CRIME OR CALAMITY?
[Sidenote: THE MISCHIEF REPAIRED.]
It was not without a certain feeling of apprehension that the major
had seen Ayrton leave the Wimerra to procure a farrier at Black Point
Station. However, he did not breathe a word of his personal suspicions,
but contented himself with exploring the surroundings of the river,
whose tranquillity was undisturbed. As for Glenarvan, his only fear was
to see Ayrton return alone. In the absence of skilled labor, the cart
could not resume its journey, which would be interrupted for several
days perhaps; and his longings for success and eagerness to attain his
end admitted of no delay.
Fortunately, Ayrton had lost neither his time nor his trouble. The
next morning he reappeared at break of day. A man accompanied him, by
profession a farrier. He was a tall, stout fellow, but of a low and
brutish appearance, which did not prepossess one in his favor. However,
this was of little importance, if he knew his business. At all events
his breath was not wasted in idle words.
"Is he an efficient workman?" inquired Captain Mangles of the
quartermaster.
"I know no more than you, captain," replied Ayrton. "We shall see."
The farrier began his work. He was a man who understood his trade, as
one could see by the way in which he repaired the wheels of the cart.
He labored skillfully and with uncommon energy.
During the operation, the major noticed that the farrier's wrists were
considerably eroded, and that they were each encircled by a blackish
ring of extravasated blood. These were the marks of recent wounds,
which the sleeves of a miserable woolen shirt but partially concealed.
MacNabb questioned the man about these erosions, which must have been
very painful. He, however, made no reply, but stolidly kept on at his
work.
Two hours after, the injuries of the cart were repaired. As for
Glenarvan's horse, he was quickly shod. The farrier had taken care to
bring shoes all prepared. There was a peculiarity about them, however,
which did not escape the major. It was a trefoil rudely carved on the
outer rim. He pointed it out to Ayrton.
"It is the Black Point mark," replied the quartermaster, "which enables
them to follow the tracks of the horses that stray from the station,
and not confound them with others."
The farrier, having done all that was required of him, now claimed his
wages, and departed without having spoken four words.
Half an hour later, the travelers were on the move. Beyond the curtain
of mimosas extended a broad, uncovered space, which justly deserved its
name of "open plain." Fragments of quartz and ferruginous rocks lay
among the bushes, tall grass, and hedgerows that protected numerous
flocks. Several miles farther on, the wheels of the cart sank deeply
in the marshy lowlands, through which ran winding creeks, half hidden
beneath a canopy of gigantic rushes. The journey, notwithstanding, was
neither difficult nor tedious.
Lady Helena invited the horsemen to call upon her in turn, for her
parlor was very small. Each was thus relieved from the fatigue of
horseback riding, and enjoyed the society of this amiable lady,
who, assisted by Miss Mary, performed with perfect grace the honors
of her movable mansion. Captain Mangles was not forgotten in these
invitations, and his rather sober conversation was not at all
displeasing.
At eleven o'clock they arrived at Carlsbrook, quite an important
municipality. Ayrton thought it best to pass by the city without
entering. Glenarvan was of the same opinion; but Paganel, always
eager for something new, desired to visit the place. Accordingly,
the geographer, taking Robert with him as usual, started on his
explorations, while the cart slowly continued its journey. Their
inspection of the town was very rapid, and shortly afterwards they had
joined their companions.
While they were passing through this region, the travelers requested
Paganel to give them some account of its progress, and the geographer,
in compliance with their wishes, had just begun a lecture upon the
civilization of the country, when he was interrupted by a shrill
whistle. The party were not a mile from the railroad. A locomotive,
coming from the south, and going slowly, had stopped just where
the road they were following crossed the iron track. At this point
the railway passes over the Lutton on an iron bridge, and thither
Ayrton directed his cart, preceded by the horsemen. The travelers
were attracted, moreover, by a lively feeling of curiosity, for
a considerable crowd was already rushing towards the bridge. The
inhabitants of the neighboring stations, leaving their houses, and the
shepherds their flocks, lined the sides of the track. Frequent cries
were heard. Some serious event must have taken place to cause such
excitement,--a great accident, perhaps.
[Illustration: A terrible accident had occurred, not a collision, but a
running off the track and a fall into the river, which was filled with
the fragments of cars and locomotives.]
Glenarvan, followed by his companions, urged on his horse, and in a few
moments arrived at Camden Bridge. Here the cause of this agitation was
at once manifest. A terrible accident had occurred, not a collision,
but a running off the track and a fall into the river, which was filled
with the fragments of cars and locomotives. Either the bridge had
given way, or the engine had run off the track; for five coaches out
of six had been precipitated into the bed of the Lutton. The last car,
miraculously preserved by the breaking of its coupling, stood on the
very verge of the abyss. Below was to be seen nothing but a terrible
heap of blackened and bent axle-trees, broken cars, twisted rails, and
charred timbers. The boiler, which had burst at the shock, had thrown
its iron plates to an enormous distance. From this mass of unsightly
objects issued flames and spiral wreaths of steam, mingled with black
smoke. Large spots of blood, scattered limbs, and trunks of burnt
bodies appeared here and there; and no one dared to estimate the number
of victims buried beneath the ruins.
Glenarvan, Paganel, the major, and Captain Mangles mingled with the
crowd, and listened to the conjectures that passed from one to another.
Each sought to explain the catastrophe, while laboring to save what was
left.
"The bridge has broken," said one.
