THE FALL OF THE SAINTS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12508, 22 May 1906, Page 4

THE FALL OF THE SAINTS.

By Johs Patrick and Herbert Exxest Boo« {From " Steele Rucld's Magazine") The river boat Worribee was .stirring up the mud as she swung slowly into raja the landing stage. Tho sun was just HI dipping below Red Rock Range in tlio tim west, and Pine Creek, tho mining town SI ' that had isprnng up mushroom-like al- : most in a night, lay well within the shadow of tlio hill. I a As the boat was made fast. Mat j Arlow strolled down the wharf and I hailed Jeff Horsley, the skipper. •Got anything "on to-night?" he in- | ! quired, just as Jackson, the engineer. [ i came up from below. 1 "Don't know of anything,"' Horsley 1 j told him. I j 'That's 200,17' Allow remarked, "for | ! I want you to run up to Mullewa with S throe thou, worth of gold." I "Rather a long trip by water." JackI <on dIiMM-vnl; "Couldn't you take it by y road? It's much shorter.'' | "Look lien-,'' Arlow >aid. 'I've workI ed lons enough for Ike Yensen. I Didn't 1 pend four hundred ounces up * i by Tim Shcenan's escort last summer and lost tho lot? Didn't Yeusen swoop down nn the blarsted Government escort 1 early in the spring and help himself to the whole denied outfit, including my 1 throe hundred ounces:- Now he's on | the warpath again. Held up tho Red ijj River mail only yesterday, and pot a } registered despatch crammed with ojial. ICu",\s I've kept Yon.sen long enough. I've got to get my gold up to the bank at Mullewa. and it's going by a m new route. You fellows '11 have to j t take i<. Name your price." j i But neither Jack-on nor Horsley vas j j fluxion* nt- take the respomdbili; v. j Erom Red I'iver to One Tree. Bend I | they were known as "The Saints." hccause el their respect for the '"*•. nth Coiiimandnieii!. They were honest men, and as such enjoyed a mighty lonesome position. There was no; a man in the whole country who would not have | trusted ei'her of them with nil he posse-s;d. To have lieen- so r«rdi with j anyone e!-e would have been a certain p.;lh i-t; [■(,- ■-. i ly. In a place Mich as ; Pine Cie •!--.! town given over to ?x- ] ! te--ire gre ■<! ami the darkest treachery, j | v h- ii- every man could be written do.vn ! a )M.",i;e without the slightest fe,:ir of J I i doing him an injustice, theirs was an enviable reputation. Pine Creek was a I ! hitii.-an whirlpool, where every man , carried the law in his hip pocket to | use iis occasion demanded; and for ; nearly two years thow two men had : been in cir.se as.-ociation with it, and I had remained ntict ri-'a mi Mated. B'u j they were not enthusiastic over flic | gold-carrying idea. Once in the past j they had fallen foul of Ike Yensen, and neither of them was anxious to repeat the experience. Within Pino Creek men fought and delvid and murdered for gold: while outside, well beyond the struggle am ilie strife, Ike Vensen hovered like ,-i vulture. Tlio town-was known to bi full of iiis agents. He was kept constantly informed of the probable whereabouts of every ounce ot gold that waon the move. Ke swooped down relentlessly upon armed escorts, .and held ur, ; the AlulU'wa mail with unfailing reguI larity. He was tho one and only man feared in Pints Creek. Horsley and Jackson were hesitating, as if undecided what to do. ''Tell you what," Mat said, as he lighted his pipe, "I'll give you twenty notes to make tho trip." "You come with uts." Horsley stipulated, and Arlow laughed. "I hoisted out this scheme to keep my gold away from Yenscn," he explained, "and if I went with you somo of his spies would bo certain to guess that we had some game on, and he'd bo down on iifi before we'd gone ten mile. You'll have to take it on your own, while I ride up to Mullewa to bo ready to take the stuff to tho bank in the morning. Ia it a go?" Horsley and Jackson reckoned it was, for it would bo the best paying trip they had ever taken on. r-jj "Take your tub up to Elbow Bend," fijj Mat instructed before he left. " Tho |j water's deep enough thero to let you run up alongside the bank. I'll* bo