EASILY KILLED.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume II, Issue 54, 24 December 1892, Page 13

EASILY KILLED.

Golly's pipe had gone-out f between i his: fingers, and he stared lugubriously ■into the : glowing, embers, unusually • silent^aud meditative. We had, not lit the candle, and the hut was illuminated only by the -flames -of (the iifi.re. -'I • smoked and dreamed about the golden "'• reef we were, going to find " when - lucki turned." : Bill waa the,.first, .to 1 break the silence : 'V Didyeh ever, killaman, v Nig ?" Golly,had v the bad Australian habit • of joining his words together, and his • conversation ran in strings -of various 1 lengths. IN'o, but if< you sit there for another 1 ten-minutes, looking-as miserable as aa owl,i I might accommodate you." j mind me freight, ole chap. ■-This night six years ago 11, killed a ' man, and I alwus foela bit off on the '2 4th'June!" ! " It's the least your might dp ; ■ but: - are you-joking ?" " No. ; It's the easiest thing in the ■" world to kill a, man. I saw a chap ; slip off a tip, at Dunolly. there,-.and fall about 18 inches, and .they, picked'him !(updead." ; " ' '^Nofc so easy. Tern --Belton .fell 1 <Wn a: prospecting shaft over • near ' Whipstick, and came up in the bucket ' five minutes later, smoking -.the- pipe ! be;.held between his teethVwhenihe "fell. "When he. went home,.he. warmed 1 up his wife beoause'there was come!-, 5 thing wrong with his victuals." ■■" That's a' fact,' but "my man died.j ; —easy as puffing out a candle. You was surprised I didn't fight when. - Malocey threw the mug, over at Hate's, 1 the -other night. If you'd killed a ' zaan with a turn of your hand, you'd >■ stand a lot before hitting anybody. '* I-was working on a Tasmanian J field at'the time. ■ I w«sabout 19, and >■ had a fob on"top. at the-battery. • My, >■ hut-mate was a Maorilander, named -Pay, a decent chap, aad a. good miner - -when- sober, 'but 'he -used <to 1 have j bursts now and 'then^ when he took a> lot of looking- after, and. a lot of bush doctoring before" he was: well again'; 1 He'd start' drink ing,' you know,-and - gradually drift -into ■ mild '■ jim-jams, - then rally 'off with a wild tangle, when ■ a feilol^ had-to-lose a shift or two, and' ' stay arouftd,- Bitting»oiif his chest'most - of the time. >

"'While" Fay was sober he scarcely % had a word to say, and never whispered - a hint about his own iffairs; but'whew ' hi 3 opree was a week old or so. he'd - start yabbering to himself about ISTelly, - and a baby, and Ireclkoned h'e'd^had a - split with his wife, and they'd • separated on account of some" fault of -his. 'My; mate never wrote Tettore ' himself,* bot he was always'looking, for one,: and, coming off night shift. hir'first • question "was, 'Any' letter, Bill?' but he got none "to my know 7 "' ledge, tiirthat night when: my cursed •? folly finished him.

Grolly had picked up a stfck. and eat - with bis-; face averted, -fidgetting - amongst the embers. . ' ' [. "Igot to' looking 1 for 'this letter' he - was always expecting as eager as himself, andi when it did come, and'l saw : it wasaddresse'd'in a- woman's hand,' I - -was as glad as a kid about it. I liked the»tnan, damn 1 it,- arid hoped things " "would:come outright and comfortable • with .him. Fay had been drinking twq-'Or ;three days --when the letter •: arrived, and I guessed it wouldn't bej 1 much good to him .-for some time. He •came into the hut late.that night. It had^been.raining, and he was wet and dirty., I r had a good'fire on, and stood with my backto it, watching" him. He staggered on to his ; busk, and sat j there, with his head working, and his j fingers twitching and plucking; at 'his '■ coafi, There was a bark shelf like • ours over the firs, and the letter was ; reared against the' tea-box,.'just'beside. rmy lieadjf *' W.heri Fay looked up there '-was a nasty glare in his -eyes, and he 'Stared at me in a way that made me shiver a bit. I was always nervous with a/raaan far gone in driuk, • and I'd seen Fay in the humour for ugly i things. .' Besides, I was a youngster, i.swad'Jsnevr that mj mate was near the i

stage when he wouldn't -knaw me from'a gdhannaor a bunyip. He got up after a bit, and staggered over towards me,- clawing like. ,-lf I-hadu't been a vfobl I'd a-just taken hold of him, and forced him on to his bunk ■again. I was strong enough to do ifcj but-Iwas a.i001,-and when he : came too close, affd- seemed' to be trying to grip:me, "I hit out —not hard, only half; a ' push. 'He went down, over backwards across a candle-box, "with his head under his arm, so he never got up again. iS. Dead aa : aikioor-nail! He*d dis- . located his neck or something. Good God ! what a time I spent over him.] He had the letter gripped in his dead hand. It..was that.he was after, not me. ; . , , "The ' coroner came down from ' Launceston, and there "was an inquest. I' said nothing about having struck afe Fay. ' I funked on it, and told them , he had fallen over the box in drink j^' but I- gave- myself away when 'they' opened the letter, and read it: 'It <was fromi his wife. 'She was living io Ghristchurch, -with her father, and •wrote; to -say that she forgave .everyl thing, and^wanted him' to- come home -at once, and they would-be happy again. She said she had not let their boy forget his father. . '■■ "That fibished • -me. 'I • planked down an the room, and 'howled ; said Fd killed him, that I was a murderer; and wanted them to hang me, and carried on like a lunatic. . This^made i the case bad against me, but there was a postponement, and when the inquest came on again niy story was believed^ and a^verdict-of accidental death rejturned. .It's easy to kill a man,. Nig^ but hard to forget it." j'Golly dropped the stick,-and ■hiduhis face in his hands, and I went out and left*;him a while. . ■ .- . . ;