A LINDSAY O' THE DALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13600, 20 November 1907, Page 10

A LINDSAY O' THE DALE.

• BY A. Q. HALES, > Author of- - The Watcher on the Tower." "Driscoll. Kins of Scouts." "McGlusky. " Jair the Apostate." etc., etc. COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER (Continued.) At that moment the policeman came across the road and said to Davie, "Hello, what name are you called, eh?' Davie grinned, as all aboriginals do when addressed bv white men, and answered in the broken" English common to half-civi-lised blacks who hang about townships, " Mine fellow called Jimmy." The policeman chuckled, "Well, now, .Timmy. are you a good tracker? Do you think you could track the bushranger. Davio looked right into the man's face and laughed outright. 'You track em, eh?" demanded the officer. •Plenty good tracker." was the reply. "You gib me horse to ride?" " Oh. yes; say good-bye to your gin, and come along. I'll give you a horse to ride ;" and the next minute Davie was walking at the heels of his new master, as obedient as any dog. Tho policeman took him to the police-camp, and tossed him a halfpicked mutton-bone and a chunk of damper, and let him have the run of the camp. Davie made a small tire for himself apart from the other blacks who were there, and, squatting down, seized the mutton-bone in both hands and commenced to gnaw it, just as Vernon strolled over to him, holding a raw-hide riding-whip in his hand. "Stand up, you black dog," commanded Vernon ; and Davio sullenly obeyed, though ail the time he was longing to spring at the inspector's throat. "So yoa can track, eh?" Davie nodded, and began to gnaw the. mutton bone again. " Put that down and attend to me." Dave hesitated. • The whip fell twice across his neck with cutting force, bringing the blood. " That will teach you how to behave, you beast," snarled Vernon; and, wheeling round, he ■walked into his tent. Davie fumed like a mad thing for a while, but made up his mind at last to play his part out, and to this end made himself useful in the camp. He heard pretty nearly all that passed between the troopers. Those that came in on patrol duty generally had a good deal to say to those who kid remained! in the camp, and he soon learned that there was no love .lost between the white and the blactrpoliceT and it did not take butt long to find out that a good many of the whites suspected the blacks of being tho authors of a lot of tho robberies and murders, and even worse crimes, that were occuring almost daily. ' But Vernon had, or prctenacd to have, implicit faith in his black brigade, and he was trying his hardest to rouse the feeling of the eountry-againsb the Killowens. One- evening,.as a patrol of white troop-, ers were off-saddling. Davie, who was holdin e the sergeant's horse,-heard- him say to one of his , comrades .that five black police were scouring the country in the vicinity of Eevnolds* water-hole. '.-,.. '„. •"'What do they expect to find there.' asked -the other trooper.. •. • • The-sergeant shrugged his shoulders. '" They have sent in a report that they have cut the tracks of Killowen arid his gang near that place;'and they are on. the lookout for them." ' r » "Do von believe it?" ■' No, "I don't. I. think they mean to do tome devilment of their own, and blame the Killowens for it; that's my firm impression. Don't be surprised if you hear of another outrage to-morrow >mornine, « bo added; and eliciting his spurs together he strode .off to get his supper. , * _ , Ten minutes later, Dane had unpicketed one of the best troop-horses from the' lines, and had skulked with'it. down' the bed of a dry. creek. He had neither saddle' nor bridle, but he took a half hitch round the horse's muzzle, ran the rope in between the animal's jaws, and bounding upon its back pushed boldly into the bush. A comical figure he must have made, with his black face, top-hat, and one-tailed coat, as he bestrode his bare-backed