DAYS OF DANGER.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1374, 27 August 1895, Page 2

DAYS OF DANGER.

• [GOPYEIGUT.] ' FAKKATIY-ES '-"■- ' ;; OF-THE BUSHRANGING TIES IN VAN DIEMAN'S LAND. B F CAPT AIM LA CIE. , PERIOD, 1824101830. THE MACQUARIE GANG. (IN FIFTEEN PARTS.)

_ ■; ♦., ■ PART VI.

Five minutes after the lieutenant and his friends had taken their departure Brady and his men arrived and found the house deserted. The outlaw leader did not suspect that information had been given to the agent. It was more than probable, he surmised, that the two men had gone to visit one of the distant neighbors and would return during the night. ''• ; .k When the constable's wife saw the bushrangers overpower the soldiers, she naturally magnified the attacking party very much. In her excited imagination there were, at least. twenty men, and both the men to whom she spoke thought that she must have under rather than over estimated the number. It seemed out of all reason to suppose a mere handful of men would venture to attack a settlement like Sorell in which a strong party of military were stationed. Lieutenant Lacey thought that there could-not,be less than thirty in the, gang, and for that reason it would be madness'to attempt to dislodge from the gaol with the available force that could be gathered in the district. ; He was in a position where prompt action was necessary, and, after consultation with the agent and the settler to whose house they had gone, it was decided to send a messenger to Hobart Town..with the alarming intelligence. A good bushtnan could reach the town by daylight, as it was only thirteen miles distant, and the. settler, whose; .name were Roach, volunteered to go. There was horses obtainable, but Roach preferred to go on foot; and within five minutes of the resolution being formed he had departed in search for help. The remaining inmates made the best preparations they could, to resist attack, for Lacey was determined to die rather than be captured. He was eager to do something that .would wipe out the serious mistake that he had made in leaving the soldiery to their own devices whilst he amused himself at the agent's house. The old flintlock muskets were carefully looked to, 'and both men anxiously awaited .. the morning. , • ,- Meanwhile Brady had not been idle. He felt, so sure ; of the agent's return that he left two men in the store-house to capture him when he came back. He also wanted to hold the place because there were valuable stores in it which he would carry away. Going back to the gaol he saw that nothing had happened during his absence, and there was no sign of the lieutenant. The soldiers were safe in the strong and well guarded cells, and the leader decided not to do anything more until morning. During the night there was nothing to disturb the daring outlaws, but shortly after morning broke a couple of settlers walked over to the gaol to see the constable on business. They were at once secured by the bushrangers and locked in a cell, and the same fate be* fell' a third man who strolled down to see the soldiers whom he heard, had arrived from Hobart Town the night previous. : ■,. , j ' Brady and his companions were, particularly interested in the schooner wnich lay at the little jetty, and the leader decided to get the vessel in his hands and put the stores from the '(government depot in her. He had .planned out a scheme of escape from the island by water, and the opportunity was too good a one to be lost: Trie difficulty was to do everything with the small force at his command. It would not do to divide the men any more than they already were, as it might lead to their destruction. There was only four at the gaol now and two at the agent's house. 1 ! After further consideration Brady concluded that the wisest course would be to leave the gaol altogether and go to the store-house. The soldiers could not easily be liberated without the keys, even supposing any of the settlers in the district wished to set them free. It was not likely that anyone who knew what had happened would make such a foolhardy attempt, for they might lose their lives in doing so. Accordingly the leader and his three companions left the gaol carrying with them the muskets of the military party, and -took up their quarters in the store-house. This was a quarter of a mile from the gaol, but nothing intervened between the two and anyone going to the latter could be seen. After reaching the agent's quarters Brady sent Sinclair and two men to the schooner, which was not more than two hundred yards away. There seemed to be no one on the boat, and that proved to be the case. It appeared that the small schooner, which was named the. Derwent, was owned by a Hobart Town tradesman named Collings, who had a brother settled about five miles from Sorell. He had gone to visit the brother the day previous, leaving an old sailor in charge ; but old Pick, as he was called, had taken advantage of his master's absence to go on shore to a friend's place, where he remained for the night. When Brady found that he had possession of the boat without any trouble, he started the men to take some of the stores to her. They had scarcely got the first load down when the man on watch called the outlaw's attention to a

