TOM GERRARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12829, 31 March 1905, Page 3

TOM GERRARD.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

BY LOUIS BECKE, Author of " Reef and Palm." " By Rock and Pool," " Yorke, the Adventurer," " Chinkie's Flat," Etc., Etc. SYNOPSIS. CHAPTERS I. and 11. describe the return of Tom Gerrard to Marumbah Downs after many years' absence in Northern Queensland. His father (Captain Gerrard) had been a, squatter, and had married twice, having one daughter (Elizabeth) by his first wife and a twin son (Tom) and daughter (Mary) by his second wife. Elizabeth, who married Edward Westonley. owner of Marumbah Station, had been educated in England, and developed some society ftotions out of place on an Australian station, and this, together with a lack of affection, to some extent estranged her from the rest of the family. Mary married a Dr. Rayner. and had one child. Then a tragedy occurred in the family. Captain Gerrard and his wife and Dr. Rayner were drowned in the wreck of the steamer Cassowary, from which only one seaman and a child had been saved. Mrs. Rayner never survived the shock. Somewhat unwillingly but at the request of her husband Mrs. Westonley took charge of her sister's child. Soon after the disaster Mrs. Westonley, smarting under a sarcastic reference to her in her father's will, made a reference to Tom Gerrard's mother which mortally offended Tom, and he left her in anger. Years passed, and his anger cooled he returns to Marumbah to find that his dead sister's child, now a girl about ten years of age, had not been too well treated by Mrs. Westonley. She had. however, found a soft heart in Mr. Weston! .■, and a boy Jim, whom Mr. Westonley had adopted, had proved a genial companion for her. CHAPTERS 111., IV.. and V.—Tom Gerrard spends some time on Marumbah Station. He anil his sister come to understand each other and finding that she is moping for want of society, he persuades Westonley to take her on a holiday to Sydney. The boy Jim proves to be the fluid who was saved from tho wreck of the Cassowary. Tom, who is a bachelor, takes a fancy to the lad. and with the consent of Mr. and Mrs. Westonley, starts oft' with him for his station in Northern Queensland. CHAPTERS VI. and VII— On his way north Tom calls at Bowcn, in Queensland, where he meets Lacov, editor of the Port Denison Clarion, and Randolph Aulain, chief of the black police, friends of Westonleys. He is contemplating buying a cattle run in that district.

CHAPTER Vll.—(Continued.)

They remained talking for half an hour, during which time Gerrard told Aulain the reason of his slopping at Bowen.

"By Jove! old fellow, I shall be glad if you buy Kaburie, for you'll have to put in some of your time there, of course, and I've applied for a removal from the Cape York district to Port Denison. I'm sick to death of nigger-chasing in the Far North, and want to bo somewhere where I can feel I'm not entirely an outcast from the world, with no one to talk to but my own black troopers, any one of whom would put a bullet into my back if I turned rusty."

" Oh, well, I think it is pretty certain I shall buy Mrs. Tallis' station. I like Ocho Eios very well, but now since this last trip of mine south I felt ns you do—l want to be little less out of the world. I might, perhaps, sell Ocho Rios, and fix myself at Kaburie. If I don't, I'll put a manager there, and keep the place going, for I have a great belief that there will be some rich gold discoveries in the Batavia River country before long, and thousands of meathungry diggers mean pots of money to a cattleman."

"Fin certain, too., that there will be some big fields opened up that way soon," said Aulain. "In that valise of mine, there under the lied, are three or four ounces of alluvial gold which my troopers and I washed out in one day at the head of a little creek running into the Batavia." " Place with a bunking big boulder standing up in the middle of a deep pool with a lot of fish in it?" queried Gerrard.

" Yes; but how the devil did you come across it? I've never seen a beast of yours within fifty miles of —the country is too rough even for cattle—and I thought that my troopers and I were the first that ever saw the place.," "When were you there?" " About a mouth after you left Ocho Rios for Sydney." " Well, my dear little laddie, I was there a year ago. camped there for a couple of days, and did a little washing out—with two quart hillv- cans for a dish."

"Get anything?" " Seven ounces, sonny ; mostly in coarse gold too." "' Aulain whistled. "And you never went buck there?"