steed amidst the trees. He was not, however, thinking of bis appearance: he had made up bis mind to £v<3'the* black police a lesson, and,. at the tame time, save a, white family from outrage. ,• ■' » • ' It was 'true, that Reynolds was a man hardly worth saving, as he was.a terrible scoundrel; and,his, virago of.a wife was little better—both were connote out on, "ticket"—but they bad.a. twelve-year-old girl named Elsie, who was a very sweet child, and a two-year-old' baby boy. These people kept a bush grog shanty, which was notorious;' even amongst that wild community, for'its wickedness. Davie rode the troop-horse hard, and reached the outlaw camp in time to share the robbers' supper." Then he told his business, and. there was an instantaneous rush for .'saddles and -bridles, for -the whole gang were ; crazy to' be up and doing. Most- of the&Vniade no' secret of-the fact that they did riot much care-what happened. to the two grown-up people,.but they all wanted to save the children, and, above all, they wanted to thrash the black .police. When • they were all ready to. mount, Davie: examined* each rifle with care, and Bryan looked to each saddle, for, as leaders of the gang, they knew they could not •fiord to throw a single chance away. When this was' 'over,". Davie rode, at the head of his '.party'; arid, steered straight across country, to. the home of the Reynolds family.' "' ' The country was terribly rugged, and only a bushman born to the business could have gone in tho starlight over the hills, down? the rocky, heavily-timbered slopes, and along the "narrow gullies and ravines strewn with, loose boulders. But Davie eve r>ouce faltered; he could steer a course as Straight as a crow flies, for he had the bushman's instinct, without' which no outlaw would reign long in the Australian wild?. At last they came to the last line of ranges which overlooked the drinking shanty they had come to save; it lay on a plain about half a mile below them. " Hadn't we better split up and scout around for the black brutes? They haven't attacked the place yet, for I can see the lights in the shanty twinkling," remarked Basil McAllister. The words were hardly out of his mouth ere the sound of a pistol-shot came stealing to their ears from the distance. " The devils are at their work now. Ride for it, boys!" shouted Davie; and away they went, holding their horses in with grips of iron, for every man was a rider; and well it was for them that they were, for the side of the range down which they dashed was terribly steep. Trees grew thickly on all sides, the oak and stringy bark, bloodwood and box trees. Wombat holes were as plentiful as blackberries on English hedges in their season. Rotten ground, where the rains had swept the hills, stretched here and there. < Fallen timber lay like barriers in their way. Tangled creepers and trailing vines made snares for hoofs that blundered. Yet they all raced down that terrible, sweeping declivity like men gone mad. Now a horse blundered in a wombat hole and grazed his muzzle on the rocks and earth, as sinewy hands and iron muscled arms lifted the brute to its legs again. Spurs were ripped into quivering flanks a? horses stumbled amidst the clinging vines; curses, low, but deep and savage, were snapped out as low-hanging branches of trees cut across faces with the force of Btockwhips. ■ And on in front, sitting the mighty, yellow-bay horse like a figure carved from "stone,, rode Davie, outlaw and hero in one. -, He rushed tat the fallen timber, he,raced over the rotten ground, he Wan- • dered and, nearly .came to- grief a score l of ;,. but ,he went on like a whirlV ; . ; wind; for the .wind had 4 borne to his ears . : the cry-of a: girl in •- terror. And close • to his side, as sword-blade to thigh, rode 3w an^a '^ < * ( * a «bingdow over their ,". «horoughbrea*^'7ieeH v wHb-hands that ; »«yer l altered on ; Btrabintt reins} and steel pi •pur* red with hard riding. 1 :',; ' • .«k -• v _L__.

