A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13612, 4 December 1907, Page 10

A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ABEANGEMEXT.

. > BY A. G. HALES, : Author of "The Watcher on the Tower." " Driscoll, King of Scouts," " ilcGlueky," - " Jair the Apostate," etc.. etc. COPYRIGHT. ' CHAPTER Xlll.-CContinued.) Veiinox still kept his temper under control. •:f.;'^^; ';';..i _.:.._.:.„. .'..:..-: .. ~. "You have not yet given me any reason for his strange treatment, Captain Anderson."■-.".-■.'. -'. ■'■■ '■■■'<?.- 4

"Well, if you want a reason, I will give , you one. I heard - what the old lady said to you. She said that you came to her house and insulted her years ago, arid that her husband horse-whipped you for it. ':• I watched your face, Mr. Vernon, whilst she spoke, and, by heaven, sir, I believe every word the woman said was gospel truth. Now you know why I will not touch your hand. I think yon a hound, sir; a—— hound V"

With that the rough, bold seaman turned away contemptuously, and the, .passengers set up a cheer.

;_ Vernon tried to smile, but his face was like-a death-mask. Curtly he ordered his men to remove his prisoner, and poor young Ken, manacled, went over the- side intone waiting boat. , Then I looked round to speak to mother, but she had gone to her cabin- I ran there, and found her packing her things in-her trunks. I did not ask her what she intended to do, for I knew that she was going ashore again. The captain came and spoke to us very kindly. "If you ladies want to go ashore," said he, " I'll put you ashore in a ship's boat; and you can coll at the office, and when you tell them what has happened I have no doubt they will refund you your passage money." ,So that was all arranged, and in less than an hour we were once more back in Sydney. Our first care was to engage a "clever lawyer for Kenneth's defence, and then all we could do was sit down and wait upon events. We were permitted at times to see Kenneth whilst he was. awaiting his trial, because the- barrister we employed had influence in high quarters. The laddie was strangely cheerful. "They'll get no good out of this," he whispered to me one day. " They, will not hang me, and they will not trap cither Bryan or Davie ; through me; go cheer up,"" At last the day of the trial came,-and it could not well have come at a worse time for us,. for a band of: escaped convicts were just then > terrorising the whole country; and some of their deeds were horrible enough to awaken the indignation of any man possessing a spark of decency. At the trial Vernon was almost fiendish in his malignity and ingenuity. Ho swore that he had seen Kenneth on more than one occasion with the Killowen gang when they were fighting the police, and swore, also, that he had seon him with a rifle which ho had used against the officers. His evidence, in the excited state of the country at the time, was sufficient to have hanged any man; but he pleaded that the lad's youth and evil bringing up might weigh with the judge and jury. This he did because he did not want Ken to be hanged; he wanted him to linger on in prison amongst men whose lives were so awful, both in and out of gaol, that no per, can describe the horrors of their existence.

He wanted to torment mother by depraving her son to the level of men who were no better than wild beasts. And there was yet one other thing; he hoped that the others would hear of Ken's captivity and come to the rescue, that he might trap them. In the end, he who had been our songbird was sent to penal servitude for ten years. The judge who sentenced him remarked that he ought to go down upon his knees in his cell that night and pray in the deepest gratitude for the generous intervention <of Inspector Vernon. Ken looked straight into our enemy's eyes,, and said, in his-peculiarly sweet voice, " I know all that I owe to Inspector Vernon; and some day, if I live, I will" try to repay the debt." When our laddie went into the gaol he was a clean-minded, clean-tongued youth. ;He had known no evil beyond the evil that comes of fighting against the law. He had never mixed with men in the bush ; all- his life had been passed with his mother. When the gaol gates closed upon .him he was .hurled headlong into a (sink of unutterable iniquity—hurled amongst wild things whose souls and consciences were dead men so utterly depraved that devils might have fled from their presence appalled. Every word that came to his ears was foul with the foulness that comes to those who are utterly Jpst, •■ • - '■■

