THE GOLD-DEGGER'S SECRET.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2958, 6 May 1898, Page 3

THE GOLD-DEGGER'S SECRET.

E wns a singularly nan^ SOme"very dark, but darkhave been originally dark,

forhehdd: rayep hair, and a completely black moustache. His eyes, large, black find restless,.never became fiedon anybody ; his manner, generally lively, and ab all times bhab of a gentleman, occasionally fell by a sudden change fromgaiety into perfect sombre gloom. ... ' ] lb was tne beginning of the winter, 1851, when I waa located ab Sydney, thab I came across Ted Aineley, who aoon won upon me to join him ac a parbner in a gold-hunbing expedition. Although winter waa rapidly approaching —well stricken wit h the gold fever—-we wore bold and bobh unwilling for any delay. Our preparafcipns, under the superintendence of my senior and partner, A in. slay, were very soon carried oub, nothing likely to be required being forgotten. Three months allowance of flour, tea, and sugar, a good cradle and mining implements, cooking utensils and everything necessary for the gipsy life we were about bo lead ; a calico tent, and, finally, a strong spring carb wibh a bilted cover for bhe carriage of our goods and chattels were provided. Then we got a horse, and an intelligent lad, in whom I was interested, ac bent-keeper and cook. Ho was bo have liberal wages, and the douceur of a small " lay,"' or share, in the product of our labours.

Ib was on a moonlight night— clear, sharp, and bracing — that after drinking a glass of grog to the success of our enter-

rise, I walked briskly across tho racecourse to my. lodgings at Wooloomooloo Bay. I had agreed bo meet my partner at sunrise the next morning. I felt singularly happy ; the moonlit air and the scene around giving exaltation to my feelings. The moon was shining brightly on the Bay, transforming it into a perfect lake of silver, while the dark rocks and the trees upon the shore stood out in bold relief, black, crisp, and defined against the background of a blue sky, crowded with a myriad of glittering Stars. The change, the uncertainty, the novelty of the adventure before me, the present scene, mingled with memories of my far-away English home, all helped to throw me for the night into a state of feverish excitement.

Before the dawn I started from my bed and began for the firat time to don my digger's costume, which consisted of a particularly bright scarlet shirt, secured at the waist by a broad belt, a Califrnian felt hat, strong moleskin trousers with leather leggings up to tho thighs, and boo^s more durable than elegant There belonged to my personal equipment also a pair of good stout blankets, an opossum rug, two or three blue shirts, achange of outer raiment, and a about pilot-coab.

I found my partner nob only equipped himself, but finishing the loading of the cart, to which he had already harnessed the horse. Ainsley was dressed in much the aame style as myself, excepting that instead of bhe belt, which secured my shirt, he wore round his waist a very long and handsome crimson silk sash, with the fringed ends hanging doivn on each side ; this sash contained a lar<*e and formidable knife. My chum received me cheerfully, and we had a merry breakfast, and then set off, Ted driving, and the boy bringing up the rear. There is nothing between Sydney and Penrith, a little town situate at tlie foot of the Blue Mountains, worth dwelling upon here, for the whole of that day we pu.hed I on, arriving ab last at Paramatta, where we i only stopped to buy some mutton. Four or five miles onward, beyond the Paramatta I toll bar, we encamped in the bu?h, as be j came true vagrants in search of gold.

We made a bedstead oi the cart, and as Ainsley was not talkative over the mutton, tea and damper, I very soon turned in and let him in one of his moody fits brooding in the moonlight.

Upon awaking once in the night 1 found my partner sitting up and staring wildly at a patrol of mounted police that rode briskly past, with their long, dark cloak, waving behind them, and their _teel sabre scabbards rattling loudly as they galloped on.

I had often noted the strange, uncanny manner of my friend, but never before had 1 seen such a look of fear and savage ferocity combined resting upon his contorted features as i saw that, night. There was a wolfish glare in his eyes that positively faightened me. Evidently observing my astonished alarm, first giving utterance to a grim laugh, he then exclaimed :

" You didn't know that the sight of a mounted police olliccr was to mo like a red rag to a bull, Jackson. No bushranger hunted to the death holds in greater hate and detestation those accursed officers Df the law than i do." " And yet, Ted, you are no law-defying thief or assassin," I replied, as with a startled gaze 1 noted the woiking of his features, still partially convulsed with passion. " Ah, you shall know my past some day. Jackson. Who was it,— a colonel in Ihe army in Cromwell's time, wasn't ib— that expressed his opinion that on some occasions ' Killing was no murder ' ? " Witli another grim laugh, Ainsley, here springing from the cart, standing with folded arms beneath a gum tree, moodily peered down the road along which had galloped the patrol half an-huiir before.

I lay for some time wondering and pondering upon the scene that had just passed, and was glad when tho sun rose redly in the East, giving token of another day.

Having breakfasted we then journeyed on again towards the gold regions, and crossing a ferry on the river Nepeou, gained the edge of a large tract of open country Jyi»g at the base of the Blue Mountains. The lofty and rugged eminence rising abruptly out of the plain was a grand and beautiful bit of scenery.

