THE HEAD OF GOLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE HEAD OF GOLD.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRAXOEMENT.I

BY MARK ASHTON. Author of Pilate's Wife." " She Stands Alone," "The Nana'a Talisman," • " Haggith Shy."

CHAPTER X.—(Continued.)

The brute, occupied with his prey, did not perceive his new foe, whose knife Was plunged into its heart ere it could lift the boy. Without sound or other movement, the bull fell over on its side quite dead.

Roger Burn, deluged with his victim's blood, took up the trampled, frightened Cecil, and carried him; to his mother. She did not express her thanks this time. She only looked it, and I think Roger preferred this acknowledgment to words.;

From , this time Clery treated Roger Burn in a .very different manner. but consistently, she saw that his comforts were attended to. She went into his lean-to bedroom, which had been left to the rough arrangement of Maggie Macbane, and was shocked at the disorder and neglect she found there. This was soon reformed, and daily she "superintended the desirable change. She took care that Roger had his meals warm and well-served before he went out, and.when he came in herself preparing his tea—that important beverage to the Australian settler.

■ Not one single thought for him, not a single act, but Roger Burn divined it. as by inspiration; and his : heart rejoiced, and dreams of joy, sleeping or waking, were ever now present with him. Not even the human fear that all was going on too smoothly disturbed his visions of the future, or his delusions in the present. '."■.' He told himselfßthat the power who had created snakes and bulls was a kind, as well as a wise one, i for was it not , indirectly through them that the woman he loved was drawing nearer to him?>: The mother often consented that Cecil should go with Roger on his rounds over the run, and corimitted the child to his care with a tms'j and confidence that sent the man's bloc d dancing gladly through his veins. Waen they returned she would listen to and question the boy about the adventures of their absence, and would often include Rojer in the conversation. About this time an event happened that caused great alarm to the family at the Low Ridge Creek, the name of Clery Steele's farm run. The news reached it that bushrangera were returning to the country. After Reginald Steele's murder the efforts of the police, had captured some of Sawtell's gang, and vhe rest had escaped; and the summary sentence— the death penalty was termed —pissed on the criminals had restored tempo:.ury safety to the settlers; but now it was said the,band had returned, and robbery on travellers and raids upon the settlers were frequent in the district. These tidings deeply affected Mi's. Steele. Notwithstanding her doubts, the generallyreceived opinion that - the rangers had killed her husband had its weight with her— vicinity seemed to reopen the wound of her grief, and revive the sense of her terrible loss.

One evening, when Macbane and the men were folding sheep, half a dozen mounted rangers came up to them. The men had black crape over their faces; for since the conviction of their late comrades, they had adopted this concealment, as but for the evidence of identity their counsel would have got off the accused parties. " We'll trouble you for a lamb or two for our supper, mate," said the one who rode a little in advance, addressing Macbane. "It's ill takin' breeks frae a Hielander; and we hae, as ye may see, nae lambs to gie ye, mbn," replied Macbane doggedly. "Then, hand up a couple of sheep; that ill do as;well or better, and if you will prepare the carcases, we will stand share and share, by leaving you hide and wool." "May the de'ilgie ye his ain luck, and bake ye wie the sheep in his ajn oven heated seven times hotter than his cooks is wont to heat it," muttered Macbane. The ranger's ears were quick. " Thanks for your blessing, friend," he said, ladghing. "Hard words break no bones. Now be quick, and give us our supper." Macbane sent his Scotch prudence to the winds. "You sinfu' mon," he scowled. "Is it not enough to mak' the widow and the fatherless, but ye maun take the ewe lambs frae their bosoms." '■:

"Yon talk riddleSi governor. You can scarce be a widow though judging from your age it is time you were fatherless ; but what of that?" : " It's the leddy I speak of, and her fatherless bairns, and of the husband whom ye slew, ye bloody men ; and now ye come to take the bread from their mouthSi ye thieving loons." "Whose lot is this?" said the ranger, waring his hand round, as if to indicate the; ground. "Steele's lot." replied Macbane, "who ye shot for his nugget; and now it is his wife's." " ; . . '■'■ I was. pretty well acquainted with the squatters' and their lands when we ranged in this part of the country," said the bushranger, thoughtfully, " but this was not part of Steele's run, I think," and the ranger eyed Macban© keenly. " "Nae.: We hae prospered lately, and taken this wee bit into our borrowing. ; I manage—" "I see. • Steele [ did badly, I remember, lost heart arid went to the diggings." " Waur luck, puir de'il," retorted Macbane, " for there he met wi yersels, who shot him."

