A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13594, 13 November 1907, Page 10

A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

BY A. G. HALES. Author of "The Watcher on the Tower," " Driscoll. King of Scouts." " McGlusky," " Jair the Apostate." etc., etc. COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER V.—(Continued.) It was full moon when they saw the. camel train, heavily laden with tea and flour, sugar, salt, and tobacco, come winding across the downs. . At a signal from father the gang galloped from the cover of a patch of wattletrees, where they had , been hiding, and, riding to four different parts of the long camel train, commanded the Afghans to " bail up." Mahomet answered by firing bis revolver fair at Brayn's head, but his camel lurched at the critical moment, and the lad got a flesh wound in the face, which left an ugly scar. In a moment revolvers were cracking and spitting spitefully all along the line, for the Afghans were very plucky. Father's left arm was soon dangling from his side, broken by a bullet just above the elbow; but he only smiled grimly and kept on shooting. : Basil McAllister was in his element amid such a wild scene; he shouted and sang as ho fought; and at last the Afghans called for a parley, and after some wrangling.they, surrendered, and -gang took the" money that Mahomet had hidden between the pads of his camel saddle. When he handed it to Bryan lie spat and cursed,'and called the gang a set of infidel dogs. ' He was so savage that his hair bristled like the hair on a dog's back, and he .shjok his fist in the faces of the outlaws and swore that he would have vengeance "for the loss of his money. '~■■ "All right, old whiskers," cried Basil cheerily. " You can start in and get your vengeance as soon as you please. It's part of the game, yon know;" and he laughed as he caught a camel by its noseline and made the beast kneel down.

The gang then looted the stores on the. various camels, taking whatever they wanted—boots, shirts, tobacco, and other necessary articles. Each one took just what pleased his fancy, and carried his own toad packed on his saddle; and all the time Mahomet stood near, calling them names that he thought would fit them, and mixing this up with horrible cursing. ... :.,.,, . . No one took any notice of him, however, and at last the '*gang rode away. A splitter was found not far off in the bush, who volunteered to go and bring a doctor out of Midarmee township to patch up the wounded., When this was done, Dave rode at night to the home of Perkins the contractor, and sitting looselv in the saddle he knocked at the door with the butt of his pistol. Perkins came instantly, and Dave .tossed' him a'bag full of gold. "Who's this from?" demanded Perkins: "and what is it for?" " Never mind who it is from, Mr. Perkins," cried Dave cheerily; "you make good use of it," and touching his horse with the spur, he disappeared into the night. Of course, this soon became known. At any rate everyone knew that Perkins was penniless just" before the camel team was stuck up, and folks, soon noticed that he had plenty of ready cash to carry on business with immediately afterwards. Whilst father's arm was mending, Dave acted as captain of the gang and during that time he made .many f nerids by helping needy people with money. There was one poor family named Brown to whom' he was especially kind a!, that period'. They had lost nearly all that' they possessed in the world through a bush lire, which killed off their stock, and destroyed their fences, outhouses, stables, and" all else that would burn, and they were suffering abject want..' Dave and his comrades called at .the Browns' house. one night, and.opening the front door tossed a big roll of notes into the room and rodo away; and that night they galloped their horses forty-five miles, and" at nine o'clock next morning they stuck up a branch of the Bank of Victoria, and got safely away- with twelve hundred pounds.. i Two days after the sticking up of the bank the'whole country 'was horrified to hear of a terrible murder committed justoutside Betaloo. The wife of a poor selector, who was little more than a girl, was found done to death. j.,10 police at once blamed the Killowen gang, though they had not an atom of evideuce to connect them with the crime. Placards containing an offer of two hun-dred-pounds for each of the outlaws,,dead or alive, were stuck up nil over the place, and a keen hunt was organised ; but. a great many folk, both' men and women, refused to credit the Killowens,with the crime. Police'traps were set for them-in all directions, but warnings came to them from' all kinds and conditions of people; for there were many respectable, honest folk) who considered* that the Killowens had been, driven to a lawless life by Vernon. Dave made up his mind to try and find' out who had killed the selector's wife, and soon got hold of evidence which .convinced him that the crime had been committed by an Italian who was out on " ticket." This fellow was a smith by trade, and had; a little shop with a blacksmith's forge not far from tho scene of the crime. So Dave disguised himself, and leaving his. horse with Bryan, he tramped, with ai swag on his back," to the smith's forge and asked for work. He had always been handy at' shoeing horses, and that kind of work." Tho smith, who was a big, powerful, bony man, with a vicious face, eyed the strapping young fellow keenly, and asked him many questions ; but at last he engaged him, and Dave stripped off his coat and went about his Work. He had to act as " striker" for the smith, and do. all the rougher work; and he found his employer a hard taskmaster, and a foul-mouthed brute to deal with. Yet Dave did what came his way to do cheerfully enough, for. he was naturally industrious, and a dayV work never came amiss to him.