[Sidenote: CAUSES AND EFFECTS.]
"Broken?" replied others. "That cannot be, for it is still uninjured.
They forgot to close it for the passage of the train, that is all."
It was a draw-bridge, which had been constructed for the convenience of
the shipping. Had the man on guard, through unpardonable negligence,
forgotten to close it, and thus precipitated the train, at full speed,
into the bed of the Lutton? This supposition seemed plausible, for one
half of the bridge lay beneath the fragments of the cars, while the
other still hung intact in its chains. Doubt was no longer possible;
surely carelessness must have caused the calamity.
The accident had happened to the night express, which left Melbourne
at forty-five minutes past eleven. It must have been a quarter-past
three in the morning when the train reached Camden Bridge, where this
terrible destruction of life and property took place. The travelers
and employés of the last car at once busied themselves in seeking
assistance; but the telegraph-wires, whose poles lay on the ground,
were no longer available. It took the authorities of Castlemaine three
hours to reach the scene of the disaster; and it was, therefore, six
o'clock in the morning before a corps of workers was organized under
the direction of the surveyor-general of the district, and a detachment
of policemen, commanded by an officer. The squatters had come to their
aid, and exerted themselves to extinguish the fire, which consumed the
heap of ruins with unconquerable fierceness. Several unrecognizable
bodies lay on the edge of the embankment, but it was impossible
to rescue a living being from this furnace. The fire had rapidly
accomplished the work of destruction. Of the travelers in the train,
whose number was not known, only ten survived, those in the last car.
The railroad company had just sent an extra locomotive to convey them
to Castlemaine.
Meantime, Lord Glenarvan, having made the acquaintance of the
surveyor-general, was conversing with him and the police-officer. The
latter was a tall, thin man, of imperturbable coolness, who, if he
had any feeling, betrayed no sign of it on his impassible features.
He was like a mathematician engaged upon a problem; he was seeking to
elucidate the mystery of the disaster. To Glenarvan's first words,
"This is a great calamity!" he replied, calmly, "It is more than that."
"More than that!" cried Glenarvan; "and what can be more than that?"
"It is a crime!" replied the officer, coolly.
Glenarvan turned to Mr. Mitchell, the surveyor-general, with a
questioning look.
"That is correct," said the latter; "our examination has convinced us
that the catastrophe is the result of a crime. The last baggage-wagon
was robbed. The surviving travelers were attacked by a party of five or
six malefactors. The bridge was opened intentionally; and, taking into
account this fact with the disappearance of the guard, I cannot but
come to the conclusion that the miserable man was the accomplice of the
criminals."
The police-officer, at these words, slowly shook his head.
"You are not of my opinion?" inquired Mr. Mitchell.
"Not as regards the complicity of the guard."
"At any rate, this assumed complicity," continued the surveyor-general,
"enables us to attribute the crime to the natives who wander about the
country. Without the guard's assistance these natives could not have
opened the draw-bridge, for they do not understand its working."
"Exactly," replied the officer.
"Now, it is known," added Mr. Mitchell, "from the testimony of a
boatman, whose boat passed Camden Bridge at forty minutes past ten in
the evening, that the bridge was closed according to regulation, after
his passage."
"Quite right."
[Illustration: In the midst of the multitude two men were bearing a
corpse. It was that of the guard, already cold. A poniard-thrust had
pierced him to the heart.]
"Therefore the complicity of the guard seems to me to be proved
incontestably."
The officer again made a gesture of dissent.
"Then you do not attribute the crime to the natives?" inquired
Glenarvan.
"I do not."
"To whom, then?"
At this moment a loud uproar was heard half a mile up the river. A
crowd had formed, which rapidly increased, and was now approaching the
station. In the midst of the multitude two men were bearing a corpse.
It was that of the guard, already cold. A poniard-thrust had pierced
him to the heart. The assassins had dragged the body some distance from
Camden Bridge, doubtless intending by this means to mislead the police
in their first investigations. This discovery clearly justified the
doubts of the officer. The natives had no hand in the crime.
"Those who struck the blow," said he, "are persons already familiar
with the use of these little instruments."
As he spoke he displayed a pair of "darbies," a kind of manacles
consisting of a double ring of iron, furnished with a padlock.
"Before long," added he, "I shall have the pleasure of presenting them
with these bracelets as a new year's gift."
"Then you suspect----?"
"People who have 'traveled free on Her Majesty's vessels.'"
"What! convicts?" cried Paganel, who recognized the phrase employed in
the Australian colonies.
"I thought," observed Glenarvan, "that those who have been transported
had no right to stay in the province of Victoria."
"Ah, well," replied the officer, "if they have not the right, they take
it! Sometimes they escape; and, if I am not greatly mistaken, these
fellows have come direct from Perth. Well, they shall return again, you
may be sure."
[Sidenote: A RAILROAD SLEEPER.]
Mr. Mitchell nodded approvingly at the words of the officer. At this
moment the cart arrived at the railroad crossing. Glenarvan, wishing
to spare the ladies the spectacle at Camden Bridge, took leave of the
surveyor-general, and made a sign to his companions to follow him.
"There is no occasion," said he, "for us to interrupt our journey."
On reaching the cart, Glenarvan simply told Lady Helena that a railroad
accident had taken place, without mentioning the part that the convicts
had played in the catastrophe. He reserved this matter that he might
question Ayrton in private. The little party then crossed the track,
not far above the bridge, and resumed their route towards the east.