Adventure Magazine Cover — page 135: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Go-Fever “Can we go by train from Townsville to Sydney, Tom?” “No. Railroad just runs south and west to Winton. It’s local, like the one at Rock- hampton. You have to go to Brisbane, though there’s a branch there runs north along the coast a way. Why?” “T thought we’d sail the Adventurer down to a railroad port and sell it. Save time. We could break the aeroplane flight at Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville, couldn’t we? Better clear up what we can on the first trip. Unless you let the pilot in on the deal he’d be bound to tip the thing off. You could take in some dynamite, Tom, and finish the job.” “Me? How d’ye know I'll be the one to go?” “Tt’s your trip if you want it, I reckon. Your discovery.” “Rats. If only one of us can go we'll match for it. The rest can keep an eye on little Alec here. Anything in sight?” This to Morbora, who came in yawning. “No trouble along lillul while now,” said the black, and coiled himself up and went to sleep. “T’d give a farm to have that chap’s senses,’ said Cole. ‘‘He’s satisfied himself there’s no one inside of twenty miles, I suppose.” “And his belly’s full of ¢olgoro, Vl bet another farm,” said Reynolds. nuit of the afternoon before Alec Brown === looked at them with frightened eyes and a weak and quivering mouth. “Don’t be too hard on me, you chaps,” he whined. ‘Shut up,” said Cole good-naturedly. ‘“‘No one’s going to be stiff with you. You’re lucky to be alive, but we’re going to keep you that way. Take a drink. Think you can get something? Give you a smoke afterwards.”’ There was small sense in bullying the young fool and Cole felt no enmity against him save a general disgust that he con- cealed out of pity for the lad’s condition. “It was all Sievers,’’ Brown began. “Don’t snitch too much,” Cole warned him. “Your pal is dead and buried. Sievers is through for good. How did you know we were after gold?” “That was Ma. She got worried you wouldn’t come through with the money for IT WAS well on toward the middle 133 your room and lodgings. She wanted to know what you were up to. She used to go in your room while you were out, of course, and she’d snoop around. You had guns and charts, to begin with. Amy hung around a bit to find out what she could. You know what girls are. Anyway, she was gone on you, Mister Cole. She’d listen at the keyhole and she and Ma ’ud put two and two together. They never said much to me about it until after you’d gone. There was a bit in the paper about your having bought the sloop and sailed north. Then Ma came out with what she and Amy knew, that you’d gone after a gold mine Mister Reynolds found before the war. “Sievers got it out of me—he had no use for any of you. I got some money out of Ma after you paid her up and Sievers got a lucky tip at the races. So we took the steamer after you. We saw the sloop at Townsville and we went on up to Cardwell first. Ma said Amy said she heard you talking about Cardwell one time. Then we heard you’d put in at Dungeness and we went back. Every one there seemed to know what you’d gone after, but they thought it was just a prospecting trip that wouldn’t amount to anything. They didn’t know you’d been there before. And we picked up some news in Cardwell about a man named Reynolds being brought in once by troopers and raving about the gold he’d found. That all fitted in. ‘Sievers found some men who claimed to know the Herbert River country and they must have tumbled to something. They got Sievers scared about the blacks. I was ready to quit any time. First go-off Sievers just said we’d follow you and stake our claims. That was square enough. Then he got to talking about doing you in and keeping it all for ourselves. The men he was chumming with backed him up after they’d found out what we were after when Mart was drunk and bragging one night. ‘“‘We went up-river after you and found the tribe you met. Those two blacks that you'd chased out of your camp came in and they trailed you for us. They promised em all your tobacco, planned to take away your guns and send you back to the coast with the blacks. You know all about that. I told ’em it was just the same as murder.”’ “What about last night?” asked Cole. ‘‘What happened?” ; “They didn’t want to get in wrong with DOOK C© inn