Project Gutenberg Australia



Title:      Ralph Rashleigh
Author:     James Tucker  (1803-1866)
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Edition:    1
Language:   English
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Date first posted:          September 2003
Date most recently updated: September 2003

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Italics in the book have been changed to UPPERCASE in the eBook
First Published in 1952 by
Angus and Robertson Publishers
Sydney
First authentic popular edition

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A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook

Title:      Ralph Rashleigh
Author:     James Tucker  (1803-1866)

First Published in 1952 by
Angus and Robertson Publishers
Sydney

First authentic popular edition

*************************

A heavily edited version of Ralph Rashleigh was first published in 1929.
Details of the publication history of this ebook and some biographical
details of the author will be found at the end of this ebook.

*************************




ADVERTISEMENT

THE TALE CONTAINED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES WAS COMPILED BY THE EDITOR AS
IT FELL FROM THE LIPS OF THE PERSON WHO WAS AT ONCE THE AUTHOR AND IN
SOME SORT THE HERO OF THE ADVENTURES THEREIN NARRATED, CHIEFLY WITH A
VIEW TO DISSIPATE THE ENNUI AND VARY THE MONOTONY-AT TIMES INSEPARABLE,
IN THE CIRCUMSTANCESOF A LIFE IN THE BUSH OF AUSTRALIA.

AS, HOWEVER, THE TRUTH OF MANY OF THE LEADING INCIDENTS IS KNOWN TO THE
EDITOR PERSONALLY, AND THAT OF OTHERS HAS BEEN VOUCHED FOR BY PERSONS OF
UNDOUBTED VERACITY, IT IS NOW OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC, WHO, IT IS HOPED,
WILL RECEIVE IT WITH THE INDULGENCE DUE TO THE RUDE UNADORNED PRODUCTION OF

A SQUATTER

31ST DECR 1845




Chapter I



WHY THEN THE WORLD'S MINE OYSTER.


Respecting the parents of Ralph Rashleigh, little needs here he add
save that they were of a decent rank as London shopkeepers, and that
they were thus enabled to afford their son the advantage of a good plain
English education, upon the completion of which he was articled to a
conveyancer in extensive practice, who resided near Chancery Lane, a
ROMANTIC neighbourhood to which Ralph was compelled to restrict his
rambles for the first two years of his servitude; but on the expiration
of that period, in compliance with a stipulation contained in his
indentures, a small allowance being made to him, he ceased to reside
under his master's roof and occupied a lodging by himself.

He was now fairly launched upon the great ocean of Life, for although
his office hours were sufficiently long, yet abundance of time still
remained, during which Rashleigh was completely his own master; and amid
the varied amusements offered to his choice in the modern Babylon, he
soon found nothing deficient for enjoyment, except money, with which he
was but sparingly supplied. This hiatus, of course, giving him much
pain, he naturally set himself to work to remove it, if possible, but
for a long period without any success.

Among the number of his boon companions was a young man, who though only
receiving from his employer an equal salary to himself, yet always
appeared to be possessed of means for the gratification of his
pleasures; and as he ever seemed to distinguish Ralph with his
friendship, the latter, one evening when both were tolerably warm from
the effect of numerous potations in which they had indulged, begged his
friend to explain how he managed so well with his limited income, as
always to have cash for any expense he chose to incur.

His companion, whose name was Hartop, after many injunctions of secrecy,
informed him that as his employer usually sent him to make payments and
receive money upon account of the business, he had for a long period
been in the habit of occasionally passing bad sovereigns, using however
great precaution. and never carrying more than ONE at a time upon his
person. Then he picked his customers--mostly people from the country or
residing at a distant part of London--to whom he would tender a QUEER_
PIECE and if it were objected to, would immediately replace it by a good
one, wondering how he came by it, etc. At other times, when he thought
he could do so safely in telling over money he was about to receive, he
would dexterously exchange one of the good ones for another he had
previously concealed in his hand, which of course was bad. The result of
this manoeuvre would be, that when he objected to the one he had himself
put down, the person about to pay him, probably knowing all the pieces
he had tendered to be genuine, would exchange the one questioned without
hesitation. Nay, so good were the imitations he made use of, that often,
in paying considerable sums of money in gold into banks--where the
specie was weighed in the lump--a bad sovereign would pass current
enough among many others, and not excite any suspicion.

This communication over, Hartop offered our hero his services, to
procure him a few of the INIMITABLE IMITATIONS of the current coin of
the realm, adding that he could pay for them when he was LUCKY. To this
offer Ralph, nothing loath, assented. A few days after, he received from
his FRIEND twenty spurious sovereigns, that being deemed enough for his
first essay.

Thus did Ralph Rashleigh commence his career of dishonesty, and for a
long period escaped with impunity, owing to the able manner in which he
adopted and followed the cautious counsels of his sage tutor. At length,
finding that he could obtain all the luxuries of life, not to mention
necessaries only, without any very arduous exertion, he became so very
idle, careless, and inattentive to his employer's business, that after
many fruitless remonstrances and unavailing lectures from his worthy
principal, he received lib dismissal, his articles being cancelled.

This event, indeed, did not much concern him, as he believed he should
always be able to supply his wants by means of passing bad money. as
heretofore. In order, however, to lull suspicion, which might have been
awakened had he remained without any employment or apparent means of
earning a livelihood whatever, Ralph, who now wrote a remarkably fine
and quick legal hand, obtained out-of-door copying from a law scrivener,
intending to do only just as much work as might be supposed to afford
him subsistence.

After this resolution, his custom was to work two or three hours per day
at his lodging, and to employ the rest of his time perambulating London,
varying his rambles every day, and at times shifting the scene of his
exertions to a fair or race in the country, where he generally met with
tolerable success.

But the period of his profitable trading in this line was rapidly
drawing to a close, and one unlucky day, having extended his operations
to Maidstone at the time of a fair, he was apprehended. As, contrary to
his usual custom, he had then TWO bad sovereigns in his pocket, he was
committed to take his trial upon a charge of uttering counterfeit coin.
At the ensuing assizes in spite of a most ingenious defence, he was
found guilty and sentenced to pass twelve months in imprisonment at hard
labour in the house of correction.

This being prior to the invention of treadmills or the improvement of
prison discipline, there was no restraint to free communication with his
fellow UNFORTUNATES. And the species of employment, which consisted only
of picking oakum and beating hemp, afforded ample opportunities for the
relation by his companions of the many marvellous exploits, cunning
schemes, hair-breadth scapes, and successful stratagem for which the
lives of each had been remarkable.

It may very easily he imagined, that such society produced its full
effect upon the mind of our adventurer, who had, in fact, never been
notorious for any great nicety in distinguishing the difference between
MEUM ET TUUM, and he now emerged from his confinement a most finished
adept in all those arts by winch the unprincipled portion of mankind
contrived, five and twenty years ago, to victimise their unwary
fellow-countrymen.

Ardently longing to reduce the PRAISEWORTHY theoretical knowledge he had
thus acquired to practical purposes, Rashleigh returned from the gaol to
London, in which he still possessed some good clothing and a few
trinkets. The latter he now turned into cash for his present
subsistence, and then proceeded to the town of Winchester, where he had
been informed by an old CRACKSMAN (housebreaker)--whom he had left in
durance at Maidstone--there was a jeweller's shop from which a large
booty might easily he acquired. In fact, before he was released, Ralph
had concerted a plan of operations with his informant, to be put in
practice for this purpose when the latter should have served his full
sentence and again acquired his liberty.

But our hero had no intention of waiting for an associate, as he wisely
deemed the spoil would suffer much by participation with another.
Therefore, the very day after that on which he had returned to the
metropolis, he set off for Winchester per coach, provided with THe
necessary implements of every kind for his nefarious purpose, carefully
put up, with a change of clothing, in a carpet bag.

Having duly arrived at the proposed scene of action, he adjourned from
the coach office to a small public-house on the outside of the town,
where he dined. He then proceeded to view the shop in question.
Everything here was apparently as he had been informed, and having spent
a few minutes inside the shop, ostensibly for the purpose of purchasing
a trifling article, he returned to his inn, there to digest his plans at
leisure. These were soon arranged, and Rashleigh, having taken his
supper, discharged his reckoning and went to bed, requesting that he
might be called at two o'clock, there being a coach to start for
Portsmouth at that hour.

The morning proved as dark as Erebus, for it was in the month of
November. A chill sleet had completely driven the ancient guardians of
the night to their retreats, and not a single sound disturbed the
tranquillity of the town. Ralph therefore met with no difficulty or
obstacle in his route to the shop. Once there, to remove a panel of the
shutter with his centre-bit and chisel was an easy task. The glass next
presented itself. This was also cut through with a diamond and prevented
from falling by means of a piece of putty held against it. There was a
small brass wire grating next the window; but it was movable, and the
robber had nothing to prevent him from filling his pockets with the
various articles which he could feel lay in the cases before him; when
lo, the lusty shout of a watchman at a distance, crying the hour, warned
him to be cautious. Accordingly he clapped a piece of dark-coloured
paper against the opening of the panel and hastily betook himself to the
kind concealment afforded by the shadows of an antique porch hard by.

The VIGILANT conservator of public property quickly passed, apparently
in great haste to return to his box or the comforts of the watch-house
fire, and the coast being thus once more clear, Ralph repaired to his
unhallowed occupation. To fill his bag, pockets and hat with valuables
and all kind of trinkets was but the work of a few minutes. Then,
replacing the paper before named, to prevent too early an outcry, he
made the best of his way by unfrequented paths to the outskirts of
Winchester, where he had during the afternoon noticed a wood, in which
he now carefully concealed all his ill-gotten booty, near the foot of an
old and remarkable tree. He then cut across the fields until he reached
a by-road leading to the town of Basingstoke. He walked upon this road
until morning dawned, having for the last few hours had the benefit of
the moon's friendly beams, which so much assisted his progress that at
daylight he found himself four and twenty miles from Winchester, and
near a small public-house by the wayside. Here he stopped to refresh,
and in a short time, a coach coming by, he embraced the opportunity of
obtaining a ride to Farnham, where he intended to stay a day or two.

In the evening, weary of the solitude of his own apartment in the public
house where he put up, Ralph descended to the large room, which served
the inn "for parlour, for kitchen and hall", in which he found the
assembled rustics gaping around a man who had just arrived from
Winchester, and who was giving them the details of a most OWDACIOUS
robbery which had there been done the night before, property to the
value of £1,500 having been abstracted from a jeweller's shop. The whole
town and neighbourhood were in a complete ferment at this very palpable
proof of the presence of some dexterous thieves, of whom it was supposed
a whole gang must have been employed to effect this atrocious act. And
all whom the sapient magistrates of Winchester thought fit to consider
loose or idle characters among the lower classes of the townsfolk had
them apprehended and examined. Such a turmoil of arresting, searching,
questioning, and cross-questioning had never been known in Hampshire
since the death of William Rufus. Moreover, as a finale, to prove they
DID something as well as talk so much. after all this uproar, two poor
sailors who were begging their way to Portsmouth in the hope of getting
a ship were apprehended and each sent six months to hard labour in gaol,
because they could give no better account of themselves than their true
history.

It may easily he credited that Rashleigh was no indifferent auditor of
this tale. He was, in sooth, much overjoyed to find that the police of
Winchester were so far astray in their suspicions, and he consequently
resolved to pay a visit to some relatives he possessed at Southampton
for a few days, after which he proposed to return for his spoil, to the
place of its concealment.

Accordingly, the next day he put this determination into practice. His
friends at that pretty little sea-port received him most cordially, the
rather, no doubt, that they had not the slightest idea of the manner in
which he had lately spent his time, but believed him to be still
employed as a lawyer's clerk in London, and that he had now come down to
keep a holiday. A few days were therefore passed most agreeably among
them; but as the weather was too inclement to permit much out-of-door
exercise, the sameness of the scene began to pall upon the mind of our
adventurer, who soon longed for a return to the more varied pleasures of
the great Babel. While here, however, a singular and rather romantic
adventure happened to Rashleigh, which will be found narrated in the
next chapter.




Chapter II



THRO' THE HAZE OF THE NIGHT, A BRIGHT FLASH NOW APPEARING;
"OH HO!" CRIES BOLD WILL, "THE PHILISTINES BEAR DOWN;
"NEVER MIND, MY TIGHT LADS, NEVER THINK ABOUT SHEERING;
"ONE BROADSIDE WE'LL GIVE, SHOULD WE SWIM, BOYS, OR DROWN."


Ralph Rashleigh had embraced the opportunity of a somewhat dry day, to
walk out as far as the ruins of Netley Abbey, a venerable monastic pile
in the New Forest, and spent so long a period in musing over the traces
of fallen grandeur which it so abundantly presents, that evening was
rapidly closing before he became aware of it. When he intended to
retrace his steps to the town, he missed his way and became quite
bewildered among the ruins and in the forest. At length, however, having
hit upon a well-beaten path which seemed to lead in the wished-for
direction, he hastily turned into it, and having proceeded for some
distance, at length discovered to his dismay that it only led to the
banks of Southampton Water, among an incongruous mass of ruins and
rocks, which covered the beach in picturesque but not--by him at
least--much admired profusion. It was now quite dark, and our wanderer
had the not very pleasing prospect before him of passing the night in a
solitary ramble along the winding recesses of this famed harbour, when
at a short distance he saw a light, towards which, of course, he quickly
bent his steps. He had scarcely set out when he recollected that these
ruins were said to be the resort of deer stealers, smugglers and other
outlaws, to intrude upon whose privacy might be dangerous. This induced
him to proceed more cautiously and to reconnoitre the vicinity
carefully. But now the light had disappeared and Ralph was puzzling
himself to account for this, when it suddenly became again visible. Once
more all was dark and again the deceitful gleam was shown.

"Could it be a will o' the wisp, or other IGNIS FATUUS?" thought our
adventurer, half resolved to abandon the chase, when a voice, apparently
near, but below him,--as it sounded as if emanating from some man at the
bottom of a well--hailed loudly.

"Bob! Bob! Is all right?"

Immediately, to Ralph's great dismay, the light he had pursued so long
in vain was now shown close to him in the hands of a rough-looking
sailor, whose truculent features bespoke intimate acquaintance with the
display of fire-arms he ostentatiously bore in his belt. Half frightened
to death at his very look, Rashleigh suddenly sank down among the long
grass and rubbish, scarcely daring to breathe for fear of discovery.

The voice from beneath now asked, "Is Curtis in sight?" as it seemed,
while the person to whom it belonged was ascending.

The man with the light replied, gruffly enough, "No, he an't."

Soon after, both men appeared, to join each other at a very short
distance from Ralph, who lay PERDU.

One now remarked that "it was d----d strange".

The other, assenting, said "it could not be for fear of the hawks, for
they were all off the Wight, on the look-out for Jack Simmons, who had
sent a note to an old PAL of his at Cowes, purposely that it might fall
into the hands of the preventive men, in which he stated that he should
TRY IT ON that night at Blackgang or the Undercliff. Consequently, the
cutter from Southampton, another from Portsmouth, and all the spare
officers had been sent over to the island."

It seemed by their further conversation that all this was known to the
smugglers through one of the revenue men in their pay, and that the
whole affair had been prearranged, so as to leave the coast clear for
their operations at the spot where they then were.

A few minutes more elapsed in silence, when one of the men suddenly
exclaimed, "By G----! There she is! Now for the signal!"

A long loud whistle was given, and almost instantly the trampling of
many horses, accompanied by the clatter of harness, was heard all round
Ralph's hiding-place. Presently the splash of oars indicated the
approach of a boat, and a scene of great bustle ensued. This boat and
two others were rapidly unladen, their contents being transferred to the
backs of the horses and to two or three light waggons. which had also
been brought down to the shore.

Suddenly another whistle was heard at some distance. It was repeated,
while just around the spot occupied by our hero many exclamations, such
as "Look out for the hawks!" "Blast them, they're coming!" were spoken
in low and hurried voices, warning him that the revenue officers were at
hand and coming to attack the smugglers, one of whom seemed to act as
leader. and now directed that the loaded waggons and horses should he
driven off as quickly as possible, while himself and a few others tried
to keep back the officers for a while, until the cargo should be in
safety. The horses and waggons accordingly went off at a gallop, the
persons who drove them seeming so well acquainted with the route that in
spite of the many obstacles and the extreme darkness of the night, they
were quickly out of hearing.

The remainder of the smugglers, in obedience to the order of their
Chief, had either lain down or sheltered themselves behind masses of
rock, when a strong party of the coast-guard appeared advancing round a
projecting point, many of them bearing links (or torches) by the light
of which the whole bay was partially illuminated, and the lugger might
he seen crowding all her canvas to escape. But the officers, being
unprovided with boats, and supposing besides that the cargo had been
already landed, confined their attempts to the capture of the latter,
leaving the lugger to get off unmolested, except by a few useless shots
fired at her from the shore, more, it would seem, out of bravado than
with any idea of damaging her crew. Soon the foremost of the officers
came into contact with the concealed smugglers, and instantly the blaze
of twenty muskets streamed amid the gloom.

Two of the officers fell. The remainder hastily retreated, and a
consultation having taken place among their leaders, they appeared to
resolve upon trying to pass the flank of their opponents, and they
therefore turned inland; but very soon after again exposed themselves to
a most galling fire from the smugglers, who lay in safety, secured by
their position from the shot of the coast-guard party, while the latter,
through bearing torches and still endeavouring to advance, suffered
considerably.

Another pause ensued, when the leader of the King's men cheering on his
people, they fairly rushed in among the smugglers, who, after
discharging their guns at random, leaped up, and endeavoured with the
butt ends of their pieces to parry the cutlasses which were aimed at
them. All this rime poor Ralph lay in a state of mortal fear, which was
not much diminished when the fray became most violent immediately around
him, the leader of the smugglers and the commander of the coast-guard
having singled out each other, and the bravest of their followers
rushing to their assistance. At last fresh and lively cheers from the
wood, and loud cries of "Down with the blasted hawks!" indicated that
more help had arrived to the party of smugglers, upon which some of the
King's men forcibly carried their officer away from the scene of
conflict; when they all retreated in good order along the beach, still
keeping their faces to the foe, and occasionally firing at any whom they
fancied they could distinguish plainly enough for that purpose.

The smugglers, on their part, did not molest them or attempt any
pursuit, but busied themselves in searching for their dead or wounded
companions. A number of lanterns now speedily made their appearance, and
the bearer of one of them approached Rashleigh, who lay breathless and
counterfeiting death as well as he could.

Seeing by his dress that he did not belong to either of the conflicting
parties, the man exclaimed, "Why, what have we got here? I zay, jack,
here's a gemman. Let's zee whether he's got anything in his pockets!"

Jack, a fierce-looking fellow with enormous whiskers, now came up, and
holding his lantern close to Ralph's face, said, "By the hokey, he an't
dead. He's only shamming--or else in a swound."

The voice of their leader was now heard demanding "why they didn't come
on, what they were doing there, and whether they wanted to bring all the
sojers in Southampton down upon them."

To this one of Ralph's captors replied "that they had found a man who
pretended to be dead, and that they thought he must be a spy, from his
dress."

"A spy, hey?" replied the smuggler. "Bring him along. We'll put him from
PRETENDING death any more; he shall swing from the Beaulieu Oak before
the night's an hour older."

Here Ralph quite lost what scanty remains of self-possession he had
left, and begged his captors. in the most moving terms for mercy, but in
vain. They hurried him along half running, between them, striking his
legs against every projecting root or stone in the way.

At length, after having proceeded two or three miles in this manner,
following the sound of their companions' footsteps, and guided sometimes
by a whistle from the front, they reached an open forest glade, in the
centre of which was an enormous and aged oak. At the foot of this tree
stood three men, among them the leader of the smugglers, whose voice
Ralph had so often heard in the roar of that night's conflict. He now
asked the prisoner who he was, to which Rashleigh could only reply,
while his teeth chattered with terror, that he was a stranger, who had
come on a visit to Southampton and had lost his way near Netley the
previous day.

"A d----d fine tale," replied the smuggler. "You are a blasted spy, and
shall die a dog's death. Here's a good strong rope. You, Bill! Count a
hundred. And Harry and Jack, be ready when he has done to strap this
fine shaver up."

Poor Ralph now went upon his knees to beg for pity, while he alternately
prayed and invoked the most direful imprecations upon his head if he
were a spy, or if he had not spoken the truth; to which the only reply
vouchsafed was that he might as well spare the little breath he had
left, for he would find there was no mistake about them.

In the mean time Bill had counted 64 and Ralph offered all he possessed
if they would let him go; 65--66--67 were calmly repeated, but no reply
came from the smuggler; 68-69 sounded in his cars, and driven to utter
despair, while the leader was preparing a noose on the fatal cord, Ralph
shook himself suddenly free from the grip of the two men who held him,
and snatching a gun which stood against the tree, dealt such a vigorous
blow with the stock of it on the chief's head that he at once laid him
sprawling on the earth and broke his weapon short off by the breech,
leaving only the barrel in his hand.

He then sprang off and ran with the speed of a hunted deer, closely
followed by one of the smugglers, who seemed to be armed only with a
stick. When they had run a considerable distance, Rashleigh, finding his
pursuer gained upon him, rapidly dodged short round, hoping to strike
him unawares. But his foot slipped, and he fell to the ground. The
smuggler seized the gun barrel, and after dealing the prostrate runaway
a blow or two, which he intended for his head, but which were saved by
his arm, he began dragging the unlucky Ralph back to the tree, in spite
of all his struggles or his loud outcries for assistance, which served
only to procure him fresh blows. At length another of the men came to
the assistance of his fellow, and between them they soon hauled their
victim back to the spot they destined to end all his earthly struggles.

The smuggler chief was now seated under the tree, and one of the men was
binding up his wounded head, which seemed to have been bleeding
profusely. He welcomed the party with a grim laugh, saying, "So ho, my
shaver. You thought to have settled me, but long Frank has got a harder
head than you reckoned for. Now, my boys, what are you gaping at? Chuck
the end of the rope over that bough. And put the noose round that bloody
dog's neck. We'll give him five minutes' good choking."

In an instant the rope was adjusted, and the end having been disposed as
directed, three of the smugglers laid hold of the part that hung over
the bough to haul the sufferer off the ground.

Already the rope was drawn tight, when a loud voice close at hand roared
out, "oh ho, you blasted thieves! We've got you at last, have we?" And
suiting the action to the word, the three fellows who held the rope were
seized by a number of armed men so great that all resistance was out of
the question. The smuggler chief and the other man, who till that moment
had continued his grasp upon Ralph, had both disappeared. As for
Rashleigh, he fell to the ground and was soon surrounded by a number of
persons, who from their dress and appearance seemed to be gamekeepers
and their assistants.

This proved to be the case. While they had been in search of some deer
stealers, they had been attracted to this spot by the outcries of our
adventurer, whose life they had thus opportunely saved. They listened to
Ralph's tale with much astonishment and many execrations upon their
three prisoners, whom, as the daylight was now at hand, they proposed to
escort to Southampton Gaol.

On their way thither, they were met by two decent-looking men who took
the head gamekeeper aside. After some conversation, Ralph was called to
join them, when he was asked whether he had any objection to forgiving
the smugglers if a sum of money were paid to him in atonement for their
offence. The gamekeeper, who probably looked upon smuggling as a very
venial crime, or at any rate as being of much less enormity than that of
deer stealing, raised not the smallest difficulty at letting the
prisoners go; while Ralph, who hated all law and detested the idea of
appearing before a magistrate, considered besides--since the chief
smuggler had escaped, with his principal coadjutor--that neither of the
three men who were taken had been active in persecuting him. So our
adventurer agreed, if the sum Of £20 were paid to him as a DOUCEUR, and
the rest of the party satisfied, why, he was content to let the matter
drop.

By this time they had reached a small ale-house in the purlieus of the
forest, the inmates of which being with some difficulty aroused, the
whole party went in at the invitation of the ambassadors; and as some
refreshment was much needed by all--but by none more than Rashleigh--a
smoking breakfast, though somewhat of the earliest, was welcomed with
great satisfaction. After breakfast one of the strangers took our
adventurer aside and paid him £10 in part of the sum agreed on, the
landlord of the house binding himself to produce the other ten the same
evening. Ralph now bade his adieux to the company, who were fast getting
all drunk together, left the inn, and returned to Southampton.

His absence had created a great sensation, and innumerable were the
questions to which the disordered state of his dress gave rise on his
arrival at his relatives' house. But he parried them all by saying that
he had lost his way and torn his clothes in a thicket, mentioning a
different part of the forest to that in which he had actually been, so
as to evade any apparent knowledge of the past night's affray. After
taking some repose, he went in the evening and received the promised
balance of the money agreed to be paid. In a few days thereafter, taking
farewell of his friends, he went over to Portsmouth, where he sojourned
a week.




Chapter III.



HATH NOT A JEW--eyes?


As three weeks had now elapsed since the robbery at Winchester, and all
talk of it had ceased, Ralph determined on SPRINGING HIS PLANT, or, in
plain terms, securing his booty. For this purpose he provided himself at
Portsmouth with a new travelling trunk, which he conveyed per coach to
his destination. On his arrival at the latter place, his first care was
to fix his abode at an inn near his precious deposit, his next to see
that all was right in the coppice where it lay. Having satisfied himself
in this particular, he waited until evening, when, by means of two
different visits to the spot, he removed the whole of the articles,
without exciting any suspicion, to his present headquarters, which he
left next morning for London, where he arrived in due course without
accident.

His next care was to dispose of the various articles produced by his
enterprise. For this purpose he selected an accommodating Israelite,
whose fame had been very often spoken of in the gaol he had left as a
safe FENCE, and a perfect pattern for all CROSS COVES. A dingy marine
store shop in a court leading to the Minories was the domicile of this
descendant of a chosen people, and thither one evening Ralph bent his
way. Our adventurer expected to see in Mr Jacobs a withered and filthy
old being, similar in external appearance to those of his race who then
perambulated the metropolis as dealers in cast-off clothing. His
surprise, therefore, was great when, upon enquiring from a little Jewess
in the shop for the master of it, a man in the prime of life, and of
most respectable exterior, was shown to him. Having been provided with a
password, as a shibboleth of introduction, known only to the initiated,
he was not long before he spoke his errand, and it was agreed that they
should meet at Rashleigh's lodgings the next forenoon in order to make
their bargain.

At the time appointed Mr J. made his ENTREE. Ralph was prepared with a
list and specimens of what he had to sell, as he did not deem it
altogether prudent to acquaint his new associate with too much at once,
nor did he wish to let him know that all the property was then in that
house. After overlooking both list and articles with a very businesslike
air, Mr Jacobs said to Ralph. "Vell, how mosh do you vant for de lot?"

"At a word, one thousand pounds."

"Mine Gott! Are you mad? Vere you tink all dat money shall come from?"

"Oh, Mr Jacobs! You know you could easily find twenty times as much
money as that, and I am sure they are a very great bargain!"

"I vill tell you vat it ish. Py mine vord, I never did know de monish so
shcarce in all de days of my life; and is pesides, if I was to porrow so
mosh, to puy all dis lot of trinkets, ven de devil you tink I get all my
monish pack again? Eh? Can you tell me dat?"

"Well, well, Mr Jacobs, if money is really so scarce, you can buy half
of what's on the list, and I will look out for another mark to take the
rest. What will you give for the fair half? You know, we can divide them
into two heaps, and toss up for first choice!"

"Mine Gott! Vat a hurry to be in! Vell, let me see, let me see . . . All
dese bracelets . . . very poor, very poor . . . all French . . . all
French and Jarman . . . Bad gold, bad gold . . . Sell petter in England
dan over de vater. Put if I puy dem dey mosht go to Hambro' . . . Vell,
I vill tell you at vun vord how mosh I vill give you. I vill give . . .
Yes, I VILL give you . . . free hundred pounds for de fair half . . . de
monish in your hand. So take it or leave it."

As he said this he pulled out an immense roll of bank notes from some
cunningly contrived pocket beneath his arm, and rose at the same time as
if to go away if the other did not take his offer.

Ralph only replied, "'Tis too little. Say £350."

'Not I, py mine Gott! Shall I go?"

"Yes. If you won't give any more than that we can't deal."

The Jew seized the knob of the door, partly opened it, then returned
close to Rashleigh, and said in a mysterious whisper, "I vill give £640
for de whole."

Ralph shook his head, and Mr Jacobs ran out of the room and downstairs.

Our adventurer had arisen from his seat and gone to the window in order
to watch the Israelite, intending, if he actually left the house, to
follow him, when Mr Jacobs again returned, closed the door after him,
and said. "Now I vill give you £650 for dem all, and upon my shoul, I
don't expect to get a FINIF (£5 note) py de pargain. But I vant to send
some jewels to Hambro', and dese vill do as vell as any."

At last Ralph agreed to take £660, which was forthwith paid down by the
buyer in Bank of England notes, after which he departed with the
portmanteau and jewellery.

For some rime after this Rashleigh led an idle dissipated life,
frequently appearing at the theatres, gaming-houses, etc., until the
slippery goddess took it into her head to desert him, and he found
himself nearly penniless. It now became necessary for him to bestir
himself.

Fortune happened to throw in his way an acquaintance, in the person
of a female who had formerly been a servant to his employer, with whom
he had had a liaison, which he now renewed. She at present lived in the
service of an elderly gentleman of great wealth in Welbeck Street. Our
adventurer procured by her means admittance into this her master's house
and thus enjoyed ample opportunities of observing the locality of the
butler's pantry, where he learned the plate was kept.

In order to succeed in the plan he had formed for plundering the place,
however, it was necessary for him to procure an associate in his
enterprise; and he thought himself lucky that about this time he
accidentally met in the street one of his quondam companions at
Maidstone Gaol. This man was now very SEEDY in appearance. Having only
just been liberated, and being without a shilling, he was ripe for
anything that could tend to put money in his pocket. With him,
therefore, Ralph made his arrangements, and all being duly prepared, a
hackney coachman, who had frequently served Ralph's associate before in
similar transactions, was engaged to be in waiting at a public-house
near the scene of their intended operations, so that he might be at hand
to receive the booty.

The same night, about twelve o'clock, Ralph and his PAL went to the
spot, fully prepared for action with all the usual implements of
housebreaking. There was as usual a circular iron plate let into the
pavement, to admit of coals being shot into the cellar beneath. This was
lifted up, and Ralph, who was then but very slender, got down without
difficulty. The covering was then replaced by his associate, who retired
to some distance, while Ralph, who was well provided with skeleton keys,
speedily got out of the cellar and through several doors into the
butler's pantry, where he found the plate, apparently packed up, as if
for a journey! He soon carried it all into the cellar. Nothing had as
yet occurred to alarm him; but just at this moment a small dog, who was
asleep in the area, awoke and came running towards him. Upon smelling
his legs, the dog only fawned upon him, because he had been sprinkled
with a liquor which never fails to neutralise the opposition of the most
ferocious dog.

Ralph now locked himself into the cellar, where he awaited most
impatiently the approach of his associate, who was to have returned in
half an hour with the coach; but more than two hours elapsed before they
came, during which our adventurer was a prey to the fiercest pangs of
uncertainty and apprehension. At length the appointed signal was given
and the coach stopped. The plate was quickly transferred to it, and in a
few minutes they were driving rapidly towards Paddington, where a
furnished room had been taken by Ralph the day before. On arrival, they
soon secured their booty, paid the jarvey, and lay down to rest. The
next day, being resolved to lose no time, Ralph went to the house of a
well known FENCE in Saint Mary Axe, where everything was so very well
regulated and the system adopted so cunning, that it seemed to have
reached the very pitch of perfection, insomuch that the buyer never saw
the seller nor the seller the buyer, thus effectually preventing any
after chance of unpleasant recognition. There was a box turning in a
wall, so contrived that upon placing any article you wished to dispose
of within it and ringing a bell, the box revolved. After the lapse of a
few minutes it again turned, and in lieu of the article left, a sum of
money, being the price the proprietor was willing to pay for it, made
its appearance. If the seller refused to take this he again rang the
bell, when his article was returned; but no second offer was ever made.
It may easily be conceived that this establishment must have met with
great support. In fact, it was the means of immense gain to its
proprietor, who thus fixed his own price for all that he bought. But
still, the thieves of London much approved of the principle, as they
were never seen by anyone while disposing of their ill-gotten
booty--thus removing at least one great cause for fear of detection. It
was therefore continually well supported; and so cunningly did the owner
contrive, that although his premises were repeatedly searched upon the
best-founded suspicions that there was stolen property concealed
therein, yet nothing was ever found to warrant a conviction.

Once a police officer chased a thief who had stolen a silver teapot from
a gentleman's breakfast table and kept him in full view until he arrived
at the door of the house in question. In ran the thief. In two minutes
the officer was after him; but there being two doors to the shop, nobody
was there. The house was searched from top to bottom, and nothing was
found like a silver teapot.

The fact was that next door to this place the owner's brother had a
concealed crucible, which was constantly kept in operation, and which
communicated also with the house in question. In this every article
bought that would melt was instantly thrown, so that no matter how
costly the workmanship, in a few minutes any sized piece of plate was
converted into what the FENCE used jocularly to call his "vite soop".

To this famed spot Rashleigh now repaired and soon ascertained the price
he could get for the plate. It was but 2s. 6d. per ounce; yet this was
pretty fair upon the CROSS, and the confederates divided £200 between
them as the proceeds of their night's spoil.




Chapter IV



"STEAL!" PHO! A FICO FOR THE PHRASE--"CONVEY" THE WISE IT CALL.


Soon after this occurrence Ralph was walking in the city, when chancing
to go into Lombard Street, he observed that the common sewer was open
for the purpose of repairs being effected. Now, not far away from this
opening there was an opulent banking-house, and Ralph had often heard
that in the vaults beneath these city banks considerable sums of gold
and Bank of England notes were deposited, and he thought of a plan by
which he might perchance break into one of the vaults. To gain as much
information as he could with regard to the position of the house he went
into the bank, pretending to enquire whether a certain country
establishment had failed or not. There were several people within, and
Rashleigh had thus a chance of strictly scrutinising the place. It
seemed, from the narrowness of the frontage, that there could be no
spare room on this floor, and he naturally conceived that the hoard of
valuables must be deposited below, as he had before heard.

This was on Thursday, and by Saturday night he had fixed on his plan, in
pursuance of which he told the peeple of the house where he lodged that
he was going a little way into the country that evening, and should not
probably return before Monday. He then provided the usual implements:
plenty of false keys, a strong crow-bar, technically called a jemmy, an
instrument used for cleaning bricks, some spirits and a slight provision
of bread and meat. All these he stowed away in his carpet bag, which he
carried under a large boat cloak, and about eight o'clock steered
towards the city. Here he waited in a coffee room until it was past
eleven, and then started for the scene of his proposed exploit. As he
had a long distance to walk, it was after midnight when he reached
Lombard Street, which, not being inhabited by any of the working
classes, was now quite deserted save by the watchman.

Just at this moment propitious fortune seemed to favour his design, for
it began to rain heavily, and Ralph met no person whatever near the
opening of the sewer. After hastily reconnoitring to make sure, he got
into the cavity and with some difficulty reached the bottom. Keeping
close to the side of the sewer, he proceeded along it, groping his way
and taking note, as he went, of the branch drains, by which he relied on
finding the house he sought, as there was usually one of these openings
to each dwelling, leading into the main sewer. He had carefully counted
the houses, gratings, etc. from the bank to that part of the street
where the chasm was formed.

At length he pitched upon an orifice which he felt sure would lead him
to the scene of his proposed exploit, and having first procured a light
by means of phosphorus and a wax taper--of which he had brought an ample
supply--he crept along the branch drain, sounding its sides at short
intervals until he was aware, through the hollow jar produced by the
wall, that he must be opposite one of the apartments in the basement of
the bank.

He now stripped himself and went seriously to work, prizing out first
one brick and then another. Soon, from the closeness of the drain, he
was in a state of profuse perspiration; but he kept steadily on, varying
his position as well as he could, for he felt almost cramped to death by
the confined spot and constrained posture in which he was working. Thus
he had wrought for a long period, while all around him was as still as
if he had been a thousand fathoms deep in the bowels of the earth, when
at once a confused crash astounded him with its noise and almost
smothered him with dust and broken mortar. After the lapse of a few
seconds, this having partially cleared away, he found that several yards
of the brick crown and sides of the drain had fallen in, so that his
egress was completely blocked up. This, however, gave him but little
uneasiness, as he felt sure that if he were only fortunate enough, once
to get in to the haven of his hopes, he would easily find some way to
get out. But shortly after this discovery he cast his eyes above him,
and found to his utter dismay that a large part of the wall he was then
undermining had become loose and was apparently about to give way,
threatening to overwhelm and crush him to atoms. He recoiled from the
sight in consternation, and retreated beneath a sound part of the drain,
which he had hardly gained, before down came the portion of wall,
carrying away a large piece of the drain in its fall, some flying
fragment of which struck our adventurer on the head and stretched him
senseless in the bottom of the sewer.

How long he lay there, of course, he could not tell; but on recovering,
he fancied it must have been some time, for a considerable quantity of
water had accumulated in the drain, which was before dry. This must have
greatly assisted Ralph's recovery by its coolness, for he was lying in
it; and if the injury he sustained had been more serious, it is very
probable he might have been suffocated.

As it was, having raised himself with some difficulty, he groped about
until he found the phosphorus bottle and his tapers, which he had
fortunately put on one side, out of the way of his operations. Having
procured a light. his next care was to look for his bag of tools and
refreshments, which had also escaped injury. A hearty pull at the spirit
flask revived him, and he soon after mustered up courage to approach the
scene of his late discomfiture, when he found to his great joy that a
considerable breach had been formed in the wall of the house, through
which he could discern an apartment or cellar of some sort. He speedily
enlarged the opening and got in, taking care to remove all his
implements at the same time.

Upon searching this room, however, he quickly discovered that it
contained not the object of his ambition, and he therefore examined the
door, intending to try one of his skeleton keys. But alas, there was a
key in the lock, and from its peculiar make, it seemed to bid defiance
to his efforts at forcing it. At last he dislodged the door from its
position, tearing out frame and all from the brickwork, when he found
that the opening led into a dark passage, in which were three other
doors, either open or having keys left in them; but nothing could be
found to induce Rashleigh to suppose this any portion of the bank
premises, as the rooms contained nothing but empty packing-cases, old
hampers, broken bottles and straw. The powerful odour of drugs that
pervaded all these dens convinced Ralph that he had commenced operations
on the wrong side of the drain, having in fact broken into the house
above the bank, next to which he now recollected there was a
wholesale druggist's warehouse; and it was clear he had entered the
latter.

Almost reduced to despair by this discovery, which rendered all his
previous toil and danger abortive, our adventurer was on the point of
abandoning his enterprise, as he perceived, on looking at his watch, it
yet wanted two hours of day and he thought he could leave the sewer
unobserved. But at last he determined to persevere, chiefly induced by
reflecting that this being Sunday, there was little fear of any
interruption, at any rate for some hours further.

He then returned to the drain from whence he had come, and after having
again sounded the opposite side of it, fixed upon a place for
recommencing his labour. Rendered much wiser by experience than at
first, he now commenced by taking out a double row of bricks above the
scene of his intended operations. Therein he inserted into the wall a
strong piece of wood, after the manner of a lintel, to support the
brickwork above, while he made his opening below. Again he toiled
incessantly, until his hands were galled and blistered to a most painful
degree. Stimulated, however, by hope of a golden reward, he suffered not
his energy to relax until he had pierced through this partition, when he
found a more serious obstacle presented itself. This wall, for the sake
of either security or dryness, had been lined with oak planking, which
stood perpendicularly against it, well secured to horizontal pieces of
timber built into the wall. After having in vain attempted to dislodge a
plank, no resource remained but the centre-bit and keyhole saw, with
which, after about an hour more of arduous toil, Ralph succeeded in
making a square opening large enough to admit his whole person.

His joy was now boundless to find that he was at length in the
wished-for treasure cell, of which he had no doubt at the first glance.
There were several cases of copper and silver money lying open before
him, and some smaller cases, which still more attracted the attention
and excited the cupidity of the plunderer. To force some of these was
his first care. But the greater part of them contained only blanks, to
fill up as bank notes for different sums. There was also one case of
bill stamps. Ralph began to think his toil would be but ill repaid after
all, when a chest which stood by itself in a corner attracted his
attention. Antique in its appearance, and secured by many a clasp and
many a massy band, besides three huge padlocks, it bade defiance to all
his efforts, until he remembered having heard in experienced thief in
Maidstone Gaol say that after trying every other means in vain to rob a
strong chest, he often found it might be easily broken open at the
bottom, if it could only be turned over, the reason being that if there
be any damp near it is sure to be drawn under an article of this kind,
which causes the wood with which it comes into contact to decay much
sooner than any other part.

Acting on this idea, Ralph capsized the box in question with some
difficulty and discovered that the bottom was in fact quite rotten and
presented no serious obstacle to the tools, with which he effected his
purpose. He then saw that the chest in question contained many bags,
which on examination he found with joy were full of coined gold. There
was also a small open case, in which were many Bank of England notes.
Here then at last was the fruit of his labours, his suffering and his
danger; and after having puzzled himself for a little while which was
the best booty, he determined on taking as many sovereigns as he could
well carry, and all the Bank of England paper he saw. He then emptied
his carpet bag of its contents, replacing them by sovereigns and notes,
until he judged that he must have nearly ten thousand pounds' worth.
Next, carefully removing all the implements he had brought with him, he
withdrew through the drain into the adjoining house, where he resolved
to conceal himself during the day, as it was now nearly eight o'clock.
Choosing the most out-of-the-way nook on the whole floor, he made
himself up a comfortable bed of straw from the empty hampers, which he
then disposed around him in such a manner that it would not be very easy
to discover him, even in case of a search. He then made a hearty meal,
drank some spirits, and resigned himself to sleep.

When he awoke it was just getting dark and he began now to consider the
means of egress, as he did not like the idea of removing the bricks and
rubbish from the drain, which he knew must be done before he could
return by that path. He shortly found out a grating in the corner of one
of the druggist's cellar rooms, which he doubted not communicated with
the main common sewer that he had come up, and upon his removing it,
this proved to be the case. He now collected every tool he had used and
threw them into a cesspit, reserving only the phosphorus box and a
taper, for fear of an accident.

All being now ready for his departure, he waited with anxiety the hour
of twelve, which he had fixed upon because before that time there were
many stragglers always in the streets; but after that, especially on
Sunday nights, the city was comparatively quiet. At length the
wished-for number of strokes tolled from a neighbouring church clock,
and Rashleigh cautiously commenced his return. When within a few yards
of the opening from the sewer into the street, he put out the taper he
had hitherto carried, and threw it, together with the phosphorus box,
into the deepest hole near him. He now listened attentively, and hearing
no sound of footsteps or aught else, he clambered, without loss of time,
into the street, heartily rejoicing in his success so far.

The night was very dark. It was still raining and from the sloppy state
of the streets, appeared to have been doing so without any intermission
since the night before. Ralph had made his way to the foot pavement when
a watchman suddenly stepped frorn under a door and stood before him.
Though he was somewhat startled, Ralph preserved his equanimity as well
as he could, merely saying in his blandest tone of voice, "Good-night,
watchman."

"Good-night, sir," said the other. "Do you know, I thought you came up
out of the middle of that big hole just now." And he laughed heartily at
the idea.

Ralph smiled in return, saying as he went on, "I crossed the street just
by that opening, which perhaps deceived your sight."

It being now too late to obtain a hackney coach in that neighbourhood,
Rashleigh made the best of his way to the riverside, where he knew there
was a house kept open all night for the accommodation of persons
arriving by late packet boats, into which he gained admittance. Not
being much inclined to sleep, he spent the remainder of the morning in
reading a book he found by chance in his bedroom. Soon after daylight he
went to a neighbouring stairs, where he hired a boat for Lambeth. Here
he breakfasted, and took a hackney coach for his lodgings, at which it
was his first care to hide every portion of his spoil in various secret
places he had before contrived for this purpose. He then put on a new
sporting suit of clothes that he had provided for his country
excursions, which, consisting of a Jolliffe white hat with an enormous
brim, a bottle green Newmarket-cut coat, white cord breeches and top
boots, effected a most surprising change in his personal appearance. In
the next place, being very desirous to ascertain the earliest
intelligence respecting the steps likely to be taken for his own
discovery and apprehension as the perpetrator of the late robbery, he
now repaired to the White Horse Cellar Inn, Piccadilly, carrying with
him a valise and umbrella. Here he ascended a coach just arrived from
Bristol, which was going into the city to the Swan With Two Necks, Lad
Lane, intending to remain there for a day or two, fishing for
information which might tend to guide him not only in the disposal of
his booty, but as to what part of the world he had better go to. Having
arrived at the inn, he gave his name out to be Mr Robert Rowland, from
Bristol, and shortly afterwards stepped out, taking an opportunity of
passing by the scene of his depredation, and went into a coffee-room
hard by, but did not hear a breath respecting the matter.

At last he returned to the Swan, where, as he was dining in the
travellers' room, it was not long before he overheard a conversation
between two persons occupying the box next to himself, relative to the
robbery. One o these two seemed to have been near the bank when the
discovery was made, which did not take place until after ten o'clock
that morning. It also appeared that the civic police were quite at
fault; the means by which the house had been robbed by being broken into
were plain enough, for the instant that the cashier went into the strong
vault he saw all was in confusion, and a very slight search led to the
discovery of the opening into the sewer; but they knew not how to,
account for all the rubbish in the branch drain, nor could they at all
conceive how the robbers had escaped after executing their purpose. It
was agreed, however, by all, that several thieves must have been
concerned, as it appeared to them the labour performed was far greater
than the truth.

The only persons upon whom suspicion had as yet fallen were the workmen
employed in repairing the sewer, all of whom had been directly taken
into custody; but it seemed two of their number, who had been at work
with them on the Saturday previous, had not returned that morning to
their task; nor could they be traced by any enquiry which had been made.
Therefore very heavy suspicion attached itself to them, and a high
reward had been offered for their apprehension. In the mean time
placards had been largely circulated, giving intimation of the robbery,
publishing the numbers of the notes stolen, and promising £500 for the
detection of the guilty parties.

Rashleigh devoured all this story with great avidity and felt very easy
in his mind, it being quite apparent that all the police authorities
were perfectly astray as yet. The next morning he attended at the
Guildhall to pick up what further news or information he could upon the
examination of the workmen; but he failed, as this, being only a
preliminary investigation, was held in private. He elicited, however,
from a very communicative civic functionary of some sort, with whom he
picked a conversation on the subject, that a watchman who was stationed
in Lombard Street had that day come forward to state that a little after
twelve on the morning of Monday he had seen a very gentlemanly-looking
person in the street, whom he had spoken to, as he had at first thought
he must have come out of the sewer; but that the stranger had denied
doing so and the watchman could not swear that he ACTUALLY saw him
emerge from the opening. Nor could he give any other description of the
party in question, save that he spoke very much like a gentleman and had
on a large cloak, which covered him from head to foot, so Ralph's
informant thought. "Their Worships" could make nothing out of that.

As usual, the newspapers teemed with various and conflicting statements;
but the chief information they contained consisted of the fact that
several of the most active and intelligent officers of Bow Street had
been sent to the different seaports to examine all suspicious persons
about to leave the kingdom; but above all things, the strictest search
was everywhere to be made for the missing workmen.

Rashleigh having thus learned all that he could for the present,
determined on going out of London for a short rime, and selected
Farnham, in Surrey, as his retreat, having been much taken with the
beauty of the town when he had spent a day or two there after his
exploit at Winchester. Here, then, he located himself, passing as usual
for a clerk upon a holiday.

About a fortnight after he arrived there, he was horrified by reading in
the newspaper an account of a great fire which had taken place in Essex
Street, Strand, where he had lodged, and which had already consumed
nearly the whole of the houses on one side of that street. This news
quite unmanned him because he had left nearly the whole of his large
stock of ill-acquired cash in the places of concealment before mentioned
at his lodgings. The only hope that remained to him was that the side
consumed might not be that on which he had lived, as the paper did not
specify the spot exactly. Suspense, however, was intolerable, and
feigning that he had received a letter claiming his instant return to
London, he took coach the same night, and having arrived at the Golden
Cross, flew on the wings of anxiety to Essex Street. Here his very worst
anticipations were fully realised. His late lodgings were not
distinguishable amid the mass of smoking ruins, and the firemen. who
were all busied in pulling down those walls which still stood but
threatened to fall, would not allow Rashleigh to approach near the spot
on which the house he lived in had stood. Indeed, if they had, it would
have proved useless, for that dwelling appeared to have suffered even
more, if possible, than any of the rest, having been completely gutted,
the roof and floors fallen in; and the workmen, at that moment, were
levelling the front walls.




Chapter V



FOREWARNED BY LEGENDS OF MY YOUTH,
I TRUST NOT AN ASSOCIATE'S TRUTH.


Overpowered by dismay, Ralph Rashleigh turned from the scene, and felt
as if he wished himself whelmed beneath the ruins of the house which had
thus destroyed all his hopes--so fondly cherished--of future
independence. Except about £100 which he had taken with him into the
country, not only all the booty for which he had risked his life, but
all his clothing, books and other effects were thus lost to him for
ever. Scarcely knowing what he did, he went into a neighbouring
public-house and endeavoured by repeated libations to drown the memory
of his loss.

The effect of this debauch, combined with his mental anxiety, threw him
into a fever, from which he did not recover for several weeks. In the
mean time he was exposed to the mercenary extortions of a stranger, who
appeared to proportion his charges to his knowledge of the contents of
his guest's purse, which this pattern for landlords had taken away on
the occasion of Ralph's becoming intoxicated the first night of his
arrival at the house. As soon, therefore, as Rashleigh became
sufficiently sensible to arrange his own business, he enquired for his
cash, when a bill was presented to him, amounting to upwards of £56 for
lodging and attendance, exclusive of the surgeon's charge for visits and
medicine, which last, when he received it, was £32 more. After these
were paid Rashleigh found himself master of only £7 10s. 8d. and the
suit of clothes he wore, to begin the world anew with.

One effect of his last sickness had been, however, to disgust him
sincerely with his past life, and he determined upon living honestly for
the future, to do which he resolved upon procuring employment again as a
legal copyist. But some time must necessarily elapse before he could
hope to be sufficiently restored to health for this purpose. In the mean
time his scanty stock of cash would soon be exhausted. He therefore left
the public-house and took a small furnished room in a court near the
Temple, where after a week or two he found himself so much better that
one day he set out to wait upon an old employer for the purpose of
asking some work. He was well received and promised employment on the
morrow.

On his return from making this call, his evil fortune threw him in the
way of that associate who had assisted him in the robbery of the house
in Welbeck Street, and who was now in custody of an officer for some
other offence. This fellow hailed Rashleigh, and the officer, who was on
the lookout for another PAL of his prisoner, suspected from his manner
that there was something in common between them. As he looked with the
usual eyes of a thief catcher upon all the associates of thieves, so he
now determined on taking our hero into custody likewise. And this he
shortly after effected; for meeting a brother officer, he described the
person of Ralph Rashleigh to him, and in a few minutes more that unlucky
wight was arrested as he turned into the court where he lodged.

Resistance and enquiry were alike vain, and Ralph was lodged in the
watchhouse without even knowing the charge on which he had been taken
up. After a night of mental anxiety, which may be much more easily
conceived than described, he was brought before the sitting magistrate
at Bow Street next day. Here the officer first charged Thomas
Jenkins--ALIAS Thomas Jones, ALIAS Thomas Smith, with about twenty other
ALIASES by which, it seemed, Rashleigh's former associate had been known
at some period of his eventful career--with having been concerned in the
commission of a daring robbery at a gentleman's house in the Adelphi;
and certainly, as far as the evidence of the policeman went, a very
clear case indeed was made out against him, for it appeared he was seen
lurking near the house in question the evening the robbery had been
perpetrated, in company with an associate, who, by the by, was sworn
much to resemble the unfortunate Ralph. Besides this, on searching his
person, the duplicate of one of the stolen articles had been found in
his pocket. Again, his character, which was notorious as that of a
thief, bore hard against him, and he was fully committed for trial at
the Old Bailey.

It now became necessary to examine our adventurer; and the only evidence
against him being of a negative character, he was requested to state his
occupation, which he averred to be that of a legal copyist. And as he
most indignantly denied all knowledge of Jenkins or his acts, he was
remanded to prison for a week, in order that rime might be afforded the
police to make enquiry into the truth of his assertion.

Behold Rashleigh once more in gaol, surrounded with the outcasts of
England's vast metropolis, destitute of money, of friends, and of
necessaries, a prey to the bitterest feelings of remorse, and vainly
vowing a complete reformation if ever he again obtained his liberty. But
this was not to be his lot, for his quondam companion thought by telling
the truth with reference to the former robbery that his sentence might
be rendered lighter, or perhaps, as the gentleman robbed on that
occasion was of high respectability and influence, that he might even
escape altogether with impunity. Having therefore freely made a full
confession, implicating Rashleigh in the strongest manner, also the
hackney coachman who had assisted in the removal of the plate, together
with the Israelite who had bought it, the two last were arrested, and on
the day appointed for hearing Ralph upon the former charge, he was
placed at the bar with the hackney man, whom he hardly knew, and to his
utter confusion saw his former associate enter the witness-box to give
evidence against him.

The testimony of Jenkins was corroborated by many circumstances which,
though trivial of themselves, formed a very strong aggregate, and by the
unsatisfactory defence offered by Ralph, coupled with the statement made
by the policeman who had been deputed to enquire how our adventurer
lived, to the effect that although he had enquired for employment at the
place he stated on the day he was taken into custody, and although he
had been so employed by the same person about eighteen months before,
yet nothing appeared as to how he had been obtaining a living in the
interim. And as, for reasons well known to the reader, he could by no
means clear up this point or bring evidence as to his honesty, the
investigation closed by his being fully committed to Newgate, to take
his trial at the ensuing sessions for the County of Middlesex upon a
charge of burglary, which at the time was a capital offence, and one for
which mercy was rarely granted to such as were found guilty.

The van which conveyed the daily gleaning of crime collected by the ever
vigilant officers of Bow Street, and whose inmates were strongly secured
by leg-chains and handcuffs, contained, besides Ralph Rashleigh, two
prostitutes, committed on charges of pocket picking, a girl apparently
new from the country, who had been sent to prison for having stolen a
few articles of female finery from her mistress, an apprentice boy, who
was committed for robbing his master's till, a hoary old beggar, to be
tried on a charge of assaulting a street keeper, and a ferocious-looking
Irishman, who had beaten his wife so severely that her life was
despaired of. The tears of the poor servant girl, who wailed most
pitifully, the obscenity of the two strumpets, the bitter lamentations
of the 'prentice boy, and the awful objurgations of the Irishman formed
a truly disgusting mélange, and Ralph was almost glad when the van
stopped before the gloomy portals of the prison, now rendered doubly
repulsive by the darkness of the night and the fitful glare of the
torches held by the officers in attendance, to light the prisoners into
that abode of doom, which some of them felt they should never more quit
with life.

The surrounding mob, collected outside in vacant curiosity to gaze upon
the newly arrived criminals, hailed their appearance with many obscene
jests and very much brutal laughter; but upon their entry into the porch
or gate-house the outer doors were closed, and Rashleigh felt his heart
sink within him as the grating noise of the sullen hinges and the clank
of massy bolts seemed to cut him off from the external world for ever.

Here a strict search was made upon the person of each; but their money
and other trifling articles were immediately returned to them. The women
were then taken in one direction, and the men, among whom of course was
Rashleigh, were ordered to follow a turnkey in another, through a long
and gloomy passage, which displayed at intervals festoons of fetters of
all shapes and sizes, handcuffs, fire-arms of every kind and capacity,
from the bell-mouthed musketoon with bore as wide as a teacup to the
pocket pistol, carrying a bullet not much bigger than a pea. There was
no lack of naked cutlasses or swords, and many hideous, grim-looking
engines were suspended against these dreary walls, the names and uses of
which were equally unknown to Ralph; but his heated imagination
appropriated to each some foul or horrible purpose. Frequent gates,
composed solely of iron bars, crossed this gallery, at each of which was
stationed an attendant turnkey. The numerous direful ideas conjured up
by the mind of our captive in his transit caused this avenue to appear
interminable; but at length the whole party stopped in a small room
apparently used as an office, where a clerk in attendance entered the
personal description, together with a statement of the dress worn by
each of the new confines. They were then directed to proceed onward,
which they did through a small yard surrounded by the gaol apartments,
until they again halted at a grated door. Having been admitted, they
went up three flights of stone stairs and were shown into a large
ill-lighted apartment, the unglazed windows of which, strongly secured
by iron bars, left no doubt of its purpose. Around this room, which
contained no other furniture than a rough table and two or three forms,
were lying many prisoners. Here they were received by a man who had
charge of the ward, as the apartment was called, and who gave to each a
portion of very dark-coloured bread, a mat similar in material and
appearance to those placed at the outer doors of houses, and a coarse
horse rug. The latter articles formed the bed and bedding allowed by the
civic authorities to such prisoners as had none of their own.

The turnkey who had ushered them in now withdrew, and a scene
immediately ensued of which Rashleigh could give but a very faint
account, for one of the rugs having at this moment been thrown over him
from behind, he was immediately pulled to the ground and in a few
minutes stripped of every article of clothing: an operation which he
quickly discovered had been simultaneously performed upon all those who
had arrived with him. Remonstrance being of no avail, nothing remained
but patience, and of this inestimable quality Ralph had lately acquired
a sufficient portion to enable him to submit in silence. When the uproar
had somewhat subsided he secured his rug and mat, spread them upon the
ground, and lay down to sleep. The numberless myriads of vermin,
however, together with the continual noise of conversation, and other
nameless annoyance prevented his doing so for many hours; and when at
last he did rest, the intense cold, from which his scanty covering
but ill defended him, caused him soon to awake, after which he lay
tossing and tumbling until his bones were sore, revolving many bitter
thoughts of the past am anticipations for the future.

At length the wished-for morning dawned, and our adventurer had an
opportunity of observing the nature of his place of confinement more a
leisure; but he could find nothing very cheering in the view. The room
was of great size, furnished, as before stated, only with a rough table
and benches, together with the rugs and mats which formed the bedding of
the prisoners, who seemed to be in number from thirty to forty. When it
became quite light Ralph saw a quantity of clothing lying in the middle
of the floor, which he examined and found that his own was among them.
He then quickly dressed and went to sit by the fire. In a short time
many others joined him, and numberless questions were asked by the
former inmates of the newcomers, as to what they were "in for", etc. in
making replies to these queries the time sped away until eight o'clock,
when several buckets full of gruel were brought in, which served those
who, like Ralph had no means of purchasing any other food for breakfast.
With some of the bread he had received the night before our adventurer
made a hearty meal, to which the abstinence of the previous four and
twenty hours no doubt contributed in a very great degree.

After breakfast Ralph went down to the yard, the doors of all the
sleeping-wards being by this time thrown open. The prisoners attended
prayers in the chapel, after which Rashleigh joined a number of others
who were performing their ablutions at a pump. This necessary operation
concluded, the new-comer began to look around him, to see if among his
fellow-confines he could recognise any one he knew. This investigation
had no effect for some time, until he perceived a bustle among the
assembled crowd, whose attention seemed to be concentrated upon the
outer entrance of the yard, where a turnkey ever and anon called out the
name of a prisoner, who then answered, "Over", as loud as he could bawl
and ran to the door to receive a message or parcel, or be shown into the
visiting room, accordingly as a message or a visitor awaited his
attention.

The name of William Tyrrell, having been vociferated in this way, was
replied to by a person whose face appeared familiar to Rashleigh, who
asked another man close by for information as to who Tyrrell was.' The
former replied that he was a first-rate swindler, then confined for
twelve months, having, been BOWLED OUT in some of his malpractices. This
account did not altogether satisfy our hero, who was confident he had
known Tyrrell in some other circumstances than such as had been detailed
to him, though he could not at the time remember how or where they had
met, and he now awaited with some impatience for his reappearance. In
the mean time the inmates of this vast prison commenced their daily
amusements or occupations. The greater part of them, breaking up into
knots, retired either into the wards or out-of-sight comers of the yard,
to form what they called SCHOOLS, for the pursuit of their favourite
pastime, gambling; but cards being prohibited, a number of ingenious
devices were resorted to, among which the most popular appeared to be
the tossing up of one, two, or three halfpence at once, technically
termed GAFFING. A scene now ensued to which the uproar of Babel or the
din of Pandemonium must have been perfect peace, the gamblers staking
often their clothing on the chances, until at length some of them were
shortly covered only by scanty and wretched rags begged from the more
fortunate, who in their turn were stripped by other successful
competitors. The various vicissitudes of the game were marked by the
most horrid imprecations, of a power and energy only to be appreciated
by those who have ever haunted the CLASSIC SOLITUDES of Billingsgate, or
the secluded shades of Chequer Alley and Winfield Street. In several
instances the opponents resorted to blows, when rings were formed,
seconds selected, and all the minutiae of prize-fighting rigidly adhered
to, the bystanders encouraging their respective favourites, and freely
betting their money, articles of apparel, and even their food on the
issue of the contest.

Amid this uproar some were moodily fixed in anxious expectation,
awaiting the arrival of a friend or relative with news from without, or
a promised supply of cash or clothing. Another few were pacing the yard
alone, "in silent meditation fancy free". Some who, like Rashleigh,
expected no visitors, and to whom the scene at any rate offered the
attraction of novelty, were listlessly gazing, first at one part of this
strange MÉLANGE, and then at another. But nowhere could he observe any
traces of that sorrow or despair which might have been supposed the fit
accompaniment of such a place, where many of those whom he saw knew full
well that "they were sure to be TWISTED (hanged) at the next sessions",
as they daily expressed themselves to that effect. On the contrary, the
only object of most appeared to be the enjoyment of the passing hour,
varied in a few cases and at intervals by deep-laid schemes to defeat
their two great enemies, the public justice and their private
prosecutors, as well as by cunningly devised projects of plunder to be
put into execution when they should again recover their liberty.

After a short time the door of the yard opened, and the person who had
answered to the name of Tyrrell reappeared. He now passed quite close to
Rashleigh, who remembered him as a person whom upon one of his country
excursions he had rescued from the clutches of a constable in whose
custody he was proceeding to Hertford Gaol on a charge of robbery; which
service Ralph had performed by effecting the intoxication of this
VIGILANT guardian of the public peace, when he stole the key of the room
in which Tyrrell had been confined and let him out, providing him with a
supply of money to assist his flight. Rashleigh now addressed this man,
enquiring how he had got into his present confinement. The latter, upon
recognising one who had rendered him such an essential obligation, after
a few preliminary remarks, informed our adventurer that being sentenced
a year's imprisonment in the START (Newgate) he had, as was customary at
that time, obtained the situation of a wardsman (person appointed to
keep order in each of the sleeping apartments) and that, by a dexterous
application of some of the renowned OIL OF PALMS to one of the gaol
officers, he had been placed in what was considered the best room of the
prison, where he had ample opportunities for enjoying himself and also,
strange to say, of getting a good deal of money. He then enquired into
Rashleigh's case and present circumstances, when, finding that the
latter could scarcely be worse, he ended by inviting his newly arrived
friend to share his mess until the sessions, promising also to get him
removed into the same ward with himself. Ralph joyfully acceded to this
arrangement. Never before had he found so apposite an illustration of
the old proverb, "A friend in need is a friend indeed." Shortly after
this, the principal turnkey on that side of the gaol coming to the gate
to preside over the distribution of the meat and soup allowed for the
dinner of the confines, Tyrrell preferred his request to that awful
functionary, and duly supported it by a recurrence to the usual
all-powerful ARGENTINE arguments commonly applied in such cases, and
which, in this, proved effectual; for Rashleigh obtained permission to
change his lodging to that occupied by his friend, whom he immediately
accompanied to the famed apartment then known as the "Smugglers' Ward".

The first view of this room impressed our hero with a much more cheerful
opinion of the comforts attainable even in a felons' gaol than any place
he had yet seen within the walls of Newgate. Here were many very
clean-looking beds. Coarse curtains screened portions of the room and,
in fact, subdivided it into small apartments, which were rented by those
among the confines who were opulent enough to afford the payment of what
Trapbois would have called "a fair con-sid-e-ra-tion" for it in the
shape of a weekly rent to the wardsman for such an indulgence. A few
decent tables and chairs, with many other miscellaneous articles of
comfort and even luxury also were to be seen. In the whole, this portion
of Newgate presented an infinitely preferable appearance to many houses
outside its walls, independent of the parish of Saint Giles.

Tyrrell now introduced Ralph to his own berth, which was formed like the
rest by curtains, and in addition to two decent beds, etc., contained
several shelves, with drawers and a table. In fact, it presented the
appearance of a small huckster's shop, to which purpose it was actually
appropriated; for in a few minutes a number of persons applied for tea,
sugar, coffee, milk, eggs, bacon, butter and many other comestibles, the
supplying of which occupied both Tyrrell and our hero, who was quickly
installed into office as his assistant, during more than an hour.
Tyrrell then ordered breakfast to be brought, acquainting his new
messmate that the inmates of the Smugglers' Ward, justly considering
themselves as the aristocracy of the entire community within the walls
of Newgate, were by far too independent to adhere to the same hours for
taking their meals as were observed by the common order of criminals.
Accordingly, though they were obliged to go to chapel every morning at
nine o'clock, which occupied half an hour, they very carefully resumed
their beds as soon as they returned, nor did they rise again until noon,
by which time the ward had been thoroughly cleaned out, their boots or
shoes and clothes brushed, and their breakfasts prepared by their
SERVANTS; of whom each person of high TON, who had plenty of TIN, kept
one to himself; in other cases two or three of inferior means clubbed
their messes together and supported one SLAVEY among them.

These slaveys, or servants, were a sort of PARIAHS among the prisoners,
chiefly JOHNNY RAWS, or country chaps, apprentices, or others, who had
no acquaintances to assist them while in gaol, and who were not
possessed of sufficient dexterity in gambling to supply their wants by
any of the various cheating tricks resorted to among the knowing ones.
They were consequently glad to earn a trifle of cash and some food, by
administering to the necessities and submitting to the various practical
jokes or tyrannical tricks of their imperious masters; for Ralph had
ample opportunities of observing that many of the so-called highflyers
of Newgate were not a whit behind those whom they copied--the gay and
gilded butterflies of fashion who fluttered in the external world--in
scorning those whom fate or fortune had for the time placed in
subordinate situations to themselves.




Chapter VI



POOR TOM WAS ONCE A KIDDY UPON TOWN,
A THOROUGH VARMINT, AND A REAL swell.


Tyrrell's attendant having produced their breakfast, which consisted of
coffee, eggs, honey and toast, our confines did ample justice to the
vivers, after which, Rashleigh having questioned his companion
respecting his past history, Tyrrell observed that in order to
understand it, it would be necessary to begin at an early period of his
life; but, as there was nothing else to do, it would form as good a
pastime as any other, and he began as follows:

"My father was a noted FENCE, and it may easily be imagined, in
consequence, that what I saw in my paternal mansion during my early
childhood did not greatly predispose me to a life of honesty. In fact, I
was taken notice of by the thieves who resorted to our house for the
purpose of selling whatever they had stolen. These gentry were lost in
admiration of my dexterity, for at nine years of age I could pick the
pocket of the sharpest man among them.

"Talents like mine were not to be hidden in obscurity; so one day, after
I had lost all my BROWNS gaffing with a CHUMMY, and my old dad had
refused to give me any more, I watched my opportunity and stole from him
a watch and a small lot of silver spoons, which I took to an
acquaintance of his in the same line, whom I amused by a false tale of
my dexterity in stealing them. He willingly bought the whole, without
asking any troublesome questions, and told me with an air of patronage I
shall never forget, 'that he always thought I should turn out a MOST
SPLENDID THIEF!!!' Egad, I believe HE considered this to be the
highest praise he could bestow; and for my part, I thought more of it,
by an immeasurable degree, than I should, had he predicted I should live
to be a Bishop!

"With the money thus acquired, I forsook the East end for the West, and
soon fell in with a highly distinguished member of the SWELL MOB, now,
alas, luxuriating at Botany Bay. This worthy had often praised my
consummate skill in the art of CONVEYANCING, and by such a distinguished
artist was I now taken into protection. Under his auspices it was that I
acquired that SAVOIR VIVRE which I have often been complimented upon in
after life, and to which, no doubt, may be ascribed the singular success
that has generally attended my operations.

"We carried on the war against the pockets of all and sundry for two
years with prolific industry, until at last, in a moment of rashness, my
companion essayed his skill upon the person of no less redoubtable a
victim than Sir R. B. the celebrated police magistrate, whom he eased of
his pocket book, containing a considerable sum, just at the door of his
own office! From that instant our fortunes declined. The officers of his
establishment, after the affront offered to their chief, appeared to be
each endowed with more eyes than Argus himself. We were had up before
the beak three times in one fortnight on suspicion of various offences,
and though acquitted of any actual criminality, yet my companion was
sent three months to gaol as a suspected thief, while I was ordered to
be received into the REFUGE. This destination I obtained from my
obstinacy in refusing to disclose my real name or the residence of my
parents, which I was loath to do because I feared my father might be
ungentlemanly enough to remember the little FAUX PAS I had committed
when I left him.

"In this benevolent institution for reclaiming the destitute youth of
London I remained four years, much against my will, in which period I
learned to read and write, for my education had hitherto been very much
neglected. Besides, I obtained an insight into the calling of a snob, to
which gentle occupation I was apprenticed at the expiration of my
servitude, a master being chosen for me by the institution, who in
consideration of my services for three more years, engaged to provide me
with food and clothing and to perfect me in the knowledge of that
necessary craft, which is said to have been patronised by Saint Crispin.

"This benevolent gentleman added to the other obligations he wished to
confer upon me, an intimate acquaintance with short commons--and a long
stirrup-leather. But after my close confinement in the Refuge, I can
assure you I had other notions of the sweets of liberty than to waste my
fife among the awls and ends of a cobbler's shop; so I very soon
absconded from my master, and taking the road to Bristol, with a scanty
stock of clothing and a still more slender supply of cash, I began the
world anew. I had travelled many miles before the night fell, and I
found myself near a small village, to the inn of which I hastened for
shelter.

"In the night an alarm of fire roused all the inmates at once. I had
slept in an apartment on the ground floor, and was soon in safety; but
the case was far different with some others, because the flames had
attained great power before they were discovered. It appeared they had
broken out in a fireplace that adjoined the only staircase which the
house contained. Consequently, the retreat of those who occupied the
upper rooms was quickly cut off.

"A scene of dire confusion now took place. The people of the inn, with
the help of bystanders, endeavoured to save their property; and they
were so busy that they did not remember an elderly gentleman and his
daughter, who slept in two of the upper apartments situated at the back
of the house, and who now appeared at a window, beseeching for help. By
this time the flames had burst from the openings beneath them and
threatened imminent danger to any who should even approach to set up a
ladder for their escape. The landlord having offered a £10 note to
anybody that could rescue them, I determined on trying to earn so
considerable a reward.

"Having first stripped myself to my shirt, I wetted a blanket, which I
fastened round me, and then boldly placed a ladder against the window.
The old gentleman, in the mean time, had fainted, and his daughter
refused to abandon him. I therefore ran up the ladder, and at the urgent
entreaty of the girl, that I would save her father, I managed with some
difficulty to get him out of the window upon my back, and though I was
fairly enveloped in flame, I reached the ground with my burden in
safety.

"The scene now was awful, for the whole of the lower part of the inn on
that side presented nothing but one sheet of fire, which, bursting forth
at every lower opening, licked the walls and clambered the side of the
house in volumes of flame. But the beauty of the lovely girl, who now
could only be seen at intervals, wringing her hands in a paroxysm of
despair at the upper window, was too deeply impressed upon my mind to
suffer her to perish so dreadfully without an effort.

"Taking another wet blanket with me, I rushed up the ladder once more,
and throwing it around the young lady, caught her on my shoulder, and
began my descent just in time; for I had not made two steps downwards,
when the floor on which she had stood fell in with a tremendous crash,
shaking the whole building and emitting a shower of burning flakes of
timber. I felt almost paralyzed for an instant. The girl fainted on my
shoulder, and I had great difficulty to keep my feet. The suffocating
heat nearly deprived me of breath; but just at this moment the ladder
slipped, which recalled me, and with convulsive energy I grasped its
sides between my knees, and thus slid in half a second to the ground.

"Brief as my passage had been, my hair and even my eyebrows were burned,
my right shoulder painfully scorched, and to crown all, the force with
which I alighted on TERRA FIRMA had severely sprained my ankle, so that
I had scarcely handed my lovely burden to her father, when I fell down
insensible.

"After a long illness, during which the greatest attention was paid to
me, when I recovered strength enough to take cognisance of those around
me, I was informed that I now lay in a farm-house near the village where
the fire had happened, that the old gentleman whose daughter I had saved
had caused me to be brought there, having liberally paid the inmates for
their attention to me, and that he had left orders that when I could
bear the journey I was to proceed to his residence, situated at a place
called King's Weston, in Somersetshire, for which purpose he had left me
a sum of money.

"The landlord of the inn frequently came to see me, and indeed, among
all the neighbours, I was considered quite a hero. My convalescence was
pleasant enough, and I set forth to pay my respects to Mr Waterton,
which I found was the name of the gentleman in question. I had
previously sent a letter to him, returning my thanks for his kindness,
and stating the day on which I intended to start, so that on my arrival
per coach at Bristol, I found a servant with a horse and chaise, waiting
to convey me forward to my destination.

"I was most cordially received by Mr W., his son and daughter, and when
my health was re-established, the old gentleman enquired my situation
and prospects. I told him that I was an orphan, bred up by an uncle who
had taught me the trade of a shoemaker, but that my protector being
dead, I was travelling in search of work when I fell in with him. Mr
Waterton asked me if I would accept a situation to attend his son, who
was about to travel, promising that upon our return he would do
something more for me. I embraced this proposal very joyfully, being
most desirous to see the world. Accordingly, I visited nearly every
capital in Europe with this young gentleman, who always treated me
rather as a friend than a servant. I wanted for nothing money could
supply and consequently had no temptation to resume my old game.

"At length, the vessel in which we had sailed from Naples for
Constantinople was wrecked upon one of the Greek islands. The whole of
the crew and passengers, in order to save themselves, got into boats;
but as she struck the rock in the night-time, myself and my master were
separated in the confusion. The boat in which I was--with several
others--stood for the land, which appeared at no great distance; but the
violence of the sea was so great that in a short time the oars were
swept from the hands of the seamen, and immediately afterwards the skiff
upset.

"I remember nothing more, until it appeared to me I awoke. I then found
myself lying nearly naked on a bare sea-beach so far from the water that
I could hardly conceive how I had got there; but it seems that in these
parts the fury of the waves will sometimes lift a large boat several
hundred feet on the dry land. I looked about and saw that the whole
shore for some distance was strewed with fragments of wreck. Among the
rest were several chests, one of which I recognised as having belonged
to a young gentleman passenger named Alleyn, who had been in the same
boat with myself.

"This was no time to be scrupulous, for I was nearly perishing with
cold; so, after some little difficulty, I broke open Mr Alleyn's chest
and to my great comfort found the contents were most of them dry, as the
box was very strong and lined with tin. Among many other things I found
a supply of warm clothing, which I much wanted, and therefore helped
myself to a complete change. I found also a small bag containing a
considerable number of pieces of foreign gold coin and a large bag of
Spanish dollars, which I also secured. I now thought of looking after
inhabitants, if there were any, and accordingly ascended a range of
cliffs which overlooked the shore that was the scene of our disaster,
and turned my eyes inland.

"The prospect was anything but cheering, for as far as my sight extended
I could see nothing but a wild sort of heath, with a few stunted bushes
here and there. At a considerable distance the view was shut in by a
range of hills, beyond which a slight smoke appeared. The nearest way to
these bills lay along the sea-beach, to which I accordingly returned.

"On repassing the fragments of wreck, I thought I might as well drag the
most portable chests as far as I could out of the reach of the waves. I
set busily to work to do so, and in my researches I stumbled upon the
bodies of several of my unfortunate boat companions, which had before
been hidden from my view by the rocks among which they lay. I examined
them very anxiously, hoping to find one at least alive; for never did I
feel so utterly abandoned and destitute. But the rough and jagged rocks
among which they had been cast had completely crushed them to atoms. it
was with great difficulty that I could recognise any of them; but among
those I knew I discovered poor Mr Alleyn, whose clothes I had made free
with. While I was endeavouring to draw the senseless corpses of my late
shipmates up a little higher on the shore, I saw a man coming towards
me, whose appearance was savage and uncouth enough to alarm a person
better provided with means of resistance than myself; for, in fact, I
possessed none but nature's weapons.

"The person who now approached me bore a fowling-piece of singular
appearance, marvellously long in the barrel. He was clad from head to
foot in a sort of pelisse, or cloak, apparently made of sheepskin, with
the wool outside. He wore a silken or velvet skull-cap, much embroidered
with gold and silver thread. Boots of untanned leather completed his
costume. Rude, however, as he seemed, I soon found by his gestures that
his meaning was friendly; for although I could not understand a word he
said, yet the tone of his voice, and the compassionate glances he cast
at my dead companions assured me that I might hope for hospitality and
assistance from him. He laid aside his gun, helped me to carry the
relics of my shipmates, which we covered as decently as we could with
some sails washed up by the storm, and then motioned me to accompany
him.

"In the mean time I attempted to converse with him by trying all the
scraps of languages I had picked up on my travels, but without any
success. At last I desisted, and we pursued our path in silence. After
walking about a mile along the shore, a sudden turn round a projecting
cliff brought us a view of a small village, consisting of about
three-score houses, most romantically situated at the head of a small
bay. We soon reached one of the best in appearance, and my guide
proceeded to issue several orders, apparently to his family. In a short
time a small quantity of black bread, stewed meat, and a bottle of wine
were placed before me. I needed but little pressing to satisfy my
hunger.

"While I was thus engaged, a venerable-looking old man, whose white
beard swept his girdle, came in. He made an obeisance to me and then
began to speak in a sort of broken Italian, asking me whether I did not
belong to the large ship that had been wrecked last night. I told him I
was a passenger, and enquired whether anyone else had reached the shore,
to which he replied that he knew not, for I was the first who had been
seen.

"I now requested that he would endeavour to obtain assistance for the
burial of my late companions and the security of the effects which lay
on the beach, to which he replied that a party of the villagers had
already gone to fetch the dead, in order to see to their interment in
the churchyard. I proposed going to meet them, as I had no doubt that
plunder was the object they had in view; but we had scarcely set out
when we met these honest people returning with four of the corpses. They
were carefully laid out upon boards in a little half-ruined chapel,
where, by the direction of the old man, whom I now found to be a priest,
several of the matrons commenced preparations for the burial. In short,
the whole of them were brought in by noon, and having been prepared for
interment, each being sewn up in a sort of sheet, the priest read the
funeral service, and they were committed to the earth.

"In the mean time the villagers had brought most of the chests and
portable articles that had drifted on shore to their dwellings. All of
these they gave up to me; but I feared to claim any except the chests,
etc. of Mr Alleyn, who I knew was dead, and I placed all the rest at the
disposal of the padre, who told me that the place being a dependency
upon the Ionian islands, he would write to Corfu by the first vessel, so
that the authorities there might decide what should be done.

"In the mean time men had been dispatched to all parts of the islet, in
order to look out for other traces of the wreck and to search for the
survivors, if there might be any such, from the ill-fated vessel.

"I remained in the same cottage three days before any opportunity
occurred for my removal, when a small galley, which came for fish from
Naples, touched at the village. In this I took my departure, having in
vain endeavoured to make the poor islanders accept of any remuneration
for the trouble they had been at. The priest, who was the only person
with whom I could maintain a broken sort of conversation, assured me,
when I spoke of payment for the services rendered me, that the
authorities at Corfu always satisfied both himself and flock for all the
assistance they could afford a British subject.

"Finding that they would not receive any recompense for either my food
or lodging, I bade them adieu. And ever since that time, when I have
heard people railing at mankind, and vowing that there was neither
honour, honesty, or hospitality left upon earth, I have thought of that
lonely Greek islet, where the inhabitants, though as poor as poor can
be, had yet extended protection and friendship to a solitary helpless
being at his utmost need, without hope of reward.

"I soon reached the gay city of Naples again, and used every exertion,
during my stay of near two months in that luxurious haunt of pleasure,
to discover whether my master had escaped the wreck with life. But I was
unsuccessful in all my endeavours, and I determined on returning to
England, in the faint hope that young Mr Waterton might have arrived
there, as there were many homeward bound vessels then sailing on those
seas. I ardently trusted this might prove the case, for I really
respected, I may say, loved, my master with great sincerity.

"I ought to have informed you that one of Mr Alleyn's chests, of which I
had taken possession, bore his name painted upon it in full. This being
sent to the hotel at which I proposed to stop the day before I went
thither myself, the people of the house dubbed me upon arrival, 'Il
Signor Alleyn'. As they had thus converted me into a gentleman, I had
very little relish for again descending needlessly to the station of a
servant. Besides, I fancied my honours sat quite as becomingly upon me
as gentility did upon several of my countrymen, for, to speak Heaven's
truth, never were there such a collection of unlicked cubs as some of
the SIGNORI INGLESE who abode in those days at the good town of Naples.
Again, I found upon examination that with cash and trinkets, I was
possessed of something above £1,100, which would at any rate, I thought,
enable me to support my assumed character until I reached my fatherland,
when I resolved upon dropping it and returning to my patron. But you
know the old saying, 'Man PROposes but Heaven DISposes.' It so happened
that among the passengers in the same ship with myself from Naples to
England there was a young Irish gentleman named Power O'Donahoe, who had
stayed at the CASA INGLESE during all the time I had been there. Because
I had never joined any of the other geniuses in laughing at his brogue
or in ridiculing his blunders, this young man, with all the proverbial
warmth of his country, formed quite a friendship for me, and when we
arrived in London, nothing would suit him but I must go to the same
hotel as he did.

"In an evil hour I consented, and we drank, danced, diced and wenched
together for three months with great ÉCLAT. I was introduced into
fashionable society by Mr O'Donahoe, who always told his friends that I
was a young West Indian proprietor of great fortune, which indeed,
through various hints I had purposely dropped, he really believed me to
be.

"The roystering sort of life I now led rapidly attenuated my finances,
and I began to obtain articles upon credit. Thus I quickly discovered
the great truth that there is not upon earth a more credulous animal
than a London tradesman; and by Heaven, they almost obliged but quite
enticed me to swindle them. For eighteen months I thus lived upon the
fat of the land, clad in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously
every day at the expense of others, and partaking most plentifully of
all the pleasures the metropolis can afford, until at last duns became
so troublesome that I was obliged to absent myself from the scene for a
while. It was after an unsuccessful attempt at robbery that you first
met me. I then returned to my old haunts, where I shortly afterwards
took a furnished house and made free with nearly all its contents,
together with a pair of job horses and a curricle. But that was my last
feat, for I was in a few days after sold by one of my PALS, who betrayed
me into the hands of the traps, and--in short here I am."




