was the clatter of blows, and

old Toby's voice, replying defiantly to the yells of his enemies,

could be plainly distinguished. Presently, one after the other in

quick succession, three dark figures dashed with the frantic speed of

fear into the hut, and, rushing up to the fireplace, crouched in the

ashes on each side. Two of these were Pothook and little Toby; the

third was no other than 'Sir Robert,' or, as he was more commonly

called by the men, Bobby Peel, himself, whose suspected doings we had

that evening been discussing--now, like his companions, in a state of

mortal terror.

As generally happens in such emergencies, the proverb, 'More haste,

less speed,' proved applicable to the present case. Never was I so

long in putting a gun together; Stevenson could not find the

bullet-pouch; while Harris, who knew the hut-keeper had a loaded

double-barrelled piece in the kitchen, kept calling out to him to run

down the slope and fire a shot over the heads of the attacking party;

but no answer was given. The man was a new arrival in the colony,

had always been terribly afraid of the blacks, and on the first alarm

had barricaded himself in the kitchen, whence all his wife's taunts

could not induce him to stir, or hand out the gun to Harris, who had

at last to run for it. As the young man peeped through the crevices

of the slabs he saw, by the glare of his eye, that the fellow was

well-nigh delirious with terror. By the time the superintendent and

I had armed ourselves, full five minutes had elapsed; and the cries

had ceased some time. Upon procuring a light and searching the

paddock, four mutilated bodies were found--Jimmy and Billy having

been shot as they sat by their fires, and their bodies dragged away

and hastily opened, and the kidney fat, the great trophy of these

barbarous exploits, removed. The two lubras had fled, but in their

terror they ran from our huts instead of towards them. Polly was

overtaken soon, and killed by a blow on the head; the infant she

carried could not be found; doubtless they had taken away the body.

Kitty's screams were long heard, as she fled hither and thither in

the paddock with her fell pursuers after her. Had she run for the

huts, or had the cowardly hut-keeper run down and fired a shot, she

might have escaped. Her little boy we found crouching in a small

patch of reeds by the river, trembling like a leaf; and we plainly

heard the triumphant laugh of the wretches, as they watched our

search from the island to which they had swum.

'I know who those fellows are,' said Stevenson. 'They are Gunbower

blacks--I was there some months ago, when that scoundrel Peel and a

party of curs sneaked on them, and played just such another trick as

this. They have paid us off for that exploit, at any rate! But

where is old Toby? Can it be possible that he has escaped?'

After some further search we found the old man's body at some

distance from the fires, his head, arms, and body covered with

wounds. By the traces, as seen next day, we found he had made a most

desperate resistance. His hand still grasped the yam-stick with

which he had done battle with the dogs; probably it was the first

thing he had caught up. His prolonged resistance had saved him from

the mutilation which had befallen the others, as our approach had

disturbed the murderers and forced them to recross the stream. For

fear they should return and complete their work, the bodies were

drawn up to the huts by Stevenson and myself, while Harris started

for the ferry, where some more of our blacks were camped, to warn

them of what had occurred. Except the hut-keeper, who was still

quaking in the kitchen, there happened to be no other men on the head

station that night, the two bullock-drivers and carpenter being

absent, one splitting and drawing timber in the bush, the other

bringing a load of salt from the lake.

'Did you say you saw Bobby Peel when at the camp with the others?'

inquired Stevenson of me.

'Yes,' I replied; 'but he saw me coming and slipped away. Will you

detain him in custody?'

He replied that he was uncertain what to do; but presently a

circumstance decided him.

In searching the paddock and the banks of the river with the lantern,

we found a double-barrelled gun, powder-flask, etc., hidden in some

reeds. It was a very superior article, not at all likely to be

honestly in possession of a black, and no doubt existed in our minds

but that this was the piece belonging to the unfortunate

bird-collector, and that it had been hidden there by Peel before he

came to the camp fires; but the attack had been so sudden that he had

no choice but to run for the huts. It was resolved, therefore, that

he should be secured and handed over to the authorities.

'Although our head-station blacks,' said the superintendent,

'probably had nothing to do with the actual murders, I am sure they

were aware of what had happened. I have noticed a great change in

them for the last week. The two boys, Pothook and little Toby, were

always hanging about the huts before, but of late I observed they

kept away from us. They know of the murders, and are frightened.

Now you must back me up, doctor,' he said to me; 'I am going to try

and obtain a confession from them. In their present state they will

tell all.'

We made our arrangements accordingly, and returned.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONFESSION.

He had been absent from the huts for nearly half an hour, but we

found the three blacks still in a state of the most abject fear.

They started with dread even at our approach; and, what surprised me

much, Peel seemed even more panic-stricken than his younger

companions. His eyes rolled, his teeth chattered, and every now and

then he would shiver convulsively. When I had first seen him he was

dressed in jacket and trousers, but now he was in his aboriginal

costume, an opossum-skin cloak wrapped round his otherwise perfectly

naked form. He was squatting on his heels by the fire, but with his

face towards the door. The superintendent was a tall, powerful man,

and a formidable antagonist to face. He stood in the centre of the

hut (which, as I have explained, happened to be clear, the table

having been placed against the partition), and looked sternly down on

the three crouching, shivering figures beneath him. He had purposely

left the gun we had found in the kitchen, telling the hut-keeper and

his wife not to come near, whatever they might hear. In his hand he

held a pistol, while I stood with another in my belt, and my gun in

my hand, ready for action. We had provided ourselves also with a

stout piece of cord, which I had ready to give to him when he should

ask for it.

For nearly a minute Stevenson thus stood and looked at them in

silence. I observed that, after the first glance at him, the two

boys stared round the hut and hung their heads without looking at him

again. Not so Peel. As his eyes met the superintendent's I noticed

that they became fixed. The pupils, before dilated, suddenly

contracted; the lids, previously wide open, half closed, and a spasm

seemed to pass over him. His head sank lower in the folds of his

rug, but never for an instant did he remove his glance from

Stevenson's face. He saw something there which made him suspect that

his villainy was known, and that he had run into a trap; and the

second danger counteracted the panic caused by the first.

'Bobby Peel,' said Stevenson, 'where gun belongin' to white fellow

_you kill_?'

At this question the two youngest absolutely grovelled in the ashes,

and seemed to give themselves up for lost. Peel did not answer, but

drew his cloak over his head, and gathered himself together beneath

it, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

'Give me the rope, doctor,' said the superintendent, turning his face

towards me.

It was but for a moment that he did so, but that moment was enough

for the wary and agile black, who from beneath his covering had still

watched every movement. Dropping his cloak, with one bound he sprang

from his heels and shot himself forward against his antagonist, who

was about five or six feet from him. His hands, held out at full

length, caught the superintendent in the chest, and sent him reeling

the whole length of the hut, until he came crash against the table,

which was covered with dishes and plates, and fell heavily in the

corner. Not hesitating an instant, the now naked black rushed to the

door. I stepped back outside and raised the gun, but he paid no

attention to my threat and order to stop, and slipped out and made

off.

'Shoot him, doctor!' roared Stevenson in a towering rage, and for

some time I had him covered, but somehow I could not pull the

trigger; I felt a repugnance, guilty as he might be, at the thought

of being his executioner.

I still had the gun pointed at the fugitive, who was fast

disappearing in the gloom, when a shout arose from the

superintendent, who had just risen from the ground in time to seize

Pothook, who had decided--five seconds too late, however--upon

following Peel's example. I barred the door, and the two were

ordered to resume their places on each side of the fire.

'We have got these two fellows safe enough, doctor. Do you know they

have been killing white men all about the run? Why did you not shoot

Peel? I told you to fire.'

'But have they been killing white men?' I asked.

'Plenty. I heard of it to-day over at the Wakool--Peel, Pothook,

little Toby, and Jumboy.'

In a low tone, as if for me, but taking care the two boys should hear

us, we discussed what we should do.

The two hoys listened to us in silent terror. They knew, unhappily,

only too well, from past experience, how little valued black lives

were by the majority of the white men. With no provocation whatever,

and in the mere wantonness of the power to slay, they had often been

slaughtered by the settlers. But now, conscious that they were privy

to many murders of the whites, and that a justification for their

death existed,--kind and just as they knew Stevenson to be in

general,--they believed that their hour was come. Their fear grew

every moment stronger while we talked, and, as they thought, took

counsel together how best to dispose of them. The end of it was

that, only too anxious to save their own lives, they made a clean

breast of it. Pothook had overheard Peel describe his doings to

Jimmy--one of the head-station blacks. There were three or four

others principally concerned, whose names were given. They waylaid

their victims, sometimes spearing them from behind trees; at others

accosting, and, after throwing them off their guard, striking them

down unawares. Altogether Pothook knew of five or six thus killed.

The bird-skin collector had met Peel when the latter was apparently

alone, and had spoken to him. The two were walking along together,

when the black made a sudden snatch at the gun the man carried, but

he failed to obtain it, and took to his heels. Unfortunately, the

white man, instead of letting the fellow go, and keeping his gun

charged, fired the only barrel he had loaded at him as he ran away,

wounding him slightly in the shoulder and arm. The other barrel was

empty, he having shortly before discharged the shot it contained at a

bird; and this Peel and his companions, who were lurking near, well

knew. In an instant he was surrounded, and a volley of spears thrown

at him, and he fell, pierced through and through.

Cupidity and revenge were the motives for these murders. Almost

every man killed had a supply of tobacco; many had tea and sugar; and

all had blankets. To them such spoil was of great value; but

revenge, and the improbability of being found out, were doubtless

inducements, for the class of men who wander about the interior from

station to station are known to none: going nowhere in particular,

but looking for employment as shepherds or hut-keepers, and heading

in the direction of the districts where they are informed it can be

obtained. Merely making this the pretext for lounging from one

out-station to another, until shearing-time came on, they could earn

money enough to indulge in their usual debauchery at that season, and

were often marked as victims. Such men might disappear from the

earth in numbers, and never be missed.

