Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 136 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

ant, oo err a —— = a « ‘ o ma ® |, a “The devil!” exclaimed Dick, ‘‘you don’t say so?—Well, he is a fellow of the right sort. But if he once has the blacks at his heels, he won’t long eat damper in the bush.” ‘Let him alone for that,” said Bob, laugb- ing; ‘‘he is the boy. But you need not speak so low, M’Pherson won’t peach.” ‘‘The deuce trust the innkeepers,” muttered Mac; ‘‘ they peach or don’t peach, just as it suits them best. If Red John came here with bis pockets full of cash, the devil a word would M’Pherson peach against him. But if he had nothing but the price set upon his head, he would not require to be asked twice; nay, he would himself assist in putting the ‘darbies’ round his wrists.” ‘* Well, if must be rather pleasant to have a reward like that placed upon one’s head,” said Mike, a ration-carrier at one of the neighboring stations, The sixth member of the party was a young fellow of the name of Ralph, not quite so rough as the rest, although life in the bush had given him a sufficiently wild appearance to render him by no means out of his place in the com- pany in which he foursl himself. It was very possible that he had not been transported, and was a free emigrant, with an honest life to look back upon; but if such was the case, he care- fully concealed the fact, and mentioned nothing of the sort before his older companions, whose experience he held in the greatest respect. However, he did not seem to understand Mike’s observations, and he broke silence by saying: “* After all, it must be a fearful feeling to know that one’s name is in the papers, and that everybody has the right to arrest you and give you up to justice.” ** Now, d——n it!” said Mike, laughing, and striking his broad fist in his open palm, “ ain’t he green? Why, my good fellow, how long have you been in Australia? Upon my word, I begin to think the fool paid his passage over.” “Bah!” exclaimed Ralph, blushing at the suspicion of being a free emigrant, ‘‘my moth- er’s son has more sense than to pay for his pass- age, when ler Majesty’s ships bring folks over for nothing.” ‘‘God bless her Majesty!” exclaimed M’Pher- son, just returning with a full bottle, and un- derstanding something of the last speech. ‘* Will no one pledge me?’ ‘““We have nothing to say against her Maj- esty,” growled Bob; ‘‘ we once had a free pass- age. Give us something worth the trouble and we will pledge you.” ** Hang it, the brandy is really good!” was now the general exclamation. ‘‘ Famous stuff, this! Where did you get it, mate?’ ““Whete? Direct from France,” answered his smirking host. ‘It is alucky thing to have friends at the port, who can land a cargo of something wet without much bother. The day before yesterday I-had a whole cargo of three or four different sorts of brandy, a cask of Scotch whisky, three or four kinds of wine, port, sherry, porter, and half a dozen baskets of the real ‘Swell's’ tipple (champagne). It cracks like a cannon, and throws bubbles and foam like a thousand-ton steamer.” “Hallo, Mac! we have come at the right time, I see!” exclaimed Dick, laughing. “Ill be hanged if I go away before I have tasted at least a little of everything. We shall have plenty of time to go to Adelaide; and after all, we might leave’ the good stuff behind us here, and drink whatever they think fit to give us.” “Yes; but I know thiS much,” answered Jack, shaking his head: ‘‘if we once begin here, we shall never get any further: we shall not even see the mountains. Of course you may do as you like. I must go to the settlements whether you go with me or not; end at least Pll take good care of my wits. You may do what you please.” “Thanks, my boy,” said Mike; “you are deuced kind, indeed, to give us leave to do as we choose. Well, what’s the matter with M’- Pherson, making a grimace as if he had invent- ed @ new sort of handcuffs, or a model prison with a reformatory! Well, what’s up, my buck? A screw loose somewhere. ‘*Do you know?” whispered the host to Bob, who was sitting next to him— ‘‘Well, what? That they'll soon settle your sly grog-shop, eh? One needn’t be a prophet to perceive that.” ‘‘Don’t speak of the devil, boys, and don’t shout so loud,” replied M’Pherson, looking about him uneasily, as if he Was afraid to be heard even in the midst of this wilderness. ‘* Who i ue ‘ ee do you think is somewhere about here in the bush?’ ‘Well, you old owl, who is it?’ asked Bob, laughing; ‘‘ his Excellency the Governor?” ‘*‘ Nonsense,” answered the host, angrily; “Jack Loudon!” ‘* Well!” said Bob, quietly. ‘* Well!” repeated M’Pherson, with astonish- ment; ‘‘Jack Loudon, the celebrated bush ranger!” ‘Celebrated?’ answered Bob, with a con- temptuous sneer. ‘‘ Who made him celebrated, I should like to know?’ “Who? The Governor. set upon his head?’ “*It would be worth the trouble indeed to catch him,” said the bullock-driver, with a shrug of the shoulders. ‘‘I have it from peo- ple who must know better than anybody else, that Jack Loudon is as much fit to be a bush ranger as Ralph there, and be wouldn’t be worth five pounds.” The others laughed; but M’Pherson, who would not permit any one to underrate the im- portance of his newsy said angrily: ‘Well, I suppose you must know better than the police. When they offer so much money, you may be pretty certain they know what they are about,” ‘The police, if you have no objection,” said Mike, gravely, ‘‘ may go to grass. Red John has been all his life a better bush ranger than Jack Loudon. ‘ Live with the wolves, and not howl with them,’ is his motto. Steal a horse like a man, and pay for it like a booby! Bah! so much for him! Why, did he even strike a single blow at the mail business? On the con- trary, he shot fat Pad down because be want- ed to get somewhat better acquainted with the pretty girl in the chaise. Such a two-faced rascal may go to the devil, for my part; and if they caught him, and hanged him, I would drink a bottle to the health of tha sheriff, Ill be hanged if I wouldn't! No; Red Jobn is another sort of a fellow, and worth five thou- sand pounds, if they offer one bundred for Jack Loudon.” *“‘ Hallo, mate! you talk as if you knew them both!” said M’Pherson, laughing. ‘* Bah!” cried Bob, with a shake of the head; ‘those times are gone. The bush is too dry, and there are rascally spies sitting at every corner. There’s no more fun in the business; and then, it is more fit for young people. When one grows old, one likes to earu so much a year in a safe manner, instead of being hunt- ed like adingo. Since I got my pass, I thrash bullocks instead of the police, and don’t wish to hear anything more of the concern.” ‘And with that he is emptying the whole bottle,” exclaimed Mac,. ‘Come, mute, that’s not sharing fairly.” ‘‘ What say you, lads, to another bottle of the same stuff?” exclaimed Ralph. ‘Tl pay for it.” “Bravo, mate! There is something in the fellow after all,” said Dick, laughing. ‘*But that must be the last bottle,” expostu- lated Jack. ‘ We'll drink the rest in Adelaide, or cal] here for it on our return.” “Ah, ub, I thought you were going to run all the way to Adelaide without. stopping,” said Ralph, laughing; ‘‘ but here’s M’Pherson coming back already. He must have had the bottle behind the door,” “He is an old fox,” muttered Bob; “ but I have some notion he’ll find he is mistaken this time,” i . es But M’Pherson was not mistaken, and be knew his men better than they probably knew themselves. He sought to entice them gradn- ally to drink; treated them to a small cask of anchovies, which he brought out and served up with toasted damper, and at last they agreed not to leave his house that day. More he did not want; he knew perfectly well that after that they would not go away as long as their money lasted. Drinking at once commenced in earnest. At the same time the woman of the house had to cook, roast, and serve up whatever the kitchen afforded. A young girl—a distant re- lation of the man’s, as he said—waited upon the guests, who were much pleased at seeing woimen-folks attending upon them once more. They continued in this manner, going on pretty temperately, until the afternoon, when Mac at last proposed to M’Pherson— what the latter had long been expecting—a game of vards, to ‘ drive time into the bush” somewhat