body of men who were cautiously approaching from the eastward. It required but a moment to see that they were foes, although none of them wore the hated red coat. It was doubtless a muster of the settlers in the neighborhood who had been apprised of what had happened, and were about to make an attack on the outlaws. It was evident from the caution displayed in the advance on the gaol that the new-comers believed the bushrangers were entrenched in it. They dismounted from their horses half a mile off the prison and advanced slowly under whatever shelter they could obtain. There were not more than ten or eleven men in the party so far as could be seen, and none of tljem wore uniform. They had not been dismounted long when Brady saw that they were joined by two men, one of whom he recognised as the lieutenant, and it was then palpable that by some means he and the agent had been apprised of the outlaws presence and thus evaded capture. The recollection of the constable's wife then occurred to the leader, and he rightly concluded that she must have seen the outlaws unobserved and escaped to give the alarm. If the stores had been removed to the schooner it is quite certain that the bushrangers would not have shown, fight, but Brady was determined not to leave without some of the booty which was in his grasp. For that purpose he told off three of the men, and these at once began to remove the most useful and valuable that could be got to the vessel. j After the two then were seen to join the new-comers, the movements ot the latter were much more decisive. They no longer dodged about from tree to tree and shelter to shelter, but marched boldly up to the gaol. It was plain that the lieutenant had seen the vacation of the gaol by the outlaws and told the strangers of the fact. ; It might here be said that the party which had arrived was no other than Lieutenant Gunn and his companions. After taking the five bushrangers which they had captured in Mason's hut to Hobart Town, they at orce gave information to the authorities about the remainder of the gang. On this news being received the party of military under Lieutenant Lacey was despatched to Sorell and fell into the hands of the outlaws, Gunn and his men, remained until next morning, and they had scarcely'got a mile from Hobart Town on the way back when they encountered Roach, the settler, who gave them the startling news that Sorell had been captured by a large gang of outlaws, or escaped convicts. ! I Gunn was too practical to believe that the attacking party: was so numerbus as represented, and determined to go back and attempt their capture as he was. That is he would not seek further aid from Hobart Town but trust to his own companions. He was told by Roach that they were located in the gaol, and hence his caution in approaching the place. ; On learning that the outlaws had retired to the depot he at once advanced on the gaol, which he arid his men entered without trouble. The question of freeing the soldiers and those of the civilians confined in the cells was the next matter to be arranged, and,it was found not to be an easy one. It was fully an hour before the ponderous door could be forced, and Brady took advantage of the delay to remove a quantity of stores to the Derwent. A considerable quantity of ammunition and twelve stand of muskets were in the store, and these were taken first, after which food and clothing followed. j When Gunn had freed the soldiers be determined to. at once attack the depot, and for this purpose ordered his men forward. It was now about eleven o'clock in the afternoon, and the day was fine enough for that time of the year. There was no mist to obscure Objects, and consequently, the attackers were placed somewhat at a disadvantage. Dotted over the intervening space were a few gum trees,' and these were availed of by Gunn and his' men to within a hundred yards of the depot. Across the space there was no cover, snd it would be'necessary for the assailants to make a rush if they wished to carry the place. During this time Brady and his confederates had not been idle. The bushrangers felt more than usual confidence through having the schooner to fall back on, and their clear design was to do as much damage as possible to the attacking party and then take refuge in the schooner. j The settlers had now been reinforced until their strength was seventeen irrespective of the soldiers who were unarmed so far as muskets were concerned. They were thus three to one, and Gunn determined to risk a rush. He was an unusually brave man and meant to take the foremost post of danger himself. Whilst he was consulting with the lieutenant and the agent as to the best course to pursue, one of the settlers, who was on the extreme east of the attacking party, brought word that the outlaws were carrying stores down to the schooner. This decided Gunn, and he gave orders for the men to advance on the depot as fast as they could. The two lieutenants were the first to leave the cover and advance towards the building, and as they did so Brady walked out of the depot and showed himself to the men. Seeing this Gunn stepped;forward and raised his musket to shut him, but as he did so a shot was fired from the depot and Gunn's right arm fell shattered to his side, whilst the musket dropped to the ground. This was an unexpected repulse, for the lieutenant was the life and soul of the attack, and the wound he had received was a very bad one. The bullet had caught the wrist and tore up the arm, breaking the bone in a shocking manner. To the shame of his followers, it must be said, that when they saw their leader thus wounded they at once turned back to the cover they had quitted and left