The lads seemed to have told all they knew, but Stevenson, to try

them, pretended they had not done so.

''Pose you no tell what all about black fellow do,--eberyting,--mine

hang you! You tell all.'

Thus urged, they informed us of the slaughter of another cow, killed

the previous day (a thing we were as yet ignorant of). This was a

great crime to any settler, and Stevenson threatened them severely if

they kept anything back which they knew about destruction of sheep or

cattle on the run; and they then confessed to several misdemeanours

of that kind, though on a small scale, during the time he had been on

the station.

In his anxiety to save himself, and tell 'eberyting what all about

black fellow do,' Pothook confessed every piece of petty roguery his

tribe had been guilty of for a long time past. It was now that we

learned that, on two occasions when the slip panel of the paddock had

been left down, and the horses all escaped into the bush--by the

carelessness of some passing traveller, as we supposed--it was one of

the blacks who had played the trick, and who had been rewarded with

two sticks of tobacco for speedily finding and bringing them back.

Percussion caps had been stolen, tobacco lying about the hut

purloined, and even charges of powder taken from the flasks when our

backs were turned. But, above all, it was a black fellow's dog which

had killed the cat, which, on account of the snakes infesting the

neighbourhood of the huts, the superintendent had taken such trouble

and pains to procure, riding forty miles with it in a basket strapped

behind him, and the unaccountable loss of which had much surprised

and vexed him, for it had disappeared the day after its arrival.

'Whose dingo killed my cat, Pothook?' asked the superintendent.

Pothook rolled his eye towards young Toby, who hung his head with a

guilty look.

'So, you scoundrel! that was the way the Colonel went, was it? And

you pretended to hunt for it so diligently that I gave you your

dinner and a stick of tobacco. If ever I see you or your dog after

this within a mile of the head station, I'll take the stock-whip and

make it a caution to the pair of you. What did you do with the body?

Where put um pussy?'

No answer from the criminal; but Pothook, anxious to curry favour at

everybody else's expense, informed us, 'Him yeat um.'

'Ate him?'

'Yes; him tink that one very good, white fellov 'possum.'

And Pothook furthermore let out that, under a somewhat similar

delusion respecting a bottle of cold-drawn castor oil, from which he

had one day seen young Harris draw the cork and swallow a glass, said

little Toby had, at a moment when the hut was empty, slipped in, and,

seizing the bottle as it stood on the shelf, hastily gulped down a

goodly portion, under the impression that it was something of an

intoxicating nature.

I observed that Pothook, in his narrative of delinquencies, did not

mention any of his own exploits. This excessive modesty seemed quite

misplaced to his companion, whose evil deeds he was bringing to

light; and, plucking up a spirit, Toby junior retorted,--

'Mitta Tiffyson' (I may here observe that the superintendent's name

was a great trial for most of the blacks. Almost every one of them

had a method of his own of surmounting the difficulty. Some called

him 'Mr. Stiffison,' others went further, and called him

'Stiffunson;' but plain 'Stiffuns,' with a splutter at the end, was

the favourite pronunciation. I have, however, heard him called

'Stubbomson'),--'Mitta Tiffyson,' said young Toby eagerly, looking up

at the superintendent, and pointing at Pothook as he spoke, 'this one

marn (take) um fiz-fiz belongin' to flour.'

'Fiz-fiz for flour!' I said; 'what is that?'

'Oh, he means yeast!' said Stevenson.

'Yes, yist,' said little Toby; 'porter belongin' to bread. Pothook

steal um that one.'

'Since you have been here,' said Stevenson to me, 'we have had yeast

bread instead of damper. Mrs. Laidlaw got some from the publican's

wife across the river. I remember her telling me that she had most

unaccountably lost a quart bottle of it; she thought somebody had

emptied it out in mistake. So Pothook take it, Toby?'

'Yes; him drink it all. Greedy fellow that one! no gib me any. Him

tink it very good porter,' added the black, with a grin at the

recollection. And upon further inquiry it was elicited that, having

observed the woman place it on the table on her return home, and

concluding it to be porter, Pothook had abstracted it, for he had

often longed to taste that liquor. It would have been better for him

if had shared the responsibility, as Toby junior proposed, and given

him half, for the result was more than he could well bear.

Finding that the two had no more to tell, the superintendent informed

them that their lives were spared for the present, but if they

attempted to leave the hut they would be shot down. And in this

Stevenson was quite in earnest, for after such a confession it was

his duty to convey immediate information to the commander of the

Border Black Police, the 'Black Troopers,' who were travelling down

the river, and who, he had heard, would arrive at a station twenty

miles off that evening. He resolved to start at once, and endeavour

to return with them at daybreak, before the blacks, who might think

themselves perfectly safe for that night, would suspect their

vicinity and take to the scrub.

'It will be useless my starting to fetch the police if either of

those two fellows escape out of your sight; and they are slippery as

eels. Do you think you will be able to keep them safely?' said

Stevenson to us.

I was very tired, and so was Harris; and the idea of sitting up all

night was not pleasant. However, there was no help for it, and we

promised to watch alternately during his absence. 'Where do you

expect to find the troopers?' I asked; 'and how will you get to

them?' I said.

'That is the question,' replied the superintendent. 'Lieutenant

Walters, I heard, was to reach the Junction, twenty miles up on this

side of the river, at sunset to-day; but the blacks are camped not

far from the road I must go by, as it is too dark to travel through

the bush. I must therefore cross the river here and go up by the

other side, and then swim the river again--not a pleasant prospect

truly. If I attempt to cross on horseback here, at the punt, the

blacks there will instantly suspect the truth; so swim it I must,

somewhere in our neighbourhood. Nice, isn't it?'

Finally it was decided that he should cross just below the island,

carrying his clothes in a bundle, wrapped in a waterproof coat and

placed in a bucket, which he held as he swam. He would then walk to

the inn, taking care to approach it from behind, so that the blacks

there, who, warned by Harris, had left their fires and were squatted

in the verandah, should not hear him. A hundred yards behind the inn

was the hut where the punt-man lived. He was to be roused and sent

to the house, to tell the innkeeper to quietly saddle his mare, which

was kept stabled at night, and bring her to Stevenson, while the man

engaged the blacks in talk in the front of the house.

We watched until he had safely swam across and ascended the bank on

the other side, and then returned to the hut. As we passed by the

kitchen we looked in. Laidlaw, the hut-keeper, was sitting by the

fire, and, to do him justice, seemed heartily ashamed of himself, for

he did not turn his head as we appeared. His wife had made up a

sleeping-place for the poor child whose parents had been so suddenly

cut off. The poor thing was overcome by drowsiness, and every now

and then would sink into sleep, from which, however, it would almost

instantly spring up, screaming out violently that the blacks were

coming to kill it, and clinging in the utmost terror to the woman's

gown. It had found its way to the bodies of its mother and father

behind the hut, and in its endeavours to arouse and awaken them had

got covered with blood, which the woman was washing off as we

entered, her tears falling plentifully the while; for she was much

attached to the two lubras--who helped her in such household work as

peeling potatoes, washing dishes, and bringing water, and the like,

while their husbands caught fish or (before I came) shot wildfowl

with the superintendent's fowling-piece. She was therefore much

shocked at what had occurred, and was, moreover, heartily ashamed of

her husband's pusillanimity.

We re-entered our hut, thinking that our adventures for that night at

least were over--but I was mistaken.

It had been agreed that Harris and I should start an hour before

daybreak and ride to a spot fixed upon, there to await the arrival of

the superintendent with the troopers; and, having arranged that each

of us should take a watch, I threw myself on one of the beds, and

slept till two o'clock, when Harris woke me, and I took his place.

For some time I sat by the fire, musing over the different events

which had occurred, and in imagination following the superintendent

in his night ride up the river. It was about eleven o'clock when he

started; and, allowing him an hour to reach the inn and get mounted,

he would then have a straight gallop across a large bend of the river

for about fifteen miles. He would then have to tether his horse and

again swim the stream, as there were no other means of crossing at

that spot, and walk a mile through the bush to the station where the

troopers were. Allowing him till three o'clock to do this, he would

have time to start with them on their errand, and be at the

rendezvous fixed on before daybreak, always supposing no accident

delayed him. Bobby Peel, we knew, would head for Winyong directly;

but both he and the other murderers would certainly calculate upon

having at least twenty-four hours undisturbed wherein to escape,

during which they would be comparatively safe from the white man's

vengeance.

I put some fresh logs on the fire, for the nights were now becoming

very cold. The two blacks were lying sprawling by its side on the

earthen floor of the hut; while Harris lay just above them on the bed

next the chimney. The blaze from the burning wood and the light from

the lamp fell strongly on the three sleepers, fully revealing their

faces and figures, and I could not help being struck by the different

aspect of the physiognomies before me, illustrations as they were of

the highest and almost the lowest types of the animal man. For some

time my mind wandered in a maze of theories as to the origin of

types--effects of climate, food, and other modifying agencies in

influencing the development of the _genus homo_, until all at once I

became conscious that my ethnological speculations were rapidly

coveying me into the land of dreams; so, jumping up to shake off the

drowsiness creeping over me (for I had been shooting all day in the

reed-beds), I slung the kettle, to make myself a pot of tea, and then

went outside to look at the night.