" No! I never had the time for one thing; another reason was that it would not have paid me to have left ray station for the sake of a few hundred Hinds' worth of gold, and thirdly, although I know a little about alluvial mining, I don't know anything about reefing; wouldn't know a gold-bearing reef from a rank duffer, unless I saw the gold sticking up in it in lumps. And there, are .several parlies of prospectors up in Cape York Peninsula now, and some of them are sure to make their way to the Batavia River country in the course of time. If any come to my place I'll give them all the help I can. I'd like to see a really good goldtield discovered near Ocho Rios; it would mean thousands of pounds to me." "■Of course it would. But, I say, Gerry, old fellow," and here Aulain paused. "Will you do me a favour? Oh, no, hang it !" and lie stopped suddenly. " What is it, Aulian?"

The inspector's sallow face flushed. "I don't think it is fair to ask you, as it will perhaps affect your interests." "Don't be an ass! What is it?"

Lacey rose, thinking that Aulain hesitated to speak on account of him being present, but Aulain begged him to stay, and then s;.id :

"Well, I'll tell you what it is, Gerry. Will you keep it dark about that littlo creek up there—for six months anyway?" " Certainly, I will." "You see, Gerry, it's this way. I'm sick to death of lie in the black police, and as soon as I get over this fever. I think I'll resign and try my luck at mining. I can't live on my salary, and .1 have no backstairs influence in Brisbane to get me anything better in the Government service; and only this morning 1 was thinking of that very place where 're both got gold. There are reefs all about the head of that creek, and every one of them carries payable gold. And so if you will keep it dark 1 stand a good chance of not only getting the usual Government reward of five thousand pounds for the discovery of a payable goldlieid: but can peg out my reward claim beforehand." " My dear old chap, I shall be only too pleased. And, look here, why not send in your resignation light away, and then after I've finished this business at Kaburie, come away with me. There will be a steamer here in a fortnight, which will take us to Somerset, and from there we can get to Ocho llios in one of the pearling luggers. We shall find plenty of them lying up at Somerset at this time of the year, and .it will be a better and easier way of getting to my place than having to buy horses at Somerset, and travelling a hundred and fifty miles across the peninsula." Aulain shook his head. "It is a very tempting offer, Gerry; but I can't accept it. I am obliged to wait six months after sending in my resignation before I can leave the service; it is a hard and fast rule." " I'm awfully sorry, Aulain," said Gerrard ; " however, when you do come, you will,, of course, make mv place your headquarters. Don't buy any horses when you get to Somerset; I can lend you all you want. Mow I must be off with Lacey. I'll see you when I get back from Kaburie in a week or ten days and we'll have long yarns together, as I shall remain in Bowen until the next steamer for Somerset calls. "Right! Oh, by-the-way, Gerry, on your way to Kaburie you will have to pass a little mining camp called Fraser's Gully. Will you leave a letter there for me? I'll have it written by the time you come back from Woodfall's." As soon as Lacey and Gerrard were out in the street the latter turned to his companion with a smile. "So you are to play Mercury for Aulain?" "Am I? Who is she?" " A Miss Kate Eraser. Her father is a friend of mine, and Aulain and she are engagedat least I think so. But I have heard that there is a parson in the running, and 1 don't wonder for she is a splendid girl."

