Dick the Devil.

Otago Witness, Issue 1418, 25 January 1879, Page 22

Dick the Devil.

• «> A TRUE STORY, Itf TWO CHAPTERS. JjY AN AUSTRALIAN DWEOriYE. {Written for the Otoyo Witness.) CHAPTER I. Ib was in '5(5. Lord, help us ! how the time dip;; away ! Twenty-two years ago, ami it hux.-sw like yesterday. How glorious it.v/DS tv iit]<) afj a teas big gallop through the bash, or alon# tho buioutli uplandu, feeling

all the time as if you could not get enougl speed out of your horse, racing in the escort along the road to the Ovens— you know where that is, I dare say — " Come on, Tom, I'll race you for a note !" Forty miles riding a day for five days, and then rest for one— l recollect that I killed four horses myself. Then the steady, remorseless hunt, which was only the more exciting because man was the quarry, varied now and then when you were liunt.-d in turn, it might be by a score of yelling black fellows, or two or three still more bloodthiisty bushrangers — their time is not quite over yet. by the way. O ! those gloriuus nights in Australia, when the trees send out t_e most delicious perfume, and the big, white moon comes sailing gently and lovingly overhead ; seeming, as I always ussd to fancy, to remind us of the loved ones at Home. It might be a foolish nooion, still so it was. Ay, that was life ! storm and calm, pi-ace aud bloodshed, lnxnry and misery, I have known to the full Avhile I was trooper in the " Force." I'm goLting oldish now, but, by Jove, at times I feel as if life now is not worth having beside those happy times. But I'm rabbling, awfullj \ I was t<) tell you a yarn, ai,d a. true one, too, for nil it seems so incredible. I knew the man well. " Dick tho D-vil " we all cUle I him. Deucec'.ly good-looking he way. "I don't see vrby you call him 'the Devil,' " haid a pretty woman in Melbourne once ; "he's tho handsomest m.m in the force." So he was, though I don't think he was a bit conceited over it. But a more daring, reckleas, harum-scarum chap never donned tho jacket. Well, it was in '56, as I said. Diek — never mind his other name — had long batn the terror of the horse-stealers. I have known The diggers to turn out and cheer him aa ho enrne galloping up. Dick was on no paiticulav duty just then, when word came thct a man w;.s wanted for horse stealing. "Here, Lyons," said the inspector, "whom can I send on this bit of busmesß ?" Lyons, the sub , said : " Schd Dick the Devil, by all means, if he's anyway handy. He's the best fellow, you know, for that sort of work." "Eight you are," replied old Moore, our chief. "Now, where ia he ?" "Down at the shanty, smoking," said one of the troopers, who had just come in. "He's on a lay. There's a man there that he suspests, and he's watching him." " He ain't in uniform, is he ?" queried Moore, " No, sir," said the other, " he's a digger just now;" and we all laughed heartily. (Most of us could do a little in the detective line when wanted.) By and by Dick came in in plain clothes. "Hallo, Dick/ said tho chief, "you're jusb the man I want. You must be off at once." "What's up now ?" inquired Dick lazily. "It's horse-stealing." " Ay ay. the old game, I supoose," said Dick. "What is he like ? Anyboby know him?" " Oh, yes," said the chief ; " it's your old acquaintance, Mooney. Two horses and a saddle gone from Elliot's night; before last. He was seen going off before daylight. " " Making for tho plains, I suppose, sir ?" " Yes, somewhere that way," replied Mr Mooro. "You'll run him to earth Bafe enough." Well, there wan no very great hurry. Horse- stealing was a case that didn't call for any very great exertion. By the time the horse was caught and saddled, and Dick's dinner eaten, would be quite time enough. But a few minutes soon changed all our plans. Now, to make the next part of my story plain, I must describe the situation of the buildingß. The police station was a roughly put up place, the office at one side, with a couple of cells adjoining. Running off from these was a sleeping room, with a low verandah in front. At the back the stable and loft foiming a two-storey building opened into the paddock where the horses used to run loose. Parallel to the front of tho buildings, but at a groat distance, good two miles, ran the road, which branched off at right angles, the left hand road going up country, the other becoming lost in tho bush leading to Mr Hunter's station. It ia easy to see that the loft commanded a good view of the road ; iv fact, you could catch a glimpse of the station outbuildings when the day was fine. I've said all this in a rambling way, perhaps, but I hope I have made myself clear. Now, Dick's mare, an iron gray, wasn't over easy to catch, and this clay she played up worse than ever. I wa3 in the loft, aud amused myself by watching Dick's fruitless ciiorfcs to saddle her. In vain lie tried his most persuasive eloquence. She was deaf, provokingly dtar to everything. Twice sho left him creep up almost to, her mane, when juat as his hand almost touched her she was off again, to Dick's annoyr-nco. " Blast tho infernal oLI beast," he shouted at last. "Here I've been fooling half the afternoon after her, and she's not caught yet. I don't see why you couldn't come and lend a hand instead of playing the gentleman up there " Dink was up. "Nonsense, my dear fellow," I said; " It's far jollier to watch yon, I assure you. Mind against mind, man versus mare. It's quite refreshing. ".Refreshing be d— d," growled Dick. " It's not over laud of you, anyway." I couldn't resist that, of course, and I was just turning <o come down when I caught sight of a horee tearing through the trees from tho station " Well, what's in tho wind cow ?" said old Dick testily. "Ai c the blacks coming ?" This last very sarcastically. "No," 1 replied slowly, for I was eagerly watching the coming horseman. "Some one's come for all that, though " "Ugh," grunted my mate, "a plaguy lot of use you are up there. If you'd only . lla ! you bca.st. I've got you at last !" to bis mare, as by a quick bound ho got hold cf her forelock. " Confound you, I should have been off bet'oic tliifc." I'cavhi.; Li,u to gnimblrs J "vnlked into the office "<.">( ';. i; v i un/i io chill mo, A clou I ' c -•■ >" 1 > p ,-<•' ; rrcpy the &u>., E. o U'n;,', ju&l. ..a Diok cuno round to the