The heavens were overcast with dense masses of clouds, and a light

breeze blew from the southward, the damp feel of which indicated that

the long-expected winter rains would not much longer be withheld from

the parched-up country. After pacing up and down in front of the hut

for some time, I turned to re-enter it, when all at once I heard one

of the horses in the paddock neigh. Under ordinary circumstances

this of itself would have signified nothing; but we were obliged to

be constantly on the alert against the horse thieves, who often

cleared out all the animals on several stations in a single night,

and swept away with them over the borders and into the neighbouring

colonies by routes known only to themselves, and where pursuit was in

general utterly vain. As we had several valuable horses in our lot,

I listened for some time, and, after giving a look at my charge, and

ascertaining that both still slept soundly, I walked down to where

they were grazing.

The paddock extended for nearly a mile up and down the river, and our

huts were situated inside its fence and about in the centre. I found

most of the animals a few hundred yards off, grazing quietly enough;

but as I stood near one of them again neighed, and upon putting my

ear to the ground I thought I heard a distant sound, which seemed to

come from across the river. I went down to the bank and again

listened. Sometimes it would die away, but presently it arose more

strongly, until I plainly made it out to be the rushing gallop of

either horses or cattle, my bush experience being then too slight to

enable me to distinguish which. I concluded it must be the latter,

as the sounds came from the island, which was some miles in length,

being a broad, rolling plain, everywhere surrounded by deep water,

and occupied exclusively by cattle, which, as they could not escape,

had no one to look after them. It was not possible that any horsemen

could be there by accident; for even our own stockman had to swim his

horse over when Stevenson wished to muster the herd. Perhaps (I

thought) the blacks who had made that night's murderous onslaught

were still there, and the cattle on the island had been startled by

them; for cattle have the greatest aversion to blacks, scenting them

at a great distance and fleeing from their vicinity. Sometimes they

will rush at the natives, charging them with great fury. Poor

Leichardt relates, in the account of his most wonderful journey from

Brisbane to Port Essington, that, having killed and eaten all their

cattle but one, a bullock named Redman, to which they had become much

attached for his patience and docility, the party was reduced to the

very verge of starvation. For weeks they lived on boiled hide alone,

and a very scanty allowance of that. Still, none could endure the

thought of killing the faithful Redman, who had travelled with them

for fifteen months through the wilderness, led by a rope passed

through a ring in his nose. And the party did succeed in taking the

animal into their destination, though at the cost of great suffering

to themselves. In the last month or two of their journey, the

explorers fell in with numerous tribes of blacks, who treated the

white men with great kindness. Some of these tribes numbered five or

six hundred souls. Whenever Redman, however, caught sight of them,

it was with the utmost difficulty that he could be restrained. He

would break away from his leader and charge the blacks with the

utmost fury. 'Had the natives been hostile,' says Leichardt, 'Redman

would have protected us and routed them all. I have seen three

hundred men flee from his rush, for they were terribly afraid of him.'

All at once the sounds ceased, and for some minutes I heard nothing;

but as my eye wandered over the river banks, suddenly I caught sight

of objects moving on the island, and a short inspection convinced me

that they were horses, and I fancied that they were mounted. I

crouched down, to avoid being seen, but of that there was not much

fear, as the shade of the rising ground behind me effectually

concealed me. It was now darker than in the earlier part of the

night, and the river was a hundred yards across, so that it was only

when they passed along the summit of the bank and against the lighter

background of the sky that I could distinguish them. They stopped

opposite where I was, and at the only spot for many miles (except at

the punt) where animals could descend and ascend to and from the

water, the banks of the Murray being exceedingly precipitous. By

this I felt convinced they were horse-stealers, and men, moreover,

well acquainted with the locality, for they could not have passed

down the river behind the inn, because the scrub, impenetrable at

night, approached so close to the house that it would necessitate

their passing within earshot. Higher up the river they could not

cross without getting involved in a network of ana branches,

impossible to ford in the dark. They were therefore obliged to cross

at our paddock, and doubtless had the felonious intention of picking

up our horses on their way.

CHAPTER V.

PREPARATIONS FOR PURSUIT.

As I lay watching their movements, as well as the darkness permitted,

I suddenly remembered that there was a canoe, or little punt, a

miserable, leaky, flat-bottomed affair, lying under the bank before

me. The reason Stevenson had not used it to paddle down to the

bottom of the island (a mile off) was the necessity of constant

baling to keep it afloat in going such a distance. Merely to cross

and recross the stream she would do well enough, as she would carry

two men. I was determined the thieves should not have her for

transporting their saddles and swags, and went forward to remove her.

I crept along until I came to the huge log of dead timber to which

the canoe was attached. Here I was completely in the shade, and

sheltered, moreover, by the massive trunk, behind the upper end of

which I crouched. I had reached out my hand to loosen the painter,

when my eye fell on an object moving along the surface of the water,

which was comparatively light. It was the head of a man swimming

across for the boat; and I resolved to secure him.

As he approached nearer, I saw it was a black fellow. I was not

surprised at this, as I had been informed that the organized gangs of

depredators who carried on operations on a large scale between the

different colonies generally secured the services of some of these

dexterous children of the soil to assist them in travelling through

the bush by the remotest and most unfrequented tracks; and, above

all, to aid them in swimming the horses across streams when flooded

with the winter rains. He did not seem to anticipate any ambush or

interruption, for he came boldly though silently on, and, reaching

the boat, hauled himself on, and, grasping the rope, lifted himself

out of the water by its aid, and in two steps ascended to where it

was fastened. I had drawn my pistol from its belt, and the moment he

reached out his hand, I pointed it at him, and said quietly, 'If you

move, I shoot you!'

Beyond turning his face quickly to the spot whence my voice

proceeded, the black made not the slightest motion, but remained in

the same attitude, as if suddenly paralyzed by this unexpected

rencontre; and I stood up to seize and take him up the bank. I

confess I acted like a blockhead; but I was new to such matters then;

yet, after the example I had already witnessed that evening of the

cunning, dexterity, and agility of the blacks, I ought to have known

better.

Instead of keeping him covered with my pistol, and ordering him to

come up the bank to me, I descended the steep face of it to him, and,

reaching out my left hand, took hold of his wrist to lead him up.

The fellow yielded without uttering a syllable, and as if he had not

the slightest intention of resisting, and ascended a step or two,

thus bringing himself close to and just beneath me. Another step

would have placed us on a level, and he was in the act of making it,

when, quick as lightning, the rascal, finding himself quite close to

me, threw his arm round my body and hurled himself back into the

river, head foremost, dragging me with him, and, when under water,

instantly making the most desperate efforts to get loose from my

grasp. I was a good swimmer, fortunately, and in falling I had let

go his wrist and seized him by his bushy head of hair, which I kept a

tight hold of. I was desperately enraged at having been so simply

done, and when we reached the surface I gave him a blow or two with

the pistol. I soon found I was the stronger of the two; but still he

struggled viciously.

'What for white fellow kill black drooper?'

'Trooper!' I said; 'what do you mean?'

'Mine belongin' to p'leece!' he roared, while voices from the other

side, which the noise and splashing of our struggle had hitherto

prevented me from hearing, called out to know what was the matter.

'You blockhead!' I said; 'why didn't you say so at first?' and I

scrambled out.

'Who is there?' I said.

'Lieutenant Walters and the native police. Is that you, doctor?

Will you bring the punt over?'

It was Stevenson's voice. In a few moments I and my late antagonist

were on the other side.

'What have you and the darky been up to?' he said.

'I took you for a lot of horse-stealers. Who could have dreamt it

was you? Back so soon, and on the island too!'

'But how did you manage to get into the river? You fell in, did you

not?'

'It was this black fellow pulled me in,' I said. 'What for you pull

me in along a water, eh? What for no speak?'

'What for you poke 'um pissel along a me, eh? What for you pabber

"mine shoot"? You stupid white fellow--you! Crack um cobra

belongin' to mine!' and he rubbed said 'cobra' very gingerly.

However, as his head was as hard as the generality of blacks', there

was no great harm done.

'Mistakes on both sides, apparently,' said Stevenson; 'but you had

better get across as soon as possible. I will go over with you. Are

the two boys safe?'

'Fast as a church, when I saw them last,' said I, seizing the paddle

and sculling vigorously, for I was getting benumbed with cold. One

of the blacks swam alongside, to bring back the punt, and hurried

home to change. As we went Stevenson explained that, when some

distance on his journey, he had met the troop on the plains, and was

told that, having found a note awaiting his arrival, with orders on

the subject from Brown, the lieutenant had determined to push on that

very night, and beat up the blacks' quarters next morning, if

possible. Knowing that his every movement was closely watched, and

that information is passed on from tribe to tribe with wonderful

celerity, he was obliged to be very cautious. Feigning that the note

was an unwelcome summons to another place, he, in apparent

ill-humour, gave orders that the troop should cross the river that

evening, in order to be ready for an early start for the Avoca, where

he pretended that his presence was urgently required. At midnight he

sent out two or three scouts to examine the neighbourhood for any

lurking spies, and, finding that his ruse had succeeded, he quietly

saddled up and started, and met Stevenson on his way.

Upon approaching the station, they debated whether they should try to

surprise and secure the four or five blacks at the Ferry Inn, and

then recross the river by the punt, or whether they should get on to

the island, and swim the river opposite the huts. As the blacks were

on their guard, the first idea was abandoned; and the more readily,

as it transpired that one of the troopers on a former marauding

expedition had discovered a ford across the branch, by which they

could reach the island without the necessity of swimming. They were

thus enabled to ferry over their saddles and clothes.

