A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13605, 26 November 1907, Page 3

A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

I letvaßO BY SPECIAL JLBXANQEMENT.

,V BY A. G. HALES, , v.-* of "Th« Watcher on the Tower," Scoll, Kins of Scouts." " McGlusky." v \ «jjiir the Apostate," etc., etc. ,<; . COPYRIGHT. 1 •'- CHAPTER X.—(Continued.) WHOM the animal was feeding, one of the toasters lit a fire and made a " billy" cf " ■ and gave it to Davie, with some mutton and damper- ' ; ■ Then he looked curiously at Honeyball, ,icl remarked, "That's a fine horse you have there, mate." Davie smiled. "You'll see a good many animals before you see one as good," be made answer. ' "I'd like to call myself the owner of one half "as good," replied the teamster. : You'll be lucky if you ever do so," was the cool response, "for that is Honeyball. [suppose you have heard of him? ' The ma" l whistled. "My word," he said ; "he'is a horse, and no mistake. And I suppose, then, you are Jvillowen the outlaw!" "You've hit it. Give me a light for my pipe : mate," was the nonchalant answer. "■'.■' The teamsters crowded round and looked at' the horse, and the long, lithe figure if his owner. "Ain't you afraid we might give you away, mate!" asked one of them. "No; I'm not," "How's that?"

"Well, in the first place, none of you fellows would be able to get a living on the roads against the Afghan camel teams rmd cheap labour if I had not made it too uncomfortable for the Afghans; and, again, my gang never meddled with a teamster jet. When we have had to take anything from any of you, we have always paifl four times ite value, and paid cash. And we hive helped many of you with money whoa you have had the bud luck to lose your horses by sickness, or when they have been speared bv the blacks. No, I'm not afraid of you. You're not the sort to sell a man '; for blood-money." "Right every time, mate," responded a teamster heartily. "We won't betray you ; and, what's more, we'll help you if we can. Do you know the whole country hereabouts is swarming with police?" "I expected it was; but there are a lot more hot on my track, so I must go on, whatever comes "of it." "Well, then, be careful how you ride up to any pair of swagsmen you may meet. The police know that you get a lot of tips from the gentlemen who carry swags and pretend to look for work, and'they have scattered » whole lot of police disguised as swagsmen < ibout the bush roads. They always go in pahs, and they are well armed, and will ihoob quicker than they will talk. They ire in deadly earnest this time." "So am I," was Davie's quiet answer. "And I'm a bit quicker on the trigger than most of them, as they may find out. I'll * get on how. Thanks for that tip about the ; : swagsmen; it may prove very useful." ."Have a nip before you get into the saddle again," cried a teamster cheerily. He held out a bottle of rum and a tin pannikin.

-No, thanks, mate," said Davie, as he waved the,rum away. "Directly an outlaw : loucbeis that stuff he's doomed. It makes I fellow reckless when he should be all

eyes and ears. I don't want to be taken . {55 the police not alive, anyhow; so I'll frep away from drink." ," I don't know that it's any good to hamsters, either," laughed the"man; "it 'leads to rows, and all kinds of foolishness. Bat I've got into the habit, and can't very well drop it. v So, here's luck and a safe .; postage. Give Vernon one -for me if you meet him; he's a doc." ,"J don't think hell need any.more than lie's got." "You don't mean'to say—?" "I mean that I shot" him in his own

tamp, and that is why- I'm riding as I am low." ' :■ " . "By jingo!" cried the teamster excitedly.-.:;" You'll need to ride and hide and fight, for the bush will' just hum with politeblack and whitenow. Well, good luck go with you; the world won't be any pooler for Vernon's departure. And look here, if. it will help you to know it/ we'll do all we can to put the police off your tack.":';:.' <-.;-