The laddie was brave, but he shrank back appalled, horror-smitten by what he heard and saw. For, the,first awful month: he was nearly a madman. Then one day he snatched up an iron-bar and struck a convict over' the ■ head with it for that he was flogged and put with the prisoners who were marked dangerous. Vernon visited him, and in mocking tones counselled him to control his violent temper, and submit .with patience to his just punishment. Kenneth listened to his tormentor in silence, but those who were standing by saw the veins swell, on his forehead and along his neck; they saw his eyes grow fierce and bloodshot, and still tho mocking devil jeered on. All at once Kenneth sprang upon him, and clutched him by the throat. The leap was so quick, in spite of the irons on the laddie's limbs, that Vernon could not avoid the tiger-like spring, and was borne backward. „ The warders tore. Ken from his prey, but not until he had disfigured Vernon in a manner which would never leave him. . For that Kenneth was locked away in solitary confinement until ' he. became •• a brooding, frantic thing. He who had been so joyous, so merry, so innocent, became a wild, unkempt creature, with glittering eyes, and hard, clenched jaws., When he had reached . that stage ; Vernon secured a pass for us to see him.'l nearly screamed aloud when I saw my youngest brother, the darling of our hearts. " Go out of this," he growled ; " go out at once, all of you, and never come here again. I never want to iook upon any of your- faces in this world. Go, and never set'foot in this hell again." , ; ". We lied, with our minds full. of horror, and when next we heard of Ken he was working in the quarries as ■ a member of the chain-gang, and every now and again we heard lie had been Hogged for some breach of the prison rules. They were stern, cruel days, those old convict times, and the men.who adminis- ; tered the law's punishments were iron and granite men. They had to be, for in ! their hands they held hundreds of fierce creatures who feared nothing, respected nothing, loved nothing, hoped for .■'. no thing. . Wo heard nothing of our other dear ones, and 1 know that both .McAllister and I prayed night and day that we might never see them again. We loved them, and the thought that they might bo trapped, and taken to share the fate of Kenneth, was a haunting horror with us. Woraout at length with the terrors, of the situation, we went back to our old home, and Mary McAllister remained with me. Mother did nothing but sit under the gumtree, by the spot where father lay, a. terrible- figure of anguish and-hate. She always appeared to be in a listening attitude, and I knew well that she was waiting to hear the hoof-beats of the horses of hex' outlawed sons.

But the time dragged on, and neither man nor message came to us from'over the seas. Summer changed to winter, and the winter gave place to summer again in this land that has no spring nor autumn. Then one day, as wo sat at meat, we heard a low cough, and looking up we saw standing in the doorway that same Chinese pedlar Who so long before, had brought us news. He unslung his baskets from the pole, and laid his wares before us, saying all the usual things that pedlars reel off so glibly, and I went down on my knees beside him to examine his wares. This I did that he might whisper in my ear any message he might have, for we feared the very winds of heaven in that time of, terrible danger. ...'.","-:.',,". " , "You""lookeo out velley sharp, Missive, Kliite," he murmured; "black trackers come here velley soon." ' i, "What are they coming for?" .';,! "They find your blethers." "Where have you come from?" "Me come from, China with your Mothers." . .;"' ''" :

"Where are they now''" . ..•• • The yellow man put his mouth right against my ear, and just breathed his story, and my heart nearly stopped beating as I*listened, for the Chinaman told me that my brother Bryan and; Basil McAllister were somewhere* in the bush,-making their way to. us. Davie was keeping a hotel .in Sydney, so that he might bo near Kenneth, to help him to escape from the chain-gang us soon as opportunity "served.,. The two in the bush had ,been sent out by Davie to try and organise the old system of b,u*h telegraph; and" to make all •preparations for-a, successful flight. ' '.. v " . '" He had no time to tell me more, for at this juncture mother gave a:warningcry, and the Chinaman began to show his goods and talk volubly about the quality of everything he had to sell.'■■' • A little later a pos.se of black police, led by a strange young trooper and a big sheepfarmer, rode up to our door. We all knew the sheep farmer by sight. He. was a Mr. Dunnctj a not unkindly man, who had often given us a civil Word in bygone days., , I'm sure I'm sorry to come to your place in this fashion," said ho to mother, "but there is a rumour afloat that your, people are in the bush again, and as I am a magis? trate now I have been asked to come here by this police officer.' Be wants to search your place?" , " What for?" I demanded". "For arms and ammunition, Miss Killowen," responded the officer. ' "One of the black police made an insulting gesture towards mother. . ; • "Old woman cranky now," he said, arid laughed. The next instant the black was sprawling in the dirt outside door, with tho white officer standing over. him. " I don't know who trained you, you dog," cried tho young fellow, but whoever he was ho, did not know his work, else you would- never have dared to insult, a white woman." ■' - •' ■■'-■-■■-''■ '. .. .;,.:■. L'\^':\

Maiy and I both thanked him for his kindness as nicely as we knew how. He ordered the blacks to go and search the stables and outhouses, adding:— • ' : "And mind, I'll have no looting. The man I catch at that game will get a bad time." ■:. ■-'■"'' - '. .. . '

When they were out of earshot he said: " If you have anything to complain of concerning theso niggers in uniform, ladies, pleas© let me know immediately. I have not long landed in Australia from England; and have had a bit- of military training in India; but . I've '. joined the police troopers now, and have beer sent up here -to:/handle these fellows for a bit, and I'm sorry to. say that I find the settlers are as much afraid of the black police as they .ore of the outlaws. As a matter of fact, I find that my dusky assistants have made a beastly bad reputation for themselves. I don't feci at all proud of my command, I can assure you, but I'll break the beggars. of -their bad habits before I have them long." ' ■::•>(■:■' He spoke "like a gentleman, and" looked like one. He had a nasty, unpleasant'duty to perform, and we could easily gee that it was irksome to him. So Mary and I did our veiy best to make it as pleasant as possible for him.

There were no arms at our homo, so; of course, his. search was bootless but I saw that he was quite smitten by the charms of nay dear friend Mary McAllister. ',:'."*'

(To bo continued daily.)