While Stevenson was giving me these particulars, and I was changing

my clothes and imbibing some hot tea, the troopers swam their horses

across, and presently mustered before the huts. Their commander was

a young fellow of four or five-and-twenty, in some respects well

fitted for his post, for he was a dashing, reckless fellow, with

plenty of courage and hardihood. But, as regarded discipline or

organization of any kind, his troop was sadly deficient. They were

simply black fellows clapped into uniforms, armed with carbine,

sword, and pistol, and mounted on horseback; and wonderful airs they

gave themselves as they strutted about. When I say they wore

uniforms, I must except boots. These supposed essentials to the

equipment of the cavalry soldier were dispensed with by them, except

on grand occasions, such as the review of the force. Then, with

great agony and numerous contortions, these were dragged on, and

their usual springy, elastic gait was instantly changed to a most

unsoldierlike and pitiful hobble. But on active service the boots

were hung at the saddle-bow, while each sable warrior inserted his

great toe into the stirrup, the spurs being lashed to the naked heel.

The hut-keeper and his wife had been roused to prepare supper, or

breakfast, for it was now long past three o'clock, and soon the

frying-pan was hard at work.

'Do you think any of your head-station blacks who were killed last

night had anything to do with the murders?' asked Walters, when he

had returned from inspecting the bodies.

'They knew of them, but took no active part, I believe; Pothook had

overheard Peel telling poor Jimmy about them.'

'It was a good thought of yours, keeping these fellows,' said the

lieutenant to me; 'shouldn't have caught them for months if they had

got wind of our coming. Sorry that fool of mine gave you such a

ducking; he always was a stupid blockhead. Now, the question is,

Where are these fellows we want? What kind of country are they

camped in? Can I get at them so as to surround their miamis? Who

knows the locality? I must have that fellow Peel this time, he has

dodged me so often.'

'I rather think the doctor here knows that ground better than any

one, as he has shot ducks up and down the creek almost every day, and

fished for eels in nearly every water-hole,' said Stevenson.

'But does he know the murderers? I have got orders to catch the next

lot, and send them prisoners to town. It makes more impression on

the rest than shooting.'

'Harris and I know them all. We will both go with you. When will

you start?'

'In time to reach and surround their camp just before daybreak. Will

you be good enough to give me a rough sketch of the ground near it?'

he said to me.

I made out a plan; and, while he was studying it, Harris went to the

woolshed and brought down a number of sheepskins, which each trooper

quickly made into pads for putting on their horses' feet on

approaching near to the camp, in order to deaden the sound.

'I see there is a swamp near the camp; can horses cross it?'

'No; it is all soft ground, boggy in many places--I have walked over

it often,' I replied.

'Then we must try and cut them off from it, that's all. When we have

had something to eat, it will be time to start.'

He sat down to the meal the woman had just brought in; and while he

was engaged with it Stevenson took me aside. We went towards the

kitchen, where the troopers were crowded together, eating their

supper also, some sitting at the table, the rest squatted on the

floor. After examining them through the window for a while,

Stevenson pointed out three of the twelve, whom he knew to belong to

the same tribe which had made the onslaught on his blacks that night.

'I saw those fellows just now, when you and Walters went to look at

the bodies, spitting and stamping upon the tracks made by our blacks

about the hut, and shaking their fists towards the camp they are

going to attack. They are gloating over the prospect before them,

and the scoundrels will kill lubras and children without scruple, for

Walters alone will not be able to restrain them. He is altogether

too young and reckless--in fact, too indifferent about the lives of

these poor creatures; and in that respect he resembles too many of

the squatters, I am sorry to say. Now, I am determined that my

blacks shall not be cut up by these fellows, if I can prevent it.

You will come with us, of course?'

'Not I. I have not the slightest wish to see the pour wretches

killed or captured, I assure you.'

'Still I hope you'll come,' he urged. 'Your presence, as a stranger,

will be even a greater restraint upon them than mine, who am supposed

to have an interest in the destruction of these troublesome pests to

the squatter. Walters will exert himself to obey the orders he has

received, and take them alive; and I must offer these fellows some

bribe or other to induce them to behave mercifully, and prevent the

slaughter of women and children at least.'

'If you think my presence will have any good effect, I shall, of

course, be only to happy to go with you. But the fact is, I am sick

of bloodshed after what happened last night,' I said.

'I don't wonder at it; and yet, just look at those fellows,' he

added, pointing to where the troopers were enjoying their sweetened

tea, damper, and beef. 'What fills us with such loathing is to them

a source of the keenest delight. They are in their glory now.

Strange, is it not--this dreadful instinct to kill, even in the case

of men living far apart, and who never, perhaps, saw each other

before? And yet I must not be unjust to them either. They kill

because they are under the impression that every death, or sickness,

or other misfortune which occurs to themselves or friends, is the

work of some distant enemy, who has bewitched or stolen away his

kidney fat. But here comes Walters; I suppose he intends making a

start.'

In a short time all were ready, our horses driven up to the stockyard

and saddled. The troopers, under the guidance of Harris, mounted and

started, while Walters and we then entered the hut once more, to look

at the two blacks, to whom I had given a dose of something to make

them sleep.

'I want to make sure of these fellows,' said the former. 'It would

never do if, the moment our backs are turned, one of them jumped up

and made off. He could easily reach the camp before daybreak, and

all our trouble would be thrown away. Try them again, doctor,

please.'

I did so. Little Toby could be roused only with difficulty.

Pothook, however, was not so drowsy; and upon shaking him he opened

his eyes and fixed them for a moment on Walters and a trooper, who,

in their shining accoutrements, stood before him. His head almost

instantly fell back, and apparently he was sound asleep again in a

moment. Something, however, in the glance aroused my suspicions, and

I quietly asked the lieutenant if the blacks here knew him.

'Oh yes! they all know me very well.'

'Then Pothook recognised you! I believe he is wide awake at this

moment, and will continue so, as the shock of the discovery that you

are here will rouse him thoroughly. He must be guarded. Shall we

tie them together?'

'No need of that, if your hut-keeper will only mount guard over them

for one hour. It is half-past four now, and day dawns at six. Call

him in.'

Laidlaw came in, and, having received his orders not to lose sight of

them for an instant until daylight, we mounted our horses and pushed

on to overtake the troop.

'I am vexed that you should be dragged out on such a miserable

expedition as this,' said Stevenson to me as we rode together; 'but

you know my motives. I feel very sad when I think of the fate about

to befall these unhappy wretches. I can venture to say this much to

you. Were I to speak thus to nine out of ten squatters, they would

stare at me in astonishment. It is enough for them that these blacks

have killed white men. They must, therefore, be shot down if they

run, or be hanged if they are taken alive. But I cannot help feeling

that all those so-called murders were perpetrated by these ignorant

savages in retaliation for innumerable atrocities practised by the

overlanders and their men, who, until a year or two back, when this

station was first formed, used to travel from the Sydney side with

their sheep and cattle to take up this country. Had we white men

only done our duty by these poor creatures, and used our superior

power a little more mercifully when we seized and occupied their

country, such atrocities as those we are now going to punish would

never have occurred. It is enough to make one's blood run cold to

hear some of my neighbours speak of these blacks. "How many did you

shoot when you came over?" one will ask another. "Only eleven," he

will reply. "How many did you?" "Fourteen altogether." And in town

I have more than once met--gentlemen, I suppose I must call them--who

openly asserted that they made it a point to shoot all they came

across.'

'I have heard men say the same,' I replied, 'more than once, when in

Melbourne. It is perfectly horrible.'

Walters riding up at this moment put a stop to the conversation, and

presently we overtook the troop.

The blacks whom we were going to surprise were stationed six miles

off, at the upper end of a long plain, and a hundred yards or so from

the banks of a creek, which for some miles above their camp was

closely bordered on one side by a swamp and on the other by mallee

scrub. The miamis were pitched near the lower end of the swamp

(which was on the right or station side of the watercourse), and in

such a position that the blacks could see all over the plain the

approach of danger, and, taking to the reeds, could escape across the

creek into the mallee, which there ended, abruptly extending back in

a solid wall at right angles with the bank for half a mile. After

passing the camp, the creek wound through the centre of a perfectly

level open plain, which plain was bounded on one side by a dense wall

of scrub, and on the other by a line of open timber; both the mallee

and the timber running parallel to the general course of the creek,

at a distance of ten or twelve hundred yards, except at a spot one

mile down, where a point or promontory of scrub approached the bank

much more closely. At that part of the creek there was an

out-station hut.

It happened, however, that the lower portion of the swamp, which

protected the rear of the blacks from the approach of horsemen, was

almost entirely detached from the upper by a bay or indentation of

the plain; and guided by young Harris, who also knew the ground well,

and favoured by the hour, the darkness, and a high cold wind which

had sprung up, accompanied with a drizzling rain, the troops

succeeded in passing the blacks and reaching this spot unobserved.

Descending into the bed of the stream, which was nearly dry, and ten

feet below the surrounding plain, nine of the twelve, with Walters

and myself, then silently crept down it, until we came opposite to

the fires. A scout sent forward to reconnoitre reported that,

entirely unsuspicious that their dreaded enemies were near them, the

blacks and their dogs were all lying close, and sheltered from the

cold wind and rain beneath their miamis, and apparently all asleep.

Walters had planted three sentries in the interval between the two

swamps, and across the creek at the edge of the scrub, which

terminated just opposite that spot; the lower part of the swamp

continuing some two hundred yards farther down the watercourse. If

any of the blacks, therefore, escaped into this lower patch of reeds,

they would be prevented from passing higher up the creek, or across

the intervening two hundred yards of plain, into the mallee scrub.