Davie rode upon his way, and in due time cane, to Green's Gap, -where he expected to find Basil McAllister awaiting him; but Basil was not there. - A bush "telegraph," however, brought him. a note which informed him that his comrade had got into difficulties through trusting too : much to his luck. The note was unsigned, but Davie knew the handwriting. This was a bitter blow, but Davie did lot hesitate. Getting the direction of Basil's hiding-place from the " telegraph," a wrt of bush nomad, he went promptly in learch of ; his reckless chum. -'As he*rode along he came in sight of a couple of swagsmen, who walked as if they were in no hurry to find work. They were dressed much as swagsmen always dress, md carried their " swags" slung over their shoulders in the usual way ; and yet, somehow, the moment he saw them Davie'e suspicions were aroused, and he remembered the warning the teamsters had given him concerning policemen hunting in couples in disguise. •Slipping his revolver out of his belt, he be]d it ready for use, and yet kept it out of "sight. As he cantered quietly towards the two men, they halted on the track and lounged carelessly as they awaited him. Bui his sharp eyes, told him that they mean! mischief '

"Going far,, mate?" queried one of them, M.Davie drew bridle. ■ _ "Not present," snapped Davie, and lifting fiis revolver he covered one of the men, just as the fellow fired 1 from his coat pocket. :He had kept one hand in the pocket of his jacket all the time, and had * revolver in it, and had fired in that way in order to get in the first shot before the i outlaw had time,to defend himself. The bullet went through Davie's cheek, and knocked out a couple of his teeth. .The next moment the swagsman was down with a bit of lead in his body, and the other fellow was running like a rabbit. >he outlaw did not bother about the fugitive, for time was of vital importance to him just then. In a second he was kneeling by the fallen swagsman. "You are a policeman in disguise," he saapped out. "Don't lie to me; I know what I am talking*about." / ' The wounded fellow groaned out an ani Wet in the affirmative. "I don't think your wound is mortal, but I have plenty of lead left," snapped Davie. "Don't kill me in cold blood," moaned the man. /A lot of chance you gave me," was the pitiless reply. You tried to kill me in cold blood. Now, listen. If you want to «ave your life, speak the truth; for I'll kill T <>u if you lie." v ; "What am I to tell you?" "Tell me where the man is hiding whom you were waiting to trap when I came upon. you." . ■• b • l

/> I can't tell you exactly," whined the . Wan, "because I don't know. He got -■'■ »yay rom us last night; but he is not far . away, because he is on foot." ;jV ( Where is his horse?" .'At Murphy's Crossing; a mile from We." * - ■ : *[ Who is guarding it?" ( ' ( Two police-officers." ,:,pi s g ll ised as you are, I suppose?" .7™? wounded man nodded. • Well, point out the straight line to **'irphy's Crossing; I'll hold you up. Arid if you try to trick me, I'll ride "*ck and settle accounts with you." / Ive had all tho trouble I want with , you. "Will you tie up my wound and give "',p T ink - I'm in a fever from the pain." Point out Murphy's Crossing first." Davit, held the mail up, and lie pointed «,w.hjie to be taken with a weak, wavering - a S«r. "Now give me water," he gasped; "I'm , Pttilhing for » drink." ' V'• **'*? fc , B *y I've got much pity for you. -°u didn't mean to give me a fighting . V)?^' though you were two to one; but *<i give you a drink, and leave your -water--•..■**s close to your face so" that you can suck HB£!' it* l / : ': i ■'-■'■ ' ■' .

a drop out. Perhaps that mate of yours •will come back and look, for you." "Where did he go?" asked the wounded man.

"I can't say where he has gone he ran like a wild dog, and if he keeps going like that long he'll he half-way to Adelaide soon."

" He was a cur always," snarled the fellow. "If he had chanced a shot at you ho might have dropped you." " I'll drop when my time comes, not before, retorted the outlaw, and he rode off. As he was steering his horse slowly and cautiously through some heavy timber, a piece of dirt struck him on the back.Wheeling in an instant he beheld Basil McAllister standing with a finger pressed to his lip Davie welcomed him gladly. "How did you get your face hurt, Dave?" demanded reckless Basil. "It's spoilt your beauty, old man." • *' ''Haven't any use for beauty that I know of, responded his comrade. Then he told now he came by his hurt. Basil chuckled as he listened, for nothing in the world could tamo his reckless nature. " What a crafty old fox you are, Davie.: They couldn't trap you, but they got me. I was just exercising Tame Hawk to keep him fit, when I came across four fellows, who looked like swagsmen, camped by the side of the track 1 sat in the saddle and yarned to them tor a while, and they gave me a tip to be on the look-out for. three-men disguised as mine buyers who were, so the four hounds said, police-officers in disguise, Inen one of them offered me a pannikin at tea, and as I leant out.-of the saddle to take it, he gripped me by the wrist and jerked me on my head on the track; and before I knew where I was they were all on top of me, and had me disarmed. ; - ! ■