One day when he was busy at the forge, half a dozen' police-troopers clattered up, and demanded of''the smith that he should lay everything else aside on the instant and examine their horses', hoofs.

They made no secret of their mission. They were out in search of tho Killowens, and were keen to get the reward offered for the outlaws, dead or alive. It amused Dave very much to hear himself described by the troopers. " I'll give him all he wants if I get within rifle range of him," cried one of the troopers. "141 shoot him on sight, and get his scalp money." He was a particularly boastful fellow, and to hear him talk a stranger might have been excused for thinking that shooting bushrangers single-handed was a very common performance for him. The whole lot of them sat about and smoked, and talked over their plans for the capture of the Killowens in a particularly reckless fashion. They were a city draft, and did not know, apparently, that half the folks in the district were m sympathy with the gang. •- . When they had gone, the smith said.to Dave, "I wish I could get on the track of the Killowens; I'd cam a nico bit of money." '■ "How?" demanded Dave. " Oh, easy enough. I'd pretend to work with them,-and sell them to the police." "Take their money as a kind of scout for them, and then betray them; is that what you mean?" queried Dave. "That's about it. I want money. I mean to get away from here." " So do I," answered Dave. " I can't stand: this place." "Why not?" cried, the smith. "Oh,"well, I don't mind telling you, for I've got the creeps! Why?—well, the other, night I woke up and saw what I thought was a woman walking across in front of my bedroom window. I looked at lier in the moonlight. She had long black hair and a very pale face, with big black eyes." . - "Well," sneered the smith; "anything else?" " Yes, there was. As I looked at her she turned a little, and 1 saw that all the front of her; dress was bathed in blood—" "You say you saw that.in front of your bedroom window?" gasped the smith. * He had risen from his seat, and was staring into Dave's face with wild, bloodshot eyes.

" I saw Iter again last night," continued Dave,, "and I' can tell you I. don't want to see her any more.- I'm scared of that ghost.", •' . .- ' -. ■■ ' - ■;.(.- You talk like a fool screamed the Italian. "Do you,hear me, a fool! a fool! There are.no such things as ghosts." " I used to think that once," replied Dave, " but I know different now. mis place is haunted." " Some "'one' has tricked you, you fool!" screamed the Italian. "See hero," lie added, drawing a knife from his belt; I'll put this into the man, or woman either, who tries to frighten me.with such mummery." ', - , , "Why should anyone try to frighten you?" was Dave's next question. "Oh, it's someone who thinks I had a hand in the murder of the selector's wife," blurted out the man savagely ;" but I did not, and I don't want any ghost business about here. If you see it again, put a bullet into it." -';',.'.

But Dave shook 'his head. "I know a 1 living woman when I see one," said he, "and that was"no live creature. Why,.'! got up and looked on the ground for tracks, and thero were no tracks there." .

Then the Italian behaved like, a mad creature. He tossed up his arms and raved and cursed, until Dave was glad to walk away to avoid hearing him, and as he walked he muttered to himself

"If that chap hasn't got a. guilty conscience, he looks and acts most uncommonly as if lie had." 'Twenty times- that day tlio .smith returned to the subject. He talked of nothing else, and when night came he made some excuse in order that Dave should walk home with him.

Dave was a bit put out by this, because ho bad. «u appointment with, one of his scouts, who acted as a messenger between him and the gang. Still, ho managed 'later' to, get a message away, and lie was able to tell Bryan a. good "ileal concerning the plans of the police, thanks to the talkativeness of tho troopers who had. visited tho forge that day. A few days passed uneventfully, and then a trooper . came- with a horse he wanted shod, and from him Dave gleaned that Inspector ycrnon and, the black trackers were organising a grand hunt for the Killowen band. ; "You'll be pretty busy, young fellow/' remarked the trooper, " for the horses will all need to be shod well, as we jhavo a lot of rough country to Tide over." " If you had. told mo that you expected to ride over hilly country," said Dave innocently, "I'd have put barred shoes on your horse. Plain shoes slip on rooky ground." "I know they do," grunted the troop-' er; "and we've rocks enough to ride amongst shortly, after those infernal Killowens."

Thus innocent Dave knew that Vernon was going to scour the hills where the caves were, and very probably be would find the cam]) where lather was resting with his broken arm.