My feelings were not very pleasant as I stood by my horse's head

shivering, and watching over the edge of the bank the showers of

sparks which the wind, now increased to a gale, caught up and

scattered over the plain. I felt sorry for the miserable destiny of

the poor creatures for whom we had prepared so unpleasant an

awakening. But I cannot say my sentiments were at all shared by my

companions. The rascals were all alive with energy, and waited

impatiently for the moment when they were to be let loose on their

unfortunate countrymen. Not that they had the slightest desire to

avenge the deaths of the white men; they were not so weak; but

because, under the guise of duty, they hoped to wreak their vengeance

upon those whom they regarded as their hereditary enemies. I had

heard their commander tell them to capture, not kill; and very much

disgusted they were with the order. I fully appreciated Stevenson's

reluctance to let loose such a set on his blacks.

The different colonial governments, well aware of the savage and

bloodthirsty character of these same native border police, had often

meditated suppressing the force altogether. But they had hitherto

found themselves unable to do so. White constables are useless on

the borders. It is only the aboriginal, with his keen senses and

power of tracking his enemy, who can be depended upon to protect the

settlers in those districts where native outrages prevail, or to

inflict chastisement upon the perpetrators of them.

With the first faint streak of dawn the cry of the mopoke rang

through the foliage above our heads. It was the signal agreed upon,

and emerging from the bed of the creek the troopers silently placed

themselves in a semicircle between the reeds and the eight or ten

miamis which constituted the camp; and, removing the pads which had

deadened the sound of their advance, waited until the blacks should

become aware of their presence. Like most savages who are given to

surprise their enemies, the Australian aboriginal is yet careless in

guarding against surprise. It was broad daylight before a shrill cry

announced that they were at last aware of their danger. Springing up

from their sleep, and taking in the whole situation at a glance, they

fled in a body over the plain, the only way left open for them.

Guided by Harris and Stevenson, who had remained behind the reeds,

but who now rode out and across the course of the fugitives, the

troopers galloped after, and soon succeeded in securing the

murderers, of whom one only offered any resistance.

CHAPTER VI.

ON THE TRAIL.

When the troopers passed through the camp, each man gave a sharp look

at the miamis, to see that no blacks remained. These were merely

sheets of bark, or boughs set up on end, so as to form a sloping wall

between the fires and the wind, so that they could not conceal

anybody. Owing to the haste, apparently, with which the blacks had

sprung up, one of these miamis had got knocked down, and the boughs

had fallen on the fire in front, where the leaves, damp with the rain

which had fallen, were smouldering. Beneath these fallen boughs, and

running the risk of being burned to death, lay hidden the black

Walters so much wished to capture. He had had the presence of mind,

on the alarm being given, to roll himself close to the fire, and,

lying flat under his blanket, to knock away the prop which supported

the bark and boughs of his miami; and as I rode up to the camp from

the creek, for I had remained behind the troop, having no desire to

be other than a mere spectator, Bobby Peel, dressed once more in

cotton shirt, jacket, and trousers, was just rolling himself from

beneath them.

My first impulse was to detain him, but he gave me such an appealing,

eloquent look, that I hesitated. I remembered what Stevenson had

told me as to the infamous treatment endured by this man's tribe; how

Peel's first experience of white men was being fired on when awaiting

the approach of a party of overlanders who came near, making signs of

friendship until within range, when they delivered a volley which

killed his father and two brothers. Old Toby had often shown me the

patch of reeds he and Peel, then a lad, took shelter in on that

occasion. I had warned Stevenson I would not in any way aid in the

capture, even if I saw them escaping. In the short time I had been

on the run, I had mingled much with them, had taken long shooting and

botanical excursions with two of these very murderers, and been of

service to them professionally; for European disease was rife amongst

their miamis, and that they were grateful to me I could easily see by

the gleam of pleasure which lightened up their visages when 'doc,

doc,' as they called me, appeared amongst them. Moreover, as I

looked round, there seemed no possibility of escape for Peel. The

mallee and swamp were guarded, and across the plain he could not move

unseen. Was it for me to hasten the miserable creature's doom by a

few minutes? I could not do it; and when the black, raising himself

on his elbow, after a keen look at the troop, at that moment in full

career after his countrymen, pushed the wet boughs farther on to the

fire, so as to raise a dense smoke, which the high wind blowing

carried along the ground, and ran unobserved under its shelter to the

reeds, I did not interfere to prevent him.

A very short time, however, elapsed before Walters was on his track.

Not finding him with the rest, and suspecting what had actually

occurred, he galloped down to the camp, and his men soon found the

foot-marks of the fugitive in the wet grass. But upon following

these through the swamp, the bird was flown. Peel had crept to the

margin of the creek, and there seeing the sentry by the mallee,

instantly suspected that the upper swamp also was guarded, for he

knew well the number of the troop. His only resource, then, was to

enter the bed of the creek and run down it until near enough to the

point where the scrub approached its banks, to afford him a chance of

reaching it before being overtaken. This was, as I said above, only

a thousand yards or so away in a straight line, but by the creek bed,

owing to its great winding, the distance was nearly doubled. To

succeed, he required a far longer start than Walters' vigilance had

left him, for not many minutes had elapsed from the time he had

disappeared in the reeds, before the lieutenant had sent troopers

down to guard the bed of the watercourse and the plain on both sides;

after which he put three expert trackers on the trail. Then, riding

to where Stevenson and I were patching up two or three wounded

blacks,--for, in spite of all his injunctions and efforts, some of

his men would use their weapons,--and hastily ordering the prisoners

to be taken to the head station, whither Harris also went, to bring

the spring cart for one of the wounded men who had bled very much, he

invited me to join him in the hunt; for I had in the course of

conversation the previous night expressed a wish to witness a

specimen of the tracking powers of his men. I eagerly consented, not

only because I was desirous of seeing exercised some of those keen

faculties which the savage possesses in such perfection, but because

I somehow felt a great interest in the fate of the miserable

fugitive, and wished to be present to witness the result of the

chase, whatever it might be, whether escape or capture. I could not

help secretly hoping, as I noted the eager and ardent way in which

his own countrymen set to work to hunt him down, that the poor wretch

might escape. But there was, to all appearance, but small hope of

that.

The creek down the bed of which the fugitive had fled was not an ana

branch of the Murray, but one of the ordinary watercourses called by

that name in Australia, which is, however, only properly applicable

to an inlet of the sea. A raging torrent in winter, it was in summer

a succession of 'water-holes' or pools, with spaces of dry ground

between them. Some of these water-holes were from fifty to a hundred

yards in length,--a few much larger, but in general they resembled

small ponds,--the breadth being some forty or fifty feet. In depth

many greatly exceeded this. The banks were fringed with the 'yarra'

trees, which almost invariably, even when they are passing through

plains otherwise treeless, margin the smaller watercourses of

Australia, and which in this particular creek grew more closely than

usual together at that level of the bank reached by the floods in

winter-time. Unlike the generality of Australian timber, which

shoots up to a considerable height before giving off any branches,

these yarra trees in form more often resemble those of English growth

(such as the oak); the trunk, gnarled and stunted, dividing at a few

feet into large branches, the inner ones growing with an inclination

downwards towards the water, into which at flood-time their ends

often dip. From the blacks' camp to the out-station hut, a mile off,

the course of the creek somewhat resembled the letter S.

We soon overtook the trackers, who had not much difficulty in

following, as the fugitive had not had time to resort to any

elaborate artifices. At one spot he had taken to the water, and some

time passed before the place where he left it could be ascertained.

The margin of that particular water-hole was rocky in some places. A

slight drizzling rain had continued to fall, but beneath the trees

the ground as yet was comparatively dry. The drippings from the

fugitive's clothes would quickly betray his passage, but none such

could be seen. It was concluded that he lay hidden in a patch of

reeds which grew in a shallow part of the water at one end, and

search was being made there by two of the blacks as we rode up. The

third, however, more cunning than the rest, instead of joining them,

ascended on to the plain, and commenced making casts round about in

the neighbourhood. At first he also was unsuccessful, but in working

his way round the water-hole he caught sight of a tuft of pretty

thick bushes some thirty feet or so out. Instantly he ran up to

them, as if pretty certain of there finding what he was looking for,

and, stooping, he drew out a couple of dead, flattened, bushy boughs.

Beneath these were the footmarks of the hunted man.

The bush in Australia is everywhere littered with dead trees and

branches, the beds of the creeks in particular, where they are torn

from the banks and deposited in heaps by floods. The leaves of one

small bushy species adhere most tenaciously for months after death,

and are not easily broken. Picking up two of these as he fled, and

keeping them dry as he entered the water and swam, Peel had placed

them on the dry, rocky part of the bank. Hastily pressing and

squeezing as much moisture as possible out of his clothes, he had

lifted himself out upon them, and allowed them to receive the

droppings from his person. Shifting one before the other, and always

keeping upon them, he had ascended the bank, and in this manner

reached the tuft of bushes without leaving any moisture or footprint

to betray him. We found that the bend of the creek at this spot

would hide him from view.

After leaving the tuft of bushes, he had run for some distance at

full speed, and again descended into the bed. Upon coming to that

part where it approached the mallee sufficiently close to enable the

fugitive, had he left the creek, to reach the scrub before the

horseman on watch could overtake him, the trackers found that the

traces still continued to keep within the banks. By this they were

sure that he had not had time to try it, and that Walters had been

too quick for him. His resorting to these artifices was another

proof, and the trackers now proceeded cautiously, for fear he should

double on them and take the back track.

We at length came to a water-hole of great size, being nearly three

hundred yards in length, and in parts very broad. Along the side of

this the tracks led for a good distance, and then suddenly

disappeared. The mallee came closer here than in any other part; and

the trooper on sentry there was riding up and down in its front. He

examined the ground where he was; and the blacks with us, thinking

that by chance he might have dodged in unobserved by the sentry,

examined the plain in their own vicinity; but no marks could be seen.