quicker. The rest would not hear of it. Mike agreed, and M'’Pherson ventured a trifle and lest. Are not there £100 I 18) 5 4 a jee — This, however, did not last long. First Bob, then Dick, went to the table; bottle after bottle was brouybt out; the merriment waxed louder and louder, and the whole set were in the greatest tumult, when a new guest—a strange bundleman— arrived at the hut, and threw his pack upon the ground to rest himself a little. He saluted the men, without however joining them, and asked M’Pherson to give him some meat and a damper. “ Hallo, mate! where did you come from?’ said Bob, looking round to him frosa the card- table. ‘‘ Downwards?” ‘Yes, from the Rufus,” replied Miller, our old acquaintance of the Dry Swamp sheep-sta- tion. “Hallo,” said Mac; “then perhaps you'll be able to tell us what’s guing on there. M’Pher- son, man, give the poor mate a drop to drink, and don’t let bim die of thirst here.” ‘“‘Tbank you,” said Miller, casting a longing,. sby glance at the bottle offered him; “I never drink brandy.” “‘Hurrab! Here is a temperance man,” shouted Mike, with his deep voice, ‘*Come here, my boy, and let us bave a look’ At you; we have long wished to see such a bird of paradise in the bush. Have you taken the pledge?” ‘“Not yet,” answered Miller, blushing; “ but I mean to do so,” “Well, then, this is just. the right time, be- fore the gate is shut, my man,” said M’Pher- son, filing to the brim a. glass of the already paid-for brandy, and. giving to him, ‘ Look- ing out for work, or leaving it?’ ‘* Leaving it,” replied Miller, still hesitating about taking the glass. “But drink, mate, in the devil’s name,” ex- claimed Jack, in a_ friendly manner, ro longer in a hurry to start for Adelaide, ‘‘When you have rinsed ‘your throat a little, you can tell us how, things are going on at the Rufus, and what’s the row with the black police. The dust and heat are ‘enough to choke one,” ‘That is true,” ssid Miller, taking the glass with hesitation. ‘‘ Well, mates, your health and happy return,” be added, in a lower voice, as if. speaking to himself, as he seized the prot- fered glass, raised it to bis lips, and emptied it at one draught, , on ‘Pretty good stuff that,” said M’Pherson, laughing. ‘‘ Bless me, my man, you lake a good diaught, and you will bea capital catch for the temperance gents. They will make something out of you, You are a shepherd?”, ‘‘Hut-keeper,” Miller modestly answered, wiping his mouth witb bis coat-sleeve, **‘ And have been dismissed?’ asked Mac. “You have guessed ‘right,” replied Miller, — ‘No police business, I hope?’ asked M’Pher- | son, cautiously. r ‘“Go to the devil!” exclaimed Beb, angrily. ‘Ts itany business of yours what one does in New South Wales? or have you any right to examine people when tbey get out of the way of the black blue-ccoats?”’ “Nothing to do with the police,” Miller quietly replied. ‘* As far as I know, the police are atter other game; and, if what I heard yesterday at the North-west Bend be true, they have already caught two of the worst dnd shot them,” . ‘The devil!” exclaimed Mike, striking the table with his fist: ‘‘did you see anything of them?” ‘* Little enough,” answered Miller, drawing the table toward him upon which Mrs. M’Pher- son bad just served his simple meal, “ unless the fellow who got my place be one of them. He looked wild and desperate enough for any- thing.” ‘* What sort of a man was he?” said Mike, “A very strange kind of fellow, indeed,” replied Miller. ‘‘ He looked as if he had been knocking about in the bush, God knows how long! and bad forgotten what soap and a look- ing-glass are like. He had red bair and beard, blue eyes, a face very much freckled, and had an ear-ring in his left ear. He had also a capital double: barreled gun, and did not secm to care very much about it when the upper stock-keeper saw it.” ‘‘ Hem!” muttered Bob, kicking Mike with his foot under the table. ‘“ They caught bim, you say?” “ Why, I don’t know that,” replied Miller, sulkily, working away at the victuals placed before him, *‘ During the vight the blacks broke into the sheep yard and drove the sheep off, and then they sent me away and engaged the other man,” ~Scomicbooks