That night Dave got. out by his bedroom window, and, stealing away into the bush, he tramped until he got to a place where he was sure of having a horse found. for him; and then he rode, like the beautiful bushman he was, to warn the camp, and father and the others at once made off to a fresh hiding-place, leaving Vernon and his human bloodhounds to search vainly for them. Dave went back to his work as he had left it, riding and tramping. It waajust dawn when he got in through the window, and he peeped at the Italian, who was sleeping in another room. The fellow was tossing from side to side, and muttering in his sleep. It entered into Dave's head to give the villain a fright} so, putting his hands to his mouth, he; uttered a piercing shriek, and fled to his own room, and sat down on the bed. In a moment the Italian came bursting in, his face ghastly white, and his eyes wild with terror. " ""'■

"What is if?" he demanded.

" I don't know," cried Dave, with a shudder. "I heard awful screams," a, woman's screams. Didn't you hear it'",., "I heard someone scream," answered, the fellow. "I—l thought it was you dreaming." ■»•, ■; "I wasn't dreaming," replied Dave,. " and that cry was not human. I tell you this place "is haunted, and I'm going' to leave it. You can stay hero by your* self; if you want to* I wouldn't sleep} here for a thousand a year." Ho rose - and ■ went towards the , door.\ The Italian followed him, and stood shaking with superstitious dread under a gum-tree close by. When it was fully light David packed', up his few things and "'demanded his. wages. He knew that he would have to, leave the blacksmith, because Vernon might call with his horses any day, and his keen eyes might, detect Dave oven? through his excellent disguise. - When he bad gone"about a mile from the forge, some instinct impelled Dave to turn back and watch the smith. For this purS pose he approached the forge from behind, walking lightly amongst the heavy timber, i He had nearly got to tho edge of .the wood, when lie came across fresh tracks going towards some rugged hills about half a mile distant. He knew at a glance that; the tracks had been made by the smith, because of the length of his feet. x -~, "I wonder what has taken.him up then!"; on a weekday," thought Dave.. "I'll find out. anyway and he followed' the .until he came upon the blacksmith, -who was kneeling down by a wombat hole. A bit of dry bark crackled under Dave's foot,',, The smith sprang up and looked wildly about him. • . ;

His pistol was in one hand, a long; cruellooking knife in the other. He waa within a couple of feet of the edge of a cliff. Dave put his hands to his mouth as the blacks do when they want to make a shrill call, and then, thinning his voice until it was like a woman's, he uttered a shriek that rang again from the cliffs. It sounded weird and uncanny in such a spot. The Italian uttered a wild cry of affright, stepped back a ■ pace, and went headlongover the precipice, and Dave heard him thud on tho rocks below. He looked cautiously over, and saw the fellow lying very. still, 'in a crinnplcd-up;condition,'fifty feeV below. . ' ' '•< Then Dave went to the wombat hole, and thrusting in'his arm, he drew out several; articles of cheap jewellery—a watch, a gold') ring with an imitation diamond in it, a pair of earrings, and one or two other thing's of a like sort; and he knew from the look,* of them that they must. have belonged to", the poor murdered woman, whoso blood Dave knew, was on the hands and the soul of the villain who had met his fate a few moments earlier, through his own'guilty, fears. As Dave was balancing the cheap"* jewellery in his hand, he suddenly heard a," voice cry: "-.-.'" V .1 "Bail up, or I shoot!" And.he.found l himself looking into the malicious face of: one of Vernon's black police. ■.'■• :• ' ' Tho fellow had him covered with a double-' barrelled shotgun. " Caught this time," he chuckled. , : }l Poor Dave had no choice. I He had to! march in front of the black, who held the muzzle of the gun close to his shoulders. " You know how 1 find you, eh?" he asked after a bit. : ;

"No," said Dave, "I don't." " I take my horse to the blacksmith's this morning, and down ,by door.in (ho dust I see track—man's track. I say, hello, that feller track belongs one time Dave Killowen. I know track, and I get gun from blacksmith's house and follow track. I-hear you call out big, and see blacksmith tumble oyer cliff. What for you call out t-liat way, eh?" : .•--.-', . •

But' Dave did not answer him. He was too downhearted to talk, for he had a feeling that Vernon would take good care of. him this time, and would not rest until lie got him safely hanged for highway robbery, with T'olence.

The black was marching him 'along, arid jeering him all the time, when Dave saw a white man step from behind a tree a few dozen yards away to the right of him. He knew him at a glance for one of a party of splitters who were working in the neigh-': bourhood.■ , ■ All of those fellows were friendly to the" Killowen gang, because they had been well bribed; and' they hated all policemen, because they looked upon them, as natural enemies. But most of all they" hated. a black policeman, for it was the blacks who tracked them down when they did any wrong tiling. .' ; ; ' - ' --> Dave walked on; with a beating.: heart, wondering if the splitter would clave .;.!•-■ tempt a rescue. - The black had been wa tchr ing his prisoner so closely, that he did not' see the man lurking in ,the' scrub. • Suddenly a pistol-shot rang out, the black'' gave a gasping sort of cry mid fell backwards, discharging one banc! of his gun as lie did so. <To be continued daily).