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The Rider of Waroona
By Firth Scott
Author of
"The Track of Midnight," "The Last Lemurian,"
"Romance of Polar Exploration," etc.
London
John Long, Limited
Norris Street, Haymarket
_All rights reserved_
_First Published in 1912_
SOME PRESS OPINIONS OF THE AUTHOR'S WORKS
_Daily Chronicle:_--"Mr. Scott knows the colonial, native born, to
the bones and the marrow."
_Westminster Gazette:_--"To say that each of them is a gem is not
saying too much."
_Globe:_--"Mr. Firth Scott writes a straightforward, vigorous
style, and has a keen eye for effective incident."
_World:_--"Deserves grateful recognition by lovers of tales well
told."
_Scotsman:_--"Characteristically Australian."
_Morning Post:_--"The story of Australian settlement is of
enthralling interest."
_Saturday Review:_--"This interesting and instructive book is very
pleasant reading."
_Literary World:_--"Mr. Firth Scott's stories are, alternately
imbued with rare glamour and realism. In either atmosphere he is
entertaining, and in both convincing."
_AT ALL LIBRARIES AND BOOKSELLERS_
Contents
I. CROTCHETY DUDGEON 9
II. THE RIDDLE 21
III. DISAPPEARED 34
IV. DURHAM'S SURMISE 44
V. MRS. BURKE'S PRESENTIMENT 58
VI. THE FACE AT THE WINDOW 79
VII. SNARED 93
VIII. THE NOTE THAT FAILED 103
IX. DUDGEON'S HOSPITALITY 118
X. "FOOLED" 133
XI. MRS. BURKE'S REBUFF 156
XII. AS THROUGH A MIST 173
XIII. REVENGE IS SWEET 191
XIV. THE LAST STRAW 211
XV. THE RIDER'S SCORN 227
XVI. LOVE'S CONQUEST 244
XVII. DUDGEON PROPOSES 265
XVIII. UNMASKED 286
XIX. THE ASHES OF SILENCE 307
CHAPTER I
CROTCHETY DUDGEON
In an old, rackety, single-horse buggy, a vehicle which, to judge by the
antiquity of its build and appearance and the rattle of its loose worn
bolts, might have done duty since the days of the first pioneers,
Dudgeon drove from his homestead to the bank.
He was a man who never discarded any article of use or clothing until it
was hopelessly beyond repair. With a huge fortune stowed away in
gilt-edged securities and metropolitan house property, he grudged even a
coat of paint for the vehicle he had driven for nearly forty years. The
local wheelwright had long since declined to attempt to repair it, so
the old man fell back on fencing-wire and his own skill whenever the
final collapse seemed imminent.
There was a legend circulating among the older residents of the district
as to the reason for his peculiarities. To the younger generation it was
merely an out-of-date story, for young Australia has scant heed for
everything which does not come within his own personal range of
experience or knowledge. But the legend, as extant, gave some
significance to the seemingly unreasonable actions of the eccentric old
man.
In the early days, when railways were not and the land was open and free
for the bold young bloods to conquer, Dudgeon had come out from the
coastal cities of the south. He had health and strength, and a heart
which knew not fear; but whatever of wealth he had had was left in the
hands of gambling sharks in the cities whence he came. He arrived at the
township on foot, a rare occurrence in those days when no man journeyed
half a mile except in the saddle. But the fact that he had walked
"looking for work," as he said, drew so much attention to him that
offers were made from all sides to hire his services. He accepted the
best, and went to Waroona Downs with the then owner, one Henry Lambton,
who, with his wife and daughter, resided at the house beyond the range.
Another was there also, a young man about Dudgeon's age, an Irishman
named O'Guire, a dashing, reckless fellow who made up in sharpness of
wit and trickery what he lacked in moral stability and scruples.
Indirectly, he was the pivot on which the course of Dudgeon's life
turned from the normal.
The direct cause was Kitty Lambton.
In a community where men predominate, every woman ranks as a belle; but
throughout Waroona and the districts for hundreds of miles round, Kitty
was queen, acknowledged even by her sister rivals. Before her charms
young Dudgeon fell prostrate in adoration, and she, jealous of her sway
over all with whom she came in contact, trifled and philandered with him
until neither earth nor heaven held anything more adorable for him than
herself. He was her slave, devoting himself to her with such abandon
that her vanity was gratified to the extent of influencing her, when
others began to remark upon the manly attractions of her admirer, to
allow him the privilege of believing that she would marry him.
But she was only trifling with him, callously and not too gently, for
the edification of herself and her real lover, O'Guire. The truth leaked
out when one day O'Guire vanished from the district and with him
vanished Kitty.
Thereafter Dudgeon was a changed man. Filled with an insensate belief
that Lambton and his wife were mainly, if not entirely, responsible for
an ill which brought them almost as much suffering as it brought him, he
went from the place, hugging schemes of deep vengeance to his breast. It
was in the days of the early gold finds, and Fortune showered on Dudgeon
her compensation for the injury of Love. All that came to him he took
and treasured, until he had enough for his purpose. Then he returned to
Waroona, and set about exacting the full measure of his revenge upon the
Lambtons.