i door, the horseman came up, his horee all in b a lather. I knew him well enough \ Charlie r Evans, a stockman of Hunter's. Bad news , was written in his face, / " What ia it, Charlie ?" I said. [ "Mr Hunter's murdered !" he gasped. "Murdeicd ! Hunter murdered!" i "Yes, God knows why, but it's true 3 enough," Evans sairi, huskily, i The news took us all aback, for pror 5 Hunter was so generally liked. A better I fellow never lived. j ''Sit down till the super, crmes in," I j snid ; "he won't be a minute. Then tell us i all about it." ! As I spoke, Moore entered. L " Now then, Edwards," he said, coolly, ) "just tell me all you know. You'd best i wait;, Dick." I "I havn't much to say," eaid Evans. " A . black fellow brought word just now. Mr . Hunter went off for a ride last night, and i said he was going, maybe, as far as his brother's (a distant station). A black brought ; word a little while ago th*t the master was lying in Warri creek with his head all smashed and his throat cut. There's the missis half crazy. They are off with the black after tho body." " Mount you," said Moore to me sharply, " and go over." " Anything more, Evans?" I waited to hear before going off. " Well, yes," he replied ; "the black did say that his lot had met a man 'bout as big as me, maybe a little stouter, red beard, and one front tooth gone, with Hunter's saddle, At least we suppose it was Hunter's, and that he threw a purse away into tho scrub after he had got out of sight, as ho thought. But the black followed him, and got the purae, and it was Hunter's sure enough. The poor missis, she's nearly wild over it " " .N"o wonder," replied Moore; "but there's no time for fretting now. We must be after him, he can't have gone veiy far. Ho hadn't tho horse, you say ?" "No," said Charlie, "it must have got away from him. Though you'd think that it would have come home." "You can't say, you see," observed Moore. "You can't tell what may have happened." After a pause, " There'll be a reward before long, I suppose. Dick, perhaps you might do something in the matter. Better leave the other business and see after this one." Dick's face was set like steel. Between him and the dead man there had been warm friendship. His eye gleamed like that of a bloodhound onjthe scent. " Take my word for it," he said, in a low, hoarse voice, "the two villains are in con cert.'* "Perhaps so," said Moore ; " perhaps so ; still, don't be too certain. It may lead you on a wild goose chase if you do." "You'll see," said poor Dick, "I'll catoh them both as I'm a living man, and as for that villain I'll go to see him hung, that I swear." He tightened the saddle-girths as he spoke, and the next moment he was off, without waiting for more words. It was a dastardlj act sure enough. 'We found the body just as the black fellow had described, terribly mutilated. Deeply did we curse the murderer, and regret that one of tVie blacks, for there were five of them, did not go on the trail. But it was too late for regrtt?. Ou searching the body we found that it had been robbed of everything. Not that there was very much to take, except a little jewellery, What had become of the horae was a mystery, but that will be a yarn by itself some day.