THE NOVELIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1428, 5 April 1879, Page 21

THE NOVELIST.

$itot f «m fm-js.

A COLONIAL STORY.

By Fabian" Bell,

Author of "Stella," the " Big Nugget," &c.

[Written for the Otago Witness.)

Chapter X. "In the Toils."

" Do you think this is quite the thing? quite— in short, quite honourable," said Maurice, looking with a doubtful expression into ElHs's face, after the two had held close and earnest converse for at least an hour, and at the yery moment when Ellis thought the affair was finally settled, and the tool he had so long been Becking already in his hand, he laughed scornfully and patted the floor impatiently with his foot.

"We business men can't be always vapouring about honour," he said im patiently. "We look after the substance rather than the shadow. Honour, as you use the word, is a mere name, a bogie with which to frighten children."

" It is very real to me," said Maurice, quietly. "Oh no doubt, no doubt, you belong to a good old family, and noblesse oblige of course, I understand all that, ' it goes without telling,' as the French say."

A sudden hot flush rose to the very roots of Maurice's hair ; it seemed to him that Ellis spoke in " covert scorn," hinting at the circumstances which had caused him to leave England. But in truth the other knew nothing moro than Maurice himself had told him, and it was his general knowledge of the world, and of the secrets which are found in every family that caused the slight touch q£

scorn whioh under-lay his smooth words. Maurice, however, gave them a peraonal application.

" Why discuss the question," he cried. " Tell me again what you wish me to do, and I will see whether I can undertake it."

Ellis did so.

" We want you to go to the Wai-wai mine, ostensibly as clerk to keep the mining accounts, &c, but chiefly to serve as a check on the manager, with whose conduct we are not quite satisfied. It is a position of great trust and responsibility, and that your interest may be one with ours, we offer you, instead of salary, a small share in the concern. I have already explained to you its nature, and the large profits we are making, and the still larger that we hope to make. Is the offer sufficiently attractive 1 "

What could a poor man, without money, without prospects, without employment, answer to such an enquiry? It was attractive, almost too attractive, for the seeming liberality of the offer surely hid some harder conditions than those which appeared on the surface. Maurice vaguely saw this, though he was not of a doubtful or suspicious nature.

" And you want me to go—

"Immediately," said Ellis, "we shall send you with full credentials, and you will commence your duties at once. Come, my dear fellow, don't ' sin your mercies ' as the Scotch say, but take a good thing when it is offered to you ; believe me, there are dozens of men in Dunedin who would jump at such a chance, and I was only too pleased to secure it for you, thinking that it would exactly suit you ; not too much desk work, a pretty country, and two or three nice families in the neighbourhood."

Maurice declared that he Bhould have no time for visiting, and that he could not expect the nice families to open their arms to a penniless stranger j still he was pleased and flattered at the suggestion, and began to lose sight of his first objections and difficulties. After all, the owners of the mine had a perfect right to watch their manager if they suspected his integrity. Ellis saw his advantage, and pressed for an immediate decision.

" Maurice yielded half reluctantly, but no sooner had he done so than he became eager and anxious to begin his new duties at once.

" I must show myself worthy of your patronage/ he said, with a smile, "I shall hope soon to master the details of my work, and prove myself quite an adept in mining matters."

Ellis bit his lip, this was soarcely what he desired. The simple-minded young Englishman, with his high notions of honour and honesty, his handsome face and attractive manner, was a tool worth any trouble to utilize. Invaluable, so long as he did not know too much, but if his eyes should open to the real nature of the transaction in which he was embarked, then this useful instrument might prove a dangerous weapon, wounding the hand which held it.

" Oh," he said, "we will let you down gently. Macintosh has had sole command so long that he will not care for any interference, and you will have to work your way in by degrees ; you must watch and wait, and make friends of the people round. A little simple bookkeeping and a few letters are all you will have to attend to just at first ; if you attempt to meddle with mining details, manager and men will take flight at once, and you can't think how difficult it is to get good miners out here."