! A walk of a mile brought them to Woodfall's house. Both Woodfall and his wife were at home, and Lacey at once entered into the subject;of Jim. " Certainly, Mr. Gerrard, we'll take the boy and be glad to have him. But we won't take payment," said Mrs. Woodfall, a big-shouldered woman with a pleasant, 'sunburnt face. " Joe, get the buggy, and I'll drive down to the steamer at once with Mr. Gerrard." Two hours later, Jim was installed at the Woodfall's, and Gerrard was on his way to Kaburie. CHAPTER VIII. Along one of the many densely-wooded spurs of Cape Conway, which rears its bold front from out the pale green waters of Repulse Bay, a young girl was riding a wild-eyed, long-mancd and sweating bay filly, which, newly broken in, had been making the most frantic efforts to unseat its rider, whose dark brown hair, escaping from under the light Panama hat she wore, had fallen down upon her shoulders. At the summit of tho spur there was an open grassy space, free of timber, and commanding a view seaward, and along the coast north and south for many miles. Hero the girl drew rein and dismounted, deftly whipped her hair into a loose coil, quickly took off the saddle, placed it seat down upon the ground so that it might dry under the hot sun, and then slipping the bit from the horse's mouth, let the animal graze with loose bridle. "There, my fractious young lady," she said, "you can feed, and as you feed, I hope you will consider the error of your ways, and give up any more attempts to buck me oil. You ought to know me better by this time." From a leather saddlebag she took out some slices of beef and damper, and leisurely began to eat, her dark-brown eyes dreamily scanning the blue sea before her, and then resting on the green, verdured hills of Whitsunday Island, away to the northward, with little beaches of shining white nestling at the heads «f many a quiet bay, whose shores were untrodden, except by the feet of the black and savage aborigines inhabiting the mainland. Far out to sea, and between Whitsunday Passage and the Great Barrier Reef, the white sails of five pearling luggers were glinting in the sun as they sailed northward to the scene of their labours in the wild waters of New Guinea and Torres Straits.

" I wonder how many of those on 'board will return," mused) the girl aloud as she watched the little vesselswhich looked no larger than swans. " How many will como back rich, how many disappointed and yet not undaunted, ever hopeful, ever daring, ever eager to sail once more, and face danger and death; death day by day and night by night for two long, weary years. And yetoh, I wish I were a man. I believe I am a man— man in heart and will and strength of mind and body, and yet a woman. And, for father's sake, I ought to have been born a boy." She sighed, and, leaning her chin on her hand, gazed longingly at the tiny fleet and wished she— man—were at the tiller of one of the luggers, listening to the tales of the bronzefaced, bearded pearl-shellers; tales of mighty pearls worth thousands of pounds, of fierce encounters with the treacherous savages of New Guinea, and the mainland of Australia; of fearful hurricanes and dreadful danger ashore and afloat, and then peaceful, happy days of rest in the far-away isles of Eastern. Polynesia; before the newly-discovered beds of pearlshell in Torres Strait* lured them away from the calm seas and palm-clad atolls of the Paumotus and Manahiki and Tonga re wa. The grazing filly suddenly raised her shapely head and pricked) up her ears, and listened; and, in an instant, the girl sprang up and took a Smith and Wesson revolver from her saddle. The 'blacks about Repulse Bay and Whitsunday Passage had an evil reputation, and many an unfortunate stockman or digger had been slaughtered by them when camped in apparent security, even within a few score miles of such towns as Bowen and Mackay. With the filly she listened, and then, smiled as she hoard the sound of a horse's feet coming along the track through the scrub. In a few moments horse and rider appeared, and the girl slipped her weapon into the pocket of her short riding skirt. " How do you do, Miss Frascr?" cried the newcomer as ho jumped, off his horse and hurried up to her with outstretched hand and an eager light in his eyes " this is a pleasant surprise. I was on my way to see your father, and, when riding' along the beach below, caught sight of your filly feeding on the bluff. I knew that it could bo no one but you who would camp here, so, instead of going on to Fra.ser's Gully. I turned off, and here I am."

"And I am very glad to see you, Mr. Forde," said the girl, as she shook hands; " now. will you have something to eat? I Lave plenty of Frascr's Gully fare here— beef and damper—and I've tea and sugar in my saddle-bag." "So have I. And now, whilst I light a fire, tell what brought you here to-day? To look at the seathe 'ever treacherous sea' suppose, and ' wish you were a man,'" and the speaker smiled into the brown eyes. " You are very rude, Mr. Forde, the rudest clergyman I ever met. Certainly. I've only met three in my life, but "then" here the brown eyes lit up laughingly— "(hey were different from you." " I have no doubt about it," and the man laughed like a boy, as, taking up some dead sticks, he broke them across his knee. "But you haven't told me how it is I am so fortunate sis to find you herefifteen, miles off the track to Fraser's Gully." "Oh ! the old story. Some of our horses arc missing, and I have been trying to pick up their tracks." (To be continued daily.)