CHAPTER VIII. THE VENGEANCE OF THE KILLOWENS. With many a slip and many a blunder, but never a fall, Davie and his band swept down the side of the mountain* range, and reached level land at last. Then Honcyball got his head, and went away like the galloping machine he was, with Tame Hawk and the "blood, mare" close in attendance. The rest were all left behind as a revenue cutter leaves a string of barges. Once again a girl's scream, high and piercing, rang on the night air, and mingling with it came the crackle of pistols. Then, like a vast, blood-red sword-blade, a tongue of flame shot up towards the treetops. The marauders, whoever they were, had fired tho drinking shanty, and wero assassinating the inmates. The " shanty" stood in a little clearing, which was surrounded by a log-wood fence, and as the three outlaws dashed up they could see by the light, of the flame that a number of troop-horses were picketed outside the fence, whilst in the clearing the black police were standing with pistols in their hands shooting through the doors and windows of the shanty. With a stockman's cheer, Davie drove Honeyball at the fence, and the noble brute bounded over it with a splendid leap that left a lot of room between his hoofs and the topmost log. Bryan and Basil followed like shadows, and as they opened tire on the black police, they just had lime to see a man ride at the log fence at the far end and get away, and they could hear his hoof-beats on the track that led towards the river. It was hot work for a moment; pistolshots at close range-flash, bang!—bang, flash! Then, with a rousing yell, the rest of the outlaws burst over or through the log-wood fence, and the black pack got scant mercy. Bryan was out of his saddle with a Juick spring, .and, dashing towards the urning shanty, he plunged in amidst flame and smoke, and a moment later appeared outside again, bearing in his arms the bodv of Mrs. Reynolds. " I saw her fall just inside the door as we came up," he gasped to Davie. "There are three men lying in there on the floor of the drinking shanty. They are either dead drunk or shot dead ; I couldn't stop to see, for the flames drove me out." The woman in his arms moaned dismally. " Where are the children?" asked Davie, as Bryan laid her down on the ground. She was nearly past speaking, but she just managed to say that the black police had come to the door, and one of them had fired into the room; the shot killed the baby as it sat upon her knee. Then they fired promiscuously into the place, arid Reynolds and a couple of splitters wlio were carousing there had fired back, until all three had fallen. The blacks must have tossed a lighted brand on the thatched roof, and so set fire to the shanty. " I was running out of the door when I was shot down," continued the woman. "Where is little Elsie!" demanded Davie. - " Is she in the burning shanty? "No," gasped the woman. "'She ran out as soon as the firing and I saw one of the blacks catch her." "Then," cried Davie, "the devil has carried the girl off on his horse. It musthave been him we saw clear out as we opened fire." " He'll never dare to take the child to the police-camp, for she will tell about this night's work if he does," muttered Brvan. , ' ... , Basil McAllister drew his pistol, and put the muzzle to the ear of one of the mounted blacks, police. ~•,,.•«„ Who has taken the little girl Elsie? ho demanded. "Speak, or I'll--' ■ He did not finish the threat, but the aboriginal understood- t ; " Clubfoot the tracker took little girl, he screamed, for in the presence of death the aborigines are abject cowards. "Where has he taken her?' : "To the old stockman's hut at the foot of Greeba range." . ~«. "That will do," cried'.Dime. "You - fellows deal, out justice to these black cowards;- I'll save little Elsie " I can. ■ But I know Clubfoot, 'the tracker;; there is not a more bloodthirsty rascal in Australia." • ' '~,-? e ' "Dave will throw away his life for nothing," growled one of the men. " He has a sister of his own," retorted Bryan, "and on that horse of his hell run Clubfoot down in spite of his start.' "If the black knows he's being pursued he'll kill the girl and throw her body into the scrub," put in another man. "You can leave all that to my brother, was.Bryan's only answer. " Now, then, let us give these rascals bush justice. U we hand them over to Vernon they will go scot-free, for they would swear the crime on to us, , and outlaw evidence is no evidence in a law court. Mrs. Reynolds died a few minutes later from her wounds, and the dry logs of which .the shanty was composed charred the bodies of the three white men and the baby to cinders. Whilst this wis going on, the outlaws had found ' rope's in the stable, and the blacks were all hanged from the boughs of trees close by. Their bodies, dressed m. police uniforms, were left to dangle inthe wind as a grim warning to others. Jjnia card, which he pinned to a post hard by, Bryan had written in his bold caligraphy: "These men were executed by the Killowens for the murder of white settlers. "(Signed) Brtan Killowen." The gang watched the shanty burn to embers, then they