He drove them from Waroona Downs, following them from the district when
they went, following them until he found them living with Kitty and her
husband in one of the southern cities, struggling fiercely for a bare
existence. The slings and arrows of misfortune had not brought out the
better side of O'Guire's nature and, at the time Dudgeon pounced down
upon them, he had only just emerged from prison. Detail was lacking in
the current legend as to what immediately happened thereafter, for when
Dudgeon came back to Waroona Downs he was silent on the subject, and
only rumours filtered through of Lambton and his wife going down, each
heart-broken, to a pauper's grave, while O'Guire and his wife barely
eluded the final act of vengeance by escaping over sea.
Under Dudgeon's ownership Waroona Downs flourished, and later he
acquired the largest station in the district. The success he enjoyed at
Waroona Downs followed him. His ownership of Taloona alone made him the
richest man in the community.
But no amount of money could bring back to him the nature which had been
his before the bitterness of betrayal changed him to a misanthropical
cynic. His hatred of women was not appeased by the revenge he had on the
Lambtons and O'Guires. He would not employ a woman; he would not employ
a man who was married; he would not tolerate the presence of a woman on
any of his properties. However valuable a man might be to him as an
employee, instant dismissal was inevitable directly that man announced
his intention of marrying.
In one instance the effect of this rule recoiled almost entirely on his
own head, but that did not deter Dudgeon from adhering to it.
He employed a man, first as overseer, then as manager, and finally as
confidential factotum. Unknown to him, Dudgeon set numberless traps and
pitfalls to test his reliability, and when, on every occasion, the man
came through the tests unscathed, he received so much consideration from
the taciturn old misanthrope, that he was currently regarded in the
light of the heir to the Dudgeon millions.
Perhaps something of the current belief crept into his own mind, for
there came a time when he cast his eyes upon the sister of a neighbour
and, braving the risk of Dudgeon's anger, sought her hand in marriage.
Unfortunately for him she accepted him, and the news, travelling apace,
reached the ears of Dudgeon before the happy lover had a chance to
impart it personally. The old man rode direct to the station.
"I'll have no women folk on my property," he blurted out as soon as he
was face to face with his factotum. "Nor any man who has dealings with
them. Clear out."
It was vain to argue. All appeals to years of bygone service, all
reference to business transactions then pending which would be
jeopardised by the removal of the man who had the negotiations in hand,
were curtly brushed aside. Dudgeon had spoken, and no power on earth
would change him from his purpose. The would-be Benedick had chosen, and
by that choice he had to abide.
From that arose a quarrel with the bank, for the sudden dismissal led to
an important transaction failing for the want of a simple act. The bank
officials, knowing the man with whom they were dealing waited for the
instructions which never came. Had they acted without them he would
probably have repudiated their action, but as they did not act, he
blamed them for his loss, accused them of dishonesty and removed his
account, vowing never to have dealings with them again if he could avoid
it, and always putting them to the greatest inconvenience when he was
compelled to deal with or through them.
Now, by an irony of fate, he was forced to have dealings with them
again, dealings which he resented for more reasons than his antagonism
to the institution, and dealings, moreover, which he was prepared to
leave no stone unturned to bring to naught.
He had placed Waroona Downs in the hands of Gale, the local auctioneer,
for sale. The one condition he had imposed was that the purchaser should
be a resident of the district, a condition he had considered ample to
prevent the property passing into the possession of one of the
opposite--and hated--sex. Yet that condition had failed. A purchaser had
been found, a purchaser for whom the bank was acting, and a purchaser
who, while being a resident in the district, was also a woman.
Dudgeon--"Crotchety Dudgeon" as he was termed by his neighbours, who,
despite his wealth, usually regarded him as being of no account in the
general scheme of Nature--had done his best to repudiate the bargain;
had blustered and fumed, threatening actions and penalties against all
and sundry, but in vain. The bank officials were polite, listening to
all he had to say in silence and only speaking in cold, precise, formal
phrases to reiterate the intention of the purchaser to hold to her
bargain, and the readiness of the bank to complete, on her behalf, the
transaction.
He refused to meet or see her, but he could not help hearing of her, and
what he heard only served to stimulate his resentment, for her name,
Nora Burke, recalled memories of his Irish rival O'Guire, while the
bitterness of his surrender to the charms of Kitty Lambton was revived
when he understood that Mrs. Burke also belonged to the fascinating type
of woman.
She had, he learned, the coal-black hair of the Western Irish, and
grey-blue eyes which flickered and flashed behind thick dark lashes.
What her other features were he did not hear, for her wealth of hair and
the charm of her eyes carried all before them. But, as a matter of fact,
no other feature was conspicuously beautiful, and it was difficult to
realise where the charm of her face rested until the full force of the
dark-lashed eyes was recognised. Within them lay the secret of the power
she wielded.
Although not above the average height, a graceful and well-proportioned
figure gave the impression of a greater stature. One of the most
accomplished horsewomen who ever sat a side-saddle, her appearance on
horseback would alone have sufficed, in a community like Waroona, to
have won for her the admiration and homage of the public. But there were
yet other reasons for the popularity she acquired within an hour of her
arrival.
