A CLEVER ESCAPE
'They cannot well be ahead of us,' said Doonan. 'I have seen no one
about.'
'Precious good care they would take you did not see them,' answered
Silas.
'We must make the best of our way back,' said Willie, and set the pace
faster than Constable Doonan's horse cared to go.
'I shall be left if you go at that rate,' he shouted to Willie.
As Wanabeen came in sight all appeared quiet and safe, and they
anticipated nothing had happened there. They were mistaken.
Abe Dalton had laid his plans well. Together with three of his men he
had been on the watch for some hours. By a mere chance the absence of
the black gin from the camp had been discovered, and Dalton had found
brutal means to find out where she had gone.
'It will cost her her life,' he muttered, and then he cursed his men for
talking of such matters in front of the blacks. Sal being warned, as he
expected would be the case, no doubt either Willie Dennis or one of the
hands would be sent to Swamp Creek for assistance.
Dalton at once decided to ride in the direction of Wanabeen and keep a
sharp lookout. He knew every inch of the country and every place of
concealment.
Not far from Wanabeen homestead was an old disused boundary rider's hut,
and it was here he meant to hide and keep a sharp lookout.
Luck favoured him. With some difficulty the horses as well as the men
were packed inside, and no signs of them could be seen.
Abe Dalton caught sight of Willie and Silas Dixon riding away at a fast
pace, and knew they must have been put on their guard, but he was
surprised at the direction in which they were going, as it did not lead
to Swamp Creek.
'What's their little game?' he wondered. 'Perhaps they are on the
lookout for Doonan. I shall have to make an example of him. He hangs
around Barker's Creek too often for my liking. That fool Sharp; I must
get rid of him, or he'll land us in some trouble. He'll have to be fired
out and take his chance. There is no help for it.'
When Willie and Silas Dixon were out of sight, the party emerged from
their hiding-place, and, quickly mounting, rode as fast as the horses
could gallop to Wanabeen.
Sal heard them as they drew near, and looking out at the door saw it was
Abe Dalton and his men.
Her heart almost failed her, but she was courageous, and quickly
slamming the door, locked and bolted it. Then she fastened the windows,
and, taking up the revolver, resolved to defend herself until help
arrived. The black gin was crouching in a corner, quivering with terror,
for she knew Dalton would show her no mercy when he found her there. It
was useless for Sal to ask her to assist in the defence, the poor
creature was helpless from sheer fright.
Dalton reached the house first, and banging at the door with the butt
end of his whip, shouted,--
'Open the door, my black beauty. No harm shall come to you if you go
with us quietly, but we mean to have you.'
She made no answer, and Dalton, becoming impatient, sent a couple of his
men to the rear of the house, where they commenced to smash in a window.
The crack of a revolver was followed by a cry of pain, and the smashing
of glass ceased.
'She's got a revolver,' said Dalton. 'We must be careful, but she cannot
attend to both the back and the front of the place.'
He saw a heavy axe standing in the yard and called to the man who was
minding the horses to bring it him. The fellow put the horses in the
yard and then brought him the axe; it was one used for splitting logs
and was very strong. Dalton brought it down with a crash on the door,
and the wood splintered. He put his hand inside to unlock it, or to pull
back the bolt, when Sal fired at him, but missed.
Nothing daunted, Dalton stepped back and again raised the axe. The door,
not being strongly built, was soon forced open, and as it fell inwards
there was a crash heard at the back of the house, where Dalton's men had
also forced a way in. Sal was so intent upon taking aim at Abe Dalton
that she did not hear one of the men steal quickly up behind her. He hit
up her arm as she fired, and this saved Abe Dalton's life, as the bullet
went through his hat.
She was at once pinioned and her arms strapped behind her.
'That was a near shave, Sal,' said Dalton; 'and if you belonged to me
I'd damage that face of yours. As it is, I'll leave that for your new
master to operate on when he's tired of you.'
'My new master!' she said. 'What do you mean?'
'A very nice man has fallen in love with you, Sal, and we are going to
take you to him.'
'You will suffer for this. Wait until Jim Dennis returns,' she said.
Sal knew it was useless to offer resistance; she must escape by some
other means when out of Dalton's hands.
Where were they taking her to? It could not be Barker's Creek. Then she
recollected what Rodney Shaw had said to her, and shuddered. Would he
dare to risk this outrage, with the assistance of such men as Dalton and
his gang? A man in his position dare not do it.
She little knew of what Rodney Shaw was capable.
They took her outside and strapped her on one of Jim Dennis's horses.
The black gin cowering in the corner had escaped notice until,
unfortunately for her, as Dalton was leaving the room he caught sight of
her.
'There you are!' he said with a savage scowl. 'I'll teach you to play
the spy, you black devil!'
He rushed at her and hit her across the face and head with his whip. She
howled with pain, a piteous cry, almost like that of a dying animal, a
long wail that caused Sal to shudder.
'I'll teach you,' he said, and, picking up Sal's revolver, he shot her
through the head with no more compunction than he would have done a
dingo.
'You will tell no more tales,' he said as he kicked her body away from
him. 'I'll leave you here for the boys to clear away when they return.'
The party were soon on their way to Cudgegong, and they kept a lookout
in every direction for signs of Willie Dennis and Dixon.