Lieutenant Lacey to attend to Gunn. This he did, and when he had taken him back he called on the settlers to follow him to the gaol. When this was reached he made a short address to them, pointing out that the task in hand was belonging to the province of the military and not to civilians. If the latter would give the soldiers their arms, he guaranteed that short work would be made of the desperate outoutlaws. It happened that nearly all the settlers in the fertile Sorell district were married men, and they no doubt were chary of risking their lives, and the appeal which Lacey made to them was responded to by each giving up his musket to the lieutenant. Both the latter and the soldiers were eager to do something that would redeem the' 'faux pas of the previous night, and every man of them would cheerfully have engaged the bushrangers no matter what the cost might be. - The soldiers were given the arms of the settlers and they moved ahead to carry the place. No time was lost in making the attack, and when they got put on the open they were received with a volley that did no harm. It took scarcely a minute to cover the distance to the depot, but when it was reached the strong front doors for a short time kept Ihem at bay. These were scon hewn down with the axes brought for the purpose, and the men rushed pell mell inside, but no enemy met them. The depot was so constructed that entrance could only be effected in the first instance from the front, and the outlaws had, in fact, left the place by the causeway at the back going down the jetty. Brady had seen when the military force made its appearance that his wisest course would be to vacate the building at once and get on board the schooner. It was quite possible that a vessel from Hobart Town might arrive at any time and cut off their retreat, , and it was like tempting providence to remain where he was. He wished to. | slay some of his foes if possible; but when the first volley did no execution he led the outlaws out the back' and down the jetty. The little vessel had already been prepared to cast off, and when he got on board this was at once done and the jet!y cleared. The bushrangers had worked with a will during the few hours they had been in the depot, and a great quantity of useful articles were transferred to the boat. They had now forty muskets on board, and as they were all loaded and plenty of ammunition at hand the bushrangers fell secure. .... . . „ ' When Lacey saw that his foes had taken to the schooner, he was somewhat nonplussed. He had expected that the outlaws would defend themselves to the last extremity in the store- . house and endeavor to make their escape the ensuing night should they bjpti able to remain there so long. It seemed " a forlorn hope to take to the ocean as a means of escape, for if they were not' wrecked by.,the treacherous sea it was more than likely one of the imperial ships would* capture them. | The agent suggested that the two open boats should be manned and the • schooner attacked from them. A screen > could be raised to protect the occupants of the little craft, and by making - for the vessel on both sides and by i keeping up a fire from the land, there should be little difficulty in effecting a capture. '"' ' This advice was sensible and Lacey ; at once acted on it. Six of the settlers were brought into service, and while four of them were stationed near the end of the jetty where they could shoot at any of the outlaws who showed themselves, the other two accompanied Lacey to the boats. These were drawn upon the beach about a quarter of a mile from the schooner, but when the men reached them they saw to their chagrin that they had been anticipated. Both the boats had been stove in and. were quite useless. ■ The wily Brady had well considered' the matter, and it occurred to him that an attempt might be made to follow him in these boats. He soon prevented such a possibility by rendering them useless. Foiled in this plan Lacey returned to the store-house and found that the schooner was slowly but surely getting away south. The men at the end of the jetty had kept up a steady fusillade at the vessel, but as those on board only showed themselves for a moment at a time no harm was done them. Seeing that if something was not soon done the boat would be outside of the range, the lieutenant hastily formed a rough shield of hides and boards sufficient to cover five men and went out on the extreme end of the jetty with it. He; was then not more than thirty yards from the schooner and could command the deck. I Seeing this, the outlaws started a very heavy fire on the portable shield and made it decidedly uncomfortable for those behind it. Some of the bullets —fired at such short range—pierced the hides and wooden-boards ; but the force of the missies was expended, and beyond painful bruises no harm resulted. As soon as possible Lacey returned the fire, but the outlaws kept well under cover and little harm was done. After fully twenty minutes firing the only one wounded was Sinclair, and his was only a slight flesh one. ' The wind was almost at a dead calnj but the little vessel moved almost anperceptibly away, and ere long she w\>s; a full hundred yards distant from thvi end of the jetty. The afternoon was now well aduanced, and it seemed as it the daring outlaws would get clear away. There were fully thirty armed settlers now along the beach under' shelter, but they were powerless to do anything and had the mortification of, being compelled to remain idly oy while the schooner was pirated &«xay with the stolen stores. At last as theDerwent got further away off they began to walk openly along the- beach* but the danger of doing so was brought! tragically home to them. DD 31 (to be continued.) -~_, _.