The fugitive had evidently taken to the water. But had he left it,

and how? was the question; for, search as they would, not a mark to

indicate the whereabouts of his exit could be seen. The long, dry

summer had sunk the water so much, that on both sides a broad margin

of damp clay bank extended, which would have quickly betrayed his

passage; and the blacks had soon ascertained that Peel had not

repeated his former ruse. They decided, therefore, that he was still

in the water, concealed; and that, moreover, there was another black

concealed there with him.

The farther end of the larger lagoon was connected by a narrow,

shallow strait, a few feet wide, with a smaller one; and on walking

round this, one of the troopers had come upon some other tracks,

which also led to the margin of the pool, and there disappeared. An

examination of these soon led to the decision that they had very

recently been made, that they were the footmarks of a black, and that

it was not Peel. And upon examining the narrow strait of shallow

water, they furthermore asserted that the individual, whoever he was,

had passed through it hurriedly on his way to the larger lagoon.

When Walters conveyed this information to the superintendent and

myself, who were present, I was much surprised. I could not imagine

how it could be possible for the men to be concealed in such a place.

'How can they tell that anybody has passed through this water?' I

said to their commander. 'It is only two or three feet deep, but the

bottom is invisible, owing to the dark colour of the clay, and the

shade cast by the trees.'

'They examined the edge of it,' he replied, 'and found that a ripple

or wave had recently washed over the pebbles, grass, and clay of the

bank for several inches. If he had walked gently through, the mark

left would have been much slighter than if he had passed through in a

hurry. This fellow rushed through in a hurry, evidently. Probably

just then he caught sight of the troopers coming over the plain to

station themselves by the scrub here, close by, and made for the

larger water directly.'

'Perhaps,' I suggested, 'the tracks are Peel's, made by walking

backwards out of the water, to deceive you.'

'He knew well he could not deceive the blacks that way,' said

Walters. 'No! this is the track of a man running, and running fast.

Doubtless it was one of the head-station blacks, from the

public-house, who had heard or suspected something, and was coming to

give the others warning, but was too late. Whoever he is, he is

hidden somewhere in the water still, and Peel too, most likely.'

'In the water?' I said, astonished.

'Yes; amongst the reeds.'

'But,' said I, 'there are no reeds, or scarcely any; only those

narrow strips, barely a yard or two in width, round the margin; and

you can see right down into them from the banks, and detect any man's

head above the surface, even if it were in the thickest patch I see

hereabouts; for they are not more than ten or twelve inches above the

water, at most.'

'Yes; if they were such fools as to keep their heads above water,'

replied the lieutenant. 'But these chaps are stowed away underneath.'

'With their heads under water? What do you mean?'

'I mean that you might pass this lagoon, walk round its banks, and

look as closely as you will down upon those scanty reeds fringing the

margin,--you will see nothing, and hear nothing but the rustling of

the wind in the leaves. And yet a hundred blacks might be lying

hidden there all the time! And so closely will they be concealed

that a flock of wild ducks might alight and see nothing to startle

them, so solitary and quiet will be the aspect of the place.'

'How can they manage it?'

'Simply enough. Almost every one of them keeps about him, concealed

in his thick, bushy hair, a piece of hollow reed tube. When closely

pressed, they take to the water, and, diving beneath, thrust their

heads into a patch of reeds. Turning on their backs first, they

allow their faces to come near enough to the surface for the tube to

project, and they breathe through it. The sharpest eye could not

detect this, hidden as it is amongst the thick growth; and even

without it, it would be impossible to detect their nostrils, which,

in that case, they only allow to project above water. See!' he

added; 'they are groping for them.'

Some spears had been brought from the deserted camp for this very

purpose; and, walking round the margin, two of the troopers thrust

these in all directions into the water, but for some time without any

result; the other black continuing his search round the banks for the

trail, in case they had after all left it. All at once, however, I

noticed one of them, as he was bending forward, and probing with his

weapon, slip and partly fall in. His spear had been jerked out of

his hand, and a movement in the reeds betrayed the cause. Running

up, I caught sight, for an instant, of the twinkling soles of the

feet (which are much lighter-coloured than the skin of the rest of

the body) of the diver, as he proceeded to swim under water to some

other part of the lagoon. But his pursuers had also seen them, and

had been able to follow, with their keener gaze, the passage of the

dark body itself, which, after the first glimpse, was invisible to

me, to its new hiding-place. There was not the slightest disturbance

of the surface, or any greater movement amongst the wind-tossed reeds

than was observable elsewhere on the water-hole, to betray its

whereabouts, yet the blacks unerringly selected the spot, and with

poised spears were about to thrust the unfortunate through, whoever

he was, when Stevenson interposed.

'No, we must have none of that kind of work, Walters,' he said. 'Get

him out alive;' and after poking and following the fugitive to two or

three different parts of the lagoon, finding it useless to persist,

he at length popped his head above water, revealing to our gaze the

features, not of Bobby Peel, but of the boy Pothook, whom we had left

at home. Finding a brandy bottle on the shelf of our hut, his

custodian had gone to get some water to mix himself a glass, thinking

that as the boy was snoring he must be asleep; and the lad had seized

the opportunity, slipped out, and made off, and was out of range

before the hut-keeper had missed him. But Pothook was too late to

warn his friends.

He was in mortal terror at finding himself in the hands of the

dreaded troopers, and would not come out of the water until he had

made Stevenson and me promise they should not kill him.

'Where Bobby Peel?' asked the superintendent of the lad.

'Him pull away over yonder,' he replied, pointing to the out-station

hut, which was invisible, being hidden by some bushes out in the

plain.

'Likely story that!' said the lieutenant contemptuously. 'It's no

use asking him anything; he wants to get us away from here; and he'll

lie till he's white in the face to do it. No! Peel is in this

water-hole, I am positive. We shall have him presently, never fear.

I must have that rascal this time; he has dodged me so often. But I

think he won't slip through my fingers now.'

But 'the rascal' seemed destined not to be caught. The blacks

stripped and swam about the lagoon, groping amongst the remaining

reeds, and now and then diving to take a look below, but in vain.

Half an hour had altogether been spent in the search, and still there

were no signs of the fugitive.

'I begin to think the boy may be speaking the truth after all,' said

the superintendent to me; 'though why Peel should make for the hut,

where the men hate him so much, is a puzzle to me. Surely he would

not dare. I will ride across and see.'

Just at that moment, however, we observed one of the blacks, who was

coursing round the water-hole like a baffled bloodhound, suddenly

stop, and look up at the branches of the trees which everywhere

surrounded it. These had been examined by them upon first coming, in

order to make sure that no boughs hung near enough to the surface for

any swimmer to lift himself out by their aid. But the water was so

low at this time that every branch was at first sight apparently too

far out of reach. Finding no trace, however, on the broad clay

margin on either side, the idea again suggested itself, and a more

minute examination of the different trees was made; but the bough

which approached the water most nearly was five or six feet from the

surface, and belonged to a tree which was situated on the side

nearest to the hut. Jumping into the creek, however, the black above

mentioned swam out until he came beneath it, and, although the

water-hole was at least fifty feet deep, to our surprise the man's

body presently emerged until he stood up, and, reaching out his

hands, grasped the bough and swung himself up on to it. The manner

in which Peel had left the water was now made manifest. A large tree

was there sunk,[1] a bough of it coming to within a few inches of the

surface. From the banks this was invisible, owing to the dark shade

cast by the branches above; but the fugitive, who was familiar with

every foot of the water-hole from infancy, had availed himself of it,

and had landed on the side nearest to the hut, and away from the

scrub.

[1] The Australian woods, with a few exceptions, sink in water.

The black scrambled along until he reached the trunk, and, slipping

down, looked at the ground at its foot. The grass along the edge of

the plain above, for the breadth of a few feet back from the bank,

had already been examined up and down the water-hole on his side, but

without effect, and no tracks could now be seen at the foot of this

particular tree. The black, however, again looking up, observed that

a long bough projected out over the plain, and walking out to the end

of this he again examined the ground. One glance was sufficient for

him, although I could see nothing, and giving a cooey to the rest,

who were still hunting in the bed of the creek, Walters and his

companions joined him.

'Got it--track belongin' to Bobby,' said the trooper, pointing to the

ground, and trotting farther out on the plain towards the hut.

CHAPTER VII.

THE END OF THE CHASE.

'Now what dodge has the fellow been up to?' said Walters. 'If he is

skulking in this myrtle patch, hoping to double back to the creek, he

is mistaken. Unless he has passed my men on the plain, which isn't

likely, we'll soon have him.'

I observed Stevenson looking round for Pothook, but that youth had

prudently slipped off. We afterwards questioned him as to what took

place when he and Peel met each other. It seems that, cut off from

his only chance, the scrub on one side of the creek, and informed, by

the way, that the bed of it lower down was guarded, the black had for

a few moments given up all hope of escape. He looked in despair

between the trunks of the yarra trees towards the out-station hut,

which lay a quarter of a mile off, hidden in a belt of myrtle and

quandong bushes, some three or four hundred yards long, and extending

across the bend so as to shut out the view of the great plain beyond.

That plain, he knew, was carefully guarded, and, moreover, it led to

the home station. But as he looked he saw an object which excited a

gleam of hope, and inspired him with a desperate resolve. The sunken

tree was some distance back from where he stood, and to avoid showing

his return traces he jumped into the water and swam to it, emerging

in the manner described, while the boy took to the creek, intending

to remain concealed under the surface until the danger which he

fancied menaced himself passed by. In going towards the hut, Peel

ran no danger of being seen by the black stationed by the mallee, for

on such a level plain the yarra trees which fringed the water-hole

completely screened from those at a distance on one side whatever

passed on the other side of the creek.