On arriving at a convenient camping-place almost at the fool of the mountains, we again made ourselves snug for the' nightFavoured with delightful weather for many days we journeyed on, at length gaining Mount Lamble, the highest lange we had to p.ss. On wo went cheerful und lighthearted, passing Solitary Creek- the Green Swamp, and then gaining the green plains iv which the town of Bathurt. stand 3.

'Still pushing on, it waa wibh wHd ; joy_we.. ab last came to ehe end of our toilsome maroh, -coming to a halt one evening on the banks of a stream thab ran into the Turon, and called Oakey Creek.

Having, received a hint two days before, when we had arrived ab bhe Turon diggings, we had pushed on for our present campingground.

lb-was a solitary placeenough.very few of tbe digging population having visited the spot. The place waa cruelly dismal, for the creek was filled wit h stunted swamp oaks, while steep aud rugged hills rose up from both sides of bhe narrow watercourse. Only bhe heap of shining metal we found bhe next day at bhe bottom of our pan made up for all deficiencies.

We ljad worked bhe creek with great success, and had secured a pile of gold, when one Sunday morning, much to my Burprise, Ainsley abruptly informed me thab the time ot our agreement had expired* and thab he proposed a separation of our fortunes. He added that ib was his purpose to engage a labourer, and work for himself higher up the creek. He was rather embarrassed while expressing this determination, bub I book ib cheerfully, bbc dissolution was agreed upon, and bbc rest of the day employed in making division of our property, provisions, tools, Ao.

That we effected to our mutual satisfaction. It was now agreed bhab he ahould keep possession of his share of the tent unbil he had obtained another, and decided upon bhe spob where he would have ib pitched.

At daybreak next morning he seb of! alone, wibh pan and pick on a prospecting expedition.

It waa a very brighb, close, cloudless morning, and, shut in as we were by the hills on all sides, there wag a feeling of suffocation in the atmosphere. Nob a breabh of air forced ita way through the narrow gulley, and during the day the heat waa almost intolerable. I worked on, however, with the boy, bo bhe end, and had my supper earlier than usual, when a sudden darkness without attracted my attention.

Making ray way oub of the tent I discovered that a violent storm was impend-

ing. A dark mass of lead-coloured clouds was rapidly shutting oub the blue Bky, and emitting, as ib spread, flashes of forked lighbning ; low peals of distant thunder rolled along bhe creek, whilst large drops of rain now began to fall from the leaden and blazing canopy above.

The trees, thab during the day had remained motionless in the dead calm of the atmosphere, were now swept by fitful gusts of wind, their branches giving oub a melancholy, moaning, weird sound in the gathering storm. With some surprise I presently caught sight of two strangers making with all haste in the direction of the tent. These fellows were even more than usually grim, wibh a wild luxuriance of beard, whi?kers, and moustaches, that very little more than the extreme points of their noses could be seen with anything like positive distinctness. They were both tall, ebrapping men, and were dressed in the extreme of digger costume.

Receiving them hospitably, after they had done justice to a good supper, I supplied them with blankets, and stretching themselves upon the floor tho companions were very soon in a deep sleep.

Nob many minutes after my guests had fallen into repose, the covering. to the aperature of the tent was thrust aside, and Ted Ainsley hurried in.

Pouring out with unsteady hand a tumbler of spirits, and quaffing it off at a draught, without a word he wrapped himself up in his blanket, and apparently nb once was steeped in a half-drunken slumber.

How long I myself slept that night 1 know not, bub I was aroused in a most startling manner by the report of firearms and sounds of a fierce scuffle. It was still dark, and, bounding up I nearly fell over a human form, at the same time I d'mly cau»ht sight ot two figures rushing madly out of the tent.

With trembling lingers t presently secured alight, uttering a wild cry of horror as there at my feet 1 beheld rigid and ghastly in death, one of my late guests with a knife buried to the haft in his chest, from which the blood rolled out copiously.

A shuddering horror seized upon me as 1 recognised the implement of death. The knife that had slain the unfortunate stranger was the weapon I had always seen in Ihe gaudy scarf of my late partner.

Upon scrutinising more closely the body of the murdered man, l, to my surprise, discovered thab it was no digger, bub an officer of police, his uniform showing beneath his coarse red shirt.

At the first approach of dawn I made oft for the Turon Diggings, and here the dread business was made terribly clear to me.

Captured the night before, Ted Ainsley had been led into the camp by the disguised comrade of the murdered man, expiring from a dreadful wound, however, as the dread cry of " Lynch ! lynch ! " rang in bhe air. From the surviving officer I learned that a twelvemonth before the unfortunate Ainsley, surprising an officer of patrol with his young and guilty wife, had shot them both ; and, not satisfied with this act of vengeance, had made several attempts (and two successful) upon the lives of others of the police. Discovering that he was shadowed, Ainsley had cunningly outwitted the two spies upon his track, and watching them into our tent that night of the storm, had orily awaited my dropping off into a deep sloop befoie attacking them.

Horrified at the dread catastrophe 1 at once packed all up, and left Oakley Creek the next day, making my departure a week afterwards from theTuron Diggings to Sydney ; upon gaining which, as I could hear of no relatives, I handed over the gold left behind him by my wretched partner to be distributed amongst different charities.