• They knew I was an outlaw of some sort, i- they did not dream I was one of the Killowen Rang: There are several bands of ■ road %ents about -here; very poor operators tflfey are,: too, if half of what I overheard from. my caDtors is true. I did not ilndeceive them* I can tell you, for our gang has a bis; reputation amongst the police for smartness; and I did not want too much of their attention. "My captors were a pretty slack lot, and whilst they were drinking and gambling I wriggled my hands free, and then my feet, and made a dash into the night. I was nearly caught again this morning, for there are a lot of them about. I was hanging about, trying to get. a chance to loot Tame Hawk, when a mob of them came almost on top of me. I had just time to slip over the edge of a ravine, and hang on to the bough of a shrub, before they passed. I was hanging there, Dave, when I had the most awful fright of my life. \ " You know that I have a horror of snakes; the sight of them always makes me feel sick. Well, Dave, as I hung on to that bough, with my face not far from the cliff, I saw something move in a crevice in a line with my face. The next moment out shot a head on the end of a thin, quivering body, and I nearly let go my hold of the bough, for it was a diamond snake that, I suppose, I had disturbed as I climbed down into my hiding-place. The devilish thing could not quite reach me, though it tried again and again to strike its fangs into my arm or face. '" The sweat ran off me like rain. I knew if I were bitten I was a dead man; and I knew, also, that if I dropped from my perch I should be smashed to atoms by the fall. And if I called out, it was a million to one I should be shot by the police, who would not be likely to give me a second chance to escape. All I could do was to hang there and sweat. At last I heard the police move off, and a bit later the snake crept slowly down the face of the cliff, and I climbed up and was too ill to move for a spell. "I am no coward, Dave, hut I'd rather not go through that awful time again, with that flat, evil-looking head and devil's eyes flickering within a few inches of my face, for all the wealth the world contains."

j "You've had.a close call,.Basil, beastly close; but I doubt if it will make you a bit more careful in future. You were not built on a careful plan. Here, take my pistols; I've got my carbine. We'll pretty soon have Tame Hawk back again, and then we must move like hunted dingoes; for by this time all the police in the country must be drawing in upon me; for, Basil, I've put a couple of bullets into Vernon."

" That's good hearing, anyhow; it won't feel no hard to die now I know he has got full measure. You'll tell me all about it later on as we ride, eh, Dave?"

Yes; come along, now." Together they went to the spot where Tame Hawk was hobbled, and the police opened fire at once as soon as they saw the outlaws advancing upon them through the trees. But they had to deal with two men who had *pent a lifetime in the bush, men who knew every trick that the wild blacks employ j and both were N in grim earnest. The police were shot down, and Tame Hawk was taken. Then, after snatching a hast}' meal, the two boon companions, who had shared so many perils side by side, rode for dear life, in the hope of breaking through the terrible circle that had been drawn around them; and as they rode, Vernon, the master villain, was lying in a tent close to the spot where "he had fallen, and a clever surgeon was kneeling" over him, probing, with unflinching hand, for the bullets that Davie had sent into his chest. "One," he said at last, as he drew the piece of lead from the wound; and Vernon groaned deeply, for the torture he was enduring was terrible. With knitted brows the surgeon-bent again to his task. Again and again he proved for the bullet, and the man beneath his hand writhed under the torment. Suddenly a big sigh escaped the lips of the surgeon. ".Got it," he muttered. 4' By Jingo! this is the closest thing-I've ever seen, and I've been a sawbones ,in four campaigns. You're the luckiest beggar that ever wore trousers, Vernon. The inspector moaned feebly; his eyelids flickered, as a lamp flickers when the oil has run out; a little froth appeared at the corners,of his cruel, cold mouth; his thin, delicately-shaped hands unclenched, and his face turned sideways to the rude pillow. ' "Hello," whispered the surgeon ; has he fainted, or is it death? By Jove! (To be continued daily).