The open space between the part of the banks where we now stood and

the belt of small timber above mentioned, was less than a quarter of

a mile, and while the blacks who had been swimming in the water-hole

were dressing themselves, Walters galloped across it, and through the

bushes and on to the large plain beyond, to see whereabouts his

sentries were. He could see two, who were riding up and down just

within sight of each other, while between and beyond them, far out,

was the shepherd with his flock. There was not a bush to conceal the

view, and far away, by the edge of the distant timber, the blacks and

their guard were still in sight, on their way to the home station.

The timber opened opposite to him, and through this opening he could

see miles away on to another plain beyond. The road from the punt to

the upper part of the river passed that way, and came up to near

where he stood, crossing the creek near the out-station hut, and

going through a narrow portion of the mallee, which had been cleared

for the purpose. On this road, at a considerable distance off, was a

solitary horseman, apparently riding to the home station.

Meanwhile the blacks had again taken up the trail, which led straight

to the brush in which the hut was concealed. Just before we reached

the edge of this, Walters joined us again.

'I can't make the fellow out,' he said; 'he can't have crossed the

plain; and if he is skulking here, we shall soon have him.'

The sentry across at the mallee had been called over, and, with

another man, now watched in the open, to give notice if Peel doubled

out and made back tracks for the creek again; and we proceeded to

enter the bushes of quandong and myrtle. All at once there was a

commotion amongst the trackers, who sprang to their horses, shouting

something to Walters, who thereupon raged and stormed; and no wonder.

The distant horseman he had a few minutes before seen was the very

man he was after.

'Has either of your men here got a horse?' he asked the

superintendent hastily.

'Yes,' replied Stevenson (who, I suspected, had been for some time

aware of the trick Peel had played), 'the shepherd has one. He

bought it to shepherd his flock with on these level plains, as he was

always losing his sheep. He is a very little man, and consequently

could only see a short distance.'

'But he hadn't it to-day, had he?'

'No. The fact is, he was taken in, knowing nothing about horses, and

bought a thorough buck-jumper, who pitched him off as fast as he got

on. And the brute won't let you catch him in hobbles; so, as he

expects to sell it again, he keeps it tethered about the hut handy.

I am afraid,' added Stevenson to me, as Walters, too impatient to

listen further, spurred on after his men,--'I am afraid that vagabond

has been up to some mischief. I hope Watkins, the hut-keeper here,

is all right. Peel would be desperate, and not stick at a trifle in

the fix he was in. I suspected what he had been up to.'

'So I thought,' I replied, as we rushed on after the trackers.

Just as they reached the hut door, a man was crawling out on his

hands and knees. This turned out to be the hut-keeper, who was

covered with blood, which had flowed from a wound on his head.

'Why, Bill! what's the matter?' said the superintendent. 'Did Peel

do that?'

'Oh, is that you, Mr. Stevenson?' said the man, looking up at our

party, and raising himself with difficulty. 'Yes, it was; are you

after him?'

'Yes, we are; but how came you to let him do that?'

'You had best put your men on his track at once, Mr. Walters. He's

got King's horse.'

'We know he has, the villain!' said Walters, as he directed the three

trackers to follow instantly (Peel was still in sight, but soon

disappeared in the timber), while he and the rest waited behind a few

moments to hear the hut-keeper's account of the attack made on him,

which he gave as I bound up his wound.

It appeared that, while engaged in his usual morning work of shifting

the hurdles, after the flock had gone out at daylight, he saw some

one riding (as he thought) through the bushes towards his hut, and

left his work to see who it was. To his surprise, he found the

shepherd's horse, which he himself had tethered out that morning at

the edge of the myrtle, tied to the door, but immediately concluded

that the man himself had come for it, as he was daily expecting to

sell it, and that perhaps the intending purchaser had joined him

while with his flock. He therefore entered the hut quite

unsuspiciously; but it was apparently empty. While turning round, he

was felled by a blow with his own gun; and, staggering forwards, fell

close to his bed. He was not entirely stunned, and instantly rolled

himself underneath it. At first he thought that Peel (whom he had

recognised) was going to drag him out and finish him, but the black

was in too great a hurry. He stayed long enough, however, to saddle

the horse, and load himself with the tea and sugar bags, as well as

the flour and half a damper which was on the table. Moreover, the

man found that he had taken down his looking-glass, which hung on a

nail in the wall. His object in doing this was that he might whiten

his face with the dirty outside of the flour bag. With a

cabbage-tree hat and a shooting coat which he put on, at a distance

he would not look like a black, and he could pass the sentries

unsuspected. In fact, we heard afterwards from them that he went

between them, walking, and leading his horse, and pretending to read

an old newspaper he had picked up off the table in the hut. It was

so natural that a passing horseman coming from higher up the river

should call at the out-station, and he turned his whitened, or rather

whitey-browned, face towards them both so coolly, that, disguised as

he was in hat and coat, and having the horse as well, it was no

wonder that, at several hundred yards distance, they should be

deceived.

I felt rather queer when I saw the hut-keeper's condition, and

reflected that, had he been killed, I should have been indirectly the

cause of his death. And what if the black, driven to desperation,

committed more murders? There was no chance now of their catching

him. He was making straight for the large reed-bed, which extended

miles down the river below the head station.

'I don't see the use of following him any longer. He has got off

clear!' said Stevenson, after we had gone some miles. 'Upon my word,

he deserves his liberty too.'

We at last reached the reeds, and followed the traces along their

margin, thick timber with brush being on our right. In passing the

head station all but two of the most expert of the troopers were sent

away. With these, the superintendent, Walters, and I, continued the

chase, although with very slight hopes of capturing the fugitive, now

that he had succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of the reedy

swamps, which communicated with the main body of the mallee,

extending in the direction of South Australia for hundreds of miles

down the river.

'Dodged me once more!' said Walters. 'Oh, if I had only thought of

telling one of my men to call as he passed the hut where he stole the

horse! We should have had him, for they would have been on the

look-out. But now-- What's the matter, Doolibut?'

The track had hitherto led for several miles in a straight line,

parallel with the river; but now the leading black pulled up his

horse and looked about him. The hoof-marks had changed their

character, and swerved from their former course, zigzagging in

different directions; these signs indicating that a severe struggle

had here taken place between the horse and his rider.

'His horse has been playing up!' said the superintendent. 'These are

the marks made by his hack jumping about. I wonder the beast went so

far with the black on his back without doing so before, for he is a

regular brute. No one on the station will ride him.'

It seemed, however, that Peel had conquered, for presently the tracks

of the horse once more galloping were taken up, and we followed them

on. But again we came to the marks of a struggle; and these

increased in number at every mile or so, until we came to a place

about half a mile from the scrub for which the black was making, and

where the reeds and the timber, mingled with brush, approached each

other closely. We were passing along a narrow, winding opening or

path between these, having the reeds on our left, when once more the

leading black pulled up, and after a brief glance at the ground,

dismounted.

The sandy, loose soil on which the trees grew was margined by and

intermingled with the soft boggy ground on which were the reeds, here

five or six feet in height, and very dense. The spot was thickly

overgrown with ferns and small bushes, which in several places were

broken and trampled, while the ground was deeply imprinted with

hoof-marks. Besides these, however, the blacks evidently saw other

signs; for, pointing to one particular place, and speaking eagerly to

each other, they stooped down to examine it more narrowly; and then,

walking on a few steps, came to the foot of an immense tree, which,

growing on the very margin of the swamp, had one portion of its roots

bathed by its waters, there being hardly room for a man to pass

between the reeds and the trunk on that side. On the other were some

bushes, which concealed the view immediately beyond.

'Why, there is the horse!' said the superintendent suddenly, pointing

to the right amongst the trees. 'He has left it, and taken to the

swamp on foot. He's safe now.'

The two blacks paused and raised themselves up as he spoke; and,

following the direction in which Stevenson pointed, one of them

walked forward a few paces to look. He stood a single instant, and

was in the act of turning to rejoin his companion, when a puff of

smoke rose beyond the bushes, we heard a report, and saw him fall to

the earth. He was shot right through the heart.

The other trooper, knowing that Peel's gun was a single barrel, and

that he had now no charge left, ran round the bushes to fire; and

Stevenson and I rode in the same direction. Beyond these bushes was

a small open space, margined on one side by a pool of water. Half in

this water and half out lay an immense prostrate tree; and sitting on

the ground, leaning his back against this, was Bobby Peel. He knew

that his last hour was come, for he had evidently made up his mind to

die. He had delayed too long leaving his horse, for the animal had

at length succeeded in throwing him; and in the fall he came on one

of the roots of this large tree, and his leg was broken. He had

dragged himself round to the edge of the pool, probably for the

purpose of obtaining a drink of water, to assuage the thirst which is

always the greatest torture in such calamities.

The dead tree against which he was leaning was that kind of

Eucalyptus the bark of which is cellular, and very thick. This bark

had peeled off the trunk, and lay in great hard dry flakes by its

side; and the black had employed himself in breaking up this heavy,

brittle material into pieces about the size of a cheese-plate.

Several heaps thus prepared lay ready to his hand on both sides of

him. He was busy in reloading his gun; and for a few moments, from

my horse's back, I had an opportunity of noticing these particulars,

for, owing to the dense brush which surrounded the place in which he

was, it was some little time before the troopers could fairly

approach him.

'Take him alive, Mr. Walters,' I urged. 'Don't let your fellow shoot

him. Tell him to surrender, and lay down his gun, Stevenson.'

But Walters was naturally much incensed at the loss of his man, and

felt very little inclination to do anything of the kind; and to the

superintendent's summons the black replied by a volley of curses and

imprecations against all white men,--in the midst of which the

trooper fired, and the ball passed through Peel's chest.