Chapter VII



DIDST thou NOT share--HADST THOU NOT fifteen pence?


Rashleigh, having heard Tyrrell's story to an end, complimented him much
upon his talents and good fortune in escaping so easily, shortly after
which they were all locked up for the night. Parties of the ward inmates
being formed, some sang songs, some gambled, some related their exploits
to others, and all drank most plentifully, there being in those days no
lack of either spirits, wine or porter to be found within the precincts
of His Majesty's Gaol, Newgate. Porter, indeed, was allowed by the
regulations. and those who had money found no difficulty in obtaining
all the rest.

The manner in which the prison days were spent being so much alike, it
is needless to do more than say that every day they went to prayers,
ate, drank, sang, gambled, and drank again. In fact, it would appear
that all the knowing ones were quite as comfortable in gaol as anywhere
else; and those who were not fully initiated into all the arts of
thieving and villainy when first they went INTO prison were sure, at
least, of being quite proficient by the time they came out of it. There
was not the slightest attempt at classification, save that arising from
the sale of superior accommodations to those who could pay for them. In
all other respects the hoary thief, who had passed a long life in
successful violation of the law, was here placed in the same apartment
with the raw shop-boy, confined for robbing his master's till. And the
freedom from restraint and self-congratulation of manner with which
these old practitioners in knavery boasted of their exploits, and the
glowing pictures they frequently drew of the enjoyments derivable from a
life of plunder, seldom failed in making confirmed and hardened villains
of all those who listened to them.

In this manner the time sped until the week before the sessions arrived,
that period which some wished for, others dreaded, and all prepared to
meet. This was indeed a busy season with the inmates of the Smugglers'
Ward. They had counsel to fee, attorneys to instruct, witnesses to bribe
and defences to draw up. Rashleigh, having once been in some sort a
member of the legal profession, now found his services much in request,
to write letters, prepare statements and adapt questions for the
cross-examination of inflexible evidences. For all this he obtained a
considerable sum of money, so that he was not only enabled to fee
counsel for himself, but also to procure some decent apparel for his
approaching trial. He, however, entertained very slight hopes of an
acquittal, the evidence of his quondam associate being quite strong and
conclusive. Besides, there was every prospect of strenuous endeavours
being made on the part of the Crown to secure his conviction; as unless
he were found guilty, the Israelite indicted for receiving the plate he
had stolen was sure of an acquittal likewise. And it will be remembered
that the thief catchers of the metropolis had long been endeavouring to
suppress so noted a FENCE as the person in question was well known to
be. Indeed, for several years they had been upon the alert, ardently
longing for the opportunity, which now seemed to offer itself to them by
chance. Under these circumstances Ralph saw no prospect save that of
conviction before him; yet he was resolved not to omit anything that
might tend to his escape from justice. With this view he prepared his
defence with all the skill of which he was master, and thus occupied,
the day fixed for the commencement of the sessions came upon him: those
sessions which were fraught with the destinies of upwards of four
hundred human beings of both sexes, all ages and conditions.

The inmates of Newgate were informed by the Calendar of the order in
which the trials were to occur, and the arched gateway through which the
prisoners returned from the Sessions House being close by the ward in
which our adventurer now lived, he had ample opportunities for observing
the features and deportment of the confines, both before and after they
received their sentences. But in few cases indeed could he perceive
either regret or compunction. Those who were condemned to any periods
less than seven years' transportation triumphed almost as much as if
they had been acquitted. The boys particularly, who were very numerous,
jested with the greatest SANG FROID at the idea of a flogging, which
most of them had been sentenced to receive, and which they scoffingly
termed a "teasing". Those who had been doomed to seven years'
transportation called it a "small fine of eighty-four months". Even
those who had been sentenced for fourteen years or life to the same
punishment had some joke to pass on the subject to their fellows in the
yard as they went through to their several destinations. As for those
sentenced to DIE, they endeavoured to eclipse all the others in the
daring obscenity and gross brutality of their jests.

By some accident a number of housebreakers were ordered for trial on the
same day, and Ralph's blood ran cold on being informed by one that had
just returned from the Court, that all had been found guilty, and all
had been doomed to death, or as his informant expressed it, "that they
were CELLING them like b----y bullocks", meaning, sending them to the
condemned cells. The crime of burglary had been peculiarly prevalent in
the metropolis during the previous winter, and it seemed as if the
jurors were determined not to allow any of the accused to escape. It was
therefore with a depressed mind that our adventurer obeyed the summons
which placed him before his judge at the criminal bar. As usual in this
well-known Court, there was an ample assemblage of spectators, most of
them being of the lowest class. Some of these were gossiping, some
cracking nuts, others jokes on various subjects. Upon the appearance of
the prisoner, the lawyers began to handle their papers with a
business-like air, and the solemn farce called a trial began.

Ralph Rashleigh was indicted by that name for having on a certain day
and date, set forth in the arraignment, with force and arms feloniously
broken into and entered the dwelling-house of Westley Shortland Esquire
in the night-time, and for having therein stolen taken and carried away
a large quantity of silver plate his property contrary to the statute
and against the peace of Our Soverign Lord the King his crown and
dignity, the indictment being interlarded with a vast number of other
legal phrases. To this, of course, he pleaded "Not guilty", and put
himself upon his trial.

A jury was now empanelled, and the advocate for the prisoner having
declined to challenge any of their number, the case proceeded. The
learned counsel for the Crown, after an eloquent exordium, in which he
dwelt at great length upon the many daring depredations recently
committed under covert of the night upon the properties of the peaceful
and well-disposed inhabitants of the town, proceeded to give a sketch of
the case in question as he had been informed it would be proved in
evidence; and he wound up by reverting to the skilful and adroit manner
in which the robbery had been perpetrated, at the same time charitably
requesting the jurymen to dismiss all prejudices from their minds and to
try the case solely by the statement of the witnesses. Nevertheless, he
KINDLY AVERRED his private opinion to be that the prisoner at the bar
was a scoundrel of the deepest dye, steeped in crime to the very lips.

The evidence of Mr Shortland's butler was now taken. He swore that
having obtained his master's permission to pay a visit to a sick friend
for a day or two, he had collected the whole of the plate under his care
and safely locked the articles in the pantry on the night in question. A
female servant next deposed to finding the pantry locked up but all its
valuable contents missing on the following morning. The approver then
completed the whole case by giving a clear and distinct detail of the
manner in which the prisoner and himself had actually committed the
crime in question. His evidence was sustained by that of the hackney
coachman, who had also been admitted to give testimony on the part of
the Crown. And though Rashleigh's counsel most cunningly
cross-questioned both these latter personages, and elicited from Jenkins
in particular the admission that he had been a thief from his earliest
youth and of his having been actively engaged in the commission of every
species of crime during a period of twenty-five years, yet the damning
fact of the want of any regular or honest mode of livelihood on the part
of Rashleigh rendered all efforts abortive. After a brief pause, the
jury, without retiring, found Ralph Rashleigh guilty of the crime of
burglary.

A moment of thrilling suspense followed. The recorder, amid an awful
silence, then addressed the convict, pointing out the enormity of his
offence, dwelt at some length upon the villainous career of crime which
it was evident he had passed through, and which he was now about to
consummate by an ignominious end, and finally passed upon him the
sentence of execution in the customary formula. Ralph scarcely saw his
judge or heard a syllable of what he said, for notwithstanding this
event had been in a great measure fully anticipated by him, yet at last
the reality of the blow fell upon him with a force that was absolutely
paralyzing. After having cast a hurried and furtive glance around the
Court upon the spectators who thronged it, he stepped mechanically out
of the dock. No eye appeared to pity or regard him. Most of the auditory
were already occupied in speculations upon the probable fate of the next
prisoner, who now excited their attention as he approached in his turn
to take his trial.

The prisoner and his guide traversed the long and gloomy vaulted passage
that separated the gaol from the Sessions Hall in silence, and at last
reached the yard Ralph had so lately quitted for trial. Tyrrell stood
there. He asked, "What luck?"

Ralph had not time to answer before the turnkey shouted out, "Cells!" to
another officer who there awaited to receive the prisoners.

With a significant gesture Tyrrell shook Rashleigh by the hand, saying,
"Keep up your heart, my boy. Never drop down," and he slipped a small
packet to his friend at the same time.

Rashleigh returned the pressure with a sickly smile as he was hurried
off. They now passed through several yards and many passages, until at
last they reached the condemned side and were ushered into a large room,
the counterpart of that comfortless domicile in which our confine had
spent his first night within these dreary walls.

Here, though it was as yet only the third day of the sessions, there
were no less than forty-six men, most of them very young and all
sentenced to die by the hangman's hated noose. Yet with all this, there
was not a single instance of gravity, far less of that gloom which might
have reasonably been expected as a Concomitant to these circumstances.
They hailed Ralph's ENTRÉE with loud cries of "Fish-oh!"

Many of them crowded around him to ask his crime, to which briefly
replying, "A CRACK," (housebreaking) he was told that twenty-eight of
those present were condemned for similar offences, and one fellow
remarked that "the SCRAGSMAN (hangman) would get a rare benefit that
touch". All present joined in a hearty peal of laughter at this sally,
as if it had been some brilliant jest that called forth their
admiration.

Ralph being now invited to dinner by a quondam companion from the
Smugglers' Ward, they sat down together, speculating during their meal
upon the probable number that would actually suffer that sessions. It
was pretty well known that not one-fourth of the men sentenced to die
ever were hung at that time; but yet, as none could tell upon whom the
lot would fall, every man, even the most criminal, enjoyed the illusions
of hope. Indeed, whatever were the motives for extending mercy to any,
they were sufficiently obscure to set the most astute calculators among
even the officers of the prison at defiance, sometimes hardened old
offenders, convicts of atrocious crimes, escaping, while the
comparatively young thief suffered death as the penalty of his earliest
essay.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent by the inmates of this den in
various pastimes, some gambling, some telling stories of their old
career, a few singing, and still fewer gloomily pacing the common room.
At length the hour arrived when they were to separate for the night, and
in divisions of three each they were marshalled to their dormitories;
these were cells, about twelve feet by eight in size, provided with
three rude bedsteads on each of which was a mattress of straw and two
rugs. The evening was rapidly closing, and as they were unprovided with
light, they lay down at once, one of them remarking that it might be
called going to bed, but for his part he could see no bed to go to.

Now, for the first time since his sentence, Ralph had leisure to
consider his position; and the ideas that rapidly careered through his
brain almost drove him mad. At first he looked upon his fate as certain;
and a thousand thoughts of self-destruction urged themselves upon him,
each to be in turn dismissed or replaced by another. At length it
suggested itself to him that he was no more sure to die than any of the
rest, and should he be actually left for execution, it would be time
enough then to anticipate the hangman. Anon the hope of breaking out of
gaol crossed his mind, and many schemes for doing so presented
themselves to him. Hour after hour pealed from a neighbouring clock, the
iron tone jarring upon his nerves with the impression that another of
the perhaps few subdivisions of time he had to live was now absorbed in
the gulf of eternity.

At length, towards morning, he sank into a sort of sleep, broken by
horrid dreams. Again the scene of the Court was enacted before him;
again the full, deep and bitter tones of the recorder dealt forth the
death doom upon the trembling convict. At once that semblance passed
away. He was again at play among the companions of his youth.

Again the scene changed: the solemn pealing of a funeral bell smote
upon his very inmost soul. He KNEW it was the signal for his own
execution. The sad procession moved forth; the awful service for the
dead, in all its dread solemnity, reverberated in his ears; he turned to
gaze at the attendant clergyman. Horror of horrors, the face he saw was
that of a fiend. Suffering the most excruciating torment, the criminal
shuddered convulsively. But now he had reached the scaffold. They
ascended that fatal platform. A sea of upturned human heads was visible;
but they all appeared to mock at and gibe the tortured sufferer with
unearthly demoniacal features. Another instant . . . The drop fell, and
a dreadfully agonizing feeling of strangulation supervened, so intensely
painful that Ralph awoke. Cold claws overspread his whole body, and a
strange numbness paralyzed his every limb. He lay for a considerable
time in a state of semi-somnolence, unable quite to rouse himself, and
yet dreading to relapse again into such painful slumbers, though he
could not still recall his senses sufficiently to be certain that he had
only dreamed.

At length a bustle in the stone-floored passage thoroughly awakened him,
and he jumped from his wretched pallet. In a few minutes they were all
reassembled in the day-room, and the company of his fellows reassured
the drooping spirits of our unhappy prisoner.

The days of the session passed over. The total number of those condemned
to death amounted to sixty-five, all of whom met in the same large room
by day and were separated into threes at night. A few days of dreary
monotony passed over; but the nights were at first most painful to
Rashleigh, as more dreadful dreams harrowed his soul. But at length he
ceased to dream at all or even to think about his future fate, all his
ideas being engrossed by contemplating schemes of escape.

Having ascertained that the sleeping-cell in which he spent his nights
was next to the outer wall of Newgate, he determined to try to break
through it, trusting to chance for what the exterior might present. He
now broached his scheme to his companions, one of whom embraced it with
avidity; but the other seemed to be sunk in apathy. As the latter,
however, engaged not to betray their purpose, they determined on
commencing operations that very night. All the tools they possessed were
two files given to our adventurer on the day of his condemnation by
Tyrrell, and a piece of iron about two feet long, which had once formed
part of the handle of a frying-pan, and which was rather sharp at one
end something like a chisel.

With these implements they raked the mortar out of the joints of the
stonework, choosing a place beneath one of the beds as most secluded
from observation, carefully removing the lime dust, which they carried
out concealed on their persons every morning and afterwards threw among
the ashes in the fireplace. In three nights' time they had succeeded in
loosening enough of the stonework to enable them, by displacing the
ashlar of which the wall was built, to form an opening through the massy
exterior enclosure of the gaol; but they found a timber framing on the
outer side of the wall, which utterly bade defiance to all their
efforts. They had no remedy but to replace the stones as well as they
could, and wait for another night, by which time they doubted not to be
able to provide some substitute for a saw and a chisel, with which to
renew their attempt. Accordingly, next day they procured two
table-knives, which they notched on their edges. They then sharpened the
piece of iron on the hearthstone by stealth. These implements, together
with a phosphorus box--which they had bribed a turnkey to bring
them--and a piece of candle, they very carefully stowed away about them,
and returned to their cell, resuming their labour as soon as all was
still.

Having first removed the stonework, they procured a light and examined
the wooden partition. This seemed to be only a kind of weatherboarding,
such as is sometimes used to finish the gable-ends of a roof in lieu of
carrying up a brick wall. Their first business was to make holes in the
wood with their chisel and knives in four different places, forming the
angles of a square about two feet across. The boards being only of deal,
it was not long before they had got their holes made. They then set to
work to cut out the pieces, in which they finally succeeded, taking
great care that nothing fell into the TERRA INCOGNITA outside the wall.
When they had sped thus far, they looked through the opening and found
this space consisted of the apex of a roof, above the attics of the
adjoining houses. They now easily got through the aperture on to the
joists of these garrets, and had only next to remove the tiles, when
they should once more he enjoying the pure free air of heaven.

Just as they began to work at the tiles with renewed vigour Ralph's
companion, happening unluckily to slip, stepped suddenly off the piece
of timber he was standing on and came with his whole weight upon the
laths of the plastered ceiling, which, being old and decayed, gave way.
The luckless wight was then precipitated into the apartment beneath,
where he chanced to alight upon the bed of an ancient dame, who was
servant to the reverend chaplain of Newgate, under whose roof, it seems,
our adventurers had unwittingly penetrated. Dire were now the outcries
of "Rape!" "Fire!" "Murder!" and "Robbery!" that emanated from the old
woman, who refused to be pacified by the earnest entreaties of the
intruder; and in a very few seconds the hurried tramp of many feet, with
the noise of clamorous tongues, announced that the household was
alarmed. A moment after a promiscuous mass of half-clad beings hurried
into the attic, where, amid the DÉBRIS of fallen plaster, laths, etc.,
the horror-stricken dame was venting her objurgations upon the author of
this mishap. He for his part, the moment he saw the door open, bolted
out of it and had got half-way downstairs, pursued by hurried cries of
"Stop him!" "Knock him down!" etc., which burst from the petrified group
in the attic, when he encountered a posse of the officers of Newgate,
who had been aroused by the uproar which truly seemed enough to awaken
the seven sleepers--and who had left the enjoyments of the porters'
lodge to ascertain the cause of this confusion.

Unluckily, the foremost of these worthies well knew the escaped one, and
felled him on the staircase instanter. They then separated, part of them
returning to the lodge with their captive, and part going upstairs into
the room whence they now learned he had run. Here, of course, the first
thing they saw was the hole in the ceiling, and a ladder being procured,
some of them ascended it to search the roof.

In the mean time Ralph Rashleigh, nerved by desperation, had torn away
the battens and tiles and blundered out through the orifice; but in
doing this he missed his hold and fell. He rolled over and over on the
tiled roof, utterly unable to stop himself and full of despair at the
horrible death which awaited him. At last, with a bound, he was jerked
from the roof and restored to sense by finding himself immersed in
water. He struck out to swim, and presently received a violent blow on
the head, but quickly recovering himself, groped with his hands, it
being so dark that he could not set a yard before him, and catching hold
of the parapet wall, scrambled out, congratulating himself that his life
was spared as yet. Of course, he was perfectly ignorant where he was,
and knew not how far from the ground his present position might be. The
darkness also prevented his attempting to escape, lest he might again
fall from this unknown height. The only resource he had was to sit
still, astride the wall on which he was now seated, until day should
dawn. Wet through, the frosty air chilling him to the quick, thus did
Rashleigh spend the seemingly interminable hours, until the light
faintly glimmered from the east; and then he found he was not in any
very enviable position.

The wall on which he sat surrounded a small reservoir of water that
abutted from the back of the house, about half-way between the top and
bottom. There was no window or other opening near him by many feet; and
it was at least fifteen yards from his position to the ground, which
seemed to be a paved courtyard surrounded by lofty buildings. Added to
this, it was evident the daylight must betray him on his "bad eminence",
as there was no means of concealing himself save by jumping into the
reservoir, which was not quite full; and even then, he might be seen
from the roof. Thus he was quite as effectually confined as if he had
been in the strongest cell within the walls of Newgate. and he
tantalised himself by thinking of his recapture after having so narrowly
escaped a fearful death, that even a few inches of difference in his
fall must have resulted in his being dashed to atoms.

He was not very long in suspense. The day became rapidly fighter, and in
a few minutes a gruff voice from the roof hailed him. "Ha, my fine
fellow! You're there, are you? You're safe enough, anyhow, and we've got
your PAL, too."

Rashleigh looked up and soon discovered one of the turnkeys sitting at
the foot of a stack of chimneys on the roof above him, who appeared to
be taking aim at him with a carbine. "Hold on!" cried our ÉCHAPPÉ.
"Don't shoot me."

"Oh, I don't mean it," said the other, "if you sit still; but if you
offer to stir, I'll let fly and riddle you with bullets."

This was anything but a cheering prospect, and Ralph hardly dared move
hand or foot, until, a ladder being brought, he was fain to descend it
and was soon reconducted to prison.

Here he was placed in a dark cell by himself and kept on bread and water
for a week, at the end of which time the Governor of Newgate ordered him
to be very heavily ironed, and permitted him to rejoin his companions.
Here he found the partner of his late attempt, and they had many a laugh
together at their ill-starred enterprise.

Day after day sped on over their heads. It was now the fourth week after
the sessions, and they expected every evening that the report of the
recorder, and the King's decision thereon, would be made known to them.
One afternoon in the fifth week they had all been locked in their
separate cells above an hour, when the noise of several feet in the
stone-floored passage attracted the attention of the inmates of these
dreary domiciles. Cell after cell was heard to be unlocked, and finally,
when the visitors drew nigh, Rashleigh distinctly recognised the solemn
voice of the prison chaplain recommending some unfortunate to make the
most of the few brief hours yet allotted to him in this world by
supplicating for mercy from his God; and our convict was now aware his
fate would soon be made known to him. With agonising dread the few
minutes passed away, during which intervening cells were visited. At
length the sullen doors slowly revolved. The sheriffs in their official
dresses, the chaplain in his robes, and some others entered the cell.

Rashleigh scarce heard the exordium which, as customary, was addressed
to them, but blessed heaven when one of the sheriffs, with much
solemnity. addressed another of the confines as follows: "William
Roberts, your case has received His Majesty's most gracious
consideration; but your frequent previous convictions, and the
circumstances of peculiar atrocity with which your last crime was
accompanied utterly preclude the possibility of mercy being extended to
so hardened a criminal. You must therefore prepare to expiate your
offences on the scaffold: you are ordered for execution in fourteen days
from the present."

The chaplain now addressed the condemned in anything but a charitable or
kindly tone, and impressed the necessity of prayer and repentance upon
his mind. The wretched man rolled his eyes, which seemed dim and glassy,
from one to the other of the bystanders and attempted to speak, but
ineffectually; his tongue denied him utterance, and he was led away.

The same sheriff now addressed Ralph and his remaining companion, saying
that in the exercise of his royal prerogative of mercy, His Majesty had
graciously been pleased to spare their lives; but to vindicate the
insulted laws of their country they must be transported for the residue
of their existence to a distant land, never more to revisit the isle of
their birth.

The chaplain now told our criminals that they ought to fall instantly
upon their knees and return thanks to God for sparing their unworthy
lives. Rashleigh's companion here interrupted the reverend orator by
saying, "If ever I pray to God, it will only be that I may live to set
you hanged, you prayer-mumbling old beast!"

The chaplain flung out of the cell in a rage, and the sheriffs having
followed him with suppressed smiles at this rude rebuff, the convicts
were once more left alone.




Chapter VIII



HARK TO THE WHISTLE AND THE SHOUT!
LIKE BLOODHOUNDS NOW THEY SEEK ME OUT.
I'LL COUCH ME HERE TILL EVENING GRAY,
THEN, DARKLING, TRY MY DANGEROUS WAY.


A few nights after the reception of the report by the unhappy confines
of Newgate, the cry of "Lags away" warned those who were transported
that the time had now arrived for their removal to the hulk; and shortly
afterwards those who like Rashleigh had been respited from death, in
number upwards of fifty, were placed in two large vans, strongly ironed,
handcuffed and chained together, as well as to the van, which drove off
at a rapid rate. None knew which of the hulks they were destined for;
but when the morning came Ralph recognised some objects, by which he
knew they were on the road for Portsmouth; and accordingly, late on the
afternoon of the same day, they reached the dockyard of that town, and
shortly afterwards were permitted to alight on a wooden wharf, outside
of which lay the gloomy bulk of the old LEVIATHAN.

This vessel, an ancient 74, after having for many years borne the
victorious banner of Britain in every sea from pole to pole, was at last
condemned to the vile purpose of a convict hulk. Stripped of all her
imposing tackle save two sticks, now degraded to the office of clothes
props, with a singular sort of shed upon her deck, the unfortunate craft
looked like a sort of living memento of the vicissitudes of all mundane
matters and the perishable nature of all earthly grandeur.

In a few minutes the newly arrived criminals were paraded upon the
quarterdeck of this old hooker, mustered, and received by the captain of
the hulk, after which the irons they had brought with them were taken
off and given back to the gaol authorities, who now departed. The
convicts in the mean time were all marched to the forecastle and ushered
into a washing-room, where each man was obliged to strip, get into a
large tub of water, and cleanse himself thoroughly. Each then received a
suit of coarse grey clothing consisting of jacket, waistcoat and
breeches. A very rough twilled cotton shirt, striped with blue and
white, a round-crowned broad-brimmed felt hat, and a pair of
heavily-nailed shoes completed this unique costume; and when they had
been divested of their whiskers and got their hair closely cropped, the
metamorphosis was so complete that Rashleigh no longer knew any of those
who had arrived with him. Here, too, each man was double-ironed with a
pair of heavy fetters, and after this they again emerged on deck, where
a hammock and two blankets, with a straw bed, were supplied every new
prisoner, and they were now ordered to go below.

They followed one of the guards down what seemed to them an endless
succession of step-ladders. When they reached the bottom, a perfect
chaos of sounds saluted their ears. The first glimpse of the lower deck
of this convict hulk showed a long passage bordered by iron palisading,
with lamps hung at regular intervals. Within these rows of palisades
were wooden partitions, which subdivided the deck into upwards of a
score of apartments. In each of these about fifteen or twenty convicts
slept and ate. As Ralph and his associates in punishment marched past
these dens, they were saluted by obstreperous shouts of "New chums! New
chums!" from both sides; and at length Rashleigh and another were placed
in one of the cells, as they were called.

The first night our adventurer slept but little, the men who were there
before him playing all sorts of tricks upon the newly arrived. At
daybreak next morning he was awakened from a short doze by a most
villainous smell, that seemed to pervade the whole atmosphere. Putting
his head over the side of his hammock, he saw his companions all busily
discussing the contents of a wooden tub, or KID, with their spoons, and
from this tub the smell that had so much shocked his sensitive olfactory
organs appeared to exhale. He was now hailed by his future messmates,
who demanded to know whether he did not intend to get up and have his
breakfast.

In truth, Ralph was hungry, so up he got and hurried on his clothes. One
of the men lent him a tin pot, which he filled at the KID, and, spoon in
hand, prepared to attack this unsavoury mess.

Words must fail to describe the loathsome taste, even worse than the
villainous smell, of this abominable compound, which Rashleigh declared
he never could liken to anything earthly, and which he never from first
to last could taste. He afterwards found out this food was composed of a
very coarse kind of barley, similar to that called Scotch or pearl
barley, boiled up with the soup made from the meat which was allowed to
the convicts upon every alternate day, this latter being designated
BULL--and if the flesh of bulls be most indescribably tough, then did it
well deserve the sobriquet.

The dietary of the hulk, exclusive of meat and barley soup, was, three
days in each week, a portion of a mysterious semi-petrifaction, very
much akin to chalk both in taste and durability. Nay, it was even much
harder; but by the courtesy of the contractors dubbed for the nonce
cheese, it was indeed. as Bloomfield described SUFFOLK BANG, "too big to
swallow and too hard to bite". It possessed most singular qualities, its
obduracy being proof against any mollifying influence arising from
cookery of any sort. As it was perfectly uninflammable, it might have
made most excellent fire-bricks. Nay, it could not be in any degree
softened by boiling, so that by far the greater portion of it was thrown
overboard every day, as the captain's pigs were too haughty to touch any
portion of this EXCELLENT RELISH.

For breakfast and supper, when meat was not allowed, each man received a
pint of the barley before named, plain boiled in water; and lucky was
the wight who could muster a small quantity of salt to season it.
Besides the above articles, a pound of very black unpalatable bread
formed the daily allowance of each man, with a pint of very had vinegar,
here dignified with the name of table beer.

The whole of the convicts, save those employed on board in cleaning the
hulk, cooking, and attending on the officers, were sent every morning to
labour in the dockyard, where they were employed in large parties, most
appropriately designated GANGS, at various works. Ralph was placed in a
timber gang, and was quickly yoked to a large truck with twenty others,
each man having a broad hempen band or collar put over one shoulder and
beneath the other arm, so that in pulling, his weight pressed against it
across his breast. Each gang was under the orders of a veteran sailor of
the Royal Navy, some of whom were glad to repay upon the wretched
convicts the tyranny with which they had been treated by their officers
in former times, while others were more occupied in screwing out money
from those under their charge, to enable them to pay frequent visits to
the TAP, where they solaced themselves with repeated libations of HEAVY
WET.

Rashleigh's ganger, or overseer, was of the first class. He assumed a
the self-important airs which he perhaps thought became the quarter-deck
of a man-of-war, and many a poor wretch was crippled under him; for
being utterly ignorant of any proper mode of working among timber, he
would frequently compel his gang to proceed so awkwardly that immense
pieces of timber would fall from skids or other elevations and smash a
leg or two, when the sufferers were carried off to the hospital ship,
where they either lived or died as best pleased the naval surgeon who
swayed the destinies of that receptacle, and who frequently was heard to
say "that he must set to and dock (amputate) a dozen or two of those
fellows, for he was getting most awfully out of practice". Truly the
latter was very strange, for scarcely a week passed without some poor
devil being minus a leg or an arm through his case of instruments.

Rashleigh, who had never before worked at any species of manual labour,
was quickly termed a skulker, and was obliged to endure a double share
of the oppression of his overseer on this account. The misery of his
abode, he being thus overwrought and rather more than half starved all
day, and being devoured by myriads of vermin all night, made Ralph long
for the arrival of the vessel which was to remove him to New South
Wales; but that period was yet distant, as but a few days before his
arrival, a draft had sailed from Portsmouth, and another was not to be
dispatched for three months thereafter.

In the mean time he was taken sick; and though the doctor was of opinion
he was only shamming, he was placed on board the hospital ship. By means
of powerful purgatives, bleeding and blistering. that skilful MEDICO
quickly brought his patient to death's door; but after a few weeks'
illness, nature reasserted her sovereignty, and as Ralph carefully
avoided taking any of the medicine lately provided for him, which he
cunningly contrived instead to throw into the urinal, he rapidly
recovered, in spite of medical art, when he was removed to the
convalescent wards.

One day three of the patients died, and as deceased convicts were then
usually buried in a graveyard near a number of ruined buildings on the
Gosport side which were among the prisoners called "Rats' Castle", some
of the convalescent patients, of whom Rashleigh was one, were selected
to go there and dig the graves. Accordingly, over the water they went,
under the care of one of the old sailors before referred to, in a boat
manned by convicts.

The soil was very light, and their task an easy one. When it was done
the guard made a signal by waving a handkerchief upon a stick. While
they were awaiting the return of their boat--which had on their arrival
been dispatched for the coffins--Rashleigh and Ins companions lay or
sat, as best suited them, among the nameless, shapeless grassy mounds
which filled the convicts' graveyard, each marking the narrow
resting-place of one who had died degraded, forgotten and unknown, his
last moments uncheered by the voice of affection or the soothing
sympathies of kindred, and whose remains were scarcely cold ere he was
hurried into the rude shell, hustled off in the boat, amid jokes or
oaths, as the prevailing mood of the boatmen might be, and finally
thrust into the ground, without a prayer, scarcely six inches below the
surface of the earth,

These and many other melancholy thoughts passed rapidly through the mind
of our adventurer, and after a time he looked up to see whether the boat
was returning; but it had not yet left the side of the hospital ship. He
gazed round on his companions, most of whom slept; the guard was at some
distance, with his back turned. A thought of freedom darted into his
brain; it was adopted with the speed of light. Not ten yards from him
were the ruins; if he could reach them he would be screened from
observation--and close to the ruins was the water. His irons had been
struck from one of his legs while he was sick, so that all his chains
were attached to the other side only. and he doubted not but he could
easily swim or dive unimpeded by them. The weather was warm, and if he
could gain about a mile higher up, there was a wood of osiers, in which
he might conceal himself until he could take off his cumbrous
appendages.

Before he had done thinking about it, he was at the edge of the water,
among the ruins, had thrown off all his clothing except his nether
garments, and now slipped down into the stream, swimming very softly.
When he had attained depth enough, he trod water until he got round a
projecting point which formed the boundary of the graveyard. Beyond this
point there were many bulrushes, which served to shelter him; nor did he
hear any alarm given. Having by dint of swimming, wading, and treading
water, at, last reached the osiers unobserved, he found a small creek,
up which he swam, and coming in a thickly wooded spot, he scrambled
through the mud, until he gained a piece of land hard enough to bear his
weight. Here he began to think what should be his next step.

It was imperatively necessary he should get rid of his chain, and
forturiately finding he was much wasted through his sickness, he
persevered in his struggles until at last he slipped it down over his
ankle. He now threw both it and his remaining garment into deep water.
The evening was very chilly, and he was fain to betake himself again to
the stream, as he found that much warmer than the land. He next crossed
the river again, and upon landing made towards a pile of buildings he
saw standing at a short distance from the shore. These proved to be
cattle sheds; but there were no human dwellings near and Ralph hardly
knew what to do. At last he decided upon remaining where he was until
the cattle tender should come, who might be induced by some pitiful tale
to help him to a few rags, as decency forbade his going much about in
his present utter nakedness.

Accordingly, our shivering adventurer prowled among some stalls on one
side of the square formed by these buildings, and was at last lucky
enough to find some litter, which had apparently been used only
sufficiently to make it warm. Having successfully disputed possession of
this treasure with an old cow, he crept in among it, heaping it over and
around him, and finding himself very warm and comfortable, quickly went
to sleep.

When he awoke, it was hardly daylight; but a boy was turning out the
cattle. Ralph called most lustily to him for some time before the
youngster heard. This youth gaped with astonishment at the tale
Rashleigh told, that he was a poor sailor who, having got drunk, had
lain down by the water-side, where some wretches had stripped him naked.
He begged the lad, for God's sake, to procure him any sort of old things
that might cover him until he could get into Portsmouth.

The boy seemed a good deal moved by the recital, and promised he would
go up to his master's house, to try whether he could get anything for
him to wear. In less than ar hour he returned, bringing a blue smock
frock, checked shirt, waggoner's hat, pair of cord breeches, and
high-low shoes, all very old, but still whole and tolerably clean,
saying, at the same time, if Ralph would go up to the house, he might
get "zummat t' yeat, if he wor an 'ongry".

Rashleigh took the clothes most thankfully and asked the way to the
house, telling the lad he would first go and wash himself in the river
and then follow him. Having received directions, he once more thanked
the boy, who departed with a speed that indicated he was "an 'ongry", if
Ralph was not.

Our adventurer, after having cleansed his person in the river from the
impurities of his last night's lodgings, now clad himself in this
unwonted guise. He then debated within himself whether it might not he
dangerous to accept the hospitable invitation of the cow-boy, and
finally resolved not to linger in such a perilous neighbourhood; so he
set forth at a brisk pace along the stream, keeping his back to
Portsmouth.

After walking upwards of a mile, he heard a female voice hailing loudly,
"Whoi, Tummas! Tummas, I zay!"

As his name was not "Tummas", and he was not thinking of anything except
making the best of his way, he did not stop, until the voice, now close
behind him, roared out, "Dam thee! Stop, I zay!"

He suddenly turned round and confronted the speaker, who was a
pretty-looking country girl, about seventeen or eighteen years of age,
and who had plainly lost what little breath the run had left her with
astonishment at finding out she had overtaken a stranger.

The damsel opened both her mouth and eyes to the utmost of their
capacity and stammered out, "Whoi, it bean't Tummas, arter all."

"No, I'm not Thomas, my pretty dear," said Rashleigh; "but I would be
just as willing to do anything to oblige you as ever he could be."

"Drat it," continued the maiden. "THAT be's so loike our Tummas's slop!
Whoi, I could a'most ha' sworn to it, b' the patch on the back."

"And very likely," quoth Rashleigh, "it was your Thomas's slop; for it
was given to me not far away when I'd been robbed of all my own
clothes."

"What, robbed of your Clothes, all on 'em?" responded the girl in
amazement. "And did 'em leave you quite naked?"

"They did so," replied Ralph, "and I have got a very long way to go,
without a penny to help myself.''

"Poor fellow!" said the kind-hearted girl. If thee'll come back again a
bit, M mother'll give thee zummat t' yeat, I do know, at any rate, and
thee'll be my the better of that!'

Rashleigh willingly accompanied his guide to her lowly home, where a
hearty laugh ensued between the girl and her mother at the mistake made
by the former; and his misfortune being related, the old dame bestowed
her warm sympathy, and a substantial breakfast of bread, bacon and small
beer to the traveller, who shortly after took his leave, much refreshed
and very thankful for the kind hospitality he had so very unexpectedly
received.

He then travelled in the direction of Winchester. Upon Portsdown Heath
he overtook a pedlar, who, in addition to his pack, had a very heavy
bundle to carry. This man entered into conversation with our adventurer,
who feigned a country dialect in his speech as much as possible, and
learning that they were likely to travel some short distance together,
the dealer offered Ralph a shilling if he would carry the bundle for him
during the rest of the day. Rashleigh willingly complied with this
offer, and they journeyed on till evening was drawing near, when they
reached a village inn, at which the pedlar declared his intention of
stopping for the night. Having given to our adventurer the sum agreed
on, the latter also went in for the purpose of obtaining some bread and
cheese, with a draught of beer, for supper.

The room he entered was full of various sorts of people, who took small
notice of him. Having discussed his food, he was sitting in a corner,
when in marched a party of soldiers, who stopped both the doors, while
the sergeant who led them began to look most narrowly into the faces of
every person present.

Rashleigh had taken off his hat, and the man of scarlet favoured him
with a gaze of more attentive scrutiny than he seemed to bestow upon the
rest. At last the sergeant asked our hero's name.

"Thomas Harper," was the reply.

"What are you?" was the next query.

"A labouring man."

"Where do you come from now?" demanded the "non-cornmissioned".

"Havant."

"Oh, do your" said the son of Mars. "When were you there last?"

"A week ago," replied Rashleigh.

"Humph! A week ago . . . And where have you been to since?"
demanded the martialist.

"Why, at Portsmouth, if you must know," responded Rashleigh, beginning
to lose his temper at the pertinacity of the querist, who now drew his
sword saying, "Yes. At Portsmouth. I knew that; and you 'listed there."

"Me 'listed?" said Ralph. "Not I, indeed, my good fellow." Rashleigh, in
the excitement of the moment, had thrown off his country accent and
spoke with his natural idiom.

"Aha!" cried the sergeant. "Does anybody think this chap comes from
HAVANT now, with such a tongue as that?

"No, no, my fine starter," resumed the man of war, "you never COME from
Havant; and now I've got you, I'll take care you don't go there neither
in a hurry."

So saying, he gave a sign to two of his comrades, who advanced upon
Ralph and quickly secured him with a pair of handcuffs, after which the
sergeant ordered the whole party outside. Presently they were ordered to
take possession of a loft above a stable, where the military shortly
afterwards had their suppers brought to them. This over, an additional
pair of handcuffs being provided, they were placed one on each of
Rashleigh's wrists. He being in this way secured between two soldiers
that were fettered to him by one hand apiece, they lay down in this
manner to rest. it was evident that he had been taken up, not as a
runaway convict, but as a deserter; and he conceived he would soon be
liberated, as it must quickly be discovered to be a mistake. He
therefore felt little anxiety for the result, and resigned himself to
sleep as well as he could under such very uncomfortable circumstances.

At a very early hour of the next morning the party were aroused by
their commander, and having partaken of a humble breakfast, began their
march to Portsmouth. After journeying some time in silence, the sergeant
came to the side of Ralph and with a jeering manner asked him whether he
didn't think he was a fool for trying to impose upon an old soldier like
the sergeant--as if he were a raw recruit--by striving to pass himself
off for a countryman. Ralph only replied that they would soon find out
their mistake, to which the other rejoined with a laugh, "Why, then, I
suppose you are some King's son in disguise; but no matter. The next
time you desart from the army, I'd advise you to buy yourself a wig, for
anybody could tell you had been a soldier by the way your hair is cut."

Ralph now found out that the sergeant had been induced to believe him a
deserter and to question him by this very circumstance, so that if he
had only kept his hat on, it is probable he might have escaped the
arrest of this vigilant commander. Being doubly vexed on this account by
the annoyance of the sergeant's sarcasms, he retorted that he was no
deserter, that he had never enlisted in his life, because he always
thought the life of a dog far better than that of a soldier, and for his
own part, had rather turn a nightman than enlist. The son of Mars flew
into a rage at this highly insulting speech, and threatened to knock his
teeth down his throat if he did not hold his tongue; and for the
remainder of the journey the sergeant and escort put every species of
annoyance in practice towards their prisoner.

At length the weary march was ended, and they reached the "lines" of
Portsmouth, inside of which was a guard-room, where they deposited their
prisoner. Here he passed the night, and the next day was removed to
Gosport Barracks, where it was quickly found out he was not the person
whom the party had been dispatched in quest of; and Ralph had the great
satisfaction of hearing the sergeant soundly rated for his stupidity in
making such a mistake.

He was now set at liberty; but just as he was about to leave the barrack
yard, he saw this same petty officer who had taken him in custody, and
could not resist the opportunity of repaying him in abuse for the
oppression he had endured in the journey under his command. The sergeant
roared out for the guard and gave our adventurer in charge for abusing
him while on duty, and in a little while the luckless Rashleigh was
again handcuffed and marched off to the watch-house, from whence he was
taken in the evening before the Mayor of Portsmouth.

Upon being interrogated as to his name, place of abode, etc., Ralph said
it was Jenkins and that he was a clerk out of employment who had come to
Portsmouth a few days before; but having been robbed of his clothing on
his return to London, he had been obliged to beg the articles he then
wore. The clerk to the bench eyed him during this narrative with much
distrust, and leaning over, whispered to the Mayor, who nodded with
profound gravity. The sergeant was called on to state his complaint,
which he did with a volubility of tongue that did not confine itself to
the truth, but wound up by stating that the prisoner had threatened to
take his life.

"Upon my word!" said the magisterial Solon. "A werry pretty feller, to
abuse the honourable profession of a soldier, who spends his life
fighting for his King and country, while such rapscallions as himself
are skulking about, looking out for chances to rob their neighbours'
hen-roosts! What have you to say for yourself, you blackguard?"

To this highly TEMPERATE and very becoming speech, Rashleigh only
replied that the sergeant had much exaggerated the truth, for that he
(the prisoner) had not threatened the other at all, but only reproached
him for his harsh treatment to himself while a prisoner under his
charge.

Two or three non-commissioned officers now stepped forth, each anxious
to be heard first, and all offering to swear to the truth of the
sergeant's statement; which of course they could very well do, as having
been in Court all the time, not a word of what he had said had escaped
them. The Mayor, however, declined to give them so much trouble, and
after a short conference with his clerk, he again addressed the
prisoner.

"Now, my fine feller, you might think to impose upon this 'ere Court
with that there fine story of yourn; but I can tell you as how you
shan't; for I'm resolved, if I can't do anything else, to send you to
gaol for a month as a rogue and a WAGABOND what can't give no proper
account of himself, not by no manner of means. But then I thinks as how
you are a suspicious feller besides, and I makes no manners of doubt but
we shall have a hue and cry arter you in a werry little while for some
willainous DESPREDATION or other; so I'll remand you for a week, that
our WIGILANT PERLEECE may have time to make enquiries about you. Take
him away." And away Rashleigh was taken accordingly.

He had not been removed from the office, before he saw one of the guards
of the hulk LEVIATHAN, who, it seemed, had come there to report the
escape of another convict from the dockyard that day. This person was
possessed of the lynx-eyed sagacity proper for his calling, and he no
sooner saw our hero than he went close up to him, and removing the
waggoner's hat worn by the luckless runaway, cried out, "Aha, my
gentleman! You're nabbed, are you?"

The constable who had Rashleigh in charge eagerly enquired if the guard
knew his prisoner, and he being answered in the affirmative, the
unfortunate Ralph was again placed before "His Worship", to whom the
tale was soon related of his being an escaped convict.

"Aha!" said that functionary in great exultation. "I knew he was a
dangerous WILLAIN. I am worry seldom deceived in my opinions about sitch
ruffians. But as you say he's already transported for life, I don't see
as how we can add anything to his sentence. I suppose the best thing we
can do is to send him back to the hulk at once, and let the captain
punish him for running away."

In a few moments Ralph was hurried to the boat which had brought the
officer on shore. Strongly chained and handcuffed, with the muzzle of a
pistol held close to his head, he was rapidly reconveyed to his former
gloomy place of abode.

Having been brought on board, he was ushered down to the "black hole",
as it was called--a dungeon in the ship's eyes below the water-level,
and there left to his solitary reflections, which, however, could
scarcely he termed so, inasmuch as many myriads of rats inhabited this
den, which leaped, ran and gambolled about, over and around their human
companion.

The tedious hours of night wore away. The day had begun some time, as
the noise of the men trampling to and fro on the different decks
indicated. These sounds ceased: all the convicts had gone to work. For
some hours more Ralph still remained unvisited; but at length he heard a
footstep approaching. His prison was opened and he was ordered to follow
the guard, who preceded him to the quarter-deck. Here stood the captain,
his mates, the surgeon and other officers of the hulk, in their full
naval uniforms. The prisoner was placed on a certain spot indicated by a
sign from the commander, and the tale of his escape, having been
succinctly related by the guard in whose charge he had been sent to dig
the graves, was followed by a recital of his recapture from the officer
who had brought him from the shore. He was asked what he had to say, and
having only the natural love of liberty inherent in the breast of all
men to urge, he was sentenced to receive ten dozen lashes in presence of
all the convicts that same day.

He was now again conducted to the black hole, and a little before sunset
he was once more led to the quarter-deck, having now to pass through the
lines of his fellow-prisoners, ranged there to witness his degrading
punishment. His offence and sentence having been related aloud, he was
commanded to strip and was quickly secured to the gratings, which had
been lashed to the bulwarks. A brawny boatswain's mate now commenced the
infliction of the agonising torture.

Rashleigh had long before been assured by persons who had suffered it,
that shrieking out only added to the pain, which became less the quieter
and more immovable the sufferer kept himself. When he was being tied up
he had crammed his shirt into his mouth in such a way that it was jammed
between his face and the grating; so that he could not get it out until
he was released. Thus, during the whole time, he could breathe only
through his nostrils, and though the pain was most harrowingly
intense--for he long afterwards declared it could only be likened to the
sensation of having furrows torn in your flesh with jagged wire, and ore
they closed filled up with burning molten lead running in streams of
fire down your back--yet he could not at first cry out. By the time be
had received four of the dozens, at each of which a fresh instrument and
a fresh operator were applied, the whole of his body had been entirely
numbed, and he only felt as if his lacerated flesh were receiving heavy
blows from some huge club.

The punishment lasted more than an hour, at the end of which time he was
released from the grating and fell insensible on the deck, whence he was
carried to the hospital ship, where he was quickly resuscitated, with a
vengeance, by the application of a dressing which was applied to his
back, and which, he was subsequently assured, was composed chiefly of
PEPPER AND SALT!!!--in compliance with the usual MILD and MERCIFUL
system pursued by the naval and military surgeons of that day; and the
excruciating torment occasioned by this REMEDY completely mocked the
horrors of the actual suffering of the lash. So often as this dressing
was removed and replaced by a new one--which was done every day for
nearly a month--the sufferings of the wretched patient made him roar
aloud with their intensity; which could only have been equalled by the
torture inflicted on the unfortunate cacique Atabalipa, when stretched
upon his bed of fire by the monster Hernan Cortes.

Under even this discipline, however, Rashleigh slowly recovered, and
became convalescent just in time to go in a draft that was ordered to
proceed to New South Wales by the good ship MAGNET of London, Captain,
James Boltrope.




Chapter IX



ONWARD SHE GOES, OVER RIPPLE AND SPRAY,
OVER THE WATERS--AWAY--AND AWAY.


It was in the evening when, according to the custom of the hulk, the
names of all those who were destined to depart were called aloud on
each deck by the boatswain, and they were directed to prepare for the
"Bay ship" on the morrow. Our hero was doubly rejoiced at hearing his
own name among the rest, for since the torturing disgraceful punishment
he had received, the LEVIATHAN had become perfectly hateful to him, and
he spent the whole of the night in rumination as to his probable fortune
in Australia.

The next day the convicts were duly washed, shaved, cropped, and
supplied with two suits each of new slop clothing. They were all ironed
too afresh, having each a new pair of double irons put on, and were then
paraded before the surgeon superintendent of the vessel in which they
were to sail. This officer rejected a few of those who appeared sickly,
and others were called in their room. Shortly afterwards the whole body
was transferred to a large lighter, which conveyed them out to Spithead,
where the good ship fraught with their destinies lay like a mighty
sea-bird asleep on the bosom of the open roadstead. On being placed on
board, the prisoners were mustered down below, between the decks, into
their proper sleeping-places, where each found a numbered bed and
blanket. They were then left to pass the night as they listed.

The ship MAGNET, which was to convey our adventurer and his companions
to the Antipodes, was of about 500 tons burden. The chief part of the
maindeck was appropriated to the use of the convicts, of whom there were
150 originally embarked. The deck had been subdivided by a strong
bulkhead into two apartments, the smaller by far of which was destined
to the reception of the boy convicts, of whom there were about thirty.
The hatchways were secured with upright elm stanchions in a stout
framing, the whole rendered impervious to any attempt at cutting them by
having innumerable broadheaded nails driven home as close together as
possible into every portion of the stanchions and frame that was exposed
to view. In one of these hatchways were the doors leading to the men's
and the boys' prisons. These openings were purposely made so small that
only one person at a time could pass through them, and a military sentry
was posted day and night in the hatchway to prevent any mutiny or other
irregularity.

The military guard consisted of two commissioned and six
non-commissioned officers, with about forty private soldiers, some of
whom wore married and accompanied by their wives and families. While at
Spithead, the prisoners were only allowed to come on deck in divisions,
three-fourths remaining below while the others enjoyed the fresh air,
six soldiers being posted at different parts of the ship. When they
sailed, however, the convicts were allowed the liberty of the deck, the
whole body except the sick being obliged to leave the prison every fine
day by sunrise, and taking their meals on the deck, returning to their
berths only at sunset, when they were mustered down by an officer.

Order was maintained among them, and a due regard to cleanliness
enforced, by a boatswain and six mates, selected by the surgeon
superintendent from the convicts, of whom he had the exclusive care.
Their food consisted of the ration which was commonly known in the
transport service by the name of "six upon four", it being four
men-of-war sailors' allowance among six of the prisoners. When the
voyage advanced, a small portion of wine or lime-juice was issued on
alternate days. There was, in fact, no lack of anything felt on board
save water, which was necessarily carefully husbanded, and the want of
which was chiefly endured by those who devoured their salt provisions
too greedily.

The day after the arrival of the draft, a boatswain, two cooks and other
petty officers were chosen from among them, and the men distributed into
messes or parties of eight in each, who were to receive their stated
allowance of food and water together. It being known that nearly a
fortnight would elapse before they sailed for their destination, many of
the convicts busied themselves by writing to their friends or relatives
to bid them farewell or to request a parting visit. As for Rashleigh, he
had resolved not to let any person know his fate, and as his name was an
assumed one, he conceived none of his connexions were aware of his
degradation.

Bumboats with all manner of supplies attended the MAGNET at her
moorings daily; and as the time for their departure drew nigh, the deck
frequently presented an animating and lively appearance, sorrowfully
diversified at times by groups of weeping females or children assembled
round some parent or brother who was about to be severed from them, most
probably for ever.

Ralph had little to do with either leave-taking or bargaining. His
slender store of money was soon expended in purchasing a little tea and
sugar, with a few other trifling comforts, for his long voyage; and it
was with no very poignant feelings of regret that he saw the anchor
weighed and the sails loosed which were to waft him away from the land
of his birth.

The vessel passed near the Isle of Wight, and standing out into mid
channel, they continued their course until evening, when all were
ordered below. The sleeping-berths between decks were framed of deal
boards, supported by stanchions and quartering of the same kind of
timber, and subdivided into compartments in which six men slept in a
space of about as many feet. These bed-places were framed in rows along
each side of the ship, and a double row was also formed in the centre,
between which and the sides and hatchways, narrow passages were left.

This being their first night at sea, the broken waves of the channel
tossed them about considerably, and the wind being aft, the vessel
rolled much more than was agreeable to such raw sailors. A scene of
great confusion was therefore the result, some swearing, some casting up
their accounts, a very, very few indeed praying, and many lying without
daring to stir. Rashleigh was not much affected by the motion, and when
the tumult had a little subsided, he went to sleep; though, as he lay
athwart the vessel, his rest was much disturbed by the rolling. Towards
midnight he awoke and made the discovery that his feet were elevated
about a yard higher than his head, an order of things which, as he had
not been accustomed to it, he forthwith proceeded to alter. But scarce
had he done so when he found himself subject to the same inconvenience
in his fresh position, so that he was fain to replace his head against
the ship's side, as he had at first lain down, being fearful, while he
lay the other way, that some roll more violent than the rest might
suddenly dislodge him and cast him headlong into the opposite
sleeping-berths: a mode of visiting his shipmates which he could very
well dispense with.

He could not sleep more, however, in any position, so he sat up at last,
leaning against the ship's side and ever and anon wondering what it was
that continually struck the bows of the vessel--as it seemed to
him--with such tremendous fury, little thinking it was the waves, every
time her head went down to meet them.

At length he heard a dreadful crash above, followed by the hurtling fall
of timbers on the deck. At the same moment a tremendous sea broke over
the bulwarks of the vessel and swept with fury down into the main
hatchway, in which the sentry was posted. The violence of the rushing
water drove the poor soldier with great force against the barricade, and
a perfect deluge poured into the prison.

Dire was now the clamour. A hundred sleepers were aroused at once, to
find themselves and their bedding immersed in water which every fresh
roll of the vessel dashed from side to side, as it had no outlet. Most
of them, in a state of mortal terror, deemed the ship was sinking, and a
wild outcry of lamentation pealed from many tongues.

Very soon a few of the boldest rushed at the little gateway, hoping to
force it and gain the deck, that they might not, as one of their number
expressed it, "be drowned like rats, shut up in a cage"; but the wicket
bade defiance to all their ill-directed strength. Meanwhile the tones of
the sentry might sometimes be heard above the din of voices or the rush
of the mighty waters, pouring forth a jeremiad in terms like the
following: "Wirrah, it's murdered, and kilt, losht, destroyed and
drownded I am! Swate mother o' Jasus! And my firelock gone. Shure, if I
escape this turn, I'll be hanged tomorrow for losing my arrums. Och,
Wirrah! Wirrah!" And in the darkness the poor fellow would grope for his
lost musket, when suddenly a roll of the ship would throw him forcibly
against one of the sides, until, a lighted lantern being brought, his
dilemma was observed and another sentry placed on his post.

The prisoners, however, were compelled to pass the night in the best
manner they could, only being assured that there was no danger, the
noise and confusion on deck having arisen from one of the yards giving
way. They set to work and bailed the water into the privies as well as
they could, and by morning everything was once more quiet below.

Nothing of moment now passed for some time. The good ship still
gallantly breasted the billows on her watery way, and at last they
neared the Equinoctial, where the ceremony of shaving, on crossing the
line, was productive of much fun, about fifty of the prisoners
undergoing that operation for the merriment of the others, who, with the
captain, officers and passengers, were all equally amused thereby.

Some time prior to this event Ralph Rashleigh had been selected by the
surgeon to act as his clerk, a circumstance which, while it procured him
many comforts, also probably prevented his having any hand in a scheme
that was now set on foot among the prisoners for seizing the vessel,
which was shortly after their crossing the line brought to maturity, and
but very narrowly defeated.

The boys' prison was separated only by a bulkhead on either side from
the portion occupied by the military and the older prisoners, with
relation to which it occupied the centre. Some of these adroit young
thieves had contrived to loosen a board in the bulkhead between their
own and the soldiers' apartment. Through this aperture one of the
smallest among them used to get into the berth of the military when the
latter were asleep, and steal tea, sugar, tobacco, biscuits, or in
short, anything he could lay his hands on. This became known to some of
the men, who concocted a plot, in which they were joined by others, that
this boy should on a certain night steal three muskets which stood in an
open arm rack in the soldiers' berth, and which were visible from the
deck and were supposed to be kept continually loaded. These muskets were
to be passed from the boys' into the men's prison, and in the morning,
when the convicts were let up to wash the deck, some of those who were
first up were to go to the fore hatchway, and the stolen fire-arms were
then to be handed to them from the prison. The rest of the convicts on
deck were to be very active in throwing water about and bustling to and
fro, so as to attract the notice of the sentries there, of whom there
would be three, one at the forecastle, one at the waist, and the third
on the poop, of whom only the last would have fire-arms with him. The
two sentries forward, being surprised by men from behind them, were to
be seized and thrown overboard, while the one on the poop was to be shot
dead at the same signal. One party was then to cast loose the breeching
of a cannon on the deck, which was known to be loaded, and run it to the
companion ladder leading down to the soldiers' berth, while in the mean
time another party was to rush aft and secure the officers.

All this, to a certain extent, fell out exactly as the mutineers had
anticipated. The sentries forward were seized, and one of the prisoners
snapped his piece at the soldier on the poop; but it did not go off. The
other two muskets were then tried with as little success-in fact, there
was no priming in either. In the mean time the sentry on the poop roared
out "To arms !" But a rush being made upon him, he fired his piece at
random and the instant afterwards was thrown overboard. The party who
should have cast loose the cannon found that the stubbornness of the
fastenings bade defiance to all their efforts of loosening them by hand,
and not one of them possessed a knife.

The soldiers now came pouring up the ladder. The first two or three were
tumbled back on their companions by blows from the stocks of the
mutineers' muskets, until two of the military officers, who had leaped
through the cabin skylight on finding themselves attacked, and who had
now gained the poop with their fowling-pieces, levelled them and shot
two of the boldest among the convicts dead alongside the ladder. Their
companions recoiled. The soldiers now rushed upon deck. A volley of
musketry was poured in among the prisoners, of whom five fell, three
jumped overboard and all the rest were driven below, many being wounded
severely by the bayonets of the exasperated guard. All that day they
were kept below without food, and the next morning, the prison doors
being thrown open, they were ordered to come on deck.

When Rashleigh did so, he found the whole of the military under arms,
one line being drawn across the poop, and another line across the
forecastle. Two guns had also been lashed in front of both parties,
beside which stood a seaman with a lighted match, the muzzle of each
cannon being pointed inwards towards the main hatchway, around which the
convicts were huddled in a group. When all the latter had come up the
ladder, the ship's boatswain ordered them to answer their names and go
on the quarter-deck as they were called. They did so; and when our
adventurer's turn came, he followed his predecessor into the presence of
the surgeon, ship's captain and military officers, who, dressed in full
uniform, occupied the front of the poop stairs. The only sentry who
remained alive out of the three that had been on guard the previous
morning, and who had fortunately escaped by clinging to a rope that was
towing overboard, stood near his officers, his business apparently being
to identify the men who had been on deck during the attempt. Each
prisoner was also stripped to ascertain if he had been wounded. If no
wound appeared, and the sentry could not say that he had been concerned
in the mutiny, he was then asked whether he knew anything of the
attempted seizure, and informed that if he would give accurate
intelligence respecting the authors of the plot he should be highly
rewarded instanter, and strongly recommended for his liberty at the
expiration of the voyage.

Rashleigh had always loved his bed too well to be an early riser. He had
never been on deck any day since they left the land until he was
compelled, and his being employed by the surgeon probably precluded any
confidence being placed in him by his fellows; so after he had declared
his ignorance he was dismissed. The affair ended by about twenty of the
prisoners either being identified by the soldier, or being shown to have
been wounded. These were now severely flogged and placed in heavy irons
until the vessel should reach Port Jackson, being confined all the time
besides in a sort of den under the forecastle. Although many of the
convicts afterwards professed to give details of the plot and the names
of the chief actors in it, nearly all the tales were found to be mere
fabrications, and it was generally believed that the leaders in this
abortive mutiny were among the number who had been shot dead, or who had
leaped overboard on their discomfiture.

After this ÉMEUTE there were always five sentries on deck in the
daytime with loaded muskets, two of whom were stationed on the poop, two
at the forecastle, and another at the waist with drawn bayonet only. All
else on board resumed its wonted course, nor did anything of moment more
occur until, a few days after passing the island of St Peter and St
Paul, the captain descried a sail, and found it was standing on such a
course that the MAGNET must certainly pass very near her, which happened
accordingly, and the vessels were quickly within hail. The stranger was
a long low schooner, whose masts raked very much, and as the mariners
said, "she loomed very suspicious altogether"; but as she had then
apparently altered her course, no more was thought of it that day. In
the grey haze of the next morning, however, she again bore down, and was
close to them before she was perceived by anyone on board the convict
ship. Suddenly a call was heard: "Port! Port your helm!"

The next instant the loud sullen boom of a heavy piece of artillery
awoke the slumbers of that watery world. Directly after, a voice was
heard to hail in some foreign tongue from the schooner, to which Captain
Boltrope replied, "An English convict ship bound from Portsmouth to New
South Wales."

Ralph Rashleigh hurried on dock. This, being quite an event in the
annals of their voyage, had roused his curiosity, and he now found the
schooner lying to at a short distance, her sails flapping idly against
her masts. Most of the passengers by the MAGNET, and the military
officers, were on her poop. From the observations made among these, it
appeared that none on board the stranger seemed to understand English;
but immediately afterwards the gaudy flag of Portugal was hoisted at the
schooner's gaff, and another gun fired towards the English vessel.

"That gun was shotted, by ----!" roared out the old mate, as he looked
aloft, apparently pursuing the course of the ball.

"Nay, then," rejoined one of the military officers; "it is time we began
to look out, captain."

Captain Boltrope replied, "Aye, aye, sit. We'll soon see what sort of
stuff she's made of. Hoist away the Union jack there. Mr Travis, jump
down below, and hand up a lot of cartridges and wads. Dr MacMorrogh,
will you turn all your men up on deck? They can help to load and run the
guns in and out. Ease her off, my lad at the helm! Bring her starboard
side to bear on the stranger. By the Lord, we'll astonish you, my joker,
directly."

"Do you mean to fight her then, sir?" enquired Dr Dullmere, a Scottish
Presbyterian minister who was on board. in great fear.

"Fight?" replied the old tar. "Fight, aye? Why, that IS a good 'un. To
be sure, I DO mean to fight. Do you think for a moment I'm going to have
my ship plundered, and that glorious bit of buntin'" (pointing to the
flag of England now flying at the peak) "insulted by a damned rogue like
that? No, no! jemmy Boltrope will never stand that, while we've got
forty sojers on board, besides all this mob, who are most of 'em wicked
enough to fight the devil himself, were he to rise out of the ocean with
seven heads and ten horns, like the beast in the Book of Revelations."

While the captain was talking he was also busy, clearing away the poop
for action; but the parson had vanished, and his place was far better
supplied by ten or a dozen of the soldiers, who now appeared, as the
skipper said, "in full fighting fig". The military officer, at his
request, now detached four more soldiers into each of the tops, and
great was the laughter of Captain Boltrope at the lubberly way in which
the "leather necks", as he called them, got up to their new posts.

In the mean time a boat had been lowered from the stranger, apparently
full of armed men, and was rowed towards the LEVIATHAN; but on seeing the
military guard displayed on the poop, forecastle and tops, the commander
of the boat shouted out again to someone in his own vessel, and loud
cries of "PRISONNIERS! PRISONNIERS!" or something of the kind, burst
from many voices in both the schooner and the boat. The latter was now
rowed back to the stranger, which soon after filled its sails and stood
away.

From this incident until the end of their dreary voyage no other
occurrence of any moment took place, and many were the hearts that
bounded with mingled anticipations when one evening the cry of "Land
ho!" was heard from the mast-head; which, upon the vessel's approaching
a little nearer, was declared to be the coast of New Holland, but some
distance to the southward of their expected haven, which it was
supposed, however, they would be nearly abreast of by the next morning;
and eve sank down upon all on board the MAGNET engaged in various
contemplations of what fate might have in store for them in the land to
which they were now exiled and which they were so rapidly approaching.




Chapter X



THE BAND OF ROMULUS, IT IS MOST CERTAIN,
WERE RUFFIAN STABBERS AND VILE CUTPURSE KNAVES;
YET DID THIS OUTCAST SCUM OF ALL THE EARTH
LAY THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE ETERNAL CITY.


Before daybreak next morning the light of Port Jackson was visible from
the deck of the LEVIATHAN, and shortly afterwards that trusty vessel
entered the Heads--two bold bluff precipices, between which lies the
entrance to that spacious harbour, supposed to be one of the finest
on the surface of the globe. A pilot had come on board to direct the
course of the ship to her anchorage; and during the run of nearly seven
miles from the entrance of the Port to the site of the town of Sydney
Rashleigh had ample opportunities of scanning the external features of
the land in which he was destined to find his future home.

The shores of Port Jackson then possessed few charms, either natural or
acquired: sandy bays opening to great distances inland, bordered
apparently by stunted trees; rocky headlands between each inlet, crowned
with similar foliage; and far away, on either hand, a background
displaying dense forests of sombre green. There were then none of those
elegant mansions or beautiful villas, with their verdant and ever
blooming gardens, which now so plentifully meet the eye of the new
colonist, affording abundant proofs of the wonted energy of the
Anglo-Saxon race, who speedily rescue the most untamed sods from the
barbarism of nature and bid the busy sounds of industry and art awaken
the silent echoes of every primeval forest in which they are placed.

Not a single patch of cultivated soil appeared in those days to refresh
the sight of the wearied voyagers with evidences that here the foot of
civilised man had ever trod prior to their arrival. One of the
passengers, who had visited New South Wales before, called the attention
of his companions on the poop to an isle called Garden Island, and Ralph
looked towards the spot, expecting now, at least, to detect some proof
of the reclaiming hand of man. But alas, the so-called Garden Island
presented nothing to his view but a doubly sterile mass of rugged grey
rocks rising from the bosom of one of the numerous bays, and crowned
with the same unvarying livery of russet green; but as they rounded the
next projecting point they came in view of a small embattled building on
a height, which was said to be one of the forts at the entrance of
Sydney Cove. Immediately afterwards they saw a straggling range of
cottages, mostly of a very small size, which stretched along an
eminence, and which were declared by their informant to be a portion of
the town of Sydney known as "The Rocks".

The MAGNET was shortly brought to anchor opposite a neck of land on
which stood a slaughter-house, and our voyagers could survey the greater
part of the town from a very favourable position. The dwellings appeared
to he chiefly of one story; in fact, most of them deserved no better
name than huts. The streets were narrow and straggling; nor did there
seem to be more than half a dozen good or convenient private buildings
in the town. There was no cultivated land to be seen from their station,
and but a very few miserable cottages, peeping here and there out of
the trees, stood upon the north shore of the harbour, in various parts
of which there were then about six other large vessels at anchor,
besides a good number of small cutters and boats which were passing to
and fro continually.

The day after their arrival, the Colonial Secretary, the Principal
Superintendent of Convicts, and other officers came on board to muster
the newly arrived prisoners, who were each called separately into the
cabin, asked their names, ages, religions, native places, trades and a
host of other interrogatories, the replies to which were taken down and
a personal description of each convict added. When this ceremony had
been gone through with all the new arrivals, these official visitors
departed and a number of other persons came on board, some seeking news
from the "old country", some to enquire after expected relations, a few
of the great ones to ascertain what sort of men the NEW CHUMS were, and
whether there were certain descriptions of persons among them, according
to the wants of each querist in the article of labour.

Among others who thus came was an elderly gentleman who kept an academy,
whose object was to enquire for a suitable assistant in his scholastic
labours. The surgeon superintendent accordingly recommended Ralph
Rashleigh, who was at that moment writing in an inner cabin. Being
called out, he was presented to the applicant, who questioned him as to
his attainments. The answers appeared to prove satisfactory and the
schoolmaster departed.

In about a fortnight from their arrival the prisoners on board were
again mustered preparatory to their going on shore and received each a
new suit of clothing, after which they were placed in boats, by
divisions, and rowed to a spot of land near Fort Macquarie, where, being
landed, they waited until all had arrived and then proceeded through a
part of the public promenade known as the Domain, up to the Prisoners'
Barracks, where they were placed in a back yard by themselves, and
shortly afterwards again paraded. On their dismissal a host of the older
prisoners insinuated themselves among them for the purpose of bargaining
for clothes, trinkets or other property, and many a poor NEW CHUM--the
distinctive name bestowed upon them by the old hands--was deprived of
all his little stock of comforts by the artifices of the others, who
appeared to pique themselves in no small degree upon the dexterity with
which they could thus PICK UP (rob) the unwary new-comers.

The day after Rashleigh's landing the dispersion of his shipmates began,
and in four days there remained but himself and two others out of about
140 who had safely reached the Colony with him, the remainder having all
been sent, or, as the phrase ran, "assigned", to the service of private
individuals, by tens, fours, threes, or single individuals, according to
the priority of application or degree of interest possessed by the
masters. Most of these men were employed at the trades or occupations to
which they had been brought up or accustomed, except such as had been
used to trades which were not then in existence in New South Wales. THEY
were assigned as labourers and sent into the interior. Of these the most
numerous class was the weavers, who subsequently made but sorry shifts
at using the axe or the hoe, the latter being by far the most usual mode
of tilling the soil in that early period of Australian agriculture.

As for Rashleigh, he was in a few days sent to the schoolmaster whom he
had seen on board the ship, and after a long lecture from his employer
touching his future conduct, was duly installed into office, which,
truly, was all but a sinecure, for the SYSTEM or rather NO SYSTEM, of
education pursued at this "classical and commercial academy"--for such,
in sooth, it professed to be--was full easy for both instructors and
instructed. It was most true that in Ralph's after experience he never
found any of his quondam pupils had attained any very high grade of
scientific or literary acquirement; but then, the meeting was always a
pleasant one, nevertheless, because the pseudo-scholars ever remembered
their tutor with gratitude as one who was always ready to do his DEVOIR
at obtaining them a holiday, if he could, upon any pretence or no
pretence at all.

The chief of this "educational establishment" was much more fond of his
amusements by day and the allurements of the social glass by night, than
the toil inseparable from that "delightful task" which Mrs Barbauld has
sung so sweetly. His assistant, Rashleigh, who was now, once more,
respectably clad and enjoyed a good deal of liberty out of school hours,
began to form acquaintances among other educated prisoners, chiefly
clerks in government offices, who were wont to meet, after they had
concluded the small share of what they were pleased to call work that
fell to the portion of each, to discuss matters of more weighty and deep
moment, no less than the affairs of the State, which, being everybody's
business, were, as is usual in the opinion of such SAGES at least, most
shamefully neglected.

But alas, no prophet is honoured in his own age or country, and the
political disquisitions of these learned pundits at last attracted the
attention of the Sydney police, who were so illiberal as to take umbrage
at them. And one evening, when our hero, who began to feel the full
fervour of AMOR PATRIAE for his adopted country, was loudly descanting
upon her wrongs under the iron sway of General Darling, then Governor,
an addition to the auditory, equally unexpected and unwelcome, was made
in the persons of half a dozen constables under the command of a chief
who had formerly been a member of that fraternity, so useful to
anatomical science, yclept STIFF-HUNTERS, or body-snatchers.

This man of office, with awful brow, began to question all of the
amateur politicians as to their appellations and places of residence,
but specially honoured Ralph Rashleigh, whose oratorical display he had
so cruelly marred, with a double portion of his scrutiny. No further
steps were taken that night, the party of embryo Demosthenes' being
permitted to repair to their several abodes, marvellously discomfited at
this malapropos interruption.

After this Rashleigh dared not seek the same society for a while, and
confined his amusements to walks in the town and neighbourhood, for
though accustomed, as he had been, latterly at least, to scenes of
vulgarity and to association with the lowest of the human race, even his
mind revolted from mingling with the only sort of companions accessible
to him.

The town at that time contained but two classes, one comprising the high
government officers and a very few large merchants, who formed at that
period the aristocracy of Australia. The other was composed of men who,
like Ralph, either were or had been convicts, or, to use the milder
colonial phrase, "prisoners of the Crown". Many of the last, who were
now free, had become very wealthy; but Heaven knows, they formed no
exception to the description given by Pope of those on whom riches are
generally bestowed, they being, he says,

GIVEN TO THE FOOL, THE VAIN, THE MAD, THE EVIL,
TO WARD, TO WATERS, CHARTRES, AND THE DEVIL.

And surely, the men among the freed convicts of New South Wales who had
acquired riches offered abundant evidence of the truth of the above
couplet, the nucleus of their gains having been acquired either by the
exercise of every art of fraud, or at least by chicanery, and in some
cases by pandering to the grossest vices of their fellow-convicts, whose
chief luxuries. and in fact the grand PRIMA MOBILE or SUMMA BONA of
whose existence were RUM and TOBACCO, to wallow in beastly drunkenness
being to them the very acme of earthly bliss! As our adventurer was thus
debarred from such male society as he preferred, he would fain have
sought for solace among the gentler sex, who were beneficently bestowed
by the creator to soothe the cares and enhance the blessings of man; but
here the case was even worse, for the only females accessible to a
person in Rashleigh's situation had also reached the Colony as
prisoners, and in pity to the frailties of the softer part of the
creation the author willingly draws a veil over the description given by
Ralph of the "ladies" of Sydney in those early days.

But the time was now at hand when a new phase in the life of a convict
was about to open upon our hero. In about a month after the occurrence
before related, when the police had interrupted his diatribe against the
Governor, a constable came one day to the school with an order from the
Chief Superintendent of Convicts that Ralph Rashleigh should accompany
the bearer to Hyde Park Barracks; a mandate with which he was fain to
comply, though sundry misgivings as to the purport of the recall shot
athwart his mind. When he reached that establishment he was placed in
strict and solitary confinement, and the next day, before sunrise,
having been handcuffed, was dispatched in the care of a messenger, on
the road to a Government Agricultural Establishment situated at Emu
Plains, about thirty-five miles from Sydney. He was not to be permitted
to call at his former abode or to obtain from thence any clothing or
other necessaries. The messenger in whose charge he was proved obdurate
to all his entreaties or offers of a bribe if he would only allow him to
diverge a few yards from his road for any purpose; and thus he was
compelled to march along in the slight dress he wore while teaching and
having on a thin pair of shoes, which, long before he reached the end of
his day's stage, at Parramatta, were dropping from his feet in tatters.
The day following he was obliged to march the remaining twenty miles
barefooted over miserable apologies for roads, the greater part of which
lay along stony ranges, so that his feet were cut and bleeding from
twenty wounds before they reached their destination.




Chapter XI



ROBIN: WORK! WORK! WORK! ALL THE DAY LONG! NO SUCH THING AS STOPPING A
MOMENT, TO REST YOURSELF, FOR IF YOU ONLY STRAIGHTEN YOUR BACK, UP
COMES THE OVERSEER, AND THEN----.

Having crossed in a punt the splendid sheet of water which the Nepean
river forms at Penrith, nearly at sunset on the second day of their
journey, our weary travellers had a view of the broad expanse of Emu
Plains, which afforded a noble prospect. But Rashleigh was too tired and
full of pain to appreciate its beauties, only looking forward to the
hope of a rest in some shed, however humble, and caring but little, at
the moment, what might be his lot on the morrow, so he might enjoy a
little present repose. They had yet a mile to pass over from the river;
and when that intervening space had at last been crossed, they entered
the CAMP--as it was called--a collection of huts built on both sides of
the way, which might have reached to the number of nearly thirty. Though
of all kinds, they were invariably of the same materials, being formed
of split slabs of timber, one end of which was set in the earth and the
other nailed to a pole, that formed a wall-plate above it, the whole
being covered with sheets of bark.

The external appearance of these dwellings was anything but captivating,
for the materials of which they were built had been all used quite
green, and in seasoning, the slabs had shrunk one from another, so that
a man could easily pass his hand through between them. In different
places these chinks had been stopped up with old rags, parts of which,
projecting farther than they were intended, either hung down in
BEAUTEOUS negligence or waved to and fro at the bidding of each
capricious breeze. Glass, of course, there was none to any of the
numerous openings called windows, they being supposed to be closed by
shutters made of boards nailed on a sort of frame; but both these and
the doors, from the same cause as the slabs, had shrunk to such a degree
that the openings between the boards were half as wide as the boards
themselves.

Here Rashleigh was given over in charge to the camp constable, a tall,
stout countryman with a limp in his gait, who shortly piloted him to the
residence of the superintendent of Emu Plains, or to Government house,
as it was called. He was there directed by his conductor to wait while
the other entered the mansion. In a brief space a personage made his
appearance followed by the constable, who stood bareheaded behind him
and motioned our adventurer to pull off his hat.

The superintendent was engaged in reading a letter, during which
operation Ralph had time to scan the personal appearance of a man whom
he had often heard spoken of before as a terror to all the convicts in
the Colony. This official was rather above the middle stature, of an
exceedingly swarthy complexion, with brows of portentous gloom, and when
he spoke the stern severity of his tone belied not the austerity of his
looks.

"So, my fine fellow," said he. "you are inclined to politics, are you?
Wen, we will try if we cannot find you something else to think of here.
You are sent to this establishment to learn field labour, and on no
account to be employed in any other way for two years. When that time
has expired you will he assigned to a settler. Take him away, Row, and
send the principal overseer to me when the gangs come in."

Our hero now followed his conductor back to the camp, where the latter
said with a sneer, in a strong west country dialect, "As you bees
another of theasem dom'd quill drivers, I do zuppose you had better be
put along with the rest; so you will stop in the pla'house there",
indicating an irregular sort of straggling-looking mass of buildings,
all of them of the same stringy-bark order of architecture with the huts
before described, from which it differed in no degree save size.

Rashleigh, who was really tired, nearly to death, and would have given
worlds, had he possessed them, long before, to have been permitted to
lie down, soon made his way to the hovel in question. Finding the door
open, though the inmates were absent, he walked in and flung himself
upon a rude bench made of a piece of split timber, set upon two stumps
sunk in the earthen floor.

He now surveyed the interior of his future dwelling, which he quickly
discovered was in perfect good harmony with its external ATTRACTIONS.
Like the famed mansion of that worthy who delighted in the cognomen of
"Jack Straw", it was neither wind- nor water-tight; frequent awful gaps
in the bark roof plainly indicated the causes of the many puddles on the
dirt floor, and the cracks between the slabs freely admitted the playful
vagrancy of every sportive zephyr. Furniture Rashleigh saw none save a
table, made in the same manner as the bench on which he sat, two large
iron pots, and a few vessels of tin.

His fatigue soon overpowered him, and he fell fast asleep; nor did he
awake until he was rather roughly shaken by the shoulder, a man telling
him at the same time that he must get up and answer his muster. He now
staggered half asleep outside the hut; and in a few minutes the camp
constable, with a train of watchmen, came bearing a lantern, which one
of them held while another called over the names of the prisoners
belonging to that hut, Rashleigh, of course, being last. In his
simplicity he now asked the great man of office where he was to sleep.

"Wherever yow like, and be dom'd to yow," was the COURTEOUS reply.

"But shall I not get a bed and blanket?" asked the NEW CHUM.

"I'll tell 'ee what!" retorted the other. "On'y I think yow bees a fool,
by what yow've been up to in Sydney, I'd knock yow down for axing me
such a dom'd stupid question. But I'll COMPUTE it to yower ignorance.
and tell yow there an't no blankets for nobody in the stores. There's
two hundred men here a'ready wi'out any, and many on 'em has been so for
more nor this two years; so doan't 'ee be bothering me any more, or else
I'll be dom'd if I doan't find a shop for 'ee."

With this CHEERING assurance he departed, and Ralph followed the party
into the interior, where one of the men observed "old Tom Row was
getting good because he did not put the new chum in the chokey," and
another man, assenting, added that sometimes he had "knowed a dozen men
put in for less than half that provocation."

Ralph now begged to be informed what he had said that could by any
possibility be construed into a crime; and the first speaker replied,
"Lord bless you, stop a bit. You're like a motherless cub, all your
sorrows to come. You'll soon find out the men in office here don't want
to receive no provocation to get a man flogged, for they delight in
making out schemes to do so without"--an observation Rashleigh had
abundant opportunities of verifying by actual experience afterwards. But
he now enquired what shifts the rest of the men made for bedding who,
like himself, were without any. His informant said some got a few
sheepskins, which, indeed, were mostly stolen from drays passing on the
road, and they sewed them together, rolling themselves up in them at
night; while those who hadn't the luck to get any skins had lately found
out a way to prepare tea-tree bark for the same purpose; and he
volunteered to show our hero the method of doing this the first leisure
time he had.

Rashleigh returned his thanks, and as there was no other remedy, lay
down in the ashes of the fireplace, Which, like those of the olden time
in England, was spacious enough to allow half a dozen men to do so,
besides leaving room enough for the fire, as it, in fact, occupied all
one end of the hut. Here, though he was very hungry, he quickly fell
asleep again, and awoke not until an excessive bustle caused him to do
so.

Looking around him, he quickly perceived it was morning. The hut was
nearly empty of its inmates, who were running out in great haste. Our
adventurer jumped up. Being already dressed he found now to be some
advantage, and he followed the throng of men he saw before him, going
towards the camp gate, which Ralph was about to pass through, when the
camp bell, which till now had been rolling most vociferously, ceased to
ring; and instantly as it did so, a florid-faced man mounted on a black
mare spurred across the gateway, stopping the egress, and roaring out,
"Stop there, you sons of bitches! I'll teach you fellows to come a
little smarter to muster. Here, Sam, take these men's names down."

"Sam" was a clerk. albeit he wore a most unclerkly appearance, being
very ragged, with an old pair of slop shoes on, that, having been
immensely too large for him at first, had turned up at the toes, until
the soles were now staring their wearer in the face. On the back part of
his occiput he wore what had once been a cap made of kangaroo skin; but
the crown, being nearly out, now overhung, flapping against his back;
and the whole TOUT ENSEMBLE of this pupil of the pen much resembled what
in Scotland is called a "potato bogle", and in England a "scarecrow". He
now began to take down the names of those men that were inside the gate,
of course, including our luckless adventurer whom the principal overseer
no sooner saw than he cried Out, "Oho, my fine quill-driver, you are
beginning well, at any rate! Here, Joe! Take this chap into your mob,
and try if you can't waken him up a bit."

Upon this, Joe--as he was styled--a little bandy-legged
chocolate-cheeked Jew, said, "Come here, you, sir. S'help mine Gott,
I'll shtir you up before night."

Shortly afterwards, the names of all the men being read over, each
shouldered his implement of labour, and the gangs began to move off; but
for Rashleigh's part, the overseer Joe called him and ordered him to
take up a rope that lay near, and bring it along. Ralph looked at the
rope, which appeared heavy enough to load a horse, it being nearly as
thick as a cable and of great length. He attempted to lift it, but
finding it far beyond his strength, he was fain to desist. He then
received a volley of oaths from the little Jew, and two men being
called, they placed the rope on his back. It was as much as he could
stagger under, and finding it impossible to walk steadily, he ran a few
paces, when his foot caught something, and he fell beneath his load,
cutting his shin upon a root, so that it bled profusely. But the
inflexible Joe directed the rope to be replaced on his back, which was
done, and although he repeatedly fell down, it was as repeatedly again
hoisted on his back, until at length, trembling in every limb from the
intensity of this over-exertion, Ralph reached the scene of their
appointed labour.

The gang under the orders of overseer Joe was at present employed in
burning off the trees, which had been some time previously fallen, for
the purpose of clearing the land and reducing it to culture. To do this
the huge monarchs of the forest, now recumbent, were lopped of all their
boughs, and the larger limbs and branches cross cut with saws into
convenient lengths, the stumps of the trees having before had all the
earth dug away from around them, so that the roots were laid bare, many
of tile smaller ones being cut through. The timber was then piled around
and over these stumps, the butts or large logs beneath, and the smaller
and lighter branches above, the interstices being filled up with twigs,
bark and chips, to make the whole ignite readily; and when a suitable
number of the stumps had been thus made ready--or in wet weather, as
fast as they were prepared--the masses were lighted, the fires, if
necessary, being attended to until the firewood and with it the stump
were completely burned out.