rode off to their hidingplace to await the return of Davie, and m the meantime they discussed the merits of a plan that the outlaw who went by the nickname of " the boundary rider" had suggested to them. This was the lifting of about. SO beauti-fully-bred horses from Moombah station. Moombah was owned by a couple ofexarmy officers, who had conceived the idea of breeding -high-class horses for the Indian army. They had selected a fine piece of country for their station, and had imported a number of Arab mares and a bloodhorse with a great pedigree. The mares came from Arabia, the horse from England. They had at this time about 50 colts and geldings three years old, which experts said had never been equalled for quality in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter. They were all fit for officer/ chargers, and -would fetch immense prices in any market. The- whole bapd were agreed that they could secure the horses easily enough, and by splitting them up into ones and twos they could get them to any part of Australia undetected, unless they met with particularly adverse lnck; but they could not see how they might market them without being detected. They could so alter the brand that no auctioneer would bother them with questions, but how would they be able to account for the possession of such a superb lot of horses? They would have to give pedigrees in order to realise prices worthy of the risks they ran, and this bothered them. "We'd be bowled out for a certainty," laughed Basil McAllister. " The horses are too good to be got rid of in small cities we want a big market for a job like this." " I'd like to have a shot at it, all the same," said Bryan. "But Davie has the best head of the lot of us for a job like this, so we'll wait until he comes, and talk it over with him." Whilst this discussion was going on in the outlaws' camp, Davie was galloping at full speed for the hut that was known as the "old stockman's hut,'* at the foot of Greeba range. This was a disused hut that had been abandoned because of a murder that bad been perpetrated there a conpie of years earlier. Davie knew the ways of blacks too well to attempt to follow Clubfoot and demanding the child. His only chance lay in reaching the hut first, and to this end he sat right over HonevbaH'B withers and let him carve out the miles at his best pace. Lower and lower dropped the big head with the great Roman nose, until at length the yellow-bay jowl was stretched straight' out in a line with the pair of hands that lay so low down, clutching the reins with magnetic force and skill. The wind lifted the biack mane and tossed it from side to side as the horse strode onward, and ever and again Davie stood straight up in.his stirrups and looked with hawk eyes in .front of him, but. he saw no sign of the man he was trying .to outride.. " As the galloping fever. got. into his blood I he could have sung aloud, for\a gallop-was [ always like wine to,* killowen.

' He saw the stars go out one by one as the sty paled. He saw the dawn break m all i£s nameless beauty, and he .had, like most* men who. come of fighting ' stock, chough poetry in his soul to raai f. llinl love the never-ending beauty of the birth of a new day. , , " .. He watched as ho rode' the mantle of the night roll up like some elfin thing, and saw the new creation, a new day, and he smiled, for it seemed to him to whisper of hope for the future. Whv should not he and his throw the dark past behind them and begin a new life? As the thought flashed into his mind his eyes fell opon the lonely hut he had ridden so swiftly to find. Its door swung loosely on its rusty hinges, swayed to and fro by the morning breeze, and by that token Davie knew that the man he sought had not arrived in front of him. Drawing his rein to slacken speed, lie cantered Honeyball into a, dense patch of low scrub, and made him fast to a tree. Then, picking his path warily, he. went on tiptoe so as to leave no track, and entered the hut, leaving the door swinging just as he found it. , ~,,,• Then he sat down to wait, holding Ins pistol in his hand ready for instant use. He had not long to remain idle. Soon ho heard a horse, badly blown, come heavily towards the hut and stop. He sat still and waited. He heard the black cursing the girl as he lifted her from the saddle, heard the child's piteous sobbing and crying. Yet he sat still, for he knew that a black has ears as sharp as those of any beast of prey. He heard the black order the little girl to walk into the hut. heard her refuse; then he heard a wild scream, and started to his feet in time to see the untamed brute drag the girl to the door by the hair of her head. Davio lifted his pistol, but the black was as quick as a snake in his movements. Ducking his head and body, he lifted the girl and held her as a shield in front of him. "You fire," he cried, "an' yon shoot girl-" , , Davie ground his teeth in rage ; he dared not fire, and the black knew it. Slowly the black drew back, inch by inch. Suddenly lie dropped the child Elsie, and, running like a hare, dashed into a patch of scrub and disappeared.

(To be continued daily).