A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13613, 5 December 1907, Page 3

A LINDSAY 0' THE DALE.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY A. G. HALES, Anthor of " The Watcher on the . Tower " " Driscoll, King of Scouts." " McGlusky,"' " Jair the Apostate." etc., etc. COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER XIII.-(Coutinued.) When- tho police had withdrawn we had a long talk with the Chinaman, who told us of tho life our dear ones had led all that long, long time in the Far East. He told us how they had sent him to California to pick up news from the papers, and of his report to them when he learned that Kenneth hud been arrested and gaoled. It appeared from the Chinaman's story that, as soon as they knew what had happened, the three had at onco taken ship to Australia, in order toUry and effect the release of Ken. From tho moment that the hawker came to us we were in a fever of excitement, not knowing what an . hour might bring forth. Wo had one constant visitor about this- time, and that was the young police officer who was in command of the black police. He pretended that,he came solely .upon his duties, but I knew well that Mary was the lode-star that attracted him. She, however, did not seem to notice that the tine young fellow was in love with Iter, ami I could say nothing, being Bryan's sister. The Chinaman had told me that ho had arranged with a number of his countrymen who were bona-tide hawkers, so that a* constant line of communication was kept open with us, and wo were \t last in possession of information which led us to expect the appearance of Basil and Bryan in our part of tho country. They came to us at length, quietly and on foot, in the dead of night, ami I was as happy as a woman could bo under the terrible circumstances when I saw my wilful, reckless lover. He was just as careless, just as fearless as in the old days. " They would not let you come to me to marry me, Kate," he whispered, "so 1 have come to make you an outlaw's bride ; and your brother Bryan is going to wed my sister Mary, eren though all the police in the world ire on our track." I told him, between laughing and crying, that it was simple madness for him to talk of weddings whilst the shadow of death hung over him and my brothers. "1 have walked so long," said he, with a laugh, "with that same shadow hanging over me, Kate, that I begin to think I shall live to a ripe old age." And there is another way of looking at this wedding business. Firstly, we must do something out of the common, something that only | the Kiliowen gang can do, to convince Vernon that we are really up hero in the bush, for he is in Sydney watching Ken like a hawk, because he thinks we will walk into his trap. If this wedding takes place all the country will ring with it, and the newspapers will drive Vernon into the bush to look for ns. They will say he is afraid of us if he does not come. You can leave that end of the business in old Dave's hands; ho has a head on his shoulders that will bring Vernon down yet, in spite of his wonderful luck." " Does no one suspect that Davie is hotel-keeping in Sydney?" I asked. "Perhaps Vernon knows, and is only waiting to trap all three of you." "No," was his answer "no one suspects Dave. And I am sure you yourself might go to his hotel and meet him without recognising him. When he left Australia he was a fine young bushman; now he is a man polished by travel. Ho is passing as an American, and his hotel i 3 patronised mostly by people from that country." I felt relieved, and said so, but I hung back from the idea of marriage. I loved him, and he knew it, but it seemed terrible to me to contemplate marriage whilst my brother Ken was suffering the torments of a lost soul in tho chain-gang, and I told my wayward lover so. He assured me that it was Davie's plan, and Davie had the best head of us all. "Besides," said Basil, "Dave heard from a sure source that Vernon had boasted that the day he had us prisoners in court he intended to make Mary and yourself give evidence against the prisoners; that is to be part of his vengeance." "He would never succeed in that, then," I exclaimed; "because cither Mary or I would die before we would say a word against any of you." I "Yes, dear, he knows that, the devil," whispered Basil; " and he hopes to make you say something tha* will enable him to' arrest you for perjury." " Oh, ho is a fiend, not a man," I sobbed. " He is all that, and worse if possible. But old Dave, who thinks of everything, says that if we four get married, then Vernon can never make you testify against us, or punish you for not