"I swear that I never shot him/' replied [ the ranger, laughing " good-humouredly. " Don't lay this last feather of sin to break the back of .my already overburdened shoulders. What, may I ask, is your connection with the lady's ran, my man? '~ It seems to me that I have seen you before now, my friend." " I am manager for ami part partner with the widow," shortly replied Macbane. " Then I think the widow has reason to think herself lucky, Mr. Manager," returned the ranger. "An unarmed man who can speak out as honestly as you have done, not regarding offence to those who hold such answers as these"—touching his rifle and pistols—" can be safely trusted in other ways.'' " I shall be obliged to you," he continued, addressing Macbane, after a few moments, in which he seemed lost in thought, " to assure Mrs. Steele from me the leader of Sawtell's band, that neither I or any of my men were guilty of her husband's death. I beg youfurtber to say that we do not prey upon women, and that although we shall take free pass over her land, as elsewhere, she may depend upon it there shall be neither injury nor depredation committed upon her property." "Vera weel, sir," replied the conquered Scot more respectfully, "I will take the leddy your message, and she will ken, as I do, that ye are the true laird at heart." " We cannot go without our supper, all the same," said the captain of the rangers. "There will be mutiny in the camp if we return without it. Pick out two of your fattest sheep, if you please, Mr. Manager. My men will prepare the carcases, and you must charge me for the flesh." This business arranged and completed, the leader paid the price of the mutton, as well as a store of damper and tea, which Macbane and the men had brought to the shepherd's shanty close by. The near neighbourhood of the bushrangers obliged the shepherds to fold and watch the sheep at night, for the robbers had been shepherds in their day, and could drive off, secrete, and dispose of a flock in the most successful and mysterious way. Macbane, believing in the word of the leader, purposed to give up his surveillance, and in consequencej, willingly disposed of his store of provisions. . It happened that Roger Burn was not one of the party when this interview took place. It was an established habit now_for Cecil to accompany the pupil labourer in his work. The child, young as he was, delighted in all out-of-door and manly exercises, and was so restless, not to say troublesomej when kept at home, that the mother perforce consented to his forays with Roger. She had no fear for his bodily safety, her dread was the influence of the coarse habits and awfully profane language of the Australasian, which was especially the case during the rough and exciting period of the goldfields, when the height and depth, length and breadth of bad language attained dimensions that might have surprised the bar of a tavern in Gehenna ; and the worst of this word license was, that its profanity and grossness had not the excuse of irritation, passion, or disappointment, but was the" cold-blooded change. of ordinary talk. '"' - To Clery, reared in material wealth, social refinement, and imbued with, the reverence of religion, the descent into the Avernus of. poverty and its attendant moral degradation had been terrible. It saddened her life, and the facility -with which Cecil had acquired and practised the current tongue of Barracoo, had inspired her with a. horror which the boy's aptitude at copying the words of the labourers he came across at the Low Ridge Creek increased. "Roger Burn," she said, " I cannot expect you to entertain the same abhorrence of bad language which I, as' a woman and a lady, so strongly feel; but I entreat you, by the name of your own mother, to keep. my boy, as far as you can, from liearing swearing and bad words, and check him if he uses them." " I will both promise and perform my promise, Mrs. Steele," Roger answered : earnestly. "Master Cecil shall not be exposed to the danger you dread: for him whilst he is with.me." C , ," ' "I daresay you secretly despise my scruples as a weakness/' 'she added.; "I am aware men in general do not think much of these things amongst themselves, and I fear a mother's influence over her son is of little good as a restraint." .• " Madame," he replied, "so far from despising your opinions, I can truly say that had I possessed a mother like yourself, I should not now be lamenting a wrecked life. Her influence for good I never knew, her influence for evil has made me what I am." ; Mrs. Steele thought it better not to notice this sad avowal, but she remarked : ■' " A woman receives a terrible shock of revelation when she falls from a high to a lowlevel of fortune. I was once a very rich, woman, Mr. Burn, and vice either appeared clothed in ray presence, or was banished from it. Now it appears before and intrudes upon me in all its native unveiled hideousness." It was Roger Burn's turn now not to knowhow to answer, but he again promised to guard the boy, and he kept his promise. "Mates," he said to the men when ;he joined them, " this little lad's mother,, who is, as you know, also my employer, has made me promise not to let him curse or swear, or use unseemly words. Will you help me to keep my word by not speaking such before him?' . ■■-.'■■ To the honour of the men, they also promised they would refrain, and they too kept their word. ; ; : , -'