All the gang, having now arrived at the scene of action, were quickly
distributed to their several tasks; and Ralph and some others each
obtained a wooden handspike, with which to roll out the trunks of trees
or carry them upon to the fires for which they were designed. A
favourite plan with the overseer--Joe--who appeared to delight in
oppressing his men as much as possible, was to cause six or eight
handspikes to be laid on the ground before a large trunk of wood, which
was then rolled thereupon; twelve or sixteen men, one at each end of the
handspikes, lifted the trunk bodily up, on which master Joe would order
six of their number away, on pretence that the remainder were well able
to carry the log. These were thus often compelled to strain every nerve
to do so; otherwise, if any one gave way, of course the log fell to the
earth, and those on the same side with the defaulter stood in imminent
danger of fractured limbs. But should they escape these, they were
certain of incurring punishment from Joe, who would surely cause them,
every man, to be flogged for neglect of work, or, at least, put into
"Belly Bot" that night.

Again, this worthy would pitch upon one of the gang who had incurred his
anger--which it was most easy to do, by the by--generally someone who
was old or constitutionally infirm, and having selected a stump or short
block of wood of the very uttermost weight any ordinary man could carry,
he would call the culprit to him and cause two other men to lift this
burden upon his shoulders, directing him to carry it to some distant
fire. If the poor fellow could at all make shift to move under his load,
he would stagger off, amid the jeers of the overseer and his toadies.
When he had nearly reached the place where he supposed he had been
directed to carry the load to, Joe would shout with the lungs of a
Stentor--for though a small, stunted abortion of humanity, he had
wondrously effective lungs--: "You blasted crawler, where are you going
to? That's not the fire. Take it over to the one far over there, on your
right."

The poor wretch, frightened at the threatening tone and language of the
overseer, would now attempt to go as ordered; but Joe would still keep
on, roaring out, "Not there", "Or there", wherever he went, until at
last the man, being utterly exhausted, would fail himself or perchance
throw down the load, when he was certain of condign punishment from the
bench of the magistrates.

It may seern strange that such doings were allowed; but besides this
establishment being a place of punishment for convicts who misbehaved in
a minor degree, yet whose offences were not cognisable by law, the
superintendent was very anxious to get as much work done as possible by
any means. To effect this he selected from among the convicts under his
charge the worst behaved and most indolent of the number for his
overseers and other subordinates, who, as he rightly judged, by being
the most afraid of the hardships of work themselves, would exercise all
manner of rigour towards their fellow-prisoners and exact as much labour
as possible from each, in order to keep their places. Thus it was that
the men were so much oppressed, for if one of these convict overseers
were working a gang of fifty men and had ten of them flogged every
week--no uncommon proportion--it became a mere matter of arithmetical
certainty that another who had a gang of twenty-five could not do his
duty unless he took five of his men to Court weekly also.

Again, it was the policy of the superintendent to put two gangs of
similar strength at the same kind of work within view of each other,
when the overseers would vie one with the other to try which could get
most done; and dire was then the cursing, swearing, raging and tearing
of the rivals, who would goad on their men every instant with threats of
the torturing lash, uttered with all the real arrogance of low-bred
jacks-in-office, who, it need hardly be said, were capable of any
atrocity themselves, and would commit any crime rather than descend from
their ill-sustained eminences to work among their fellows. This is
premised, lest the reader should scarcely believe what follows; yet
there are many scores now alive in New South Wales who can vouch for the
truth of the leading features.

Rashleigh and his fellows were quickly immersed in their fatiguing
occupation, grimed from head to foot with charcoal from the logs they
carried, and blinded by the smoke from the numerous fires near at hand;
until at length, being employed with the others in turning the huge butt
of a tree which was partially embedded in the earth by the force of its
fall, Ralph, through his awkwardness, placed the end of his handspike
between the body of the tree and a broken limb which was attached to it,
and which formed a very acute angle with the body of the log. When,
after many oaths and the expenditure of much sweat, the log at last was
moved, it went over with a sudden jerk; and the branch referred to,
striking the back of Ralph's handspike as it turned over, of course
forced the implement out of his grasp, and the handspike whizzed through
the air, passing so close to overseer Joe's head that it tore a portion
of the brim of his hat away in its flight, and then ploughed a furrow in
the earth for some distance behind him. Most assuredly, if it had
struck his head, this worthy would have ended his days on the spot; but
fate had otherwise decreed the issue, and Joe, transported with rage,
now rushed towards Rashleigh, pouring forth a volley of mingled threats
and execrations.

It chanced that upon his way he had to pass the trench out of which the
log had just been turned; here there lay, now exposed to view, an
enormous Jew lizard--a kind of reptile supposed to derive its name from
the membranous bags around its jaws, which it distends with air when
enraged, so as to form a slight resemblance to a human beard. This the
overseer nearly trod upon; but drawing back, he lifted it on his foot,
casting it with great fury towards the unlucky Rashleigh, who, on his
part, seeing the unknown but very forbidding reptile come flying towards
his throat, made an involuntary blow at it with his right hand; and Joe
being now close to him. the lizard was flung full in his face. Dropping
from thence on his breast, it began tearing away at his handkerchief and
shirt, until one of the bystanders assisted the affrighted Israelite to
remove it. The latter no sooner recovered himself than he ordered
Rashleigh to be secured, vowing, with the bitterest malice in every
gesture, that "he'd make him pay for all".

Accordingly, Ralph was seized by the deputy overseer and the water
carrier of the gang, and hustled to a tall bare stump standing near,
when a chain having been passed round it, he had his hands locked behind
his back to the chain by a pair of handcuffs. In a few minutes Joe came
up, and saying, "You blasted varment! I'll teach you to mutiny and try
to take my life, I will," he then struck the defenceless prisoner on the
head, knocking off his hat; and having thus given him a foretaste of
what he might expect from his brutality, this choice specimen of a
government officer then withdrew.

Not long after, the superintendent made his appearance on the ground,
and having demanded what Rashleigh had done, was informed by the
overseer that he had thrown a handspike at him and attempted to take his
life, showing his mutilated shirt and tom straw hat in proof of what he
alleged.

"Let him be confined in the camp until next Tuesday, and then brought to
court," said the great man.

At dinner-time, Rashleigh was marched a prisoner home, when being given
up to old Tom Row, that functionary grinned and said, "Oho! Thee bees
danngerous, boost thee? Oi'll teake cear thee does noa more dommage for
one whoile!" Thus saying, he laid hold of the culprit's collar, and in
this guise conducted him to an open triangular space formed by the
converging ends of buildings erected on two sides of a square, the
external side of this space being secured by a high palisade fence, in
which was a small open wicket.

Tom Row pushed Ralph in at this opening with such force that the latter
almost fell headlong; as it was, he lost his hat in going through.
The old constable chuckled and said, "There! Thee bees safe enough naw!
Thee'll knock nobody's brains out naw, I'll warrant thee!" And he
laughed heartily while he locked the gate. Rashleigh begged in vain that
he might have the handcuffs he wore transferred from behind his back to
his front, as the former position, besides being very painful, impeded
any attempts at helping himself. The other, however, only grinned and
left him.

Being bareheaded, and the sun now nearly vertical, he knew not how to
shield himself from its too powerful rays, which made him feel both
giddy and sick; but the open area in which he was enclosed prevented his
gaining any shelter until the afternoon, when the sun's decline enabled
him, by thrusting his head against the end of one of the buildings, to
obtain a little shelter and relief. His dinner, a morsel of salt beef
and a dough-boy, or dumpling made of boiled maize meal, had been brought
to him soon after his confinement; but at the time he felt much too sick
to eat anything. When he got better he would fain have done so, but did
not know how, as the position of his hands, thus secured behind him,
would not permit any other mode of eating than by going down on his
belly and gnawing his food, like a dog, out of the dish. This, at last,
hunger compelled him to do, and he was compelled to remain this way from
the Thursday night until the following Tuesday morning, without the
handcuffs being once removed. It being advanced in autumn, the nights
were piercingly cold and the dews abundant; so that our unhappy prisoner
was regularly wet through his flimsy rags every evening soon after
sunset, and he spent each long night shivering in this plight, not being
dry again until the sun acquired power enough to do so, after many
evolutions and turnings on his part to expose each side of his person
alternately to the beneficent source of heat. Sleeping, it may well be
imagined, was almost out of his power, as independent of the cold
preventing him, the constrained position in which his arms were confined
produced intense pain. In the bitterness of his anguish he repeatedly
wished for death, and in order to effect it ran his head with great
violence two or three times against an angle of one of the sheds; but
this only added to his excruciating torments.

At last the morning of Tuesday arrived, and his keeper came to order him
out of this wretched place of confinement. It was necessary he should he
washed, and for this purpose his handcuffs were taken off, but the
anguish of bringing his cramped arms round again into their natural
position completely overpowered him, and he fell fainting to the earth.
When he recovered he found himself lying in a puddle of water; and the
cause of it was disclosed by the sneering laugh of one of the constables
standing by with an empty bucket in his hand, who asked, "An't I a fine
doctor to bring any fellow out of a swound?"

Ralph got up, and then, for the first time, saw that his wrists were
swollen to more than twice their original size; and when he tried to
wash his face lie found he could not bend his arms to do so. This
swelling produced one good effect: there was not a single pair of
handcuffs to be procured that would go upon his wrists, and consequently
they were, sorely against their will, obliged to permit him to go over
to Penrith without any. But one of his feflow-convict constables marched
alongside of him, having received strict injunctions from Tom Row at
parting, that if the prisoner made the slightest attempt to escape, the
constable was to knock him down that minute, for, added this HUMANE
official, "'Tis no odds breaking the heads of a score such fellows as
he. There's plenty more of his sort in the country."

In this guise they reached the Court-house without any interruption, and
they found the business of the day there far advanced. There were a
great many men--as usual, from Emu Plains--brought up to answer various
charges of insolence to overseers, neglect of work, breach of
regulations, or disobedience to orders; and the majority of them had
already been tried and sentenced to receive various amounts of corporal
punishment, from seventy-five to a hundred lashes being the general
proportion of the sentences. A very few accounted themselves fortunate
in only having got fifty; and one man came out of the presence of the
awful conclave of magistrates wearing a countenance radiant with smiles.
On being asked by a compeer what had been his luck, he replied,
laughing, "Oh, I've NOBBED it. I've got life to Newcastle," meaning that
he was fortunate in being about to leave Emu Plains, though he was
sentenced to go to pass the rest of his days at a place of punishment of
no common degree of rigour.

Ralph's turn now came to be heard, and he was placed at the bar before
the magistrates, who were an ancient parson, an old settler and a young
military officer. Overseer Joe, being now sworn, circumstantially
related the facts of a most mutinous attack and murderous assault which
had been made upon him by the culprit, who he said had shied a handspike
with all his force at the head of the said overseer, and he once more
produced the mutilated straw hat in proof of the narrow escape he had
made from death. He added that after this Ralph had come up to him and
violently assaulted his person, so as to tear his shirt--also
produced--and wound up by assuring the bench that he "never knowed a
more desp'rater, a more dangerouser ruffian than the willain before
them".

Rashleigh was now asked by the military gentleman what he had to say,
though the settler J.P. muttered two or three times, "A clear case, a
very clear case. Never heard a clearer case." As for the clerical
gentleman, he had been asleep nearly ever since Ralph came into Court.
The prisoner, however, shortly detailed the real facts of the case,
making use of his hands and fingers to show the relative positions of
the log, branch and handspike. While he was doing so the young officer
observed the swollen state of his wrists, and demanded to what this was
owing, on which Rashleigh narrated his sufferings in handcuffs. As the
captain had not been very long in the Colony, all these proceedings were
quite new to him and appeared to excite his compassion. He minutely
questioned our adventurer as to the facts, and finally, appearing to be
convinced that he spoke the truth, the military man turned to the farmer
magistrate with an air of astonishment and asked if it was possible such
cruelty could be allowed.

The other calmly replied that it was necessary the most stringent
measures should be adopted to control the turbulent spirits of convicts
and ensure their safe custody, that no doubt the prisoner now before
them was much better known to the authorities of Emu Plains than to any
other persons, and that, in short, it would not DO for the magistrates
to interfere with the duties of a government establishment like that or
they should never be out of hot water. The last portion of this reply
was made in a very low tone of voice, as if confidentially to the
captain; but Rashleigh's ears being sharpened by self-interest, he
caught it every word.

As soon, therefore, as he could speak with propriety, he declared to the
magistrates that this so-called offence had taken place on the very
first day he had been sent to work upon Emu Plains, and also that this
was the only charge that had as yet been made against him since his
arrival in the Colony. On this the captain asked if he had any witnesses
who could prove his statement. The settler J.P. observed with a sneer,
"Witnesses! Aye! I'll be bound he has. Fifty, if that's all, ready to
come and swear to that or anything else."

"But," returned the militaire, "we'll take care of that. Let him name
his witnesses to us only. Then let him be closely confined over here
till the next Court day, so that he cannot see or speak to any of them.
We will examine them ourselves, and if he has attempted to impose upon
us, we will give him a hundred lashes in addition to the punishment of
his crime."

This proposal being agreed to, Rashleigh described four men who had been
working with him as well as he could to the military magistrate, and the
case stood over.

Upon the next Court day the same three magistrates attended, and shortly
after their arrival Rashleigh was again ushered into the Courtroom. The
reverend J.P. was installed into the chair, and the captain and settler
sat on either side of him. The proceedings began by the clerk reading
the deposition already made by the overseer and the prisoner's defence.
During this reading the chairman, as was his wont, went to sleep, ever
and anon making such profound reverences to the back of the clerk that
his reverend nose appeared to be in imminent danger from the desk
behind which he sat. The settler J.P. in the mean time amused himself by
reading a newspaper. The captain next enquired whether the witnesses
were in attendance, and having ascertained that they were, he ordered
one to be called in.

This fellow, who was a raw countryman, made a loutish reverence and
looked very much afraid as he entered the room. He was sworn, and the
captain asked him if he knew the prisoner.

WITNESS: (SCRATCHING HIS HEAD--WITH A SORT OF LEER): Ees, sur; that is,
noa, sur.

CAPTAIN: What do you mean by that? Did you ever see the prisoner before?

WITNESS: (VERY MUCH AFRAID): Whoy, Oi've a-seed un, sur, on the pleans.

CAPTAIN: Were you ever at work with him? Don't be afraid, but speak.

WITNESS: Ees, sur, Oi wor.

CAPTAIN: Well, do you know what he did to be brought here?

WITNESS: Whoy sur, they do zay he troyed to kill th' overseer.

CAPTAIN: When did that happen?

WITNESS: That day as he wor at work wi' Oi.

CAPTAIN: Were you there?

WITNESS: Oi wor a-working alongside of him.

CAPTAIN: Now, tell us what you saw of the matter.

WITNESS: Whoy, sur, Oi on'y seed the Jew lizard a-tearing of Joe's shirt.

CAPTAIN: You did not see this man throw a handspike at his overseer.

The witness replied that he did not, and a few more questions satisfied
the captain that the matter had occurred as Rashleigh had stated; which
was unwillingly confirmed by the other men, who all gave their evidence
in the prisoner's behalf with great apparent reluctance, being obviously
fearful that they would suffer the ill will of the dreaded Joe for
speaking the truth.

The captain now addressed the settler, and enquired what he thought of
the matter after that.

The agricultural Lycurgus smiled sarcastically and said, "Oh, captain, I
leave it entirely to you. But when you have been so long in this country
as I have, you will not take much notice of anything these fellows
either say or swear!"

The captain now ventured to disturb the profundity of the reverend
chairman's slumbers by a gentle nudge, asking him at the same time what
he thought of the case.

That holy man suddenly jumped out of his seat, pulling up the slack of
his black silk small-clothes as he did so, and cried, "A most dreadful
scoundrel, an atrocious villain. Send him to Newcastle. Or stay! He
won't stop there . . . Send him . . . Send him Aye, send him to ETERNITY!"

"Nay, but," remonstrated the captain, "it don't appear to me he's guilty
of any offence. Mr Clerk, read over the last evidence!"

While this was being done the reverend gent settled himself for another
nap; but ere he could go to sleep again the brief notes taken in the
case were concluded, and he then said, "Well, well. Give him a hundred;
it will help to smarten him."

"Pardon me," quoth the son of Mars, "I can't see he has deserved any
punishment; or if he has, surely what he has already suffered ought to
be taken into consideration."

"Oh, you don't know the artfulness of these scoundrels," retorted this
CHRISTIAN PASTOR. "You'd better give him seventy-five, at any rate."

I think rather," persisted the captain, "we may let him go this time;
but if ever he comes again, we'll double his punishment."

"Well, well. Do as you please, captain," said the chairman with an air
of virtuous resignation; "but the overseers ought to be supported in
their duty."

"True," said the captain; "but this man has been twelve days now in
strict confinement, and we'll take that for his present punishment.
Prisoner, you are discharged. Go back and mind your work, for if ever
you are brought here again, you will not escape so easily."

"No," added the farmer J.P. "You shall receive double punishment for
giving us all this trouble."

Rashleigh was removed, and when the Court had concluded was about to
leave the place in charge of a constable, when overseer Joe came up to
them, his saffron-coloured cheeks fairly livid with rage; and shaking
his fist at our adventurer, he said, "Gott shtrike me dead, my fine
fellow, if you an't the very first man that ever beat me at Court; and
I'll take blasted good care you don't come off free next Tuesday."

A commanding voice was now heard from within a pair of Venetian blinds
attached to the window of one of the rooms in the Court-house close by.
It called out, "Come here, you, sir!"

Joe's jaw dropped. He was about to walk off when the blinds were pushed
open suddenly, and the military magistrate thrust his head out of the
window and again called loudly and passionately, "Here, you, sir! You,
overseer, I mean! Come back instantly!"

Joe now very reluctantly complied, and pulling off his hat, confronted
the dreaded man of power bareheaded, while the latter said,  "Now, sir,
I happened to overhear your language just now, and in the first place
I've the greatest mind in the world to give you a most sound flogging
for the daring impiety of your expression; but as the Court has now
broken up I will overlook that. Still, I'd have you take great care what
you are about, for if I catch you tripping in an oath, I'll prosecute
you myself for perjury. And by heaven, sir, I'll make you wish you never
had been born. Now be off to your duty, sir . . . and BEWARE!" shaking his
finger at Joe in a most significant manner.

Joe now sneaked off, and he suffered not the grass to grow under his
feet until he was completely out of view from His Majesty's Court-house,
Penrith. Our adventurer was shortly afterwards reconducted to the camp,
when he was received by his fellow-prisoners with a kind of awe, such as
vulgar minds feel towards a conjuror or person of wondrous acquirements.
In fact, he was looked upon by the convicts as being a kind of LUSUS
NATURAE, solely on account of his acquittal; for such a phenomenon had
never before been known in the history of Emu Plains as a working man
obtaining a victory over an overseer, or even of getting the benefit of
a doubt in his case when a charge was preferred against him by such a
hard-swearing fellow as Joe was well known to be, it being a common
saying of him "that he would swear a white horse was a chandler's shop,
and every hair upon his back a pound of candles", rather than be
vanquished.

Rashleigh slept this night in clover, for a man who had run away a short
time before had left behind him a little nook formed of a sheet of bark
like a boxed shelf, which was filled with the inner husks of Indian
corn. Among these the wearied wretch, who had not since his arrival had
any better resting-place than the slab door of a lock-up or the cold
earth, was too happy to burrow as quickly as he could. In the dead hour
of the night, however, he was aroused by a most discordant din, arising,
as it appeared, from half a score or upwards of old tin dishes, beaten
with fists, after the fashion of gongs, and sundry other noises, which
reminded him of the manner in which the country people of England
swarmed their bees.

Upon enquiry, he learned that this unearthly turmoil was occasioned by a
party of men, who, having resolved to run away themselves, adopted these
means of beating up, as they called it, for "recruits for the bush"!

In consequence of the execrable system of tyranny and intolerable
oppression perpetrated by the convict overseers, constables, watchmen
and others "dressed in a little brief authority" upon this government
farm, scarcely a week passed without numbers of men absconding in this
manner; and others were actually paid by the petty officers, their
fellow-convicts in place, to do so, that the latter might gain either a
pecuniary reward or a remission of sentence for taking them prisoners
again. For instance, there was either a sum of ten shillings in money or
a remission of six months' servitude allowed for every runaway convict
apprehended by another. It was a common practice, therefore, for the
overseers to oppress some poor fellow under them until they had, as they
called it, converted him into a crawler, that is, a spiritless wretch
heart-broken by hardship and hunger, who could scarcely move, and who
could not, then, do any proper share of hard work. The overseer would
next say to him. "Why the devil don't you BOLT (run away)? I'll give you
some grub, to get rid of you;" and the poor fellow, willing even to earn
a few days' rest from labour by a sound flogging, would at last agree to
abscond. The same night he would receive from his KIND FRIEND a few
pounds of flour a small quantity of tea and sugar, and perhaps a little
meat, the overseer promising him in addition his favour and protection
after he should succeed in getting the reward for taking him. It would
then be agreed by the crawler that in three days' time, which it was
necessary should elapse before any reward would be given, the overseer
should meet him in a certain place, whither the latter would go, as if
by chance, and capture him. He would then bring his prisoner before the
magistrates, magnifying his exertions, of course, in making this
CAPTURE, and swearing a host of lies respecting the desperate resistance
made by the runaway, who would, if it was his first offence, get off for
the punishment of a hundred lashes, being then returned to his work,
where his overseer would quickly turn him out of his gang, to be subject
to the same discipline from another, ending in the same results, except
that the runaway, on his second offence, would be punished by being sent
to a penal settlement. In this manner many of the convicts' officers
shortened their allotted periods of servitude; for the terms being
eight, six, and four years for a life, fourteen, or seven-year convict
respectively, of course, if any of them could thus capture half a dozen
runaways, it at once wiped off three years from his servitude.

The next day after Rashleigh returned from the Court at Penrith he was
ordered into a different gang, which was employed in felling timber
under the orders of one David Muffin, a Welshman, the brutality of whose
character will best be exemplified by the following incident, which
occurred the first morning our adventurer was at work in his party.

The men were employed in pairs, and it chanced that two were cutting
down a huge tree, which proved to be quite decayed at the heart; so that
when they had chopped through the living timber, it snapped off
suddenly, and falling in the line on which the boughs spread heaviest
and farthest, crushed two ill-fated wretches beneath its ponderous top.
So instantaneous was its fall that not a second's space was afforded for
warning the sufferers, who, being intent upon their work, did not
observe the mass until, as it proved, they were hurried into eternity.
But four of the men who were nearest ran to see if they could help their
comrades; and they were penetrated with horror to find only a shapeless
mass of quivering flesh and bones. denuded of all resemblance to the
human form, where but a twinkling of an eye before had stood two robust,
athletic young men in all the pride of conscious strength.

Davy, however, did not allow them to stand moralizing a moment on
the subject, for with a volley of oaths, he ordered his satellites to
put them, all four, into handcuffs for daring to leave their work
without his permission; and for this CRIME they each got a punishment of
fifty lashes on the next Court day. Such being the temper of his
overseer, it may very easily be imagined Ralph Rashleigh's employment
under him was anything but agreeable, and as, although he was willing
enough to work, he was most awkward in his attempts to do so, he came in
for a double share of threats and abuse every time the overseer
approached him.

Thus waned the day, until, at the sound of a bell, the overseer directed
his deputy, or assistant, to collect the men and tools, while he started
off to the camp. Rashleigh was loaded with a heavy rope, which he was
told always fell to the lot of the man who had last joined the gang to
carry, and consequently he was among the last that reached the
tool-house, where, on throwing down his burden, he found Davy, Joe and
other overseers standing by a number of men handcuffed to a chain, two
and two, and guarded by two or three of the camp constables. He was
ordered to join this body, which he did with a heavy heart, not doubting
but that he was about to be confined again, in order to be brought once
more to Court. In a few minutes the miserable cortège set forth towards
a place of security called "Belly Bot", which was situated about a mile
from the camp, inside the first range of the Blue mountains.

Upon their arrival here, they were ordered into the interior of this
receptacle, which was subdivided into cells about seven feet by four
feet in area and eight feet high, into each of which they were literally
crammed in an erect posture, until it was absolutely impossible any more
could be stowed in them, when the doors, which shut from the outside,
were closed upon them, squeezing them in tight against each other.

They were then left to pass the night as best they could. To sit or lie
down was out of the question, unless some of them had been willing to be
undermost and would also permit the others to lie upon them. But to
prevent this possible contingency, a quantity of water was daily thrown
into each cell, which converted the stratum of clay that formed the
floor, with a very little trampling, into mire, ankle-deep at least; and
thus these unfortunates were obliged to stand all night.

A little after daybreak next morning the doors of their dens were thrown
open, and they were ordered to be off to muster. This they did as
quickly as possible for fear of being too late, in which case they were
sure of receiving some further punishment; and by the time they had
reached the camp, the bell demanding their attendance began to ring, so
that they had barely time to snatch a morsel of bread, which, eaten as
they walked to work, formed their only breakfast.

In this wretched manner Rashleigh spent five nights out of each week
for nearly three months after this, and was besides lumbered almost six
months, the latter meaning being obliged to work for Government on
Saturdays, while the rest of the men were allowed from one o'clock on
that day to mend and wash their clothing. This was the mode by which Mr
Davy Muffin avenged upon our adventurer the outrage which, through him,
the majesty of overseership had received in the person of his brother
officer Joe. This system of confining the men all night was allowed by
the regulations of the place to be put in force by the petty officers as
a sort of minor punishment for the misconduct of the working prisoners,
which they were at liberty to inflict without appealing to any superior.

This, however, produced one tragical event in our hero's presence. A man
named Bright, of a gloomy morose temper, had been confined in Belly Bot
one night by his overseer. As was this man's wont, he bore it in
silence, not even grumbling or saying one word to the men who were in
durance with him; but on reaching the camp next morning, he went into
his hut, like the others, for a piece of bread, and then walked across
to the tool-house, where the implements of labour were laid in readiness
for each man to take one with him to work. Bright here picked up a very
narrow felling-axe, which he generally used, and went on towards the
gate.

It chanced his overseer passed him on the way; and Bright said to him,
"What made you put me into Belly Bot last night, ToM?"

"For a lark, you b----," replied Tom.

"Then take that for a lark!" responded Bright, at the same time swinging
his axe down with irresistible force, so that he sank the head of the
weapon to the poll in the overseer's skull, until the edge protruded
beneath his victim's jaw.

So fell had been the blow that he could not disengage the axe again; but
the dying man having sunk on the ground before him, he placed his foot
on the body--for the overseer had neither spoke nor moved from the
moment he was struck; and Bright was now struggling in vain to free his
murderous weapon. In the mean time some of the camp constables, whom his
demoniac fury had perfectly paralyzed before, rushed in and secured the
murderer, who now surrendered himself, saying, however, "I wish I could
have loosed my axe. I'd have made dog's meat of a dozen more of you
blasted tyrants."

This man was soon after tried and hanged for his crime. When called on
for his defence, he only said he was tired of his life, and all that he
was sorry for was that he had not killed a hundred such wretches instead
of only one.

It might be supposed this would have some effect in altering the system
of the remaining overseers for the better. So far from it, however, they
became more brutally oppressive than ever, each one after this carrying
a huge club for protection; and if any of the men only looked cross at one
of them the overseer would say, "You are a-going to BRIGHT me, are you,
you rascal? I'll CHALK you first, at any rate," finishing his speech by
knocking the offender down.

Nor was the ill-treatment of the overseers, combined as it was with the
hardship of perpetual labour, all the evil these luckless men on Emu
Plains had then to contend with. As remarked before, nearly one half of
them had no blankets or any other bedding. Happy and luxuriously lodged
was the wight who was master of a few pieces of sheepskin, however
acquired. The rest made beds of corn husks, thrown loose on their
berths; these, however, could be obtained only once a year. For a
covering to sleep under, they fabricated a kind of rug by stitching
together layers of the paper-like inner bark of the Australian teatree.
These rugs, indeed, were exceedingly fragile, and when they became
perfectly dry, would tear like tissue paper. Some others wove a kind of
matting of long grass. But all these expedients were wretchedly
inefficient, and were it not that fuel was abundant, so that the
prisoners could thus maintain large fires at night in the winter season,
they must have suffered much more severely than they did. As it was,
most of the elder men were periodically laid up with the rheumatism, and
not a few lost the entire use of their limbs from paralysis.

The period of our adventurer's sojourn at Emu Plains was also one of
great dearth in the Colony, almost amounting to famine, arising from
drought. No rain having fallen in any part of the country in sufficient
quantity to cause vegetation for upwards of two years, all the
inhabitants were reduced nearly to a state of starvation. Wheat was sold
the year of his arrival on the Nepean river at seventy shillings per
bushel, and maize at forty shillings, very little of either being in
fact procurable at all. And such indeed were the necessities of the
lower class of free colonists that when the government cattle were being
slaughtered upon Emu Plains--which was done weekly to supply meat for the
prisoners' rations--the stockyard was absolutely besieged by old and
young, the inhabitants of the once fertile district around, to beg of
the convict butchers the entrails and offal of the cattle, a bullock's
paunch being esteemed a rich gift, and the feet almost invaluable.

This being the destitution of the free population, it may well be
conceived the prisoners did not fare very luxuriously. The ration they
at this time received was a fractional quantity more than five and a
half pounds of flour and nine pounds of beef to all men in the service
of Government weekly. In addition to this each obtained one gill of
pease or an equivalent quantity of rice per day. This formed the whole
quantity out of which they were supposed to make twenty-one meals; but
in many places, where the whole weekly supply was issued to each
individual at once, the prisoners would devour it all in, at most,
three days, many of them, indeed, in one day; and they would then starve
through the rest of the week as best they might, eking out a meal with
various grasses and herbs--for vegetables were not accessible to them
even if the seasons had permitted their growth--and in many cases
satisfying the cravings of hunger with snakes, rats, lizards and even
far more repugnant materials.

On one occasion a party of men stationed upon a road over the mountains
coaxed a fine dog belonging to a traveller. When he came near they
secured him with a noose after the mode of the South American lasso, and
managed to stifle his yells. When the proprietor missed his faithful
companion, and returned to the camp of the road party, where he
remembered having seen him within the last half-hour, he saw a gaunt and
hungry-looking wretch busily engaged in skinning the poor dog's head.
Upon questioning this man, it turned out that a regular fight had ensued
for the dismembered limbs of poor "Nelson" as soon as the carcase was
skinned, and that this man, in the scramble, had only got hold of the
head, which he loudly complained was unfair.

As for the men on Emu Plains, their food was issued to them daily, so
that they were at least certain of one meal. such as it was, in the
twenty-four hours. To obtain more than this, many very ingenious schemes
were resorted to. From the time that peaches, of which great quantities
grew almost wild along the river banks, and even nearer to the camp, had
attained the size of hazel nuts, they were eagerly sought after and
devoured, many boiling them and adding salt to the mess.

When the crop of maize began to ripen, a fresh plan was followed by the
starving wretches with much avidity. The men in the camp were mustered
twice every evening, the last time at eight o'clock, after which it was
a punishable offence for anyone to be found out of the hut to which he
belonged; yet very many, impelled by hunger, would, at the season
referred to, dare all the danger of being caught by the numerous
watchmen round the camp, or those in the corn fields, and steal off to
the latter provided with an old tin dish converted into a grater, or
FIDDLE, as they called it. They would then spend perhaps three or four
hours grating the scarcely Ripe cobs of maize with these implements,
until they might probably have succeeded in obtaining four quarts of
pulpy meal, and for this wretched booty they were content to lose the
greater portion of their rest, beside running the hazard of obtaining at
least a hundred lashes if detected.

So stringent were the rules of Emu Plains at this period of scarcity
that if a constable or watchman, on entering a hut--which was done by one
or other many times in the course of every evening, to see what was
going on--should chance to observe the print of a cob of maize in the
ashes of the fireplace, where they were sometimes roasted by the
prisoners for food, the constable would question that unlucky wight who
at the moment stood nearest to the fire, and if he COULD not point out
the offender or WOULD not do so, he was confined, and being brought
before the worshipful bench of magistrates the next Court day, he was
certain to receive seventy-five lashes, whether he had been roasting
a HAWKESBURY DUCK--which was the colonial phrase for a cob of parched
maize--or not.

While our adventurer was thus placed amid scenes of suffering the like
of which he had never before wimessed, it may excite surprise that he
was not many times tempted to commit suicide; but the fact is no less
singular than certain, that the majority of men only value life in a
directly inverse ratio to the enjoyment it might be supposed to afford
them. Thus Rashleigh  declared that during his life of criminal
prosperity in London, when he indulged in every pleasure that money
could purchase, he had never valued existence half so highly as he did
during the time of his most intense suffering as an Australian convict.
This appears a most merciful dispensation of providence, for were it
otherwise, there can be no doubt that eighty out of every hundred
malefactors who for their crimes were exiled from England to this Colony
of New South Wales until about ten years ago would most certainly have
rushed headlong into eternity.




Chapter XII



THE PLAY, THE PLAY'S THE THING.


There were times when the yoke of this galling slavery was rendered
lighter. Among the prisoners at Emu Plains a theatre was established
under the auspices of one "Jemmy King", a most eccentric genius, on a
small scale, who was at once architect, manager, carpenter, scene-painter,
decorator, machinist, mechanician, and to crown all, a very passable
comic actor.

What rendered this combination of talents more extraordinary, Jemmy could
neither read nor write, the only method he possessed of learning his
parts being to listen while another read them; and though during these
lessons the ever busy fingers of Manager King would still be at work,
perhaps in the discordant avocation of a tinker, employed in making or
mending the theatrical lamps, yet none of the CORPS DRAMATIQUE were more
perfect at rehearsal.

The theatre, as before stated, had few external charms. It was formed
only of slabs and bark; yet the interstices of the walls being filled in
with mud, and the whole of the interior whitewashed with pipeclay, of
which there was abundance near, it produced no despicable effect by
candlelight. The whole affair was under the BENIGN PATRONAGE of the
superintendent, who bestowed upon the performers many indispensables for
their use. Of course, in New South Wales, there was no lack of timber.
The materials for the walls of the edifice were thus easily procured, as
were also those for the very rude seats of the pit and boxes--for to no
less than the latter accommodation did the ambitious followers of Thespis
at Emu aspire--together with the framework of the scenes.

The canvas necessary was obtained in fragments of bags, prisoners' duck
clothing, bed ticks, etc., and painted in distemper with pipeclay,
charcoal and various coloured earths. Lamps and candlesticks were
fabricated from worn-out tin pots and dishes by the never-failing hands
of King. Materials to light the theatre were supplied by voluntary
contributions of the officials, who, forming the HAUT TON of the
establishment, received candles, or oil, as part of their supply of
rations from the governmerit stores.

But the wardrobe! Oh, the wardrobe! No powers of language can enable me
to do justice to a description of the wardrobe.

In the first place, to survey "King Artexomines" in the solemn
extravaganza of BUMBASTES FURIOSO: his glittering crown was composed of
odds and ends of tin and copper, brightly furbished, most of it garnished
with pieces of window glass set on parti-coloured foils of a flowing wig
fabricated of bits of sheepskin, the wool being powdered with bone ashes;
a gaudy fringe of fur bedecked a regal mantle that in the days of its
prisLEVIATHANe freshness had been a purple stiff cloak with cape and hood, and
belonging to "Mother" Row, the wife of the camp constable; which splendid
fur trimming had once covered a native cat, in the glossy spotted coat of
which INDULGENT observers MIGHT detect a very faint resemblance to the
imperial ermine; and to complete the truly magnificent ensemble of this
august monarch, his boots of russet hue had assumed their present form
from the legs of an ancient pair of duck trousers, whilom the property of
Manager King, dyed to that colour by the juice of wattle-bark.

The caput of the doughty "General Bumbastes" was surmounted by a
magnificent cocked scraper, the body of which was pasteboard covered over
with black cloth, once appertaining to the skirts of the parson's coat,
adorned with a floaLEVIATHANg forest of feathers that waved gallantly in the
breeze, the latter being supplied at the expense of the barndoor cocks
belonging to Regentville, a host of whom had been denuded of their tails
for this purpose. The stalwart general's coat had once covered a corporal
of the guard; but the theatrical tailor having turned it, and having with
great difficulty procured a consignment of cast-off copper lace and
bullion from the military officers at Sydney, this was newly furbished
for the occasion, and now shone most resplendently decorative on the
brawny breast and shoulders of the (pot?) valiant hero, whose
unwhisperables of humble duck were clean washed and fancifully braided in
a most ingenious manner with strips of old blue cloth. A pair of
monstrous policeman's boots, equipped with glittering TIN spurs having
rowells as big round as dollars, ended the martial person of the
ferocious commander, who was, moreover, supplied with a sword that in
point of size might have done honour to old "Bell the Cat" himself. The
blade and guard were each composed of the very best hoop-iron, well
scoured and bright, however, and the sword knot, to furnish which all the
ragged silk handkerchiefs within a mile had been laid under contribution,
might have vied in size with the swab of a 74-gun ship.

The rest of the PROPERTIES of the theatre at Emu were of a like
description; but seen at night, and from a distance, they appeared in the
eyes of most of the beholders to be quite faultless. True it is, the
chiefest number of the audiences, being composed of either the small
settlers of the Nepean or their wives and children, had no more exalted
idea of theatrical splendour than might be derived from the exhibitions
of travelling mountebanks, or at best a strolling company of comedians in
a country barn.

But there were at times others among the spectators of the humble
attempts or the brethren of the sock and buskin: the then Chief Justice,
nay, the very representative of royalty himself, having deigned to honour
the Emu Theatre with their presence, moved, it may be supposed, by the
novelty of the thing, and a desire to observe what kind of shifts could
be made by men as utterly destitute of all means and appliances as even
their great prototype Thespis, who first represented comedies in the
early days of Athens to his then rude countrymen, having only a waggon
for a stage and the sky for a canopy.

Visits such as these, of course, were hailed as great honours and
prepared for with corresponding anxiety. Ralph formed one of the CORPS
when it was honoured by a "bespeak" from the Chief Justice, who was then
residing at Regentville for the vacation with all his family; and the
Knight who owned that spacious and wealthy estate, together with a
perfect galaxy of the ÉLITE of Australian aristocracy, proposed to
accompany his illustrious visitor to the entertainment.

King having laid before the superintendent a list of the pieces they were
ready to represent, it was forwarded to Sir John, who selected RAYMOND
AND AGNES, followed by THE DEVIL TO PAY, for the evening's performance.

Dire was now the turmoil among all the hangers-on in the theatre, that
structure, in the first place, requiring repairs, and all the interior to
be whitewashed and REDECORATED. The scenery, too, and the dresses wanted
a good deal of touching up. Rehearsals must be had and the PROPERTIES
looked to.

It must be borne in mind that every one of them engaged in these
multifarious avocations had withal to labour in the fields at different
kinds of work from sunrise to sunset every week day save Saturday, which
could not, of course, be pitched upon, as it would be inconvenient, on
account of the lateness of the performance encroaching on the hours of
the Sabbath before the audience could reach their respective abodes. The
indefatigable King and his trusty coadjutors worked nearly all the
intervening nights with great zeal, for to these stage-struck heroes it
was truly a labour of love.

By the time the period of representation had arrived, all was prepared
much to the satisfaction of the manager himself, who, upon surveying the
effect of his labours from the pit just after the whole was BRILLIANTLY
illuminated by four small lamps and full TWELVE mould candles, rubbed his
hands in an ecstasy, and cried, "WELL now! THIS IS SOMETHING like."

With palpitating hearts, partly through the haste of their running home
from work, partly through awe at the greatness of their expected guests,
did the assembled Company prepare for their DÉBUT, and precisely at
seven o'clock--in newspaper phrase--the "orchestra struck up an overture".
This ORCHESTRA, by the by, consisted of four instruments, namely a
violin--only so styled in the theatre; elsewhere it received the humbler
appellation of a fiddle--; a flute, much akin to a fife in sharpness of
tone; a tambourine, profusely decorated with TIN JINGLES, and the
handiwork of Manager King; and a huge drum, which owed its origin to the
same omni-capable personage, to whom must also be ascribed all the honour
and glory of fabricating the flute, and though last, not least, the
fiddle also--beg pardon, violin, I mean--the material of which was King's
great panacea, tin. Tin served him in an infinity of ways; of it he made
all sorts of articles, swords and scabbards, spurs and spectacles,
decorations and diamonds.

But lo! the curtain now draws up, and the play begins. The melodrama was
received with rapturous applause by the unwashed multitude who crowded
the pit, and with better expressed approbation by the occupants of the
boxes; the only drawback to the manager's satisfaction being that a
number of the men belonging to the camp, as there was no gallery, had
taken undisturbed possession of the roof, where they vented their
criticisms in rather an obstreperous manner, deaf to the DIGNIFIED
remonstrances of the irritated Jemmy King, who ever and anon devoted
them to the DEIS INFERNIS in "curses, not loud, but deep".

At length, the sweet symphony of the musicians failing to extract any
more plaudits from the auditory, it was judged time to commence the
after-piece, which also was received very courteously. In fact, it went
off well, but for one trifling incident, which, however, luckily passed
unnoticed by the audience, though it elicited a series of grave rebukes
from the manager. It was thus. The representative of "Jobson", having made
rather free with some wine which the Knight of Regentville had presented
to the performers to solace their thirst during their labours, was
somewhat too energetic in applying the stirrup-leather to the shoulders
of his sleeping partner "Nell", whose prototype on this occasion was a
strapping young man of twenty-two, and as Master "Jobson" observed his
spouse for the nonce winced somewhat under this application, he took a
malicious pleasure in repeating the dose when not required by the action
of the drama. At last the patience of the quondam "Nell" being quite
exhausted, he went close up to "Jobson", and shaking a fist as large as a
moderate sized leg of mutton in his face, said, SOTTO VOCE however,
"D---- your eyes. If you do that again I'll knock your infernal head off."
Luckily, at this moment there was a slight noise in the pit, which
prevented the WORDS being heard; but the natural energy of the GESTURE
which accompanied them elicited a loud "Bravo! Bravo!" from Sir John,
which recalled the recollection of the exasperated wight, or he might
have proceeded to put his threat into execution, as he was by no means
a person to stand upon trifles.

The performance concluded happily, and a respectful valedictory address
having been delivered by the manager, the company prepared to depart.
Prior to their doing so, however, the Chief Justice requested that the
performers be brought to the entrance before he took his leave, in order
that he might have an opportunity of examining their disguises more
closely. This request, of course, from so exalted a personage assumed all
the force of a command, and in a few minutes the Company of actors was
mustered in a double line leading from the foot of the rude staircase to
the entrance of the theatre.

The superintendent led the way, followed by his visitors, among whom were
several ladies, who viewed the quasi-female performers with unmixed
amazement on discovering that the chief representative of the softer sex
on these primitive boards had, like Sir John Falstaff in the dress of the
cunning woman of Brentford, a most unmitigated growth of whiskers, which
the wearer valued so much that he would on no account consent to the
sacrifice of them, but rather had contrived a head-dress with much art,
the fastenings of which served pretty well, at a distance, to conceal
these very unfeminine appendages to a female eye; but on a closer view
the quondam lady of the gallant Knight in the play was discovered to be
neither more nor less than a brawny bullock-driver, clad in attire which,
though perhaps it might once have decorated a duchess, yet, if ever such
was the case, its present dilapidated state and faded glories distinctly
told of its having been a very, very long time before.

Nor was the astonishment of the gentlemen present much less, to observe
the many shifts which it now became apparent had been resorted to in
order to trick forth the male performers for the purpose of enabling them
to "strut and fret their hour upon the stage" with something like dresses
approximating to fitting costume. In particular, Ralph Rashleigh's dress,
as conjuror, elicited the admiration of the Chief justice, who had some
difficulty in believing that the flowing wig which adorned his head was
made of so humble a material as sheepskin, which after personal
examination His Honour satisfied himself to be the case, and remarking
that "necessity was the most fruitful parent of invention", he returned
the wig to its wearer, paying him, at the same time, a well-deserved
compliment upon his ingenuity, and slipping a pound note unobserved into
his hand, saying in a low tone as he did so, "For yourself."

The guests now departed, the Knight of Regentville and all his party
having expressed their high satisfaction at the entertainment, and made
such presents to the manager for the Company as, with gifts more suited
to their humble circumstances made by other spectators, enabled that
functionary to distribute a share amounting to no less than ten shillings
to each of the musicians and fifteen shillings to the performers.




Chapter XIII



THESE ARE THY BLESSINGS: INDUSTRY, ROUGH POWER,
WHOM LABOUR STILL ATTENDS, AND SWEAT, AND PAIN.


As Rashleigh wsas returning from work one morning shortly after the
memorable "bespeak", in company with one of the pseudo-performers, he had
to cross the highway road leading to Bathurst over Emu Plains. It chanced
that just as they did so, a mounted traveller accosted them, who by his
appointments had evidently been no long time in the Colony, and who was
struck, as it would seem, with their appearance. The winter's supply of
clothing having been recently issued, each had on a frock  and trousers
which were nearly new. These garments were somewhat uncouth to look at,
being merely the natural colour of the wool as it was cut in the fleece,
put together in a truly antediluvian style which would have positively
horrified the soul of a Stultz if he could have only caught a glimpse of
them, and rendered much more conspicuous by the characters "P-B-E-P" each
about six inches long, stamped with glaring red paint in no less than
eight different places, before and behind each wearer. These letters were
meant to represent "Prisoners' Barracks Emu Plains"; but from the colour
of the cloth, the utter shapelessness of the clothes, and the brilliant
contrast afforded by the hue of the stamps, each person who wore this
primitive garb resembled some strange monster in a state of transition,
scarce half man but more than half sheep, branded, as it might
appear--having been newly shorn--with the initials of its owner's name.

So at least seemed to think the stranger, who checked his horse and sat
motionless in the saddle, gazing with dilated eyes and gaping with open
mouth at the long file of convicts as they passed. Ralph and his
companion being last, he addressed them as if he were anxious to
ascertain whether this were an unreal mockery of his vision or whether
they were palpable living men possessed of the usual organs of speech.

"Halloo," he said, "what are you?"

"We belong to the camp yonder," was the reply.

"Oh," returned the stranger, "and pray, what sort of dress is that you
wear?"

"Our Government supply," replied Rashleigh.

"Indeed; and now, if I may ask, what are the meanings of all those
letters sprinkled over it?"

"Why sir," answered Ralph's companion, who was the small wit of Emu
Plains, "they mean 'Poor Beggar--Eternal Punishment'."

"Dear me!" exclaimed the horseman. "I'm very sorry for you!" And he threw
them a handful of silver, which they gathered with great goodwill. And
the stranger departed.

Eighteen months had now elapsed since Ralph Rashleigh first joined the
agricultural establishment at Emu Plains, during which period he had
experienced full many an aching heart arid full many an empty stomach. By
far the greater part of that time he had neither shirt nor shoes to wear.
In fact, his only garments consisted of a tattered frock of the kind just
described and scarcely three parts of a pair of unmentionables, so much
patched that, like the celebrated stockings of Sir John Cutler, hardly a
particle of the original material remained. The nether extremities of
these scanty apologies for decency looked as if his constant nightly
companions, the rats--who maintained almost an equal right to his
wretched bed of corn husks with himself--had nibbled them away piecemeal,
until at last they had encroached upon those regions which ought to have
covered the knees.

But the worst and most trying deprivation of all, to him, was the lack of
shoes. For in the fields the sharply angular masses of clay, indurated
almost to the hardness of flints by the arid sky, produced painful stone
bruises, while on the "burning-off" ground or in the bush the frequent
fires, having consumed all the inflammable portions of the grass, left
nothing behind but the short stems, stiffened by flame, and as sharp as
pointed stakes, which pierced, cut and tore the soles of his feet, until
it was absolutely painful to him in the least degree even to stand erect
upon them. If he walked at all it was necessarily at the rate of a
snail's gallop, which procured for him a double portion of abuse from his
overseers and the expressive but neither euphonious nor honourable
appellation of a CRAWLER.

In the winter time, too, the torment produced by the hoar-frost, which
agonised his very soul whenever his lacerated feet came in contact with
it, produced many a bitter pang. But time enabled him at last to find a
remedy for even these evils. He invented a sort of sandal similar to
those of the Romans of old, the bottoms of which were formed of light
wood, having a complicated arrangement of buckling straps to secure them.
He also fabricated a kind of stockings from old woollen rags, which
served the double purpose of warmth and security against thorns and
briary vines which had so cruelly mangled him before. Besides, and better
than all this, he was now getting so much inured to work that he no
longer dreaded it, nor had his hours of rest broken by frightful dreams
of cruelties perpetrated by the tyrannical overseers, as was too
frequently the case at first.

In addition to all these causes of self-gratulation afforded to our
exile, the drought which had so long oppressed the Colony broke up in the
ensuing spring, arid copious rains again blessed the earth with their
fertilising effects, dressing the surrounding plains with nature's gayest
livery--instead of the arid appearance they had so long presented--and
affording promise of an abundant harvest to gladden the long depressed
hearts of the starving settlers. Besides, Rashleigh was now wealthy, his
store having been increased by the unexpected liberality of the stranger
to the sum of nearly two pounds--an amount which promised, with due
economy, to afford him a moderate supply of extra food, sufficient to
last him until the crops were ripe, when he hoped to earn a further
supply.

Time now coursed rapidly on, until the month of November, when wheat
reaping commenced. In compliance with an annual custom, instituted in
order to afford the free settlers opportunities of acquiring additional
labour to gather in their grain, which, in the then very limited
population of New South Wales, would otherwise have been quite
inaccessible, the superintendent of Emu Plains granted passes to such of
the men under him as he thought deserving, each week upon Thursday
evening; which documents entitled the holders thereof to be absent from
camp and to work for themselves in the neighbourhood until the ensuing
Sunday night--an indulgence which was so highly appreciated that ALL
HANDS strained their nerves to the utmost to obtain it.

Ralph was among the fortunates, and having gotten his "pass", with a
merry heart and full of joyful anticipations he hied across the river in
search of work to do, being accompanied by one of his hut-mates. About
ten o'clock that night they reached a part of the Nepean bank which was
thickly occupied by small settlers, and where he had learned the wheat
was now nearly ripe. The yellow lustre of the harvest moon illumined all
the surrounding scenery with its mild radiance, and the hum of many
voices told that the settlers were busy.

Upon going nearer, the travellers soon found this to be the case in good
earnest, for it was a favourite as well as beneficial practice with the
Australian farmers of that day to perform the greater part of their
agricultural labours either by night or early each morning, so that
during the middle hours of the day, when the sun was in its greatest
altitude, they slept or amused themselves in their dwellings. To do this
with the greater advantage they carefully studied the phases of the moon,
being rather guided in their hours of labour during the summer by that
luminary than by the too ardent god of day. Thus, when Rashleigh neared
their settlement, which stood upon the estate of Regentville and was
named "Irish Corner" after the nation of its chief occupants, the greater
part of the population were actively employed. Men and women, boys and
girls, all had sickles, reaping away with the greatest energy, while ever
and anon the jocund laugh, the shouted jest and the merry response told
that all were engaged in an occupation they highly enjoyed.

The travellers, on reaching the first wheat field, waited at the fence
until the reapers came up, when they saluted the leader with a
good-night. He had not observed them, being absorbed in his work; but he
now stood up and returned their salute in kind, asking them if they'd far
to travel.

Rashleigh responded "that it depended on circumstances, as they were
looking for work".

"By my sowl, thin," said the other, "you've come to the right place to
find it! Praise be to the Vargin! But maybe, though it's looking for work
youse are, yees don't want to do any yourselves?"

Indeed we do," said Ralph, "if we can get anybody to employ us!"

"Employ yees? Gerrah, thin, why not?" returned the reaper. "I suppose
youse are all right? Not CRAPPIES (bushrangers), I mean."

"Oh no," replied Rashleigh. "I and my mate here are men on pass from the
Plains till Sunday. Here's our passes if you like to look at them."

"Is id ME look at 'em?" responded the other. "Bedad thin, there ud be
little good in THAT, anyway; be the same token that I don't know big A
from a bud's foot!" And he laughed most heartily at this HIGHLY
DELIGHTFUL idea. "But if id's raally raping you want, I'll give you a
pound an acre for all you'll cut of this saam whate. And if you'll take
that, jusht sthick in, and say no more about id." And the old man again
set to work, twisting the wheat down with surprising vigour.

Ralph remarked, however, that this was a strong heavy crop and worth more
than that.

"Don't be boddering us," said the owner. "Sure I can cut an acre a day of
id FLANKIN', and I'm sure hearty young min like the pair of youse ought
to knock down a dale more nor that."

Well," rejoined Rashleigh, we'll look about a bit among your neighbours,
and if we can't get any higher offer we'll come and set on along with
you."

"By this and by that thin, you won't," said the choleric old chap. "If
you go sthreeling about looking for more wages, you shan't touch a sthraw
of Jack Canavan's whate, see that now!"

"Very well, no harm done," returned the other, and passed on a little
farther.

In the next field they reached, there were five individuals reaping,
towards whom they went and found an elderly man somewhat ahead of the
others. Hard-favoured, long-sided, and still unbent by age, the reaper
raised himself up and said, "Good morrow, boys. Is id me you want?"

"Aye," was the reply. "We want to know if you can give us work with you."

"Bedad thin," rejoined the old man, "I cud do that saam, but what ud you
be axing?"

"Oh, we don't know what's going; but we'll take the same as others get,"
replied the travellers.

"Musha now," said the senior. "I'll tell you at a word what I'll do. If
you'll work along wid us here, and work as we work, I'll pay you a pound
for every day you sthop; bekase, you see, my whate is rip'ing all in
patches and I must rape wherever id's wanted to be cut firsht and id
'udn't be convanient to mizzure."

"What about our mess?" said Ralph.

"Arrah thin, I forgot that. Why, if you plaze me, I'll not charge you a
traneen for all you'll ate of the besht of good living, such as I've got
myself!"

On these terms a bargain was struck, and as by this time the other
reapers had worked up to the foremost, they were directed to "side over"
into the standing wheat, and each of the new-comers being provided with
a sickle, to it they went right earnestly, the old man keeping the lead,
Ralph's mate nearest to him, then one of the others, and next Ralph
himself.

The reapers on either side of Rashleigh were slim and agile in figure,
the only dresses they wore apparently being shirts, made very long
certainly, and hats. Neither of them--not excepting the old man--had shoes
on, yet they swept along over the clods and stubble with a celerity that
compelled Ralph, to use a colonial phrase, "to hit out from the muscle",
that he might not be left behind. For two hours they wrought in silence,
till at length, observing a cessation among his preceding partners, the
former looked up and saw the old man leaning over the fence apparently in
a deep yarn with his mate. In a few minutes Ralph had also cut up to the
fence, when he stood erect, to take breath and wipe the perspiration from
his face.

The old man, now noticing him, said, "Bedad, my lad, you and your mate
done well. We'll soon cut all that's ready at this rate."

The remainder of the FIELD (persons reaping) having now come up to the
fence, the old man observed to Ralph's amazement, "Now, gals, you and
these two young men had better bind up what's cut while the dew's on it
and lave it laying there. We'll put it together in the daylight, and I'll
go and help the old woman get something ready for breqquest."

Ralph now looked closely at the person who was standing next him, and
though there were few feminine charms in her countenance, he could see
enough to convince him that this hard-working reaper who had made him use
such expedition to keep up with her was really nothing but a girl of at
most thirteen, but even at that age nearly as tall as himself. The old
man turned away as he spoke, and Ralph, with his companions, began to
bind the sheaves where they lay, each going down the rows they had cut
during the night. This, not being a very arduous task, admitted of
conversation, and presently they were as intimate as if they had known
each other for years.

There was no affected squeamishness or reserve among these
unsophisticated children of nature. In reply to queries from their male
companions, the latter discovered they were working for a man known on
the river as "Big Mick", who had a family of six daughters and no son,
all his male children having died in infancy. It was said that soon after
the birth of Mick's third daughter he was lamenting to his wife their
want of a son to help him in his labours on the "farrum", when his
strong-minded helpmate interrupted him by saying, "Gerrah, why, what are
you boddering about? If I don't make my DARTERS better MIN than one half
the crathurs I see crawling about the counthry-side, by the Jakus, I'll
ate 'em every one."

In conformity with this resolution, from their earliest infancy each
member of the family was employed to do whatever her strength would
permit. The very youngest of all was set to mind the pigs, that they came
not near the cultivation to do mischief, then promoted to pull suckers
from corn or tobacco. As they advanced in years they took to the tools of
manual labour nearly as soon as they could lift them.

The effects of this course of education were now to be observed upon all
of them, for either of the girls could cut down the largest tree in the
bush with an axe as readily as most men, or do a man's share at breaking
up new ground with the hoe, driving a team of bullocks, threshing wheat
or maize, reaping, or in short any other agricultural occupation. Nor was
Mick's family a solitary instance of this. Many others at that early
period, when labour was so very scarce in the Colony, bred their female
children in the same way. When there were several daughters, as in the
present case, one usually remained at home, alternately, to assist the
mother in her necessary domestic duties; which was, in fact, all the
chance they had of learning aught that would be serviceable to them when
they got married and had houses of their own to mind. As it was, though
they might, each and all, be able to sew, so as to mend their own clothes
or those of their male relations, and bake a DAMPER in the ashes--the
usual method of preparing bread in the interior of Australia-or make
ready the humble meals of the family, yet it was far more common to meet
a young woman--in other parts besides Irish Corner--who could reap her
acre of wheat a day than one who could make a shirt.

Thus masculine in their labours, their persons were scarcely less so.
Though their features, in numberless instances, might be considered
positively handsome, as are in fact the general race of fair Australians,
yet exposure to the sun and wind completely tanned them and gave them a
weatherbeaten tinge in their youth; while their forms, unrepressed by
any confinement of clothing, acquired all those ungainly attributes which
characterise the clown. But the chief marvel of all was the astonishing
size of their feet, for never using shoes in their childhood, and being
always in motion, those extremities LEVIATHANed a most portentous
development, a fact which may be guessed at from the following trivial
circumstance.

Ralph one day subsequently was asked by the old man to fetch him his
shoes. He went to the hut for this purpose and returned with a pair he
had found on the floor which were much larger than his own. As he had
not seen any other member of the family adopt such encumbrances he
naturally concluded they were the right articles. But on reaching the
threshing-floor, which as usual stood in the open air, and where all the
family were then employed, he soon found out he had made a mistake, for
Mick burst out into a horse-laugh and Said, "Arrah now, by my sowl, if
that don't bate Banagher! And all the world knows Banagher bates the
Divil. If he hasn't brought me Nancy's little brogueens (small shoes)
instead of my own."

Rashleigh stared at Nancy, who was a girl about eleven years of age, and
she came over laughing to claim her shoes.

"Bother you," said her sire good-humouredly, "how foolish and fashionable
you get! Must be claning your brogueens every week now! I'll engage you
are looking out for some sweetheart or other to put the come 'ether over
wid your capers and clane shoes."

This sally over, he directed the girl to go and try could she find the
right brogues; and as Nancy tripped off on her errand, Rashleigh had lots
of opportunities to observe that large as the shoes were, they were
likely by no means to be a loose fit for her feet.

Then, too, their out-of-door life rendered them excessively rude and
boisterous, of which Ralph heard a laughable instance some time after.

A person with whom Big Mick had a dealing, after the business was
concluded, produced a case-bottle of rum from his saddle-pack, vowing
that they'd have a DRAM together to wet the bargain, and down they sat
very seriously to discuss the drink. Now the stranger was a person of
some little means and a shrewd, keen chap withal, who had got a few
cattle and a couple of good brood mares, which were then quite a fortune.
So Mick, after a few BALLS had opened his heart and his temper, began to
think it would be no bad spec. to interest his guest in one of his
daughters. Could he persuade him to take one as a wife, why, she would
be, in his own expression, "a made girl for ever".

Urged by this idea, he began a long eulogium upon the beauty and
numberless good qualities of his girls. After a time, getting warmed by
the theme, and a little piqued, it may be also, at the stoicism of his
companion, who only opened his oracular jaws to emit the smoke of his
DHUDEEN, he said that he could afford a smart penny to portion each of the
gals, so that it would by no means be a bad chance for anybody "that ud
know how to trate a dacent wife" when they got her. Still this did not
produce the wished-for effect upon the insensible mind of Mick's companion,
and at last the old man broadly hinted to him, "Sure, it's a shame for you
that you don't look out for some good little crathur to be keeping house
for you, and not be living all your days like a solunthary bacheleer." And
he wound up by saying that his guest should see the darlin's and judge for
himself.

Upon this they adjourned to the outside of the dwelling, where the old
man gave a loud COOAY as a signal for his daughters to return home from
their work. Both the men now gazed in the direction from which they
expected the girls to appear, when lo! shouting, laughing, and tearing
obstreperously along, the six beauteous and dutiful damsels came racing
towards them. Disconcerted at this novel mode of introducing a
bride-elect, no sooner did the stranger see this troop of Bacchantes
sweeping over the newly ploughed ground at this rate, than he bolted to
his horse and cried, "Goodbye, Mick! I might as well marry a whirlwind as
one of thim wild divils. Why, the fastest mare I've got ud never be able
to catch her!" And he rode off at speed, pursued by loud shouts of "Ahoo!
Ahoo!" from the young LADIES and peals of laughter from the merry old
man.

After Ralph and his companions had finished tying up the sheaves that lay
cut on the ground, they adjourned to Mick's dwelling, which originally
consisted only of two small apartments, with sundry additions made to it
at various times, abutting from one or the other side in divers
singularly ugly excrescences, with lean-to roofs resting against that of
the parent edifice. All these structures were composed of the then
unvarying materials of Australian architecture in the interior--slabs or
thin pieces split off by means of mauls and wedges from logs, the roof
covered with forest box or stringy-bark, which was stripped from the
living trees in sheets of about six feet long and from two to four feet
wide, laid upon rafters composed of small sapling poles just as they came
from being cut in the bush. The sheets of bark, having holes pierced
through each in pairs, were then tied on the rafters with cords twisted
of the inner rind of the kurrajong tree. The whole framing of the roof
was secured as it was needed by wooden pins in order to save the expense
of nails, which were then both too scarce and too dear to be used by the
lower order of settlers.

Indeed, all kinds of ironwork were equally inaccessible, and instead of
hinges to tie doors or window shutters, those appurtenances were all made
to revolve on wooden pivots in holes, bored a short distance into the
corresponding parts of the frames.

Thus the materials of Mick's habitation were pretty much the same as
those of the prisoners' huts on Emu Plains; but the chinks in the slab
walls of the former were well stopped up with plaster made of cow dung
and sand. A bark ceiling also was laid over the tie-beams which, while it
prevented the dust from pouring down in such torrents through the
interstices of the roof, also afforded a convenient loft for the storage
of pumpkins and many other articles of domestic consumption. Besides
these indications of comfort, the whole of the inside had been newly
whitewashed--that is, ONLY the Christmas before, though in the eleven
months which had intervened the volumes of smoke which continually rolled
through every cranny of the place had somewhat tarnished the virgin
purity of its hue, converting it at length into a whity-brown yellow; yet
even THAT colour was better than none.

As usual, the fireplace occupied nearly the whole of one end of the hut,
and being composed entirely of wood, the danger of its igniting had been
diminished by hard dried clods of clay built up about a couple of feet
high round its interior and laid in a sort of mortar also composed of
clay tempered with water to a semi-liquid consistency. On the sides of the
ample fireplace were constructed rough seats for the winter nights, above
which might be seen store of pieces of salted beef and pork, pigs' heads,
bags of cabbage and pumpkin seeds, and a multitude of other articles
which required to be kept dry, this being by courtesy considered the most
secure part of the dwelling from the incursions of rain. There was no
possibility of any leakage, EXCEPT from the top, which was not MORE than
two feet square, and left quite open in the fond hope of persuading or
enticing the smoke to go out there instead of continually struggling for
passage through the crevices of the bark roof or pouring out in volumes
at the ever open doors and windows. But such was the perversity of this
obstinate element that it too generally preferred any illicit vent to the
legal one and very frequently asserted its supremacy in such a manner as
effectually to drive the inmates out of doors altogether, for sheer lack
of breath to continue the contest any longer. As this generally took
place in very wet weather, when a fire could not be maintained out of
doors, as was the usual summer custom, and besides, the chilliness
rendering it acceptable in the house for its warmth, it may be conceived
that the piety of the inmates, at no time very conspicuous, was not
vastly enhanced by their having to stand in the rain, perforce, in order
to escape suffocation, until it pleased the vaporous enemy to allow them
a short respite by retiring to the loft or any other part of the
premises, EXCEPT the chimney of course, which it appeared most of all
places to shun.

The furniture was truly of a primitive cast. A number of tin pint pots
and dishes, half a dozen three-legged cast-iron boilers of various sizes,
a long-handled frying-pan, a few rough stools, mostly fixed on stumps sunk
in the floor, two or three short round blocks of wood cut off trees with
a cross-cut saw to serve as movable seats, and two stationary tables made
of unplaned slabs, one fixed in the centre and the other on one side,
completed the accommodation of the outer apartment.

When the doors of any of the sleeping-rooms admitted a view of their
contents, it did not appear that luxury was by any means the besetting
sin of either Big Mick or his family. The sleeping-berths were all
fixtures, made of slabs and sheets of bark, only the one belonging to the
father and mother being furnished with any attempt at curtains, which for
economy's sake were confined to the foot of the bed and one side. The
berth being fixed in a corner, all was thus enclosed, partly by the slabs
and partly by the curtain, which exactly answered the description given
by Pope of those "in the worst inn's worst room", being tied with tape
and never meant to draw; instead of which, the blue striped shirting of
which it was composed was secured back by loops and buttons which hung
them partly aside and exposed to view a tattered patchwork quilt,
apparently innocent of the washing-tub since its formation.

The effeminacy of sheets was unknown to any of the inmates. Though they
LEVIATHANed abundance of feathers, which when plucked from the birds on
which they grew, were suffered to lie on the spot where they fell until
dispersed by the winds, when they sailed about in all directions, a
positive nuisance, yet each of the family slept on beds of chaff
contained in rough ticks, many of which, being the worse for wear,
suffered their contents to escape through their numberless orifices, when
it littered the earthen floor. Being scattered thence into unknown
corners, where brooms never penetrated, the rubbish proved fruitful
nurseries of "flaas", to the extreme annoyance of the good matron of the
house, who strove in vain to abate it by repeated libations of water,
until MUD was by no means a scarce article, either within or without the
domicile.

To this habitation Rashleigh and his mate now received a "kindly welcome"
from both the old man and the woman, and a plentiful supply of salt
beef, damper bread and pumpkins being spread on the table, they all fed
most heartily, washing down the feast with bumpers of tea out of the tin
pots before named. When they had done, a short interval being allowed
them to smoke a pipe each, they again sallied forth to work.

It was now dawn, and they continued to reap until about nine o'clock,
when they returned to the hut, partook of another meal like the former,
and then all retired to rest. Ralph and his companion, having LEVIATHANed a
couple of blankets and directions to a corner of the loft where lay a
large heap of corn husks, slept soundly until about four o'clock, and
then to work again.

In this way, making about fifteen hours at work out of each twenty-four,
they both completed three and a half working days of ten hours each by
Sunday night, when, having received their money and thanks from Big Mick,
with pressing requests to come again whenever they could get leave, the
reapers returned to Emu Plains and gave up their passes to the camp
constable, after which they retired to rest, to prepare for another
week's work for Government.

In this way the harvest passed over. Twice more did Rashleigh LEVIATHAN a
pass, and each time was employed by his old patron Big Mick.




Chapter XIV



BASE IS THE SLAVE THAT PAYS.


A number of the settlers having preferred a request to that effect, the
whole of the "play actors" of Emu Plains received permission to go with
all their paraphernalia to perform a play at a distant part of the Nepean
settlement.

Proud was the manager, great was the bustling importance of the Company,
and by the first light of the day appointed, the "scenery, machinery,
dresses and decorations" of the Emu Theatre having been transferred to a
settler's dray, all were EN ROUTE to the scene of action--a large barn
belonging to the keeper of a very small inn, who had KINDLY lent the
edifice for this purpose; of course, solely for the amusement of his
neighbours, without the slightest expectation of prospective advantage to
himself. Notwithstanding his disinterested feelings, however, after the
CORPS DRAMATIQUE had been hard at work for a couple of hours, Boniface,
rubbing his hands, came in to the quondam theatre and expressed his
admiration in glowing terms of all that he saw, winding up a most
flowery speech by enquiring whether it was not a DRY JOB, at the same
time hinting obliquely at the excellent qualities of a beverage composed
of good rum and peach cider, of both which his stock was immense, adding
that as no doubt the performance would amply remunerate the Company, he
would not object to supplying the members thereof with refreshment for
the day on credit, always providing his account should be liquidated
as soon as the play was over.

These terms having been joyfully acceded to by, the thirsty Thespians,
a sample of the much-vaunted drink was LEVIATHANed, and although it was not
quite equal to nectar--as the cider was something of the sharpest, and
the rum rather peppery--yet to men from Emu Plains it appeared very superior.
About noon, too, a servant came, who in the name of her master, the inn
keeper enquired if any of the players wanted dinner. Accordingly, all
adjourned to the kitchen, where salt beef and pork, abundance of greens,
and the unvarying damper awaited their appetites. This SUMPTUOUS FEAST was
duly crowned by libations, though sooth to say, the tender care of their
host prevented their getting drunk, because the rum, though very pungent
and very hot, was also very weak, being, in nautical phrase, only equal
to three-water grog, and thus did not disturb the acting powers of even
the most weak-headed among the theatricals.

The performances of the evening having closed amid rapturous applause, a
good jollification was resolved on. But alas, as Burns has sung,

THE BEST-LAID SCHEMES O' MICE AND MEN
GANG AFT AGLEY.

All unforeseen difficulty arose; the innkeeper insisted on payment of his
bill before any fresh supplies were afforded. On examination of this
ingenious document, it appeared each performer owed him one pound two
shillings and sixpence for drink, dinner and supper, both of these
repasts being charged at three shillings per head, and the remainder made
up of PINTS of rum, GALLONS of cider, and DITTO, DITTO . . . almost without
end. Now, as is customary in such cases, the debtors could not by any
process be brought to believe that they had actually LEVIATHANed even half
the liquor charged against them, and the obdurate creditor vowed most
solemnly that he had served the whole of it himself. To add to the
mischief, it was found on investigation, that after paying a few trifling
claims for nails and other minor incidental expenses, the receipts would
but admit of a dividend of thirty shillings to each principal player in
the Company and the stipulated wages of the supernumeraries--scene-shifters
and others.

Indeed, as each man's share of the bill was alike, the Company actually
owed more than their gross receipts; but on this being explained, the
landlord at length agreed to take what the lower rate of performers
LEVIATHANed in full from them, if the others would cash up the amount of his
claim on each of these. Further, he said he thought himself and the chief
constable might persuade their superintendent to let the Company remain
where they were and play again one more night; which he kindly
volunteered to do, and in the mean time--always after a settlement--would
let the Thespians go on again with a fresh score, on the faith of their
next night's receipts.

This arrangement being at once acceded to, the DISINTERESTED landlord
received instantly by far the greater portion of the collection made by
the theatrical treasurer, and then the Company began again to enjoy
themselves, free from the DREADFUL thoughts of the reckoning, which was
thus procrastinated twenty-four hours, at any rate. The next morning,
betimes, Manager King called a council of his trusty coadjutors and
opened to them a most brilliant device of his own composition, by which
he doubted not to astonish the natives in general, and none more so than
their KIND CONFIDING host in particular, who had been so fluent of his
beverage and so cunning with his chalk; this notable plan was to be put
into execution at the close of the evening's amusement and was
rapturously acceded to by his fellow-convicts, who deemed it would form a
most appropriate finale to the amusements of the night.

They now partook of breakfast; and after a couple of glasses of grog by
way of stimulus to repair the ravages made by their last night's
jollificationtion in the sensorium of each, the most eloquent of the
performers were dispatched in small parties to make a circuit of the
settlers dwelling near, exhibiting in each house a play-bill, to compose
which Rashleigh had exhausted nearly all his powers of persuasive oratory,
in setting forth the magnitude of THAT night's attractions at their
temporary theatre, enumerating the various points of allurement quite as
grandiloquently as a London manager of a minor theatre, and winding up
with the AWFUL annunciation that it was MOST POSITIVELY their last
exhibition at that place. The ambassadors were also commissioned to
explain to the expected guests such reasons good as compelled them to
believe the last assertion, namely, that the passes of the histrionic
heroes would expire that day.

Rashleigh, backed by a new and youthful recruit, whose beardless face well
suited the female parts he sustained, made his rounds, meeting with many
promises of attendance and much rude hospitality from all the small
settlers round about. This was a period of most universal merriment,
indeed, a sort of prescriptive saturnalia in society of that sort every
year, but doubly so upon this occasion, when the agriculturists, for the
first time in seven years, were blessed with overflowing garners teeming
with grain. In every hut, therefore, was then to be found a keg, filled,
not with choice Jamaica, but with its fiery prototype from Bengal; and
mirth and revelry was the order of both day and night.

Evening drew nigh as they returned to their companions, when the manager
announced to our adventurer that all was prepared for the successful
DÉNOUEMENT of the preconcerted plot to form the finale of the night; and
after each had partaken of a refreshment, it was time to dress for
the play.

An early hour had been fixed upon for commencing, because, it being
Saturday night, they wished the whole bill of fare, which was rather a
long one, should be gone through before midnight. The barn--beg pardon,
theatre--was crammed to over-flowing; many, who would not be turned away,
were accommodated on the roof; and each new POINT elicited rapturous
bursts of applause. But as soon as every thing was done with, either of
the scenery or of the VALUABLE PROPERTIES, it was slyly and noiselessly
withdrawn through an opening, which had been clandestinely contrived in
the slabs of the barn; and at last, when the drop-scene fell, Manager
King was the only performer left in the house. All the others had followed
their paraphernalia, which, as it was removed, had been placed in a dray
hired for the purpose, and kept concealed at a short distance, among
some swamp oaks in a dell by the riverside, where the whole party now
waited with impatience the arrival of their manager.

That eloquent personage, among whose other attributes was a most fluent
"gift of the gab", and who was not at all annoyed at any opportunity
of exhibiting his oratory, amused the audience fully a quarter of an
hour by his facetious farewells, returning thanks for the DISTINGUISHED
HONOUR of their PATRONAGE, etc. Finally, perceiving a movement towards
the door on the part of some impatient persons who wished to be at home,
Manager King, amid a profusion of bows that would have done honour to a
dancingmaster, each too, in accordance with approved theatrical taste,
much lower than its predecessor, himself at length withdrew through the
aperture before mentioned, carefully closing it after him, and leaving
to the landlord, in liquidation of his claim, the drop-scene--which, by
the by, was so foully abused by its antiquity that it had long been laid
aside as condemned, even at the Emu Theatre--and about a dozen rough,
battered tin sconces, with the ends of candle they contained. These were
all the available assets they resigned to their creditor in satisfaction
of his demand for the previous night's festivity, their meals that day,
and an awful accumulation of LUSH supplied these runagates by their too
confiding host during the last twentyfour hours.

Boniface, who was himself in the theatre at the close of the
performance, had vigilantly assisted the money-taker at the door, kindly
volunteering his services, not only to prevent any from evaporating
without payment, but also, by jocular railleries and reproofs of their
stinginess, to stimulate those who did offer cash to exert unwonted
liberality. After all the auditory had departed, the landlord remained
near the orchestra, in patient expectation of the advent of the
performers from behind the scenes. As there was no other outlet from
thence--that he knew of--he made himself certain they must pass by him
before they could leave the scene of their histrionic display, and
probably the worthy Knight of the Spiggot consoled himself by casting up
the "tottle of the whole", as Mr Hume would say, and jingling imaginary
coins in his breeches pockets, to be derived from the proceeds of the
theatrical treasurer, whose harvest he was certain, from ocular
demonstration, must have been a pretty productive one.

At length, however, finding the actors did not make their appearance,
and hearing no sound emanate from their supposed retreat, the profound
stillness of the whole theatre forming, too, a complete contrast to the
merry shouts of jolly Bacchanalians whom he could hear noisily revelling
away at his own house--which incident also demanded his early attention,
in order that he might assist in the operations of his trusty coadjutors
of the rum-keg--the landlord clambered over the rails which divided the
orchestra from the pit, climbed upon the temporary stage, lifted the
ragged curtain, and, after an awful pause, plucked up heart of grace and
boldly entered the sanctum sanctorum of the sons of Thespis.

Here the bewildered Boniface could scarcely credit the evidence of his
eyes. By the almost expiring rays of a single morsel of candle end, he
could see neither scenery nor actors, and what puzzled him more, he could
by no means conceive how they had contrived to get out, as there was then
no opening whatever visible; and he at last well-nigh decided in his mind
that they must be conjurors as well as comedians. Brimful of wrath, he
hastened to his home to institute enquiries, which, it is almost needless
to add, proved all in vain. Not one of the many persons there knew which
way the fugitives had fled, and the advanced hour, with the darkness of
the night, rendered pursuit at that moment hopeless. Vowing bitter
vengeance against these delinquents, whom he stigmatised as monsters of
most odious ingratitude, the irate man of reckonings was reluctantly
compelled to bottle up his anger as well as he could for the present and
defer until daylight any ulterior measures.

In the mean time, Manager King and his hopeful squad had pursued their
journey merrily, keeping down in a grassy valley, where the turf offered
no noisy impediments to their progress, until they reached one of the
many rapids, or falls, in that part of the Nepean, which are often
crossed by such wayfarers as eschew the payment of puntage. Here they
waded the stream, and having gone but a little distance along the
opposite bank, called a halt in a little sunken spot that promised to
prevent their fire from attracting the attention of any wanderers. There
they kindled a blazing flame and began to busy themselves in preparing a
feed, the basis of which, I regret to record, had been procured from the
victimised host under the pretence of a stage supper necessary in the
course of their night's performance, but which--with near two gallons of
his much extolled BEVERAGE that they had secreted and brought with them
to do honour to the occasion--had not been paid for as yet; and indeed, to
say truth, if the wills of those about to consume it were to be
consulted, the payment for the whole was like enough to be procrastinated
AD GRAECAS KALENDAS.

Here hilarity prevailed to an unusual extent, the staple fun with which
their jokes were seasoned being all levelled at the luckless landlord;
and many most witty conjectures were hazarded as to the length, breadth
and depth of the astonishment which that WORTHY and LIBERAL soul would
exhibit upon making the disagreeable discovery that he had been so deeply
DONE. The performers did not drink much, however, as they conjectured
that mine host would make his complaint to their commandant, and they
wished to appear before that awful officer in full possession of all
their powers of reason.

About sunrise they arrived at home, and having unloaded their VALUABLE
effects, each man prepared himself as best he might for the approaching
interview. Manager King--who in this, as in all things else, took the
lead--promising to stand spokesman on the occasion. About seven o'clock the
landlord made his appearance, accompanied by the chief constable, who,
however, could scarcely conceal his merriment at the lugubrious tale,
told with such unwonted energy, by the suffering subject of the
"pla'actors'" peculations.

The landlord made his ENTRÉE to the theatre, where he discovered
Manager King, dressed in his full suit of Sunday slops, lying apparently
asleep in his berth. And that worthy certainly performed the part of one
just awakened, to a miracle; for when the visitor enquired what he meant
by running away without paying the debt incurred by the Company,
jemmy King yawned heavily once or twice, then affected great anger at
being so unceremoniously aroused, and at length gave the complainant
very deliberately to understand that HE, for one, thought the players had
already paid dear enough for all that they had received from him; and
further, if the landlord expected any more money from them, why, he
must get it the best way he could.

On this the other burst out into indignant exclamations against such
excessive ingratitude, saying, however, that he expected no less; and at
last he started off to lay his lamentation before the superintendent,
from whom he confidently expected both redress and sympathy. In a few
moments a summons arrived for all the CORPS DRAMATIQUE to attend that
awe-inspiring official, and being quickly arranged in his sight, he
demanded what they had to say for themselves in reply to this charge of
fraud.

King, after apologizing for occupying the time of his superior, told all
the history of the first day's proceedings, laying particular emphasis
upon the overcharges made by the landlord, as they appeared on the first
bill, winding up his oration by a reference to the second account, and
appealing to the superintendent whether he thought it at all possible the
men then present, who, it was perfectly evident, were unaccustomed to the
use of any intoxicating drinks, could have consumed the quantities of
spirits charged against them in the space of about thirty-six hours, and
still preserve their sobriety, so as to enable them to play both the
nights, some of them sustaining three different parts on each--which, he
submitted, it would have been quite impossible for them to do if they had
even drunk half the liquor the landlord now sought to make them pay for.

The great man seemed rather struck with this defence, and on examining
both bills, could not but admit the accuracy of King's argument. Then,
observing that the meals had been charged at three shillings each person,
he asked of what viands they consisted; and the homely qualities of the
several repasts being asserted by King and admitted by mine host, the
superintendent told the latter he could not help thinking that part of
the charge too dear by half; and as for the rest of his claim, he (the
superintendent) could not believe the men had drunk all the grog stated,
because each person's share would in his opinion make, and keep, any
ordinary individual drunk at least for a week, and yet those who the
landlord stated had consumed it all in a day and a half now stood before
them, apparently as sober as if they had never tasted anything stronger
than water.

"At the same time," concluded the chief, "if you request it, I will order
the whole of them to be brought before the bench of magistrates, to
answer any charge you may think fit to prefer against them. But I'd
recommend you to remember that there is an Act of Council in force,
imposing a fine of five dollars for each offence in serving a convict
with spirits; so that, perhaps, you might lose more by taking them to
Court than you would clear by making them pay, even if you gained your
case, which seems rather doubtful."

In brief, after all, the landlord was compelled to give the business up
for a bad job, and console himself by reflecting that what with his first
overcharge, and what the audience assembled through means of the
performance had expended at his house, he was in the whole a gainer,
instead of a loser, by the brothers of the buskin; though he often vowed
he never had been so "willainously wictimised" before in all his life.

This was the last occurrence of any note in Rashleigh's time at Emu
Plains; for the two years having now expired to which his stay was
limited at first, he was one morning kept back from work, and informed
that he had been assigned to the service of one Mr Arlack of Bunbury
Curran, since called Airds, and having received directions for his
journey, and a pass for his protection, he departed after taking a
friendly farewell of his quondam companions belonging to the play-house
hut at Emu Plains.




Chapter XV



HE GOES TO A TINT AND HE SPENDS HIS HALF-CROWN;
HE MATES WID A FRIND AND FOR LOVE--KNOCKS HIM DOWN.