'We shall leave them on the left,' said Dalton. 'I don't think there is
any danger of our being seen. I hope you are comfortable, Sal,' he
added with a grin.
She made no reply. She was busy thinking how she would act, for she knew
they were going in the direction of Cudgegong.
It was a long, tedious ride, and the men were in a bad humour. They
thought Abe Dalton a fool for being mixed up in a job like this.
'Did you shoot that black gin?' one of them asked.
'Yes; she will tell no tales,' he answered.
'There'll be a lot of trouble over it, and with Seth Sharp's bungling
piece of work the Creek will be too hot to hold us.'
'If you are afraid to stay there you know what to do,' growled Dalton.
'Clear out, I suppose. You are mighty fond of telling some of us that.
Mind we don't clear you out.'
'Yes, I'll mind that, and I'll not forget what you have said. That's
your gratitude after I have kept you all these years,' said Dalton.
'Kept me!' echoed the man. 'Come, I like that. It's me that's helped to
keep you, and more fool I have been to do it.'
Sal was in hopes they would quarrel and give her a chance to escape,
but, although Dalton and some of his men were always falling out, their
mutual interests were too inseparable for any really serious quarrel to
arise.
Rodney Shaw was awaiting their arrival at Cudgegong, for Dalton had sent
him word the previous day that he might expect them. He was in an
excited state, and had been screwing up his courage with his favourite
liquor. He knew he was doing a rash and cowardly act, one that would not
only get him into trouble possibly, but would cause everyone to regard
him as a scoundrel.
He was, however, a man who cared little for such things, and, if the
worst came to the worst, he could clear out from Cudgegong. He had come
to hate the place, and there were other matters connected with it,
memories that haunted him and caused him to have many sleepless nights.
He thought in time Sal would settle down with him, as she had done with
Jim Dennis, and that she would be company for him. Until such time
arrived he meant to keep her safe and do as he liked with her.
He little knew the task he had set himself or the woman he had to deal
with. There was much of the cunning of the black in Sal, and she was not
a woman to submit tamely to indignities. When Abe Dalton and his party
arrived at Cudgegong Rodney Shaw at once had Sal taken to the room
prepared for her.
'You will soon be happy and contented here,' he said to her; 'and you
will not find me a bad master. You would not come to me of your own free
will, so I thought I would send for you.'
Sal gave him a fierce look from her big dark eyes, and said, as she
faced him,--
'You are a coward, not a man. Jim Dennis will throttle the life out of
you when he finds out what you have done.'
'He will not find out, because he will never suspect you are here,' he
replied.
She made him no answer. She felt Jim Dennis would know what had befallen
her.
He left her and went to settle with Dalton.
'You will find yourself in a nice mess over this,' said Dalton.
'I'll take the risk. I have the woman, that is what I wanted. Here is
your money.'
'It was a stiff job,' said Abe Dalton, 'and we have run a big risk.
Can't you make it a trifle more?'
Rodney Shaw swore at him, and said a bargain was a bargain, but he
eventually gave him twenty pounds over the sum agreed upon.
When they were gone he went again to Sal. He meant to try and coax her
into a good humour. He succeeded ill, and, losing his temper, said,--
'Remember I am your master now, and you will have to obey me. Think it
over during the night, and make up your mind to be contented.'
With that he left her, and she looked round for some means of escape.
The one window was heavily barred, and the door was fastened on the
outside.
Rodney Shaw had taken every precaution, so he thought, to secure her;
but he did not anticipate she would try to attempt what seemed
impossible, and escape. He did not know Sal. She meant to try every
means in her power to get out of that room.
The house was, as usual, built on thick wooden piles and was some height
from the ground. As Sal walked round and round she heard a board creak,
almost in the same spot, each time she passed over it. She knelt on the
floor and felt closely round the skirting. To her joy she discovered the
white ants had been busily at work on one of the piles and that they had
penetrated the skirting board of the room. She tapped it, and the sound
told her it was hollow inside, crumbling away. So great was her joy that
she had much difficulty in restraining herself from testing her plan at
once.
She knew, however, it would be safer to wait until it was dark and all
was still. The time passed slowly, but at last she determined to risk
it.
She pressed her hand heavily on the board, and, as she expected, it gave
way and crumbled to pieces. It was an easy matter for such a powerful
woman to rip the rotten portion away, but a more difficult task awaited
her when she attempted to pull up the flooring boards, and she had to be
very careful not to make much noise. Her hands were cut and bleeding,
but she heeded it not. She pulled and tugged with all her strength, and
at last one board gave way, but the space made was not wide enough for
her to squeeze through. The second board did not take so long to raise,
and this gave her a sufficient opening.
She slipped through and found herself underneath the house, free, if she
could only manage to get away unobserved or without rousing any of the
dogs.
She crawled along the ground, hardly daring to breathe, until she
reached the fence, which she quickly climbed.
Once outside she commenced to run for her life, and as she was fleet of
foot she soon put some distance between herself and Cudgegong. She knew
in which direction Wanabeen lay, and could tell by the star-lit heavens
that she was on the right track.
All night long she struggled on, until at last she could go no further,
and, falling from sheer exhaustion, she was soon in a deep sleep.