Forty miles from a railway, the township was the centre of a district
divided into a series of sheep stations. When the season came for
shearing the wool and despatching it to the markets in the cities on the
coast hundreds of miles away, the population was fairly respectable in
point of numbers, though with the riff-raff which formed the army of
camp followers moving in the track of the shearers and teamsters,
respectability was not otherwise manifest. But at other periods of the
year, there were few men and fewer women scattered over the area marked
on the map as Waroona, and including as many square miles as some
English counties possess acres. Wherefore the arrival of any new-comer
was an event; but when that new-comer was a woman, and one, moreover, of
the many personal charms and accomplishments of Mrs. Burke, it was
inevitable that her advent should form the subject of something more
than passing interest.
Her frank manner of speech also helped her, for there is nothing more
objectionable to the average Colonial than the person who is reserved on
the subject of his or her private and personal concerns.
There was no such reserve with Mrs. Burke. She had not been twenty-four
hours in Waroona before it was known that she was a young widow left
with a stepson to bring up and educate on the rents from an impoverished
Irish estate. Year by year it became more and more difficult, she said,
to collect those rents from tenants to whom politics were more
attractive than commercial obligations. Therefore, when a chance
occurred for her to sell the estate, she did not hesitate to entertain
it. But, in order that her stepson might still derive as much benefit as
possible from the wreck of his ancestors' wealth, she determined, before
selling, to seek in Australia a new heritage for the last of the Burkes.
Waroona Downs was suggested to her as the very place to suit her, and
Gale at once offered it to her. The negotiations were rapidly completed,
and the community was collectively rejoicing at the good fortune of
having so desirable an acquisition as the handsome Irishwoman added to
it when a miniature thunder-bolt fell in the form of the emphatic
refusal of the owner to sell the property to a woman.
Following the advice of her many friends and admirers, Mrs. Burke took
up her residence at the place so that she might claim the nine points of
the law possession is said to give, while she handed to the bank the
deeds of her Irish property, and against them the bank agreed to
complete the purchase.
Popular opinion was entirely with the young widow, and popular opinion
was strong enough to force Dudgeon back to the last resource. This was a
demand that the purchase price of the station should be paid in gold.
The price was twenty-five thousand pounds and, as Dudgeon well knew,
there was not such a quantity of coin to be found in the district, where
it was the almost invariable practice to pay everything by cheque or
order. He had preferred his demand formally; had waited for a reply that
the bank was prepared to meet it and, as no such reply had reached him,
was about to declare the matter at an end.
He drew up at the bank. Eustace, the manager, was speaking to his
assistant as the old man entered.
"I've come for the money," he said abruptly, and stood by the counter,
holding out his gnarled, bony hands.
"You mean the purchase money for Waroona Downs, Mr. Dudgeon?" Eustace
replied suavely. "You are rather early, are you not?"
"I gave you notice three days ago. You'll pay over or the deal's off.
Which is it?"
Harding, the assistant, passed a document to Eustace.
"These are the terms of the sale, Mr. Dudgeon," Eustace said in the same
smooth tone. "The completion of the purchase is to be performed one
month from the date on which the agreement to buy was made. Mrs. Burke
agreed on the 20th of last month. To-day is the 17th. She has therefore
three days before you can make your final demand."
Dudgeon grabbed the document and read it through. The wording was as
Eustace had said. He had played his card too soon.
"I'll beat you yet," he cried as he flung the paper across the counter.
"No matter what it costs, I'll never have a woman owning one of my
properties. You're a lot of scheming scoundrels, but I'll beat you
yet."
He bounced out and flogged his horse to a gallop as he drove away.
"If the head office had sent off the gold at once when I wired, it would
have been here by now," Eustace said to his assistant.
"Then everyone would have known it was here, and there is no saying what
might have happened," Harding jestingly answered. "Anyway, it is due
to-night."
Later, when the bank had closed for the day, a light waggon drew up at
the door with a couple of men in it.
"We've some books and boxes of stationery for you from the Wyalla
branch," one of the men called out as Eustace opened the door and looked
out.
A bushman slouching past with his roll of blankets slung across his
back, glanced round at the waggon and continued his way to the hotel.
Eustace and Harding both helped to carry the bundles and boxes into the
bank. When they were all inside Eustace turned to the men.
"You'll have some dinner with us before you go back?" he asked.
"Can't, old chap. Head office orders. Don't know what sort of people the
general manager thinks you've got in this part, but the strictest
secrecy in everything were our instructions, so Ted and I are teamsters
and nothing but teamsters till we get back to our own branch. So long,
old chap."
"It does seem a lot of rot," Harding remarked when the waggon was away
again.
"You haven't been here long enough to know old Dudgeon, Harding. Let us
get the gold into the safe--we'll put it in the reserve recess. I only
hope the old man comes in again to-morrow morning, so that we can pay it
over and get clear of it and his business."
But the next day passed without any sign of Dudgeon, and after a last
look round to see that all was right Eustace and Harding bade one
another good night with the hope that on the morrow Dudgeon would come
for his gold, though there was still another day before he could legally
demand it.