It was a glorious spring morning when Ralph Rashleigh turned his back
upon the scene of his late sufferings with a light heart. The charms of
nature tended to delight him, and the soothing anticipations of hope
promised him, at least, a much more comfortable home than the one he had
quitted; and he plodded gaily on, albeit his whole stock of earthly
chattels, besides the clothes he wore, were contained in a very small
cotton handkerchief. Still, he considered himself positively comfortable
for a convict, as he had a stout pair of boots, a whole pair of trousers,
a new straw hat, and the magnificent stock of FOUR shirts, besides a
black silk handkerchief on his neck, and a tidy blue jacket to his back.
He was also possessed of four pounds and upwards in currency money, and
this sum in his present circumstances appeared a mint of treasure.

After he had passed the river and its clustering settlers, he journeyed
through bypaths across the bush and was soon deeply immersed in the
almost twilight gloom of an Australian forest, where the deepest silence
ever prevails. No warbling choristers here greet the merry morn with
jocund flights of song. No lowing of herds or bleating of flocks awakes
the slumbering echoes. The feathered tribes are here entirely mute or
only utter either discordant screams or brief harsh twittering. The
solitary bellbird chiefly, whose voice may he heard sometimes, disturbs
the primeval solitude with its single sharp note, which resounds through
the grove with so great a resemblance to a sheep bell that it requires a
practised ear to detect the difference between the bird and the reality.

Animated nature here appears to slumber, for not a single living thing
can be seen, except at rare intervals, when a gaudily-marbled goanna of
great size may perhaps hurry on his spiral route up a tree to avoid the
approaching foot of man, or perchance, a snake may glide hastily across
his path, the glittering colours of its skin, in its convolutions,
chiefly attracting the eye by their brilliant contrast with the faded
dull brown herbage or the dead leaves among which it rustics in its
sinuous way. No kangaroo, emu or other larger fowl or animal may be seen;
'tis too near the busy haunts of man, while on the other hand, the
domesticated quadrupeds are not found, because this forms part of a large
settler's grant. He has got no stock in this neighbourhood; yet will he
not allow his poorer neighbour's single cow to subsist upon the grass,
which annually springs, comes to maturity, is parched to dust by the winds
of summer and blown away by the breath of autumn.

Over such a forest tract as this Ralph pursued his way until noon, when,
arriving at a pond of water and feeling both tired and hungry, he halted,
procured fire by means of his tinder-box, made some tea by boiling it in
a quart pot he carried with him, and ate some food he had provided. He
next prepared his pipe and lay in luxurious ease upon the grass enjoying
the DOLCE FAR NIENTE until he fell asleep; and when he again awoke, by
the altered position of the sun he thought it must be after three o'clock
in the afternoon. He now started up and re-pursued his journey, still
alone.

Since he had left the settlement on the banks of the Nepean he had not
seen a single human being, nor could he be certain that he was following
the right path. Still, from the slight knowledge he possessed of
Australian geography, he was assured he must ultimately reach the road
leading to the southern settlements by keeping the now declining sun upon
his right hand. While these thoughts yet occupied his mind, he saw at
some trifling distance before him a man who had seemingly joined the path
he was upon from another, which came from towards the east. Rashleigh
quickened his steps and called to the stranger, who stopped until he came
up, when, after the customary salutations, the former enquired if he were
going in the right direction for Liverpool. The other, who was a slim
youthful-looking person, replied in a very sweet voice that he believed
so, but was himself almost a stranger to that part of the country.
Rashleigh now asked from whence the youth came, to which the reply was
made that he had lately been in Parramatta, but was now making his way
from South Creek to Liverpool.

Rashleigh, on his part, acquainted his new-found companion that he had
belonged to Emu Plains, and they beguiled the way by talking over the
various topics of interest that had lately occurred in the Colony within
the knowledge of either of them until they reached a high-road, which the
youngster pronounced to be the one they sought, leading from Sydney
southward by Liverpool to Campbelltown, Airds, Appin, etc. After pursuing
this for about half an hour, they overtook a cart drawn by a single
bullock, who was plodding steadily along, though no driver could be seen.
When the travellers came up, however, they perceived an old woman lying
down in the bottom of the cart, fast asleep. She, apparently relying on
the sagacity of the beast, had resigned herself to the arms of Morpheus,
being no doubt stimulated thereto by deep draughts from a small keg,
which even in slumber she still enfolded in a most ardently loving
embrace.

The cart contained various articles of property of those kinds that
generally constitute the bulk of a SETTLER'S SWAG. There wore pipes,
tobacco, the keg above named, a quantity of tea and sugar, two or three
coarse cotton striped shirts, and a pair or two of duck trousers.

Rashleigh thought it best to awaken the old lady, fearing if she were
robbed it might be discovered they had passed her on the road, and they
be blamed and perhaps punished for it; so, after shouting a good many
times in vain, he seized the occupant of the cart by the leg. She,
arousing herself, stared at both the travellers alternately for a second
or two, and then burst out with, "Wirrah! Wirrah! Shpare my life! Shpare
my life!" To which our wayfarers, overpowered by her ridiculous attitude
and the dolorous gravity of her address, only responded by a loud peal of
laughter; and the poor old soul, who, by the by, still clung to the keg
with the tenacious grip of desperation, resumed her lament: "For the love
of the blissed Vargen, don't murder me. Take what you want, and go your
way!"

Ralph now assured her that they had not the slightest intention, either
to injure or rob her, adding that if such had been their purpose, they
needed not have aroused her.

"Arrah thin, what DU ye want?" demanded the ancient dame.

"Nothing at all; only your company to Liverpool," returned Rashleigh.

"By the powers thin, my shild, you shall have all that same," replied the
old woman. "Git up and ride in the cart, the pair of yees." And she now
addressed the bullock, saying, "Wo, Nobby! Woa!!"

The poor beast, unconscious of his mistress's alarm, had still been
creeping on at his own discretion, but now obeyed the well-known voice,
which he also acknowledged by half turning his head toward the cart and
giving it what seemed a deprecatory shake or two on perceiving the
proposed addition to his burden. The travellers got up and were most
cordially welcomed by its mistress, who supplied them with some empty
sacks, upon which her own august person had been reposing, directing them
to sit down and handing them the keg when they had done so, inviting them
to drink after she had herself sanctified the bunghole by the application
thereto of her own sweet lips.

Rashleigh received this vessel, and putting it hastily to his mouth, did
not inhale the powerful odour which it emitted; nor was it until--in his
own opinion, at least--he had swallowed an ocean of liquid fire that he
discovered the contents to consist of very powerful raw rum from Bengal.
When he had made this discovery, he hastily set down the keg again,
gasping for breath, and testifying his discomfiture by sundry diabolical
grins, which elicited great mirth from the old lady, who demanded if he'd
never drunk a "drap o' rum" before.

"Not like that, nor out of such a droll drinking-cup," was our
adventurer's answer.

"Bother!" rejoined the old girl. "I s'pose you're of the silver-spoon
sort . . . want a chrishthial tumbler to dhrink out of. . . . Here,
young man, will you have a taast?" And the youngster, to Rashleigh's great
amazement, put the keg to his head and took a hearty swig.

"Ah, now!" said its mistress. "That's something like! But by the Jakus,
it's a' most sundown. Come Nobby, pull foot. You'll he late at home else!
Nobby! Nobby!!"

The old bullock, who at the first mention of his name, had only cocked up
his ears and whisked his tail, manifestly mended his pace the second time
it was spoken, and absolutely quickened it into a run on the third
repetition. Thus rolling and, tumbling one over another through the
roughness of the road--while ever and anon some clumsier jump than common
would cause uproarious mirth to the merry old dame, who made them ever
the apology for another swig at the keg--they jolted into Liverpool, just
as it was becoming dusk in the evening.

Liverpool is a town about twenty-one miles from Sydney, on the Great
Southern Road of the Colony. It was founded by Governor Macquarie who, in
selecting that name for it, seems to have expected it would become an
important mart of manufacturing industry or of commercial enterprise.
With this view he built an excellent hospital of great extent, a gaol, a
barrack and many other public buildings. But alas, His Excellency could
neither improve the quality of the soil around it nor supply the
deficiency of water; for although a stream called George s river,
navigable!--for SHELL BOATS--quite up to the TOWN, runs in from Botany
Bay to the interior, passing very near Liverpool, yet it flows with salt
water, and the only method the inhabitants found, in after times, to
obviate this pressing deficiency, was by building a dam across the
river's bed and thus repressing the influence of the tides.

When the old convict system fell to decay and the government
establishments were withdrawn, Liverpool sank at once to its proper grade
of a village, and that too, one of the very dullest in all the Australian
colonies, since from the causes we have named above, it is not nor ever
will be the centre of any overabundant agricultural population; while its
want of water effectually precludes its becoming a manufacturing town of
any note. 'Tis true, if the TRIFLING sum of a few millions were expended
in deepening the channel of George's river, and in removing the
impediments it presents to navigation, such as trees drifted by the
stream, rocks as large as churches, etc., it might THEN become a port,
though for what trade as yet appears an insoluble mystery.

In the days, of which we write, however, there were 1,500 convicts
employed by Government there, and a new church was also erecting by
contract, which gave the place quite a bustling and lively appearance as
Rashleigh and his companions entered the town, though it was just getting
night; for all the workpeople were now returning to their homes, and the
prisoners to barracks.

The travellers went on, unheeding the jocular observations made on them
by the loiterers, many of whom hailed the old lady in the cart with
various quaint kinds of salutation; but she only replied to them by
laughing, until a person called out to her in a strong Hibernian tone,
"Gerrah, Biddy! Who's thim in the cart wid you?"

"My governmint min, to be shure, you shpalpeen!" returned Biddy, winking
at Ralph, and meaning that they were convicts assigned to her service.

"Asy now wid your jokin'. Shure, id ain't in airnest she is, young man,
is id?" said the querist, appealing to Rashleigh.

"Oh yes," asserted the latter, to keep up the joke. "We're this lady's
government men." And the young lad also joined in this harmless deceit,
which appeared highly to delight its object; for, swallowing the story,
he roared out, "Whoo! Success, Biddy! Shure, yous'll all be getting on
now, like a house a-fire at both ends!" And they rattled on, leaving him
in the midst of apparently earnest congratulations on this stroke of good
luck that had fallen to the lot of his old acquaintance Biddy.

As they jolted on their way, this ancient dame kept stimulating the old
bullock by repeated cries of "Nobby! Nobby!!" uttered reproachfully
whenever that discreet animal showed any symptom of relaxing in his run.
And as this continually occurred, so great an expenditure of breath
involved a necessity for stimulating herself also with the contents of
the keg, an operation at which the old lady was amazingly AU FAIT; for
she took such hearty swigs as quite surprised Rashleigh, who frequently
wondered with what kind of uninflammable composition her throat must be
lined, to enable her to gulp down this liquid lava.

The old dame offered both of her companions in the cart a sup as often as
she drank from the keg, and finding Ralph did not avail himself of this
invitation, she at last insisted on his doing so, saying, "Gerrah, ye
wake-barred crathur! Take some of the native . . . Shure, it'll keep the
cowld out of your stummick this raw night."

At last, when every bone in Rashleigh's body ached by reason of the sore
bumps he received at the rate of two or three in every second, the
ancient crone observed, "Praise be to the Vargen, I see our lights
yonder. We'll soon be at home now, Nobby."

In a few moments afterwards the old ox turned off the road towards a
cluster of huts situated in the centre of a large clearing. The noise of
their approach, through the rumbling of the cart and the jingling of the
harness, quickly alarmed the CANINE inhabitants at any rate, so that a
right noisy salute now welcomed Biddy's return; and to judge from the
uproar, at least fifty dogs surrounded their vehicle, barking, yelling,
jumping and snapping around poor old Nobby the bullock, who however
seemed not at all to be disturbed in his equanimity by the vain clamour.

Presently a group of bare-legged urchins, bearing torches formed of
filaments stripped from stringy-bark, came racing out, with loud cries of
"Here's Granny. Welcome home, Granny!"

The old woman stopped Nobby with some difficulty, for that sapient beast
began to smell his usual place of repose, and two or three of the least
that were roaring for a ride were placed in the cart, and once more they
were set in motion. The distance was but very short, and the ancient
bullock stopped at the door of a large rambling hut of the usual kind, in
which were six or seven demi-savage-looking mortals, both men and women
apparently, moving busily about by the light of the fire. The old woman
now got out first and the "childher, God bless 'em," after her. The
precious keg was next received into her loving arms, having been handed
to her by Rashleigh; and the old dame, when she had thus secured all she
apparently thought of any value among the miscellaneous contents of the
cart, left the remainder of her purchases to be brought in by the young
fry, and entered the hut, bearing with her the burden of that dear
native, as she called it, which seemed to be the object of her most
ardent affection.

"Welcome home, Mother!" said, or shouted, all the group. "How are you
after your journey? And how did the corn sell?"

"Why thin, acushla," replied the old lady, "I'm most bate down wid
fatague and wore out wid sore thravelling; but id's all no odds now . . .
Shure, I'm safe at home wanst more! I sowld die corn raking, and I've
brought you lashins of tobacky, tay and shuger, and a dhrop of the
crathur! Bud, by the Jakus, I'm aforgettin' . . . Here's two poor
thravellers, childher, I fell in wid by the road; and they'll sthop wid
us to-night."

"CEAD MILLE FALTEAGH! Welcome, kindly welcome!" said all the inmates in a
breath. "Dra' forret to the fire. Supper's been ready this hour, Granny,
and awaitin' for you."

"Wen thin, alanna, and now I'm reddy for id . . . But where's my owld man?"
enquired Biddy.

"Faix thin," returned one of the juniors, "he got tired and wint to bed
an hour ago."

"Did he thin, poor owld sowl!" observed the considerate dame. "Bud shure,
I'll take him a dhrop of the shtuff. 1 know he won't mind being awakened
for THAT!"

In the mean time some tin pots had been wiped out and a "small taast", as
the ancient granny called it, consisting of about a gill of the fiery
spirit, was poured into each. But when all the vessels in the house had
been mustered, they were not found enough to afford one to each person;
so that they were fain to do as well as they could with one pot to two of
their own family. The strangers, however, were scrupulously attended to,
and received a cup apiece.

When all were thus accommodated, the "ould woman" cried out. "Now bys and
gals, as ye are! I'm going to give you a SINTIMINT . . . And bad loock to
the wan that don't dhrink id wid all the veins of their hart!! Here's
success to ould Ireland, for ever and ever, Amin!"

Rashleigh dared not refuse due honour to a toast like that, so he drank
off his liquor--an example which was followed by all the others,
repeating at the very top of their voices, "Success to ould Ireland!
Whoo!!"

In the mean time "Granny" had gone to an inner apartment, and presently
returned divested of her travelling dress, which, it should have been
stated, was simply an old horseman's coat. Bonnet she had none, but an
ample night-cap and two or three dirty handkerchiefs did duty in place of
it, to keep out cold.

The whole party now sat down to supper, which consisted of pork fried,
damper bread, and tea, with abundance of eggs and a very small piece of
butter. The meat, as usual, was all put into a dish, which stood in the
centre of the table. Plates, knives, forks, or tablecloth were apparently
superfluous encumbrances which were utterly unknown to these good folks,
each of whom, however, was provided with a pocket-knife, with which he,
or she, first cut a slice of the cake, then, selecting a morsel of pork
to their fancy, placed the meat on the bread, and sawed away as hard as
they liked. The whole family pressed our travellers to help themselves
and not to be any ways "sthrange", but make themselves at home, the old
lady taking the lead in these hospitable solicitations. In fact, she
would fain have persuaded the strangers to devour enough at least for six
meals, telling them that "people on the road ought always to lay in a
good foundashun, WHIN THEY CUD, seein' that none cud tell how soon they
might be short taken, and ded bate for a male of vittles in the wild
bush."

The supper did not pass over without a feeling lament from the ancient
dame that "there wor no SHPUDS (potatoes) to be got in this thieving
cullony, bekase they wouldn't grow in id": an idea, which, strange as it
may NOW seem, was very prevalent about thirty years since in Australia;
for whether it was owing to the want of proper culture or suitable seed
or some other cause, it was exceedingly rare to see these well-known
roots in any part of New South Wales; or, when they were found after many
trials to grow, they scarcely attained the size of hen eggs, even the
largest of them, while by far the greater portion were only about as
large as musket bullets.

Supper being at length over, the "equipage" was soon removed and the
fragments were equitably shared among two or three pet pigs, which
enjoyed the privilege of the ENTRÉE into this Australian dining-room,
where, indeed, if certain indubitable symptoms on the floor might be
credited, they felt themselves, if anything, rather more at home than the
inmates; for the human inhabitants of this CHOICE DOMICILE, though they
were sufficiently indifferent to filth, yet did not go the length of
defiling the room to quite so great an extent as the four-footed denizens.

The philanthropic tenderness of this primitive family was not confined to
the progeny of the sty only, but was extended to a sick calf that was
nursed in one corner and a favourite mare whose accouchement had taken
place in another. The latter, indeed, seemed to fancy her temporary
quarters so well that although she had now occupied them more than three
months, she still made her way to the accustomed place at nightfall,
where she behaved herself with due and befitting gravity, as might be
expected from an animal of advanced age. Her foal, on the other hand,
appeared a perfect imp of playful mischief, for during the meal, he could
scarcely he restrained from mounting on the supper table altogether; and
he played various tricks by stealing bread from the juniors, then turning
round to kick at them, thus adding with all the levity of youth--in every
case--insult to injury, but which only elicited shouts of laughter and
applause from the admiring witnesses of his frolics, the younger fry of
whom enjoyed his tricks in an uproarious manner, as he formed a most
befitting playmate and jovial companion for them. Beside the quadrupeds,
who shared the floor, a host of fowls roosted among the timbers of the
open roof, whose loud cackling at times testified their unqualified alarm
when the mirth of the family became too obstreperous.

As soon as the table was cleared, a bucket was placed upon it, to serve
as a stand for the rum-keg, which was presently hoisted into its place
surrounded by all the tin pots they could find. A supply of the tobacco
brought by the old lady from Sydney was next distributed to those who
required it, and a few neighbours dropping in, they seemed bent on
enjoying themselves, for two or three shapeless fragments of
drinking-vessels having been filled up with grease and provided with
twisted rags inserted in each to act instead of lamps in illuminating a
space which had been cleared from obstacles, half a dozen of the
youngsters, both male and female, stood up to dance, an amusement which
one or other kept up with great zest for many hours, although their only
music was a large and ardent tin dish, beaten after the manner of a
tambourine, by a person who really seemed to consider it a labour of
love, at least if one might judge by the awful intensity of the thumps he
bestowed upon his INSTRUMENT from time to time.

The seniors, in the mean time, sat on either hand, enveloped in the
vapour raised by their DHUDEENS, which soared in mist above their heads
until it joined the main body of smoke arising from the fireplace, which,
according to established Australian usage, eschewed the meanness of
sneaking off by the regular vent, but rather seemed to prefer struggling
to get out through the interstices of the roof.

The grave sages who sat around on such seats as chance provided, among
which buckets and tubs turned upside down appeared to be the favourites,
from time to time emitted their admiration of the performers on the
"light fantastic toe" by loud shouts, such as, "Hurra, Paddy!" "Now go
it, Mick!" "You're the gal. Biddy!" "That's the darlin', Norry!" and
turned from time to time to each other, criticising upon the excellencies
or defects which the style of either exhibited. The ardent founder of the
feast, in the mean time, was not at all idle, either in partaking of the
consolation derivable from the contents of the keg or in dispensing it to
the guests. So, about midnight, there was as pretty a chaos of dancing,
drinking, roaring, shouting, singing, love-making, kissing and fighting
as Rashleigh had ever borne witness to in all his days.

He kept as sober as he could without affording serious offence to the
hospitable intentions of his hostess, who many a time and oft replenished
his tin when he would fain have been excused. He also contrived to remain
neutral in a corner, pleading his fatigue as a reason for not dancing,
and was by this means considered fair game by an old fellow, who had been
transported to New South Wales for participating in the Irish rebellion
of '98. This senior posted himself at Rashleigh's side and began a long
detail, in most prosaic style and execrable English, of his wonderful
feats at Vinegar Hill and Enniscorthy, at last FAVOURING him with a song
of interminable length in the Irish language relating to the same, a
musical TREAT which our adventurer most willingly would have dispensed
with, as he knew as much of Sanscrit as of the language in question.

But the prosy old chap persisted in his monotonous chant, until a loud
and apparently excited voice having roared out, "Whoo, Shanavest!" at the
end of the hut, the ancient songster ceased his ditty, jumped up, and ran
to the spot, which now appeared the scene of a regular scrimmage, or
"hurra" fight.

The only sounds at all distinguishable by Rashleigh's ears were "Whoo,
Shanavest!", "Whoo, Carawot!" which ever and anon pealed high above the
din of conflict, being apparently used as battle-cries of contending
parties, whose strife now raged fierce and fell. Old and young, males and
females were mingled in the MÊLÉE, wielding sticks, buckets, broken
stools, or whatever else came to hand, kicking, cuffing, cursing,
swearing, raging and tearing, the men fighting hand to hand with cruel
oaths, the women engaged in more distant combat, swelling the din with
their shrill screams. The children roared, the dogs growled and bayed
fiercely, finally tearing one another with tooth and claw in ambitious
emulation of their masters, the pigs squeaked and the fowls lent their
shrill cackling to augment the uproar, which seemed of duration as
interminable as the confusion was appalling. In all the row, however,
the two strangers were strictly regarded as neutrals, nor did any of the
combatants approach them, their only danger being from the many missiles
that flew about in all directions.

At length, the belligerents were carried outside by "the fierce current
of the heady fight", and the interior of the dwelling was left in the
deep repose of silence for a short time; after which, the inmates began
to straggle back, one by one, to vent their maudlin grief at the scene of
utter dilapidation presented by their household appurtenances, but
pouring out the fulness of their sorrow in pathetic jeremiads over the
prostrate rum-keg, which had been overthrown early in the conflict, so
that a great portion of its precious contents had escaped on the floor,
where part of it lay in puddles, mingled with the other abominations of
this unsavoury apartment.

But old Granny herself, who lay prone in a corner, soon attracted the
attention of her dutiful offspring, one of whom staggered towards her;
and after twice or thrice falling down himself in vain attempts to lift
up his fallen parent, he at length gave up this mode of succour as being
unattainable under present circumstances, and after his last tumble,
having gained a sitting position, he edged closer to his mother and
taking her head in his lap, found to his horror that it was covered with
blood. He instantly broke out into a sort of prolonged howl, that might
have almost awakened the dead, saying at last, "Ochone! Ochone! Mother
darlint, can't you tell your own Tady who's afther killing you, and by
the Jakus, I'll make him smell hell, so I will! Och, wirrah, wirrah!
What'll we doe"

By and by the pulling and dragging the old dame got from her sympathising
and sorrowful sons and daughters actually restored her to life; for it
appeared she was not dead through the flight of her immortal spirit, but
through the quantity, amounting to a superabundance, of spirits which she
had poured down her throat. In other and plainer terms, she was dead
drunk! But now, slowly opening her eyes, she gazed around in most
ludicrous amazement, and heaving a deep sigh, exclaimed, "Wirrah!
Wirrah! Where am I? Sure it's losht, and disthroyed, kilt, and
murdered I am, in the ind ov my days !"

All the rest, as with one accord, roared out to know "who bate her". And
the old lady was about to reply when her eyes rested on the rum-keg.

Springing on her feet, she leaped towards this cherished darling of her
heart's warmest affection with an agility that quickly set the minds of
the bystanders at ease as to her having received any very serious injury.
But on finding out the diminished state of the contents of that valued
receptacle, the old lady burst into a fresh storm of passionate
exclamations, until at last her mouth having approached the bunghole, the
fading echoes of her voice were lost in the reverberating cavity of the
keg. Everyone present now followed the old dame's example, and this genial
refresher having apparently cured all their complaints, they retired to
rest, the travellers being accommodated with a shake-down of straw on a
sheet of bark before the fire.




Chapter XVI



THERE WOMAN REIGNS: THE MOTHER, DAUGHTER, WIFE
STREWS WITH FRESH FLOWERS THE NARROW WAY OF LIFE.
AROUND HER KNEES DOMESTIC DUTIES WAIT,
AND FIRESIDE PLEASURES GAMBOL AT HER FEET.


The  next morning Rashleigh and his companion were first stirring. The
latter, somewhat to Ralph's surprise, made a fire, swept up the earthen
floor, and put the DÉBRIS of the last night's battle into as tidy a
state as he could, for which both received the warmest thanks of their
hosts when they arose. A breakfast, ample in quantity though rude in
quality, being soon after paraded and discussed, the wayfarers departed,
having been first obliged to take a "taast of the native" just as old
Biddy said, "to wash away the cobwebs out of their heads, afther lasht
night"., and to this was added a hearty invitation, if ever either of
them "passed the door", a threatened curse if he did so without calling
in being implied, of course.

The route of the travellers now lay along the high-road between Liverpool
and Campbelltown, at which latter place Rashleigh's companion intimated
his journey would end. There were at that time no ponds and but few
houses near the highway in this part, and they suffered a good deal from
thirst as the clay was very warm. They had, however, no remedy save that
of using greater speed, and they accordingly reached the few scattered
huts then dignified by the name of Campbelltown soon after midday. They
went into the first public-house to solace their thirst, and Ralph
observed that the young man, before he would enter, went to a window that
commanded a view of the single public apartment as if he were anxious to
ascertain who was inside; after taking this survey they went in and
quenched their drought with copious draughts of cider.

Rashleigh proposed to remain awhile to rest and invited his companion to
dine at his expense; but the latter refused, urgently requesting instead
that our adventurer would accompany him to his sister's, whither he was
himself bound, and which was at no great distance, adding that he was
sure Ralph would be most welcome for his sake. This being at last agreed
to, our exile purchased a bottle of rum, unknown to the other, which he
designed to carry with him as he had observed enough of colonial society
to he certain that this stimulus was always an acceptable adjunct to a
settler's meal, and that the bringer of any was sure of being doubly
welcome.

Having put the liquor up in his bundle, he followed his companion, who
was conversing outside with some female, from whom he parted when joined
by Rashleigh. They both proceeded on their way, which led them off the
high-road, past the church along a narrow lane bordered by fields of green
maize, through which they walked for nearly a mile, until at the edge of
a piece of standing timber, they saw a pretty little hut with more of an
English appearance about it than any other Rashleigh had yet seen in
Australia. Although it was formed of the ordinary bush materials, the
frame being of split timber and its roof barked, yet the walls had been
coated externally with mud, after the manner of rough casting--colonially
called "daubing"--and this when dry had been well whitewashed. There was
also a verandah ranging along the whole front, around the rough untrimmed
wooden pillars of which a few parasitical plants had been trained; and
before the dwelling--what was a most uncommon rarity in those days to
see-there was actually a plot of flowers.

Small, indeed, was the extent of that little parterre, and very very
common were its plants; yet, from its extreme rarity, it breathed the
balmy breath of old England's cherished homes around the travellers as
sweetly as if it had contained many acres and had been appended to a
palace.

"This is my sister's," said Rashleigh's companion, and Ralph fancied
there was some exultation in the tone; at any rate, he thought a little
pride in so neat a relative would not he unbecoming. The front door was
shut, and the travellers went round to the rear of the house, where they
saw a spacious yard, well enclosed by a high fence made of cornstalks set
upright and kept in their places by rails of split timber on each side of
them. Through the gate of the enclosure might be seen a number of fowls
and a few pigs; and there was a stockyard visible, with milking sheds and
pens for calves, from which a woman was now approaching, who quickened
her steps at the sight of strangers.

Rashleigh's companion spoke not, though it was plain he was subjected to
a very earnest scrutiny by her who now came towards them, and who at
last, to Ralph's extreme surprise, cried out, "What, Jane! My dear GIRL!
Is that you?" And the two sisters, for such they were, were presently
enfolded in a warm embrace. After a few hasty enquiries they entered the
house, our adventurer being invited to accompany them. The females soon
withdrew into an inner apartment, and their visitor had time to comment
upon the very different appearance of this hut from that of most
belonging to the lower classes in the Colony.

The floor, 'tis true, was only made of cow dung and ashes trod into a
solid and firm mass, but then, it was level and clean-swept. The stools
and tables, though all of the coarsest make, being apparently the
handiwork of the settler himself, were scoured until they were perfectly
white. The tin pots and dishes all shone with the resplendence of
new-minted silver, and the whole of the interior was whitewashed to almost
a degree of fastidious purity. The walls, in place of pictures or any
other production of art, were decorated and relieved by suspended bunches
of fresh-gathered and sweetly-scented flowering shrubs, the most choice
indigenous produce of the neighbouring bush.

Rashleigh was musing upon the wide difference between this hut and the
one in which he had spent the previous night, though it had been occupied
by persons of the same rank in life and having the same means of
improvement with his present hosts, when the door of the bedroom opened
and the mistress of the house made her reappearance. After a few
commonplace remarks she busied herself to set out the dinner. She was a
woman apparently of twenty-five, who, though no great beauty, had a very
pleasing countenance. Her dress was of the simplest form, the only parts
in view being a kind of dimity jacket tied dose up to the throat in
front, and extending a short distance below the hips, with short sleeves,
which left bare the arm from the elbow, and a blue dungaree petticoat
with a checked apron. A pair of slippers, apparently made by the wearer,
completed her costume, for she wore no cap, her hair being neatly,
although very plainly, arranged.

In a few minutes Ralph's late travelling companion made her appearance,
dressed in a very neat and becoming style as a female; and now our
adventurer began to wonder how it was he had not made the discovery of
her sex during the many miles they had journeyed together. This idea
perhaps his countenance betrayed, for his former companion, after shaking
his hand, laughed and said, "I suppose you had no idea your
fellow-traveller was a woman, had you?"

The comical look which accompanied Rashleigh's acknowledgement how well
she had sustained the part of a man so as completely to deceive him,
caused great mirth to both the sisters, and they enjoyed it very
heartily, after which the matron went to the back of the house, and
ascending on a stump, gave a very loud and shrill COOEE for her husband
to cease labour and come to dinner.

Presently the "good man" entered, accompanied by a little troop of
children, who, after washing themselves and welcoming their relative and
the stranger, sat down to their meal, which, though consisting of only
salt pork, pumpkins and bread, with tea as usual to drink, was far better
prepared than is general, the meat having been soaked to deprive it of a
portion of the salt; and the pumpkins, besides having been pared before
they were boiled, were steamed after they were done, which made them dry
and mealy instead of being, to use a colonial phrase, "all of a squash"
when they were served up, which is generally the case. The bread was
leavened and baked in a huge loaf under an inverted iron pot, which nude
it much lighter and more palatable as well as more enticing in appearance
than the ordinary damper simply cooked in the ashes of a wood fire.

The appearance of both father and children told that the hand which thus
laboured for their creature comforts also extended its attention to their
personal wants. Rashleigh noticed as they came in that the children
washed themselves in water set ready near the back door, even to their
feet; and those who were too little to do this properly for themselves
were cleaned up by the elder ones. Their clothing was certainly simple
enough, each and all wearing only a kind of pinafore or smock frock
reaching from the neck to the ankle and made of very coarse osnaburg, but
kept as clean and whole as the nature of their employment allowed.
Besides this single garment, each youngster was equipped with a coarse
straw hat, but of shoes they had none among them, for probably, like
nearly all Australian children, they looked on them as useless
encumbrances.

The father's striped shirt, sleeved waistcoat and duck trousers were all
clean and carefully mended; nay, his very boots, though patched in all
directions, had evidently been well greased only the night before. in
short, cleanliness and care appeared to be the chief attributes of all
belonging to this house, which formed a complete contrast to the
dwellings of Australian farmers in general.

The husband, who was addressed by the very unpretending appellation of
Bob, welcomed his sister-in-law with great cordiality, but during dinner
he enquired whether there had not come two MEN down the lane. On being
told that Jane was ONE of them, he laughed and asked how far she had come
in that dress. She replied all the way from Parramatta, and the reason
she had adopted it was because she thought it a good deal safer to travel
as a man than a woman, especially on foot and alone. Bob observed, "I
don't know how anybody could he deceived in YOUR baby face. I am sure _I_
should find you out in any dress for a woman."

Dinner soon being ended, Rashleigh apologized for taking such a liberty
and produced his bottle of rum. The host at first declined taking any,
but at length, his sister-in-law joining our adventurer in pressing him,
he agreed, upon condition that his eldest boy should be sent into
Campbelltown for some more liquor, so that they should not be altogether
drinking at the stranger's expense. This being complied with, and the
rest of the youngsters dispatched to their several occupations, the four
seniors sat down to drink their grog and play at cards for a couple of
hours, when the females pleaded fatigue and retired to lie down, while
our hero and his new-found friend stuck to the sport a while longer,
until, upon Rashleigh's stating that he would like to look at the farm,
they set out together for a stroll.

The portion of land cultivated by Bob did not exceed fifty acres, but it
was all good soil, well cleared and carefully tilled. The fences were
nearly new, and maintained in good order; in short, all the arrangements
bespoke as much care out of doors as the aspect of their domestic
management proved to reign within the walls of their humble home.

Bob told his companion in the course of their walk that he had been free
about two years, having spent all the period of his sentence in the
service of a rich settler near Campbelltown, to whom he had acted as
working overseer for about four years. When he had married he had held a
ticket of leave, but preferred remaining with his old master until he
became free altogether, because he well knew that a ticket was at best
but a very fragile indulgence, liable to be lost at the will of any great
man who might wish to injure the holder.

When he received his certificate, finding that the savings of himself and
his wife would amount to a pretty fair beginning, he had looked about him
awhile, and having discovered that the land he now occupied was unused
and remained in a state of nature, he made enquiries respecting the
owner, whom he at last discovered to be a military officer abroad with
his regiment, and that a merchant in Sydney acted as his agent.

To this gentleman, therefore, Bob went, and after a little bargaining,
LEVIATHANed from him a lease of the whole farm for seven years, on condition
of his clearing fifty acres out of the 1,280 of which the grant
consisted, and giving it up in a well-fenced and cultivable state at the
end of the lease if required to do so. Only a little while before
Rashleigh's visit, Bob had been to Sydney, where he chanced to see the
merchant in question, who told him Colonel Cornewell--the owner--had
written lately to him, stating that if the tenant liked to clear and fence
another fifty acres, he might occupy the whole of the grant for fourteen
years instead of seven. To this proposal the farmer had agreed. A fresh
lease on these terms had therefore been executed, so that the land was
now his for twelve years more, certain; and they hoped, if they had
success during that term, to be able to purchase a piece of land of their
own at the expiration of their occupancy.

Of course, both Bob and his wife had worked very hard, both day and night
occasionally, in falling, stumping and burning off the land, and
Rashleigh found that this truly industrious woman had always shared her
husband's toils, from the first. She helped him cross-cut the trees, roll
them together, mend the fires, put up the fences; indeed, she was, as Bob
observed, better to him than any government man or even free hired
servant would probably be, for she worked with greater zeal, knowing that
herself and her children reaped all the benefit of her labour. Even at
that time she still wrought as occasion required the same as a man; for
her husband's old master always lending him oxen to yoke their plough,
Mary drove the bullocks while Bob held the stilts, so that the tedious
operation of breaking up the land with a hoe was avoided.

While they thus talked they came to a piece of rich low land which was
under tobacco; and here were the young ones, busily engaged with
diminutive hoes, chipping between the rows to kill the weeds. Their
father praised their industry, and Ralph taking one of their tools, Bob
took another and worked awhile, to give the children a SPELL.

They were thus engaged when one of the youngsters cried out, "Look,
daddy! There's a gentleman at the fence."

On turning to observe him, they perceived a person making towards them
dressed in a clean grey shooting-coat, white trousers, black hat--in fact,
a very decent-looking man. Coming up, he saluted both the men and
enquired if one Robert Marshall lived thereabout, to which Bob replied,
"I am the person."

"Oh!" replied the other. "Then Mr Hammell of Campbelltown told me you'd
got some fat pigs to sell, and I am buying pigs."

"Why," answered Bob; "I DID think of selling some pigs, but I think I'll
require the meat myself now. How many do you want?"

"I want to buy a score or two, if I can," said the stranger, at the same
time rather ostentatiously rattling some dollars in his trousers pocket.

Ralph continued to eye this new arrival, for he thought he knew the slim
form and pale, youthful, rather pretty-looking face again. He was just
going to burst out laughing, but a glance checked him as his eye met that
of the stranger; and all three turned to go towards the house, conversing
as they went about the weather, the state of the crops, and the prospects
of the settlers generally. When they had got up to the dwelling, Marshall
called out his wife, who quickly made her appearance, and they both
walked a short distance apart to converse together.

In the mean time Rashleigh said, "Aha, Mistress Jane, I knew it was you,"
though in truth, he was not very sure of it.

But the stranger smiled archly and replied, "Hush! We're going to have a
bit of fun with Bob."

The others now returned; but Ralph observed that Mary shunned to meet her
sister's eye and also kept a corner of her apron crammed in her month as
if to stifle her inclination to laugh. Marshall and his customer went to
the pigsty together, where the animals he was willing to sell were
pointed out, most eloquently descanted upon by him, and knowingly
examined by the pretended pig dealer, who, after a good deal of
chaffering, finally struck a bargain, and the contracting parties
adjourned to the house to pay for them and take a receipt.

Writing materials being procured, the stranger sat down, and made a great
parade of looking out the cash. Rashleigh, having been requested to
draw up the necessary document, enquired the purchaser's name.

"My name?" returned the SOI-DISANT pig merchant, with an arch look at
Marshall, "why, my name is Jane Bates." At which Marshall jumped up and
making a playful blow at his sister-in-law's head, knocked her hat off,
and then her luxuriant hair, bursting its fastenings, tumbled all over
her face, amid the laughter of Jane and Rashleigh, and to the
discomfiture of Bob, who was forced at length to own, not only that he
did not detect his sister's disguise, but what was more strange, that he
did not know his own best clothes and hat which she had got on. But, as
he observed, the latter after all was not so much of a wonder, because he
had only worn them about twice, for he very seldom dressed himself up,
having something else to do.

By this time the lowing of cattle announced that the cows had come home,
and the men went out to put up the calves in their pen for the night. The
stockyard, though small, was strong and compact, formed of four
horizontal rails and a cap, making in all a fence about seven feet high.
The bails for milking and the calf pen were both roofed with bark and
floored with slabs. The herd comprised only eight milkers; but, as
Marshall remarked, eight good ones were worth fifty wild brutes that no
one could get near, and every one of these had cost him £20 apiece. They
had got some fine heifers and steers running with them; four of the
latter Marshall intended breaking in the next year, so he hoped soon to
have a team of his own.

At sunset the children all came in to supper, and Jane, having by that
time changed her dress, once more assisted their mother in washing them
and getting ready for their evening meal, which seemed, by the extent of
the preparations, to be considered the chief one of the day. Indeed, Bob
observed that was the case, as a farmer could then take his time and
enjoy himself after his day's work. Accordingly, the viands included
short cakes, light bread, good fresh butter, cream with the tea, a couple
of young fowls broiled, and plenty of eggs, to which ample justice was
done by all.

After supper, the young fry being dismissed to play for an hour in the
stockyard, the seniors drew their chairs around the fire, each with a
little hot grog, to converse together, Marshall having asked Jane how she
had been getting on lately. Rashleigh discovered she had only just become
free out of the Female Factory at Parramatta--the place where all the
female convicts not in assigned service are kept at labour. It appeared
that Jane had been a kind of overseer, or monitress there, until she had
lately become free. And by her accounts, the inmates of that choice
establishment for reclaiming the dissolute members of the tender sex were
little less than incarnate furies, as the following relation, made by the
young woman in question, will show.

Only a short time prior to this period a kind of food called hominy had
been issued to the convicts of both sexes in the Colony as part of their
rations, which was new to them, it being a sort of porridge made from
boiled Indian corn meal. This issue, being a substitution for other and
more palatable food, had caused serious discontent among all the
prisoners, the carriage of the Governor upon the Race Course at Sydney
having, as a mark of their displeasure, been placarded by stealth with a
paper bearing the marvellously ill-written and worse-spelt inscription of

"Thiss year his OMMANI TOMS drag--lord send itt ma drag im to ell."

At which the Australasian representative of royalty was so grievously
irate that he offered a reward of £50 to discover the daring scoundrel
who wished to send him such a long journey to a place having so hot a
climate; but though the author of this insult was never discovered, yet
the exertions made by the authorities upon the occasion, and the
distribution of a few thousand lashes among the grumblers effectually
prevented any worse consequences from the male convicts.

The gentle dames at the Female Factory, however, openly rebelled the
first morning the hominy was offered to them, and most positively as well
as disdainfully refused to receive it. On this emergency one of the most
active members of the magistracy that formed the governing committee of
the institution was sent for, and the revd gentleman, who was very short
and very fat, came bustling in, much out of breath with his haste. The
cause of the uproar having been stated to him, he declared that he was
perfectly surprised at their conduct--this would appear rather a premature
declaration, seeing what followed--and attempted to reason with the
exasperated fair ones, winding up an eloquent oration in praise of hominy
by stating that he frequently ate it himself and liked it very well. One
of the hardiest of the Amazons now exclaimed with many expletives that if
he had been always obliged to live upon it he'd never have possessed such
a PAUNCH as he then could boast of; but, added she, turning to her
companions, "As he's so fond of it, in the devil's name let him have
plenty of it." And she suited the action to the word by snatching a small
kit or piggin of the much-lauded condiment from one of the bystanders,
who had brought it for the magistrate's inspection. That revd gentleman,
overpowered by the heat of the day and the fervour of his eloquence, had
removed his hat and was wiping away the perspiration from his rubicund
face, when the last words of the virago were spoken, and ere he could
avert the infliction by any means, she inverted the little kit on his
head, driving the vessel down with her fist.

Fortunately, the hominy had got a little cool pending the dispute, or the
consequences might have been serious. Still the mess--which much resembled
hasty pudding in consistency--was hot enough to be very painful. Besides,
the little kit fitted his head so tightly as to defy his hurried efforts
to remove it; but at last His Reverence escaped, nearly suffocated by this
novel poultice, and pursued by inextinguishable merriment from the mob
of women.

In the mean time, a violent onslaught had been made upon the body of
insurgent Amazons by the matron, or female superintendent, at the head of
a sort of bodyguard of monitresses and other she-official toadies, who
wished to rescue His Reverence from the sacrilegious claws of his
enemies; but alas, the daughters of Belial were too strong for them.
These well-meaning personages--matron and all--were overpowered, and every
one compelled, under the direst threats of punishment, to swallow each
the allowance dispensed for six women, which in good truth was nearly
enough to burst them; and then, as a parting salute, the rebels shaved
every particle of hair from the scalps both of the superior and of her
satellites, finally letting them go as bald as Capuchin friars--a mode of
treatment, by the way, which the prisoners might have considered in some
degree to partake of the nature of retributive justice, as shaving the
heads of incorrigibles had been recently recommended by the Matron and
adopted by the assembled committee to be put in force as a punishment for
misbehaviour by the confines.

This second revolt of the Harem was not quelled until after the escape of
many of the ringleaders, which was vainly endeavoured to be prevented by
calling in the aid of a company of soldiers. But these gallant
militaires, who belonged to an Irish regiment recently arrived from the
"isle of saints", swore they'd "rather kiss the darlin's than charge
them". So they grounded their arms and allowed the Amazons to escape
without opposition, after which order was at length restored among those
who chose to remain.

In talk of this kind the evening passed sociably away, and at a late hour
the party separated. Rashleigh was accommodated with a comfortable bed
and the luxury of a clean pair of sheets for the first time since he had
left Sydney. After a luxurious repose, for the enjoyment of which the
night seemed much too short, our hero arose, and declining to wait for
breakfast, took leave of his hospitable entertainers and departed, amid
reciprocal good wishes, with a cordial invitation from Marshall to come
and see them as soon as he could LEVIATHAN liberty from his new master.




Chapter XVII



HER FACE WAD FYLE THE LOGAN-WATER;
OH, SIC A WIFE AS WILLIE HAD,
I WADNA GIE A BUTTON FOR HER.

It was early morning when Rashleigh took the road once more, pondering
upon the comfort enjoyed by these industrious people, whose whole mode of
life and manners formed so complete a contrast to that of the lower
classes of Australian society that he scarcely dared to hope the
habitation of Mr Arlack, to which he was bound, would be in any way
comparable to it.

According to the directions he had received, he now retraced his steps
towards Campbelltown, and going on to a small public-house at the
southern end of its straggling street, LEVIATHANed some breakfast, after
which he enquired among a knot of idlers who were playing at quoits which
was the road leading to Mr Arlack's.

"MR Arlack!" replied the man to whom he addressed himself. "I never
knowed as HE had got a handle to his name before!"

Then, calling to one of his compeers, he shouted, "Why, what do you
think! Here's a cove as wants to find out MR Arlack's. An't that a pretty
go?

"Ho! ho! ho!" roared out the other. "I say, young fellow, how long have
you been in the Colony?"

"About two years and a half," replied Ralph.

"Oh! Then you're only green yet, as green as a savoy cabbage; but old
Lunnon Bob is the name we gives your MR Arlack. What do you want with
him, eh?"

"Why, I am assigned to him," responded Rashleigh.

"Aye, aye! Assigned to him, are you? Let's look at your teeth," said the
other; and our adventurer, simply enough, opened his mouth.

"Ha! By George!" swore the querist. "You'd better knock one half of them
there grinders o' yourn out again the first iron-bark fence you come to;
for in the first place, you'll have no use at all for them at old Bob's,
and in the next, Polly Arlack will hate you like hell, for she'll think
you've come a'purpose to eat her out of house and home."

At this sally, the man's brother compotators testified their satisfaction
by redoubled peals of horse-laughter; and Rashleigh, taking such
treatment in dudgeon, was about to depart when the fellow who had first
spoken to him offered him a drink of something from a pot he held, saying
as he did so, "Never mind that old fellow, he's only having a lark with
you. Come, drink a drop o' this; you won't have a chance again soon. Now,
do you see them slip-rails? Well, you must rum down a road that leads
through them, and follow it along until you come to a farm you'll see in a
cleared bottom; enquire there and they'll show you the path to Lunnon
Bob's."

Thanking the man, Rashleigh followed the route he had thus indicated,
and soon arrived at the first farm, where the dogs, to the number of at
least a score, rushed out upon him with tremendous yells, their gaunt
and bony frames testifying such an extremity of famine as might well
inspire fear in the breast of anyone whom they assailed, lest the
ravenous brutes should immolate him as the readiest means of appeasing
that hunger which had reduced them to skeletons.

This danger he happily escaped, and being again instructed as to the
proper path, at length arrived upon Bob Arlack's farm. The culture of
this CHERISHED spot of the earth's surface did not afford any very high
specimen of the arts of agriculture. Weeds of rank and luxuriant growth
formed by far the most prominent objects in the so-called cultivated
field, amid which, in one corner, about ten acres of straggling rows of
maize seemed to maintain a most desperate conflict for sufficient air
from the heavens and nutriment from the soil to enable them to support a
sickly existence.

Other crops there seemed to be none, and the rest of the cleared land
was enjoyed by the weeds in undisputed supremacy. Where the fence could
be seen, it appeared in a most dilapidated condition; the bush poles of
which it had at first been composed were in many places broken down and
in others altogether missing, thus leaving the paddock they were
destined to secure at the mercy of any vagrant animal who might chance
to stray that way. At the farther end of this clearing might be seen a
cluster of huts, towards which a narrow pathway appeared to lead, that
Rashleigh now followed; but upon his getting near his destination, the
view did not afford any very cheering anticipations of his future lot.

The principal dwelling, or home of all the Arlacks, was a hut which,
even in that age of simple materials and rude workmanship, might claim
pre-eminence for ugliness and deformity. The walls, having dropped much
out of the perpendicular, were shoved up by props applied externally.
The gaping orifices in the bark roof bespoke premature decay, occasioned
by neglect. The chinks between the slabs, of fully an average width, had
once been attempted to be stopped; but the rain having wetted the
plaster through the yawning fissures, it had fallen in piecemeal, and
was never renewed; and finally, it seemed a moot point whether there was
more filth to be found inside, or out, of this most DELECTABLE DWELLING.

As Ralph drew nigh the door, a shoal of half-starved hens and ducks
disputed the precedence of the ENTRÉE with him; while just as he was
crossing the threshold, a whole flight of these FOWL intruders, apparently
alarmed by some unexpected opposition from within, fluttered out past
his head with most discordant screams. Inside the hut was a being of
EPICENE gender; at least, its dress rendered sex doubtful, inasmuch as
the upper parts, which first met his gaze, were, a tattered man's hat
and shirt, both marvellously out of repair, and utterly unacquainted
with any kind of ablution or other purification. The elf locks which in
greasy and matted luxuriance shaded her face, and a questionable garment
that depended from her middle, looking more like a petticoat, however,
than anything else, seemed in Rashleigh's opinion to stamp this
apparition of uncleanliness as a female, and accordingly he saluted her
as such, with, "Pray, ma'am, is Mr Arlack at home?"

The lady replied, "He'll be here just now. What do you want with him?
Drat them fowls!" she added parenthetically. "What a deuce of a row they
kick up!"

"Why, ma'am," replied our exile, "I'm assigned to him, from Emu Plains."

"Oh," returned the dame. "You're the new government man. Sit down and
rest yourself." And then she began again the execution of some domestic
duty which the irruption of the feathered invaders had apparently
interrupted.

Rashleigh, having obeyed her injunctions to be seated, calmly surveyed
his future mistress at his leisure. In person Mrs Arlack was rather
above the middle height, but so far from being EN BON POINT that her
ENEMIES called her skinny. Her cheek bones in particular were remarkably
prominent. Above these twinkled a sparkling pair of small greenish-grey
eyes. These orbs of vision, in apparent mistrust of the "willainy of the
world", as Arlack would express it, had retreated as far as possible
from the surface of her countenance, and taken up their abode at the
bottom of two deep caverns, the entrances to which were fortified by
stiff bristly overhanging brows of portentous size and a very dirty
flaxen hue. Her nose, from its irregular aquiline shape, bore no slight
resemblance to the broken bill of a cockatoo, but ever appeared to
maintain an anxious guard over the orifice that formed a most capacious
mouth, into which, in fact, the nasal protuberance seemed desirous of
intruding its extremity AT LEAST.

Her complexion, as far as the important fact could be ascertained
through the dirt which so perpetually begrimed it, was a kind of dingy
yellow, and her voice was a not very melodious compound of a growl and a
squeak.

As Mrs Arlack was so philosophically negligent of the means of setting
off her own most powerful natural charms by any recourse to the
fastidious arts of tidiness or cleanliness, it may easily be conceived
that her dwelling was none of the neatest on earth. Indeed, the complicated
arrangement of unhewn timber, which by the greatest stretch of courtesy
was called a table, appeared never to have been cleansed or washed since
it first was put together and at present afforded a singular MÉLANGE of
movables, among which may just be mentioned a large black iron pot,
leaning negligently on one side, so as to show a little hominy in the
bottom; a few wooden spoons, of most indubitable native manufacture, as
they might vie in size as well as rudeness with the paddles used by the
Tonga Islanders; some half-munched fragments of corn cake; in divers
places a plentiful sprinkling of tobacco ashes from the pipe of the
proprietor; a lump of blackish-yellow home-made soap swimming in a
puddle of slop; a lot of ragged children's clothing, with a few filthy
napkins among them; and some four or five dirty tin pots, which were
battered and bruised into all manner of shapes.

The earthen floor of this RECHERCHÉ retreat was plentifully strewn with
fowls' dung, AGREEABLY chequered by petty lagoons of stinking water. The
fireplace, for want of care, had most grievously suffered in its
contests with the fury of the element it was erected to control, for
many of the slabs that composed it were burned quite across at their
bottoms, leaving large orifices for the accommodation of a stray dog or
pig who might wish to enjoy the genial warmth of the ashes, which a
grunter was at that moment doing, having stretched his lazy length along
in perilous proximity to a blazing log.

To crown all, the hut appeared the chosen rendezvous of myriads of fleas
upon the floor and of clouds of flies in the air, the perpetual biting
of the former serving to counteract the somnolent desires occasioned by
the monotonously drowsy hum of the latter.

While Rashleigh was intently gazing upon the varied rich and rare
beauties of this CHARMING prospect, a pot on the fire near him boiled
over suddenly, and Mrs Arlack cried out, in a tone like that of a
cracked tin trumpet, "What the hell are you gaping at, you, sir? Why
don't you take the pot off?"

This he hastened to do, and the LADY added, "You'd better look a little
smart here, I can tell you. We don't like no sleepy-going coves about
our farm."

In a few minutes more, Mr Arlack appeared at the door, dressed in a
dirty and ragged cotton shirt, ditto duck continuations, a dilapidated
straw hat, and boots to match.

His BEAUTEOUS helpmate said, "Here, Bob, is a new government man for
you;" and showed him the pass which she had received from Rashleigh.

While his new master was reading, or rather pretending to read this
pass, Rashleigh observed that Mr Arlack was short, squat and bowlegged.
His mouth, to use a colonial witticism, was unlike a poor man's lease in
being "from y-ear to y-ear", because it stretched from HERE to YONDER;
and yet, in spite of its size, it seemed still to be too small for his
tongue, which, whenever its owner was quiescent, protruded very much and
WOBBLED about in an extraordinary way as often as he spoke.

Besides the decidedly OPEN feature above referred to, Arlack possessed a
most splendid squint with both eyes, so that it was often observed he
would make a capital cook, as he could always keep one eye on the pot
while he surveyed the intricacies of the chimney with the other; and, to
complete the catalogue of his complexional recommendations, his face was
absolutely furrowed, seamed and gashed until it had nearly lost a human
shape by the pitiless assaults of the smallpox.

As Mr Arlack had originally been a member of the ardent fraternity of
CHUMMIES in the cityward regions of London, he had there contracted the
usual cockney contempt for the letters "v" and "w", transposing those
much injured visible signs of spoken sounds in the most careless and
ludicrous manner. His first address to our adventurer exemplified this
peculiarity; for having apparently at last deciphered the date of the
pass, he demanded, "Vell, and vere have you been to all this vile? Vy
didn't you come 'ere sooner than this 'ere?"

"I am not a very good hand at walking," replied Rashleigh; "but I did
not lose much time on the road, any more than I could help."

"Um," replied the other. "I S'POSE not; but howsomever, I von't take
no furder notice of this 'ere breach. Sally, did you give him his mess?"

"No," said Sally. "I thought there was time enough."

"Vell, vell. Give it to him now, and let him go to his hut," returned
the CARO SPOSO of the AMIABLE lady, who thereupon left off mixing up her
corn meal and enquired of Ralph, "What are you going to put your mess
in?"

"Why," returned the other, "I don't know, unless you may be good enough
to lend me a bag."

"Well, I'm sure!" retorted the dame. "Lend YOU a bag, indeed! A pretty
thing, as if I'd got nothing to do but make bags for government men!"

As this was spoken with sufficient haughtiness to show that she was
fully aware of the IMMEASURABLE DISTANCE in point of station between
herself and the applicant, Ralph saw he could not hope for any
accommodation from her, and he replied, "Very well, ma'am. I'll put it
in my handkerchief and hat, if you please."

"Come on, then," said his mistress. And after measuring the grain with
the greatest nicety in a quart pot, she said, "There now. There's a peck
of corn (maize) for you, and here's four pounds of pork. That's your
week's mess, and you'll come to me this day week for more."

Not if I can help it, thought Rashleigh, as he withdrew to the hut,
which Mrs A. pointed out from her back door as his future residence. He
passed a small shed open on three sides, where there was a steel mill. A
little beyond this stood three diminutive stacks of bush hay and straw,
which the efforts of the cattle had nearly overturned, these roving
bands of plunderers having nibbled all round their bottoms until they
looked just like whipping-tops, supported by some most mysterious
agency. A little beyond these stood the government men's hut.

It may easily be imagined from the account given of Mr Arlack's own
dwelling that the abode of his assigned servants was anything but a
palatial residence. In good truth, a more desolate and neglected-looking
hole can scarcely be conceived. Two rude sleeping-places constructed of
sheets of bark, and three pieces of broken iron pots comprised all the
movable articles, except two short blocks of wood. The sides and roof
were more than commonly pervious. The earthen floor was covered with
littered straw, apparently wasted out of one of the berths, where it lay
as if the occupant used it for a bed, loose as it was. On a fence
opposite the door hung a mass of rags, which only close examination
could convince an observer had once been a blanket. Ralph, who had found
an empty bag hanging up, went his way to grind the maize with the steel
mill. This instrument was in very bad repair, and sunset arrived by the
time he had ground his pittance of meal, which was, after all, so
coarsely done that if he had used a sieve fully half of the weekly
allowance would have been lost; but Mr Arlack's establishment did not
allow such a wasteful piece of refinement.

He now returned to the wretched hut, brought a little wood in, made up a
fire, and swept the floor with a handful of leafy boughs. While he was
thus engaged, his future companion came in, bearing a calabash full of
water. Rashleigh had well-nigh fainted with affright at the first
glimpse he caught of this gaunt and woebegone wretch, whose emaciated
figure would have well befitted him to represent Shakspeare's starved
apothecary, so much so, indeed, that our adventurer at first deemed him
no earthly being; but the spectral visitant speedily reassured him by
saying, though in melancholy and sepulchral tones, "Well, mate! You've
come HOME, I see!"

"Aye," returned Rashleigh; "and a pretty HOME it is to come to!"

The other only replied by a significant gesture, and after having
brought in his tattered bed-clothes, set himself to work in the
preparation of some hominy. Having procured another of the pieces of
iron pot, Ralph followed his example, and both sat down upon the blocks
to eat this meagre fare. Salt or sugar they had none, and Rashleigh
could swallow only a few mouthfuls of the tasteless repast; but his
companion, after remarking that he did not seem to like hominy, quickly
finished what he had left. He then produced a few dry leaves of bush
tobacco, offering some to our exile, who declined it, while "Jem" filled
a rough wooden pipe and sat down to smoke in silence.

After a while, he asked Rashleigh whether he had yet obtained a blanket,
and being answered in the negative, observed that he ought then to go to
the house and ask for one; which Rashleigh did, and received a tattered
rag from Mrs Arlack, after a few muttered curses from his master for
being so troublesome. Ralph ventured to observe "that it did not seem a
very good one"; but the GENTLE dame replied, with an oath, that "most
likely the blanket was as good as he was", and then shut the door in his
face; upon which rebuff he returned to his companion, who aided him in
bringing a quantity of straw to lie upon, which was laid in the vacant
berth, and as comfortable a bed made as circumstances would permit.

Rashleigh slept quickly, nor did he awake until his hut-mate shook him
by the shoulder, saying it was more than time to get up, for the
laughing jackasses--certain birds so called--had been crying out a long
while. Ralph tumbled out quickly, and began to put on his clothes in
great haste.

Before he had done this, however, though it was not yet clear daylight,
Arlack was at the door, damning them for a pair of lazy beggars, and
asking if they meant to stop there all day. When they came out he said
to Rashleigh, "I'll tell you vot it is, my fine svell cove. You an't
a-goin' to do as you likes here. So don't think it. If you don't
brighten your lamps (open your eyes) pretty quick, I'll try what good a
TEAZING (flogging) will do you. . . And as for you, Jem, you ort to know
better. 'Ow do you expect I'm agoin' to find you in wittles if you lies
there stinking till these 'ere 'ours of a morning, eh?"

"Why, Bob," replied Jem in a plaintive tone of apology, "I overslept
myself; and this young fellow I suppose was tired arter his journey!"

"Bob, indeed!" said the other. "I think it might he Mr Arlack, or Master
at any rate, in your mouth! Have I served my lagging in all sorts of
misery to be 'Bobbed' by you, do you think?"

Thus grumbling and growling, he led the way to the house, where he gave
to each a tremendous large hoe, saying, "There, Jem. You know the new
ground. Go there with your mate and pitch into it, and I'll be down
presently."

Rashleigh and his companion went to a distant part of the farm which had
just been cleared, and where a small portion was newly broken up. Jem
now explained the manner in which they were to set in, each taking a
piece to himself, so that the work could be afterwards measured without
difficulty, as Arlack insisted upon his men doing the full government
task at all kinds of labour every day that a man went into his ground.

Now the allotted portion of new land for each assigned servant to break
up was thirteen superficial rods per day, two spits deep; and even in a
favourable spot it was found quite work enough; but here the soil was as
hard as stone, and the hoe rebounded off it. Rashleigh was very soon
bathed in perspiration; but he kept on, thinking it might come easier
after a bit. About eight o'clock they went home to a breakfast of more
hominy, with a little pork fat to relieve it, and in half an hour
resumed their work. Arlack came to look at them very soon after
breakfast, and seeing that Rashleigh had done only a very small portion
of his task, he abused him most heartily, telling him that it was just
as he expected; but he'd take care no beggar had the laugh of him, to
make him find rations for nothing. If he hadn't got his government work
done by sundown he might look out, for he should go to Court, and then
he'd find out there was no gammon in Bob Arlack.

Such were the truculent threats of this worthy that Ralph began with all
his heart to wish himself back again on Emu Plains; but still, as he
knew he could not try any harder than he had done, he hoped to be
forgiven if he were taken before the magistrates, and therefore resolved
not to give Arlack any insolence that might furnish him with a further
and more reasonable ground of complaint. But by steady perseverance he
managed to get his task done a few minutes after sunset, his master
having been standing over him for fully two hours before.

Tired to death, and every bone aching with the severity of his toil, our
unlucky adventurer hastened home and threw himself on his miserable bed,
where he lay like one entranced until morning, not even feeling energy
enough to get up and prepare any food.

Mr Robert Arlack belonged to a class at that time very numerous in New
South Wales, both among the very great and very little, who looked
solely upon their assigned servants or government men as machines for
getting money, and who with this view worked them most unmercifully,
extracting from each the full quota of work stipulated by the
regulations; and if they broke down, returned them to Government,
LEVIATHANing fresh ones in their places. In fact, they considered convicts
to be only a more expensive kind of labouring cattle, and on account of
their not being able to live upon grass, a trifle less worthy than
working bullocks. With such views they never thought of giving these
unfortunate wretches a single ounce of any nourishment they could
possibly avoid or a single article of raiment unless absolutely
compelled; and strange to say, it was only very recently that
regulations were made by Sir R. Darling, then Governor, to compel an
equitable supply of food and clothing to be given by assignees to their
servants; and even then, for a long period the regulations were evaded.
Thus the position of convicts assigned to private service, even of the
more wealthy among the early settlers, was sufficiently irksome,
because these gentlemen, for the most part avowing that they came so
many thousand miles from home for the sole purpose of amassing fortunes,
considered any and all means to be sanctified by such an end. As for
those whose fortune allotted them to the employment of the lower class
of Australian agriculturists, their lot was pitiable in the extreme.

The latter, being men who had for the most part served sentences of
transportation during which they had themselves suffered all the rigour
of oppressive task masters, thought they were fully justified in
retaliating upon those whom the change of fortune incidental to freedom
had placed under them all the ill usage which they had endured in their
periods of bondage. Besides this, they also had the incentive of a
grasping desire to get money; though the majority of them could neither
use nor accumulate any sum, but regularly wasted the produce of their
land in scenes of the most brutal debauchery, which they continued as
long as they had the means, and starved during all the rest of the year,
both themselves and their families and of course their assigned servants
subsisting almost entirely upon maize.

In addition to these evils of starvation and hard work, convicts
assigned to such men as these were obliged to endure all the acts of
petty tyranny and overbearing malice that vulgar minds, intoxicated by
the acquisition for the first time in their lives of almost unlimited
power over a fellow being, alone could either conceive or prompt the
execution of. And no complaints, however well founded, stood the
slightest chance of redress, for the simple reason that the magistrates
before whom such complaints must be brought were all masters of convicts
themselves and consequently highly interested in upholding what they no
doubt considered a PROPER system of discipline and subordination.

Then again, the overbearing pride and HAUTEUR generally assumed towards
government men by their masters tended much to irritate the minds of the
former, more especially when it happened that their superiors for the
present were men who, originally steeped to the lips in the cornmission
of every atrocity, had at length but recently become free themselves,
too many of them having also acquired freedom by acts of the basest
treachery, or by the most tyrannical abuse of power entrusted to them as
constables, overseers, ET HOC GENUS OMNE.

For many days Ralph Rashleigh wrought at the hoe, breaking up new ground
in the manner before described, until at length, having recovered his
appetite, he found his ration very insufficient; and as he could not
starve, he had recourse to the system he had learned on Emu Plains, of
grating corn to meal. In order to supply animal food, he laid all sorts
of plans to trap the poultry belonging to the farm; and this went on
until Mrs Arlack began to suspect her government men of being the
culprits chargeable with this crime. She came into the hut one night at
the moment after Rashleigh had taken out of the pot two of her young
ducks, scenting the odour of which, she vented her anger in most
opprobrious epithets; but as Ralph had seen her approaching, he concealed
the spoil in such a manner as to defy her strictest search. Still, she
could see the liquor in the pot, and truly enough insisted it was some of
her poultry that had been boiled therein.

After this narrow escape from detection. our adventurer, still goaded by
hunger, resorted to another means of cooking any fowls he could purloin.
Not daring to bring them into the hut, he made fires in such secluded
spots of the bush as might be secure from observation. Some hours
afterwards, when the fires were sufficiently burned down, he enveloped
the birds in tempered clay, feathers and entrails included, then covered
the whole mass with red-hot ashes, after the manner of baking a cake.
When sufficiently done, the covering would break off like pieces of
potsherds, carrying with it the feathers incorporated in the clay; and
on opening the bird, all the entrails fell out in a lump, leaving the
cavity perfectly clean and wholesome.

His mistress, who found her stock of poultry diminish fearfully under
this process, having no means of securing or watching the objects of
plunder, at last resolved to watch the suspected plunderers; and one
night, as Rashleigh sat alone by the fire, revolving plans in his mind
of escaping from this state of intolerable thraldom, to the service of
Government, he heard the sound of breathing close to his ear, and
turning suddenly round, he saw through a chink the light reflected from
the fire by a pair of sparkling eyes, and through other minor causes he
rightly conjectured his mistress was there. He took no notice, however,
but went to bed and pretended to snore audibly soon after. Presently Mrs
Arlack entered the hut on tiptoe, having very stealthily opened the
door. She marched round the place, peeping into every nook and cranny
she deemed could possibly conceal even the bones of a fowl, but could
find nothing.

Rashleigh now feigned to talk in his sleep, and after some indistinct
muttering said distinctly, "Two last night . . . Two more tonight,
feathers and all . . . The old goose too. Feathers and all. Oughch!
Feathers and all . . . Oughch!"

Then, turning partially and heavily over, he began to snore more loudly
than ever; but all the time he took great care to observe the prowling
dame with a very small portion of one of his eyes unclosed. That good
lady seemed almost beside herself with rage. She looked round apparently
for something to strike him with, but finding no weapon at hand, had
time to recollect herself, and withdrew.

Rashleigh now went to sleep in reality; but some time in the night he
awoke, and going to the fire to light his pipe, he observed through a
hole in the slabs part of a plaid cloak, which he knew belonged to his
mistress.

Close by the fire was a pot full of liquor, in which pork had been boiled,
which, through a hollow log that ran near it having taken fire, was now
simmering, and appeared pretty hot. Pretending to kick against the pot,
he muttered a curse, and seizing it by the pothooks, dashed its contents
full at the hole. A loud shriek attested the success of his cruel
experiment, and Rashleigh ran out. He was saluted by Mrs Arlack--for she
it was, as he had anticipated--with a volley of oaths and the most dire
abuse, she swearing she was scalded to death, and that she would have
him hanged, if there was any law or justice to be LEVIATHANed in New South
Wales.

In the midst of this tumult, Arlack came running out in his shirt, armed
with an axe; and before Rashleigh could defend himself, the axe was
thrown at his head, which it very fortunately, but narrowly, missed. His
master then rushed upon him like a fury, bellowing all sorts of threats;
but as he came with his head rather low, Rashleigh raised up his knee,
which caught Arlack in the mouth at the same rime that he received a
well-aimed blow planted just under his right ear, that felled him
senseless to the earth. Dreadful was now the clamour of Mrs Arlack, who
had got hold of the axe, which she uplifted to strike our adventurer;
but he, closing upon her, wrested the murderous weapon from her hand and
pushed her backwards on the ground. Then, bidding her get up and take
her husband away with her, he retreated into the hut, fastening the door
as well as he could, and keeping the axe with him.

His discomfited master and mistress withdrew, vowing that they'd get our
adventurer hanged, at least, next day; but as soon as they were out of
sight, Rashleigh dressed himself and left the hut. He walked to the
residence of the district constable, about eight miles off, where he
told his tale and begged protection from the brutality of Arlack and his
wife, showing in confirmation of the truth of his statement, the axe he
had brought with him, and his face, which had been much torn by Mrs
Arlack's nails in the struggle.

Now it so happened that this worthy official wanted the services of a
man for a few days, and he had, besides, a strong though concealed
hatred of Arlack; so he listened very attentively to the story, and when
it was over, received Rashleigh, locking him up in a small room used for
purposes of confinement.

About an hour after sunrise Mr Arlack arrived, and our adventurer, on
hearing his well-known voice, repaired to an orifice, where, himself
unseen, he could still both see his master and hear the awful account he
gave the constable, of a "vicked and murderous assault made by a willain
of a government man of his, both upon himself and his vife", concluding
by saying that "the wagabond had bolted avay with an axe, and as he vas
a most desperate willain, the constable had better look out for him".

"Well," replied the constable, "there's nothing like hearing both sides
of a story, certainly. I had heard your man's, for he has been here this
three hours, and now I've heard yours. But I expect the magistrates will
have to settle betwixt you. So I'll only tell you my private opinion,
and that is, that you are both a liar and a rascal, and your wife a
damned sight worse than you are! I've had my eye upon the pair of you
this long time, and I'll let the magistrates know how you goes on with
your men."

Arlack was rather taken aback at this unexpected rebuff; but, at last
recovering a portion of his native impudence, he retorted, "Vell, and I
should jist like to know vot it is to you, how ve uses our government
men, eh? I'll tell you vot it is, Mr Constable, you'd better mind vot
you're arter, or I'll try if I can't put a lever under you that'll hoist
you flying out of your billet."

"Be off with you!" said the man in office, enraged. "And don't come
here athreatening of me in the execution of my dooty, or else I'll find
a shop for you, as free as you are." And off went Mr Arlack in high
dudgeon at his reception, which greatly delighted Rashleigh, who had
been a gratified spectator of his mortification.

In a little while, the door of the place of confinement being unlocked,
the constable let Ralph out, saying, "As you'll be here a week now
before there's any Court, if you have a mind to help me on my bit of
ground a little, I'll find you in summat to eat for your trouble; and
that'll be better for you than stopping in here upon dry bread, which is
all that Government allows for prisoners before they are tried."

Rashleigh very gladly assented, and after a hearty breakfast they went
out together to burn off some fallen timber. About noon, however,
another constable came, who spoke to the lock-up keeper in private; and
they both departed together, leaving Ralph to work alone during the rest
of the day.

Shortly after sunset the myrmidons of the law returned, bringing with
them a prisoner. When our adventurer came in from work he found them in
high glee, and by their conversation it was evident they anticipated a
heavy sum of money as a reward. They had also brought with them some
spirits, for the lock-up keeper gave Rashleigh a small quantity before
he locked him up.




Chapter XVIII



COME, READ ME MY RIDDLE! COME, HEARKEN MY TALE!
AND TELL ME THE CRAFT OF BOLD ALLEN-A-DALE.


The imperfect light which streamed through the chinks of the slabbed
partitions between the place of confinement in the lock-up house and the
room occupied by the constables enabled Rashleigh to see that the other
confine was a very tall and bulky man, who lay upon the rude floor,
wrapped up in an opossum-skin cloak. He scarcely deigned any reply to
Ralph's salutation of good-evening, but aroused himself, after a little
while, upon observing that our adventurer had brought in a lighted pipe
with him, and asked the other to fill one for him, which the stranger
could not do for himself, as he was handcuffed.

This little piece of kindness, being performed, seemed to abate
something of the stranger's sullen reserve, for he sat up, and in
reference to the mirth of his captors, who, it appeared by their jovial
conversation, were now getting merry over their grog, the new-comer
observed, in a tone of grim irony, "Aye, booze away, my boys. You think
you're all right now; but my turn will come again yet."

This remark exciting Rashleigh's curiosity, he asked what his companion
in captivity was confined for, but received only an evasive reply; and
finding that the other eschewed any conversation, Ralph made a sort of
bed with a few articles lent to him for that purpose by the lock-up
keeper, on which he lay down and soon fell asleep.

Far in the night he was awakened by someone who said, "Get up, and come
along," shaking him as he did so. Not being thoroughly aroused, he could
only at the moment notice that the door of the lock-up was open, and
that a tall figure was going towards it. He involuntarily arose to dress
himself; but before he had got his jacket on, the same figure
reappeared, saying, "Why the hell don't you make haste?"

Rashleigh thereupon went forth into the outer apartment, where he saw
half a dozen men, in various dirty dresses, but all armed to the teeth.
The two constables were fast asleep, with their arms resting on the table.

"Now," said a voice which Ralph recognised as being that of the late
captive, "get some fire sticks. We'll set light to the hut and burn both
it and these blasted dogs together."

"Aye, aye!" responded his companions, thronging around the fireplace to
obey the cruel mandate.

"For God's sake," cried Rashleigh, "don't burn the men, but go away. As
you've got out, they won't know anything about it, and you may be far
enough before they awaken."

"Hold your infernal tongue!" retorted the other. "Or else we'll handcuff
you and chuck you neck and heels into the lock-up again, to be roasted
like a snake in a log."

Ralph was about to reply; but the man, whose strength was equal to his
tremendous size, put one hand over his mouth, and gripping him by the
collar with the other, led him out. They walked to a small distance in
front of the hut, when Rashleigh's companion halted and released him.
Turning towards the lock-up, Ralph could see the roof was already in a
light blaze; and as it was thatched with reeds, that combustible
covering was rapidly consuming with a loud crackling noise, which
contrasted fearfully with the perfect stillness of all around, and
which, as our adventurer hoped, could not fail of awakening the
slumbering inmates.

Apparently his huge captor thought so too, for he asked of those
standing near, "Has anyone fastened the JIGGER and the JUMPS (door and
windows)?"

"Yes, I did," responded another. "I took blasted good care not to leave
the rascals a hole to creep out of."

"Heavens!" said the horror-stricken Rashleigh. "You surely will not let
the poor wretches die such a dreadfully lingering death."

"You mind your own business, and be damned to you," was the reply.

"At least, then," persisted Ralph; "save the woman and her children.
Think of your own mothers,"

"Now by hell and the devils!" roared the former captive. "If you breathe
another whisper, I'll blow your head off!" And as he said so, he cocked
a horse-pistol, which he held close to his prisoner's ear.

The stern determination of this ferocious ruffian's countenance,
rendered plainly visible by the light of the burning hut, which cast a
ruddy glare around, told Rashleigh he was not to be trifled with, and he
wrung his hands in an agony of horror. Still, though the thatch of the
lock-up house was now all consumed, and the flames had seized upon the
slabbed ceiling, the doomed inmates slept on. Ralph supposed the men
were insensible through intoxication, but knew not how to account for
the sound sleeping of the woman, who, with her two children, had retired
to rest at the same time that he was himself locked up. In a few
minuters more, a portion of the roof that had stood over their
sleeping-room fell in, blazing up bright and fiercely just before its
fall, its concussion scattering myriads of burning flakes, which flew
far up into the sky.

The next instant arose such a shrill and piercing scream that it
agonised Rashleigh's inmost soul, for he knew it emanated from the
hapless mother just awakened to behold this dire calamity. Next came the
wailing cry of the children, shriek upon shriek, and the vain attempts of
the men to break the clumsy fastenings of the door and windows, accompanied
by many oaths and exclamations of despair. The timber walls now began to
blaze, when Ralph, seizing an opportunity that offered by his guard's
relaxed vigilance for an instant, rushed towards the hut, bent on rescuing
the inmates by forcing the door. At this moment one of the constables,
having succeeded in breaking down the window shutter, jumped out of the
flames. In an instant four or five guns were discharged. The
half-escaped wretch leaped convulsively up and fell to the earth, and
immediately afterwards, Rashleigh received a violent blow from behind on
the back part of his head, which stretched him, bleeding and insensible,
on the ground.

When he recovered, he felt very stiff and sore; but on attempting to
rise, he found himself fastened down to the earth so strongly as to
prevent his doing so. His struggles apparently had the effect of
attracting the attention of some watchful guard, who in a menacing tone
bade him, "Lie still, and be damned to you, if you don't want another
knock on the head that will settle you altogether!"

This language effectually put an end to the attempts of our captive, who
remained passive in his painful posture until the dawn of morning; in
fact, from the mode in which he was bound, he was unable even to turn
himself.

As soon as it became light he cast his eyes around and discovered that
the party of men, whom he had seen at the lock-up house the night
before, now lay in various positions upon the ground near him. The spot
they occupied seemed to be only sheltered partially by an overhanging
rock, and to be open to the bush on all sides save one, and from the
edge of this semi-cavern the ground appeared to dip or sink into a
valley. It was late in the morning when some of the party arose, made a
fire, and commenced preparing breakfast, which consisted of tea made in
tin quart pots, meat broiled upon the coals, and dough cakes cooked in
the same way.

The remainder of the party, having now got up from their various lain,
assembled round the fire, and Rashleigh then perceived that they were
seven in all, variously dressed, some clad in government slops, and
others in better habiliments, obviously unsuited to their station in
society and most probably stolen from some settler. The nature of their
avocation was now plain to Ralph. Their arms and the outrage they had
committed after rescuing their captive leader from the lock-up spoke
them to be one of those bands of ruthless bushrangers who then roamed at
large in the wilds of Australia, carrying terror and devastation
wherever they made their appearance.

While he was thus commenting upon the character of his guards or
captors, and puzzling himself by vain conjectures as to what they could
propose to do with him, the party had discussed their breakfast, which
done, one of them approached our adventurer, and casting loose part of
his fastenings, bade him get up. Rashleigh complied, and guided by the
other, now approached the leader, who had seated himself on a small
hillock near the entrance of the cavern. This man, whose name was
Foxley, was of stature far above that of his fellows, and muscular in
proportion; he was dressed in a fustian shooting-coat, with a broad
riding-belt round the middle, containing two large pistols. Shaggy cloth
trousers, a blue woollen shirt, fur cap and pampoos or rough hide boots
completed his costume.

His first salute to the captive was, "Stand off, and don't come too
close. What were you in the lock-up for?"

"I gave myself up to complain of my master," replied Rashleigh.

"Oh, you're one of the complaining sort, eh? Who was your master?"
demanded the other.

"One Arlack of Airds," was the rejoinder.

"Well and what did he do to you?" enquired the bushranger.

"He wanted to starve me to death and work the flesh off my bones,"
responded Ralph.

"Why the devil didn't you knock the beggar's brains out and take to the
bush?" asked Foxley.

"Why, I thought it better to get away quietly," was the answer.

"But wouldn't you like to be revenged of the old tyrant?" demanded the
outlaw.

"Why, yes," returned Rashleigh, with some hesitation; "if 1 could
without murdering him or his family."

"Murder be damned!" said the other fiercely. "If it was me, I'd set
fire to the old brute's hut and burn both him and all that belonged to
him in it. Bad egg, bad bird, as we used to say long ago in Tipperary!"

Ralph made no answer to this speech; but the truculently diabolical look
that accompanied it, and a remembrance of the dreadful catastrophe of
the last night, which it naturally excited, shot athwart his mind, and
upon the recollection, too, of the woman's piercing cry of horror, a
shuddering fit seized our adventurer, which was plain enough to the
bushranger, who added, with a strong expression of contempt, "But 1 can
see you are a regular chicken-hearted crawling fool, who would stand
anything and be trampled upon like a dog rather than turn out like a
man. I wish I'd left you in the lockup, for you an't worth saving; and
maybe you'd hang us all if we was taken."

"Aye, I told you so," said another of the party, whose name was O'Leary.
"I knew he was a cur."

"Let's knock the beggar on the head, to make sure of him," said a
third. And many threatening expressions burst from the rest of the
party, who began to handle their weapons and eye poor Rashleigh with
looks of the most hostile import.

"Silence!" cried the leader in a commanding voice. "I'll not have him
hurt, and you know I WILL have my way. We want somebody to carry our
SWAG (plunder) and cook our grub, for you all grumble like hell to take
it in your turns; and this fellow shall do that. It is damned hard if
seven men can't watch one; and if we find him out in any treachery, he
shall die like a dog, if he were twenty times my own father."

To this the rest grumbled a surly sort of acquiescence, and one of them
was told by the chief that for one day HE should be answerable for the
captive, while another was warned to take charge of him at night, this
duty being thus destined to all in turns.

Ralph was now completely unbound and informed that he might get his
breakfast and then gather up the utensils and food in readiness to move
off when he had done. In a very short time, all being prepared, the
party set forward, Rashleigh bearing a heavy load and being closely
followed by the person who had been directed to guard him. With this
exception, no particular order appeared to be observed, nor were they
very scrupulous in preserving silence. Indeed, from the nature of the
country through which they passed, little danger was apprehended. They
travelled on some hours over a succession of broken ranges and at
nightfall they found themselves near a small running creek, the course
of which they followed for a considerable distance. Having chosen a
commodious spot, the fire was quickly kindled and Ralph prepared a meal,
which all sat down together to partake of.

The conversation turned on their recent exploits. And now, for the first
time, Rashleigh had reason to believe that the whole of the wretched
inmates of the lock-up had perished miserably in the flames, for from
words dropped in broken sentences, he learned that the man who had
broken out in his sight and another who followed him through the same
outlet had both been remorselessly shot dead, and their lifeless remains
hurled into the blazing ruins. The fate of the woman and children was
left to conjecture; but as he gathered that some of the bushrangers
had stayed by the burning lock-up house until it was completely
consumed, there remained not the slightest hope that any had escaped
with life.

After the band had finished their meal, Rashleigh was directed to
prepare some dough for baking in the ashes, and on the flour bag being
produced, Foxley remarked that it was getting low, but it was no matter,
they would soon fill it again. From this remark and other expressions
which fell from individuals of the party, our adventurer concluded they
contemplated the commission of some fresh act of violence very soon.
It was wearing late before the party lay down to rest; and when they did
so the man who now took charge of Rashleigh for the night handcuffed his
prisoner to himself.

Early the next morning they arose and after taking a meal, proceeded on
their route. About midday one of the men observed he knew, by the shape
of a certain hill close by, that they were not far from Campbelltown,
which rather surprised our adventurer, as, from his idea of the distance
they had walked, he imagined they were much nearer to Sydney, or to
Liverpool at least, towards the sea-coast; but he afterwards found that
in order to avoid the settled districts the bushrangers had made a very
wide circuit, first going towards the east and then returning westward,

The party now lay still in the heart of a very luxuriant SCRUB, or
thicket of bushes, which was in fact so dense that nothing could be seen
at the distance of a couple of yards. Here the men prepared their arms,
made masks to conceal their features, and then lay quiet until dusk.