there with the gold in three boxes." a Thus it came about that'at ten o'clock i=j the Werribeo took three weighty boxes "■* ' aboard and started for Mullewa. Arlow ~J 1 stood for some time watching the tiny C I boat as she panted out into the night; jd then ho went up to Hogan's shanty. ] "Ike Yemen's a pretty slick cusr lomer," he remarked to the crowd in j the bar, when he had gulped two drinks, L .."but I guess I've got him wet this H trip. Just "sent three boxes of gold up °J to Mullewa by Horsley. Yeusen '11 f* cuss himself blind when ho finds out Jj what he's missed." U Arlow had left the shanty and was F" making his way across to his "lint, when, Jj suddenly, the ryhthmical neat of horse's L hoofs reached his oars. He crouched J down behind a large lump of rock and ■j waited. the sound grew P more and more distinct, until at last J tho horseman came into view. It was L Los. Malcolm, a man everywhere credit--4 ed with being Yensen's agent. He was 3 heading for lensen's country as if his f life depended upon his horse's speed. 3 Mat A How's thoughts turned to the B three boxes on board the boat, and lie smiled quietly to himself. \ Tho "Werribee was churning slowly up i tho sluggish Gordon at tho rate of six | miles an hour. It was a sweltering, i oppressive night, and just about one ij o'clock Horsley was debating with him--8 self as to whether he would leave his mate in charge and attempt to snatch i a few hours' sleep. Jackson chanced | to be belcw, endeavouring to coax ani other couple of kicks per minute out i of the decrepit engines. The grinding i and pounding were deafening, co Horsley 4 had grave doubts as to the probability ■'$ of getting sleep. Soon he fell to think- | ing of tlie freight; and then a strange, ;4 new feeling crept over him. •1 "I wonder if that gold's safe thero?" ',} he muttered, half aloud. •'Gnera it's safe enough." a gruff voice made answer from tho stern. fi Here ley gripped the wheel hard to Ifc steady himself. Then lie slowly turned * his head to find himself looking into 3 tho glistening barrels of two rcvolvens. lv The man who held them was sitting f calmly on the stern rail, and Horsley \ j noticed that there was a peculiar stoop ' i about his shoulders. The moon was at | the stranger's back, and consequently v liis bearded face was not visible. * "I've got the drop on you." ho went i | on, "and I want A How's "gold. When ' , Ike Yeusen wants a thing he usually ) I gets it. My ball's lowing alongside, x | so, while your mate's below', just lower ) I those three boxes over the side. Make ). a move.'"' . The muzzles of the revolvers began % to describe liny circles, and Horsley \ \ came to realise' that it would not be " j safe to disregard such a command. Ho lashed the wheel, and pulling the tar- . | paulin off the three boxes, began to ? fasten a rope to one of them. He had \ the box ready to lower, when tho en- ' gineer happened to come slowly and \ noisele-sly up the ladder from thcVtoke- . hole. What he saw caused him to duck ) down into the darkness again in an J instant, but he had had ample time ' to take in the full significance of that \ motionless figure bitting on the s'ern w , raih He had not forgotten Ike Yensen. V i From the engine-room Jackson got ►" the rifle he always kept close at hand. Then, having noiselessly reclimbed the p ladder, he took hurried aim at Ycnsen's \ chest and pressed the trigger. A cry of * anguish followed the report, as the man J threw up his arms and fell back into . tho river. Jackson sprang out and cut ) away tho boat. It swung round in the \ current, and the man struggling in the ' water astern grabbed the gunwale and, I by a desperate effort, pulled himself in. ( "Did you hit him?" Horsley queried, ( after a moment of silence. | 'Don't iasult mc!" Jackson snapped, as he jerked the empty cartridge out of the ride. Horsley, who was holding en to the rail for Mipport, was trembling violently. 7Guess you'd better turn in for a while." the engineer advi-od, as he ' kicked the tarpaulin over the ijokl and turned toward tho wheel. '