The gun, which was nearly reloaded, fell from his hands, and Walters

dismounted and walked forward to take possession of it. But the

moment he appeared within the little open space the black, seizing a

handful of the pieces of heavy bark, hurled them edgeways at his head

and face with a rapidity and certainty of aim perfectly wonderful.

The first piece he flung struck Walters across the forehead; and

piece followed piece in such quick succession that the lieutenant was

compelled to turn his back while he drew and cocked his pistol. For

some time he found it impossible to aim, so unerringly did the

missiles come rapping at him; but when at length he fired the black

fell dead.

Years have passed, but all the incidents of that exciting and tragic

chase are still fresh in my memory. The fierce strength of that last

terrible effort almost appalled us, and we were loud in our regrets

that so much skill and endurance should come to such an end. Times

have changed since then, but it remains a reproach to our

civilisation that the aboriginal races are fast vanishing before it.

At the same time, there is cause for thankfulness that the efforts of

Christian benevolence have not been in vain on behalf of the natives.

There are still occasional outrages, but reckless treatment of the

blacks is now held in check by a healthier public opinion.

CAPTAIN STAUNCY'S VOW.

CHAPTER I.

In the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four there stood on

the old quay at Appledore--a maritime village in the north of

Devon--a sombre-looking abode of respectability, with an air of faded

greatness about it, which towered above its more humble neighbours,

and commanded an unbroken view of the so-called 'Pool.'

That self-same 'Pool' is not unworthy of notice; for there the tidal

waters of the Torridge and the Taw form a spacious basin, in which

shipping of no mean tonnage may swim and swing. It is there that

those waters assume the hue and mimic the mien of their capricious

stepmother, the ocean, becoming greener and more wavy; and when the

old lady, rushing in over Bideford Bar, takes these children in her

arms, the swelling and dancing and splashing of that Pool in the

pride of its heart is beyond all common belief. It is there, too,

that, having parted company for a time, and sailed miles into the

country, they return again, and, bidding their tidal convoy farewell

for a season, allow her to glide out by the side of the Burrows,

until she joins once more with the Atlantic in Bideford Bay.

There are not a few who leave smoky cities, and breezeless plains,

and monotonous landscapes, during the summer months, for seaside air

and scenery; and to such we would say, Search out this meeting of the

waters. Make acquaintance with North Devon, and pay your respects to

Northam, the birthplace and the resting-place of that valiant

adventurous knight Sir Amyas Leigh. Run down from thence to the

Burrows, with its thousand acres of greensward like a bowling-green,

studded with grazing cattle, and fenced by a long sea-wall of

innumerable pebbles, beyond which is a strand that would amaze

Ilfracombe or Weston. Inhale there the strong sea-breezes fresh up

from the Atlantic. Walk fearlessly out into the surf, to meet the

breakers rolling majestically, and harmless withal as the ripples on

a mill-pond. Creep over the slaty rocks with oarweed strewed,

surveying thence the frowning head of Hartland, or the burnt turf

slopes and beetling cliffs of Baggy, and you will meet with marine

enjoyments which few of the more fashionable resorts have ever dreamt

of, and can never hope to supply.

In one of the front rooms of that sombre abode of respectability sat

the wealthiest and most renowned of Appledore's merchants--and then

they were princes indeed. Mr. Phillipson was a shrewd and determined

man. Descended from ancestors who had contributed much to the

commercial prosperity of Devon, when Bideford was one of the most

stirring and thriving of British trading ports, he inherited their

business habits, their passion for speculation, their greed for gain,

and consequently their remorseless rapacity; and, at the time of

which we write, he was busily engaged in the American and Russian

trade, which yielded him a handsome income. Though well educated,

and accustomed to good society, his manners were anything but

refined; and so rough and coarse was his language at times that the

common people honoured him with epithets not very flattering to his

respectability. It was said by those who pretended to know that he

was a hard drinker. There were whispers, too, that he had so far

departed from the line of rectitude as to traffic in contraband

goods, and that some of his craft were in fact no better than

out-and-out smugglers. These rumours, however, were attributed by

all genteel inhabitants to the tongue of scandal; for true it is that

evil-speaking, lying, and slandering were very strong-handed in that

maritime village. And so it came to pass that money and station did

then what they have always done, and will always do--stave off

suspicions, make the possibility of crime a hard thing to be

believed, and keep a fence around the character which it is next door

to sacrilege to touch.

It was a winter morning. The fire which burned brightly on the

hearth was clear and glowing as a frosty air could make it; and as

the merchant gazed on the ruddy mass and flickering flame, he seemed

absorbed in some dreamy reverie; but, recovering occasionally from

the fit of abstraction into which his musings had thrown him, he cast

his eyes hurriedly and anxiously on the papers that lay on the table

before him.

His reverie was interrupted at the moment he had apparently come to

some definite conclusion. A servant entered and announced that

Captain Stauncy wished to speak with him.

'Show him in,' he said smartly, as though annoyed at being

interrupted and intruded on just then; adding, in a more

self-possessed tone, 'See that no one is admitted whilst the captain

is here.'

James Stauncy entered, and a goodly specimen of a British tar was he.

His manly, open, sunburnt countenance, his broad and strong-built

figure, his smart and jaunty air, his bold and sparkling eye, his

spruce and expensive fittings, proclaimed him a worthy son of

Neptune. Under other circumstances, and with opportunities more

favourable, he would have become an extraordinary man. Generous and

disinterested, brave and devoted, self-possessed and strong-minded,

he would have stood out from and proved himself superior to his

class. But his education had been scanty; and, having reached the

quarter-deck through the hawse-hole, as the sailors express it,--that

is, having passed through all possible gradations, from the cabin-boy

to the captain,--he had not been able to rub off the rough manners of

early days, nor had he furnished his mind with any literature beyond

that of the log-book.

The habits and associations of the forecastle had marked him

strongly; and the only wonder is that, having passed through many a

slough in his sailor's career, there was comparatively so little mire

adhering to him. His moral code was for the most part comprised in

one word, _duty_, comprehending fidelity to his employer and

devotedness to his family; and faithfully must it be recorded that he

seldom felt much scruple about the means, provided the ends were 'all

right' in his estimation.

Having respectfully saluted his superior, he seated himself near the

fire, at the request of the merchant, who, without giving him an

immediate opportunity of explaining his errand, said, 'You will join

me, Mr. Stauncy?' and, taking a bottle of brandy from the cupboard,

he held it for a moment in his hand reflectingly; then, raising it

between his eye and the window, he smiled as he surveyed the

brilliant liquor, and observed, 'Here's something, captain, that

never blushed at the face of a gauger: help yourself;' and he helped

himself, remarking, as he smacked his lips, 'Prime stuff for priming,

Mr. Stauncy, I'll warrant you. Captain,' he added, evidently

speaking out of the fulness of his heart, and continuing audibly what

he had been revolving mentally, 'the road to fortune is what we make

it--long or short, broad or narrow. There is the long roundabout

turnpike road, and there is the short cut through brake and spinney.

I was thinking about this just as you entered, and I should like to

have your opinion. It strikes me that two words comprehend

everything--work and wit: work is the turnpike--wit is the short cut.'

'I don't know, Mr. Phillipson,' replied the captain; 'short cuts for

a sailor are often dangerous things; and the fellows that I am

acquainted with who live by their wits are a ragged lot, sure enough.'

'Bah! you don't understand me; but you'll be wiser some day. I tell

you what it is, Stauncy: the higher up you get in life, the shorter

the cuts are. Chances multiply as you run up the ladder. What is

knavery amongst the poor at the bottom is "unfortunate speculation,"

or something of that sort, amongst the wealthy at the top; whilst all

the way through, according to a graduated scale, artifice, or roguery

if you like, changes both its name and its aspect. Dangerous at one

end, it gradually becomes safer and safer; for, whilst it exposes the

wits _you_ speak of to a few lessons on the treadmill, it rewards the

wits _I_ speak of with the fawning homage of everybody. I would only

observe,' he added, helping himself at the same time, 'that you and I

are fools if we don't make our brains serve us as others do. And

now, what is it?'

'I came, sir,' replied Stauncy, 'to ask for orders, as we shall be

ready to move off to-morrow morning. The men say that the vessel is

bound to Jersey or Marseilles.'

'Never mind what the men say,' exclaimed the merchant; 'there is

gossip enough in this place to ballast a man-of-war. The Sarah Ann

is bound to a far more comfortable and profitable port.'

'Any where you please, sir,' said the captain, who had been

accustomed for some time to receive orders at the last moment. 'I am

not particularly curious; and, indeed,' he added, laughing, 'it's

part of my agreement, you know, to ask no questions, and do as I'm

bid.'

'Exactly so,' Mr. Phillipson responded. '_I_ do as I am bid by

circumstances and chances; _you_ do as you are bid by my honourable

self; and, as I have always endeavoured to be faithful to my masters,

so you have always been faithful to me.'

'Thank you, sir,' replied Stauncy, evidently flattered. 'I hope I

know my duty;' and, preparing for himself a fresh potation, he added,

'Long life to you, sir, and all the success you wish for.'

'All the success I wish for, Stauncy, is more than I can expect to

secure; but you can help me, if you will, to a large slice of it. I

have trusted you more than any man living.'

'Mr. Phillipson,' replied the captain, 'all I say is, I've

endeavoured to do my duty.'

'You _have_, Stauncy; and I'll make a man of you when you return from

this voyage. You'll be able to sing "With shiners in my sack" to

some purpose.'

'It'll be a short cut, then,' answered the captain, who had often

heard the same thing before, but whose love of money was keener than

his sense of disappointment; 'and maybe I shall get to the top of the

ladder after all. I suppose we are bound for kegs, as usual?'