Shortly after nightfall they were again in motion, and having proceeded
about four miles through a tract of open forest land, they again halted,
two of the party being now sent forward to observe the intended object
of attack. On their return they communicated their intelligence to
Foxley, and all proceeded with stealthy caution in the way indicated by
these spies. The bushrangers soon came to a narrow lane, and a dog was
heard to bark at a very small distance. After a short consultation the
body was divided, four of them getting over the right fence of the lane,
along which the others continued to proceed in silence, Rashleigh being
attached to the last-mentioned, who after proceeding a few rods farther,
arrived before a small cottage, which Ralph, to his great pain, soon
discovered was the neat little abode of Marshall, in which he had passed
so pleasant a night a few weeks before. His consternation increased when
he discovered, by the threatening execrations of their leader, that Bob,
who had once been Foxley's overseer, had in that capacity procured him
the punishment of a flogging, for which the latter was now come to exact
revenge according to his own brutal code of undiscriminating vengeance.

Ardently did Rashleigh pray that some lucky chance might defeat the
vindictive object of this ruthless ruffian, whose cold-blooded atrocity,
on the former occasion, had made a deep and heart-felt impression upon
the mind of our adventurer; but all seemed as peaceful as the grave
within and about the doomed dwelling. Not a light glimmered through any
opening, nor did even a dog bark outside--a circumstance which much
surprised Rashleigh, who knew that the owner had more than six of these
animals, some of whom were tied up all day, but allowed liberty to roam
about the yards at night. And Marshall had boasted to him respecting the
vigilance of two of them in particular, who, he asserted, would not
suffer even a leaf to fall without giving the alarm, and were so ferocious
that they would tear a stranger limb from limb after dark. He afterwards
found that all these faithful guardians had been fastened up for this
occasion in a distant shed by the family, in order to avoid any
accidental RENCONTRE with the company they had invited to celebrate the
christening of their youngest child. Of this gathering, of course, the
bushrangers knew nothing; and they were consequently most amazed, while
waiting the appointed signal from their detached confederates, to hear a
peal of merry laughter emanating from some building in the rear of the
cottage, whence also soon after issued the notes of a fiddle and
tambourine, the staple music of a colonial SHEEVO, or merry-making. There
was an open gate beside the dwelling, through which the bushrangers
cautiously passed into a stockyard that seemed to contain the building
the sounds proceeded from; and on passing round some smaller sheds,
they found this to be the case, for just before them was a large barn,
through the chinks of which much light streamed, and other indications
of revelry were manifested which audibly proclaimed the occupants of the
barn were amusing themselves with a dance. The marauders were now joined
by their four companions, who had approached by some back way.

The leader, Foxley, now issued his commands, that all the outbuildings
should be searched to secure any stragglers and prevent them from
escaping. This being done and no person discovered, the bushrangers now
approached the only door of the barn, where they knocked some time
without being heard; but when at length the door was opened, and the
grim array of armed and masked figures in their uncouth and dirty
dresses met the gaze of the festive party gathered within, a scene of
universal consternation ensued. The women shrieked, the children
screamed with affright, and the men huddled themselves together.

Foxley now advanced into the middle of the floor, which terror had
completely cleared, and he shouted out in loud and savage tones, "What!
Are you all scared at a few young fellows that have come to your spree
without being invited? Won't anybody welcome us? No! Why, where's the
master of the house? Ha, I see you, Mr Marshall! Come out here"

And with that he very deliberately cocked his gun, which he levelled at
the unfortunate man, while those who were near him slunk away, and he,
seeing escape hopeless, reluctantly advanced towards the bushranger,
saying as he did so, "You an't a-going to murder an unarmed man, are
you?"

Foxley deigned him no reply, but made a sign to one of his comrades
whose name was O'Leary, who came to his side and having received a
whispered command from his leader, produced a pair of handcuffs, with
which he secured Marshall's wrists and then retired with his prisoner.

Foxley now ordered all the terrified inmates of the barn to get together
on one side of the door; and two of the other bushrangers coming in, one
proceeded to search the pockets of the festive group, and laid whatever
he found upon the floor at Foxley's feet. The demented ones, after
having been thus closely examined, were passed over to the other side of
the barn, where they were strictly guarded.

It chanced however that one of the females was attacked by some sort of
unusual fit, which produced a considerable degree of confusion, during
which a young man and woman had the address to escape through die open
door unobserved by any of the bushrangers. Rashleigh saw them, and going
round the barn, suddenly confronted them as they were about to get over
the fence.

The young woman, seeing him masked, shrieked; but our adventurer made a
deprecatory motion and was about to approach her when her male companion
said, "Stand back. I dare say you are armed; but by the heaven above us,
you shan't lay a finger on that girl, unless you do so over my dead
body."

"Be quiet," returned our compulsory outlaw. "It seems the noise the
young woman has made was drowned by the shrieks of that poor creature
inside, or else you would find others who might not be inclined to let
you go.

"Well," replied the youth; "here's all the money I've got, and my
watch. I'll give you THAT to let HER go. I don't care for myself."

"No," rejoined Rashleigh, suddenly making up his mind. "Go, both of you.
I don't want your money; but for the sake of heaven, make haste in to
Campbelltown and tell the chief constable that Foxley the Murderer is
here. Beg him to hurry; or Marshall will be slaughtered and all his
family. Do not delay, as you hope for salvation."

"I'll run every step," said the girl, now recovered from her terror;
and, jumping, over the fence, both disappeared, while Rashleigh, fearing
lest he might have been missed, crept back in the shade of the barn to
the spot where he had been placed by the bushranger who had the care of
him.

In the mean time the sufferers in the barn having been reduced to order
by the stern threats of Foxley, the ceremony of fleecing them proceeded
anew. Both sexes underwent this ordeal, being stripped of their money,
trinkets, watches, and in several cases of their silk handkerchiefs,
coats and waistcoats to boot, until there was a great heap of these
articles of spoil upon the floor. All were plundered in this way, which,
however, was not done without some delay, and a vast deal of tears,
lamentations and entreaties from the females, as a cherished trinket or
valued scrap of finery was snatched from its possessor by the rude hands
of this unwonted toilet assistant; but Foxley was inexorable to all the
prayers, entreaties, or all the soft artillery of blandishments with which
he was plied by the fair victims, and in reply to their most moving
supplications only ordered them to stand off.

At length, the whole party had been completely shorn of their
disposables and the robber now directed the clothing to be stowed in
some wheat sacks, loading his own pockets and filling his hat with the
watches money and jewellery. When this was accomplished, the sacks were
put outside the door, and all--but two, to whom was deputed the task of
guarding the prisoners in the barn--the bushrangers withdrew into the
stockyard, where O'Leary and poor Marshall were standing. Foxley
directed them to accompany him and Rashleigh to follow with his provision
bags; they then all went to the back door of the dwelling-house.

This entrance was fastened in some way; but a blow from the butt end of
Foxley's piece made it fly open, and all the party went in. The interior
was in darkness, and O'Leary was dispatched to the barn for a light.
When he returned they saw a goodly store of poultry and other eatables,
ready dressed, together with many bottles of wine and spirits,
apparently prepared for transmission to serve as a supper for the party
assembled in the barn.

Foxley, directing his address to Marshall, said, "What money have you
got in the house?"

"Only about four pounds," was the reply.

"Where is it?" was the next brief demand of the bushranger; and on being
informed it was in the bedroom, he ordered Marshall to point it out and
they both withdrew.

Presently the noise of breaking woodwork was heard, and loud curses from
Foxley, apparently produced by disappointment at the meagre amount of
the plunder. The door being left open when they came out, Rashleigh cast
a glance into the once neat bedroom, which was now strewn with articles
of dress and bedding, broken drawers, boxes, etc., in dire confusion.

"Where's your tea and sugar?" now demanded Foxley; and the chest of tea
and cask containing sugar being indicated, Ralph, under the direction of
O'Leary, began to fill the bags he had brought with him for this
purpose.

While this was doing, Foxley demanded of their unwilling host what had
become of the money he had lately received for the wheat he had sold,
and was answered that it had been all paid away, except the sum Foxley
had got.

"I know that's a damned lie," was the rejoinder. "But no matter. Though
I can't get it, I'll take precious good care you don't live to enjoy
it!"

The poor man, upon whom the stern brutality of Foxley began to
produce an effect of fear, now again asked with a tremulous voice,
"surely you will not murder a defenceless man, who has not done you any
harm."

"Silence, liar!" was all the reply.

"For God's sake, think of my poor wife and helpless children!" persisted
Marshall.

"Think of your damned tyranny!" now roared Foxley, suddenly removing the
crape from his face. "Look in my face, wretch! I am Philip Foxley, that
you got flogged for neglect of work. Don't you know me?" And then,
sinking his voice to a sort of half whisper of concentrated malignity.
"If you had as many lives as I got lashes through you, aye, ten times
told, I'd take them every one tonight. So you may make up your mind to
die . . . I've already slaughtered eleven of my old masters and overseers,
and you shall make up the dozen!! For I'm a good mark. I never forget to
pay my debts."

Marshall's whole frame shook with terror at the sight of a man whose
face he knew too well and whose bloodthirsty name was a terror to the
whole country; but after a, strong effort, apparently perceiving the
inutility of more entreaties, he calmed his outward demeanour.

In the mean time Rashleigh had got a quantity of tea, sugar and flour
put up, to which some of the cooked food and four bottles of spirits
were added by Foxley, who then withdrew into the yard with his prisoner.
Here they were met by Mrs Marshall and her sister, who had but just
ascertained that Bob was a prisoner, and who, driven to desperation by
the idea of his probable fate, had rushed past the guards, who did not
know what to do, not liking to fire upon two women, whom however they
could not otherwise stop. They now clung to the doomed man with frantic
eagerness, demanding what the wretches were going to do with him.

"Drag those women away!" roared Foxley, absolutely foaming at the mouth
with fury at this further delay of his revenge; and after a severe
struggle they were brutally torn from the arms of Marshall and forced
back into the barn.

Foxley now directed McCoy to take charge of our adventurer and lead him
to a certain place. Next, addressing O'Leary, he demanded, "Is your
piece loaded with ball?"

"It is," was the reply.

"Then, Marshall, kneel down and pray as if you mean it," continued
Foxley in a very cool tone. "I'll give you ten minutes to make your
peace with God!" And he took out the poor man's watch, which he held
near a light carried by another bushranger.

By this time Rashleigh, urged by McCoy, had taken up his load to depart,
and turning away, could still hear the prayers and entreaties for mercy
made by the wretched man, who seemed to increase the intensity
of his supplications as the awful moment drew nearer. Just as our
adventurer and his guide had got on a fence and were about to cross it,
the former looked back, aroused by a yell from Foxley, which reached him
like the blast of a clarion on the breeze.

"Down! Down on your knees! Here, O'Leary. He won't pray. So be ready;
and when I give the word, aim right between his eyes."

The wretched man appeared still to be imploring his murderers for mercy
when flashes close at hand, followed by the reports of a dozen or more
muskets, appalled the bushrangers, one of whom, the man who held the
light close by Foxley's face, fell with a piercing cry.

"Surrender, in the King's name!" Was vociferated by many tongues.

"Fire at the beggars and keep close together, my lads. 'Tis your only
chance!" roared out Foxley in reply; and again a stream of brilliant
flashes gleamed on the darkness, followed by cries of pain, rage, anger
and exultation, according to the different fortunes of those who uttered
them.

After the bushrangers had fired their pieces, they thronged round Foxley
and all made their way to the fence, on which McCoy and Rashleigh had
remained, as it were entranced by the suddenness of the surprise; but
now, joined by the others, they were urged into a rapid flight by the
exclamations and example of Foxley, who, with all his haste, forgot not
to enquire whether their slavey--meaning Ralph--had escaped; and on
finding he had not, he told McCoy it was a good job, for if that beggar
had got away, his life should have answered for it, an asseveration
which produced the effect of making McCoy doubly anxious for the
security of the captive.

The darkness of the night and the confusion of those who had attacked
them favoured the escape of the bushrangers, and having run across
Marshall's clearing, they gained the covert of the standing timber
unpursued. Halting now to breathe awhile, the first care of the
discomfited ruffians was to ascertain how many of their body were
missing. Three of the party were accordingly found absent, two of whom
were known to have fallen at the first fire, but whether dead or only
wounded was uncertain. After a brief rest, they pursued their way with
as much speed as possible, directing their course eastward by the
guidance of the stars; and when daylight came they sought a deep and
rugged gully, in which they concealed themselves. But the food had been
lost, together with all their plunder, in the hurry of their flight,
except the more portable articles taken from the festive group, which
had been deposited on the persons of Foxley and McCoy.

Rashleigh might certainly have escaped from the bushrangers at the time
he had spoken to the two runaways behind the barn; but he then preferred
remaining until the police, whom he hoped they would send, should
arrive, thinking that perhaps something might occur in the interim
to enable him to save the poor man Marshall. His being placed under
the strict charge of McCoy and hurried away before the constables
came prevented his either doing this or joining them later and helping
to capture the ruffianly crew, whom he had come to hate. We have seen
that during their retreat, hasty as it was, he was too closely looked
after to run in any other direction than the one pointed out to him.
Deeming that at any rate Marshall's life was saved for the present, he
was the more readily consoled for this disappointment, because he hoped
some opportunity must certainly occur before long to enable him to bid
adieu to his ruthless companions.

The party of bushrangers, after having slept a few hours, awoke in very
ill humour, as they were exceedingly hungry; and they all united in
venting their spleen upon Rashleigh, whom they asserted might, if he had
chosen, have retained and preserved the bag of provisions. O'Leary, who
from the first had appeared to dislike the prisoner, never allowed any
opportunity of showing that he did so to escape him, and now not only
abused him heartily, but struck him violently, and was about to repeat
the blow when Foxley interfered to prevent him. An angry altercation
then ensued between O'Leary and the leader, who seemed to be ready to
fight over it. At the instance of the rest, who soothed and separated
them, a hollow kind of peace was restored, though Rashleigh observed the
former long afterwards muttered revengeful threats against both himself
and Foxley, casting malignant glances at them from time to time.

The party, towards evening, began to consult who should venture into
Campbelltown or Liverpool, from which places they were about
equidistant, in order to purchase some necessary supplies of food. Prior
to this being arranged, Foxley called up McCoy to produce the different
articles of spoil he had carried, which being complied with and united
to those in his own custody, the whole was divided into four parts and
apportioned by lot among the surviving bushrangers, Rashleigh not being
allowed any portion. After this distribution was over, lots were again
drawn for the purpose of ascertaining who should be their messenger, and
O'Leary being pitched upon, he received from each a sum of money,
divested himself of his arms, and departed.

Shortly after he was gone, Foxley, McCoy and Smith--the other
bushranger--held a sort of consultation together, from part of which,
overheard by our adventurer, it appeared to consist of invectives
against their absent confederate O'Leary; and many dark hints of
apprehended treachery on his part were thrown out by the leader, who
proposed they should remove from the place in which they then were, and
seek some more secluded spot before he came back, so that, in case he
should prove faithless, they might witch him as he returned, and if he
was accompanied by any one, they might thus be enabled to fly. This being
acceded to, in a little while they all removed more than half a mile
farther away, into the bottom of a narrow valley overhung with trees.
By this time it was nearly night, and Foxley went back to lie in wait near
their first camping-ground, so that, if all was right, he might guide
O'Leary to their new retreat.

Time wore on. Rashleigh and the remaining two bushrangers were dozing
near the fire; and it seemed to be late in the evening when O'Leary,
conducted by Foxley, returned. They brought a good store of tea, sugar,
bread, and salt pork, also four bottles of rum. Some of the meat being
hastily cooked in a calabash, in another of which some water was boiled
and tea prepared, the whole party made a hearty and most welcome meal.
After this, O'Leary proposed they should have some grog, and produced
the tip of a bullock's horn to serve as a drinking-cup.

The present manners of this man seemed to excite some surprise in the
minds of the others, one of whom remarked that he was getting mighty
good all at once, as he pressed the others continually to drink and did
not seem anxious to do so himself, alleging that he had drunk half a
pint to his own share at Campbelltown, where he had purchased the
supplies. Rashleigh noticed that in proportion as O'Leary increased in
gaiety, Foxley became more gloomy and taciturn, until at last he wrapped
himself up in his skin cloak and lay down to rest, which Ralph also did
soon after. Having drunk a little of the rum, the latter quickly fell
asleep; but a sudden squall of wind, that caused the fire near which he
was lying to roar very loudly, again awoke him. He now got up in order
to remove to a greater distance from the huge burning pile of wood.
Before he again lay down, he observed that the two men he had left
sitting with O'Leary now lay, stretched at full length, snoring loudly
and apparently insensible from the effects of intoxication. O'Leary
himself lay at a little distance, and Rashleigh fancied that he was not
asleep; indeed, as the latter passed him, a ruddy glare of light
appeared to sparkle from beneath his bushy brows, as if he had been
watching the movement of our adventurer, who, however, once more
disposed himself to rest, and was half asleep when he observed O'Leary
raise his head and look furtively around towards himself and Foxley, who
was obviously deeply buried in slumber.

Ralph, willing to observe what O'Leary's intentions were, settled
himself to watch, but pretended to snore, counterfeiting sleep with all
his might. In a few minutes O'Leary arose and taking in his hand the
calabash in which the pork had been boiled, he crept slowly and
stealthily towards McCoy and Smith, whose pieces lay beside them. Over
the locks of these he dropped a small portion of the pot liquor, and
then spilt some more upon the pistols which they wore in their belts.
O'Leary now more cautiously approached Foxley, creeping along upon one
hand and his knees, carrying the calabash in his right hand and an
open knife in his mouth. When he had thus got dose to Foxley's back,
he raised himself a little and peered cautiously into the other's face.
Foxley lay with his gun secured fast between his knees, but still remained
soundly asleep. After a pause, O'Leary took something out of his pocket,
and appeared to the watchful Rashleigh bent upon turning the screw that
secured the flint which lay conveniently exposed for his machinations,
and which at last he effected, as Ralph could see by the firelight that
the flint fell out when this was done. O'Leary made some futile attempts
to possess himself of Foxley's pistols, but fearing apparently to arouse
the sleeper, he again desisted, and after a short delay, on reattempting,
managed to open both the pans and shut them softly, thus permitting the
priming to fall out. He next wetted the whole of both the locks, after
which he arose, and glancing around, took up his musket and stealthily
withdrew in the direction of Campbelltown.

Rashleigh made no doubt from these proceedings that O'Leary was playing
the traitor, as the pains he took to render their arms useless proved
that he expected an attack from someone whom he was now most probably
going to seek, that he might guide them to the capture of his betrayed
companions. Our adventurer was now much inclined to adopt the
opportunity afforded him by the relaxed vigilance of his oppressors to
withdraw and deliver himself into the hands of the police; but he
reflected that if O'Leary's plan proved successful, as there was every
prospect of its doing, unless he should take steps to prevent it, they
would all be tried together, in which case the traitor would
unquestionably be accepted as an approver; and his well-known hatred to
Rashleigh left no doubt of his evidence being directed to criminate the
other, no matter how guiltless, as being actively concerned in the
robbery and attempted murder of Marshall. Independent of the certain
punishment to which he would be consigned if his guilty accession to
this crime should be considered proved--and he knew too well the weakness
of any exculpatory defence he could make, as it would be unsupported by
any other evidence than his assertion, therefore he had every just
cause, to dread such a result on the mere ground of fearing an
ignominious death--he could not besides for a moment endure the idea that
Marshall's wife and sister-in-law, who had treated him with so much
kindness, should suspect him of the base ingratitude of joining in an
attempt so nefarious against them.

Actuated therefore by these double motives, he resolved upon denouncing
the traitor to Foxley, whom he awakened for the purpose by touching him
with his foot. The bushranger sprang up at once, gun in hand, and
presenting his weapon at Rashleigh's head, hurriedly exclaimed, "Stand
off, or I'll fire! I'll never be taken alive!" Then, seeing who it was,
he demanded angrily what he wanted.

Rashleigh now briefly acquainted him with the conduct of O'Leary and his
suspicions of this man's treacherous intention, which the missing gun
flints and wet pistols of Foxley too abundantly confirmed. McCoy and
Smith were now awakened and made to comprehend their danger with some
difficulty, owing to the drunken confusion of their thoughts.

Their fire-arms were now put in proper order, loaded and primed anew. It
was then resolved that they should all withdraw a short distance within
the covert of the thickest neighbouring shrubs, there to await the issue
of the event, Foxley's opossum-skin rug and part of the other men's
clothing being disposed in such a manner where they had previously lain
as to afford a slight resemblance to sleeping men, that might deceive
any one approaching hastily, with only the fitful glare of the firelight
to guide him.

They spent more than an hour, shivering for lack of their usual
covering, in thus watching their late place of bivouac; and the
intensity of the cold, together with their eager anxiety, made the time
seem interminable. At length the noise of crackling twigs and a slight
rustling in the brushwood denoted the approach of someone. Foxley stood
next to our hero, who could not help remarking the diabolically savage
expression of his features, the compressed lips and glaring eye-balls of
the desperado evincing a ferocity and thirst for blood which were truly
appalling.

O'Leary first approached with cautious and stealthy steps, like those of
a cat endeavouring to surprise her winged prey. He bore a gun in his
hand, and was followed by four other well-armed men, who emerged into
the open space and looked around upon what they thought were the
sleeping robbers. After a whispered consultation they separated and
approached the places where the men seemed to lie. Foxley now motioned
the other two to follow him, and while his opponents were still intent
upon their supposed capture, the three bushrangers levelled their pieces
and fired at the constables, one of whom fell, pierced by a ball in the
forehead; and a second dropped directly afterwards. Foxley then clubbed
his piece, and rushing upon O'Leary before the latter, amazed at this
sudden surprise, could present his gun, he dealt the traitor such a fell
blow that the stock of the musket broke short off and O'Leary sank on
the ground without a groan. In the mean time the other two constables,
having partially recovered from their alarm, fired their muskets at
random and hastily made off in safety.

Foxley and his mates now surrounded O'Leary.

"He an't dead," cried Smith.

"Stand on one side and I'll blow his brains out!" said McCoy, cocking
and presenting his gun.

"Hold!" shouted Foxley, knocking up his comrade's piece with the musket
barrel he still retained. "Don't hurt him for your life! I would not
for a thousand pounds the traitor should die so easy a death! I'll pay
him off better than that." And fetching some water, he bathed O'Leary's
head, until the wounded man recovered consciousness.

The banditti now examined the other fallen men, one of whom they found
quite dead. While they were stripping the body naked, the other, whose
thigh was broken, got partially up, and deliberately resting his gun on
the log, took a steady aim at McCoy, who stood beside O'Leary and was
not aware of the danger. Rashleigh saw it, but would have cared nothing
if all the three were shot, so did not interfere; but unluckily, the
bullet only whizzed close by the bushranger, burying itself deep in the
bark of a tree against which he leaned. Foxley sprang upon the wounded
wretch with his knife and stabbed him repeatedly until the yells of the
dying man, which had at first rung through the forest, died away in
inarticulate sobs, whereupon McCoy, who had stood threateningly over the
prostrate wretch with the broken musket barrel but feared to strike
while Foxley was engaged in his brutal work, now rained a shower of
blows upon the victim's skull until it was actually smashed into a
shapeless pulp of hair and brains. Both bodies were now stripped and
hauled to a deep waterhole close by, into which they were finally thrown
and a number of large loose masses of stone piled on them.

The ruffians then turned their attention to their living captive, whom,
traitor as he was, and ruffianly as had been his conduct towards
himself, Rashleigh could scarcely help pitying, as he concluded the
truculent wretches who had captured him no doubt designed a fearful fate
and dreadfully lingering death in expiation of his attempted treachery.
At present, however, he was safely tied to one of the party and driven
forward amid the blows and execrations of the other two, which he
endured with a sulky silence. Rashleigh, loaded with their remaining
provisions, was obliged to accompany them, marching along in their
front. In this guise they shortly after daylight crossed the Great South
Road, one of the bushrangers first exploring the way so as to assure his
confederates that the path was free from impediment and that no
travellers were near. They now entered a tract of very gloomy and
sterile country, which seemed to descend perpetually and bore scarcely
any other than that kind of trees which in the Colony are called forest
oak, from what reason seems totally unintelligible, as nothing, at any
rate in external appearance, can be more dissimilar than this denizen of
the Australian woods from the oak of old England.

At long past noon the party halted in a spot which to Rashleigh's
foreboding eyes appeared at any rate a fitting scene for the horrid
tragedy he feared would here ensue. Not a blade of grass concealed the
naked barrenness of the sod, which consisted of gravel only. Not a
sunbeam could penetrate the umbrageous canopy of boughs, whose formation
and evergreen hue bore a striking resemblance to that of the funereal
cypress or yew. Not a sound disturbed the silence of the mighty world of
forest, and all nature seemed hushed in horrid anticipation of the scene
of barbarity which was about to disgrace the men here assembled, who,
though they possessed the outward semblance of humanity, yet proved their
hearts might vie with that of the tiger in ferocity.

Rashleigh was directed to make a fire and prepare some food, and
O'Leary, being partially unbound, was confronted with Foxley, who eyed
him with stern malignity for a few minutes, and at length broke silence,
saying, "Well, have you got anything to say for yourself, you blasted
wretch?"

The other replied with a voice of concentrated hatred, "No! I'm only
sorry that you wasn't all grabbed; for there's nothing on earth I'd
rather see than all three of you cowardly, blasted murdering dogs
hanging."

On this, McCoy, who was standing close by, raised his piece, and
striking the scurrilous captive on the mouth, drove his front teeth down
his throat with the brass-bound butt end of the musket. Of course
O'Leary fell. But the remorseless Foxley cried out, "Fetch some water.
Throw it on him . . . When he comes to, we'll make him fast to a tree and
flog him first as long as we can stand over him. After that we'll hang
him up to feed the crows."

Soon after he was raised up perforce, as he refused to stand, and was
bound to a neighbouring tree. Foxley, now taking off a broad leathern
belt which he wore, flogged him with the buckle that secured it until to
Rashleigh's sickened sight it appeared as if large pieces of flesh were
actually knocked off his back at each of the last blows. When Foxley was
tired, he resigned the instrument of torture to Smith, who again applied
the scourge until O'Leary, ceasing gradually his dreadful shrieks and
the terms of bitter execration and abuse he had been heaping on his
tormentors, suffered his head to sink on one side and hung, apparently
lifeless, in his bonds.

McCoy next took the belt, saying, "Oh, you're fainting, are you? Blast
you, I'll bring you to." And he administered a sound thrashing in his
turn to the now apparently insensible corpse, until all present really
thought O'Leary was dead.

"Hold your hand," said Foxley; "or he won't have life enough left to be
worth hanging."

Some moments after he was taken down from the tree and Foxley again
directed water to be brought. McCoy gave him some, which he threw over
O'Leary's head; but Smith scraped a piece of salt pork into some water
in which Rashleigh had washed other slices; and this wretch now
brought it to the seemingly lifeless sufferer, saying, "Clear the way. I
have something will revive him with a vengeance!" And he began to rub
their victim's lacerated back with the saline fluid.

O'Leary almost instantly returned to consciousness, and the intolerable
anguish occasioned by this smarting application made him howl with
torment, he mingling his yells with the direst reproaches and most
biting sarcasms against his tormentors.

"Gag the brute!" at last said Foxley; and a short stick having been
forced into his mouth, it was tied fast at the back of his head.

A cord was next made of some supple green vines, and a tree having been
selected, one of whose vast arms stretched out horizontally at a
distance of about twelve feet from the ground, the most agile of the
bushrangers climbed up with one end of the rope, which he fastened round
the limb, a running noose being formed at the other extremity. A pile of
logs was next made up immediately under the bough in such a manner that
a slight push would throw them down again.

The wretched captive had watched all these movements with foreboding
eyes. He now struggled violently to rid himself from his bonds, but in
vain, biting furiously at the stick in his mouth and speaking
incoherently in his abortive rage. The dread preparations being all
made, Foxley came towards the detected traitor and began to drag him
towards the place destined for his final exit; but O'Leary forcibly
threw himself on the earth, and it was as much as the united exertions
of Foxley and Smith could effect to bear the struggling ruffian to his
death, and no sooner had they placed him on the logs, than his struggles
knocked them all down. At length he seemed somewhat exhausted and they
contrived to secure the rude noose around his neck. Foxley, with O'Leary
in his arms, next got on a fallen tree and called out to his
confederates above to tighten the rope. When this was done, the robber
chief cast his burden rudely away, and O'Leary swung to and fro,
distorting his limbs in convulsive spasms of agony.

Twice, through the stretching of the green vines, the rope lengthened so
much that the feet of the dying victim touched the ground; and twice did
Foxley hold his body up on high, so that his life might at last be
ended, while Rashleigh, in pity to his prolonged agony, prayed that at
least they would blow the quivering ruffian's brains out.

"No!" was the brutal declaration of the leader. "I would not shorten his
well-deserved struggles a single second, for a thousand pounds! He did
worse than a dog's deed. and he is now dying a dog's death., as he
ought!"

This truly dreadful scene, which harrowed every fibre in the body of our
adventurer, was at length brought to a close. The awful death rattle
and a final quivering convulsion that shook his whole frame announced
that last dread struggle of nature to be over, and O'Leary was a rigid
breathless corpse.

A meal was now prepared by Rashleigh, to which his three ruffianly
companions did ample justice, making during its progress many coarse
jests and brutal allusions to the death pangs of their treacherous
associate, whose lifeless body hung within a very few feet of the spot
they had selected for their repast.

It may easily be conceived that our adventurer had no appetite after the
appalling scene of mortal suffering he had so recently witnessed, and he
waited most anxiously for the signal to commence their march, so that he
might at least be relieved from the sight of the dead ruffian. But he
had a task to complete that he did not anticipate; for Foxley, seeing
that he had put together the fragments of food and their humble cooking
materials, ordered him to gather a pile of dry wood and place it beneath
the body of O'Leary as it hung. This being quickly done, as there was
abundance of fuel at hand, one of the party applied fire to the pile,
and when it was alight another got on the limb to which the rope was
fastened, which he cut through, and the corpse fell into the midst of
the flames, while the bystanders laughed, and Foxley remarked, "The
damned scoundrel has got a warmer bed now he's dead than ever he had
during his life!"

An additional quantity of dry timber being now thrown into the fire,
until the corpse was completely concealed from view, the desperadoes
only waited until the roaring progress of the devouring element assured
the dead bushranger's combustion, when they withdrew.




Chapter XIX



NO HOPE AROSE OF BEING FREED
AND MY DIM EYES OF DEATH HAD NEED.


About noon the band of bushrangers and their unwilling companion crossed
the Cowpasture river upon a rude catamaran, made of apple tree boughs tied
together with vines, and in a short time had gained the rough broken
country at the foot of those lofty mountains that traverse the whole of
the centre of New Holland, then even more solitary than it is now, the
poverty of the sod forbidding any cultivation whatever; while the natural
grasses are so scanty that they do not afford pasturage even for the
indigenous animals of Australia. Through such sterility as this they
journeyed during three days without seeing a single habitation or even a
human being. Their provisions again began to grow short, when, on the
fourth morning from the death of O'Leary, a few hours after they had
quitted the spot of their past night's sojourn, they came to the summit
of a lofty range, where a prospect equally unexpected as it was beautiful
and varied burst upon the sight of the enraptured Rashleigh, whose
tormenting feelings, induced by the fear of what fate might have in
reserve for him as punishment of his involuntary association with the
desperate and blood-stained ruffians who now formed at once his guard and
his masters, all gave way before the majesty of nature, and he drank in
large draughts of delight in contemplating the lovely scene now expanded
before him.

Immediately in front of his present position was a precipice some
hundred feet in height, whose ragged breast sank sheer down to the
broad expanse of the low country; but immediately at its base the
Nepean river, here narrowed to about the distance of a hundred yards
between its banks, rushed with tumultuous force around the greater part
of the hill on which they stood, from which immense masses of rock had
apparently been detached by some long past convulsion of nature, and now
lay in the bed of the torrent, causing the rapid waters to flash around
them in sheets of snowy foam. Far to the right and left the winding
convolutions of the stream might be seen at intervals appearing through
the foliage, here in magnificent sheets of water, and anon, beyond a
projecting promontory forming a low range of hills, the river seemed
contracted into the semblance of a dazzling silvery riband that sparkled
in the beams of the morning sun.

In the background rose the lofty heights of gloomy mountains, whose
variously undulating sides were chiefly clad with the dark evergreen
foliage of New Holland, though here and there might be seen upreared the
giant form of some rude and fantastically shaped peak or rifted cliff
whose grey bosoms were boldly exposed in naked sublimity. As far as the
eye could reach in front was an expanse of nearly level woodland, broken
here and there by cultivated patches of a greater or less extent, and
thinly studded with solitary farmhouses, cots and one or two hamlets
with their churches.

The houses were for the most part embosomed in peach orchards, whose
leaves of more delicate green contrasted well with the sombre hue of
those that clad the neighbouring indigenous trees. The maize fields,
too, which were now in full blossom, and gracefully waved their lofty
tasselled tops over many an acre of the rich soil on the river bank,
formed no inconsiderable item in the charms of the landscape, the
appearance of which Rashleigh surveyed in a reverie of pleasure, until
the iron hand of Foxley smote upon his shoulder, and his deep harsh
voice demanded, "Are you dreaming?"

Aroused to a sense of the dull and dread realities of his present
condition, Rashleigh turned mechanically and followed the party, who
struck more deeply among the hills. At an early hour in the afternoon
Foxley warned his mates that they were approaching the Great Western
Road, leading over the mountains to Bathurst, which it was necessary
they should cross, and therefore it behoved them to keep a sharp
look-out, that they were not surprised by any straggling party of
constables or mounted police, which were frequently much on the alert
just on the edge of the highlands in order to prevent the escape of any
of the prisoners--who at that time were employed working in irons, in
order to form the new line of road--as the latter frequently absconded
in large or small parties, carrying plunder and havoc into the settled
districts during their brief career wherever they came.

The warning had scarcely been given by the leader, whose two companions
reloaded their fire-arms, when they heard a shrill cry of a peculiar
kind, which is in the Colony called a COOEE, and which is chiefly used
by parties in the bush to denote their positions or make known their
desire of help, guidance, etc. The bushrangers halted and listened
attentively; the cry was two or three times repeated, apparently by the
same voice. At length, after a brief consultation, McCoy went towards
the place from where the sound proceeded, while Foxley, Ralph and the
other plunged into the heart of a thicket a little apart, and in a short
time the voice of their companion who had gone to reconnoitre was heard
hard by. They now got up and went to meet him.

He was accompanied by a short stout man seemingly past the middle age,
rather decently dressed, who carried a thick walking-stick, and was
introduced to the party by the name of "Mr Huggins, the overseer of No.
1 Iron Gang, who had lost his way while looking after bushrangers". This
introduction was made in a very peculiar manner by his companion to
Foxley, who received it with a most significant look, in which Rashleigh
fancied he could observe traces of malignant and ferocious satisfaction
that made him shudder; while Huggins glanced apprehensively from one to
the other of the party who now stood before him.

Silence was broken in a few minutes by Foxley, who said briefly that he
thought he could put Mr Huggins in the right way to find some
bushrangers very soon; at any rate he'd "be sure to put him into a way
that would be certain to take him HOME".

Satisfied by this ambiguous speech, Huggins placed himself under the
treacherous guidance of his foe, and they all moved on towards the west.
Ralph could hear fits and snatches of conversation between Foxley and
the newcomer, by which it appeared the former described the party as
bush constables belonging to Campbelltown, who were in search of FOXLEY
and his gang of bushrangers, then supposed to be lurking somewhere in
the fastnesses of the Blue mountains. Imbued with this idea, Huggins
talked much and long of the necessity of putting a period to the
depredations of this notorious horde of daring scoundrels and wound up
his speech by declaring that if he (Huggins) should come across the
rascal in question, he'd never change a word with him, but shoot him
down like a dog. Upon this declaration of his sentiments by the
overseer, Foxley turned his head to McCoy and Smith, who marched last of
the five--Rashleigh being kept in the centre--and shot forth a glance of
sarcastic contempt, twisting his naturally coarse features into a truly
Satanic as well as sardonic grin, at the effusion; while the other two
responded to the gesture by gripping their guns more closely, with
expressively grim looks at their leader's companion.

After they had thus walked about an hour, Huggins began to be alarmed at
the duration and tendency of their journey, as they did not reach any
road. He repeatedly asked Foxley if he were certain of being in the
right direction, to which the other replied, as before, ambiguously,
that they would be "as safe as the bank directly"!

In a few minutes more, as they were descending a very deep and rugged
glen, or gully, Foxley placed his foot before Huggins, who of course
fell some feet forward; and in order to prevent any resistance, Foxley
secured him by falling on his back. In his overthrow, Huggins had struck
his head with some force against a stone, and before he could recover
the effects of this blow his treacherous assailants had firmly bound
both his hands and feet.

When the captive regained his senses, his astonishment could only be
equalled by his affright; and now, too late perceiving the real
character of his captors, he begged in the most moving terms for mercy,
abjectly supplicating for heaven's sake that they would not harm him;
but he might have spared this humiliation of himself, for no tiger was
ever more pitiless to his prey than the fiend in human shape into whose
power he had now fallen. No reply whatever was vouchsafed by Foxley, who
seized him by the collar, and assisted by one of his confederates, they
thus between them partly led and partly dragged their captive to the
bottom of the narrow valley, which was a dreary spot almost inaccessible
to the light, and looking as if in fact it were a mere rift, or chasm,
in the range, formed by an earthquake, each side being chiefly shut in
by naked and jagged rocks, some of which were blackened by age until it
appeared as if they had been split by the agency of fire.

A small space, level and clear from obstructions having with some
difficulty been found, Foxley seated himself upon a fallen rock, while
his companions stood before him with Huggins between them; and now, with
a smile of malignant cruelty about to be gratified, the bushranger
informed his captive, "As you have such a mighty great wish to see
Philip Foxley, I think 'tis a pity so reasonable and harmless a desire
should not be granted; and as you're a nice sort of a man, you shall
have your own way . . . I AM FOXLEY. What do you think of me, eh? You
won't speak. Well now, that's what 1 call being very ungrateful.
However, it's no odds. As it's a very great favour to see me and my
mates, I mean to take care you shan't tell anybody you have done so!"

As these words were spoken with cool and concentrated malignity which
left no doubt of the fell meaning they implied, the hapless wretch to
whom they were addressed gave himself up for lost, but endeavoured to
move his iron-hearted captor by supplications for mercy.

"Silence!" said one of the bushrangers. "Don't you know me? Ay, look!
What! Not know Sandy McCoy?"

Huggins looked at him, but shook his head and burst out into a fresh
paroxysm of lamentations and entreaties.

"Ah," resumed McCoy, "You know me too well! It is not twelve months ago
since I was under you in your infernal gang, and one day when I wanted to
go and see the doctor, you put me in the lock-up. You left me there
thirty-six hours, handcuffed over a beam, both wrists twisted above my
head, all my weight hanging on my hands, and my toes only resting on the
ground. You delighted in nothing but tyranny, as long as you had the
power. But now, OUR TURN is come; and you may say your prayers, for you
are standing on your own grave!"

"Oh," remarked Foxley. "That tricing men up to a beam is a very common
trick of his. Why, not a month ago one of the deputy overseers
was tried for killing a poor devil of a crawler who was very sick and
wanted to go to hospital; but Mr Huggins ordered him to be triced up,
and the other obeyed him, and handcuffed the man over a pole for two
days and a night. The first night the deputy was told the man was dying;
but he only answered, 'Let him die and be damned, there's too many of
his sort in the country.' So the next night, when the doctor came at
last to see him, the poor fellow was dead and stiff. That scoundrel,
though he was committed, managed to pull through it. HE made shift to
escape from the LAW. But I'll take rattling good care YOU don't escape
from JUSTICE, my fine fellow, for I'm judge in this here Court, and I
never acquitted a tyrant like you in my life."

At this Huggins threw himself on the ground in an agony of despair. He
beat his head against the earth. He knelt to Foxley, alternately
invoking blessings on his head if he would be merciful, and denouncing
the most awful imprecations if he deprived him of his life.

At length Foxley roared out, "Damn the crying beggar; he'll make us all
deaf. Gag him at once."

As he spoke thus the outlaw rose from his seat, and it appeared to his
fellows that their chief had suddenly gone mad; for he jumped about, he
threw himself down, he raved and swore most vehemently, and as a finale
to this extraordinary performance, tore off all the clothes he had on,
until he stood before them stark naked; nor did his energetic exertions
cease even then, for he danced, whistled, sang, halloed and swore all in
a breath.

In vain did his companions ask for many moments what was the matter with
him. At length they gathered that their chief, in the pride of his
triumph over Huggins, had sat down incautiously within a very dangerous
proximity to a huge nest of those ants which are called by the lower
classes in the Colony light-horsemen. They are of immense size, upwards
of one and a half inches long, of blue and green colours, and the most
fierce and virulently biting insects in the bush. So long as Foxley sat
quiet they did not molest him, but the moment he put himself in motion
he was stung by scores at once; and now his whole body presented a most
singular appearance, being completely covered with swellings the size of
a hazelnut, very deeply inflamed, which arose instantaneously after the
bite of these sanguinary insects, and to judge by the grimaces of this
dauntless ruffian, who had frequently endured the most severe floggings
without wincing, the pain must have been intense. When it was in some
measure allayed, Foxley gathered his clothes, shook them free from the
intruders, and vented several bitter execrations upon Huggins, whom he
considered as the origin of his mishap, and who now lay grovelling in
the dust, completely senseless with the agony of fear.

"Blast you!" roared Foxley, with inexpressible ferocity of tone and
manner. "I'll waken you directly, with a vengeance."

With that he directed the other two bushrangers to get some bark to
twist into ropes; and this being soon accomplished, all of them set to
work making cordage, by laying two or three plies of the inner coat of
the bark up, until a good-sized line was formed by each.

Foxley, who had first completed the fabrication of a stout and tolerably
long cord, next proceeded to cut a number of stakes about two feet long,
which he also pointed with his knife at one end, and then directed the
others to gather as many short logs of timber together as they could. At
length all these methodical preparations--the meaning of which Rashleigh
could not divine--had been completed, and the ruffians approached their
victim, who still appeared paralyzed by fear.

He was first stripped entirely of his clothing, and then maugre his
struggles, carried, or rather dragged, along until they reached the
ant-bed. The dreadful nature of the torture intended to be inflicted
upon the helpless wretch now flashed upon the mind of our adventurer,
who had before heard of bushrangers having thus wreaked their vengeance
upon persons inimical to them; and he began by using every argument he
could think of to endeavour to move Foxley to pity or remorse and to
induce him to forbear his horrid purpose, pointing out to him that
sooner or later it must come to his turn to suffer for the crimes he
seemed so much to delight in committing.

At last the patience of the bushranger gave way. He had before only shot
darksome glances at Rashleigh from beneath his shaggy eyebrows; but now
he burst out in tones of thunder, "Hold your infernal tongue, you
blasted crawling wretch, or else I'll lay you alongside of him. I know
damned well that if ever I am taken alive 1 shall swing; but that can
never be while I have one charge for a bulldog left. So while 1 live
I'll be revenged on all such bloody tyrants as this is."

His speech was delivered with such a suitable emphasis and seconded by
so many appalling denunciations against Rashleigh as well from the
others as from Foxley, that the poor fellow was fain, for very fear of
his own life, to cease his supplications, and he withdrew to a short
distance, turning his back upon the scene. He would now most willingly
have stolen away altogether from his ruthless companions but that he
knew not which way to turn himself and was well aware if they pursued
him with success his doom would be certain death, perhaps with
additional and cruelly refined torments. On the other hand, if he lost
his way amid these pathless mountains, there could be no doubt of his
dying a miserable death by starvation, as many others had done, who like
him had wandered away from companions on or near the only road that then
traversed that inhospitable tract.

After a short time a piercing yell attracted his attention and
forgetting his resolution, he involuntarily looked around. The ruffians
had now placed Huggins on the ant-bed. When he felt the stings of the
enraged insects, despair lent him herculean strength and he burst from
the grasp of his three captors. He was free! Alas, he had run but a few
yards when a stone hastily caught up in the race by McCoy, but thrown
with all the fury of disappointed malignity, struck him between the
shoulders, felling him to the earth. Foxley now roared out for the
assistance of Rashleigh, swearing that if he did not come and aid them
he should die the death of a dog; and thus coerced, our trembling
adventurer was compelled to help carry the senseless man back to his bed
of torment.

Huggins was now hurled again on the ant-bed, from whence he had so
nearly escaped, and the top of which having been flattened down, a
slight trench had been made in it to receive the luckless wretch. The
insects, angered into madness at the injuries inflicted on their
storehouse, were swarming in thousands around it; but the moment the
fresh shock was felt from the fall of Huggins's body, they all rushed
to the spot and he was completely covered with them directly afterwards.
The bushrangers, being thus relieved from the attacks of the furious
ants, now coolly set to work, and tied the wretched sufferer fast down
with several cords passing over his thighs and body, two to each arm and
leg, and two crossing his neck. The ends of the cords were secured to
the pegs cut by Foxley, which were now driven tight into the ground in a
sloping direction the better to retain them. The struggles of the
wretched victim to escape from these bonds, which were at length so
numerous as to form a complete network over him, were further rendered
nugatory by logs that were piled upon the cords, between his body and
the pins on every side, so that they were tightened until they cut into
the flesh.

All these dire arrangements were completed before Huggins had recovered
from the effects of that fatal blow which had caused his recapture. When
he again became conscious, the convulsive throes of agony that heaved
the mass of flesh, cord and logs were so appalling that a sensation of
dizzy sickness came across the brain of Rashleigh, who fell to the earth
and cut his head severely. Perhaps the flow of blood from the wound
removed his faintness, for he felt no more of it, and was now permitted
to withdraw under the guidance and guardianship of McCoy on a search
after water. It was long before they found any of this necessary fluid;
but having done so, Ralph prepared a scanty supply of food, all that
they had left. When Foxley and Smith joined them, the former, upon
noticing their slender stock of eatables, observed that "only it would
put that rascal (meaning Huggins) out of his pain too soon, he would go
and cut a steak off his body."

Perceiving that Rashleigh looked rather incredulous as well as disgusted
at this abominable idea, the truculent desperado verified his assertion
with a volley of energetic oaths, winding up the whole by declaring,
"There can't be a sweeter morsel cooked for a man than the heart of a
tyrant."

Such, it is to be observed, is the term used by all the convicts of New
South Wales to designate any person, whether magistrate, overseer or
constable, who may perform his duty more strictly than is agreeable to
the exalted notions these worthies entertain of the deference and
consideration with which they ought to be treated.

After supper the party lay down to rest, and at an early hour in the
morning were again in motion up the valley, on their return towards the
western road, FROM which, it now appeared, Foxley had turned on meeting
with the ill-fated Huggins, whose lair they now shortly passed, when what
was Rashleigh's astonishment, upon casting a furtive glance at the spot
for an instant, to find that nothing remained of him but bones, not
quite clean certainly, but with little indeed of flesh to be seen upon
any part, except the head, which was still nearly untouched. While our
adventurer was amazed at the voracity of these tremendous insects, he
also felt a little comforted at the idea that the sufferer's death could
not have been so painfully lingering as he had anticipated; and Foxley,
seeing the astonishment depicted in Rashleigh's features, observed with
a sort of grim chuckle, "Aye! Them's the little boys for polishing a
bone. In a few hours there won't be a morsel of Huggins left but his
bare skeleton."




Chapter XX



THAT NIGHT IT WAS MY LOT TO GAIN
A RELIQUARY AND A CHAIN. . .
DEMAND NOT HOW THE PRIZE I HOLD!
IT WAS NOT GIVEN, OR LENT, OR SOLD.


Upon approaching the western road, the party lay to in a thicket, while
McCoy, who was now dressed in Huggins's clothes, was sent forward to
reconnoitre. He carried a pistol, a pair of handcuffs, and a letter
which had been found in their victim's pocket, and was instructed by
Foxley, in the event of being met and questioned, what he should say, so
that he might pass for a constable proceeding from Penrith, with a
letter for Overseer Huggins.

He was away nearly two hours, and on his return he reported that the
coast was clear, when the rest of the party recrossed with him the
avenue they had so much dreaded to pass. All that day they wandered
about in the vicinity of the road without food, and after nightfall
McCoy was dispatched with directions to endeavour to procure some
eatables from a station which they knew to be at no great distance.
Rashleigh, worn out by hunger and fatigue, had long been asleep in their
temporary hiding-place, when, far in the night, their emissary returned.
Our adventurer, however, was awakened by Foxley, who bade him "bear a
hand, rouse up, and eat that", at the same time throwing him a piece of
bread and a lump of RAW salt meat, as, independent of their desire for
speed, they dared not light a fire to cook anything, being too close to
the road and settled part of the country. When he had partly devoured
this primitive meal, he was handcuffed to Smith, who was, for the
present, divested of his arms and destined with himself to enact the
part of a prisoner in charge of Foxley and McCoy, who both of them
assumed the character of constables, escorting prisoners to Penrith
lock-up house.

They now went boldly on to the high-road, along which they proceeded in
silence about two miles, until Rashleigh came to a place he recognised
as being on the top of Lapstone hill, the last eminence of the Blue
mountains eastward, and but a short distance from Ralph's old quarters
at Emu Plains. At the foot of the hill, a usual halting place, they
found two drays, the drivers of which, according to their general
practice, were encamped under them. The sham constables here diverged
from the road and went up to the fires left alight by the travellers.
The oxen were grazing around, but the dogs quickly aroused the sleepers,
of whom there were four in all. The mock prisoners were now ordered to
halt by Foxley and McCoy, who asked if they could have a drink of water.
One of the men replied, "Certainly", and gave them some, adding that if
they would wait a few minutes, some tea should be prepared for them.

"Why, neither I nor my mate," returned Foxley, "care about tea; but if
you've a mind to give these poor devils of prisoners any, I dare say
they would be glad of a feed, before they get to their journey's end in
the CHOKEY (lock-up)."

"If that's like to be the end of their travels," observed the
kind-hearted bullock-driver, "I pity them, with all my heart." And he
half-filled a large iron pot in order to boil it for tea.

The rest of the travellers were now assembled round the fire, helping to
get ready a feed; for these wayfarers on the roads of New South Wales
were at that time remarkably hospitable, as their erratic mode of life
placed them completely at the mercy of any of the many small bands of
armed plunderers who were so frequently levying contributions on the
King's highway in those days; and the ordinary carriers always paid
great court to the convict population, perhaps imagining they might
often escape being plundered, if they could only acquire the name of
good fellows among that class. In the present case, therefore, while
they treated the supposed constables with only ORDINARY civility, they
paid most solicitous attention to their sham prisoners, supplying them
with pipes and tobacco, and hastening the preparation of food for
their use.

At length, all being ready, the new-comers sat down to eat, their hosts
excusing themselves from joining in the repast, upon the ground that
they had supped at a very late hour, and they sat in various positions
telling, or seeking after news. At length one of the bullock-drivers
asked what the prisoners were charged with, and McCoy replied, "They are
BOLTERS (runaway convicts). They belonged to that mob of Foxley the
bushranger's; but they won't tell us where we could find him, or else
we'd very soon have him as well as them."

The name of Foxley caused an instant sensation. All the travellers began
at once to question their visitors.

"Was Foxley near this?--How long since he'd been heard of?--What way was
it thought he was going?" And the last querist enquired what was the
last robbery or murder he had done.

To these hasty queries McCoy replied that it was thought Foxley was now
somewhere near Bathurst, but had been heard of going back to the south,
where he had lately been robbing all the country, concluding by stating
that "Foxley might be a great terror to the south country constables,
but he only wished that himself and his mate could come across the
scoundrel, that was all!"

At this the elder of the bullock-drivers very politically observed, "For
my part, I'd like to make a child's bargain with Foxley: let be for let
be. For folks DO say he's a regular devil, a complete fire-eater; and at
any rate, it don't answer, you know, for us folks that's on the road to
be meeting with gentlemen of his sort very often."

"Och, botheration to your clack," now struck in a sprightly Hibernian
among the travellers, whose face betokened his unquestionable Milesian
origin. "What a clatter you keep about Foxley! As if nobody knew
anything about him at all at all but yourself. Sure, an't Phil Foxley my
own uncle's wife's shister's husband's sixth cousin? And oughtn't I to
know him, whin we used to be gossoons together playing at hurley in ould
Ireland? And mark my words, sure you'd see if Phil was forenenst me NOW"
(and the speaker looked direct at Foxley) "all that would be in id: he'd
say at wanst, 'Murtagh Cassidy, my jewel, is id yourself that's in id?'
And he'd thrate me to the besht that was to be got!"

"But did you ever see Foxley since you came to this country?" now
enquired McCoy, having been prompted to ask this ingenious gentleman the
question by the real Simon Pure, who in fact appeared much to enjoy the
rhodomontade of his Irish relation.

"Is id me see him?" responded the other, nothing abashed. "Faix thin, Mr
Consthable, maybe id's wanting to thrap me you are, in the regard ov my
poor cuzin Phil, bein' onlooky and the like. But, you see, I'll only
tell you I seen him a good many times in the counthry, and I won't tell
you neither whin nor whare we met. So you can't take no hould of that,
you see. Oh, I don't mean any harm," replied McCoy; "but only I'd like to
know what like a man he is in size, as everybody talks so much about
him. I've got a description of him from the runaway list; but then, that
was took a long time ago, when he first came to the country, you know."

"Och faix. As to that, if id's your look to take the poor boy a presnor,
'why, God's will be done! What soort of a man is he, agrah? Faix thin,
he looks just like meself; and we used always to be took for brothers
even, if you plaze, whin we'd be together."

Now the ONLY difference between the appearance of Foxley and his
veracious pretended kinsman were these: the former was as swarthy as an
Italian, the latter as red as a fox; Philip was about sixteen stone
weight, Murtagh not more than seven; Foxley was a strongly built,
muscular and well-proportioned man, Cassidy was a little lean
fretful-looking being, with ferret eyes, fiery hair and a confirmed snub
nose. So, after all, their general favour could never have been so
exceedingly alike, but the fact was, the whole tale was no more than a
pure invention of the fertile brain of this ingenious off-side
bullock-driver, who was very fond of what is by the vulgar in the Colony
called "lifting himself", that is, seeking for respect from others at the
expense of truth.

Another of the bullock-drivers hereupon observed, "It's all very well
for you to talk about such things; but I should only just like to know
whether there is any chance of our falling in with the same Foxley, for
I could guess what to do in such a case."

"Indeed!" said the bushranger chief. "Then I can tell you I have real good
reasons for believing that Phil Foxley is not so far off as my mate here
seems to think. In fact, I am certain I have been quite close to him
this very day, and I'll swear I will be alongside of him tonight yet,
let him look as sharp as he likes; for I won't sleep until I do. But,
you know, when we came across these two men, we was forced to take them
to the lock-up before we could go after the others."

"Well then, if he's so close as that," returned the bullock-driver, "we
must begin to look a little sharp, for he may be paying us a visit, if
he knows we are on the road. I'll just get my musket ready, and I'd
advise you to do the same, Jem."

Accordingly, Jem and the last speaker disappeared under the dray and
presently returned with two old soldiers' firelocks, which they began to
arrange. Jem remarked that the charge had been so long in his gun he
should draw it out, and began to do so; but Foxley, seeing that the
screw on the end of his ram-rod was broken, offered to do it for him,
and the other thanked him, resigning the weapon for this purpose.

In the mean time McCoy had got hold of the other man's piece under
pretence of looking at it. He turned round to Foxley. Their eyes met.
Both lay down the travellers' muskets and presented their own at the
astonished bullock-drivers, whom they ordered to stand still on peril of
their lives. "For," added Foxley, in a tone of thunder, "I am Foxley the
bushranger!"

Master Cassidy at that moment was stooping to light his pipe; but no
sooner did he hear this dreaded mandate than, letting fall both pipe and
knife into the fire in a paroxysm of fright, he leaped backwards over a
heap of bullock bows, yokes and chains and ran off with the speed of a
hunted deer.

McCoy presented his piece; but Foxley, who burst into an uproarious fit
of laughter at the hasty retreat of his so-called cousin, thrust up the
muzzle of the other's musket, and as soon as he could speak cried,
"Damn him, how he runs away from his relation. Come back, you fool, to
YOUR COUSIN PHIL! No. he won't! Well then, blast him, let him run. He
can't get any help within three miles, at any rate, and I strongly
suspect he's too much bothered by his fright to know what way to go to
look for it at all."

The handcuffs were now taken off the pretended prisoners. Smith,
being equipped with a gun, was posted as a guard over the remaining
three travellers, whose persons were then closely searched by McCoy, who
deprived them of their valuables with considerable address and some
jokes as to how nicely they were taken in by the supposed constables. In
the mean time Foxley had nearly unloaded both the bullock drays and
selected such articles as he thought fit from their lading, all this
being completed in a marvellously short space of time. The
bullock-drivers were lashed fast to the poles and wheel of their drays,
and the bushrangers, heavily laden, departed under the guidance of their
chief.

The neighbourhood seemed to be quite familiar to Foxley, who led them by
a most circuitous route until they again reached the foot of the
mountains, where they are washed by the Nepean at the northern end of
the Emu Plains. Here, in a most sequestered spot, they halted as the
morning dawned, and took their first regular meal for forty-eight hours;
after this they examined their booty, which comprised half a chest of
tea, a bag of Mauritius sugar, a basket of Brazilian tobacco and a
quantity of wearing apparel, shawls and handkerchiefs. They had also
secured some flour and pork, and fancied themselves freed from
apprehensions of famine, at least for a week. The greater part of the
day was spent in sleep, and at the approach of night, McCoy was again
dispatched to reconnoitre. After a short absence he returned and led the
party to the river bank at a spot where they found a large bark canoe,
which it seemed he had stolen from some settler's wharf hard by.

In this they paddled along very softly for some hours, keeping under the
shade of the mountains as much as possible, for the opposite bank of the
river was crowded with human habitations, and it was sometimes so narrow
that even the slight noise they unavoidably made in using their rude
oars alarmed the farmers' dogs, who ran along the shore baying with all
their might and thus aroused their masters and mistresses, who then
appeared in grotesque groups on the heights beside the stream, bearing
bark torches in their hands, and hailing, to know whether there was
anyone upon the river. But as the depredators in the canoe, of course,
did not choose to reply, and as the precautions taken by these good
folks in bringing out their flaring flambeaux effectually prevented
themselves from seeing any object at the distance of a dozen yards from
their noses, they could not discover the cause of the incessant din
created by their wiser as well as more sharp-sighted canine guardians,
and the party proceeded unmolested until the first blush of dawn tinged
the eastern sky; when, finding themselves near a favourable spot, they
ran their canoe close in among the reeds, unloaded her, concealed their
cargo in various places, and then betook themselves to a fastness in the
North Rocks, where they slept without fear.

Upon awakening in the evening, Foxley and McCoy had a short conversation
with Smith, and leaving him, as it seemed, to watch Rashleigh,
they set off towards the river. From conversation with his companion in
their absence, Ralph discovered that their present hiding-place was the
North Rocks, near Richmond, and that the other two bushrangers had now
gone to that place in order to find out a purchaser for the fruits of
their enterprise. They did not return until very early in the morning,
when all of the party set to work collecting the goods they had hidden,
and placing them together, the person with whom they had agreed to
become a purchaser being expected every moment.

There was a man, at that time, whom every person in the neighbourhood of
Richmond knew by the name of SOBERSIDES. Originally a prisoner, and one
of the greatest scamps even among that most scampish body, he for a very
long period endeavoured to acquire the ENVIABLE notoriety of a flash
man; that is, in the terms of the immortal Shakspeare,

A RUFFIAN THAT WILL SWEAR, DRINK, DANCE,
REVEL THE NIGHT, ROB, MURDER, AND COMMIT
THE OLDEST SINS THE NEWEST KIND OF WAYS!

But alas, he found that fame did not flow upon him so quickly through
this channel as he had expected, probably owing to the number of skilful
competitors with whom he had to contend in the race for this very
AMIABLE distinction. He therefore suddenly altered his whole plan, and,
as many other vulgar-minded men in New South Wales have done, nay, are
daily doing after a long career of villainy, Mr Sobersides turned
hypocrite, no doubt expecting that the ÉCLAT which was denied to his
previous course of atrocity would readily be granted to the brilliant
novelty of his conversion. And in his common daily conversation, which
had  heretofore been a disgusting olla-podrida of the most brutal
sensuality and soul-destroying imprecations, he now expatiated with vast
unction upon the marvellous power of grace which had plucked him, as it
were, like a brand from the burning, and delivered him from the
domination of the world, the flesh and the devil!

So great a proficient did this consummate schemer become in his new art
that his hypocrisy very shortly deceived both the village parson, who
appointed him his clerk and sexton, and the village magistrate, who
appointed him district constable. In this united capacity Mr Sobersides
had now continued to officiate for several years, during the course of
which he contrived to accumulate a very considerable portion of the
world's wealth; the rather that though he was extremely Pharisaical in
his outward deportment, and no man could utter the responses on Sunday
in his elevated station before the assembled inhabitants with a more
solemn and edifyingly sanctified tone, yet he, in truth, possessed a
most accommodating conscience, and never scrupled to overlook any violation
of the law, so long as he LEVIATHANed good and sufficient reasons of STERLING
WEIGHT for doing so. But it is to be observed that he invariably atoned for
his deviations from the strict line of duty in favour of those who COULD pay
him well for his lenity, by a double portion of rigour towards all those
rapscallions who, though they were so poor as to be unable to afford the
harbinger of justice a DOUCEUR, yet had the unparalleled audacity to
commit a breach of law or decorum, and THEIR slightest faults were
always magnified by him into crimes of heinous turpidity before "Their
WASHUPS" until he thus became a perfect terror to all the miserable
wretches of government men in his neighbourhood who fell under the
displeasure of their masters for non-performance of the allotted quota
of labour which the government regulations of that day exacted from each
assigned convict.

Such was Mr Sobersides, whose terror to the minute fry of evil-doers
illustrated the saying that "laws are like cobwebs, which catch the
small flies, but allow the large ones to escape"; and his fame for
pitiless execution of his duty having long before extended to Emu
Plains, it may be supposed that Rashleigh's astonishment was great when
he saw this vigilant conservator of public peace and morality appear in
the North Rocks in the capacity of a customer for the spoils of the
lawless Foxley and his desperate associates, whose freebooting exploits,
it seemed, he had often before profited by, heedless that by so doing he
supported and encouraged a band of bloodthirsty ruffians who would stop
at the commission of no act of atrocity to glut their eager desire for
spoil.

In order to guard against any unpleasant recognition in after times on
the part of their visitor, the bushrangers all wore pieces of crape upon
their faces and were directed by Foxley not to speak during the bargain,
which was to be carried on solely by himself. From the easy and
unrestrained manner of both parties, it was evident they had frequently
transacted business together before; nor were they long at present in
making a deal, when he departed, leaving behind him a sack full of empty
bags, into which the tea, sugar and other articles were transferred from
their original packages. The replenished sacks were stowed away in a
secret nook, the tea chest, bags and basket, which had been taken from
the dray, being carefully buried by the bushrangers.

The latter now retreated to a place of security in the neighbourhood,
where the day was spent subsequently in sleeping by Foxley and McCoy,
who had apparently been up all night, Smith and Rashleigh being directed
to maintain a sharp look-out; though from the nature of their present
nearly inaccessible retreat there was indeed little danger of
interruption.

The North Rocks of Richmond is the name given to a most singular valley
that appears to have suffered some extraordinary convulsion of
nature, being completely filled with immense masses of stone, apparently
vomited out of the bowels of the earth by the agency of an earthquake,
and left lying wherever chance had directed their fall, so that it was
absolutely choked with

ROCKS, MOUNDS, AND CRAGS, CONFUSEDLY HURLED,
THE RELICS OF AN EARLIER WORLD.

At the upper end of this valley rises a precipitous hill, in the face of
which appear many horizontal chasms. One of these, in particular, near
its base, though possessing a very low entrance, is internally of great
extent, and in most places from ten to twelve feet high. The floor of
this cavern is composed of the DÉBRIS of the sandstone that forms one
stratum of the hill, and is perfectly dry, save in a corner, where a
single drop of pellucid water continually falls from a joint in the
rock; and this, through its long sustained action, has worn a basin
about two feet wide and eighteen inches in depth, which is constantly
full of most beautifully clear and cold water.

At the opposite side of the cavern from this spring is a narrow
perpendicular slit in the rocky roof, open to the heavens, but fringed
with brushwood so as to be nearly invisible from any distance, either
above or beneath. This orifice admits a considerable quantity of light
to the interior of the cave, which was selected for their retreat by
Foxley, who had obviously made use of it for a similar purpose before,
as he led the way to the opening, that admitted them without any
difficulty, though it was so very low and well concealed by an
overhanging rock that any person unaware of its existence might pass to
and fro its front daily for years and still never discover it. In fact,
it was necessary to creep into it on all fours; but after their having
gone a few feet in this manner, the rock that formed its roof receded so
much that the tallest man could stand erect. In this secluded spot did
the party of bushrangers spend the rest of the day. A fire was made
under the cleft before spoken of, on a spot that indicated having been
appropriated to the same purpose before, and the materials for which
they found lying near.

At nightfall they conveyed their plunder to the bank of the river under
the guidance of Foxley, and very shortly after they had done so could
observe, from the concealment in which they stood, that a boat
approached, sculled by a single person, who proved to be Mr Sobersides,
bearing the money agreed on between himself and Foxley as the price of
the spoil. A few moments served to transfer the bags into the boat,
which now disappeared, and the marauders retraced their steps towards
the cavern, as it seemed to Rashleigh; but after travelling a short
distance, the leader and his two companions held a consultation which
ended in their turning abruptly again towards the river and reaching the
bank at a different spot to the one they had so lately quitted. McCoy now
searched among the reeds for some time, and then called to the others,
who, on obeying his summons, found him guiding a catamaran, upon which
they all got and quickly crossed the stream.

After they had ascended the high river bank, many lights were visible,
and the busy hum of voices was heard directly in their route. Foxley and
McCoy walked on either side of Rashleigh, whom the former cautioned to
be silent, and they thus went on for about half an hour, until they had
left the greater part of the houses behind. They then halted and McCoy
went forward alone; but upon his returning in a few moments, the whole
party again proceeded and presently arrived at a house standing by
itself. Lights appeared within and the voice of a female was heard
singing. Foxley tapped at the door and the travellers were admitted.

The apartment was a spacious one, of the usual humble order as regards
furniture, etc., with those belonging to the greater portion of
settlers; still, from many circumstances, it was obvious the occupants
of the dwelling were in easy circumstances. The female that admitted
them was a young and handsome Australian, who appeared overjoyed to see
McCoy, whom she welcomed with many kisses. in a few moments two other
girls and an elderly man and woman came in, who seemed happy to see the
new arrivals, to whom food was pressingly offered, but declined by all;
and McCoy, taking one of the girls aside, spoke something to her,
finishing his conversation by giving her money. She went Out, and Foxley
and Smith, who had by this time attached themselves to the other two
girls, maintained a conversation with them, abounding, as it seemed,
with some very merry topics, for ever and anon a loud and hearty peal of
laughter accompanied their sallies.

The absent fair one now returned, bringing on her head a keg, the
arrival of which was hailed with acclamations; and the party, excepting
our adventurer, drew up to the table. Cards were produced, rum served
round, and all preparations made for spending a social evening. Foxley
had told Rashleigh, before he joined the group at the table, to sit in a
certain part of the room, warning him that if he offered to leave it but
for one instant without acquainting either himself or McCoy, then he
would shoot him dead; and he cocked one of the pistols he wore at his
belt, with a glance that spoke volumes, as he whispered this caution.

Near to the stool on which our adventurer was seated there was a table
with a few books. One of these he found to be the ARABIAN NIGHTS, which
was wonderfully tattered and dog's-cared, while a volume alongside of
it, THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, was scarcely soiled, and though of an ancient
edition, had more than half its leaves uncut. Rashleigh took the former
and was quickly lost to all sense of the outer world, as well as the
noisy mirth of the group around him, while perusing its pages, which
frequently filled him with painful recollections, as it reminded him of
the happy and guiltless days of his youth, when he had last delighted in
the gorgeous delineations of Oriental magnificence with which these
tales abound.

In the mean time his companions were rapidly getting furious with
intoxication. They began to sing, to bellow and to rave, until at
length, Foxley's eye resting upon Ralph, he got up, staggered towards
him, and asked what was the reason he did not drink; was he too much of
a gentleman for his company? In vain did the other assure his tyrant
that he had drunk abundantly and proffered evidence of his having just
emptied a teacup full of rum and water.

"A tea-cup!" hiccupped the desperado. "To the devil with such an egg
shell as a tea-cup." And going to the fireplace, he seized on an empty
quart pot which, after spilling a great deal, he at length succeeded in
filling with raw rum from the keg.

Then, returning with it, he addressed his prisoner thus, "Here, damn
your snivelling carcase. Take that and drink it off, directly. Do you
think I'm going to let you keep sober while we all get drunk, so that
you may go and bring the bloody TRAPS (constables) upon us? So drink
that at once, d'ye hear ?"

Rashleigh remonstrated. The eyes of Foxley flashed fire; he drew the
cocked pistol from his waist and presented it full at Rashleigh's head,
roaring, "Drink, you beggar, or die!"

This effectually put a stop to any further scruples, so our wretched
adventurer took the pot and raised it to his lips, while Foxley kept on
shouting, "Down with it, every drop," still menacing with the pistol.
Thus perforce compelled, Ralph drained the vessel of its burning
contents. A savage laugh of exultation rang in his ears, and he sank
senseless on the floor.

When Rashleigh recovered his consciousness, he was oppressed with a
sensation of parching thirst. The torments of the damned raged in his
whole frame. He attempted to rise, but fell again to the earth. He
strove to speak, but his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and he
thus lay in agony, but perfectly sensible. In a little while he heard
the voice of Foxley, engaged in conversation with a female. They
appeared to have been awakened by the noise of Ralph's fall, and were
sleeping in the same room at no great distance from him. Presently their
alarm respecting the disturbance subsided, and their conversation took
another rum, in the course of which the female seemed anxious to impress
upon the mind of Foxley the magnitude of some booty that he would
acquire by engaging in a certain enterprise, which, it appeared, they
had been conversing about before, winding up her exordium by saying that
she should soon find out whether her present bedfellow really loved her,
as, if he did, he would not let that saucy Nancy Doughboy wear a silk gown
while she had only a printed one! To all this Foxley replied in a suitable
manner, so as to remove any doubts of his resolution from the mind of his
CHÈRE AMIE, and silence was soon again restored.

This dialogue set our adventurer's rum-bewildered brains in a complete
ferment, for by it he well knew some new and most probably atrocious act
of turpitude was resolved upon by Foxley; and the state of Rashleigh's
sensorium conjured up the most appalling visions of demons, furies and
disembodied spirits colleagued to punish his wicked and guilty
companions as well as to lavish torments upon himself for being even
their unwilling associate. Never did poor mortal pass hours of such
intense pain, both bodily and mental; but the former, sharp though it
was, almost enough to bid his throbbing temples split, was yet as
nothing to the latter, for his diseased imagination presented the most
vivid representation to his inward vision of the last dread place of
final torment spread with lakes of never-dying flame, where foul and
gibbering monster fiends of all kind of hideous and indescribable shapes
exhausted their ingenuity in inventing fresh and unendurable tortures
for himself and the bushrangers.




Chapter XXI



DOGS! THINK OF YOUR CHIEFS BY THIS HAND THAT WERE SLAIN.
EXHAUST ALL YOUR TORTURES, YOU TRY THEM IN VAIN;
FOR THE CHIEF OF OSWEGO SHALL NEVER COMPLAIN.


Long ere dawn the next day the bushrangers were afoot, bringing with them
the wretched Rashleigh, who, though he was perforce compelled to swallow
a large draught of the fiery spirit that morning to revive his prostrate
energies, yet felt so ill that he would fain LEVIATHAN permission to lie
down and die. And never did he hail a place of repose with more
heartfelt joy than spread itself over him when they at length arrived at
the cavern and he was at liberty to stretch his palsied limbs upon the
rocky floor of that secure retreat.

Here he lay all day in a state of semi-insensibility, until, in the
evening, he was aroused by the full deep tones of Foxley, who ordered
him to get up directly and come along with them, a command which he was
fain to obey, though every nerve in his body trembled like the leaves of
an aspen through the latent effects of his involuntary but deep debauch.

The moon was in its first quarter, and its pale light was just
glimmering above the trees when the little band of plunderers set forth
from their hiding-place, as Rashleigh doubted not, upon remembering the
last night's conversation, to carry havoc, and perhaps slaughter, to
some peaceful fireside. By the great caution evinced among the party, it
was evident they feared detection more than was their custom, and the
oft-repeated baying of watch-dogs near them proved that human
habitations were numerous and close to the route they were pursuing.

For some hours they continued their journey in silence and at length
entered a spacious clearing, in the centre of which a cluster of huts
appeared, that they boldly approached. All was silent within, nor was
there any light to be seen, and the outer door being fastened only by a
latch, the whole party soon stood in an apartment which served the usual
purposes of dining-room and kitchen to the family, none of whom were yet
apparently awake; though many dogs, who had probably been absent at the
critical moment of the marauders' approach, were now exerting their
vigilance too late, by baying most furiously around the door, which some
of them were making fierce efforts to open, but in vain, for the
uninvited visitors had taken the precaution of shutting it fast behind
them.

A light was LEVIATHANed by McCoy, and at that instant a man clad in
sleeping dress came out of an inner apartment to that occupied by the
intruders, grumbling, as he came forth, sundry drowsy imprecations
against the dogs for their clamour. He had, however, scarce placed his
foot upon the floor of the outer room when the hand of Foxley upon his
shoulder and the muzzle of a pistol presented at his forehead caused him
to start and utter an equivocal sound, which the robber at once checked
by growling in a suppressed tone, "Silence! On your life! Or I'll drive
a brace of bullets through your skull!!"

Foxley then dragged him to the opposite side of the room, when he
continued, "What men are there asleep in the house?"

"Only my two sons and a stranger," was the reply.

"Where are they?" was the next demand.

"In yonder," returned the old man, shaking as if with an ague fit, and
pointing out a door different from that at which himself had entered.

Foxley now, with a mute motion to Smith that he should guard the
settler, took a light, entered the room with McCoy, and soon his rude
voice was heard arousing the inmates, who then, to the number of three,
as the old man had said, came forth in their shirts and were ordered to
take their places beside the first prisoner.

"Now," said Foxley, addressing the old farmer, "call your wife and
daughters out here; but mind! if there's any more MEN, even another one,
he shall die and all of you too!"

The women soon made their appearance, pale, disordered and trembling;
but McCoy desired them to lay aside their fears, assuring them no harm
was intended to their personal safety, an assurance which was echoed by
Foxley, who ordered the mistress of the house and her daughters to
prepare a feed for all the party.

While this REQUEST was being complied with, Foxley spoke to the settler
himself, who now stood motionless in the corner where he had been
placed, evidently suppressing strong feelings of indignation at the
unceremonious behaviour of the bushranger.

"Well, Mr Shanavan," said the robber chief, "I've been informed that you
came up from Sydney with a swag of property the other day. I mean to
have my share of it. So look sharp and bring it out here to the light;
and mind that there is not one article deficient in the lot you bought;
for if there is I shall be able to tell in a minute and I'll COB you
within an inch of your life . . . Where is it?" resumed the ruffian after
a pause.

"In my bedroom," stammered out the old man at length.

"Then come with me," was the next direction given by the outlaw in such
a tone of command that Shanavan dared not deny him, and taking up a
lamp, he marshalled the bold intruder into another room.

In the mean time Smith the bushranger had been steadfastly looking in
the face of the stranger whose ill fortune had brought him that night to
partake of Shanavan's hospitality, and who was now standing beside the
two young men, sons of his host. This man did not seem at all easy under
the scrutiny of Smith and repeatedly changed his position in order to
evade the ruthless gaze of the other, which was evidently fraught with
no kindly meaning.

At length Foxley returned with the master of the house, whom he
compelled to carry out a quantity of wearing apparel and other goods,
which were consigned to the care of McCoy.

Smith now addressed his leader thus, "I say, Foxley. who do you think
we ve nailed upon the ground hop at last?"

"I can't tell, I'm sure. Who is it?" replied the other, examining the
man whom Smith's gesture indicated, but whose face was now hidden from
view, until the bushranger, stepping over to him, laid hold of that ear
which was nearest to him, and with a sudden jerk, turned his head
completely round to the light, saying, as he did so, in tones of the
coarsest sarcasm, "Come, Mr McGuffin, let us have a look at your pretty
MUG (face). You didn't use to be so bashful!"

"Why, 'tis McGuffin the tyrant!" roared Foxley in tones of savage
triumph.

"You may well say that," rejoined Smith. "Why, the very last time I ever
saw him, he flogged our whole gang, fifteen in number, overseer and all,
giving all us that were working hands fifty lashes each, and the
overseer a hundred without being charged with any crime, and of course
without the shadow of a trial; and when jack Bunn, the overseer, as good a
fellow as ever broke the world's bread, asked what we were all to be
flogged for, this scoundrel said, 'Why, to keep the hair out of your
eyes, to be sure, you rascal!'"

"Aye, aye. I know him well by report!" now remarked Foxley. "An't he the
beautiful inspector of falling parties that Major Fireplace got the
Governor to grant power to, so that he might flog any or all the men in
the gangs under him without the trouble of bringing them to Court? And
ever since that time, hasn't he gone about on horseback all through the
country, with a flogger at his heels for a running footman, sarving out
stripes to all and sundry, so as to show, not only that he had got the
power, but also that he was determined not to let it go to sleep in his
hands. And now, my gentleman, I'VE got YOU. I'll try if I can't clear off
all scores with you. At any rate, you've sarved out your last slops!!!"

McGuffin. who was a tall, weather-beaten, dark-complexioned man
with unusually stern and determined features, seemed quite appalled by
the ferocity of Foxley's tone and manner when the latter began to talk;
but by the close of the robber's speech he recovered self-possession, and
said, in a cone as resolved and stern as that of the other, "Well, you
infernal, cold-blooded, murdering, treacherous ruffian, and what can you
do after all but ONLY take my life? And that you may do and be damned,
if you like. Yes, I have had hundreds of such crawling caterpillars as
you and your mob well flogged before now, and I've got one comfort left
yet. It is this, that neither God nor man can much longer keep you from
the gallows; for the Devil has almost done with you, and Jack Ketch must
soon get his due in choking you and your loblolly boys. So you may do
your worst, for I defy you!"

The bushrangers appeared paralyzed by his indomitable boldness. At
almost his first word Foxley had taken a pistol from his belt, which he
deliberately cocked, and with a scornful sneer, as coolly levelled at
the captive's head, still, as it seemed, suspending his final purpose,
though his brow, true index to a tragic page, grew black with the
darkness of tenfold night. As for Smith and McCoy, they stood gaping at
McGuffin as though they were charmed with the audacity of his defiance;
but the instant he had ceased to speak, McCoy, whose face was perfectly
livid with the intensity of his rage, lifted his musket and felled the
prisoner to the earth with the butt end of his weapon; while a loud
shriek burst from one of the girls, who dropped senseless on the floor.

Foxley sprang up and said, "Now, by all my hopes of deep and black
revenge, I'm glad you knocked the bragging bully down! For I was just
that instant going to shoot him, and it would have been ten thousand
pities he should get such an easy death! Is he hurt much?"

This query being satisfactorily replied to, Foxley next demanded what
had ailed the girl who cried out, and having elicited that she had
fainted through fear at the fate she supposed intended for McGuffin, to
whom she was about to be married, the heartless ruffian roared out,
striking his hand with tremendous energy upon the table, "Better and
better . . . Why, this IS glorious. We shall have most capital sport
here presently. Bring the wench to, as quick as you can."

He paced the apartment for a few moments with hurried strides as if
under the influence of some extraordinary excitement, and presently
broke out again with, "McCoy, throw a bucket of water over that
grovelling beast. So! That will revive him! And now, mistress, let's
have our supper directly!"

McGuffin was then bound fast to a mill post that stood on one side of
the room. The bushrangers had before this secured Shanavan and his two
sons by placing them back to back, next tying their arms, legs and
bodies together with many cords and lastly girthing them tight up with a
horse's surcingle.

Foxley and the other two now sat down to supper in such a position
that they could keep their eyes upon the prisoners. Rashleigh was also
invited by the former to partake, but he declined. He in truth felt such
a sensation of nausea, which arose from apprehending that perhaps a
scene of worse atrocity might here be perpetrated than any he had yet
witnessed, that it was quite impossible for him to swallow any food
whatever; and he sat shivering with dread and longing for a means of
escape, yet completely cowed and fascinated by the searching glances
which Foxley directed towards him from time to time.

This ruffian compelled the girl betrothed to McGuffin to serve him with
food upon her knees and to taste everything on the table prepared for
their supper. He also bade her, "Remember, as nobody else but such a
superfine scoundrel as McGuffin would do you for a husband, his life is
now in my hands; so you'd better try to keep me in good temper."

After supper was over the involuntary attendants were obliged to produce
spirits, and Foxley, having ascertained there was very little flour in
the house, directed one of the girls to fill the hopper of the steel
mill with wheat. This being done, McGuffin was partially unbound and
ordered by McCoy to set to work and grind the grain.

His reply was equally brief and energetic. "I'll see you all in hell
first!"

Foxley heard this, and leaping up, cried, "Oho, you mutiny, do you? I'll
see how GAME you are!"

And he ran to a saddle, from which he stripped the stirrup-leather.
Then, pouncing upon McGuffin, he tore the shirt from his back and this
being his only garment, the latter was quite naked. The bushranger then
began to beat him with the buckle end of his heavy weapon. The prisoner
struggled violently; yet, though he was a very powerful man, he could
not loosen the ligatures with which he was tied; but from the peculiar
manner in which they were secured, his efforts only served to make the
rude cords cut into his flesh.

For all this, the sufferer, whose courage and fortitude appeared
indomitable, instead of deprecating the barbarity of Foxley, only
continued to excite him with the keenest sarcasms, such as, "Strike,
scoundrel! You couldn't knock a sprat off a gridiron. You couldn't brush
a fly off your mother's nose!"

Although through the powerful blows inflicted by his bulky antagonist
his back was sorely mangled and the blood running in a fair stream down
to the ground, yet his courage quailed not, until Foxley was fairly
exhausted and compelled to leave off for lack of strength.

McGuffin then roared out. "Ah, you beast. I knew from your looks you was
nothing but a flogger the first time I set eyes upon you. And you can't
say ever I flogged a man myself in my life!"

Stung to the very quick by this sarcasm--for the reproach attached to
the name of a flogger is synonymous with that which attends the hangman
in New South Wales, both offices being there considered as being upon a
par, and a man who has once borne either being scouted from society as
the vilest of the human race--Foxley now threw down his implement of
torture, and muttering as well as his loss of breath would permit that
he would be deeply revenged on the other, left him to himself.