doing so, because a wife cannot be compelled to testify in court against her husband." At this stage in our conversation Mary came into the room, blushing rosy red, and brother Bryan was close beside her, looking very handsome, but terribly stern and hard-set for. one so young. I soon learned from Mary that my brother had been talking to her on the same subject, and had used the same arguments until she had consented. " Well, if Mary McAllister consents to wed an outlawed Killowen," I cried, "why, Kate Killowen will go to the altar with an outlawed McAllister." And reckless Basil sprang to his feet and cried, " Well, a right gallant wedding it shall be, too, lassie; a real Highwayman's wedding. Bryan, we have t/een brothers of the road for many a long day, you and I; now we will bo brothers hi truth and in fact." Bryan took him by the hand. "A brother you have always been to me, my lad, and better brother man never had in all this worldtrue as steel in good times and in evil." ' Then our lovers took us to the poor, old grey mother, and told her all; and we knelt in front of her whilst she put her withered hands upon the two'proud, stubborn heads and blessed them both. As her voice died away the door of the room was burst open, and the young officer oi tho black police bounded in, followed by four or five of his men. In the twinkling of an eye Bryan and Basil were on their feet, and the room rang to the echo of pistol-shots. It was the first time I had ever looked at a tight for life, and, strangely enough, I had no fear. I was absorbed by the spectacle of my brother and my lover fighting for their lives. At the first discharge the young leader of the police fell with a bullet in his chest. ' The blacks, confident in their numbers, swarmed into the room; and then I saw a side to brother Bryan's nature that I had never known. I saw him leap to a corner where our wood-axe was always kept-—the big axe with which our menfolk used to fell the forest trees. He grasped it, and, swinging it high over his head, hurled himself into the midst of the police, and, quick as a' flash, he had carved a way for himself to the open air; but seeing his comrade surrounded, he turned with a deep-throated roar like that of a tiger wounded, and rushed into the thick of the fray again. I saw a black trooper spring upon him from behind with an upraised kniL : e in his hand, and then, before the steel could fall, I saw the old, grey mother level a pistol and fire, and the black sank quietly to his knees. . The blacks were no good as fighting men without a white man to lead them, '_ and it was not long beforp they turned and ran. Our outlaws were both wounded, but i we-bound up their hurts, and then we secured two. of the best horses belonging to the police, and saw them into the saddle. Reckless Basil, leaning down from his saddle, whispered, " Lift your face, sweet- , Kate, and kiss me." I did as he bade me'. . '• You've had an outlaw's wooing," cried he, laughing, though his face was white from the pain of his wound. " You've had an outlaw's wooing, sweat Kate,* and you shall have an outlaw's j wedding. Keep your, ears 'open for' the J ;

sound of our horses' hoofs, for Bryan and I will come back for our brides: won't we, Bryan?" ..'.. _." answered Bryan, "we will come, Kate. We have friends near by, so don't, be uneasy;" and with that they gathered np their -reins and rode away, outlaws and robbers, but as dauntless a pair as lassies ever loved in all this wide world. We wont back to the house when they had gone, and found the old mother binding up the wounds of the white policeoft cer.

When we came in she said, "Come and help me, lassies, for this is a brave man and a gentleman." We helped her lift him on my bed, and we tended him with all the care and skill at. our command. The blacks came back after a while, and: took away their own, and when one of them would have been insolent, the fierce old. dame, my mother, gathered up the axe that brother Bryan had used, and at that they took their own and slunk away, leaving us to do our best for their leader

Wo nursed him as if ho had been cue of our kin, for ho was a nice, clean-minded man, and ho was very grateful to us. But best of all he loved to have Bonny Mary of the Glen waiting upon him, and she, not knowing the man was in love with her, tended him hand and foot, night and day, whilst tho man she loved with all her heart and. soul was lying in a dark cave on a couch of dry grass, suffering all tho pains of his wounds, with no one to help him but. a rough bushman, whose heavy hand often brought more pain than relief.

(To bo continued daily.)