The skipper stood for some time looking out to where the boat showed like a mere speck in the distance; then, without a word, ho walked into the tiny cabin. As Jackson leaned against the wheel, with the river stretching away ahead like a ribbon oi glistening silver, thoughts of tho gold would keep coming into his head. Ssoon lie found it impossible to think of anything ei.se. "Three thousand pounds!' he liegan to mutter to himself, •"three thousand pounds!" Then he conjured up visions of what that sum would buy, and, as a consequence, was soon on tho way toward breaking the Tenth Commandment. Eventually lie lashed the wheel, and went across to look at the boxes. He handled them almost lovingly, and carefully titled their weight. "You beauties!" he taid, half aloud, the light of insatiable greed leaping suddenly into his eyes. The lust tor gold had him in its grip. "Three thousand," he was muttering, when a. pair ot strong arms pulled him away from the boxes. "What'rc you doing?" a hoarse voice demanded. Jackson faced Horsley. but tho skip- ! por's eyi« It'll before (lie other's gu/.e. Within the cabin Horsley had been trying to reckon out the valuo of the gold; and now the same thoughts flamed simultaneously in both minds. Tlie s,l;ip]xT voiced it hist. "Who pays us lor being honest?" ho ] asked. ' . | "Give it up,"' the other said. ! "That's what 1 think we oughtor do j with tho honesty proposition. Honesty | may l>o tho liest policy when you've j got. nothing oUo on tap; but in Ihuse ! ptirts it seems to be just unadulterated j lunacy. What's your opinion?" I "What about thiowing the boxes over- : board nmi picking them up en the j down trip?" Jackson suggested, getting i right to the point at the first attempt. ;' "What about the honesty policy?' 'l-n't our pre out state of chronic poverty a whole argument and a hail j Without further discussion, they turned toward the gold, and Pine Creels had claimed them for its own. With a length ot rope they tied the three boxes teen rely together, and attached to an empty oil drum to serve as a buoy. Then they pushed the whole thing over tho 6ide, and stood thero together i watching the drum that marked tho spot bobbing up and down in the Werribeo's wake. When it was no longer visible, Horsley turned to his mate: "The devil's claimed us, Jacky," was all he said. .Arlow was waiting for them when they swung into the Mullewa landing .stage. "rfay!" he called, 'Tiet a fiver you're seen Ike Yon/sen." Horsley turned to tho engineer when he came up from below. •'Think wo should give Arlow back his twenty," he suggested, in a subdued whisper. '"Why should, we?" Jackson inquired fiercely, the greed, awakened for tho first time hours before, showing in his eyes. There hadn't been anything in the way of half measures connected with his fall from grace. "Let's have the tale of woe," Arlow yelled from tho end of the wharf; "I can tell by your prayerful looks that you've been fingering Yonsen's visiting card." '7 "Guess youVo just about struck it," Jackson assured" him. "Thought it was you he'd been at," Mat. rejoined, "for the mounted police got him early this morning on the road From Pino Creek. . . He died an hour ago." "Jacky shot him as he swung away in his boat with the gold," Horsley explained. Arlow Inughcd and loud. "Don't let your tails down over the business," he said. "Come ashore and have a drink." "Say," Arlow- observed, when they had named their poisons up at the shanty, "I'm going to throw my chest ' in this place for a week. I'm dead proud. Simply crawled all over Yen- < sen with my strategy. I let out to I tho crowd at Hogtm's about the boxes i you were taking up, knowing someone ( was certain to let Yensen know. Les. ( ■Malcolm did the trick. Then, while ( Yensen was busy with you, I brought . the gold up by road. His mates must have sloped with the three boxes, leaving him to die. Reckon they ' thought they'd tapped something worth ' having. Anyhow, they won't got rich ' out of that wash up." ( Mat. gulped the liquor in his glass. i 'Thero isn't such a frantic sale for ( lead in this derned country," he said. ( 4 i