His eyes next rested suddenly upon the females, who had been shrieking
in concert at the sight of the cruel punishment; but now, awed to
silence by the brutal threats of McCoy and Smith, they sat sobbing
together. The girls clung round their mother, who appeared more dead
than alive; and when Foxley saw them in this posture, a thought worthy
of a demon rushed into his mind.

"Ha!" he suddenly roared. "I have it!" And springing upon McGuffin's
betrothed, he tore her from the maternal embrace, and went on, "McCoy,
take the other girl . . . Smith, push that old bitch into the bedroom. And
mind she don't get out again!"

In spite of the poor mother's resistance and heart-breaking entreaties,
she was forced from the apartment, when Rashleigh, whose blood began to
curdle within him at the horrid anticipations he formed respecting
Foxley's purpose, jumped out of his seat and entreated that ruthless
villain to be merciful for once and spare the girls, adjuring him to
think of his own mother, of his sisters, and what he would think of such
an outrage being offered to them. The only reply he received was, at
last, as in his energy, he had laid hold of the fainting girl, hoping to
prevail, a blow from the butt end of Foxley's pistol in the centre of
his forehead stretched him senseless on the floor. And alas, upon his
reviving, he saw enough to convince him that the worst of crimes had
been perpetrated upon the poor girls by all three of his villainous
associates, one of whom shortly afterwards demanded if Rashleigh were
satisfied NOW to mind his own business, or whether he would like to have
a BLUE PILL (bullet) to finish the sports of the night.

Ralph, almost mad, and quite sick of this wretched life, clasped his
hands, saying, "Go on, shoot me! And end it at once. As well die that
way as by the hangman!"

"What's all this?" now demanded Foxley.

"Only this jackass is tired of his life," returned Smith. "And I think
'twere a good deed to finish it for him!"

"No, no, you shan't," rejoined the chief. "The crawling beggar shan't
get out of our hands half so easy as that! We'll make him wish himself
dead a hundred times over before we have done with him!" And so saying,
he pushed the captive to the door.

It was now dawn, and Foxley, directing Ralph to follow him, went to
a neighbouring open hovel, under which there stood a horse that the
bushranger made his unwilling companion prepare for riding and lead to
the house. When this was done, Foxley called out to McCoy, directing him
to bring out McGuffin, who accordingly made his appearance with his
hands tied fast together. The chief having mounted the horse, Rashleigh
was ordered to take up a huge bundle of plunder and bring it along. This
he steadily refused to do, nowithstanding the blows and kicks which he
received from Smith and McCoy, who at last bound the load upon his back,
and he was himself then fastened to Foxley's stirrup by his wrists.

While the bushrangers were completing this, McGuffin was left standing
alone, and Rashleigh saw the unfortunate girl who was to marry him come
out of the house with a knife in her hand. As quick as thought she cut
the cord that bound her lover's arms. They instantly slipped back into
the dwelling, the door of which was directly shut.

This last operation, however, was not so quietly performed but that it
attracted the attention of Foxley, who was before intent on directing
the others how best to secure the recalcitrant Ralph; but now, turning
his head, he missed McGuffin.

"Ten thousand devils seize the bloody dog, he's gone!" yelled the
astonished robber, gazing round for an instant, then digging both his
heels into the flanks of his horse.

The animal, which was quite young, leaped forward in great alarm,
dragging Rashleigh to the ground and pulling him on a few feet; but the
horse, growing more restive, plunged, reared, and finally flung Foxley
over his head, while the stirrup-leather giving way at the same moment,
Ralph was freed from the furious animal, which started off at full
speed. Foxley, however, regained his feet, and gazing around, saw
McGuffin, who had gone through the house without stopping, and who now,
in his frantic race, was nearly at the river's bank. The three
bushrangers levelled their guns, and the charges of all their muskets
appeared to plough the ground on either side of McGuffin, who still ran
unharmed. Foxley and McCoy started after him, Smith being left to watch
our luckless adventurer, whom, tied as he was, the bushranger began to
beat with the butt end of his gun, swearing that he had turned obstinate
on purpose for McGuffin to escape.

In the mean time the latter had reached the stream. At the moment he
plunged into it his two pursuers again discharged their pieces, which
they had reloaded as they ran; but in an incredibly short space the
fugitive reappeared on the opposite bank, which echoed his loud shout of
defiance as he dived into a thicket that effectually concealed him from
further observation.

Foxley and McCoy now returned with sullen looks and slow pace to
the house, where Rashleigh and Smith still remained. They both fell upon
the former and gave him a severe beating, until at last Foxley remarked,
"There, blast him! I think he's had enough now! And we must be off or we
shall have all Richmond after us."

The burden of spoil was now divided and apportioned among all the party,
who began their retreat, forcing their unhappy prisoner along with many
blows and oft-repeated execrations. In this guise they got to the
riverside once more, and plunged among the tall reeds on its banks,
through which they waded often up to their middles in mud or water,
McCoy urging the adoption of this plan, as he remarked they should thus
leave no trace behind, and besides, if pursued, no person would think of
looking THERE for them.

After some hours of most fatiguing toil in this new Slough of Despond,
they arrived at a large tree, which had long previously fallen into the
river; but the water being shallow at this place, many of its yet
undecayed limbs were still above the surface, though so much overgrown
by reeds as not to be at all visible to any person from the bank,
however near. This formed a welcome resting-place to the weary runaways,
and to none more so than to Rashleigh, who, finding a forked limb in
which he could he down without the danger of falling, stretched his
bruised and toil-worn limbs upon it, and overcome by pain and fatigue,
slept for some time.

His rest was perturbed by fearful dreams. He fancied himself engaged in
mortal struggle with his oppressive tyrant Foxley, whom he had almost
overpowered, when McCoy gripped him by the throat and presented a pistol
close to his head, which at length went off, inflicting a painful wound,
with the anguish of which our exile awoke to find that it was not all a
dream; for Smith's hand was really grasping his throat, while with
demoniac gestures he pointed to the shore, motioning him at the same
time to shift with silence and caution to a place of more secure
concealment.

Rashleigh obeyed this mandate, and his new position on the log enabled
him to see the high ground on the river bank, though it was next to
impossible any person standing there could observe him. He could
scarcely analyze his own feelings as he perceived there were a number of
armed men close at hand, one of whom, mounted on horseback, he soon
recognised to be McGuffin, their late prisoner. The other two he found
were the sons of Shanavan. The former swearing, as they could most
distinctly hear, that he saw a man down among the reeds only a few
moments since, young Shanavan suggested, "If you think there's anybody
there, let's fire down a volley or two; and it's ten to one but among so
many bullets one might tell; or if not, we might make them sing out."

This advice being apparently considered excellent by all the others, a
discharge from full twenty muskets rattled among the reeds and logs
close by the party of bushrangers. Foxley was apparently struck by one of
the balls, for Ralph observed him to change colour, and he seemed to
stagger, as if about to fall from the cowering attitude he had assumed
upon one of the limbs. But an instant removed the hope Rashleigh was
forming that the wretch had at last got his deserts, for the bushranger
sternly compressed his lips and tightened his grasp of the bough that
upheld him.

The experiment having thus failed, the party on shore, apparently
deeming that it was impossible any human beings were harboured in the
suspected spot, moved slowly off, firing from time to time into the
reeds as often as they saw anything to attract their attention. It was
very late at night before the fugitives dared to leave their place of
concealment, and when they did so, they had several miles to walk before
they once more gained the cavern in which they had made their temporary
abode.

There, however, they found other occupants, being no less than the three
young women at whose dwelling they had so recently passed a night, and
who, as it now appeared, had been waiting in this gloomy place since
long ere dawn of the previous day for the return of the bushrangers from
their marauding expedition. These wantons, at the instance of one of
whom the nefarious excursion had at first been planned, were anxious, it
seemed, until their temporary lovers should return, that they might,
according to promise, share in the spoils of the ill-fated Shanavan,
whose purchase of many articles of unwonted female finery, to grace his
eldest daughters' approaching nuptials with McGuffin, had led to the
envy of the girls in question, to whom they had often boasted of their
new acquisitions. And one of their visitors, being an old sweetheart of
the bushranger McCoy, had eagerly embraced the opportunity afforded by
his unexpected visit, to incite himself and Foxley to the commission of
this act of violence, so that they might not only participate in the
plunder, but deprive their rivals, the Shanavans, of their fine
clothing.

When, therefore, the young women saw the plunderers return, and when
each laid down the share of spoil he bore, requesting them to take what
they thought fit, and when, beyond all, the silks, ribands, laces, etc.,
of which they had received such glowing descriptions from the former
proprietors, were now unfolded to their longing eyes, it may be
conceived that they most warmly welcomed the men who had thus risked
more than life for the gratification of their own paltry vanity.

They eagerly requested to hear all about it, and when the party sat down
to a meal which had been prepared by the females during the absence of
their male companions in villainy, a full description of the whole
affair was given by Foxley in the coarsest terms, not even excepting the
disgusting details of the violation of the poor girls' chastity, which
only made these fiends in female shape laugh heartily; and one of them
observed that the Shanavan girls would not hold up their heads so high
any more above any other young women who were fond of sweethearting.

Rashleigh could hardly believe the evidence of his senses. These girls,
so fair and yet so callous, so totally lost to all womanly pity or
shame, appeared to him absolute anomalies, though he had before heard
that the most sinful deeds of shame were of common occurrence among the
children belonging to the lower class of settlers in that early day. The
long-continued evil habits of their parents, who generally on both sides
had served sentences of transportation, had rendered THEM quite
indifferent to virtue and inured to vice. Means of instruction there
were none, and the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, either at work,
at their merrymakings, or bathing in the rivers, which last the heat of
the climate renders indispensable, all these very early destroyed any
innate principles of modesty. Still, there were many and very honourable
exceptions even among the convict parents, some of whom often thought,
and as often expressed their thought, that "If WE have been bad all our
lives, that is no reason why OUR CHILDREN should be so too."

Our adventurer had ample leisure, during the progress of this merry meal
in the cavern, to observe the fulsome conduct of the damsels in
question, who each. attached herself to one of the bushrangers as if it
were a matter of course. And after supper was over, each pair retired
together to their rude sleeping-places, leaving to Rashleigh, who was
not now permitted to eat with his imperious tyrants, the fragments of
their meal for his refreshment, and the choice of any unoccupied portion
of the cavern for his repose.




Chapter XXII



HE TOOK A HUNDRED MORTAL WOUNDS;
AS MUTE AS FOX MID MANGLING HOUNDS.
AND WHEN HE DIED, HIS PARTING GROAN
HAD MORE OF LAUGHTER THAN OF MOAN!


The loud baying of a dog awoke the desperadoes concealed in the cavern.
It was broad daylight, and they quickly discovered that the outlet to
their retreat was beset. In the intervals of the clamour made by their
canine assailants, they could hear many human voices, whose expressions
denoted their certainty that they had at last tracked the ruffian Foxley
and his bloodthirsty band to their harbourage, while the tone of one,
who seemed to be in authority, was now distinguishable; who, after
stilling the fierce baying of his four-footed allies, demanded if any
man present knew what sort of a cave it was. Another voice replied to
this enquiry, that it was very large, but had only this one outlet.

Directly afterwards the leader shouted out, "Foxley, we know you are
here, and you may as well come out, for we will carry away the hill by
handfuls, but what we will have you!"

To this invitation the person addressed made no reply, but busily
occupied himself in loading all his fire-arms, in which example he was
imitated by his companions, and the whole three now took up positions on
one side commanding the entrance, which, it will be remembered, was so
low that a man must creep upon all fours to come in.

Again and again the garrison of the cave was hailed, but still preserved
an obstinate silence. At last a figure appeared at the opening, worming
its way in. The head was hardly well in sight when the reports of three
muskets resounded with terrific effect through the cavern. The cap fell
off the intruder, which now proved to be merely a long pole, dressed up
for the nonce to ascertain the impediments which might offer to freedom
of ingress. A loud shout greeted the success of this stratagem by the
assailants, and once more Foxley was hailed, to tell him if he did not
come out and surrender they would smother him and all his companions
with smoke, as they did the rats on board ship.

"You may try that and be damned," growled the dauntless ruffian m reply.

Nor was it long before dense volumes of smoke filled the hold, rolling
in thick, yellow, suffocating masses into every nook and cranny, until
the inmates had no resource to preserve their lives; save by lying down
flat on their faces and placing mouths and nostrils to the ground. The
women were in great fear, but restrained themselves from making any noisy
demonstrations of it, and they at length found a spot much more free
from this suffocating vapour than any other part of the cavern. Owing to
its being placed far back, beyond the narrow slit before mentioned as
serving the bushrangers for a chimney, they were much more at ease.

For two hours the fire was kept up. It was then slackened, and voices
could again be heard outside: they were speculating upon the probability
of any of the marauders being still alive. Presently the former
stratagem was repeated; but this time it produced no effect, the
bushrangers being apparently determined now not to throw away a charge
of ammunition until they should be certain of their mark, and the pole
was in consequence shortly withdrawn. A volley of musketry was next
discharged through the opening; but the balls rattled idly against the
rocky roof of the bushrangers' fortress, as the latter, being all lying
on the floor, and the pieces apparently elevated at their muzzles in
firing, all the shot passed harmlessly over them.

Three of the assailants now came creeping in, one of whom was rather
before the other two. Foxley sprang to his feet, placed himself beside
the entrance without noise, and the instant the man's head was within
his reach, the brass-bound stock of the ruffian's musket descended upon
it with such force that the skull was shattered as absolutely as if it
had been but a walnut shell, the blood and brains of the victim flying
in the faces of his two compeers, who both uttered cries of pain as
McCoy and Smith discharged their pieces at them. But these two either
withdrew from the opening immediately or were pulled back by their
associates outside, for they disappeared directly, while the dead body
of their comrade still cumbered the entrance.

The bushrangers, having now reloaded their pieces, discharged all three
of them together at random through the orifice after the fugitives,
which served at least to clear their immediate front. The voices were
not so distinctly heard any more; but fire was renewed, and the smoke
reappeared in greater volume than ever. After some time Foxley went to
the split or rift that had as yet proved their salvation by allowing
part of the smoke to escape. After looking at it for some time, he
motioned McCoy to him, and they both began to fashion some pegs out of
the remains of their firewood, and these they drove into various parts
of the side so as to form a rude kind of ladder on which the leader soon
got. These enabled him to reach a projecting pinnacle that concealed
portion of the orifice above them, and he quickly afterwards threw down
a quantity of rubbish into the cave and got still higher. At last he was
seen or heard no longer for some minutes.

When Foxley made his reappearance he seemed in great joy, and Ralph
heard him, addressing one of the girls, say, "Thanks to old Nick,
Sophy, we can all get out of this smothering hole as easy as kiss your
hand. I've been right up to the top, seen all them beggars below, busy
heaping more wood on to the fire. But they could not see me, and there's
a gully within a hundred yards of the mouth of the hole. If we could
only get there unseen, they might bid us good-bye."

This news being communicated to Smith and McCoy, the flight began, with
Foxley getting up first to help the women, that followed him closely.
McCoy was after them, to render any assistance that might be required.
Rashleigh came next, loaded with food, and Smith closed the retreat.
After the pinnacle or ledge which served them for a landing-place was
once gained, the difficulty in ascending was really but very slight, the
chasm being wide enough to allow even Ralph, burdened as he was, to
squeeze along it; and the angle of inclination was not by any means too
steep to walk up.

When Rashleigh reached the top, their female companions were already
gone, and the thick shrubs, coupled with the smoke that rolled over the
face of the hill and the natural inequalities of the place, effectually
concealed them from the view of those beneath, whom they could however
hear plainly enough stimulating each other to increased exertion and
venting many a bitter execration upon the heads of Foxley and his
ruffian fellows.

The bushrangers did not long remain to remark the proceedings of their
foes, but took their way to the gully, along which they rapidly passed,
nor paused an instant in their headlong haste, until they had placed the
hill between themselves and their assailants, whom they soon left far
behind them.

They pursued their hurried flight westward with the greatest speed they
could exert, nor did they see a single living thing during the whole of
that day. At nightfall, deep in the recesses of a darksome and rocky
ravine of the mountain, they at length halted and stretched themselves
upon the ground to rest, not daring to light any fire for the
preparation of food even in this solitude, as fear urged upon them that
they might be close pursued, and the gleam of a light in such a waste
would immediately attract the attention of those whom they most desired
to shun.

In the dead of the night Foxley roared out, "Help! Murder! I am
choking. . . Take his hand from my throat. Oh!"

Upon his comrades' going to his assistance, they found him in a kind of
fit, with his eyes wide open, foaming at the mouth, raving incoherent
muttering sounds and gnashing his teeth. They LEVIATHANed some water, by
the application of which he partially revived; but he was no sooner able
to stand than he got up and ran off at full speed. McCoy directed Smith
to look out after our adventurer, and follow them. He then hastened on
the tracks of the other, whom they all thought had gone mad.

Smith now, by blows and curses, compelled Rashleigh to get up and renew
the flight, stumbling in the darkness over fallen trees, at times
falling into cavities worn by mountain streams, yet not allowed to stay
for a single instant by his brutal companions, to whom fear lent wings,
because they believed the avengers of blood to be at their heels. Our
unhappy adventurer was hurried along for four and twenty hours more
through the heart of the mountains; and when, at last, they deemed
themselves in a slight degree of safety, they halted on the edge of the
valleys of the Comnaroy, at least 140 miles distant from the scene of
their last outrage.

As if to add to the discomfort of these guilty wretches, the weather,
which had been variable for some time, now settled into a perfect deluge
of wet. The loudest peals of heaven-born artillery reverberated through
the sky. The forked lightnings played around them upon every side in
broad and vivid sheets of flame. The loftiest trees were crashed to the
earth, and the rain descended in such torrents that every small level
spot was converted into a standing pool.

The houseless wretches, who did not even possess the means of stripping
a sheet of bark, the ordinary resource of bushmen in Australia upon such
occasions, were now perfectly miserable. Overpowered with the fatigue of
their superhuman exertions in the hurried flight, they yet could only
rest in a miry pool or snatch brief and dangerous repose by leaning
against trees, liable every instant they did so to be hurried into
eternity by an explosion of the electric fluid. Firing, of course, was
beyond their reach, for had they even succeeded in lighting a scanty
flame, it could endure but few moments beneath such torrents of rain as
continually were falling. Their scanty clothing was quickly drenched and
all their food spoilt, but these they felt to be minor evils compared
to the want of repose, which they one and all so much needed. The vilest
hovel which could afford them shelter would have been hailed with
heartfelt joy as superior to that experienced in the possession of a
palace.

There has been an idea prevalent in almost all bygone ages and nearly
every country under heaven, that men whose crimes have been so atrocious
that they actually seemed to cry aloud to heaven for vengeance, have at
length been utterly cast off as unworthy the divine mercy, and that they
appear even in this world to feel a foretaste of those torments to which
they are doomed, the anguish of which deprives them of reason and
renders their ruin more easy and certain.

The Scottish language has at this day a word expressive of the national
belief in such a doctrine. It is FEY, and is used to designate the
conduct of a man who rushes, as it were, upon destruction; and the old
Romans used to say, QUEM DEUS VULT PERDERE, PRIUS DEMENTAT.

To this notion Ralph Rashleigh ever inclined in his after life from
having witnessed the conduct of the villain Foxley during those dreadful
three days they spent in the Comnaroy swamps. This ruffian, who had by
his own account been repeatedly guilty of every crime that stains the
decalogue and of others so atrocious that they are not named among
Christians, in short, whose soul was so despoiled with blood-stained
guilt that it might have dyed the waters of the vast ocean, was here
delivered up a prey to the sharpest pangs of remorse. Twenty times in a
day would he now exemplify the truth of the sacred word which states
that "the wicked flee when no man pursueth". Often he would seem to have
his staring eye-balls fixed on vacancy, until a strong, fierce
shuddering came over his whole frame, and he fell to the earth, raving
ever that he was being choked, or that dogs were tearing him piecemeal.
Then, after the humble means his colleagues in crime possessed had been
effectually used for his resuscitation, he would start to his feet and
run with frantic speed until his strength was exhausted or his failing
limbs struck against some obstacles that hurled him headlong to the
ground.

During all this time he spoke not one reasonable word, and if either
Smith or McCoy went near him would fix his unspeakably wild eyes upon
their faces as if he knew them not. But when they began to speak kindly
to him, he would glare wildly for a few seconds and at last would get up
and run, or endeavour to strike them to the earth. On the evening of the
third day Ralph overheard a conversation between McCoy and Smith, from
the terms of which it seemed they were at last agreed that their leader
had become hopelessly mad, and they now deliberated whether they had
better kill him. Smith suggested for them to toss up who should do this,
and then, cutting off Foxley's head, go in and deliver it, telling a
plausible tale of the hardships he had perforce to sustain to capture
the ruffian, by which means as this both, or at any rate one of the two,
might at least earn pardon for himself, with the hope of a reward of
freedom or promotion besides.

McCoy did not appear much to relish this plan; but Smith urged so many
cogent arguments in its favour that at last it was mutually agreed to
think over the scheme until morning, and the ruffians withdrew to the
scanty covert of boughs which they had put up to shelter them in some
measure from the pelting of the pitiless storm, which still continued
unabated, and indeed appeared likely to last for many days yet.

Rashleigh had contrived a kind of lair for himself by breaking up a
number of boughs, which he laid on the earth, the larger sticks
downwards, confining them in their places by stakes set upright on each
side, This he roofed with other bare boughs first, and at length
thatched with small leafy twigs tied up in bundles. This very meagre
shelter, however, he did not complete until the evening of the third
day, for it was very troublesome, as he had only a small knife for a stock
of working tools. Yet when completed, the loose sticks beneath permitted
a passage for the water under his body, while the leafy thatch--the leaves
being carefully placed all one way--kept him a little dry overhead. He
proceeded to take an immeasurable quantity of repose, which was so very
needful, especially after the long fatigue and continual drenching he
had received.

It was late on the morning of the fourth day when a great commotion
induced our adventurer to peep out of his bothy. He saw Foxley down,
bleeding profusely, and doubted not that his two compeers had indeed
made up their minds to sacrifice him as they had spoken of doing the
previous night; but he quickly found out it was an accident, induced by
the chief's having started madly up, as before, and fallen over a root.
His head had come in contact with a sharp-pointed stone, cutting a deep
gash above his temple, which his companions were now vainly endeavouring
to close so as to stanch the bleeding, which indeed was profuse; nor was
it until Foxley must have lost nearly two quarts of blood that their
rude bandage produced its wished-for effect.

The wounded bushranger lay nearly three hours in a torpid state; and
when he at length unclosed his eyes, it was evident that reason had
returned, for he spoke in a soft and very low voice, asking McCoy, whom
he addressed by name, where they were; and he seemed much surprised when
he was told the distance they had travelled. After taking a drink of
water, Foxley went once more to sleep, and as the rain had now gone
completely away, the others were enabled to do so likewise, on some
drier part, more agreeably than they had yet done since they left
Richmond. The next day, being the fifth of their sojourn here, during
which time they had had but one meal, Foxley was very hungry; and as his
fellow-marauders felt the assaults of the same enemy, they determined to
set about robbing some settlement in order to obtain provisions. They
therefore followed the banks of the Comnaroy rivulet, not doubting but
that they would discover some stock- or sheep-station, of which there
were a good many to the right of the Bathurst country.

They now turned southwards along the edge of the brook; but it was not
until the forenoon of the next day that they at last descried a small
hut and stockyard, which occupied the centre of a little natural
clearing. The door of the dwelling was open, and smoke was ascending the
chimney.

The bushrangers deliberated together how they might best approach it
without being perceived by the inmates, until they should be too close
for any of them to escape. At length they all made a circuit, by which
they gained the back of the place, still keeping among the trees. Here
Foxley and Smith disencumbered themselves of all their burdens, taking
only a gun in the hand, and pistols in the belt of each; and throwing
themselves on their faces, began to crawl through the grass in that manner.
Rashleigh who was left in the charge of McCoy, was lying down behind a
log, but could see the space around the hut without any difficulty. He
observed that just as the two desperadoes had reached one corner of the
stockyard, a man came out of the dwelling with a whip in his hand, and
now approached a small shed built against the end of it, from which he
led forth a horse ready saddled and bridled. He had his foot in the
stirrup and was apparently about to mount when the two bushrangers stood
up and presenting their pieces at him, ordered him to halt on peril of
death. But the man, just casting one glance at them, vaulted lightly
into the saddle and struck his horse with the spur, so that the animal
bounded off.

After the rider had passed the covert of the hut, he rode within twenty
yards of Foxley and Smith, who again roared out to him to stop; but he
shook his bridle rein, and on sped the active colt he bestrode. Both the
bushrangers fired simultaneously. The rider's hat flew off, pierced by
the slugs from Smith's musket. That the horseman was yet unharmed a loud
cheer soon satisfied all within hearing of it, and he was quickly lost
to view among the trees, riding south at the top of his speed. His
opponents now reloaded their pieces, and calling upon McCoy to join
them, disappeared into the hovel.

When Rashleigh and his guard arrived at the door they found the three
inmates of the hut upon their knees, while Foxley, with a pistol in each
hand, was raving at them and threatening them all with instant death. As
soon as Smith saw McCoy about to enter, he made a significant motion, as
if indicating his disgust at the present proceedings of their leader,
and added a gesture, as if he only sought the assent of his comrade to
fire his piece into Foxley's back.

But McCoy shook his head in disapprobation of this proposal, and instead
of it said to his leader, "I say, Phil, don't be in a passion, but let
us make these crawlers get us a feed ready, for I'm very hungry."

"Is that you, Sandy?" demanded the insane ruffian. "I thought these
beggars had got you taken, and I was just a-going to slaughter them
for it.

"Oh no!" returned the other. "I'm not taken yet! Come, get up, you
chaps, and let us see what you have got to eat." And the trembling
inmates, thus released from the fear of immediate death, began to bustle
about in order to make ready food for these unwelcome visitors.

One of these stockmen was very tall and had a singularly forbidding,
lugubrious expression of countenance, upon which Foxley fixed his eyes
repeatedly, sometimes with a vacant look of interrogation, and at others
with an angry frown. At last his diseased imagination prompted the
bushranger, and he spoke.

"I say, you great long fellow, what's your name?"

The man tremblingly replied, "Allen. William Allen is my name."

"You lie, blast you!" roared the querist; "for you are long Hempenstall,
that used to hang the rebels long ago in Ireland!"

"I am sure, sir," returned the terrified object of this address, "I
never was in Ireland in my life!"

"Now, I say, Sandy," persisted Foxley, "An't it a hard case that such
a varmint of a caterpillar as that should strive to make a man like me
out a liar? I tell you"--to the stockrnan--"you are the walking gallows!
I have heard my father talk about you when I was little, how you used to
go about with ropes, and when the soldiers would catch a couple of
rebels, they would tie them together by the neck and throw them over
your shoulder so that they was choked!"

The poor man here muttered it was not possible it could be him, as he
was only twenty-two years of age.

"There!" roared  the brutal Foxley, cruel even in insanity. "Say so
again, and I'll tear your tongue out by the roots."

"Never mind the long ghost, Phil," now interposed McCoy. "The feed is
ready. Come along!" And he persuaded the ruffian to go to the table.

Before Foxley would begin to eat, however, he pulled a pistol out of his
belt and laid it beside him. And after their meal he roared out for the
object of his suspicious hatred, whom he persisted in calling
Hempenstall, and caused him to sing for his sport; then, taking down a
stockwhip, he flogged him for making ugly faces.

The next vagary he engaged in was making all the three inmates of the
hut dance jigs, he himself repeatedly quickening their steps by lashing
them upon the legs. And these and other diversions he prolonged until
after sunset, in spite of the entreaties of Smith and McCoy, who wished
to be gone from the place, fearing the approach of some assailants, whom
the horseman that had escaped would most probably dispatch to apprehend
them.

To all the desires and urgent requests of Smith and McCoy that he would
leave this hut, Foxley only at first replied by an idiotic laugh; but
when towards nightfall they became more pressing in their instances, he
worked himself into a fury, bidding them begone by themselves. Nor was
it until after dark that he would set off, and even then insisted on
passing the night in a thicket scarcely a mile from the scene of their
last robbery.

Early the next morning the bushrangers were about to proceed, but had
scarcely begun their march before they found there was a camp of native
blacks close at hand, who had obviously seen them first and were now
preparing for the attack. An obstinate conflict ensued before the sable
sons of the forest were sufficiently dispersed to enable the marauders
to pursue their flight; and when at last they gave way in front, they
hung upon the skirts and rear of the route taken by the bushrangers,
frequently discharging a spear or boomerang at one or other of the
white men.

In the afternoon the blacks seemed to relax in their pursuit, and when
at length the fugitives imagined themselves in a place of sufficient
security to warrant their halting, not one of their assailants had been
heard or seen for upward of two hours. The harassing nature of their
day's march, carried on in continual dread, without food since the
previous evening, made rest with a prospect of refreshment very welcome
to all, and each one set himself busily to work to assist in the
preparation of their supper.

They were all engaged in partaking of this meal when suddenly a wild cry
of a most thrilling and savage kind burst from a neighbouring thicket
and a perfect shower of spears and other native missiles rained among
them, some of which knocked both McCoy and Rashleigh over as they sat,
without however very materially injuring either. Smith and Foxley leaped
on their feet and fired into the thicket. A yell of anguish followed the
discharge, which was redoubled when the latter--whose whole conduct
seemed to have undergone a complete change, his reason appearing to
return at the approach of danger--now, with a smile of malignant
satsfaction, seized a fire stick, and calling on his companions to
follow him, set fire to the scrubby thicket that concealed their
enemies.

Smith and McCoy instantly copied his example, running hither and thither
with their blazing brands, until the whole of the seared undergrowth was
in a flame. The breeze, blowing freshly from the west, seconded their
efforts, and the destructive element, flying on the wings of the wind,
soon outstripped the efforts of the unfortunate aborigines to escape.
Many frantic yells testified their agony at the torments by which they
were thus suddenly encircled, and their unconquerable enemy, the fire,
seemed like the hydra, on every hand expanding its devouring jaws to
receive them; while the noise of the advancing flames, as they reared
their fiery heads on high, until with blazing tongues they licked the
tops of the loftiest forest trees, was a perfectly appalling compound of
roaring, crackling and hissing, while ever and anon the explosion of
some small receptacle of pent-up air appeared like a discharge of
musketry.

A few of the boldest of the blacks charged the bushrangers through the
flames, and two or three of them were shot down in the attempt, the
rest scouring away in the direction of their camp, but so fearfully
scorched that it seemed highly problematical whether any of them could
survive. The fire, now having exhausted all it could feed upon in this
neighbourhood, was posting on toward the east, spreading its destructive
ravages on every side and illuminating the sky for many a mile with a
lurid glow.

Foxley, after laughing at the retreating foes in a scornful manner,
said, "They say a burned child dreads the fire. if so, I should think we
might now get our suppers without any fear of them black beggars coming
back to disturb us!"

"I don't know that," remarked McCoy. "Maybe they might come after us the
more now to try for revenge. I've heard say the blacks in this part will
follow any man that does them an injury an hundred miles, but what they
will sarve him out for it!"

"Well, then, maybe so," rejoined Foxley. "All we've got to do is to keep
a sharp look-out, for I don't think they'll be like to sneak upon us
through the scrub any more after the warming they got!" And the party
once more sat down to their food, which they finished in peace; nor were
they again molested during that night.

Having resumed their march next day, they were much surprised about ten
o'clock in the forenoon to hear the baying of several dogs, a
circumstance which the more alarmed them in this solitude, as they had
good reasons for believing they were not nearer than thirty miles to any
habitation of civilized man. They halted and began to ponder.

"By heaven!" exclaimed Smith at last. "The wind is blowing from the
south. Bathurst lies in that direction from here. Those dogs are coming
this way, and it's very likely they are the bloodhounds in search of us;
for they have bloodhounds there. 1 have been hunting the blacks with
them myself!"

The sound grew nearer every instant, and facing to the quarter from
whence it proceeded, they quickly saw several mounted and apparently
well-armed men, who appeared to be galloping on their track, guided as
well by the dogs they had heard as by several blackfellows, some of whom
bore evident marks in their singed heads and scorched appearances of
being those who escaped from the burning scrub the night before. Now,
prompted by revenge and probably also stimulated by promises of reward
from those they led, they were using their keenest sagacity in following
the trail of Foxley and his comrades, whose destruction these sable
warriors absolutely panted for, after the immolation of so many of their
tribe by the hands of the marauders.

"It is those infernal bloodhounds!" cried Foxley to his companions. "And
by all the devils in hell!" he added, as the pursuers drew nearer,
"There's that blasted McGuffin at the head of the party, and the young
Shanavans alongside of him . . . I don't know what you mean to do," added
the ruffian, now rendered desperate, "but I will never be taken alive;
nor I'll not fall by myself either."

McCoy and Smith both swore they would die on the ground they occupied,
and consequently. the bushrangers, shaking hands all round, prepared
themselves for a desperate struggle.

As for Rashleigh, he was now quite neglected, and crept into a thicket
out of the way. Here he lay PERDU behind a log, but could see all that
passed, himself, as he hoped, unobserved.

The spot occupied by the bushrangers was on the rise of a considerable
elevation; between them and the advancing party lay a narrow valley, and
the intermediate space was nearly clear of trees.

McGuffin had now espied his late tormentors, and he shouted out to his
followers, "Here are the murdering, ravishing dogs at last. Hurra! Down
with them, my lads!" And he fired his piece at the head of Foxley as he
spoke, but without effect, for the bushrangers, one and all, were
covered by trees, round which they dodged, so as to prevent a certain
aim being taken at them.

The young Shanavans also united their boyish voices in a cheering hurra,
which was echoed by two mounted policemen that rode beside them. This
party also fired as they advanced; and the latter, flinging their
carbines to the earth, drew their sabres and galloped up the hill
towards the bushrangers, who were now also attacked in their rear by the
party of blacks with volleys of spears and every other native missile
weapon.

The marauders' retreat was thus effectually cut off; but to do the
ruffian Foxley justice, he does not seem to have thought of any such
thing as flight. For he stood unflinchingly and returned the cheer of
the attacking party with one equally loud, shouting out to his comrades
"not to fire till the beggars were close up", an order which he himself
followed so exactly that McGuffin was nearly riding over him before the
bushranger chief pulled the trigger of his piece, and down came his
assailant, horse and man, to the ground.

McGuffin, however, was unwounded, for by checking his steed suddenly
when he saw Foxley's intention, the animal had reared up and received
the discharge in his brain that was intended for his rider, who had
gained his knee in rising again; while Foxley, with his musket clubbed,
was rushing upon him to beat out his brains, when the youngest of the
Shanavans struck the bushranger's weapon out of his hand, and himself to
the earth with the butt end of his gun.

McGuffin seized Foxley as he fell, and a desperate struggle ensued,
neither party being enabled to rise or to obtain any advantage over the
other, while young Shanavan could not strike the bushranger again for
fear of injuring his companion as they rolled over and over the ground.
At length one of the policemen, coming up, seized an opportunity, and
cleft Foxley's skull completely in twain with his weighty sabre, and the
bloodthirsty ruffian thus died without a groan. Yet such was the tenacity
of his grip upon McGuffin's throat that it was found necessary to cut
off his right hand at the wrist and to mangle every one of his fingers
before the other could be freed.

In the mean time Smith had shot one of the advancing policemen dead, but
was in his turn sabred by the same policeman that had given Foxley his
death blow; while McCoy, by whose hand the elder Shanavan had fallen
badly wounded, was knocked down by the younger one, to whom he was at
last forced to yield, being overpowered, disarmed and secured by two or
three others before he could get up.

McGuffin was some time before he recovered the effects of Foxley's death
grip, and when he regained his legs, he apostrophized his now inanimate
enemy. "You wretch, I've paid my vow at last. I've never yet been off a
horse since you DONE it; and I would have hunted you to hell but I'd
have got my revenge." And with that he kicked the prostrate ruffian.

At this moment he saw McCoy in the hands of captors, and raising from
the earth the piece which Foxley had dropped, he rushed towards the
captive bushranger. Those who held McCoy left go their holds, and the
latter, suddenly drawing a pistol from his breast which had escaped
their search, levelled it at McGuffin, and ere the other could close
with him, fired. His opponent fell instantly; but the surviving
policeman, rushing up, cut McCoy down the moment afterwards.

In the mean time, the blacks, in hunting about, had discovered our
unfortunate adventurer's retreat, and dragged him forth to the light.
The other men were now all busily engaged about McGuffin, whose wound,
on being examined, was found not likely to be immediately mortal, and
Rashleigh was led unresistingly by his sable captors to this spot, where
he was quickly recognised by a person present as having formed one of
the party when they robbed the hut on the Comnaroy rivulet; and in spite
of his protestations that he had been the unwilling thrall of the
bushrangers, he was secured in handcuffs.

After a consultation, the victors placed the bodies of Foxley and Smith,
who were quite dead, upon one horse; and those of the policeman and a
constable, who had also been slain in the fray, were bound on another.
McCoy and McGuffin, both severely wounded, were mounted on horseback
before two of the party, their wounds having been first as well bandaged
as circumstances would permit. Young Shanavan attended to his elder
brother, whose wound was not found to be so very severe, and the party
thus began their march to Bathurst, which, journeying slowly, they
reached upon the third day, when Rashleigh was placed in separate
confinement from McCoy.

The inhabitants for many miles round flocked to hear the evidence given
upon the inquest, which took place three days after their arrival. The
dead bodies were placed in an outer shed, McGuffin was brought on a
stretcher from the hospital, and McCoy, tied on an easy chair, was
placed at the bar with our adventurer.

After hearing the evidence of McGuffin and the others, a verdict of
"justifiable homicide" was returned in the case of Foxley and Smith,
while on view of the bodies of the policeman and constable, it was found
that "wilful murder" had been committed by Philip Foxley, Christopher
Smith and Andrew McCoy, the two former of whom were since deceased; and
the latter was held over to take his trial at the next sessions of the
Supreme Criminal Court at Sydney.

Our adventurer, who had not been seen by any of the witnesses during the
affray, and who had been found unarmed after it was over, was next
examined before a magistrate, and his examination ended in his committal
to take his trial at the same time and place with Andrew McCoy, for
bushranging and robbery, both of which at that time were equally capital
offences with the most cold-blooded brutal murder.




Chapter XXIII



THERE ARE MORE THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH, HORATIO,
THAN ARE DREAMED OF IN YOUR PHILOSOPHY.


It was many weeks before McCoy was judged sufficiently out of danger to
travel, in the tender estimation of the medical gentlemen, who were
most assiduous in their attention to him, so that he might be
sufficiently recovered to grace the gallows with proper ÉCLAT. At
length they set forward in a bullock-cart, well guarded by a posse of
mounted police. Both Rashleigh and the other were heavily ironed, and at
their departure, so far from attracting any execrations from the crowd
that had assembled to see them set out, most of the bystanders seemed to
pity them very much; and what our adventurer thought more strange than
all, the women in particular gave vent to many tears of commiseration,
especially devoted to McCoy, whose yet languid motions and pallid
features showed the severity of the sufferings occasioned by his wound;
and many were the gifts of money, tobacco, spirits and provisions that
were made to the prisoners before they left Bathurst.

They were ten days in journeying about a hundred miles, resting at
lock-up houses, the quarters of road gangs, or the various military
stations on the mountains, frequently passing large parties of their
fellow-convicts, either with or without irons on their legs, who were
employed in the formation of those stupendous roads which traverse that
once impassable district. As often as any of these men expressed their
sympathy with the prisoners, whose death by the hangman all looked upon
as certain, McCoy would reply in accents of triumph,

"Well, I've had a merry life, if 'twas only a short one; and I'd go and
be hanged a hundred times over rather than drudge like slaves as you
chaps are doing now." And he would sometimes add, "Why don't you all
turn out like men, and then the blasted tyrants would soon be put an end
to?"

The corporal in charge of the escort was asked by an overseer on the
road why he did not stop this kind of talk, as it was obviously inciting
the minds of those who heard it to mutiny, to which query he replied,
laughing, "Why, how can I hinder the poor devil from talking? He's got
but a very little while longer to live, and it would be a pity not to
let him spout away as he likes. Besides," and here the speaker assumed a
most comically knowing look, "don't you know, friend, that the more
runaways there are, the more REWARDS there will be for taking them; and
if there were no bushrangers, what would be the use of the mounted
police?"

This settled the matter apparently to the satisfaction of the other,
who, no doubt, like many of his brother convict overseers, had not the
least objection to earn a pound now and then by taking any such men as
he could first persuade to run away; and a large sum of money was then
annually paid in reward, for apprehending men who had absconded, to such
personages as the speaker, who afterwards gave a small portion of the
bonus to those whom they had taken.

Journeying in this manner, they at length reached the lock-up at
Penrith, where Ralph was quickly recognised as having not long before
belonged to Emu Plains. Among a crowd that had assembled to look at the
remains of "Foxley's gang" our adventurer soon observed those three
girls that had acted so prominent a part with the bushrangers at
Richmond. They were now very much OVER-dressed in the spoils acquired at
the robbery of Shanavan's place, which had led to the unremitting
pursuit that resulted in the capture of their former acquaintances.

These frail fair ones pressed to the side of the vehicle and seemed to
vie with each other in expressions of tenderness towards McCoy, as well
as lamentations over his present position and the unhappy fate of his
companions.

The constables at length removed the prisoners, and Rashleigh and his
associate in misfortune were now for the first time since their capture
locked up together by themselves.

McCoy began a conversation by asking Ralph, "Well, what do you think
of it now? Would it not have been as well for you to have joined Phil
Foxley and the rest of us at first, seeing that you led the LIFE of a
dog all the while you was with us, and now, in spite of all you can say,
you are sure to die the DEATH of one."

To this cheering as well as SENSIBLE speech, our adventurer only
replied, "As for death, it must come sooner or later, and though I have
no great fancy for the gallows, I have quite as much liking for THAT as
I have for such a wretched life of cruelty and crime, attended by
frequent starvation and toil, as was led by the scoundrel Foxley and
those that were with him."

"You dared not call him a scoundrel while he lived," replied McCoy, "and
you are an unmanly rascal to do so now."

"Hark ye, McCoy," said Ralph, who began to grow enraged, "I'd have you
to know that if Foxley had been alone with me, unarmed as I was, or if I
had been able once to have laid hold of a loaded musket while I was with
him, he would have found out what Ralph Rashleigh dared to do. And as
for YOU, were it not for your weakness, I would just this instant
beat your brains out against that wall to repay you for your treatment
me when I was helpless."

McCoy jumped up, and throwing off his jacket, cried, "Come on, you
crawling beggar, I'll soon let you see how weak I am."

A hundred recollections of this man's ill usage during his career of
crime, when he had his ruffian associates to assist him, crowded upon
the mind of our adventurer, and maddened by fury at these thoughts,
Ralph rushed upon him.

Rashleigh knew nothing of what is called the science of pugilism, in
which McCoy was very expert. Thus, in spite of his superior strength,
our exile was likely to get the worst of it, until exerting himself
suddenly, he beat down his antagonist's guard, and seizing his head by
the ears, bore him back into a corner, where he pounded the unlucky
McCoy's skull against the wall until the other roared for mercy, and the
turnkey came in, who wanted to know what the matter was. But as McCoy
did not tell him, Rashleigh would not. The official then enquired which
of the two was called McCoy, and this question being replied to, the
janitor asked what the other would stand provided he were to allow one
of the TITTERS (girls) that was outside to pass the night with him.

To this McCoy replied that he would give a pound. The turnkey grinned
acquiescence and withdrew. But when it became quite dark the door again
opened, and the young woman who has before been spoken of as McCoy's
sweetheart made her ENTRÉE, bringing a basket with her, while the
SCREWSMAN, who followed her with a quantity of bedding, said, as he
placed the latter on the floor, "There's your SISTER, young fellow; and
here's all the bedstuff I can muster for the three of you, so you must
do the best you can."

He then retired, carefully securing the massy fastenings of several
doors as he went out.

McCoy and his "ladye love" after many endearments, began to converse in
a low tone; and in a short time, a candle being lighted, a quantity of
provisions and two bottles of spirits were produced from the basket,
which the young woman invited Rashleigh to share.

He declined to do so very abruptly, but she said, "Why, I hope you an't
any ways offended with me. And if you and Sandy have had a few words or
a blow or two, that's nothing . . . Surely you can make it up again,
especially as you have not got long to be together, at any rate."

McCoy then observed, "You may as well not quarrel with the victuals, but
come and get some, for maybe you won't get another chance soon."

Rashleigh at length consented to share the meal, in the course of which
the girl remarked that it just put her in mind of her LAST sweetheart's
last night on earth, for he was then confined in Windsor lock-up and was
shot dead in an attempt to escape from it early next morning. This young
woman proved herself to be perfectly AU FAIT and well inured to scenes
like the present, nor did she appear to be at all cast down at the
thoughts of the fate that was in store for McCoy, whom she only exhorted
to "die like a trump, and SPLIT (tell) nothing."

In fact, it seemed great part of her present errand to ascertain whether
there was any probability of either McCoy or Rashleigh betraying herself
and family for harbouring the marauders while they were in the bush or
for receiving the property they had stolen from Shanavan's, part of
which she now wore. After she had apparently satisfied herself that no
danger was to be apprehended from McCoy, she led the conversation to the
nature of the charge against our adventurer, and said to her lover that
if he thought fit, he could get the young man out of it, as it was
pretty generally understood he had never taken a very active part in
committing depredations.

To this McCoy replied, with an oath, that "he'd be BLOWED if he would
though, or any crawler like him. . . No, no, Soph," continued the
desperado. "Let the beggar DIE as well as me, and then he CAN'T tell any
tales!"

Upon this the girl dropped her endeavours, and after having drunk the
spirits among them, all three lay down to rest.

The next morning "Soph" took a tender leave of her paramour, promising
to follow them to Sydney in a day or two; and then, turning to
Rashleigh, she observed, "I hope you won't bring anybody else into
trouble, young fellow, for that won't do you any good; but if you must
die, do so like a man!"

Ralph assured her that whatever might be his fate, he would never turn
informer. They then parted; nor did the latter ever see this fair
specimen of frailty more.

In the space of two days from this our criminals reached the old gaol of
Sydney, a building of which it has often been remarked that if the
sentries and fetters did not keep the prisoners from breaking out, the
strength of the edifice never would. The inmates of this pandemonium may
be far better conceived than described, especially when it is reflected
that as New South Wales was the proper receptacle for the offscourings
of villainy from three mighty kingdoms and all their vast dependencies,
so this CHOICE den was the great cesspit for the moral filth of the
convict colony; and, of course, all undreamed-of and scarcely imaginable
wickedness flourished within these walls in its fullest and rankest
luxuriance of growth.

The authorities invested with the command of the gaol, confining their
whole ideas of prison discipline to the mere safe custody of the
offenders committed to their charge, did not greatly trouble themselves
what enormities they were guilty of among themselves; and of this
Rashleigh and his companion soon received ample proof, for no sooner had
they arrived within the doors of the room to which they were ushered than
every article of clothing was torn from their backs by the mere force of
numbers. and they were left completely naked save for the rags they had
tied round their legs to keep their fetters from chafing them, and in
which Ralph had taken care to conceal his small stock of cash.

Their plunderers however restored them a few articles of their clothing
after they had been minutely searched for money, and the new-comers were
then declared free of H. M. Gaol at Sydney, which was understood to mean
that they were thenceforward at liberty to do unto others even as they
had been done unto.

The apartment in which they were confined was about forty feet long and
twenty feet wide. In this were huddled generally, during the period of
our adventurer's confinement, not less than 120 human beings of all
ages, from the hoary scoundrel of sixty to the not less villainous scamp
of sixteen, and here Rashleigh was plunged into deeper despair than ever
at the contemplation of his future lot, which, even if life itself were
spared, appeared to be the doom of passing all the remaining portion of
it in the society of ruffians like these he now saw. In thoughts of this
kind days lengthened into weeks, and the hour of trial was rapidly
approaching.

Ralph Rashleigh was moodily contemplating the probable issue of this,
his second appearance at the bar as a capitally criminal offender, when
one morning, as he walked for the short allotted space in the prison
yard, a turnkey halloed his name most lustily, and he went to the hall
door. Here he saw McGuffin, their captor, accompanied by a female whose
face he thought he knew, which was shortly afterwards assured to him by
the former observing, "This is my wife, young man, Miss Shanavan that
was." And the young woman rejoined, "Yes, and I am come to see you, for
I have not forgotten the cruel knock on the head you got from that
wretch that's dead for trying to save me and my poor sister."

Here she burst into tears, but McGuffin added, "We have brought you a
few things to comfort you, for though I did not see you get the blow my
wife speaks of, yet I can believe her, because I know I should not have
got away from that blasted gang of scoundrels if you had not turned
obstinate on Foxley's hands; so if I can do you any good on your trial,
I will do it with pleasure." They then went away, and Rashleigh felt
much relieved by their visit, because he conceived the proffered
evidence of McGuffin might be very serviceable to his case.

The eventful day at length arrived. McCoy was first placed upon his
trial. He persisted in pleading guilty, for he said, or rather shouted,
from the dock, "What's the use of being humbugged by such a set of
blasted old wretches as that judge and jury? They are determined to hang
me, 1 know; and I don't care a curse for it! The only thing I am sorry
for now is that I was so merciful when I was out; for if 1 had killed a
score or two more they could only have TOPPED me at last!"

Here he was stopped with some difficulty, and the learned judge
commenced passing the sentence of death upon him, during which, however,
he was repeatedly interrupted by the prisoner in the coarsest language;
and the latter, when all was over, commenced pouring forth a torrent of
ribaldry, obscenity and abuse on all and sundry, it finally requiring
the united efforts of four strong constables to drag him from the bar by
main force.

Rashleigh's case came next. He was charged with being present, aiding
and abetting in the commission of a robbery attended with violence, he
being at the time a runaway convict. The evidence of one of the men
belonging to the hut on the Comnaroy was now taken, and was supported by
that of McGuffin as to his apprehension. The prisoner being called on
for his defence, he related the manner in which he had at first been
taken by the bushrangers, and called upon McGuffin to prove what he had
seen, in testimony of his being only their unwilling agent. The latter
stated what had taken place at Shanavan's, coupled with the fact of
Ralph's not bearing arms at the time of the affray that led to
their capture.

The learned judge summed up, leaving it to the jury to say whether it
was possible the prisoner could have been compelled for so long a period
to remain with these lawless men unless he had wished to do so, or
whether he might not have escaped from them, if he had thought fit, at
some time. The jury apparently did not require much time for
consideration. They merely whispered together and returned a verdict of
"Guilty", upon which the wretched criminal clasped his hands together
over his face and quite lost all sense of feeling. The Chief justice
addressed an eloquent harangue to the convicted felon, but he heard it
not; and when all was passed, he followed the turnkey out of the dock
mechanically.

So completely was he entranced by his wretched doom that the full period
of fourteen days had elapsed, during which he remembered nothing
whatever, that term being quite blotted out of his memory, and he did
not return to consciousness until the day fixed for his execution. The
morning sun beamed brightly on the floor of his cell through the open
door, and the clergyman in his robes stood without, ready to accompany
him to the place of death.

The dread reality now poured upon his mind like a flood. He looked at
the cavalcade that were in waiting; but the detested form of the
hangman, bearing some of the appurtenances of his revolting office,
seemed to fill the whole field of his vision after his eye had once
rested on him. Nor could he withdraw his gaze, although the sensation of
loathing that seized upon his soul was indescribable. The voice of the
prison chaplain now sounded in his cars. The principal turnkey entered
his cell, and gently taking his arm, led him forth.

It was a lovely day, and from the terraced esplanade in front of his
cell door, on which they now stood, could be seen all the varied
beauties of flood and fell that adorn the scenery of Port Jackson and
far away, even the blue surface of that vast field of waters that
severed the exile from his native land. Short was the gaze, however,
that was permitted to the doomed wretch, who deemed he had now too
surely looked his last upon the outer world.

The melancholy procession was quickly formed. McCoy. supported by two
Presbyterian ministers, went foremost, followed by Rashleigh and the
Protestant clergyman. They were attended by the Sheriff, the officers of
the gaol, and a very few strangers, led by curiosity, perhaps, to
witness the parting struggles of an immortal spirit ere it was finally
severed from its frail tenement of clay. The divines became more
impressive in their exhortations and more earnest in their petitions for
mercy to the unhappy souls about to depart, as the sad train entered the
gallows yard, around which were ranged many files of prisoners, most
part of them heavily ironed, who were always thus drawn up to witness
the last expiation of the crimes of their fellows.

Many of these who stood near paid their parting adieux to the condemned,
and the foot of the fatal tree was now attained. The turnkey, who had
not hitherto ceased to support the powerless frame of our unhappy
adventurer, here left his side for an instant. Ralph tottered and would
certainly have fallen had not the executioner hastily stepped up, seized
his arm, and cried, "Keep up your heart, my cock; it will soon be over!"

This rude mode of consolation, in some measure, recalled the strength of
the doomed man, who shrunk from the touch of the abhorred official as he
would have done from contact with a serpent. His comrade in suffering
was now placed on the dread platform, and Rashleigh, nerving himself as
for a last effort, ran, rather than walked, up the flight of steps.

Within a few feet of him, outside the wall, were a crowd of the
townspeople, who stood upon a flat piece of rock that almost overhung
the area occupied by the engine of death; and these about to die could
hear their conversation as plainly as the words of the ministers of
grace, who were pouring the hopes of salvation through the merits of a
crucified redeemer into ears about to be closed for ever.

Yes, here were assembled the gay, the idle, the thoughtless and the
profligate, amusing themselves with--at best--the unmeaning nothings of
ordinary gossip, full in view of two fellow-beings for whom in ten
minutes time would have passed away and eternity, that dread and
undefinable abyss, would have opened its bosom to receive them. Nor
were there wanting among this assemblage beings in the garb of females,
who vented ribald jokes and disgusting tirades of obscenity to their
compartions, levelled either at the appearance of the unhappy convicts
or that of those who with them occupied the fell apparatus of death.

Ralph Rashleigh beheld the scene with dim and glazing eyes, for he felt
as if already the hand of death had clasped his soul in its icy grip.
The executioner had now adjusted the rope round the neck of his
companion, and according to custom, was about to shake hands with his
victim, when McCoy, throwing the whole weight of his body forward,
pushed the detested functionary with such force that he reeled and fell
from the fatal platform, a distance of at least sixteen feet, into the
paved courtyard beneath, while the criminal no sooner heard the fall
than he exclaimed, "There, you beggar, I hope I've broke your blasted
neck."

A clamour of applause burst from the assembled convicts beneath, which
yet resounded in the cars of Rashleigh when, without the least note of
preparation, the drop fell. The thundering noise of that awful engine
was the last sound of which our adventurer was conscious for many weeks;
and when he again returned to a sense of his suffering and sorrowful
existence, he was stretched upon a sick bed in the gaol hospital, where
he soon learned that his life had been spared at the intercession of Mrs
McGuffin, who had gone personally to the Governor with a petition on his
behalf, in consequence of which his sentence had been commuted to a
period of three years' labour at the penal settlement of Newcastle.




Chapter XXIV



FOR HIM NO WRETCHES, BORN TO WORK AND WEEP,
EXPLORE THE MINE, OR TEMPT THE DANGEROUS DEEP.


A second sessions of the Supreme Court from that of Rashleigh's
condemnation was now proceeding, and by the time it had ceased, our
adventurer was judged sufficiently recovered to be forwarded to the place
of his destination. Accordingly, one day, shortly after the termination
of the trials, about 130 miserable beings, among whom, of course, was our
adventurer, were linked to a long chain and marched through the streets,
heavily ironed and strongly guarded, until they reached the public wharf,
where a small colonial coasting vessel called the ALLIGATOR was then
lying in readiness to receive them.

They were duly marched on board and were stripped quite naked before they
were permitted to descend into the hold, that appeared to have been
prepared for their reception, a rough floor having been laid over the
shingle ballast. As fast as each man got below he was secured by his
fetters to a chain, which in its rum was strongly fastened to the
planking beneath, so that it was absolutely impossible for him to walk,
even if the height of their place of confinement had permitted such a
motion. But this was by no means the case, as, from Rashleigh's
description of it, the distance from the floor to the upper deck could
not have been more than three and a half feet at the furthest, and the
vessel being very small, the number of men referred to were actually
squeezed in so tight that it was perfectly impossible for them to be in
any other position than upon their sides, while from their close
proximity one to the other, they quickly began to perspire so profusely
that reeks of vapour almost as dense as smoke could be perceived rolling
up the hatchway, the closing of which, if it were but for half an hour,
must have resulted in inevitable suffocation to the whole herd of hapless
wretches.

Ralph had read a great deal respecting the horrors of the slave trade,
but never until now had he any faint conception of the shocking reality;
and the only thing from which he could draw consolation was that as they
had got but about a hundred miles in all to sail, the voyage and
consequent suffering would be but of brief duration.

In a short time the vessel unmoored and the wind being fair, soon cleared
the harbour and got out to sea, where a fresh gale appeared to be
blowing; for the ALLIGATOR pitched heavily and shipped many billows,
which, of course, making their way through the open hatchway into the hold,
were at first hailed with delight by the parched sufferers below, whose
feverish bodies were cooled by this immersion in the briny fluid. But in a
little while the water increased in their prison to such an extent that they
were obliged to adopt very painful positions in order to keep their heads
above it. For several hours did this continue, until the captain was
obliged by a shift of wind to put into a haven under his lee called
Broken Bay; and then the unhappy convicts thought themselves fortunate in
having the water pumped off, leaving them the wet floor to repose upon.

In brief, their voyage lasted forty-eight hours, during which period they
were parched with thirst, very few being so fortunate as to obtain a
single drink of water. Half a rotten and mouldy biscuit to each man
formed their sole sustenance; and to crown all, they were cramped into a
noxious hole, rather than hold, where the mephitic vapour arising from
the breath of 130 men was increased by ordure, urine and excrement of
every kind, among which the sufferers lay perforce.

This scene of complicated horrors, the intensity of which was in no whit
lessened by the ruthless character of the inmates of this floating hell,
was at length brought to a close by their arrival at Newcastle, where
they shortly afterwards landed, naked as they were, upon the beach, and
were compelled to perform sundry very necessary ablutions before their
clothing was returned to them.

Here they remained until they were inspected by the military commandant,
a personage of stern and uncompromising severity, the absolute rigour of
whose sway well merited the appellation bestowed upon him of "King of the
Coal River." Immediately on the close of this muster they were told off
to various scenes of labour; and it fell to the lot of Rashleigh, with
seventeen others, to be drafted for employment in the OLD coal mine, so
called to distinguish it from another shaft, which had been recently
commenced.

At the mouth of this work they were received by an overseer, the natural
fierceness of whose grim physiognomy was not lessened by a plentiful
griming of coal dust. He quickly called his clerk "to take the
likenesses" of those whose ill fortune had newly subjected them to his
oppression. The clerk, a miserable, half-starved, downcast-looking,
ragged being, soon performed his avocation with fear and trembling at the
oft-repeated rude threats of his stern superior, and the men were lowered
consecutively into the darksome orifice that appeared to gape for them.

On their arrival at the bottom of the chasm, a scene that had at least
novelty to recommend it to our adventurer met his wondering gaze. Seven
low passages appeared, that opened into the space around the termination
of the shaft. They were dimly illuminated by small lamps; but at the
farther extremity of each avenue there was a perfect coruscation of
blazing lights, in front of which various groups of men were plying
different branches of their thrift in toilsome haste, their extra
diligence being apparently occasioned by the presence of the superior who
had received the new-comers, a specimen of whose brutality they had an
early opportunity of witnessing; for no sooner had he landed ftom the
SKEP (bucket) in which he descended than his vigilant eye rested on one
of the waggons that a party of prisoners had dragged along one of the
passages. This not being filled to his liking, he, without any ceremony,
but with many distasteful terms of abuse and energetic oaths, began to
lay about him with a stout cudgel he carried, and dispensed his forcible
favours so heartily that in a few seconds not one of the luckless gang
belonging to the waggon in question was standing erect. After having
thus knocked them all down, he began next to beat them until they arose
again, and fairly cudgelled them off out of sight with the waggon.

On his return after this AGREEABLE exercise, rather out of breath, he
turned his attention to the new-comers, and dividing them into parties of
six, he gave each subdivision charge of a waggon; and these led the way
through one of the long galleries, followed by the waggons, until they
all arrived at the end, which was an open area of considerable extent,
where two or three large fires of coal were burning, by whose light,
aided by that of their lamps; the miners were delving out masses of coal,
at an immense heap of which he finally paused, directing a man who
appeared to be overseer of this part of the work, to "take the new chums
in charge, and set them on". This was quickly done. They were told to
fill their waggons with coal, to draw them back to die opening, and there
to upset the contents as the man at the shaft should direct them.

They continued to do this, stimulated by the blows and threats of their
harsh taskmaster, until night, when each received a small portion of
boiled grains of maize and much less rotten salt beef, which, with water,
formed their whole food. The wretched miners soon after lay down in any
part of the works they thought fit, bedding being here totally unknown
except to the deputy overseers, and clothing of any kind whatever unworn
by the workmen. In fact, the extreme heat of this subterranean place of
abode, arising from want of air, and enhanced by the numerous fires
maintained, would have rendered the lightest apparel an encumbrance. As
for beds or blankets, there were various heaps of sand, which, being
loose, were soft enough; and on these such of the convicts as were
curious about lying LUXURIOUSLY used to repose themselves.

The luckless wretches condemned to this kind of labour only left the mine
once a week, on Saturday afternoons, when they were all drawn up and
compelled to wash themselves and their clothing in the salt water;
and after the latter articles wEre dry, all were marched to the convict
barracks, where they abode until daylight on Monday morning, at which
period they resumed their labour.

The first Saturday afternoon of our adventurer's sojourn at this
miserable spot, as they were all bathing together in the sea, he noticed
that not one of those who had been there longer than himself was without
certain highly significant marks upon the back or breech, most
frequently, indeed, on both, that told of the recent and severe
application of the CAT. A man to whom he remarked that "punishment was
plentiful enough here apparently", replied with a grin, "Aye. There's
plenty of THAT, anyway; and so you will say soon, for to-morrow is PAY
day."

Ralph did not choose to ask any further questions, and they were soon
after, to the number of five hundred, shut up in a spacious room of the
prisoners' barracks, where they were left to pass the night on the floor
as they thought fit.

Just at dawn the next day, BEING SUNDAY, they were aroused by the hoarse
voice of a convict barrack officer, who turned them out into the yard of
that edifice, where they were all drawn up around some implements, which
the increasing light soon showed Rashleigh were triangles for securing
men about to be flogged. Beside these implements was placed a table, at
which sat apparently a clerk; and four scourgers stood beside the
triangles, having their instruments of torture laid in fell array upon a
long bench near them.

Our exile had scarcely completed his survey of all these dread
preparations when the clash of arms and the roll of a drum announced the
approach of the haughty potentate who was to set all this machinery of
suffering in motion. An opening was quickly made in the ranks of
assembled convicts, and the "Captain" marched in, attended by a
sergeant's guard of soldiers, who fell into a double rank behind him as
he took his sEat at the table.

"Dash my old rags," said a fellow standing near Rashleigh, upon observing
that the commandant was dressed in his suit of full regimental uniform.
"Look out, my lads! The COVE has got on his fighting jacket. It's a-going
to be a regular field day!" And full many a wretch who knew the
signification and truth of this prediction writhed HIs back in
anticipation of the warm infliction so many of them were doomed to taste
ere long.

The clerk now opened his book. The overseer of the coal mines was first
called on. He made his appearance, and a loutish reverence, to the awful
authority, who ordered him sternly to begin his punishment list.

"Charles Chattey" stood foremost on this black beadroll, and when this
name was shouted by the stentorian lungs of one of the scourgers, a
little duck-legged Londoner stood forth.

"What's he been doing?" enquired the "Captain".

"Neglected his work, Your Honour," was the brief reply.

"One hundreds lashes," was the equally prompt sentence. And the luckless
wight was stripped and tied up in a twinkling at one of the triangles.

Three others were TRIED in as many minutes and took their places at the
remaining sets.

The drummer, having received the signal, began to tap his drum in a slow
and deliberate manner, marking time for the lashes, as they were
inflicted by the willing and brawny arms of the flagellators, who were
selected for this office from among the most muscular prisoners that
would accept such a hideous berth, which, as before remarked, entailed
upon them ever after the execrations of their fellow-convicts. And even
while they held it, in this place, they were looked upon with distrust by
their superiors, a constable always standing behind the back of the
operating scourger with a stout stick, with which he scrupled not to
strike the striker when his blows did not fall heavily enough upon the
back of the culprit who was undergoing punishment.

In short, not to dwell too long upon so revolting a scene, about fifty
men received more or less lashes, but none fewer than 75, the commandant
at the same time vigilantly superintending the infliction of the scourge,
and frequently, towards the conclusion, stimulating the nearly jaded
floggers to increased exertion by threats of punishing themselves. Nor
was this ceremony concluded until long after nine o'clock, when the men
in the ranks were dismissed to their wretched breakfast of boiled corn
grains, half a pound of which, with an equal quantity of very badly cured
meat, formed the daily allowance of each convict.

With reference to the above examinations, as they were called, it is to
be observed that the ceremony of an oath to the truth of the complaints
being deemed superfluous, so, in like manner, was the form dispensed
with, of asking the unlucky wretches charged with misdeeds what defence
they had to make. The convict overseers simply stated their causes of
complaint, when a sentence of some kind followed immediately as a mere
routine of duty.

The next day Ralph Rashleigh returned to the darksome scene of his
labours in the mine; and all that week himself and his companions wrought
at removing the huge pile of coal to the shaft. This was only completed
by dint of extra haste, under the threats of dire punishment, in case of
failure, from their overseers, in time to admit of their leaving the mine
with the others on the ensuing Saturday. On the day following this the
commandant performed his usual Sabbath morning's service, when more than
four thousand lashes were "served out" as they called it, among about
fifty men. This day was subsequently spent like the other Sunday. namely,
in lounging about the large hall of the prisoners' barracks, to which they
were restricted when out of the mine, where they resumed their labour
next morning, Ralph being that day attached to another party, whose duty
it was among them to deliver a certain quantity of coals at the pit's
mouth daily, failing which, in the briefly expressive language of the
overseer, "they'd be flogged till they did".

In this dreary mode did our unhappy adventurer spend nine tedious months
of starvation and unremitting labour, during which period he received 650
lashes for deficiency in the allotted task and other trivial offences. At
length, he was one Sunday brought before the commandant on a charge of
incorrigible laziness preferred by the principal overseer of the coal
mine, and that officer administered one hundred lashes to him as a
parting salute, directing that he should on the following day be sent to
work naked in the limeburners' gang.

After receiving his punishment, our exile was delivered into the care of
the gaoler in order that he might be confined until he was forwarded to
the place of punishment specified in his sentence; and the same afternoon
an incident occurred which perhaps may afford to the reader some slight
idea of the state of affairs in Newcastle at that period.



The commandant had six milch cows allowed to him for the supply of his
household. So much of their produce as was not consumed in the state of
milk was set aside and the cream taken off it to be manufactured into
butter for his table. After this was skimmed, the refuse was given to the
pigs; but there was a young scamp of a convict boy, who belonged to a
party allotted for the service of supplying "Government house" (the
commandant's residence) with fuel, and this youngster, as it appeared,
was in the habit of watching his opportunity, as soon as the skimmed milk
was given to the inhabitants of the sty, when he would insinuate himself
into their society to partake of the luscious meal.

The poor pigs seemed not to thrive so well as they might have been
expected to do, while jack the woodboy got as round as a butt; and the
commandant's lady, who commiserated the lean state of her favourites--for
she was very partial to pork--thought some surreptitious means must be
resorted to in defrauding them of their dinners, which she resolved to
see given to them herself for the future. Strange to say, even this
tender solicitude did not seem to produce the wished-for effect. The dame
was certain that they DID get their food; and yet they got no fatter. At
last an accident unveiled the mystery.

The commandant, upon this day, in returning to the house from the garden,
heard an outcry in the pigsty. As he passed the back of it, looking over,
he perceived an ancient sow, who had been named Lucy in HONOUR
of his lady, and she, being naturally irate at the injustice of the
horrid peculations she had daily witnessed, seemed at length to have
screwed up her courage to the sticking point, and was no longer to be
kept away from the trough by the intruder that had taken possession of
it, and who, alternately swilling the wash and kicking the rightful owner
to keep her off, now lay at full length enjoying this DELICIOUS mess.

The commandant, equally enraged with the ill-used animal, had yet the
prudence to suppress his wrath for a few minutes, because he was so
placed that although he could see part of a human body in the sty, yet he
could not tell who it was, and if he had spoken, the intruder might
easily escape without his being able either to stop him or see his face.

Under these afflicting circumstances, the grave and haughty commander
felt himself called upon for exertion; and he ACTUALLY RAN round the
house, through the hall, calling lustily upon his lady, who followed him
to the back yard, full of wonder at what could be the matter; when lo,
right before the pigsty, the commandant halted, puffing and blowing with
the unusual exertion. His lady joined him there. The angry officer, quite
out of breath, could only point at the depredator, who, unaware of the
approach of any interruption, still continued to enjoy his unhallowed
meal.

"Oh, you scoundrel!" shrieked the lady.

The detected pig robber raised his head. Horror upon horrors, his eye
caught that of the commandant, who roared out for a constable, whom he
sent off for the scourgers, resolving that this atrocious offence should
meet equally prompt and condign punishment.

In a few seconds six flagellators, bearing their cats and triangles,
hastened to the spot. Jack was seized up by the wrists and feet.

"Give him a hundred!" roared the commandant, and observing that the
officiating flogger only pulled off his frock, he ordered him also to
doff his shirt and stationed another scourger behind the man who was
about to punish the delinquent, with orders, if the first did not do his
duty, that he was to FLOG him. The punishment now began; but whether it
was owing to the obstinacy of the culprit or the fear of the flagellator
preventing his exertion, Jack endured four or five lashes without
wincing, far less crying out.

"Harder, sir, harder yet!" roared the commandant, who now quite lost
his patience; and he ordered the second flogger to set on flogging the
first.

Still the woodboy scorned to betray any pain, until the "Captain" cursed
and swore like a maniac that neither one nor the other of the scourgers
was striking at all! And he set a third operator to punish the second, a
fourth to punish the third, and so on, until the whole six scourgers were
pegging away at the backs of each other, the first one flogging the
woodboy, and the commandant himself lashing the last with his horsewhip.
Under these extraordinary circumstances, no regard was of course paid to
the number of lashes inflicted, and it was not until the "King of the
Coal River" was quite worn out that the scene terminated by his
dismissing all the scourgers upon the spot and sentencing the woodboy to
work at the limeburners, by which means Ralph Rashleigh came into
possession of the tale.




Chapter XXV



POOR WRETCH! THE MOTHER THAT HIM BORE,
IF SHE HAD BEEN IN PRESENCE THERE,
SHE HAD NOT KNOWN HER CHILD.


In pursuance of the latter part of the last sentence passed by the
commandant upon Ralph Rashleigh, he was stripped perfectly naked the
ensuing morning, being allowed, however, to retain a portion of his shirt
to serve as a garment, similar to the manner of the fig-leaf aprons of
our first parents. He was then loaded with another pair of leg irons in
addition to those which he had constantly worn since his arrival at
Newcastle, and being now placed on board a lime punt in the charge of a
constable, was transferred to the north shore of the Coal river, a spot
equally sterile and forbidding in appearance to that which he had left,
both being mere hummocks of sand, scantily clad with verdure of a
peculiar nature consisting only of patches--like angels' visits, few and
far between--of couch grass and a few stunted bushes.

But the naked misery of the limeburners was even worse than that of the
side on which the settlement stood, the latter being at least redeemed in
some degree from the dull monotony of absolute barrenness by a patch or
two of garden ground, beside the bustle incidental to a place which
contained full fifteen hundred convicts, some of whom were perpetually
passing to and fro. Here, on the contrary, were no gardens and only two
ranges of wretched hovels, enclosed within a tall palisade of strips made
from the outer coat of the cabbage palm.

At the moment of Ralph's arrival the miserable beings who were stationed
here, being all of them exiles and outcasts even from the horrors of
Newcastle, sent from THENCE for PUNISHMENT, were busily employed loading
boats with marine shells that were burned but not slacked for making
lime. This was done, amid coarse vituperation and oft-repeated blows from
the convict overseers, by carrying the shells in baskets into the boats,
in which the cargoes were stowed in bulk.

Rashleigh had no sooner landed than a basket was given to him. He was
ordered to go on with the rest; and when he ventured to urge the soreness
of his back from the receipt of a hundred lashes only the day before as a
reason why he ought to be put to something else for a short time, the
wretch to whom he applied, pretending at first to look very
compassionate, asked to see the sore place. When Ralph, with great pain,
withdrew the rag from it that he had applied, being the only dressing
within his reach, this brute in human shape threw a handful of lime, that
he had held concealed, upon the festering sore, and then bestowed a smart
cut with his stick upon the suffering spot, bidding the poor fellow,
"Begone to your work, you blasted crawling caterpillar, or I'll soon
serve you ten times worse than that."

Rashleigh was thus fain to take his basket; and though the agitation of
the waves soon drenched his sore with salt water, when the slackening lime
hissed red-hot among his excoriated flesh, giving him a degree of agony
that may far better be imagined than described, he was obliged to keep on
at the run until ten o'clock at night; when the last of the boats being
loaded, the weary starving wretches, who had now been sixteen hours at
unremitted hard work, were at length permitted to withdraw to their as
wretched abode, to pass the hours of rest in the best manner they could.
Happy was he who had a pile of dry seaweed, and could cajole the
overseers into permission to let him keep it. But this was indeed a rare
luxury. Perhaps not five out of the 150 men that were then employed at
this fit prototype of the infernal regions could boast of any kind of
accommodation whatever to lie upon, save the rough slabs that formed the
sleeping places.

To give any idea of the state of suffering that was endured by the
emaciated wretches about twenty years since at this spot far exceeds the
descriptive powers of the author of this tale. Let the reader, however,
conceive it from the following brief delineation of some of the
circumstances attending a sojourn there, gathered from the different
persons consulted as authorities, the most favourable of whose
representations have been selected.

In the first place, no clothing save the apron before mentioned, or any
bedding whatever, was allowed to be used here, whether in the nearly
tropical heats of summer or the freezing nights of winter; but every man
wore at least two pairs of irons and very many even four or six pairs
each; and at all hours, according to circumstances relating to the state
of the tides. the wretched convicts were obliged to labour always
breast-high in the sea before they could unload their baskets, as the
draught of water required by the boats would not permit them to come
nearer than this to the shore; and as before mentioned, there was no
wharf. Thus, in the summer the heat of the sun peeled the skin from every
portion of their bodies, and in winter the excessive coldness of the
ocean on that naked and exposed beach chilled their very marrow. From
this labour they were obliged at once to withdraw to a slabbed building
pervious on every side to the wind, where their only resource for warmth
in the winter nights was to huddle as close as possible together. The
allowance of food, also, was miserably insufficient, consisting only of
three and a half pounds of maize in cob weekly, with three and a half
pounds of very ill-cured salt beef. Even this wretched pittance was
subject to the peculations of the overseers, who helped themselves freely
out of the common stock and then divided the rest among the wretched
labourers, who dared not grumble, or the brutal tyranny of the others
would be let loose upon them with all the lawless fury of wicked and
ignorant malice.

Last, though not least, there were no stated hours of labour, the only
rule being that the overseers were bound to make the men work as long as
they could and do as much as they could; which they generally acted up to
the spirit of by obliging them four days in the week at least to labour
fifteen hours out of the twenty-four.

Besides all this, they were exposed to periodical visitations from the
commandant; for although the trebly exiled wretches were put entirely out
of the pale of society so far as regarded the comforts and even
necessaries of civilized life, yet they were not by any means suffered to
deem themselves out of the reach of the iron grasp of discipline, which
this petty imitator of the haughtiest monarch that ever wore a crown
wielded with a severity that has perhaps been equalled, but certainly
never could have been excelled. His presence at any of the outstations
under his sway was ever the signal for an inordinate use of the CAT. He
never travelled a mile to observe the progress made by any working party
without being accompanied by two scourgers, who bore an ample supply of
their implements of torture; and if his piercing glance detected any
flagging from the most arduous exertion on the part of a working man,
without deigning to enquire into the cause, whether arising from positive
physical inability to keep pace with the others or not, the offender was
called to him as he sat on horseback, and after a few imperious words of
reproach, tied up to the nearest fence or standing tree, where a number
of lashes, never less than fifty, was quickly administered to him, and he
was sent back, bleeding from innumerable wounds, to resume his implement
of labour.

In fact, whether from depravity of taste or utter want of any feeling, no
exhibition appeared to delight this modern Caligula so much as when, on
his Sabbath morning AMUSEMENT, four miserable wretches were groaning and
writhing before him at once under the infliction of what is to most men a
transcendently revolting punishment to witness. No music appeared to
delight his ears more exquisitely than the agonised yells of a wretched
being who felt the lash for the first time; and on such occasions the
fiendish joy that sparkled in his eyes would appear to dilate his form to
nearly double its original size, and his every word and gesture, which,
of course, he took no pains to conceal, fully proved that such scenes and
sounds were supereminently gratifying to his soul; and accordingly, he
took the greatest pains to prolong the ENVIABLE ENJOYMENT as long as
possible, frequently roaring out to the scourger in tones of thunder,
"not to hurry", "to take time", "strike harder", etc.

Nay, upon one occasion, in Rashleigh's presence, when one of these
ministers of torture did not appear to please this HUMANE man of power in
the vigour with which he dealt out the lash, the "Captain" rushed upon
him and belaboured the scourger himself with a cane, bidding him at the
same time, "Go on, sir! Go on!!" And every stroke the scourger applied to
the back of the culprit was accompanied by one upon his own shoulders
from the commandant's cane, with a loud shout from the latter, "Harder
yet, sir! Harder yet!!" until at last the weapon flew into fragments in
the hands of this SPLENDID SPECIMEN of a British officer!

When the dreaded commander visited the limeburners' station, it was no
uncommon proceeding, if the number of men brought before him by the
overseer for trial, and of course punishment, did not tally with his
ideas of propriety, for him to command the whole body of men there,
overseers and all, to be ranked in line before him, when he would pick
out every second or third man with his own hand and order them to receive
fifty lashes apiece, declaring that he was certain they had deserved it
over and over again since they last were flogged, or if not, that they
would be sure to merit it before he should see them again! Then, if the
boats were in the bay waiting to be loaded, he would compel the bleeding
sufferers to place their baskets of lime upon their mangled backs and
wade into the salt water with them until the agony of their wounds, with
the mingled application of the briny fluid and the unslacked lime, became
almost too poignant for humanity to endure; and several wretches, in
Rashleigh's sojourn, actually drowned themselves in the sight of the
commandant, who merely remarked, "It will save Government rope, and spare
the hangman a job!"

Lest this picture should appear overcharged respecting the partiality of
this officer for flogging those under his sway, the reader is requested
to remember that corporal punishment was of almost daily occurrence in
the British Navy, as well as the Army, twenty-five years ago; and it is
very probable the GALLANT captain in question had been selected for his
present command to control upwards of two thousand lawless desperadoes
from his known severity in his military capacity. And he might have
considered that nothing short of absolutely breaking down the bodies as
well as the minds of the ruffians--for such no doubt they were for the
most part--could either sufficiently punish them for their past crimes or
prevent them from committing further atrocities in the exile to which
they were doomed. If such were the views of this HUMANE official, they
were completely answered, at least in the case of the limeburners' gang,
for the one single master feeling of extreme pinching hunger, independent
of their other woes, was amply sufficient to debilitate the person and
paralyze the mind of the strongest of the human species in less than three
months' endurance of this rigorous discipline, by or before which time
they had become so weak in body that one of the overseers, and he was by
no means strong, could knock two of their heads together as if they had
been children, in spite of their struggles; and their minds were so
abjectly debased that they were perpetually wailing and crying for food,
anxiously seeking the most revolting substances with which to appease
their ever craving hunger. Thus even the grains of maize that were voided
by the oxen were picked out of their excrement and eagerly devoured by
these starving wretches.

Happy was the man to whose share a soft bone fell among his pittance of
meat. Twenty pairs of eyes would he enviously fixed upon him while he
voraciously gnawed it; and if at last, when his jaws were quite fatigued
with the exertion, he threw any portion of the bone away, a scramble, and
as certainly a fight, would ensue among the bystanders, who should obtain
the ENVIABLE morsel, a circumstance through which Rashleigh was
unwittingly the cause of a fellow-sufferer's death on the second day
after his arrival at this abode of horrors.

He having cast a bone of this description down, a scuffle ensued to
obtain it, during which two men caught hold of the prize; but as they
could not agree who had the priority of claim, they referred the matter
to Ralph as the original possessor of the coveted boon. He wished them to
divide it; but they would not do this, both vehemently insisting that our
adventurer should decide who ought to keep the whole. At length he did so
to the best of his idea of the justice of the case, and the vanquished
party withdrew, looking daggers at both Rashleigh and his opponent. The
latter, in the mean time, after partly crushing his prize between two
stones, sat down on the earth, with his back against a shed, to discuss
it, which he did most greedily and with the greatest apparent enjoyment.

Our adventurer was gazing at him, half in pity and half in dread that he
should soon be as craving as the other, when a slight sound caused him to
lift up his head; and just behind the unconscious wretch, who was chewing
the bone so greedily, Rashleigh was struck with horror to see the man
that had striven with him for the possession of his morsel, who, with
features now expressing the most fiendish rage, stood over his late
opponent bearing an enormous iron rake, used for gathering shells on the
beach, which he uplifted as in act to strike his victim on the head.
Ralph uttered an involuntary cry and sprang forward to arrest the
murderer's arm. Alas, he was too late! The blow had fallen, crashing
through the sufferer's skull with such irresistible force that the man's
head was crushed as if it had been paper; while the hungry wretch who
perpetrated this atrocity cried out, "Aha, I've got it NOW!" and seized
the piece of half-gnawed bone that had dropped from his victim's nerveless
grasp, and which, though it was now all bespattered with brains and blood
from the dying man, yet the other, brutalised by hunger, crammed in that
state into his mouth, holding out both his hands to the overseer, who
now came running up, to secure him with a pair of handcuffs.

Atrocities like these, Rashleigh was informed, were of frequent
occurrence, and he was particularly cautioned by a shipmate of his, whom
he met with in this gloomy place, never to save any portion of his
food--even if he could--for another meal, as there were many men in that
abode of utter despair, who WOULD not, in fact, who HAD not, scrupled to
deprive a fellow-creature of life for the sake of a few grains of maize
or a couple of ounces of their rotten salt beef.