-'~-/'/; ' ': ' "- CHAPTER XI. Not many davs. after this scene with the bushrangers at the sheepfold little Cecil had started with Roger on a long expedition to carry some message to a distant station. The boy rode before Burn on the horse. They were to rest at a. half-way house, and would not return until the evening. They had not gone far before it was found that the child's wraps were left behind, and Maggie Macbane, the eldest daughter, a girl of sixteen, volunteered to run after; with them. , She flew through bush and over plain, fluttering the shawl and screaming, "Roger! Roger! Roger Burn I Come back. Stop hoot awa, mon, Roger Burn. Oh, RogerCome back Then her breath and speech stopped together. But the travellers had got the start and kept it. They were beyond sight and hearing. Maggie had run more than a mile, and with her last breathless scream of " Roger Bum" came full tilt amengt a party of bushrangers who were galloping across the plain, but who, at the cry of " Roger Burn," pulled up as simultaneously as though they had been a single horseman. Well they might do so. Roger Burn had been the name of the chief informer who had brought the gang to grief, and several of its members to the gallows; and the band had sworn dire vengeance upon the man, should they ever come across him, which they never yet had done. ' It was a curious coincidence, and certainly for Layburue an unfortunate one, that he should have chosen this name when, irresistibly led to seek the society of Mrs. Steele, he desired to conceal his real one. He had carefully read the trials, and perhaps the nam© may have lingered in his memory when searching it for one with' some affinity to his own, although its association had escaped him. Maggie Macbane, wild with terror, fled into the scrub. "Seize the girl!" cried the leader, and instantly one of the men dropped from his horse and plunged into the thicket. " j The Scotch lassie was certainly not a pretty one. Her shock of red hair resembled tow that had been painted scarlet, for it hung in clots and tangles; her skin was pale sandy, liberally picked out with freckles; and her figure was short and squat. But at this era in Australia's history women were scarce, and youth scarcer still; so when the bushranger had overtaken and caught the flying . damsel he took the opportunity of a little business in the courting line, before obeying the order of bringing her before his chief. • You are a beauty, that you are, he cried, planting a sounding kiss somewhere upon her face; for the struggles of the girl prevented his fixing it in the spot he preferred. " There now, be quiet, do," he remonstrated, angrily. " Did yow never have a sweetheart before, you-— cat?" , It is to be hoped if Maggie had she,did not treat him so badly as in this instance, for she had turned in the ranger's arms and scratched his cheek with such vigour that the blood trickled , down in a playful little rill upon his coat. He made no further love, but-dragged her roughly, before the captain.

A ribbon, that Maggie wore m the fashion of bonny Scotland's meiidcn snood, had teen torn, and hung dangling over her car,.. and her kirtle had been rent either by the ranger or the bushes. Her admirer had also clearly suffered from his intended: gallantry,, and the couple were received With shouts of : derision by tine men. " Yer young 'ooioaai has given, you a lock of her hair upon your cheek," wa» one of < the witticisms that greeted him, and others would have followed, but for the stern reproof of their chief. " Batten," he said,''' it is evident that you . have insulted this girl, knowing at the time the strict orders I gave that nothing on the Steele run should be molested. * Hoist him : upon his horse!" he said to the men, " with his face to the tail, and let him tide thus the rest of the day as best he can." Amidst boisterous laughter, the order was obeyed. :.'^Ft : '3;B • •■' '■'■''.. ■'.';.■■■■■'■'' " Batten," repeated the leader, when the delinquent was thus ignominiously seated, V "I hope you will not need a repetition of my reproof. The discipline of my troop must be as perfect as that of the dragoons of our Queen. Take him to the rear," ha added to the men, " and keep him out of my, sight." ■■.'-':■'■ ..'•'-: •'.-''>:y ; v',-^:' ■-' ■•"^"v "Now, my lass," said the captain, ad" I dressing Maggie, who was hemmed: in by a ■; i circle of horsemen, " I mast beg youir pardon ■ in the name of the rascal who hasilteen punished for your sake. I hope you will accept this," bending down and proffering a sovereign, to replace your j pretty snood and petticoat; and as one good turn;• deserves another, I will ask you to repeat the name that you were crying out when you cam* . 'into our midst." [ "i was ca'in'to Roger Burn," she replied. ,; "He went wi'out the plaidie for the little :. laird.". * " "And who may.Roger Burn be, my girl?" r r "He is aye learning sheepherding at Low 4 Ridge Creek, sir. I dkna ken his forebears." . ""is he living there?" "Ou aye. He is in miclde favour wi' the leddy." - .' , '.; *' In favour with the lady! S How is that?'* • He takes to the bairns, and that glamours her." "Well, my lass, I am much obliged for;'■"..; your information and now run home as fast as you ran away from us, and give my respects to your lady. Tell her the captain of the bushrangers will call upon; her in an hour's time, but will do her no harm." ■■■.. Maggie was off like an arrow from a bow. Then the chief and his men held a consulta- .;. tion together, after which they slowly rode in the direction of Low Ridge Creek house. '■; (To be continued ore Saturday next.)