A day or two after this, chance most unexpectedly provided our adventurer
and some others with several hearty meals which proved most acceptable to
them. They had been sent out in the bush to cut timber as fuel for the
kilns; and as the country was very scrubby, they were necessarily much
out of sight of their harsh taskmasters. The team of oxen that was to
draw the wood in passed a short distance away from Ralph and his
associates; and even the cattle at this MOST DELECTABLE spot being
well-nigh starved to death, just at this instant one of the poor beasts,
utterly worn out with hunger and hard work, fell down, and though he was
stimulated by blows and curses, nay, at last--rare humanity in a
bullock-driver!--even lifted up again by those that drove the team, all
proved useless. The unhappy ox,

HIS LABOURS O'ER,
STRETCHED HIS STIFF LIMBS TO RISE NO MORE.

The carters were therefore compelled to take off his yoke and leave
him there.

Rashleigh and his companions, who had been unobserved spectators of the
whole affair, now rushed out of their concealment and quickly immolated
the poor beast with their axes, dismembering his quivering limbs with the
speed of thought and bearing them away in triumph. They effectually
concealed their prey and withdrew to a distant part of the thicket before
the overseer could arrive at the spot with the drivers to look at the
fallen bullock, of whom, however, their astonishment was very great to
find no part remaining save the head, feet and entrails. Their search and
the subsequent enquiry proved utterly fruitless, although both were
conducted with cunning, amply exemplifying the accuracy of the old
proverb, "Set a thief to catch a thief." And Rashleigh, with his comrades
in this act of spoliation, fared sumptuously, though of course very
stealthily, for several days upon the meat, if that might be called so
which had once formed part of the carcase of an unfortunate animal
attenuated by famine to the last stage of his miserable existence, so
that, in comparison with HIM, the leanest of the lean kine seen in the
dream of Egypt's Pharaoh might have been the very alderman of oxen.

Amid all the scenes of oppression, woe and starvation that were of
constant recurrence at this Ultima Thule of the moral world, it may
perhaps by some readers be wondered that the men did not break out into
open and actual mutiny, and rather bravely earn death at once than endure
so many prolonged evils, which in countless cases seemed only to be
avenues of approach for the grim tyrant, in some one of his many most
fearful shapes, at last.

The reasons why they did not, in short,

TAKE ARMS AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES
AND BY OPPOSING END THEM

may probably have been that at the limeburners they were too much broken
in spirit by their complicated sufferings to attempt anything beyond the
stealthy murder of some poor wretch for his pittance of food, and at the
settlement of Newcastle each man feared the other, for Ralph very quickly
found out the untruth of the proverb that "there is honour among
thieves". So far from this being the case, those who made the loudest
professions of their staunch manhood as being incapable of betraying a
comrade, were often found to concert schemes of escape or robbery, and in
the hour of need, to turn abruptly round and denounce, or even prosecute
to conviction, those whom they had themselves most probably induced to
join in such enterprises, with the offence of committing or at times, of
only meditating them.

Thus each prisoner stood in awe of the other, and as traitors like those
above spoken of were always rewarded with some trifling post of
comparative ease and idleness, no man dared to trust his fellow, and all
were thus held in subjection far more by their own fears than by the
numerical strength of their guards or the physical power of their
superiors.




Chapter XXVI



MERRILY, MERRILY GOES THE BARK
BEFORE THE GALE SHE BOUNDS;
AS FLIES THE DOLPHIN FROM THE SHARK,
OR THE DEER BEFORE THE HOUNDS.


One day, shortly after the death and demolition of the unfortunate ox,
Rashleigh and some others were dispatched to cut a quantity of mangrove
timber in a swamp, this wood being required to be sent to Sydney, where
it was to be used for the manufacture of stone-cutter's mallets, as it
was both light and tough. In selecting the proper pieces for this
purpose, the men were dispersed in all directions, nearly up to their
necks in mud and water; and our adventurer, having strayed at last as far
as the bank of the river, was much surprised to see a boat which
apparently lay dry upon a sand-bank, having canted a little on one side,
no person being observable either in or near it.

As the place where the boat lay was secluded from observation by a
projecting point of land covered with mangroves, Rashleigh thought he
might gratify his curiosity with impunity by looking into the little
vessel. Accordingly he waded to the side of it and found to his great
surprise that a man was lying fast asleep in its bottom. The boat here
appeared, too, of much greater size when he looked into it than when seen
from the shore; and it contained two half-decks, as they are called,
under each of which two or three persons could sleep comfortably. There
seemed to be a quantity of provisions and other things on board, and
Ralph could also perceive the butt ends of some muskets peeping out from
under a sail, which was appended to the mast that lay fore and aft along
the thwarts.

Quick as lightning a hope of liberty darted into his brain. The breeze
was blowing freshly down the river to seaward, and he hastily returned in
quest of some companions. Unperceived by any overseer, he soon collected
several of the men, and Ralph having briefly explained his hopes and his
views, they were easily induced to risk one bold attempt for life and
freedom, the bare thought of which animated their pallid features with
unwonted fires and appeared to nerve their debilitated frames to dare any
danger.

On returning under Rashleigh's guidance to the boat, they found its
unlucky occupant still fast asleep. They quickly pushed the bark off the
bank she lay on into the deep water that flowed swiftly beside her and
drew up the anchor that held her there. They were now drifting rapidly
down towards the harbour's mouth; but on their quickly setting up the
mast, the sail swelled, and oh! what joy filled their breasts as they
stood over to the southern shore and placed an island between themselves
and their late dreaded scene of confinement.

When they were thus sheltered from immediate view, they awoke the
slumbering boat-keeper, whose consternation was dreadful at observing in
his boat upwards of half a dozen gaunt, animated skeletons, perfectly
naked, smeared with filth and mud, and their faces overgrown with hair
from their heads and beards. One of the fugitives held a musket to his
head, ordering him to strip in silence. This he was fain to comply with,
and his clothes being put on by one of their number, who had been
selected from his knowledge of the management of a boat for this purpose,
the rest lay down all together in the bottom of the bark, lest their
nakedness might attract observation, and consequently, pursuit from the
garrison.

When the helmsman judged he was at a sufficient distance from
Limeburners' Bay, he recrossed the harbour before the boat approached too
near the settlement, and the bells being now ringing there for the men's
dinner-hour, the fugitives rejoiced in the idea that nearly all the
people at the town of Newcastle would be under cover of their several
dwellings when they passed on the river before it, and consequently that
there would not be so many eyes to observe their motions.

The breeze continued to favour them. In a very short space they were
opposite the wharf of the coal mines, and in reply to the anxious
questions poured thick and fast upon him by his comrades below, who could
not see anything, the helmsman continued to report progress every now and
then, assuring them that all was right. They were soon abreast of Nobby's
island, a bluff rock which projects out of nearly the centre of the mouth
of Hunter's river.

"Blow, good breeze! Another mile, and all is safe," was uttered in tones
of triumph by the steersman when "Boat ahoy!" was thundered in their ears
from the rocky islet.

Forgetful of prudential considerations in the anxiety of the moment, two
of the naked runaways partially raised themselves from their place of
concealment.

"Haul down your sail directly or I'll fire into your boat!" roared the
person on shore, who proved to be one of the military officers that had
gone on the rock to shoot sea-fowl; and finding the fugitives paid no
attention to his repeated cries, he shouted once more and louder than
ever, "Halloo! Shore ahoy! Help!! Mutiny!!!" at the same time levelling
his piece and firing. But the shot spattered harmlessly far astern of the
boat, in the water, the little bark meanwhile still increasing the
distance between the parties.

All concealment being now useless, the runaways stood up in the boat and
Rashleigh could observe the whole settlement was in commotion, aroused
probably by the firing, for the report of the officer's piece had been
repeated by one of the sentries posted at the signal station, and the
verandah of Government house being full in his sight, he could even
observe the dreaded person of their haughty commandant, who rushed out,
and mounting a horse, galloped down to the sea-beach, where by his
gestures he seemed to be urging some men, who were busily launching a
boat, to increased exertion.

One party of soldiers quickly came flying, rather than running, down the
hill to their commander, and another body of military, who had, in the
hurry of the first alarm, apparently posted towards the gaol, now made
their appearance upon the high ground at the back of Nobby's island. The
alarm bells were rung, and two pieces of cannon that were placed upon a
green in front of the Government house, being hastily loaded, were fired,
one of the balls from which whizzed just over their little mast, and
then, plunging into the sea, appeared to skip from wave to wave until it
buried itself deep in a bank on the northern shore, raising a cloud of
sand in its career.

Until now Rashleigh had not observed a little boat containing only two
persons that had put off from the rocky islet directly after the
fugitives had passed. These were the officer who had first given the
alarm, and his servant, who, although they had apparently but one
fire-arm between them, were yet bold enough to persevere in a chase
against such overwhelming odds, both of numbers and weapons, for the
runaways, on searching the bark they had seized, discovered a good store
of powder, ball and six muskets on board. The little boat, being so much
smaller and lighter than that in which Rashleigh was, now gained rapidly
upon them, and our adventurer hailed the officer, begging him as he
valued his life to keep off, at the same time intimating the number of
their weapons, which were also presented at the young ensign; but the
latter perhaps thought he had gone too far to retract with honour, and
the only reply he deigned to give was by discharging his gun, on which
the steersman's left arm dropped motionless to his side; and the report
of six muskets from the convicts' boat sounded the requiem of the gallant
young soldier, who, as Rashleigh could see, fell bleeding overboard. His
attendant was now too much occupied in endeavouring to recover his master
to pursue the chase, even if he had been disposed to do so, and the
fugitives had leisure to observe their other pursuers.

Foremost of these was a whale-boat, apparently impelled by sixteen oars,
helped on by an enormous sail, which seemed to make her actually fly
through the water. As the rowers bent to the stroke, she appeared,
at least in the estimation of our terrified adventurer, positively to
bound off the face of the deep. In the bow of this boat, bare-headed and
apparently stimulating the boatmen by threats, oaths and promises to
increase their already almost superhuman efforts, stood the commandant,
with a musket in his hand, which he now and then presented at the
escaping convicts as if measuring the distance between them with his
eyes. Then, withdrawing it, he would shake his fist in the direction of
the fugitives, turning at last again to the boatmen, his urgent
imprecations to whom began now faintly to be borne on the wings of the
breeze past the ears of those whom he so fain would overtake.

Behind this first boat were three others nearly abreast, all of them
containing soldiers, as well as the first, and all impelled by both oars
and sails, except the last, which was soon recognised by its peculiar rig
to be the pilot-boat, known to be much swifter on the water than any
other belonging to Newcastle, and which gallantly supported its fame on
the present occasion by rapidly overhauling the foremost of the pursuers.

About five miles ahead, towards the north, in which direction the
steersman held his course, was a point that terminates the bay into which
the river Hunter erupts itself. From this promontory a number of rocks
stretch out nearly a mile into the sea. These crags can only be seen at
low water, or when the fury of tempestuous waves lashes the billows over
them into rude and boisterous breakers. At other times they lie concealed.
The freshness of the present breeze curled the waters into white and
sparkling foam over and around this reef. The helmsman of the fugitive
boat, who despite the wound that had broken his arm, and even now dropped
blood on the deck at his feet, still maintained. his post, and now
appeared, maugre the danger which was apparent even to the inexperienced
eye of our adventurer, to steer full towards these breakers, instead--as
Rashleigh thought would be the better course--of holding out into the open
sea. Ralph ventured to hint as much to Roberts the helmsman, who only
replied with great calmness that "he knew what he was about, and was
doing all for the best".

Meanwhile Rashleigh could observe that the pilot-boat had now overtaken
the one which, hitherto foremost, had conveyed the commandant. The former
lay to alongside the other for an instant; and when she resumed her way,
the fugitives could see that dreaded officer on her forepart.

The breeze continued to freshen the more they got from under the lee of
the land; and the boiling surf upon the sunken rocks was but a very short
distance ahead, when Roberts roared out, "Lay down, every man!" setting
the example himself by falling flat on the half-deck, still, however,
retaining his hold of the tiller and keeping his eye fixed on a hill at
some distance straight ahead.

A volley of musketry pealed from the pilot-boat, some of the bullets
tearing through the sail of the fugitive craft; and instantly afterwards
the voice of the commandant, known, alas, too well to all the runaways,
was now heard thundering in imperious tones, "Strike your sail, you
infernal scoundrels, and surrender; or we'll run you down!"

Roberts raised himself to his knee and gave the tiller to another man,
whose musket he took. Then, after looking carefully to the flint and
priming, he said, "Now, my lads, if we were once inside of that reef we
should be safe. There is but one passage through it, and I believe there
is not a man in either of the boats who knows that course except myself.
So if we can, we must stop the pilot-boat somehow. I'll aim at that
damned tyrant in her bow; and you other men, never mind those on board
her, but fire at the slings of her sails. If any of your shots tell, they
must stop and the devil thank them. So say when you're ready, my lads."

The others examined their pieces and levelled them when Roberts resumed,
"Now, my boys, the SLINGS, mind . . . Let fly!"

The reports boomed along the main, and Rashleigh, who was anxiously
observing the effect of their volley, when the smoke cleared away, saw
the commandant stagger. He let his musket fall with an oath and then sank
into the arms of one of the boatmen who extended them to receive him. The
after sail fluttered a moment in the breeze like a wounded bird and then
dropped over the heads of the steersman and soldiers in the stemsheets.
All were in confusion. The boat yawed quite out of her course in an
instant, and that instant saved her from driving FULL SPLIT upon a rock
that was not an oar's length from her bow.

The boat manned by the runaways now was in the thick of the breakers that
leaped, foamed and dashed on every side of her. There seemed to be
scarcely her own breadth free from danger; but that narrow inlet lay
right ahead. And the vessel answered helm sweetly, for Roberts, who had
thrown his musket on the deck the instant it was fired, was now steadily
guiding her by some well-known token on the opposite shore. On she flew,
like a courser impelled by the spur, while the surf and spray broke
fairly over her from either side, forming a perfect arch above the heads
of the trembling fugitives, who every instant expected to be whelmed in
the ocean, that seemed, like an insatiate monster, expanding its hungry
jaws to receive them.

This wild commotion of broken waters was not more than a hundred yards in
extent, which space was quickly passed by the gallant little bark that
bore the flying convicts. They were then in comparative safety. On their
left lay the mainland, on their right was the open sea; but between them
and the latter, at about the distance of a mile, the thundering noise of
breakers indicated the existence of a reef, or barrier of rocks, which is
frequently found to guard the approach to the iron-bound coast of eastern
Australia. Around and in front of the fugitives' boat, the water, through
the freshness of the breeze, was slightly rippled on its surface, but was
undisturbed by any wave of magnitude, the fury of the boundless Pacific
Ocean being expended upon the rocks by which this space was, as it were,
girdled in.

Rashleigh had noticed and much admired the cool self-possession of
Roberts their steersman, who amid the dreadful commotion of the roaring
breakers through which they had passed, had not betrayed the least shadow
of fear, but merely kept his lips sternly compressed and his eye fixed
upon the land mark he seemed to be steering for. Our adventurer, now the
danger was passed, could not help praising the dexterity of his
seamanship. Roberts only smiled and replied, "We shall see directly how
the SOJERS get through it; for look, by George! they are going to try it
on!"

On turning his head, Ralph could see the sixteen-oared boat making for
the opening in the surf. Impelled by the fresh breeze and the ardour of
her crew, who still pulled unflinchingly at their oars, she came dashing
at the reef like a high-mettled steed at some opposing barrier. Another
instant a wild cry arose from all on board of her. She was upset. They
were engulfed in the roaring breakers, the crashing noise of her parting
planks and the cries of her crew for assistance being heard far above the
din of the elements.

"Aye, aye," said Roberts. "I thought some of you would cool your courage
THERE!" And turning his back on the sight, he sat down very composedly
alongside the tiller, which he leaned upon with one arm, while he asked
another of his companions to bind up the wound he had so long before
received.

Rashleigh continued to gaze upon the scene of their pursuers'
discomfiture, and he had the satisfaction of seeing that the remaining
three boats quickly came up; for he could not help hoping that none of
the crew of the swamped bark would lose their lives, though he felt at
the same time that any of those he pitied would most probably have either
shot or helped to hang himself with no more remorse than they would feel
for the fate of a dog.

The boats from the settlement were now pulled round the reef and out into
the open sea; but by the time they had reached the latter they were
scarcely visible to the fugitives, who then felt themselves at leisure to
answer those clamorous appeals that hunger had been making to each for
some time past. Luckily there was abundance of water and provisions in
the boat, which they now ascertained, by questioning the man who had been
in charge of her, was originally equipped in Sydney for the service of
two gentlemen of capital lately arrived from England, and about to settle
in the Colony. They were bound on a voyage up the river Hunter to
select land, and it seemed they had gone on shore at Newcastle to spend
the day and dine with the commandant, when, unluckily for them, Rashleigh
had discovered their little bark, which they had left at anchor where the
officers' gig bearing them the invitation had chanced to overtake their
boat on their passage up the river.

After the first plentiful meal any of the poor wretches had partaken of
for some time had been discussed, they held a consultation respecting
their future proceedings. It was finally agreed upon that they should run
along the coast to the north, as Rashleigh remembered having read of
Captain Bligh and his boat's crew doing after the famous mutiny of the
BOUNTY, British man-of-war in the South Seas; and they doubted not by
this means to reach some of the Dutch settlements in the Indian
archipelago, where they hoped to pass for shipwrecked mariners. They
therefore resolved to be as sparing as possible of their provisions and
to eke them out as much as they could with fish. These views they kept
secret from the boat-keeper, whom they put on the land, giving him
directions how to follow the beach until he arrived at the north shore of
the harbour opposite Newcastle.

The first night of Rashleigh's freedom for several years passed away very
pleasantly. He slept only a short time indeed, but talked over their
plans with the steersman Roberts, who at length yielded to the entreaties
of our adventurer, that he would take some rest. And the former now
resigned to Ralph the guidance of the boat, directing him to keep her
head towards a certain star which he indicated; but if the wind should
alter or fade or any breakers should be near, all the men were to be
instantly aroused.

Rashleigh spent the hours that remained until morning thinking over the
various chances, whether of danger or success, which appeared to await
their enterprise. It was certain, no doubt, that Captain Bligh and his
companions had some years before traversed much more than twice the
distance over the self-same track they were now pursuing, and had at last
safely accomplished their voyage in an open boat, which was also very
indifferently supplied with water and provisions; while the bark that
bore our adventurer was half-decked, tolerably well stocked with food, to
which, as they discovered a quantity of tackle in the boat, they might
add abundance of fish, which absolutely teemed in the ocean around them,
while, as they need not leave the sight of land, they could surely obtain
a supply of fresh water as often as they required it. Upon the other
hand, the danger was great that they might be pursued by some armed
vessel, for they well knew that one of the colonial cutters was expected
in Newcastle every day, and no doubt the commandant, who had shown so
much personal anxiety to recapture them, would, if he had survived his
wound, dispatch her to run down the coast as quickly as possible. Then
again, it was questionable whether there was any passage through which
the boat could pass into the open sea from the inlet they were now sailing
over; or if there was, might not the boats of their pursuers intercept
them at it?

Being, however, willing to hope for the best, and conscious that of
himself he could do but little either to help or hasten their
deliverance, our adventurer consoled himself at last by thinking that
they all had at least a chance of escape; and if it should fail them,
still, it was better to die in freedom than to linger out a miserable
existence in that abode of horrors which they had quitted.

The dawn of day surprised Rashleigh upon his post. A sort of haze
overspread the surface of the deep, and as he had no longer a beacon by
which to steer, it became necessary to arouse Roberts. The latter
speedily came from beneath the half-deck, and looking around at the
shore, where only the summits of distant and lofty mountains were as yet
visible. he exclaimed, "We have made a most capital run. We are beyond my
knowledge of the coast, and that extends at least a hundred miles to the
north of Newcastle."

The increasing light soon made them aware that their pursuers in the
pilot-boat, which was the only one that had continued the chase, were now
nearly abreast of them, but still divided by the distance of nearly a
mile and a half beyond the barrier of rocks, while to add to the
discomfiture of the fugitives, the thundering noise of breakers full in
their front gave evidence that they were approaching the termination of
that inlet which had hitherto proved their safeguard. The breeze also had
been gradually dying away, and it shortly became stark calm, so that they
pulled the boat into shoal water among some mangrove bushes and anchored
her there.

They continued anxiously to observe the motions of their enemies in the
pilot-boat, who after some time also took to their oars and pulled slowly
along the exterior of the reef, stopping every now and then, as if
looking for a passage through it. After a brief consultation, therefore,
the convicts, who feared their pursuers eventually discover some means
of reaching them on the water, took everything out of their boat, carried
whole on shore, and buried it in the sand, above high-water mark. They
then filled the little vessel herself and sank her in a place of
concealment, where the water was not very deep, a manoeuvre that was
instigated by our adventurer, who hoped by this means to puzzle their
pursuers very much, if they did not throw them off the scent altogether.

Each man now taking a small stock of provisions with him, some
ammunition, and their muskets, they penetrated into a dense thicket,
through which they made their way for nearly a mile with great
difficulty, halting at length on the summit of an eminence that afforded
a view of the ocean though not of their pursuers, who, having got over
the reef, were now too close under the shore to be visible.




Chapter XXVII



AT ONCE THERE ROSE SO WILD A YELL
WITHIN THAT DARK AND NARROW DELL,
AS ALL THE FIENDS FROM HEAVEN THAT FELL
HAD PEALED THE BANNER-CRY OF HELL.


The party of convicts that had thus so far succeeded in making their
escape from the limeburners consisted of six men beside Rashleigh and
Roberts the steersman, whose courage, and the skill he had displayed in
conducting their boat in safety through the dangers of the reef, had
caused him to be much looked up to by his comrades, who seemed by general
though tacit consent to consider him as their captain and leader.

Of the others, McClashin was a native of Belfast who had earned
considerable ill will among the convicts because he had, in order to save
his own life, prosecuted to conviction four other men some time before
that had engaged with him in the commission of a robbery, when his
associates in crime had been hanged upon his evidence.

Phelim Hennessy was from Tipperary, and had been transported for life to
New South Wales in consequence of his having participated in the popular
though anything but humane amusement common in Ireland at that time, of
"carding a tithe proctor". This man used often to boast of his
achievements prior to his exile in the most exulting terms, speaking of
the most sanguinary deeds with a cool gusto that showed the bloodthirsty
temperament of the man. He had been violently suspected since he came to
the Colony of no less thin three murders, and was at length retransported
to Newcastle for a most ruffianly assault upon an overseer.

The remaining four men, whose names were Perkins, Shawl, Hanlan, and
Owens, were remarkable in no way as being either better or worse than the
usual run of convicts. OF COURSE, they were common thieves, and their
knack of illicit appropriation, after having caused their banishment from
their native land, had at length, upon some fresh offence, conducted them
to the Coal river, from whence to the limeburners the transition was very
easy.

Roberts the steersman had been a Nottingham boatman. He was transported
for rioting and demolition of machinery. On his arrival at Sydney he had
been employed in one of the government boats, but attempting to escape
from the Colony, he was retaken and sent to Newcastle for seven years.

The party continued to watch the ocean from the hill upon which they
had posted themselves, as related in the last chapter, until evening; and
just before it became dark they had the mortification to see the
pilot-boat standing out to sea, towing after it the little vessel that
had borne them in safety thus far, and upon which they had depended for
aiding them to escape altogether from the Colony.

Some of the men were disposed to raise a violent outcry against our
adventurer, at whose instance the plan of sinking the boat had been
resorted to; but upon his asking them in a cool and contemptuous tone why
they had not proposed some better method of disposing their vessel when
it was spoken of first, they were silent, except Hennessy, who swore that
it had been his opinion all along the best way would have been to fight a
passage out of the reef, in spite of the soldiers; and even he was calmed
on Roberts observing, "If you think we can beat those that are in the
pilot-boat, it's not too late to have a bellyful of fighting now. Because
you may take my word for it, if we go down to the beach and show
ourselves, the redcoats will come back quick enough to have a slap at us!"

As even Hennessy, in spite of his boasting, did not quite approve of this
plan, no more was said about the boat, but all began to deliberate what
they had better now do.

McClashin, supported by Hanlan and Hennessy, was for turning inland to
the west until they gained the settled part of Hunter's river; then,
after robbing the settlers about Wallis's Plains, that they should pursue
their route southwards and join some of the other parties of bushrangers
who were laying waste the country in the neighbourhood of the Hawkesbury,
finishing off by seizing on some vessel from the mouth of that stream and
carrying their original intention of going to Timor Coupang into effect.

Upon the other hand, our adventurer, who had acquired from past
circumstances an invincible detestation of the life of a bushranger,
impressed upon the minds of his present associates the great danger they
would incur of apprehension by adopting the last speaker's project; and
after dwelling upon the improbability of all their present party keeping
together, even if they survived the perils of so long a journey,
Rashleigh proposed as the more feasible plan, that they should persevere
even now in marching along the beach, whether the party in the pilot boat
had discovered all their concealed stores or not. But if they found any
of the tools had been left behind, he submitted they might surely be able
to contrive the construction of a double canoe the first cedars they came
to, when they could at once proceed on their voyage to the northward
without beginning, as preparation for it, a journey of more than five
hundred miles, which the course spoken of by McClashin would subject them
to, but which Ralph considered as outrageously ridiculous.

All the party now wished to hear what Roberts would say, and it was
obvious that he would command the majority of voices in favour of the
plan he might be inclined to pursue.

They did not wait long, for he said, "Our way lies north. And if only ONE
man will go with me, I'll take the beach for it. But I think those that
want to go any other way are fools for their pains, as they are sure to
be grabbed by some means before they get half the distance that's talked
about. No, no . . . Here we are, so far on our journey. We have the sea
before us, and we can't starve while there's a fish in it; and besides,
I've heard there's plenty of wrecked ships along this shore. Who knows
but we may make or find a better boat than the one we've lost!"

This settled the question, for the men who had not offered any opinion
now sided with their captain and Ralph, so that they were five to three
of those who wished to turn west. And after having in vain tried to bring
Roberts over to their way of thinking, McClashin and his companions were
fain to submit to the majority, though they did so with a very bad grace.

They reposed on the ground they had occupied during the day, nearly eaten
alive by mosquitoes, which Rashleigh had never before felt so troublesome
since he had been in the Colony; and by dawn the next morning they were
in motion, anxious to see whether anything had been left of all they had
hidden in the sand the day before.

Upon their arrival at the beach they soon found out that all except the
boat remained IN STATU QUO, although the thicket was much trampled down;
and other indications presented themselves that the soldiers had
instituted a rigorous search in every spot but the right one near the
place where they discovered the boat. Every man now set himself busily to
work to prepare a knapsack and other conveniences for carrying
provisions, etc.; all the food, their arms, the tools and a couple of
sails, with a quantity of cordage, being equitably apportioned, so that
each man bore a fair proportion of the public burden. The only things
they did not carry with them were the water-cask and a barrel of salted
meat, which they left buried in the sand, being determined if they could
succeed in manufacturing a canoe within any reasonable distance, they
would return to fetch these articles as supplies for their proposed voyage.

It was noon before they had completed all their preparations, so they got
ready some food. After having eaten this, they departed, each man bearing
a burden, besides his clothes and arms, of nearly fifty pounds weight,
which made their progress necessarily slow. The nature of their path,
too, which lay along the sandy beach, would have tended to fatigue men
much stronger than these emaciated beings just escaped from an abode of
horrors "the like of which no eye bath seen, no heart conceived, and of
which no tongue can adequately tell".

At sunset they had not gained more than six miles towards their long
march, but were much inspirited by seeing on a distant hill, a very short
space inland, what one or two of the men confidently declared were cedar
trees; and they came to a halt, flattering themselves that perhaps one
more day's toil would place them near this timber, which they now wished
most anxiously for in order that they might try their hands at the
proposed experiment of canoe-making.

Just before they ceased their march, Rashleigh had placed his burden upon
the ground to rearrange it, and ere he completed doing so to his
satisfaction, the others had got a trifling distance ahead of him. When
he was about to reassume his load, chancing to look into the bush beside
the beach, he fancied he saw a native black. Upon this he gazed more
steadfastly, and though the sable son of nature slunk more deeply into
the covert, yet Ralph was certain of his proximity, and argued no
goodwill from him, as he was so apparently unwilling to be seen.

Roberts, to whom he mentioned this circumstance, fully agreed with him as
to its being a prognostication of danger, and when the arrangements were
made for the night, the party camped in as open a place as they could
select, where no neighbouring thicket might afford harbourage for a
lurking foe. Good fires were also made, and one of the men agreed to
watch for a time, when he was to be relieved by another, thus maintaining
a vigilant guard throughout the hours of darkness.

Nor were these preparations needless, for long after all the band of
weary fugitives, except their sentinel, were buried in slumber, the man
on watch observed a number of dark bodies wriggling over the sandy spot
that encompassed their temporary camp, which he at first conceived to be
some kind of wild animals; but on their nearer approach the glare of the
fire betrayed their real forms. They were black warriors, who, with
savage treachery and cunning, hoped thus to surprise the sleeping white
men; but the latter, being awakened by their fortunately vigilant guard,
yet kept themselves still, by desire of Roberts, who, conceiving that in
such cases as this the failure of a first attempt would be likely utterly
to discomfit the savages, directed them all to "lay quiet", only keeping
their arms in readiness, and to await his signal for firing all at once,
which was to be the single word "Now!"

The savages, meanwhile, had approached, in their own broken English mode
of expression, "murry close up", when all at once they halted and
remained motionless on their faces, save one, who crawled a little nearer
to the white men's camp. Then, raising himself partially, he uttered a
single guttural monosyllable, apparently as a token to the others that
the objects of their attack were asleep; for his sooty companions, the
instant after he spoke, recommenced their sinuous, crawling mode of
advance, and when they had got to the burdens which each of the fugitives
had borne during the day, and which now lay disposed in a circle around
the white men, the sable warriors yelled simultaneously and leaped on
their feet with a cry which awakened the erewhile slumbering echoes of
that lone and silent beach.

At this instant Roberts gave the promised word. The flashes of his
companions' musketry and the loud cheering hurra that accompanied
their discharge completely amazed the assailants, several of whom fell by
the bullets of this volley; while the remainder, exchanging their
barbarous note of attack for cries of surprise and affright, bounded off
into the forest with the speed of their own native emblem, the fleet
kangaroo. The blacks who had fallen, too much wounded to follow their
example, rent the air with exclamations of pain, until Hennessy rushed
upon them and battered out their brains with repeated blows from the
stock of his musket.

To sleep any more during this night was of course impossible, so the
fugitives sat up and passed the remaining hours of it in watching the
numerous torches which, after the repulse of their sable antagonists, had
appeared to illuminate the neighbouring bush, but the bearers of which
took great care to keep at a respectful distance from the dreaded muskets
of the white men. Towards morning the moon rose, and Roberts, with
another man, scratched some holes in the sand where the advancing tide
would cover them and placed the dead bodies of the fallen blacks in these
rude places of sepulture, because he knew that the sight of their
slaughtered companions would be sure to excite the wildest passions of
revengeful fury in the breasts of their black enemies.

When daylight appeared there was no vestige of any foe to be seen around
them, and the band of runaways enjoyed their morning meal in peace. They
then resumed their toilsome march, which still lay along the sea-beach,
and had gone about two miles from the scene of the attempted surprise
when their path led them beneath some lofty cliffs that nearly overhung
the shore. Rashleigh, who now chanced to be among the first of the party,
proposed to the others that somebody should ascend the nearest high rock
and look out in order to ascertain whether their intended line of road
was clear from enemies, as he much misdoubted, from the tales he had
heard of aboriginal cunning, that the blacks might be concealed in, or
near, these cliffs with a design of attacking them as they should pass
beneath.

This advice, however, was overruled by the majority, who seemed to think
that one of the men showing himself in so conspicuous a position would
most probably invite their sable foes to attack him at least, when he
might be killed before his companions could come to his rescue. They
therefore continued their march, only keeping as near the water's edge as
possible, by which means they were generally out of the reach of any
ordinary native weapons. For the space of nearly half a mile they went on
unmolested. Here the cliffs receded a little, but returned to the very
brink of the ocean about a quarter of a mile farther along, the
intermediate little bay being thickly strewn with rocks. The last man of
the fugitive party had scarcely passed the point entering on this spot
when the discordant yell of the native warriors was heard from every part
of it and a host of armed blacks was seen by the terrified runaways,
among whom a volley of spears was thrown by their cunning foes, who the
instant they had discharged their weapons threw themselves down behind
the rocky lurking-places that had at first concealed them.

The prevailing feeling among the little band of white men on this sudden
attack, made when they had begun to deem the peril of the place had been
passed, was undoubtedly one of fear, and those who were unwounded turned
to fly by the same road they had approached this fatal spot. But this was
no longer in their power. A strong party of blacks had seized that
outlet, and brandishing their weapons, seemed to defy the white men,
daring them to the attempt.

Roberts had fallen with a spear through his leg. Hanlan also had been
struck down by a waddy. But the former now arose and breaking off the
spear point that protruded behind him, dragged the remaining portion of
the weapon out of his flesh, calling Out, "Don't be afraid, my lads,
we'll beat the black vagabonds yet."

Not a musket had yet been fired on the side of the white men, and
perhaps this made their enemies fear to rise for the purpose of
discharging any more spears.

Not far from where Roberts then was there stood a flat-topped rock about
eight feet above the level of the beach. On this, in spite of his wound,
did this brave fellow clamber and surveyed the spot around. When he had
marked all the places of danger in their route, he came down again and
proposed to his companions that they should fight their way through the
blacks to a part where a ledge of rocks overhung considerably, beneath
which, he suggested, they would be safe from all attacks save those made
from the front. This being agreed to, the wounded man Hanlan was supported
by another and placed in the centre. The others, four in front and three
behind, began to move slowly towards the appointed place, keeping their
weapons ready for instant service, and the last three walking backwards.

They had gone but a short distance when they discovered a party of about
twenty blacks that lay concealed in the bed of a small torrent, and who
consequently were unseen by the white men until the latter, in making for
their proposed post, arrived at the brink of the declivity which crossed
their way. Nor were the savages aware of the approach of their foes. But
the instant the cry of one of their number gave the alarm, all his
companions, starting up to their feet with a dreadful yell, rushed
furiously at the fugitives, who had scarcely time to take aim when the
blacks, nothing daunted by the fall of six of their number, were mixed
among them, every man grappling with at least one enemy, fighting hand to
hand for dear life.

The white man's superior stamina at length prevailed. The butt ends of
their heavy muskets proved much more effective weapons than the waddies
of their sable antagonists, who, maugre their numbers, began to give way,
thus affording time to the runaways for reloading their fire-arms, one
discharge of which completely dispersed their wavering foes, who fled
pell-mell to the nearest shelter of rocks, leaving thirteen of their
number on the field, while of the whites, two were put HORS DE COMBAT,
namely Shaw, who was quite dead, and Hanlan, who in addition to the wound
he had before received, had a severe contusion on the head. But now, taking
advantage of the terror inspired by the late defeat of the onslaught made
by the savages, the white men were enabled to gain the place of comparative
security proposed by Roberts. Here they were permitted to take breath
only for a short time before the blacks, working themselves into a paroxysm
of fury at the sight of their slain companions, rushed among them like so
many mad demons. The volley of musketry that was discharged with
fearful effect into the thick of their advancing body only caused them to
waver for an instant; but speedily recovering from this slight panic,
they leaped upon the white men, and another arduous struggle ensued.

The fugitives, now reduced to six capable of exerting themselves, placed
their backs against the rocky cliff and defended themselves with the butt
ends of their guns. Rashleigh was soon busily engaged protecting himself
against the attacks of four stout blackfellows, who appeared to be
resolved on immolating him. Having heard that the legs of an aboriginal
warrior are his most vulnerable part, he confined his blows to those
limbs of his adversaries and had brought two of them down, when having in
striking the last stepped a pace forward from the rock, he was seized
round the body by another, who, lifting him up in his arms, was carrying
him out of the throng; when our adventurer, whose hands were at liberty,
dropping his musket, opened his pocket-knife and stabbed the other
repeatedly until he fell, his loud and frequent yells for help being
unheeded by his brethren, who were each and all too busy to lend him any aid.

To catch up his relinquished musket and rush at the backs of some of
their sable opponents, who had got Roberts down, was but the work of a
moment to Ralph, who plied his weapon so vigorously that his endangered
companion was soon enabled to rise and give his assistance in repulsing
the foe, who, now wearied with their long continued exertion, once more
gave way. And finally, seeing that Roberts and Rashleigh were reloading
their muskets, those of the blacks who were able to do so ran without
stopping out of sight, leaving to the white men the possession of their
rude fortress, which had cost them so dear to defend, Rashleigh being the
only one of the fugitives that was left unwounded, while three of his
companions were dead outright.

Nor had the aborigines effected this slaughter with impunity. Twenty-two
of their body lay around, few of whom were killed, however, until
Hennessy, the instant that he saw their assailants retreating, began to
mangle the wounded wretches with his clasp-knife, as it seemed to our
adventurer, needlessly prolonging their torture, until the latter and
Roberts commiserated them, and put an end to their sufferings.




Chapter XXVIII



IN BROKEN DREAMS THE IMAGE ROSE
OF VARIED PERILS, PAINS, AND WOES.


THEY COME, IN DIM PROCESSION LED,
THE COLD, THE FAITHLESS, AND THE DEAD;
AS WARM EACH HAND, EACH BROW AS GAY,
AS IF THEY PARTED YESTERDAY.


The condition of the fugitives in their rude fortress was sufficiently
dispiriting, after the first joy that they felt for their victory had
passed away. Three of their number lay dead; and all the rest, save
Rashleigh, were more or less wounded, as before related. Besides these
causes for regret, they knew that the blacks, though repulsed for a time,
would most certainly renew their attack with the first convenient
opportunity and never cease to harass them until they had either revenged
the fall of their fellows or shared their bloody graves. The spot in
which they were also afforded no water, and it would have been perfectly
impossible for some of the white men, who had suffered most in their late
conflict, to remove to any more promising place, even if they had not
feared danger by the way from the assaults of their insidious enemies.

McClashin, who was almost uninjured, and Hennessy, who was only slightly
so, were now violent in their clamours against our adventurer, accusing
him of being the origin of all their mishaps, since they had adopted his
advice of continuing the route along the beach. It was in vain that
Rashleigh alleged the fact that they would have been equally liable to
the attacks of the aborigines in whatever direction they had proceeded.
The others only became more clamorous; and Hennessy at length got so much
enraged that, taking an opportunity while Ralph was looking another way,
he presented his musket at the former. Roberts, whose wounds had by this
time become so stiff that he could not rise, was only able to warn the
intended victim of the other's murderous design in a hurried manner.

On turning his head, Rashleigh saw the rascal taking aim at himself and
rushed upon him. Fortunately the gun missed fire; and our adventurer,
whose passions were fully aroused at the treachery of the attempt,
wrested the musket out of Hennessy's hand, then, throwing it away, seized
upon his foe and lifting him up by main strength, dashed him to the
ground, the craven ruffian roaring out all the while for mercy; which
Ralph, thinking the fall might be a sufficient lesson to him, now granted
and resumed his seat beside Roberts, who was rapidly sinking from loss of
blood, he having received four spear wounds in different parts, besides
many contusions.

It was Rashleigh's care in the first place to withdraw the weapons,
portions of which still remained in the wounds of his suffering
companion. He then bandaged them up as well as he could and laid the
wounded man in a nook where he might take some undisturbed repose. After
this he cautiously crept out of their fastness, with his musket loaded,
to reconnoitre the neighbourhood for water and to observe whether any of
their late opponents were visible. Not one of the latter was to be seen,
nor could our adventurer for a long period discover any of the former
object of his search. At length, in a spot at the foot of a clef, in the
precipice, he found some aquatic-looking plants, around which the soil
seemed moist. Here he scratched a hole with a stick, and in a few moments
had the happiness to observe the orifice filling with a fluid that
examination soon assured him was good fresh water, a small supply of
which he took in a quart pot to the cave, having first enlarged the
little well to the capacity of a bucket.

The water was eagerly welcomed by Roberts; and the other wounded men were
equally clamorous for a drink. But as a few minutes must elapse before
any quantity could be collected, they were forced to wait, and in the
mean time Ralph employed himself in dragging away the dead bodies that
cumbered the floor of their retreat. These he put in a hole beside a huge
rock at some distance, covering them with sand as well as his imperfect
means would allow. The next operation he engaged in was the construction
of a sort of hedge, or CHEVAUX DE FRISE, with the ropes they had brought,
which he tied across a narrow part of their retreat, securing the ends to
stakes wedged into fissures of the rock and interlacing the whole with
thorny boughs, so that it might serve to prevent any sudden hostile
attack and keep off their foes while they reloaded their muskets, which,
as Ralph had discovered, was very essential from the circumstances
attending the last onslaught of their sable enemies.

Our adventurer next procured a sufficient supply of fresh water and
prepared some food, of which, however, neither Roberts nor Owens was able
to partake. They were the principal objects of his solicitude, as the
conduct of neither McClashin nor Hennessy had been such as much to endear
them to him. But nevertheless, though they had not assisted him in any of
his exertions, he invited them to share the meal, which they did very
willingly, appearing to be quite friendly and reconciled, though once or
twice our adventurer detected sinister glances passing from one to
another of them, which he neither understood nor approved of, and
therefore, after having attended to the wants of the wounded, he left the
cavern in search of some secret nook to which he might repair after it
became dark.

At some short distance from their place of retreat was an upright fissure
in a rock, which had been filled with seaweed by the action of repeated
storms. The upper part of this was now dry, and Rashleigh resolved on
making it his lair for the night that was now fast approaching.
Intending, however, to give one more look at his companion Roberts and to
smoke a pipe beside him as he lay, he turned back for this purpose,
taking with him a large armful of seaweed to form an addition to the
couch of the wounded man.

Just before he reached their place of refuge he heard voices conversing
together in a subdued, almost whispering manner. A little attention to
the tones satisfied him they were those of McClashin and Hennessy, and
willing to hear what the subject might be they were discussing in this
stealthy manner, our adventurer noiselessly put down his burden and crept
very cautiously behind a rock they were seated in front of, talking so
earnestly that they had not observed his approach.

Ralph heard Hennessy say, "I tell you he's as strong as a bullock and
might be more than a match for the pair of us."

McClashin rephed, "Well thin, we must do the other thing, that's all."
And they rose from their seats, going away towards their companions.

The few words he had thus heard set Rashleigh thinking what might be
their import; but he could not satisfy himself upon this score, though,
coupling the glances he had seen exchanged between these men with this
circumstance, he feared they intended treachery to himself. Thus put in
some degree upon his guard, he entered the cavern very warily and looked
round for the two conspirators, whom he saw sitting by the fireside,
chatting together in a very unconcerned manner.

McClashin observed, "I see you've got something to make a bed. Is there
any more of it anywhere handy?"

"Plenty on the beach," briefly replied Rashleigh. And the other two rose
and went out, as Hennessy said, "to gather something to lay upon."

While they were gone, our adventurer's first act was to take out the
flints from their muskets, after which he made up a bed for Roberts and
then concealed all the other fire-arms but the piece he carried himself.
When this was done he prepared his pipe and lay down to smoke in silence
beside his wounded companions, who went to sleep almost directly he had
replaced them on their rude couches. McClashin and Hennessy soon
returned, and the former observed they had now a good way of passing the
night.

Our adventurer did not make any reply, and the other went on addressing
him, "What's the rason you don't speak to a body? Sure you an't crabbed
at us because you had them few words wid us to-day, are you? You shouldn't
mind me or Hennessy, for we are only a couple of foolish wild Irishmin,
you must know."

Hennessy here laughed and swore, "By Jakus, thin, I'M foolish enough,
anyway, for I'd quarrel wid my best frind sometimes; but id's all over
wid me in a minnit."

Rashleigh did not put much confidence in the pretended friendship of
either, but still thought it best to suppress the answer that was rising
to his lips. So he only said that he wasn't at all angry, but only tired
and sleepy, on which McClashin remarked, "Faix, thin, and no wondher,
afther the hullaballoo we've all been in to-day. By my sowl thin, I seen
you shtick that big black divil that was hauling you off like a horse's
head to a bonfire. THAT was NATELY done . . . And thin, how you rattled
the others about the shkulls that was pegging away at poor Roberts. I WILL
say if you hadn't come back to help us, he'd a bin dead now, anyway. And
musha, God knows, the whole of us, maybe."

There was a catlike, treacherous, whining way about this man that he ever
assumed towards those whom he most deeply hated, and Rashleigh had
observed it often before, so that all his specious talk made no further
impression upon the mind of our exile than warning him against some
meditated deed of stealthy violence. So, finding himself really about to
sleep, he got up and stole out of the place, taking the greatest
precaution against being either followed or observed. In this way he
reached his proposed lair and nestling in among the seaweed, slept
unmolested until morning.

Soon after daylight he re-entered the rude shelter, where he found all
things undisturbed and the inmates fast asleep behind the defence he had
erected. While he was preparing their morning meal, McClashin awoke, and
observing Rashleigh to be busied in his occupation, he arose and
proffered to assist him. Hennessy also got up and our adventurer thought
there was an air of hesitation about this bold-faced ruffian that did not
become the assumed heartiness of his manner as he bade Ralph a good
morrow. In the course of their meal McClashin asked the latter how he had
slept and being answered very well, he added that he also slept wen,
"only the muskatees were very throublesome".

This day passed over quietly, and towards nightfall McClashin and
Rashleigh went out to fish while Hennessy promised to keep a strict
look-out for the blacks.

The two anglers met with very good success and brought home as much finny
spoil as promised to afford them all two abundant meals. After supper
Rashleigh lay down beside Roberts as before, until it was dark, when he
repaired to his separate sleeping-place, where he again disposed himself
for slumber, but in vain for a very long period, and he imagined that he
was not sufficiently tired to sleep quickly. At length the drowsy god
shed his poppies over the eye-lids of our exile, who sank into a state of
troubled repose.

His rest was broken by a series of singular dreams. First his vagrant
fancy strayed to the home of his youth. He was playing with his only
sister, when a little childish quarrel arose and she was suddenly
transformed into a hideous spectre, whose demoniac features still bore a
faint resemblance to those of the departed bushranger Philip Foxley, who,
grinning horribly, appeared about to strangle the solitary sleeper. Then
again, he fancied himself to be an inmate of Marshall's cottage, paying
courtship to his quondam fellow-traveller Jane Bates; and she was smiling
at his suit as the door suddenly opened, when McClashin, with Hennessy
for his compartion, rushed in, who shot the poor girl dead and were
dragging him out when he awoke to feel a sensation of some undefinable
dread overhanging his mind, which he could by no means dispel so as to
sleep again.

At last the fear of some unknown and horrible impending calamity became
so poignant that Rashleigh could endure it no longer, and hastily getting
up, he went towards the place of his comrades' repose. On arriving within
sight of the opening, the first thing that attracted his attention was
the ruddy glow of some hasty fire that emanated from it, which, casting
its glare around, illumined every object for many yards. His instant idea
was that the blacks had surprised his sleeping companions, and having set
fire to the hedge he had put up, were perhaps waiting until the white men
came out in confusion to spear them at their leisure.

Full of this dreadful thought, he cocked his piece and stepped stealthily
towards the spot, where he saw McClashin stooping down, adding some light
wood to the fire, while Hennessy was apparently looking for someone in
the corner where Rashleigh had at first lain down.

Who was the object of this search quickly became apparent, for the
ruffian making it uttered a loud oath, and said, "That beggar Ralph is
not any place here!"

"Well, never mind HIM now!" replied McClashin. "We can give it to him as
he comes back. Settle the other two at ONCE."

By this time our adventurer had got quite close to Hennessy, who stooped
over Owens. A stifled sort of shriek and a blood-stained knife that
gleamed in the murderer's hand as he rose told what his base deed had
been. At this instant his eye caught that of Rashleigh, whose finger was
on the trigger of the musket, the muzzle of which was not a yard from the
detected cut-throat's head. He uttered an indescribable sort of howl as
Ralph shouted, "Die, dog!" And the musket answering well to his words,
the brains of the cold-blooded ruffianly assassin spattered full in the
face of his accomplice McClashin, who, Pot yet seeing their intended
victim, had come to the assistance of Hennessy, but dismayed by his sudden
fall, offered no effectual opposition to our adventurer, who smote him to
the earth with his musket.

Such was the force of the blow dealt that no second repetition of it was
necessary. The defeated plotter sank to the earth, and the short-lived
flame raised by his hand expiring at the same instant, our exile was left
alone, as he believed, and in darkness with four inanimate corpses that
had within the last few seconds been violently reft of life, two of them
by his own deed.

For an instant he stood appalled; but at length collecting some scattered
fragments, he again awoke the slumbering embers of the decayed fire, by
the light of which he surveyed the scene and quickly found, to his great
joy, that Roberts yet survived, not having been touched by Hennessy,
whose purpose appeared to have been first to kill Rashleigh, and it
seemed to be only when he could not find the primary object of his
heartless design that he had resolved on ridding himself of their wounded
comrades.

This idea was confirmed by McClashin, who did not die until near morning,
though the roof of his head was completely crushed in. Before his
departure, with every mark of penitence for this as well as many other
crimes, he confessed to Rashleigh that himself and Hennessy had resolved
on killing all three of their surviving companions, then to cut off their
heads as well as the heads of those who had fallen and were buried. They
proposed to take these bloody trophies back to Newcastle, where they
intended to give themselves up to the commandant, telling him a specious
tale to the effect that they (McClashin and Hennessy) having been pressed
by the others and compelled against their wills to join in the seizure of
the boat, had watched the opportunity as soon as they could acquire
fire-arms by stealth from the fugitives, and killed them all. For this
act of barbarous treachery they hoped to obtain their freedom, as many
other equally execrable deeds had been similarly rewarded before; but the
whole plan had been opportunely defeated, as we have seen, through the
restlessness of one of its proposed victims.

For several days after this scene of detected treachery, the two
surviving fugitives remained in their retreat unmolested; and at length
Roberts, having acquired sufficient strength to walk, yielded to the
urgent entreaties of Rashleigh, who ardently longed to quit a place where
even the air they breathed appeared to be polluted by deeds of slaughter
and violence.

Having therefore concealed the greater portion of their tools, arms and
other appurtenances by burying them in the sand, the runaways recommenced
their toilsome march, carrying with them two muskets, an axe and a
cross-cut saw, with a small supply of provisions, intending still to
persevere in their now almost hopeless design of penetrating to the cedar
trees before spoken of and attempting to construct a canoe of that
timber.

Roberts, however, was still so feeble and weak that although the distance
could not have been more than twenty miles, yet they were three days in
reaching the scene of their proposed operations.

The long sought for trees grew upon an island about four miles from the
bottom of a bay, in the course of a broad and rapid river, which fell
over a ledge of rocks at the end of the island nearest the ocean. The
current was exceedingly rapid, and our adventurers could not for some
time devise means of passing it. At length Rashleigh remembered the
method adopted by Foxley in crossing the Nepean, and after some rime
succeeded in constructing a catamaran near a bend in the river a good
distance above the islet in question. This rude raft was formed only of
logs lashed together with wild vines, but having tested its powers of
endurance, Ralph did not doubt its answering their purpose, and Roberts,
without hesitation, committed himself upon it to the water, accompanied
by our adventurer, who had provided himself with a pole to guide their
crazy vessel. Fortunately the bed of the stream was here very shallow, so
that when they got out into the current our exile was enabled to bear
strongly upon his pole, keeping the head of his raft in the proper
direction, and in a few minutes they safely reached the haven of their
hopes.

The island upon which they had landed was very small, deeply fringed with
brushwood that grew down to the water's edge. But the centre was a hill
of considerable height, on which the trees grew that were the object of
their ambition to reach, without any other kind of timber near them.
These cedars were of very great size, and Rashleigh began to fear that
even when his companion should be sufficiently recovered to attempt it,
their saw would be found inadequate in length to cut down even the least,
in which case they would be compelled to resort to the tedious process of
chopping it through with the axe.

In the first place, the delicate state of Roberts's health rendered it
necessary that some shelter from the weather should be provided; and
Rashleigh, anxious for employment to dissipate the unpleasant reminiscences
occasioned by their past mischances, set himself so industriously to work
that in three days he had completed a very passable hut, the sides of
which were wattled with boughs and plastered with mud, while the roof was
thatched with reeds.

Deeming this to be a place of security, our exile next determined to pay
a visit to their former retreat under the rock, as he now discovered they
were likely to want several other matters for the construction of a canoe
which lay there, in particular some cordage; and having now acquired a
little knowledge of the stream on which their island stood, he feared not
to wade it. This he did shortly after daylight one morning, leaving his
comrade in their little cot, well supplied with all he could be likely
to require, and strictly enjoining him on no account to leave the hut,
lest he should be seen by any of their sable foes from the shore.

As Ralph was encumbered with nothing but his gun, he ran the greater part
of the way to the scene of their late conflict, nor did he see a single
living being on his route. But on approaching the bay, he first perceived
a dense smoke arising from the neighbourhood of their former fortress;
and having ascended a tree on a slight eminence, he saw that a large
number of blacks occupied the beach in front of it, who were apparently
intent on the performance of some religious or perhaps funereal
solemnity. As our adventurer had often heard that these savages do not
like to remain for a long period near a place where any of their tribes
have met with violent deaths, he concluded the best plan he could adopt
was to wait patiently until the sooty warriors should withdraw; but he
almost repented of this determination as hour after hour went by and they
still appeared to have some fresh ceremony or new dance to perform.

The sun was very low before the blacks left the spot free to the
researches of our adventurer, and on descending he found that they had
indeed been performing some most revolting rites. The sable warriors that
had fallen throughout the affray with the white men had apparently all
been disinhumed and brought hither to be reinterred, a spot above the
influence of the highest tides having been selected. Graves, or rather
pits--as the aborigines always bury their dead either erect or sitting
down, and not extended--had been dug, the number of which described a
rude circle. The blacks who had been slain appeared here to have been
buried. A post set up in the centre bore the heads of all the fallen
white men, severed from their bodies and hung here by the jaws, while all
of their teeth had been knocked out and carried off. On every one of the
graves also lay some part of a white man's corpse, other portions of
which were strewn about in all directions, so that it appeared these
revengeful savages had wreaked that vengeance upon the dead which they
had been prevented from doing to the living.

Rashleigh stood a few moments an appalled spectator of this disgusting
golgotha; but at last he resolved the savages should not be able to
revisit that spot on the morrow to point to the senseless remains in
proof of what they had done to avenge the aggressions of the white men.
So, disgusting and repugnant as was the task, he collected all the
mangled relics of his slain companions, and fearing no other method could
secure them from further desecration, he piled them all together with a
huge quantity of brushwood, which he at length set fire to, being well
aware he need fear no interruption from the aborigines, whom no earthly
considerations could induce to approach the grave of any of their recent
dead after nightfall.

When this melancholy duty was fulfilled, he repaired to their former
hiding-placc under the rock, where he found the articles they had
concealed were still unmolested. From these he selected as much as he
could carry and departed, using every exertion to arrive at the island
before daylight; but it was long after sunrise when he did so, and found
Roberts, as he had expected, much alarmed on his account.

When the wounded man had in a great measure recovered from his injuries,
both our fugitives set themselves strenuously to work and by dint of
arduous exertion in the short space of one day had not only felled a
stout cedar but had cut a portion of the butt off and stripped it of its
bark. There was fortunately a considerable hollow in this naturally,
which, of course, promised to diminish their labour most materially. The
plan they proposed to adopt, therefore, was to split a part of the butt
off, to deepen the hollow by means of fire, rudely to shape the head,
stopping up the orifice in that part by the means of gum, used instead of
pitch by the aborigines. To this log they proposed to attach another, and
connecting both parts together, thus to form a double canoe similar to
those in use among the Sandwich islanders, which it is well known can
scarcely be upset.

For several days, growing at length into weeks, they toiled
unremittingly, and at length had the heartfelt joy of seeing both the
parts of their canoe safely launched into the water, while the rude balks
they intended for the connecting frame lay ready for joining on the bank.
This inspired them with so much additional vigour that they wrought
harder than ever, scarcely taking time either to eat or sleep, because
they employed themselves on their vessel all day, and at night, by the
gleam of their fire, prepared their cordage, sails and oars.

The river had been several days getting lower than it was when first they
arrived on the island; but Roberts, to whom Rashleigh had that morning
remarked this circumstance, only replied, "Never mind, mate. If there's
only water enough left to carry us over the fall, there's sure to be
plenty in the sea!"

The weather, too, was unusually oppressive; yet though it was so hot, the
sun was obscured by a yellow haze, while all nature seemed completely
hushed into a state of unnatural stillness. About four o'clock in the
afternoon of the same day, as both our fugitives were working on the
raft, our exile conceived he felt a tremulous motion that seemed to be
communicated from the land against which one side of their vessel lay.
Just after, a moaning rushing noise, far more terrifying to him than the
loudest clap of thunder, seemed to issue from the neighbouring mountains.

"What's that dreadful noise, Roberts?" asked Ralph, looking wildly at his
companion.

"Only distant thunder," was the reply.

"Thunder!" repeated Rashleigh, gazing round at the sky. "And not a cloud
to be seen!"

At this instant his eye rested upon the bend of the river just above him,
and who shall attempt to analyze or describe his feelings when he saw
sweeping down towards them, silently save for that moaning noise which he
NOW too well understood, a mighty mountain of rushing waters, that
stretched from bank to bank of the stream, and whose height seen from the
level at which the fugitives stood was equal to that of the loftiest tree
of the forest!

Short was the time permitted him to gaze upon this awful sight. Before
Rashleigh could communicate his alarm to his companion, the vast volume
of water was upon them like a destroying angel. Roberts was torn from the
canoe, which, bursting its fastenings as though they were threads, was
hurled over the falls in an instant. The crash of its parting timbers
announced its destruction; and Rashleigh became insensible.




Chapter XXIX



UNTAMED, AS NATURE FIRST FORMED FREE-BORN MAN,
WHEN WILD IN WOODS THE NOBLE SAVAGE RAN.


When our adventurer was restored to sense he found himself lying upon an
arid beach, surrounded by a great number of aborigines, who seemed to have
been using some kind of means for his resuscitation. The instant that
their patient gave indication of returning life a quarrel arose among
them, the object of which, so far as Rashleigh could divine it, seemed to
be which should drag the white man off with him. And they were obviously
about to appeal to the issue of arms to decide this contest when one of
their number came up, whose arrival changed the whole course of action.

The black who now approached was one of the most revolting specimens of
humanity that can possibly be conceived. A very few white hairs only
remained upon his polished skull, forming a thin circle around it. His
beard, however, was more luxuriant than usually falls to the lot of any
Australian aboriginal. One of his organs of vision had been utterly
extinguished, leaving in its room only a raw and bloody cavity. His other
eye appeared to be more than half obscured by rheum. His body was
emaciated by sickness until it scarcely possessed more substance than a
shadow.

Add to the above that he was gashed and scarred all over, but
particularly about the face, also that, though last not least among a
race supereminent for uncleanliness, he appeared even more conspicuous
for personal filth than any of his fellows, and you may conceive some
idea of the unattractive appearance of this old black, for whom,
notwithstanding, every facility was afforded by his compeers, who
withdrew from around their prostrate prisoner, for whose possession they
had been only an instant before quarrelling with the utmost excess of
savage fury. And they permitted the senior to approach Rashleigh, who,
upon his part, had been long expecting to receive the COUP DE GRACE among
them, deeming it highly probable, amid the furious contention which had
so long prevailed, that somebody, enraged at a repulse, might end the
dispute by dashing out his brains with one of the clubs or NULLAH NULLAHS
that were brandished so angrily upon all sides.

The scene was now entirely changed; all became so still and hushed around
that the falling of a single leaf might with ease have been heard. The
savages, as if surprised, suspended their weapons in the air in the
midst of the explanatory, argumentative or threatening flourishes with
which they had been erewhile assisting their oratory; and every man
retaining the same posture he had occupied on the occurrence of this
interruption to their unknown purpose, all eyes were now bent upon the
decrepit savage.

Our adventurer, in the course of his rambles in New South Wales, had
not omitted to satisfy his curiosity by enquiring of all whom he thought
competent to afford information upon the various manners and customs
of the nomadic races of Australia, and during the period of his
investigations had received particular accounts of the personal appearance
of, as well as the singular power and influence possessed by, the
CARANDJIES, even over the very wildest and most untamed tribes that had yet
been heard of in the Colony. Among these rude bodies they appear to combine
the characters of doctor, priest, magician and chief ruler. From the
peculiarity of the marks made upon the parti-coloured personage who now drew
nigh, as well as the great deference paid to him by the others, Rashleigh
had no doubt but that this old savage was a CARANDJIE of great eminence
among his people.

The ancient black supported his tottering and feeble steps upon the rough
limb of a tree. In his right hand he bore a green eucalyptus bough.
Advancing to the white prisoner, he motioned with his hand, and all the
other blacks fell back to a little distance, crowding together in a
circle. The CARANDJIE tottered several times round Rashleigh, waving his
bough and chanting a kind of dull monotonous song, which seemed to our
exile only a repetition of two or three words. At length he ceased to
sing and sat down at the head of the captive, who silently watched his
every motion. The old blackfellow next made a kind of speech, which was
attentively listened to by the others, whose demeanour was perfectly
altered and now appeared to be as pacific as a few moments before they
had seemed animated by the wildest fury. A kind of guttural grunt hailed
the termination of the CARANDJIE's harangue, who thereupon walked two or
three more times round Rashleigh, waving his bough and chanting as
before.

Two athletic black men now approached, who gently lifted Ralph from the
ground and placed him on his feet, making signs that he should walk with
them. Knowing the folly and inutility of resistance, our adventurer
passively complied, and partly led, partly supported by his guides,
reached the camp of the tribe, which, it being now fine weather, was in a
piece of open forest land, and consisted of nothing more than a
considerable number of little fires, beside each of which lay or sat the
GIN (wife) and dogs of the blackfellow to whom they belonged, watching,
as it seemed, the DILLEYS (nets) that contained their fishing tackle and
such weapons as the warrior did not carry with him. Rashleigh and his
guards were guided to a resting-place by the decrepit old CARANDJIE, who
owned three fires, and of course, according to custom, three GINS also;
for no matter how many wives a blackfellow may have, each maintains her
separate fire, and each provides a portion of food for her lord and master.
Indeed, the latter always dispatches the former by the dawn of every day
to fish, hunt for cockles and grubs, or to dig up swamp roots, according
as either may be the usual kind of food for the season.

When the women depart, the men, in the mean time, unless urgently pressed
by hunger, still lie asleep or lounge about the fires, making or
repairing their weapons for war or of the chase until the return of their
partners, when each man goes to his GIN, or he who is rich enough to have
two or more, visits them all, taking the lion's share of what they may
have brought, and rewarding them by caresses and praises for diligence,
or punishing them by blows for the reverse, according as their researches
have been successful or otherwise.

Thus, either in peace or in war, the GINS of the aborigines in this part
of Australia, at the time these incidents occurred, were no better than
slaves to their men, who repaid them with the most haughty and imperious
usage for all their exertions, and only left them the refuse of the
provisions which they themselves had made to satisfy hunger. The male
savages confined their labours to hunting the kangaroo or the opossum,
which the women on no account were permitted to touch until they were
presented with such portions as the men thought fit. Sometimes, too, the
latter would go and spear fish; but this they did chiefly by way of
amusement, as if it were beneath their dignity to follow it as a pursuit.

Rashleigh had been placed on the ground near the old CARANDJIE's fire,
and in a short time one of the GINS supplied his guards with a quantity
of cordage, apparently spun from filaments of bark. His hands were bound
fast to his side and his feet tied together, so that he could not stir by
any exertion of his own, after which the warriors withdrew, leaving our
adventurer alone with the ancient CARANDJIE and his GIN. The former now
came and sat very close to his head again and continued to chatter
without any intermission, using many extraordinary gesticulations; but
not one word, of course, of all that he said was intelligible to our
exile.

By and by another GIN approached, bearing a few fern leaves in her hand,
on which lay a large fish, apparently fresh roasted. A few words passed
between herself and the old black, after which she placed Rashleigh in a
sitting posture and began to tear the fish to pieces with her fingers,
feeding the prisoner with these morsels, which, though rather insipid for
want of salt, were yet very welcome after so many hours of abstinence. A
draught of water from a calabash finished this novel repast, and Ralph
was then replaced in his former recumbent position by his black mistress
or attendant, for she might he either for aught he knew; and she lastly
covered him with an opossum-skin cloak, directing him, still making use
of signs, to go to sleep, which, in spite of his anxiety, he did in a
short time.

When he again awoke it was night. No sound save the hoarse croaking of
the frogs in a neighbouring swamp disturbed the silence; but the
uneasiness of his position prevented any further sleep. At the dawning
the GINS all departed as usual. A very short time afterwards Rashleigh's
bonds were loosened, and he was motioned by one of the warriors to rise.
He did so and perceived that the whole of the males belonging to the
tribe were assembled close at hand, each being fully equipped as for war
and most frightfully smeared with different earths, yellow, white and red
being the predominant colours.

A sort of procession was now formed, the ancient CARANDJIE leading the
way, supported by two athletic men fully armed. These were followed by a
body of about a dozen, who bore nothing in their hands but green boughs,
which they waved to and fro, chanting in a low tone a formula of a few
indistinct monosyllables. Behind these came the prisoner, walking between
two other stout men, who, like the foremost, were equipped with spear,
shield and waddy, having their hair most fancifully decorated by red and
blue feathers, mixed with tufts of cotton grass. Large bones were also
thrust through their ears and the cartilage of their noses. After these
came more men with boughs, and the rear was brought up by the body of
armed warriors attached to this tribe, of whom, in all, not less than 150
were present.

They walked on slowly until they arrived at a small open green space from
which the sea was visible. It was not yet sunrise, but the eastern sky
had begun to glow with the approaching presence of that glorious
luminary. Nearly in the centre of the little plain was a sort of mount,
apparently raised by art at some distant period and now covered over with
grass. On this mound Rashleigh was placed in a sitting posture. The
warriors then ranged themselves behind and on each side of him as he sat
facing the sea. Those blacks who had borne the green boughs stuck them in
their girdles behind them with the leaves pointing downwards like so many
tails. They next began to jump about in a rude sort of dance, imitating,
as it seemed, the motions of a kangaroo.

In the mean time the CARANDJIE drew near our adventurer and placed on the
ground before him a bundle tied up in a kind of cloth made of opossum
skins dressed with the hair on. Then, taking a bough, he proceeded to
wave it to and fro in a mysterious manner over the parcel, chanting or
muttering all the time. At length he opened it with great caution, and
Rashleigh now perceived that it contained a number of human teeth, all
of them single, or such as grow in the front of the jaw. Beside these the
packet enclosed an instrument made of green talc, bearing an imperfect
resemblance to a chisel, and a flat, irregularly-shaped stone of
considerable size.

At a motion from the old black, Rashleigh's arms were secured by two of
the bystanders, and the CARANDJIE put on such an indescribably demoniac
look that our exile now quite gave himself up for lost. His race was not
yet run, however, for the ancient black magician, taking the implements
of stone in his hand, approached, speaking very earnestly and pointing to
the features of the others, making signs as if he wished the prisoner to
open his mouth. Rashleigh at last complied with the direction, and the
old man placed the chisel against one of his single teeth, looking round
to the ocean as he did so. An instant after this the sun began to peer
above the waves; and at the first glimpse of his body a smart tap on the
chisel from the stone forced out the tooth, the patient's head having
been supported behind by, one of his guards.

A loud shout accompanied this operation, and the tooth was shortly
afterwards handed round to each man present, all of whom, as Rashleigh
observed, made a motion to spit upon it. It was at last restored to the
CARANDJIE, who placed it carefully among the others, tying up the
parcel with great ceremony. A dance, called by the colonists a CORROBOREE,
now took place, in which only the unarmed men joined. It was, however,
attended by much shouting and clashing of weapons among their armed
brethren. At the conclusion of this dance Rashleigh was seized by his
guards, who had before relaxed their grasp of him, and he was now laid on
his face, being prevented from moving by numerous hands. Directly
afterwards he felt several gashes inflicted on his back, and surely
believing his end had now arrived, he resigned himself to his fate with
as much composure as he could assume, and being almost indurated to
torture by the cats of the Coal river, he did not betray by a groan any
susceptibility to pain.

He was quickly turned over on the bleeding parts, and he now observed
that each of the dancers bore a small sharp shell crimsoned with his
blood. which flowed freely around. The operators, or as Ralph thought
then, tormentors, now stooped towards him, their eyes glaring furiously
on their victim. Again he felt the stabs, and a loud yell pealed around
him. He was almost instantly raised from his recumbent position, when he
found he had received no less than thirty-six deep cuts, regularly
placed, before and behind him, in four rows of nine each, from his
shoulders to the bottom of his ribs, but none lower than this. These
gashes were, of course, now all streaming with gore, of which he also
felt the warm current trickling down his back and legs. Another dance
succeeded, after which the CARANDJIE once more drew nigh with a shell
full of some clammy styptic preparation, with which he anointed all the
wounds, and they almost instantly ceased bleeding.

Rashleigh was then placed upon some boughs forming a sort of litter,
which being hoisted upon the shoulders of four blackfellows, they
returned to the camp in much the same order as they had left it, except
that all the blacks made a great noise with shouting and beating their
waddies against their shields, parties of them dancing along at times
like so many mad furies.

When they arrived at the camp, the GINS were all reassembled, busily
roasting fish, roots and grubs, in short, apparently making preparations
for a great feast. Two of their number were pounding some condiment
between stones, which they afterwards put into a large calabash.

The men now squatted in a wide circle on the ground, the CARANDJIE being
placed next to Rashleigh; and directly afterwards the females presented
to each some broiled roots and fish, also, by way of BON BONS, a few of
those large grubs that are found in rotten timber, which were now nicely
roasted. The ancient black ate but very little himself, continually
passing all that was handed to him over to our exile, who thought matters
now began to look a little better. Still, the latter did not fancy the
appearance of any of the food save the fish, which, though broiled
without any kind of cleansing, just as they came out of the ocean, and
eaten without salt, were nevertheless very good.

At various times during this repast calabashes full of some hot,
moderately sweet drink were handed round to the festive group by their
humble attendants, who were not allowed to sit down with them or to join
in this rude revelry, but who, as soon as the men ceased eating,
disappeared; nor did Rashleigh see anything more of a single GIN during
the remainder of the day.

To borrow a polite phrase, "after the ladies had retired", the
calabash before mentioned, which contained the pounded root, was put into
requisition, being presented to the CARANDJIE, and he divided its
contents into a great many portions, which were put in other and smaller,
calabashes or gourd skins, and the vessels having been filled up with
water from a pond close by, their united contents were made to boil by
having red-hot stones placed in them. The liquor was dipped out of these
goblets with shells and eagerly drunk by the assembled blacks. Our exile
partook of it and found it to have a taste something similar to fermented
Spanish liquorice, but with a certain pungent acridity which it imparted
to the palate after it had been swallowed. This drink speedily
intoxicated the whole group. They danced, fought, sung and shouted away
for several hours; and when at length Rashleigh was able to wrap himself
in his opossum-skin cloak for the purpose of going to sleep, there was
not one of his sable companions sensible. They all lay strewn about,
completely dead drunk.

The next day our adventurer found himself very unwell, with all the
symptoms of an overnight debauch, though he had drunk very little of this
ardent mixture. But all the blacks really appeared more dead than alive.
The old CARANDJIE, in particular, lay like one in a torpor, and during
the whole day he reposed with his head in the lap of his favourite GIN,
who ever and anon supplied him with some kind of cooling drink.

In a few days our exile's wounds began to cicatrize; but over each gash a
wavy sort of scar remained, of a very singular appearance and nearly as
large in projection from the skin as his middle finger. One morning the
old black doctor presented him with a dark-coloured kind of pigment with
which he made signs for Rashleigh to anoint his skin. On compliance with
this request the parts touched by the composition quickly assumed the
tinge of rusty iron; and on repeating the application daily for about a
fortnight, the whole of his body, save the palms of his hands and the
soles of his feet, was changed into a dull dark-brown hue. A ball of suet
was next given to him to rub over his person. This appeared to deepen and
even to fix the colour so much that Ralph Rashleigh, though naturally of
a ruddy complexion, now really differed but little in colour from any of
the sable sons of the forest among whom his lot appeared to be cast,
especially after the latter, who were generally grimed with grease, filth
and soot, had been bathing, which they frequently did in the summer
season, either for pleasure or from necessity while following the chase.

The ancient black, who seemed to have adopted our adventurer, next
presented him with a GIN and gave him a good store of native weapons; but
they still continued to eat together and always slept at a short distance
from each other. One of the black warriors also, at the old CARANDJIE'S
request, now commenced initiating the new-comer into the mysteries of
savage life, teaching Rashleigh the various modes of hunting, spearing
fish, etc. Our exile, who feared that if he should return among his own
countrymen his lot might be even worse than it was at present, applied
himself to his instructions with great goodwill and soon became tolerably
proficient in most of the simple arts of the aborigines, though nature
and habit had denied to him the unerring eye and keen perception which
are so common among them but appear never to be granted to any save
savages. As he remained in this state of willing barbarism upwards of
four years, it would be useless to attempt following his proceedings
minutely during that period; but by giving a sketch of his mode of
passing one day, an idea may be obtained of all the rest.

In the morning then, while Lorra his GIN went out to dig roots, Rashleigh
would go and hunt for bandicoots or kangaroo rats. if he met with a
goanna or an opossum, he would follow him up any lofty tree,
cutting notches in the bark with his stone tomahawk to enable him to
ascend it. When at last the object of his chase got upon a bough that
would not bear the pursuer, the latter, by cutting the limb through,
would precipitate his prey to the ground, which seldom failed either to
kill or very much to maim it. If, on the other hand, the animal or
reptile took shelter in a hollow part, the WHITE blackfellow would dig
him out of his retreat, if he could not haul him from thence with a
forked stick. In either case, he descended leisurely to the ground after
accomplishing his purpose, secure of an ample breakfast.

If any of his dogs--of whom he bad a host, all of them either of  the
native breed domesticated or descended from such--pursued any of the
smaller ground animals such as a bandicoot or a kangaroo rat until it
took shelter in a log, the pack would stand baying and yelping around it
until Ralph came up, either to cut into the hollow tree, or sometimes, if
this seemed to be a hard task, to plug up the orifice and set fire to the
other end of the log, certain that when he returned in an hour or two
to reopen the hole, the animal would either be found dead close to it, or
if living, would be forced by the heat to run out among the dogs, who
never failed then to catch him.

After he had by any of these means secured sufficient food, he returned
to the camp, having soon learned by unerring natural signs how to direct
his steps so as to attain any wished-for point through the densest an
most trackless parts of the wild Australian bush. In the camp Lorra would
by this time have the fern roots washed, scraped and boiled or roasted,
and some of the other gins would be provided with fish. Whatever our
adventurer had obtained would now be added to the stock, all of which was
prepared with more attention to cleanliness than usually obtains in
aboriginal cookery. And when the repast was ready, the whole group of
three gins, Rashleigh and the old CARANDJIE sat down and shared alike.
After this they reposed until evening in some shady spot, when fresh
roots and fish or game being provided, they partook of another meal,
seldom taking more than two daily.

At times Rashleigh and some of the blacks would go at night with their
gins to a secluded bay or inlet not exposed to the fury of the open sea,
the gins bearing large lighted torches made of resinous bark, and the
males provided with fishing spears having four points slightly separated
at the extremity. The whole party would wade up to their middles among
the shallows, and the fish attracted by the glare would come swimming up
around them quite close to their feet, where, dazzled and confounded,
they fell an easy prey to their pursuers, who, thrusting them through
with their weapons, cast them out upon the beach until they became
fatigued.

In the winter season, when much of the undergrowth, such as vines,
etc., that tend to render the scrubs inaccessible, had lost their leaves,
so as to render a passage through such thickets possible to men and dogs,
as well as opening the view into these at other seasons impenetrable
fastnesses of the animal creation, the warriors of the tribe, appointing
some detached place of this kind for a centre, would disperse themselves,
forming a very wide circle of several miles in extent, having their dogs
secured with leashes and held close. They would then advance towards the
rendezvous, yelling and beating their more sonorous implements of the
chase, blowing upon conch shells and in fact making as much noise as they
could contrive.

The object of this was to make all the wild animals fly before them
towards the middle, while the blacks kept on slowly advancing until
night-fall. They then encamped, and one slept while another watched
throughout the hours of darkness. At dawn they were again in motion until
the scrub or thicket which formed their centre was full in sight, at
which time the black warriors would be ranged in a close circular line
around it, no person being perhaps more than six yards from another. Then
some of the most expert, with all the dogs they could muster, beat the
thicket, forcing the whole of the thus enclosed animals that could not
ascend trees to fly out of their covert, when the MÊLÉE began, and the
surrounding blacks slaughtered the kangaroos, bandicoots, etc., with
their spears and waddies, after which, the game being carried home, a
great feast ensued, lasting as long as the spoil they had taken would
serve the assembled multitude for food, during which the liquor made from
roots before mentioned, and a preparation of honey were drunk in great
profusion, until serious quarrels invariably occurred, ending in furious
fights, during which grievous wounds were freely given and received.

After some time Rashleigh acquired a competent knowledge of their
lariguage--if their mode of expression could deserve to be dignified with
such a name--which he described as being, like all else belonging to them,
very inartificial and rude. In fact, they had no more words than were
absolutely necessary to communicate one with the other on the few and
simple subjects their mode of life rendered usual.

Of religion they had none whatever but many very ridiculous superstitions
of supernatural appearances, chiefly relating to ghosts of slain
warriors, transformed into cruel and malignant demons, continually
endeavouring to kill the women and children or even the grown warriors if
they could catch the latter asleep or unarmed. Many places were shunned
with the wildest fear by these timorous creatures because they were
supposed to be the haunt of these cowardly goblins, who, as it seemed,
played their pranks by day as well as by night, in the former case
terrifying the unlucky beings who saw them by their supernaturally
demoniac forms, which required truly wild imaginations even to conceive.
Nor would any temptation whatever induce them, when once they were lain
down for the night, to remove from their fires even for the purpose of
gathering a few sticks, though the flame should happen to be expiring,
which took place the more frequently because they never would light a
large log that might maintain them in warmth for a few hours, though such
as these, consisting of huge trees uprooted by storms or age, lay around
them in dozens; but owing to some ill-defined usage, derived also from
superstition, they would only make use of boughs for this purpose not
larger than a man's wrist.

Their government, if such it may be called, was a species of patriarchal
despotism. In the tribe to which our exile was so long attached, all the
visible power was vested in the hands of the old CARANDJIE, who appeared
to have derived it from his eminence in feats of war during his youth;
and he now maintained it by his dexterity in imposing himself upon his
ignorant countrymen for a very great conjuror, since he had become
decrepit. Of his power in this art, Rashleigh observed the following
instance.

Lorra, who by the by had been the ancient CARANDJIE's favourite GIN
before our adventurer was taken captive, one day made a complaint to the
former that Tumba, a powerful black, had beaten her because she had
quarrelled with one of his wives while the two females were digging roots
together. The old magician, having heard this plaintive tale, wrought
himself up to a pitch of fury, and ordering Tumba into his presence,
abused him with the most bitter virulence, which the other, so far from
resenting, endured with the greatest humility, attempting to exculpate
himself by throwing the whole blame of the quarrel upon Lorra, who, he
said, had irritated him by her scolding tongue.

This defence by no means appeased the old man, who at last bade the
culprit, "Begone and WITHER." Now, upon enquiring from Lorra, Rashleigh
found this meant to pine away and die; and the poor credulous GIN added
that several of the men who had before received this sentence had
actually been taken sick, and two or three of them were dead, those who
recovered, she added, only having done so because the old man had granted
them his forgiveness. The credulity of the GIN almost surprised the white
man, but he afterwards saw enough to convince him that she had spoken the
truth; because the old fellow, who, it must be remembered was doctor as
well as magician-general to the tribe, always found some means of
administering deleterious drugs by stealth to his enemies, which baneful
potions, if not sufficiently strong to cause death, were at least potent
enough to produce a painful and languishing sickness.

On this occasion Tumba no sooner heard the fatal sentence passed than he
gave way to the wildest demonstrations of grief, tearing off all the
fastenings which secured, and the feathers that decorated, his hair, so
that it fell down over his back in confused disorder. He also cut severe
gashes in many parts of his body, giving vent all the time to loud
lamentations, in which demonstrations of grief he was joined by his two
gins, who supplicated the old CARANDJIE in vain for mercy. At length the
suppliants withdrew in despair, and they appeared for about a week to be
shunned by the whole tribe of blacks, every individual of which seemed to
keep aloof from them as if they had been troubled with some infectious
disorder. Tumba, during this period, lay about dejected and spiritless,
while his gins endeavoured in vain to console him; but the placable Lorra
never ceased to petition the old CARANDJIE for a pardon in their behalf,
until he granted it and was rewarded for it next day by the hind quarter
of a most magnificent old man kangaroo, sent him as a present on this
auspicious occasion by the heartily frightened object of his ban.

Very grave offences, such as murder or theft of a GIN by one of the same
tribe, are punished by a verdict of the general council consisting of all
the warriors belonging to the sept, who, according to the nature of the
case, sentence the offender to have a certain number of spears thrown at
him; and on the day appointed for the execution of the award, just before
sunrise, at which moment most of their ceremonies commence, all the
warriors are assembled at the spot where our adventurer was, according to
the aboriginal phrase, "made into a man"; such being the introductory
usage to which each male is subject after he attains the age of puberty,
in order to entitle him to assume the weapons and fulfil the duties of a
grown warrior in these savage communities.

The tribe being thus assembled, the accused black, quite naked and
unarmed save for the defensive weapon of a shield, is placed standing
upon the mound before described. At a distance of seventy paces, the
nearest relative of the deceased or aggrieved person waits the instant of
the sun's appearance above the horizon, when he throws the first spear at
the culprit, who on his part uses as much dexterity to ward the weapon
with his shield as the assailant exhibits in endeavouring to pierce him.
After this party has thrown his one, two or three spears, according to
the decision of the council, he withdraws, and every man in the tribe
discharges a similar number of weapons at the condemned, on the
conclusion of which the punishment is ended. And whether the prisoner die
or escape with life, his offence is never again permitted to be spoken
of. Such is the dexterity acquired by the blacks in the use of their
shields, which are no more than from eight inches to a foot at the
farthest in width, that Rashleigh knew several instances of criminals,
after having had more than three hundred spears thrown at them one by
one, who only received four or five wounds. and these all beneath their
belts.

In very rare cases, when the crimes are considered unusually atrocious,
the culprits are sentenced to receive twenty-one spears thrown at them AT
ONCE. When this occurs, it is looked upon as equivalent to a certain doom
of death, for should there be only two or three of the assailants
revengefully inclined, the culprit is sure to be transfixed in a vital
part, as almost any grown black can throw a spear with sufficient accuracy
to strike a small bird at a distance of a hundred paces, and with force
enough to penetrate the depth of four inches into the solid wood of a
tree.

These aborigines have no marriage ceremony whatever. When a youth has
undergone, his initiation and is declared to be a MAN, the first use he
makes of the weapons he has prepared is to go upon a sort of foray to
hunt for a wife. With this view he steals cautiously towards some swamp,
near which he has lain in wait all night in readiness for this enterprise
at day dawn, and from among the young gins belonging to another tribe,
whom he thus surprises while searching for food, he selects one to his
mind whom he perceives by her head-dress to be unmarried. Her he
instantly pounces upon and bears off by force, maugre her struggles or
the outcries of her companions. If he can succeed in conveying her safely
to  his camp before any of her male relatives can rescue her, she becomes
his bride, never afterwards being owned by her own tribe, who will not
even allow her to approach them.

The young gins, who seem to consider it a point of honour to offer as
much resistance to this customary kind of abduction as they can, do not
fail to bite, kick and scratch their captors as furiously as possible in
their transit, which the latter retaliates by blows upon the female's
head, of force nearly enough to stagger a horse, for should any of them
alight upon a leg or an arm it invariably breaks the limb; and thus, by
the time they reach the camp the BRIDE is AT LEAST insensible and the
BRIDEGROOM streaming with blood from the effects of this truly savage
COURTSHIP, to which there is no exception save in cases of black men like
the CARANDJIE so often spoken of, who, being too decrepit and feeble to
MAN A GIN for themselves in this manner, are obliged to depute the duty
to others, of whom there are always many willing enough to oblige persons
of their supposed supernatural power; and besides, this sort of affair is
considered a very creditable exploit.

The death of a warrior, especially in his youth or prime, is regarded as
a serious calamity by the whole tribe, who upon such occasions testify
their grief by cutting great gashes on various parts of their bodies and
by loud lamentations. The death of a chief or of a CARANDJIE is attended
by many superstitious observances; but that of a woman, or GIN, is
totally disregarded, as also is that of children of a tender age or of
youths not made into men. But in any case, the name of the deceased must
never again be spoken by the tribe, and they bury the whole of their
dead, the men of ordinary rank in a SITTING posture, great chiefs
STANDING ERECT, women and children lying on their faces, heaping a mound
of earth upon either, generally of an oval shape, neatly pressed down and
sometimes planted over with an aromatic kind of small shrub.




Chapter XXX



A SWEET BUT SOLITARY BEAM,
AN EMANATION FROM ABOVE,
GLIMMERS O'ER LIFE'S UNCERTAIN DREAM.
WE HAIL THAT RAY, AND CALL IT--Love.


The aborigines of Australia erect no dwellings of any kind. In wet weather
or when a storm appears to be approaching they strip a few sheets of
some kind of bark, which they rear up on the side towards the wind,
supporting them by a sort of ridge-pole placed on two forked sticks
driven into the earth. On the lee side of this they light their fire and
then, creeping under the bark, lie both warm and dry enough, never
seeking or wishing for any better habitation, as appears from the fact
that those blacks who haunt the sea-coast, at any rate, might always find
caverns and places sheltered by overhanging cliffs sufficient to lodge
them most comfortably, but will not make any use of them whatever.

Whether it was owing to the previous seasoning Rashleigh had received in
his life of hardship, or to the robust nature of his constitution, this
rude mode of life, so different from any led by white men, even of the
most abject poverty, did not do him the least injury; and our adventurer,
recollecting the sufferings he had lately undergone, felt tolerably at
ease even in the life of a savage. And knowing that he might expect death
if he should fall again into the hands of his countrymen, he prepared to
end his days with the blacks.

But about four years and a half after Rashleigh's captivity, the ancient
CARANDJIE, his foster-father, died. He had been gradually getting more
and more decrepit until for some time prior to his decease he had sunk
into such a state of absolute torpor that his breathing could scarcely be
discerned. During his last illness the whole tribe were most unremitting
in their attentions, offering him portions of everything they procured as
food; and when at length it became certain that he had ceased to exist
such a peal of cries and yells of lamentations burst from all present,
warriors as well as gins, as Rashleigh had never deemed possible for
human throats to utter. He was somewhat shocked at one portion of the
proceedings that followed, however; for a lusty black, who was ambitious
of filling in the tribe the place that the deceased had so long occupied,
now threw himself at full length upon the inanimate remains and applied
his mouth to the dead man's lips, appearing to inhale something very
strongly for several moments. Shortly after this one of the gins,
suddenly and as if by stealth, cut an incision with a sharp-pointed stone
into GIN, from which she hastily drew forth the kidneys, and throwing
them upon the breast of the corpse, ran off, several of the other gins
pursuing her, with loud cries and bitter reproaches, for a short distance;
but all this seemed to be assumed anger, as the GIN who had performed this
operation returned in a few moments to the others, whom she mixed with,
and they took no angry notice of her.

In the mean time the CARANDJIE-elect took up the kidneys and very quickly
stripped them of the small portion of shrivelled and yellow fat that
disease had left appertaining to them. They were then replaced in the
dead man's intestines, the orifice being sewn up by Lorra with a length
of kangaroo sinew and one of their bone needles. GIN was now rubbed
all over with gum of the same kind as that which the blacks use instead
of pitch for their canoes or weapons, and the head was decorated with
parti-coloured feathers, stuck on the skull with the same adhesive
material. After this the corpse was wrapped up in a new rug, or cloak,
made of opossum skins, the fur being inside and the part that was exposed
fancifully daubed with rude designs in coloured earths. A kind of stage
or rude table being formed of green boughs, the deceased was laid upon
it, a great number of little fires being made at a short distance upon
every side in two rows, between which walked four warriors without arms,
but bearing green boughs that they continued to wave over and around the
body, at times running a few feet as if in pursuit of some imaginary
object, and chanting a monotonous doleful sound. These watchers, or
mourners, were occasionally relieved by others, who followed their
example in all things; and this ceremonial was continued until the
funeral, which was fixed for the next morning, as usual, at sunrise.

Several of the men now departed with the wooden paddles used by the gins,
for the purpose of digging the grave. All that night the tribe were in
commotion. None lay down to sleep. Nor was anything to be eaten until the
conclusion of the obsequies from the death of the CARANDJIE; but the
fires being well maintained, some parties occasionally yelled forth their
wild lament, while others danced or leaped, as it were in accompaniment
to these rude sounds. The sable sextons having returned at dawn of day to
announce that the grave was prepared, as soon as it became light the
whole tribe were assembled. They were all unarmed, but frightfully
smeared over their whole bodies with colours, of which white and red
predominated; and all carried in one hand a shell, and in the other a
green bough.

The body was now raised upon the stage, which was borne along by eight
blacks, and Rashleigh could not help remarking as a singular coincidence
that THEY also carry their dead feet first to the grave, which evidently
was not accidental, as the corpse originally lay reversed; but the
bearers, on taking it up, went round backwards until they had at length
attained the proper position.

The instant that the march commenced, all the assembly, even the gins
aNd children, began to cut, or at least to scratch, themselves with the
shells they carried; and before they reached the grave the greater part
of them were streaming with gore, as they seemed to vie with each other
in the eagerness with which they inflicted these wounds in testimonial of
their grief for the loss the tribe had sustained.

When the melancholy cavalcade arrived at their burial-place, which, like
their council ground, commanded a view of the sea, Rashleigh perceived
that it was a tract of open land very lightly timbered. The graves all
appeared to be made near some tree, and there were several round a few
of the largest. But what struck him as curious was that he had not
observed the place before, though he must have passed either through it
or at least very near it, and the more so because upon the nearest tree
to each grave a portion of bark about two feet high and one foot wide had
been removed, leaving the bare white trunk, on which the rude figure of
a kangaroo, bandicoot, snake or bird of some kind had been carved, those
trees that lay near more graves than one having a considerable portion of
their rind stripped off and a corresponding number of emblems cut upon
them.

The body was now laid upon the ground and a green bough placed in the
right hand of the inanimate CARANDJIE, which was drawn across his breast.
Then every individual of the tribe, man, woman and child, walked round
the corpse, making, as it seemed, a farewell obeisance to the departed
ruler, repeating as they did so their wailings and gashes of sorrow. The
pit, or grave, was about five feet square and eight feet deep. in its
bottom four stout stakes had been set upright, and two poles leaned after
the manner of skids on one side. When all the tribe had passed in review,
the corpse was rested on the upper part of the skids, being held there
by Rashleigh and the new CARANDJIE. Exactly at sunrise they let go the
arms of the body, which then slid gently down into its final
resting-place. Sheets of bark were now fixed inside the upright stakes,
the corpse being placed on its feet within the latter, leaning against
one of the sides with its face turned towards the ocean; and many
paddles being employed, the loose earth was quickly thrown in between the
bark and the bank, which was trodden heavily in until it reached the
level of the dead man's head. All his customary weapons were now placed
in the square pit that encompassed him, and it was covered up with
another piece of bark, so that the corpse was, as it were, enclosed in a
sort of cavity formed of the thick outer coat of the eucalyptus tree,
which did not permit the earth to touch, much less to press it. A
sufficient quantity of soil was now thrown on and over the whole so as to
form a neat mound nearly three feet in height, which was beaten smooth
with their paddles; and the whole ceremony was completed by the rude figure
of a fish-hawk carved on the nearest tree, that being the emblem apparently
suggested by the name of the deceased, which might be translated "the
swooping warrior".

Ralph Rashleigh viewed this whole ceremony with much the same degree of
melancholy feelings that are apt to impress themselves on the minds of
men when they are bereaved of some such humble friend as a dog or horse
they value; for in spite of the service rendered to him by the old
CARANDJIE, who doubtless had saved his life, yet the form of this
disgusting specimen of antiquity was so very revolting that our exile had
much ado to consider him as being at all human. And yet it was no very
long time before Rashleigh found that in him he had sustained the loss of
a most powerful friend, who had hitherto controlled the savage humours of
the males belonging to the tribe, who of themselves would have been now
ready enough to mark their hatred of one every way so much superior to
any of them by treacherously depriving him of life, if they could have
divested themselves of the superstitious belief that haunted their minds,
of the spirit of the departed CARANDJIE being ever watchful and ready to
avenge any injury which might be inflicted on his adopted white son.

A month had not elapsed from the funeral before these impressions seemed
to be weakened, for Rashleigh was one day informed by the new chief,
Terrawelo, that he must either resign the dead man's two GINS to HIM or
fight for liberty to retain them. Now our exile had no desire to keep all
three of the females; but the latter, having been treated very well by
him, dreaded the idea of going to any of the blacks. Besides, the manner
of the claimant indicated a kind of contemptuous superiority which Ralph
had no notion of, seeing that he well knew his own muscular strength was
greater than that of any warrior in the tribe. In fact, he had in sport
wrestled with two of them at once, whom he overcame without much
difficulty, because, though they look large in many instances, yet the
aborigines of Australia are physically very weak.

Rashleigh told the chief at once that he intended to fight, according to
the usage of these savages, which prescribes that if a man have two or
more wives, any other who proves himself to be stronger or more expert at
the use of their weapons than he may take all his gins away from him but
one. The answer given by Terrawelo to this intimation was an attempted
blow from his nullah nullah at Ralph's head; but the latter, having been
carefully watching the eyes of his opponent, dodged the threatened part
on one side, and then, thrusting his head between Terrawelo's legs, by
that means threw the chief violently over his back to the ground; then,
snatching up his fallen weapon, dealt the prostrate warrior such a blow
that on its alighting on the black's arm, which was held up to save his
head, the limb was broken. Rashleigh was about to repeat tile stroke,
but recovering from his fit of passion, he threw away the waddy and called
out for the wounded man's GIN to help him away. Tumba here came up, and
saying something about the chief being killed, attempted to secure the
white man, who, after telling him in vain to keep off, struck him senseless
to the earth and then went quietly away to his own fire, where neither
Tumba nor the chief thought fit to molest him any more during the day,
though ever after this all the blacks appeared both to fear and hate him.
His gins dared not go with the others to fish or dig roots, because the
latter never failed to beat them. In fact, the whole tribe seemed not only
to shun but also to be bent upon playing all kinds of malevolent tricks
towards him and them when they could do so with secrecy.

One night, about a week after this occurrence, Lorra appeared to be
unusually silent and depressed. Prior to this period she used to be fond
of chattering, generally enquiring about the manners, customs and dresses
of white women, not one of whom she had ever seen, and she vented many
childish exclamations of surprise at Rashleigh's account of the costumes
of ladies in his country as well as at the manner in which they passed
their lives. Upon this evening, however, she scarcely spoke, but often
glanced fearfully around. Ralph enquired what ailed her, but her only
reply was a mute caress. At length they lay down side by side and our
exile quickly went to sleep, but in a short time, as it appeared to him,
was awakened by a piercing cry from his GIN. On starting up, he found
Lorra struggling with her old enemy Tumba. He was about to rush to her
assistance, but she cried out, "Look behind you, Yaff; never mind Lorra."

When he turned his head he saw the chief Terrawelo, who, it seems, taught
by former experience to dread the white man's strength, feared to come
too close and was now shipping, or fixing, his second spear in his
WOOMERA, having already discharged one at his enemy, who, however, did
not give him time to throw, for drawing the spent spear out of the earth
in which it stood quivering, he rushed upon the black and pierced him in
the abdomen with it, thrusting the weapon clean through his body and out
beside his spine.

The cries of Lorra, which had hitherto been most terrific, were now
subsiding into low moans; and Rashleigh, looking round, saw that Tumba
was beating her, as she lay on the earth, with a nullah nullah which had
a knob at its end, weighing at least ten pounds. Rashleigh stooped not to
pick up a weapon, though many lay around, but darted at the cowardly
miscreant, leaping as he got close so that his two feet alit in the
centre of his opponent's back, whom they of course drove head first to
the ground, his club flying out of his hand as he fell. With a single
blow of this, Ralph crushed the blackfellow's skull into a shapeless mass
and hastened to raise up the poor GIN, who had just sufficient life
remaining to endeavour to caress him before she breathed her last.

Our exile was so much enraged at this piteous sight that he absolutely
became transported with fury; and seizing the club that still lay
embedded in the brains of Tumba, who had not stirred from the moment he
received the blow, Ralph now rushed like a raging maniac upon Terrawelo,
who was by this time surrounded by his friends, who were deliberating on
the propriety of withdrawing the spear from his wounds. But Rashleigh,
unheeding a piercing cry from the fallen chief, at one blow of his heavy
weapon dashed out his brains. Then, turning upon a warrior who had
endeavoured to oppose his intention, he felled him also to the earth; nor
was it until two others had shared the same fate that the enraged white
man's weapon, striking against the impending bough of a tree, hampered
his exertions so that he was at length disarmed and secured.

Next morning he was brought as a prisoner for trial before the assembled
tribe, the dead bodies of Terrawelo and Tumba being also laid before
them, surrounded by their wailing gins and connexions. Rashleigh was
asked why he had killed the two warriors.

He said, "There were three dead bodies last night. Why are there but two
this morning?"

One of the warriors leaped up in a fury and cried, "The white man means,
brothers, where is the body of his GIN, as if he meant to say he had
killed our chief and Tumba to revenge her death. Let my black brothers
teach the pale stranger that they do not so far worship weak women as to
hold that her fate could be any excuse for the fall of two brave
warriors."

Ralph then rejoined, "It is true. I killed Tumba and Terrawelo because
they killed Lorra; but they had also tried to kill myself, which they
would have done had not the poor GIN lost her life to save mine."

His opponent shouted scornfully, "You had better cry for your GIN like a
child. I should like to see the tears of a white man!"

"That you may do," replied the object of this sarcasm, "provided you can
make them flow. Unbind my hands, give me a nullah nullah, and try. . . .
You will not? No! You are afraid! For you know well I would quickly make
you weaker than a woman!"

An aged black here interposed to stop the progress of this scolding
match, whispering something to the other, who appeared to acquiesce, and
sat down. The senior next went round to all the older warriors, with whom
he held a short parley in suppressed tones.

At last he returned to his seat, and after resting awhile, arose and
said, "Pale stranger, you were once thrown out of the sea upon our
fishing-ground. A wise man, WHO IS NOT, but who had been a mighty warrior
in his younger days, saw in your face the likeness of a son that had
passed away. He saved your life. He made you into a warrior. For these
things, which were very good, you have brought evil upon our tribe. Two
stout men, who yesterday could have helped to defend us from our foes,
have fallen by your hand . . . For all this, justice forbids us to take
your life, because those that are gone endeavoured first to kill you
before your club was lifted against them. But you may not stay here
longer, lest the angry spirits of the departed take vengeance on the
tribe for allowing you to live unpunished. Go then! Take your women, your
dogs and your weapons. The land is wide. Dwell where you think fit,
but come no more near our hunting-grounds . . . I have spoken. Do I say
well, my brothers?"

The usual acquiescent grunt was given by all around, and the old man
then went on, "Will you go then in peace and leave us?"

Rashleigh replied he would, adding sarcastically, "The sun is as hot and
the fish are as fat in other parts as they are here!"

A sign was now made by the ancient orator, and Rashleigh's bonds were
loosened.

The old man, looking round, said, "If any of our black brethren do not
like the decision of the old men, now that the pale stranger is free, let
them attack him in the face of all the tribe and take better vengeance
for the fallen on fair and equal terms."

Two warriors jumped up at once, but the one who had taunted our
adventurer claiming the precedence, it was agreed they should fight out
their quarrel at noon, pending which Rashleigh retired to the fires of
the surviving gins, whom he found wailing and cutting themselves over the
body of poor Lorra, which they had laid out as well as they could without
help, ready for interment.

Our exile resolved that he would not bury her lifeless remains near the
tribe after what had passed, so he contrived a kind of hand-barrow; and
placing the corpse upon it, he directed the two survivors to carry it
northwards along the beach until they should arrive at an inlet which was
generally looked on as the boundary of the fishing-ground belonging to
this tribe. There they were to await his arrival, having also taken with
them the dogs, their trifling stock of implements, as fishing-lines,
etc., leaving nothing to our exile but his weapons, with which he grimly
waited the appointed hour.

The shadows of the trees were at their feet when all the tribe assembled
on their council ground, where the fight instantly began by Rashleigh's
opponent, as usual, offering his head to receive a blow of the white
man's weapon. But the latter sternly cried. "Have done with your foolery,
for if you put your head in my way again, you will need no second blow."

The black now began to make several feints of attack, while Ralph,
offering at his head, struck him a violent blow upon his knee that was
left unguarded, which felled him to the earth. The white man, observing
that none came to aid the prostrate black, but rather seemed to expect
that he should kill him, cried out, "Take the warrior away. I will not
deprive your tribe of any more," and left the spot for ever.

Our adventurer now pursued the path he had pointed out to his gins, whom
he soon overtook, and giving them his weapons, relieved them of their
melancholy burden, which he continued to carry the whole day in his arms,
never stopping until night. His two sable companions at first expressed
their grief by loud cries after the manner of their country, until
Rashleigh at last bade them to be silent, in so stern a tone that they did
not breathe another whisper until they halted in the evening, when Ralph
told them to prepare a fire, and they departed chattering about their
usual tasks. Enee went to fish, and very soon returned with a huge bonito
which she had killed in a shoal place where it had been left by the
receding tide. Some slices of this were prepared and the gins eagerly
besought Rashleigh to eat; but his mind was too much oppressed by his
recent loss, and he only begged of them to get their own suppers and go
to sleep as quickly as possible.

Our adventurer spent a most melancholy night watching the lifeless
remains of her who had loved him so truly through that portion of their
life during which they had been acquainted that the intensity of her
affection, as expressed by every gesture and even glance, might be more
fitly compared to that which the olden pagans felt for their divinities
than that which is known among mere mortals for each other. That she had
at last fallen a victim to her love was also plain enough, for had
Rashleigh first attacked Tumba, he might have been speared, but she would
undoubtedly have been saved, and yet with generous self-devotion she
hindered him from doing so, lest he should be pierced by Terrawelo's
weapon. "Alas, poor girl!" was Rashleigh's involuntary exclamation, as he
took his last glance of her next morning. "Though your skin was black as
ebony, yet your heart was pure and true!"

A deep grave after the fashion of his native land, wrought with much
labour by Rashleigh's toil for many hours, received the cold body of poor
Lorra, to which our exile mournfully paid all the last offices with his
own hands, wrapping her in his best skin cloak and finally depositing her
corpse upon an ample couch of silky grass within her narrow resting-place,
which lay beside a murmuring rivulet at the foot of a pendant acacia that
even now weeps the dews of heaven upon her last bed. And never were tears
dropped of more sincere sorrow than those which our exile shed to the
memory of this true and affectionate, though ignorant and artless being.
He lay beside the grave all that day and night, and the next morning
resumed his march along the beach, often looking back upon that spot
where he felt that he had left all that was dear to him upon earth, the
only female to whom himself was ever dear, except his sister and his
mother.




Chapter XXXI



AS THE TALL SHIP, WHOSE LOFTY PRORE
SHALL NEVER STEM THE BILLOWS MORE,
DESERTED BY HER GALLANT BAND,
AMID THE BREAKERS LIES ASTRAND.


For nearly six months after his separation from the tribe with whom he
had abode so long did Ralph Rashleigh pursue his course northward along
the beach, only turning inland when the mouth of some wide river
intervened, whose bank he then followed until it became narrow enough to
cross it upon a catamaran or bark canoe, lodging at night under the
cliffs, in caverns, or in the open air, as the weather dictated or as
such conveniences were readily attained, and living chiefly upon fish
caught by torchlight as the least troublesome mode of obtaining them,
varied occasionally by a meal of cockles, oysters, limpets, or roots, if
any such presented themselves.

He passed through many tribes of coast blacks, some of whose language he
very imperfectly understood; but having assumed the character of a
wandering CARANDJIE, or doctor-priest, which his experience with his old
black patron had sufficiently taught him how to sustain and to support by
painted marks and other appliances on his person, he was never molested
by any of the aborigines, who on the contrary always treated him with
abundance of rude hospitality, suffering him to remain in their camps as
long as he chose and to depart when he pleased, though they seldom failed
to exert their utmost powers of persuasion to induce him to fix his abode
among them altogether.

At length he reached the utmost north-eastern point of land on the coast
of New Holland and just at the entrance of Torres straits. From the
summit of a lofty mountain he could see many small islands, which he
doubted not formed part of the Indian archipelago; and he fixed his
longing eyes upon them as abodes of that civilization which he felt he
was perhaps never more destined to enjoy. How ardently did he now wish
for the assistance of some of his unfortunate boat companions, and
reflected with bitter regret that if only Roberts had been spared, they
might together have contrived some means of crossing the strait, which is
not very wide in several places, though it is full of many intricate
channels formed by adverse currents.

Rashleigh lay nearly the whole day upon this eminence, and only returned
to the beach at nightfall, where he found the two gins, who were
much alarmed at his absence. The next morning, having resumed their
march, he was greatly surprised to see, at about a mile from the shore,
the remains of a wrecked vessel which he had taken for a portion of the
rocks on which she lay when he had been upon his elevated point of
observation.

The tide was running out, the water was calm, but there was great danger
from the sharks, that are very numerous in those seas, so that our
adventurer feared to swim, and there was no wood at hand fit for making
into a catamaran. But he explained to the gins his wish of reaching the
wreck and dispatched them along the shore to look for any timbers that
might have floated in, while he laid together all the fishing-lines they
possessed into cordage, for the purpose of tying and securing the timbers
of a raft.

After some delay, Tita, one of the gins, COOEED loudly to him from a
considerable distance, making signs of surprise and lamentation.
Rashleigh hastened to her side, and there he found one of the tops of the
ill-fated vessel, with the remains of no less than four unfortunate
persons lashed fast to it. They presented a most revolting sight, being
in an advanced state of decomposition and washed by the salt waves ever
and anon, that as they retired carried off portions of the flesh.

Nothing therefore could be done but to cut loose the fastenings that yet
bound them to the frame they had so vainly put their trust in; and
scraping a deep hole in the sand, the remains were thus inhumed together.
But as Tita was turning over one of the corpses, the pocket of a pair of
canvas trousers worn by the deceased gave way, and a considerable
quantity of gold coin rolled on the beach, part of which went into the
water. The gins were attracted by the glitter of these shining pieces of
metal, and they collected all they could find before they would pay any
attention to the requests of our exile, who wished to hasten with his
sad task of performing the last offices of humanity to his unfortunate
fellow-countrymen, and who looked upon money as being perfectly worthless
to him in his present circumstances.

When this was performed they set to work, and with two strong booms that
lay near, and the top, they quickly formed a raft of most respectable
dimensions. Then, cutting out two rude paddles of some broken wood,
Rashleigh gave one to each of the gins, reserving a long one for himself
to steer with, and he thus put to sea with all his family, for the eight
or nine curs that constantly followed either himself or the women would
by no means be left behind on the present occasion, but leaped into the
water and swam stoutly after them, until Ralph found they distracted the
attention of Enee and Tita, who kept calling to and encouraging them,
instead of plying their paddles, so that he at length told them to stop,
and all the dogs were then placed on the catamaran, which, assisted by the
ebbing tide, soon reached the wreck.

The ill-fated vessel appeared to have been of about five or six hundred
tons burden. All her masts, her bulwarks and her forecastle had been
totally carried away. In fact, not so much as a hen-coop had been left on
her spar deck, which was clean swept by the violence of the gale, that
also seemed to have nearly parted her in two a little abaft the
main-chains. She lay canted, or leaning slightly, to one side in a sort
of indentation upon the reef that upheld her as firmly as the stocks upon
which she had been erected; and from her great height it appeared almost
a hopeless task to think of getting on board of her, as the fury of the
storm had torn away every particle of rope, so that no friendly end hung
down, and the bowsprit being also swept off close to the head, neither
bridle nor martingale remained that he could throw a rope over.

At length he bethought himself of a scheme. There was part of a stanchion
left erect, belonging to the bulwark near the fore-chains, so, going
under the lowermost side of the wreck, he took the cord he had made on
shore, and fastening a stone to it that Enee used for a sinker to her
fishing-line, he cast it over the stanchion after the manner of the lasso
wielded by South American horsemen, hoping the stone might twist round
the piece of wood and thus enable him to haul himself up by the cord. His
attempts failed, and after repeating them until he was tired, he sat down
in utter despair to try to invent some other plan.

Enee took up the rejected line, and laughing, said, "Me try now."

Rashleigh only smiled; but the GIN, coiling up the line in her left hand,
swung the stone round her head two or three times, let it go with a
peculiar jerk, and it was fast in an instant.

Our exile quickly ascended, and the only place that he could see open on
the deck being the companion-way, he went down this into the principal
cabin, where of course everything was in great confusion; but in one of
the sleeping-berths he thought he heard a moaning sound, as of some human
being in pain. He had some difficulty in opening the door which led to
this apartment, but at length knocked out the panels with his tomahawk.
Here upon a cot lay what he at first took to be merely a heap of
clothing. He went over and then discovered it was in fact two females and
a child, all three attenuated by famine and apparently dead.

In order to ascertain whether life had actually departed, Rashleigh
gently turned over the nearest one to him. She feebly opened her eyes and
emitted another of those piteous moans that had at first attracted our
adventurer to the place. Yet, apparently exhausted as she was, a mother's
feelings prevailed over all others, for at the sight of the sooty-looking
being that stood beside her, she shuddered convulsively and clasped the
child more closely. There was something so exquisitely pathetic in the
mutely imploring glance she gave our exile the next moment that quite
melted him, and he burst into tears.

This was neither a time nor a place, however, for indulging in useless
grief; so, after a moment's thought, our adventurer returned to the main
cabin, which he searched all over, and then went forward through an
opening that he found in the bulkhead along the deck, which was empty,
until he reached the sailors' berths, where it was very dark, until by
dint of hard labour he partly cut and partly broke up the hatchway. Here
he soon found some wine and a keg of water, with which he returned, and
picking up a whole tumbler that lay among a heap of rubbish in a corner,
he mixed some wine, water and sugar together. Re-entering the
sleeping-cabin where these poor creatures lay, he moistened the lips of
each and soon had the gratification to find that all three lived. The
child drank most eagerly and soon afterwards began to cry, "Mamma, Mamma,
take black man away."

The mother could only reply by a feeble embrace, but Rashleigh left their
presence and returned to the main-deck, where he threw the end of a rope,
which he took out of the sailors' quarters, to his gins, bidding them
make fast the raft to it and come on board. While they did this he
anxiously gazed around to see what kind of weather seemed to promise for
the night, as the day was now far advanced, and he wished to remain on
board until morning, which would have been highly dangerous if it should
come on to blow, as in that case the vessel must have gone to pieces at
the furthest in four or five hours. Never had he before looked so
anxiously at the horizon. But he could see nought that boded wind.

Being unwilling, however, in a matter of so much moment to rely solely
upon his own judgment, as soon as Enee got upon the deck he asked what
she thought the weather would be on the morrow. She looked round for an
instant and replied, "Very hot day will be to-morrow."

He then directed her to go below, and when Tita came up repeated his
question. This GIN took rather longer to scan the heavens; but at last
she said, "That sun very saucy . . . Very much hot to-morrow;" which set
Rashleigh's mind at rest, for almost the smallest indications of a change
in the weather are visible to these untutored children of nature, to whom
the knowledge is in fact absolutely necessary, as they spend their whole
lives in the open air.

Ralph now went once more below, where he found Enee examining all she saw
with many an exclamation of wonder, and the child crying lustily for food.
He set both the gins to work to make a fire in the cabin stove, which
luckily was uninjured, and departed to discover some food if possible.
After some research. he made shift to force his way into the hold,
where among the cases, casks and hampers that formed the trifling
cargo there was on board, a small place had been apparently formed as a
kind of steward's room. At least, from articles he found there fit for
table and culinary purposes, that was the opinion our exile formed of the
use of the little apartment, where, among other things, were some tins of
preserved meat, fine biscuit, flour, sugar, etc., with some of which and
a tea-kettle he returned to the cabin, where a good fire had been made by
the gins out of the fragments of the broken door and articles of
furniture that plentifully strewed the deck. The stove roared very much
as the flames acquired power, and Enee and Tita were greatly afraid, as
they thought the noise proceeded from something supernatural, until
Rashleigh pointed out to them the smoke going astern out of a funnel
pipe, to which he placed Enee's ear, and bade her listen, telling her at
the same time it was the pent-up smoke that made the noise. This seemed
to remove their fear, and in a short time they willingly assisted in
preparing a mess of weak soup with some biscuit broken up very small in
it, which Rashleigh judged the most fitting food for the invalids, and of
which they all very gratefully partook.

Our adventurer now resumed his researches, after having made a plentiful
meal--the first in nearly five years--of European food, consisting of
boiled salt beef, biscuit and tea, the only part of which that pleased
Tita or Enee was biscuit soaked in tea, which they first saturated with
sugar. Ralph next began to consider how he could get the rescued
sufferers on shore, as it was plain they would not be able to help
themselves in any way for some time, and every hour might be the last of
the wreck. He at length determined on forming a large raft of all the
hatches and gratings he could find, and of lowering the ladies with the
child down to it in a cot, then to load it with anything he could get in
the shape of provisions which it would contain and tow it to the shore.

All night himself and the gins worked at this. Fortunately they found a
coil of coir rope of a small size, which made good lashings; and besides,
it was moonlight. So after they had collected the whole of the movable
articles they could find and placed them under the main hatchway, Enee
lowered them down the vessel's side to Rashleigh as fast as Tita handed
them up to her. Our adventurer, placed on his own catamaran beneath the
side of the wreck, received the materials as they came to him, selecting
first the gratings which he intended for the lowest part of the new raft,
and bound them as firmly together as possible by passing ropes between
the bars over and under, across and athwart again, in every direction,
until he had made a sort of floor about seven feet wide and more than
twelve feet long. On this he bound another tier of gratings and lastly
the hatches, with doors knocked off the cabins to make a level deck on
the top of all. These last he secured by driving a nail or two here and
there into them, Tita having found some nails and a hammer put up in a
bag, where they had apparently been thrown after securing the hatches by
their means in the storm.

It was just daylight when this undertaking was completed, and Rashleigh
found, by throwing in some chips, that the tide was running out again; so
he lay down to sleep for a while, after having attended to the wants of
his invalid charges. When he awoke the sun was high in the heavens, and
he began to fear he had slept too long; but on repeating his experiment,
he was glad to perceive the tide was now set in strongly towards the
shore. He therefore got a large cot on deck, lashed it fast to the only
standing stanchion before referred to, and soon placed his rescued
freight into it; for though he was obliged to carry the child and mother
together, as they clung so closely one to the other that he could not
have separated them without using force, yet both were scarcely so heavy
as a good-sized infant.

Our adventurer eased them all down in the cot himself. They were received
and placed on the raft by the gins, upon whom the feeble invalids
appeared to gaze with much surprise. The fear of the child for their
colour had apparently been overcome, probably because Rashleigh had fed
it twice. A loading of useful articles having been soon made up, the gins
took to their paddles and they all reached the shore in a very short
time, near some beetling cliffs, selected by Ralph for that purpose from
the prospect they afforded of shelter and concealment.

Having discovered a place where an impending rock formed a kind of roof,
he disembarked the passengers by carrying the cot between himself and
Tita. He then placed them beneath the shelter and transferred them to
another more spacious resting-place, formed with sails which he had
brought on shore with him. Lastly he put all his freight on the land and
left it, together with the invalids, in charge of Enee, giving her
directions as to supplying the latter with food, also how to make a
signal in case any blacks should approach; although he deemed the last
scarcely a possible contingency, as he had not seen the traces of any
human footsteps for several days, nor were there any of the usual
indications for miles along the coast that this part was frequented by
any tribe whatever, which Rashleigh attributed to the nature of the
surrounding soil, it being exceedingly dry and poor, without either
swamps or dense thickets, which afford the most favourite food of the
aborigines of Australia.

Rashleigh returned to the wreck and instituted a very strict search over
it for articles that might be serviceable, in particular female apparel
suitable to his charge, and provisions, of both which he found an ample
supply. A desk placed in the main cabin contained a quantity of writing
materials and a large sum in bills of exchange, both of which he also
secured, far more for the sake of the former than of the latter. After
these the only things he thought of any real value to them under their
circumstances were some carpenters' tools, fire-arms and ammunition.

The conveyance of these stores to the shore occupied Rashleigh and the
GIN Tita the whole of that day and a great part of the ensuing night,
although they laboured unremittingly, as they observed indications of a
storm. And they had not been upon the shore more than half an hour with
their last freight before a tempest came on from the south-cast,
accompanied with that low moaning sound which betokens the awakening of
the mighty winds, that in a very short time covered the ocean with foam
and gave great reason to our adventurer for heartfelt rejoicing at his
singularly opportune arrival, because it now became evident that if his
coming had been delayed but for thirty-six hours the wreck must have gone
to pieces, and the poor sufferers been whelmed in the deep, even if they
had survived any longer the assaults of famine, which had indeed
obviously reduced them to the last gasp of existence when they were so
fortunately relieved by Rashleigh.

Despite the roaring of the elemental war, our adventurer, who was quite
worn out with fatigue, soon slept soundly, though not before he had
satisfied himself by examination that their place of refuge was safe both
from the waves and from the rain, which shortly began to fall in
torrents. A sail hung up at the entrance secured them from the latter,
even in case of a shift of wind, and the distance, not being less than
150 feet from high-water mark assured him they were out of reach of the
former.

By daybreak next morning Rashleigh was on the beach. The rain and wind
had both ceased, and all the surrounding country gratefully acknowledged
the refreshing moisture. The ocean, however, presented the wildest scene
of mountain billows our adventurer had ever witnessed. Around the reef
that had proved so fatal to the ship, in particular, the wreaths of spray
were foaming many yards up towards the sky. Ralph could not identify the
exact spot on which the wreck had been, of which, however, he saw no
vestige near the rocks where she had lain the day before; but many
fragments that floated on the billows, and a few that strewed the shore,
told too plainly what had been her fate.

For a week or more after this our exile occupied himself in forming a
dwelling under the rock he had at first selected, which he resolved on
retaining because he could find none superior in accommodation. Upon the
one hand, it presented the double advantage of being open to the sea, so
that they were enabled to see any passing vessel; while it was perfectly
invisible, as well as inaccessible, from the shore, the only mode of
approach being by a catamaran or boat, owing to projecting cliffs that
stretched on either side, far into the sea.

As might have been expected, their habitation was both simple and rude,
consisting only of the cave, along the exposed front of which our
exile had set up stanchions picked up from the wreck. On these he had
nailed boards derived from the same source. Thus he had formed a front
and had contrived to afford air, light and entrance to the interior by
fixing in it a door and four small sash windows, also procured from the
cabins of the unfortunate vessel. For the floor of the interior they had
the solid rock, which, if not very level, was at least very hard, and
easily kept clean.

They had no lack of really necessary furniture, as all that had been in
the cabins, with very slight exceptions, had either been brought by our
exile or had washed on the beach after the wreck broke up. The domicile
was divided, within, into three apartments, one of which, in the centre,
comprising nearly as much space as both the others, contained the chief
part of their stores, and was common to all parties. On either hand of
this were the sleeping apartments, one appropriated to the invalids,
the other to Rashleigh and the gins. Both the latter rooms were hung round
with sails to cover the damp rocky sides of the cavern, and the partitions
between the apartments were formed of the same articles.

In a few days the ladies recovered sufficiently to converse, and the
first use they made of their organs of speech was to return the warmest
thanks to their preserver. The child also was soon able to run about, and
Rashleigh now learned with surprise that he was nearly seven years of
age, though from his size the former scarcely thought it much more than
as many months. Ralph also ascertained that the name of the ill-fated
vessel had been the TRIBUNE, which had brought out convicts from England,
and was then bound in ballast for Calcutta, to which place these ladies
were proceeding to join the husband of one of them, a Captain Marby,
H.E.I.C.S. The other was her sister, and the little boy was the son of
the Captain.

It appeared that a week or ten days (for the ladies had no means of
telling exactly how long) before Rashleigh saw the wreck, the TRIBUNE
had struck very suddenly upon the reef. It was not blowing hard at the
time, but both the females were confined to their cabin by sickness, and
it appears the crew thought it too troublesome to make any effort for
their safety, as the door could not easily be opened; and overpowered by
alarm, the ladies heard them take to their boats, thus abandoning the
wreck. The entrance to their sleeping apartment had become too firmly
fixed when the ship struck for the unfortunate females to open it, and
although driven frantic at the thought of the fate that awaited them,
they exerted all their strength in ill-directed efforts; yet being
without implements of any kind, the door defied all their attempts, which
only exhausted their feeble frames, until at last they lay down to die in
despair, where Rashleigh had so happily found them.

Many were the consultations held in the cave by the two ladies with Ralph
as to the best mode of escaping from the inhospitable coast which formed
their present retreat; but all ended in acquiescing with him that it was
better for them to remain in the place of security they now occupied than
to brave the labour and danger attending a journey of many hundred miles
along the beach, exposed to the hostility or ill usage of the aborigines,
from whom Rashleigh felt his assumed character of a CARANDJIE or his
personal strength might fail to prove a protection for so many women.

Their retreat being in the direct route pursued by vessels between Sydney
and India, of which there were even THEN two or three at least passing
annually, Rashleigh hoped it would riot be long before they might
be relieved. And in order to attract the attention of any passing voyager
he selected the point of a promontory that jutted out far into the sea,
where he set up a post and hoisted upon it a Union Jack reversed. Beside
this post he or the gins every morning made a fire, hoping the smoke
might excite observation, when the flag would show it was Europeans in
distress that had caused it.

The mode of living pursued by the secluded party was at once simple and
rather abstemious, at least as regarded the provisions rescued from the
wreck, because they desired to make the latter hold out as long as
possible. The only food in which they indulged unsparingly was fish, of
which the ocean presented them an inexhaustible supply. There was a small
spring of fresh water that oozed out of a joint in a neighbouring cliff,
which by frugality sufficed for their wants. And they discovered a wild
sort of spinach that grew luxuriously in a spot near their beacon, which
they usually boiled in salt water or with a piece of salt meat, when they
proved very palatable vegetables where none better could be obtained.

It may be here observed that Rashleigh did not allow the ladies to
imagine he was aught beside what he seemed, an aboriginal native of New
Holland, and he accounted to them for his knowledge of the English tongue
and the appliances of civilized life by stating that he had been brought
up from infancy until his twentieth year in the family of an eminent
officer of the colonial government at Sydney, but that death having
deprived him of his white protector, he had, like many others of his
countrymen and women similarly bred, returned to the erratic life of a
savage, the independence of which he preferred to the labour and
restraint of civilized society. Our exile had carefully cautioned the
gins not to betray the secret of his colour; and he confidently relied
upon their secrecy, because they not only were really attached to him,
but they also feared him for a superstitious reason as well as for his
superiority in strength and his knowledge of all the rude arts practised
by the savages.

This superstition arose from an idea very prevalent among these simple
beings that all the whites who have made their appearance in Australia
are animated by the spirits of departed blacks, so that when any
aborigine sees a white person for the first time he or she will give the
latter a native name derived from a fancied resemblance to some deceased
member of their own tribe. In conformity with this absurd notion the
ancient CARANDJIE, on adopting our adventurer, had bestowed upon him the
name of Bealla, which referred in a very distant manner to a peculiarity
in the walk of one of the old chief's sons, who had fallen in battle with
a hostile tribe many years before. This is the nearest approach they ever
dare to make towards recalling the memory of the dead, and this is never
done except in cases like the present. The blacks also believe that
persons thus adopted by them still possess all the knowledge they had
acquired of native usages, besides skill in the arts of civilization
derived from the whites, the former having remained to them since their
previous state of existence; and they therefore generally hold them in
great awe as persons who from their double attainments are able to know
even the motives of actions and all things both past and present.

Several months passed away in a very monotonous manner to the inhabitants
of the rocky retreat on the coast, the ladies chiefly amusing themselves
by teaching the gins Enee and Tita the manners of white females, which
the others learned with great avidity and soon became exceedingly partial
to such dress as came within their reach, though the natural predilection
of the savage still betrayed itself in their love of gaudy colours and
their repugnance to any covering upon the head or feet. Rashleigh
occupied himself in providing fuel or fish, in cleaning and arranging his
unused arms, or at night in teaching the gins to read.

One day, in the eighth month of their sojourn here, our exile had walked
up the beacon hill which commanded the view over a wide expanse of land
and sea. At a considerable distance towards the north he saw the smoke of
several fires, which he knew at once could proceed from none but blacks
encamped. He therefore resolved that he would reconnoitre them more
closely, as it was of great consequence he should ascertain their
dispositions and intentions, in case they might become aware of the
occupancy of the cliff.

He therefore did not make any fire on the hill and pulled down both the
post and flag, so that it might not excite observation. He then returned
to the cave and intimated cautiously to the ladies that there was a tribe
of his countrymen at some distance, whose motions it was necessary that
he should go and observe. A very affecting scene now ensued; for the
mother, fearing for the safety of her child as well as that of herself
and sister, with many tears implored our exile that he would neither
betray nor desert them. The younger lady and the little boy also added
their tears and entreaties, nor was it for some time that the earnest
assurances of our exile could pacify them.

At nightfall Ralph lay aside the sailor's dress which he had constantly
worn since the wreck, and resumed the old, character of a CARANDJIE, the
only things he retained of European make being a double-barrelled gun,
some ammunition and a pair of pistols concealed in his opossum-skin belt.
It was several miles to the camp and our adventurer did not reach it
until nearly morning. By the number of fires the tribe appeared to be
numerous, and according to custom the disguised white man went straight
to the fire belonging to the chief. He was unmolested in passing through
the camp by the dogs, who, if awoke by his stealthy, springy step, only
snuffled about him and slunk off in silence. The chief lay asleep and
alone; so Rashleigh made up the fire, filled a pipe with tobacco, sat
down and smoked in silence for some time. At last the savage awoke, and
seeing as he judged a strange CARANDJIE sitting by the fire eating smoke,
he sat up and a conversation ensued.

"Is my brother CARANDJIE hungry, that he devours the wind of the fire?"
enquired the stranger black.

"I devour the fire wind to make me wise but not to satisfy my hunger,"
replied the mock magician.

"Is the tribe of my brother far away?" was the next question.

"My fathers dwelt many moons' joumey nearer to the rain than this,"
returned Rashleigh. "But I wander through the land at my pleasure."

"Does my brother," now asked the strange chief, "travel so far without a
GIN to wait upon him?"

"A wise man waits on himself," replied the sham CARANDJIE with great
solemnity. . . "But," added he more briskly, "all the gins of the weakest
are mine."

"True, it is just," assented the black. "But is not my brother lonely for
want of company?"

"I need no company but my own thoughts, and the spirits of wise men that
are departed, but who hover around us everywhere, ready to come if anyone
is bold enough to call them," returned the disguised white man.

At this the recumbent chief arose, casting a fearful glance around him as
he did so. Then, having procured a quantity of dry fuel that lay close at
hand, he put it on the fire, and by the glare that sprung up he looked
long and earnestly at his untimely visitor. Rashleigh during this
investigation refilled his pipe very calmly, adding a few grains of
gunpowder to the tobacco.

At length the stranger remarked in a kind of awe-stricken whisper,
"'Tis very true, our fathers have told us: the spirits of the dead are
everywhere, but none of our tribe ever thought it safe to call on them.
Do these fearful visitants never try to injure the hardy warrior that
seeks their company?

"Be certain, oh my brother," replied Ralph, "that not every CARANDJIE can
control the tempers of the dead. He, however, who can speak to them with
words of fire need never fear aught they can do!"

At the moment the gunpowder in his pipe blazed up and formed such a
striking commentary upon his words that he at once perceived he had
attained his object in exacting a high degree of respect from his new
acquaintance.

At daylight the camp was in commotion, for the warriors thronged around
the strange CARANDJIE, eager to learn the news respecting the movements
of the tribes along the coast. Rashleigh told them all he knew; but as he
expected, this was fresh to them, for they had not learned aught of it.
In fact, the coast tribes rarely have any communication.

A hunt was proposed, when our adventurer displayed the power of his
weapons to great advantage before these savages, who had never seen any
fire-arms used before; and amid the drunkenness of a great feast that
ensued in honour of our adventurer's visit, he made his exit from among
them unobserved, having gained his end of making an impression upon them
that in case of a collision he knew would be highly advantageous to him.

Having gone part of his way in the salt water so as effectually to
prevent the blacks from tracking him, he reached the cavern unmolested.
But after this, as he wished not to excite their observation, he
abstained from lighting a fire or hoisting his flag on the beacon bill,
contenting himself with keeping a sharp look-out all day upon the sea. In
his absence he deputed Enee to do so in his room, having given her
instructions what to do in case any vessel should heave in sight.

For many weeks the tribe of blacks remained near the spot where Rashleigh
had at first seen them, and during this period our exile paid them
repeated visits, always taking care, however, to leave them in a sudden
and mysterious manner, so that they could never trace him; which, with
other arts used for this purpose, induced the savages at length to look
upon him as being a very great magician, who could make himself invisible
at will.

One night our exile, oppressed by anxiety at the flight of time without
any means being afforded of his leaving the place he was in, had wandered
to the top of a neighbouring eminence, from which, on looking in that
direction, he was greatly surprised to observe that the blacks were
holding a night council, which is never done among these people except in
cases of great emergency. Stopping only therefore to prepare himself for
his assumed character of a CARANDJIE, our adventurer hastened towards the
camp of the tribe, on approaching nearer to which he found the whole of
the warriors, armed and equipped for fight, were engaged in the
performance of that frightful war-dance with which they stimulate
themselves to a pitch of ferocity prior to engaging in any arduous
enterprise, accompanying their motions by an extemporaneous song all the
while, which, referring to the past exploits of their most renowned
warriors and magnifying their valorous deeds with more than eastern
exaggeration, promised to exceed them all in acts of daring upon the
present occasion. From expressions relating to their present purpose,
made use of in this song, Rashleigh quickly found that there was a ship
manned by white men in some sort of distress not far off, whose
commander, foolishly thinking to purchase the goodwill of these
treacherous savages, had treated them very kindly, making them large
presents of glittering gew-gaws used in barter. Besides, which was
greater folly than all, he had given them a portion of that bane to the
uncivilized of all colours, RUM, and this had stimulated them, for the
sake of getting more, to seek his destruction.

After our exile had elicited this information from the terms of their
savage song, taking an opportunity in the evolutions of the dance, he
stepped forth from his place of concealment and placed his hand upon the
shoulder of the chief before any eye had observed his approach.

"Hu!" cried the stranger with a start, as on turning he observed the
mysterious CARANDJIE; but added, though rather in a sulky tone, "My
brother is welcome, if he comes as a friend."

"Your lips speak words that are not in your heart," replied the sham
conjurer. "You do not wish me to be here lest I should defeat your
intended attack on the white strangers' big canoe!"

"My brother knows everything!" cried Tocalli in surprise. "But he will
join with our tribe in plundering the pale rulers of the wind!"

"First tell me, oh Tocalli, whether you love your own people?" enquired
the disguised white man.

"Why should the wise CARANDJIE ask that?" demanded the chief. "He knows I
do."

"Then if you do, allow the white men to depart in peace. They have plenty
of weapons, such as mine. If you conquer them many of your tribe must
die. And what will happen to those that are left? Can you tell, oh
Tocalli?"

The black shook his head, but answered nothing.

"Then I can! The fire-water of the white men will make them mad. They
will drink till they fight, fight till they kill, and kill till none
remain alive!"

"'Tis no matter!" cried Tocalli. "My brother speaks the words of a
coward. He looks like a man, but his heart is that of a GIN!"

In conversing thus, they had strayed close to die edge of the sea at a
spot that Rashleigh knew, where some rocks lay that had moderately deep
water beside them. Our exile, while the strange chief Tocalli was last
speaking, had put a small quantity of powder in his pipe; and they walked
upon the rock in silence for a second or two, when, the fire reaching it,
the gunpowder exploded. While the blackfellow was dazzled and confounded,
Rashleigh slipped into the tide and swam off as quietly as he could,
making his way to a side of the bay, where, by the signs of his late
companion, he understood that some goods belonging to the white men had
been landed to lighten their distressed vessel.

It was some time after Ralph had reached the shore before he could find
out the pile of stores; but at length he did so and concealed himself
among them, anxiously waiting for morning in the hope that he might find
some means of communicating to the seamen intelligence of the proposed
attack of the blacks, and resolved, if he could do so by no other means,
that he would swim off to the vessel, though the danger from sharks was
so imminent that in that case it was but a chance he would ever reach it.

When morning dawned our exile could see that the big canoe spoken of by
the blacks was, in reality, a schooner of about 150 tons burden, which
had apparently got on shore on the point of a low sandy islet nearly two
miles from the land. While he was yet gazing on her he saw two boats
loaded with goods putting off from her side, which made for his place of
concealment. The blacks were also all in motion, many of them pretending
to fish along the shore, while a few others, among whom was Tocalli,
walked loungingly up to the pile of stores. They were apparently unarmed;
but Rashleigh could see that in the tufts of opossum skin that depended
behind from his belt, each man bad a nullah nullah concealed.

The boats meantime had reached the shore, and a person who seemed to be
the captain landing, Tocalli went up to him. The white man said, "Shake
hands, chief," offering his own to the savage for that purpose.

Rashleigh was so close to both that he could even see the malignant
gleam of satisfaction that sparkled from Tocalli's eye as he extended
his left hand to the unsuspecting stranger, while his right hand sought
the weapon with which he designed to immolate the white man on the spot.

In the mean time each of the savages had got close to one of the sailors.
There was not an instant to be lost. Just as the black chief had drawn
out his waddy, a bullet from the piece of our exile entered his brain,
and he fell dead without a cry or a struggle.

Ralph, springing out of his hiding-place, called aloud, "Beware, white
men, the treacherous rascals are going to murder you!"

The blacks had, in fact, each seized his man at a signal from Tocalli;
but the sudden report of the gun, accompanied by his fall, so much amazed
them that the sailors easily shook off their grips and hastily retreated
to their boats.

The captain cried out to recall them; but Rashleigh recommended him to
let them go for some arms, returning from the ship with all speed, as,
so little had they dreamed of any danger from the savages, that not a man
had brought so much as a pistol, and the greater part of the cargo was
lying strewn close by their present position. In the mean time, the
blacks, having recovered in some degree from their first affright,
enraged at the death of their chief and being strengthened by many others
of the stragglers, now rushed upon the white men with spears, boomerangs
and clubs, of which they poured in a volley that knocked the captain and
a sailor down. But the fall of one of their own number staggered them in
their advance, and the discharge of both barrels of Rashleigh's piece,
together with his pistols, immediately afterwards completed their
discomfiture, and they fled pell-mell to the nearest thicket.

It was now high water of a spring tide, and a stock of fire-arms being
brought by the boat, her crew also reported to the captain the welcome
intelligence that the schooner floated, needing nothing, as they
believed, but a pull or two by the capstan on the anchor they had dropped
ahead to heave her off altogether. The commander, who at present had not
time to express either his thanks for or his amazement at the opportune
assistance rendered by our adventurer, whom he knew not what to think of,
unless he might be an ANGEL IN MOURNING, was now anxious to return on
board with all the hands he could obtain to man the vessel for this
purpose; and our adventurer volunteered his services, provided they would
load and leave all the fire-arms they had brought with them, that he on
his part would mount guard over the goods. The captain would not at first
hear of this, saying that he would not for the sake of twenty times as
much goods wish that harm should happen to the man who had saved all
their lives. But Rashleigh, persisting in his request, absolutely refused
to go on board the schooner with them, saying that he knew his countrymen
too well to believe there could be any danger of their so soon attacking
him after they were once fairly beaten off, but if they did, he could
give them so warm a reception, having the means of twenty discharges,
that they would quickly turn tail again. At length the captain returned
with all his men to the schooner, and Ralph, having laid the fire-arms
ready cocked upon a row of cases, paced to and fro in their front with a
double-barrelled gun in his hand.

For some time not a sign nor a sound disturbed the solitude and silence
of the lonely beach. The blacks all appeared to have retreated for good,
and Rashleigh ventured to look round at last at the schooner, whence the
song of the mariners heaving at the capstan now began faintly to reach
his ear. For a few seconds the labour seemed ineffectual; but at length
Rashleigh plainly saw her move. She appeared about to plunge into the
water, when he received a spear in the leg, and several others rattled
around him upon the various casks and packages that strewed the beach.
Doubly vexed at his wound and the inattention that had permitted his
enemies thus to surprise him, he looked around without at first being
able to perceive from what quarter the attack emanated; but all at once
he caught the glare of a human eye, fixed upon him from behind a
sand-bank. In an instant his gun was at his shoulder; another, and he had
pulled the trigger. The black at whom he fired, leaping up convulsively,
fell dead upon the sand-bank, while another volley of spears, one of
which passed through his shoulder, hurtled into the sand on every side of
him.

Rashleigh now withdrew behind a cask, crouching down to pull the spear
from his leg, and the blacks, deeming perhaps he had fallen by their last
weapons, leaped up and came running towards him. Another of them fell in
the advance; but now, inured to the noise of fire-arms, and their
passions roused to fury, the survivors rushed upon Ralph, who had not
time to pick up another musket, but clubbing his fowling-piece, defended
himself with the butt end of it until one of his assailants got within
the sweep of it and grappled him round the body. In a short time both
were on the ground, with eyes flashing fire. They tugged and strained for
the mastery, rolling over and over each other so quickly that more than
one blow intended by his sable antagonists for the white man fell upon
his unlucky opponent. At length something seemed to divert the attention
of the blacks from the affray for an instant. Our adventurer was now
uppermost, and drawing a pistol from his belt, he blew the skull off his
struggling enemy. A few shots fired from an approaching boat drove away
all the others.

The captain of the schooner landed a few moments after, and finding
Rashleigh alive though much hurt and bleeding, he hastily but heartily
congratulated him on his escape with life, insisting that he should
forthwith go on board to have his wounds dressed by the steward. After
this able medico had fulfilled his office, our exile learned that the
schooner was the SEA MEW, of Sydney, which was returning from a trip of
trade among the Fiji islands. Ralph now acquainted the captain with the
circumstance of his having saved the ladies from the wreck of the
TRIBUNE, which the latter had heard of and had left at Timor Coupang a
vessel that had been dispatched from New South Wales by Colonel
Woodville, Mrs Marby's father. in search of his daughters, who, with the
child, had been reported as left on board the wreck by a party that had
escaped after the TRIBUNE struck and had made their way southwards along
the coast until they arrived at Port Macquarie, then newly formed as a
penal settlement. The commander of the SEA MEW was well pleased to hear of
the safety of Mrs Marby and her sister, their father being much respected
by all classes of the colonists, and the loss of his children having been
a severe blow to the old gentleman. It was speedily arranged that as soon
as the schooner could he reloaded she should go round to the other bay for
the purpose of receiving the ladies; and as the depth of water where they
were was now known to her commander, the vessel was enabled to stand in
close to the shore, so that by the next morning all her cargo was reshipped,
and in a very few hours the SEA MEW had anchored in the offing abreast of
the cavern.

The condition of the ladies, who had been plunged into complete despair
by the absence of Rashleigh, whom they looked up to as their only
protector, and who were now almost intoxicated with joy at the prospect
of a happy release from their gloomy place of confinement, may be more
easily conceived than described.

Let it suffice to say that before evening the whole party, with all that
was thought worth removal, had been transferred to the schooner, which
weighed anchor about sunset with a favourable breeze and pursued her
voyage to Sydney.




Chapter XXXII



ONE, MIDST THE FORESTS OF THE WEST,
BY A DARK STREAM IS LAID----
THE INDIAN KNOWS HIS PLACE OF REST,
FAR IN THE CEDAR SHADE.


The SEA MEW swiftly breasted the bounding billows, bearing the lost
children to the arms of their sorrowing parent; but the thoughts of our
exile, as he marked hill after hill of the coast that were so rapidly
left behind him on his return but had cost him so much toil to pass upon
his journey northward, were of a very foreboding cast.

"True," thought he, "I may fairly claim sorne consideration from the
Colonel for preserving the lives of his children and for restoring them
to his embrace in safety and in honour. But is it likely that an officer
so high in the service will deem that he can even owe thanks to a doubly
convicted felon? Will it not appear to him to be his duty to give me up
to the law for punishment, which cannot fail to award me an ignominious
death as having participated in an act of piracy, for such no doubt they
will call the seizure of the little boat, especially as it was attended
with a resistance to the authorities of Newcastle that ended in the death
of at least one commissioned officer in the army."

At length he bethought himself that as all his boat companions were dead
it would be impossible for anyone to prove he had ever been of their
party, and as there were every day, generally, some prisoners running
away from the limeburners, who for the most part either perished
miserably in the bush of starvation or joined the blacks, why might he
not be believed if he stated that he had absconded by land as so many
others had done before him? This result appeared so probable, and in case
it should prove to be true, the consequences so trifling, that he
resolved to attempt this method of escaping from the difficulty of his
position, as he knew that at the worst the period of his banishment to
the Coal river having long since expired, the only punishment likely to
be inflicted on him for absconding would be perhaps fifty lashes, when he
would revert to the condition of an ordinary convict.

The day prior to that of their expected arrival at Sydney, Rashleigh
sought an interview with Mrs Marby and acquainted her, after apologizing
for not having told her the truth before, that he was, in fact, a
runaway, and that he trusted, in consideration of his services to her,
she would endeavour to prevail upon Colonel Woodville to use Ins interest
in obtaining pardon from the Governor for his colonial offences.

The lady heard his tale with great surprise, though she remarked she had
often wondered at his superior intelligence; but with ready female wit
she added, "As you have deceived me and all that are on board this
vessel, you may deceive many others into the belief you are really an
aboriginal black. So, for fear the Colonel may not have the power to get
you your liberty, I desire you will not perrnit any other person to share
in the secret you have told me until I shall request it. For, to say the
least of it, it would be such a dreadful thing that you should lose your
freedom through saving our lives as I cannot bear to think of; and it
were better for you to fly into the wildest bush again, there to
persevere in the savage mode of life you have now become accustomed to,
than that you should again be subject to the miseries you relate having
suffered at the place you ran away from. At any rate, I will do my best
to interest my father in your behalf; but until I can do this, pray
remain black, although I should like to see what kind of a white man you
would make!"

There was an air of truthfulness in this lady's address which inspired
Rashleigh with confidence, so he lay down to rest with a much lighter
heart; and ere he awoke next morning the SEA MEW was running up the
harbour of Port Jackson. To the surprise of Captain Bell, our exile,
instead of dressing himself in the best European clothes he had got,
stripped himself of those he then wore, and assuming the opossum cloak
and other paraphernalia of a native warrior, caused Enee to paint his
body and dress up his hair with grass and feathers before he went on shore.

Colonel Woodville, having been informed of the safe arrival of his
daughters, sent a carriage for them to the wharf, himself being confined
to his bed of sickness. Mrs Marby requested our adventurer to accompany
them to his residence, and Rashleigh left the schooner, promising the
captain, who was very loath to part with him, that he would soon return.
The Colonel's domestics, who idolized their young ladies and had
understood the obligations they lay under to the sooty personage who
followed them, received Rashleigh very cordially, welcoming him to the
house, where they said it was their master's order an apartment was to be
provided for Bealla--the native name of our exile--and his two gins. The
former, however, was rather puzzled and not a little annoyed at the
absurd remarks that greeted his every word and action, proceeding from
the female servants, who were not long in the Colony and appeared to
consider a native black of Australia as only a higher sort of brute; and
they were consequently much astonished to observe that Ralph knew the
usages of civilized life, until he told them he had been bred in a white
family, when their exclamations of surprise at his having again taken to
the bush almost deafened him.

In the afternoon Mrs Marby sent for our exile and informed him that the
joy of their meeting had so much overpowered the Colonel as to make him
rather worse. She said she had therefore postponed until another day any
mention of the real position of their deliverer, whom, however, their
father was most anxious to see, that he might return thanks in person for
those exertions that had preserved his daughters. The lady also offered
Rashleigh money and begged of him to bring Tita and Enee home to their
house, which she insisted none of them were to quit any more, as the
Colonel had declared, while he had a shilling left, Bealla and his gins
should have a portion of it.

Ralph returned thanks for all this kindness and promised next day to
bring the two females with him. He declined to receive any money,
however, as he had several pieces of gold in his belt, and besides, only
intended to go back on board the SEA MEW for that night. He then took his
leave and returned to the vessel, where he found Captain Bell eagerly
awaiting his arrival, and Tita and Enee not less so, the latter being
very impatient to display a whole milliner's shop of finery, which the
captain and crew had purchased for their use, and both these sable
specimens of feminine loveliness were now arrayed in costume which,
considering that expense had not been spared to make a show, and that the
steward, who purveyed the "rigging", as he called it, had endeavoured as
closely as he could to copy the dress worn by Poll Blazer of Portsmouth
point, had at least the merit, perhaps a questionable one, of being
exceedingly original; though to judge from the extraordinary attitudes
assumed by both Tita and Enee, the latter considered their pink silk
bonnets with enormous green veils streaming behind them in the breeze--as
Captain Bell swore, like the commodious broad pendant--and surmounted by a
host of magnificent blue and white feathers, as being the very NE PLUS
ULTRA of black elegance. A burst of uproarious laughter from Ralph, as he
surveyed the extraordinary. garb of the gins, rather discomposed the
majestic airs of the latter; but Captain Bell, taking their part against
our adventurer, good-humouredly said that he only laughed to conceal his
anger at not being able to cut such a dash himself, when Enee at once
pulled off her bonnet and begged Bealla to put it on. Nor was it until
Ralph promised to go and dress himself that the GIN could he induced to
desist in pressing that novel head-dress for a male upon his notice.

At length they, and the urgent entreaties of the sailors, induced
Rashleigh to array himself once more in European clothing; and although
he put on a pair of broad pink-striped seaman's trousers and an
anchor-patterned shirt, with a flowing handkerchief, and all else to
correspond, he was scarcely fine enough for the fastidious taste of the
crew, who, with their captain at their head, now insisted on the whole party
adjourning to a public-house, known as the Old Black Dog, on the Rocks,
where a separate room, two fiddlers and a proportionate number of nymphs
of the pavé being engaged, the jovial mariners passed the night in
having what they called "a jolly good spree", the party not breaking up
until an hour after sunrise next morning, when they were fairly dead beat.

Night after night the same sport was pursued by the crew, and they would
fain have had both Rashleigh and the gins to accompany them; but the
former often excused himself, and the latter, who now lived with the
ladies at Colonel Woodville's mansion, could not be induced to go among
the females on the Rocks any more, for they had been quite frightened by
a fight that took place the first night between two of the LADIES, and
they used to say, "White man sometimes pretty quiet, but white woman big
devil when they drink fire-water."

It was nearly a month before Colonel Woodville recovered sufficiently to
see our adventurer. When he did so he returned his warmest thanks to him
as the preserver of three beings so dear to him that he declared he felt
as if he could not have survived their loss. And the old gentleman, moved
even to tears, on concluding, said, "Now, Bealla, if there's anything in
the world I can do for you, you have only got to name it. At any rate,
you will always stop here, and I will take care neither you nor yours
shall ever want."

Rashleigh was much affected, and on looking to Mrs Marby, who was
present, he thought he read in that lady's eye permission to tell his true
history to her father. So he said, "I hope, Colonel Woodville, for your
daughter's sake, you will pardon my having attempted to deceive you, for
it was Mrs Marby that desired me to wait your recovery before I sought to
make you acquainted with my true position. You see before you, Colonel, a
runaway convict, one driven to abscond by such sufferings as rarely fall
to the lot of human beings, but whose colonial career, at least, has been
unstained by the commission of any crime, save that of attempting his
escape from too galling a servitude."

Colonel Woodville looked with amazement upon our exile, but spoke not for
several minutes. At length he said, "I never felt until now how hard it
may become to perform a duty. Still, hard though it be, it must be done.
So long as I thought you to be unstained by crime, my home and all its
comforts were free to you; but now that you have yourself avowed you are
a fugitive criminal, I have but one course to adopt."

Mrs Marby here stopped her father's hand as he was about to ring the
bell, saying in tones of the deepest emotion. "Oh papa, what are you
about to do?"

"My duty, child, to give the runaway up," replied her father, almost as
much agitated as his daughter.

"What! Because he has saved all our lives and confided in your
generosity, will you hand him back to those cruel beings that tortured
him nearly to death before? Fly, Rashleigh! Seek the bush again! There
you can live and there you must strive to forget the ingratitude of your
countrymen; but if ever I can help you, you shall not reproach a woman
with ingratitude."

"No, lady!" replied our exile. "I do not blame the Colonel, for I know he
is only about to do his duty. But I trust, if he should find what I have
stated respecting my colonial career being free from crime is true, that
he will intercede to prevent my being again sent back to the horrid
scenes which I absconded to avoid."

The Colonel had sunk into a seat. His head was buried in his hands. He
said, "Neither man nor woman before could ever accuse Hugh Woodville of
ingratitude. And you, Lucy, know not how you have wrung your father's
heart. But listen to me," he added, seeing Mrs Marby about to speak, "I
will do all and more than Rashleigh requests. A strict investigation
shall take place into his colonial history; and if I find he is not all
corrupt, I will exert my interest to procure his freedom."

"That's spoken like my own papa!" said the lady, embracing her sire.
"And I am sure from Rashleigh's conduct towards two helpless women that he
will be proved to merit your interference."

It was now decided that next morning the Colonel should wait upon the
chief convict officer, to whom he was to speak on Ralph's behalf, the
latter giving himself up at the same time, while Mrs Marby, her sister,
and son were to solicit an audience from the Governor and acquaint him
with their rescue.

About ten o'clock the next forenoon, our exile repaired to Hyde Park
Barracks, where in a little while Colonel Woodville arrived on horseback.
In a short time the former was summoned into the presence of the head of
his department, who, with ill-subdued austerity, questioned him as to
where he had spent his servitude, and being replied to, Mr H. ordered an
attending official to bring that volume of the records of convicts'
punishmerit which contained the letter "R".

On opening this huge and melancholy tome, the chief enquired what ship
our exile had arrived in the Colony by, and being answered, he turned
over the leaves muttering, "Ralph Rashleigh, per MAGNET . . . Um . . . Aye,
here he is . . . First offence, absconding and robbery, sentenced death,
respited . . . Hum . . . Newcastle, three years . . . Hum . . . Aye . . . How
many times did you get punished at Newcastle?" addressing our adventurer.

"Nine times, sir," replied Ralph.

"Hum . . . A troublesome fellow, I'll be bound. How many robberies did you
commit while you were in the bush?"

"Not one, sir," answered the accused.

"Oh, of course not," remarked the haughty official with a sneer. "But how
did you live then?"

Rashleigh here related the circumstances attending his first meeting with
Foxley and made much the same defence as he had done at his trial.

"A very pretty and well-got-up story, indeed!" observed the great man.
"Now, sir, can you bring any tittle of evidence that you have spoken the
truth?"

Rashleigh related what had happened at Shanavan's and mentioned how Mrs
McGuffin had interfered on his behalf.

Colonel Woodville paid the greatest attention to all that passed. He took
down Shanavan's direction, saying that he would go thither and ascertain
the truth of this statement, while the Superintendent of Convicts engaged
to write to Newcastle forthwith in order to see under what circumstances
our exile had absconded.

Rashleigh was now ordered to be strictly confined; but the Colonel
interceded to prevent this, saying, "He came to me of his own accord
yesterday, Mr H., and told me his tale, which I rather think is true. So
I cannot believe he will run away any more, and I wish therefore you
would oblige me by treating him well until these enquiries are made."

This was courteously complied with by the great officer, who fully marked
his estimation of the wide difference between a colonel and a convict by
exhibiting as much fawning servility towards the former as he displayed
haughty scorn to the latter. Our adventurer went among the other
prisoners in the barrack yard, who all, taking him for a negro, a race
that was rather scarce at that period in the Colony, began to play an
manner of tricks with him, having christened him "Sambo". And they
annoyed him so much that at length in self-defence he thrashed two or
three of the foremost.

The same evening Colonel Woodville's footman was sent by his young lady
to acquaint our exile that His Excellency had received them very kindly
but would promise nothing in his behalf until his colonial character
could he ascertained. Mrs Marby requested that her preserver--for so she
still called our convict--would keep up his spirits, as he should not be
forgotten by her, in proof of which she sent him an ample supply of money
and directed if he required anything that he should send to her for it.
Rashleigh was very grateful and requested the man to bring him some
nitrous ether from a chemist's shop, with two or three other compounds;
and having procured these, he set himself sedulously to work to remove
the now useless disguise of his sable skin.

The application of the lotion he had mixed caused the skin to peel off;
so that the morning after he had first put it on, the outer coat that
had been stained black was all hanging in rags on every part of him, to
the great amazement of his convict companions, who now called him the
piebald man. And it was fully a week before his person had resumed its
former appearance, when the newly-formed cuticle, though extremely tender
at first, appeared to him much more delicate and pure than ever he could
recollect it to have been before; and it produced such a youthful effect
in his appearance as quite surprised him when he looked at his face in a
mirror.

Ten days had elapsed, during which our exile continually received. kind
messages from Mrs Marby and her sister but began to sigh for even savage
freedom, when one bright morning, the brightest indeed that had ever
beamed for Ralph Rashleigh in New South Wales, Colonel Woodville rode
into Hyde Park Barracks, and directly after the name of our adventurer
was lustily shouted by the boatswain of the yard.

He was ushered once more into the office of the Chief Superintendent, who
stared at him for a moment and then said, "Who are you, sir?"

"Ralph Rashleigh, sir," was the reply.

At the sound of the voice the Colonel burst out laughing and said, "I am
sure, so strong are first impressions, I always expected to see you
black! And I can hardly be sure it is the same man NOW that saved my
daughters."

The Superintendent then said, using rather a kinder tone than customary
while addressing a convict, "You may thank Colonel Woodville all the days
of your life, and you ought to serve him very faithfully, for he has
saved you from going back to the Coal river to finish your sentence
there, and you are now assigned to him for the present."

The Colonel here remarked that was all the favour he could as yet obtain
from the Governor for our exile, and a promise, if the latter behaved
himself well for one year, that he should be recommended to the home
government for a pardon.

Rashleigh was now directed to repair to the house of the Colonel; but the
latter requested he would await his arrival ere he saw Mrs Marby, as he
had a desire to be present at the first interview of his daughter with
one whom she had always known as a black, but who was now turned white.

In compliance with this request, it was three o'clock before Ralph was
sent for to the drawing-room. having spent the intermediate hours in the
apartment of the stewards, who had by the Colonel's command provided him
with a respectable suit of clothes.

Mrs Marby, her son and sister were seated with their father when the
latter sent for Rashleigh, and on his entrance the Colonel said, "Ladies,
permit me to introduce my new servant to you."

Mrs Marby looked at the stranger--so did the others--then at the old
gentleman, who smiled and said, "Have you no tongue, sire. Pray, what's
your name?"

Our exile felt that he must look simple enough, so he merely replied,
"Ralph Rashleigh, sir."

At the sound of his voice the little boy ran to him and sought his
favourite resting-place in our adventurer's arms. But the ladies
absolutely screamed with surprise, while Mrs Marby remarked, "Well, to be
sure, it ought not to excite any surprise in us that you have resumed
your natural colour again. And yet I shall always think of my preserver
as a black man, such is the power of habit. However, black or white, you
are welcome, for I am certain you will prove to my papa that my good
opinion of you was well founded."

"I do not doubt it, Lucy," here observed the Colonel, "for I have heard
another excellent account of his conduct in trying to save a poor girl
from destruction. And I cannot believe that a person who is amenable to
such generous impulses as have prompted Rashleigh can possess a corrupt
heart!"

"Well, well, let us hope all our troubles are over now," exclaimed Mrs
Marby. "Rashleigh shall go and be overseer on my farm at the Hawkesbury
and for his wages shall have half the profits of the land. Will that
satisfy you?" turning to our exile, who of course thanked her for so
liberal an offer.

One thing rather surprised our adventurer, and that was neither Tita nor
Enee could ever be brought to treat him with any familiarity after his
metamorphosis; for though they had seen him as a white man once before,
yet suffering and toil had then so much embrowned his complexion that it
differed but little from the hue he had so long borrowed. His attempts to
enter into conversation in the native tongue with either were ever after
repulsed with distant respect, and though he saw them repeatedly in
subsequent years and sometimes playfully addressed them in aboriginal
terms of endearment, they would resist all his attempts to lead them into
any lengthened converse, generally saying, "You white gentleman now. No
more blackfellow!" and depart to attend upon their mistresses, in whose
service both still remain, though Mrs Marby now resides in India, and
Miss Woodville in England.

Shortly after our adventurer's liberation from Hyde Park Barracks, he
went to take charge of an estate on the Hawkesbury, the property of the
former lady, and having received a conditional pardon for his services to
her and her sister, in a few years removed to New England, then a
recently opened pastoral country. The attention of the Australian
settlers having been more directed to sheep-farming than before, Captain
Marby had purchased some sheep, and Rashleigh was retained to manage
them.

The sufferings of his early career in the Colony produced such an effect
of reformation in his mind that he was ever after respected as a man of
scrupulous integrity by all that knew him, who united sincerely in
lamenting his premature death, which took place in 1844 after the
following manner.

A party of hostile aborigines had been long committing depredations on
the flocks of the squatters near Beardie Plains, and Rashleigh chanced to
be visiting a friend there on an occasion when a breathless messenger
entered to acquaint the latter that one of his shepherds had been killed
and the flock driven off by the blacks. The two superintendents mounted
their horses and galloped away in pursuit. It was nearly sunset ere they
overtook the marauding party, who were encamped, having penned up the
sheep in a rude stockyard formed of houghs. The sable plunderers
instantly took to flight on the appearance of the horsemen, who proceeded
to drive the flock homewards; but as they passed a dense thicket, the
native war-whoop sounded as the prelude to a volley of spears, seven of
which piercing the unfortunate Rashleigh, he fell from his horse and
could only urge his friend to fly and save his life ere he died. His
companion galloped off to the nearest station and returned as quickly as
possible to the spot; but the unhappy Ralph had long been dead, his
remains having been cruelly maltreated by these bloodthirsty barbarians,
whom the mock philanthropy of the age characterises as inoffensive and
injured beings.

Reader, the corpse of the exile slumbers in peace on the banks of the
Barwon, far from his native land. Let us hope that his sufferings and
untimely death, alas, have expiated the errors of his early years.


THE END


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RALPH RASHLEIGH--THE LIFE OF AN EXILE (1845?) BY JAMES TUCKER (1803-1866)

Geoffrey Dutton, in "The Australian Collection--Australia's Greatest
Books", remarks that "The definition of "classic" should be relevant to
both time and place. There are many books in each country's literature
that are cherished as classics in their homeland but little known
elsewhere." Hence the inclusion of "Ralph Rashleigh" in Dutton's list of
Australia's Greatest Books.

The book is a "classic" for a number of reasons: its literary merit; its
depiction of the life of a convict; the circumstances of its composition;
and the occasion of the discovery of the manuscript and subsequent
publication.

The novel relates the story of a well-educated Londoner who drifts into
petty crimes, for one of which he is tried, imprisoned, and sentenced to
death. He escapes from prison, only to be recaptured. However his
sentence is commuted and he is transported to New South Wales. During his
life in the colony he is flogged, placed in solitary confinement and
forced to endure both heat and cold without the benefit of shoes.

Still, this is not a story of hopelessness and the convicts manage to get
up a theatre and Rashleigh is later assigned as a labourer to a settler.
The adventures continue unabated, to such an extent that Dutton remarks,
"Interest in the breathless series of adventures that make up "Ralph
Rashleigh" might flag if most of them were not so clearly authentic." As
it was, the author of this work was himself a convict. Colin Roderick,
academic and writer on Australian literature, noted in a foreword to the
1952 edition of the book, that "'Ralph Rashleigh' is the "only novel of
abiding stature to have been written by a man who during all his
Australian life was never anything but a convict."

Like Rashleigh, Tucker himself was sentenced to be transported to New
South Wales for the term of his natural life, for the crime of sending a
letter threatening to (falsely) accuse his cousin, James Stanyford
Tucker, with indecently assaulting him, James Rosenberg Tucker (our
author). Tucker spent much of his time in the colony as a messenger and
clerk. On several occasions he was granted a ticket of leave only to have
it revoked each time, save the last. He died in Liverpool (N.S.W.) asylum
in 1866.

In fact, we are not absolutely certain that James Tucker is the author of
"Ralph Rashleigh", as the following story will admit. In 1920, at an
exhibition of rare books and manuscripts held by the Royal Australian
Historical Society, an elderly man "turned up" with a manuscript titled
"Ralph Rashleigh or The Life of an Exile", by Giacomo di Rosenberg" and
handed it to the president of the Society, Mr C. H. Bertie. The elderly
man, Robert Baxter, could only say that some 50 years earlier it had been
left to his wife by her father, who had it of the author 30 years before
that. Three other manuscripts were also presented at the same time. The
date written by the author, on the verso of the first page of "Ralph
Rashleigh", was 31st December, 1845.

The paper on which the manuscript was written was watermarked 1840. Other
paper in the bundle was ascertained to have come from the register of
assignment of convicts at Port Macquarie (N.S.W.), the latest dates on
those sheets being 1838. These facts, together with other evidence,
suggested that the manuscripts were genuine work from the 1840s. On the
assumption that "Ralph Rashleigh" was a disguised book of memoirs, in
1929 a re-written version of the manuscript was published in London. The
reasons for the re-writing were outlined in the publishers' note at the
beginning of the publication: "We recognized its value and interest, but
the archaic literary style of the writer made us doubt whether the book
would be acceptable to modern readers. So the manuscript was rewritten,
but with absolute fidelity to the original story."

The identity of the author of "Ralph Rashleigh" remained a mystery. Then,
in 1949, Mr Bertie "put me in possession", as Colin Roderick put it in
the foreword to the 1952 edition of "Ralph Rashleigh", "of all he knew
about the manuscript. Intrigued by its obvious authenticity and moved by
the obscure fate of its author, I was persuaded not to let the pursuit of
that worthy (sic) stop until I had established his identity."

Unfortunately, for copyright reasons, we cannot include in the ebook of
"Ralph Rashleigh" the complete foreword, by Colin Roderick, to the 1952
edition. However, Roderick goes on to detail how he was able to ascertain
that James Tucker was almost certainly the author. After two years,
building upon the knowledge that the paper upon which the manuscript was
written came from the penal settlement at Port Macquarie, Roderick
recounts:

"On the evening of 26 July 1951 I was looking through the 1846 inward
correspondence of William Nairn Gray to the Colonial Secretary. A file of
letters dealt with several complaints against Gray, one of which was that
he had misappropriated convict labour to build a race-course and to
enlarge his own garden for profit. To refute the charges he enclosed a
plan of the trifling alterations to his garden, and another of the mighty
public works he had performed.

"These plans really gave the solution to the problem. Not only were they
in the same calligraphy as the title pages of the Rashleigh manuscripts,
but they were signed with the amateur architect's name, James Tucker.
Several pages attached to them were in the same handwriting as the
manuscript of 'Ralph Rashleigh.'"

Roderick provides other evidence to corroborate his contention that
Tucker was the author of "Ralph Rashleigh". For example Tucker, in a
postscript to his threatening letter to his cousin, mentioned earlier,
directed the cousin to "address to me Mr Rosenberg, the Bell, Exeter
Street, Strand." Further, Tucker's criminal charge was directed to "James
Rosenberg Tucker", and at Port Jackson, Tucker's name was entered as
"James Tucker, or Rosenberg." Rosenberg was, as mentioned earlier, the
name entered on the "Ralph Rashleigh" manuscript.Some commentators,
however, have argued that Tucker merely copied the manuscript. In an
exchange in the "Bulletin" December 1952 to February 1953, M. H. Ellis
argued that Tucker was a copyist whose known writing, for example a
letter written in 1826, does not reveal the qualities required of the
author of "Ralph Rashleigh". Roderick, though, seems to have the weight
of evidence.

In the foreword to the 1952 edition of "Ralph Rashleigh", Colin Roderick
goes on further to note the "unfortunate introduction [to the 1929
edition] by the late Earl of Birkenhead. Like the editor of that text,
Birkenhead was misled into believing the book was a memoir entirely and
the text was mangled and falsified to fit this preconceived theory."
Birkenhead set forth a diatribe in favour of maintaining the death
penalty, using as evidence to support his claim, the "memoir" of
Rashleigh, a person who "had the advantage of a decent upbringing, but,
out of weakness of character, adopted what seemed the easier life of
crime at an early age." It was fortunate for Birkenhead that, by 1952
when the verbatim edition of what turned out to be a novel was published,
he was "late" as it may have saved him from acute embarrassment.

At Project Gutenberg of Australia will be found both the "first authentic
popular edition" created from the original manuscript, first published in
1952, together with the heavily edited 1929 edition (including the
publishers' note and introduction by Birkenhead). The 1929 edition is
now, of course, just a curiosity.

I trust that you will agree that this is a "classic" story about a
classic work of Australian literature--"Ralph Rashleigh, The Life of an
Exile" by James Tucker. Both ebooks are located at
(http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html.

Colin Choat

THE END



Project Gutenberg Australia