" I'll do my beßt," said Maurice.

' ' Do what we ask you, neither more nor less," returned Ellis, gravely, " and your fortune is made. I will have the deeds giving you an interest in the mine, drawn up and ready for signature by the end of tne week, and you can then Btart for Wai-wai as soon as you feel inclined."

" The sooner the better, I am tired of idleness and long to be at work."

By the next mail Maurice wrote home the letter from which wehave already quoted, it was the last which reached his English friends, who watched in vain for further intelligence; hoping that no news was good news, and fearing they knew not what, but the want of their fears did not in any degree touch the reality.

Maurice went to Wai-wai full of hope and eagerness.

By almost imperceptible degrees his aspirations failed and faded. The mine seemed a flourishing concern, to the full as successful as Ellis had represented it to be, the out-put of coal was considerable, and the sale good ; but of the internal working, of the extent, management, and economy of the mine, Maurice knew nothing, and he soon found that it was not intended that he should learn anything. The manager or rather over seer, for he was little superior to the men under his orders, offered a dull surface of passive resistance to the young man's efforts at a better knowledge ; he was a Scotchman and very deaf into the bargain, and by a skilful use of these qualifications, he baffled, without any apparent design, the advances of the young Englishman, pretending not to hear or not to understand the questions addressed to him.

But sometimes, after a useless controversy in which Maurice had in vain striven to make his meaning clear, and Macintosh had opposed him with dogged inertia, the young man detected a twinkle of triumph in the small eyes of the overseer, and felt certain that he was neither so deaf nor so stupid as he wished to appear. For some reason or other the overseer had determined that the clerk should not enter the mine. The objection might lje

in mere jealousy, but it might bide nefac rious practices of some kind.

Maurice wrote to Ellis, as the representative of his employers, told him the fact and requested more authority. Ellis ignored the letter, and when tha question was repeated, made a careless reply, in effect, bidding the young clerk mind his own business, and leave the affairs of the mine in the hands of the overseer.

These instructions agreed but ill witk those which Maurice Stretton had received when in Dunedin to " watch the manager and act as a check upon him." The young clerk grew strangely restless and uneasy. The "nice people" in the neighbourhood, who were quite as sociable as Ellia had predicted, found the young Englishman not such good company as he had ' been. He grew silent and reserved, refused their invitations or accepted them with indifference, seemed often dull and pre-occupied, and strangely unwilling to leave the neighbourhood of the mine, which possessed for him that curious "attraction of repulsion," the nature of which has never been fully explained, though it is found throughout all nature, from the rattlesnake's victim upward*. Maurice felt it in all its force ; he hated the mine and all connected with it, and yet he could not bear to be long away from it.

Macintosh was much disappointed ; he had hoped to disgust the young clerk, and drive him away, and inatead of that he found Maurice in the office day after day, conning his books and making the most of the few letters he had to write.

" Deil take the callant," he muttered, " Why should he fash me wi' his clavers ? Why for canna he gan back to Doonedin j he'B o'er nice for thiß work."

But there was one person who dreaded, above all things, Maurice Stretton's possible departure, and this was Maggie Macintosh, the overseer's eldest daughter.

The accommodation at the Wai-wai was extremely limited, a few wattle and dab huts for the miners, a frame house of four rooms for Macintosh his wife and family, with some rough stables a/nd sheds, formed the whole of the mining township, One of Macintosh's four roomß did duty as a general store, where tea, sugar, soap, and above all, whisky, were retailed at prices which must have added greatly to the legitimate profits of the man's situation, to the "pile" which he was steadily accumulating. Needless to say that the spirit was sold sub-rosa and without a license, and that it was of such a fiery nature that none but hard-headed Scotchmen could hope to drink it with impunity. One of Maurice's many offences lay in the fact that he had remonstrated with Macintosh on the illegality of this trade in strong waters, and its evil effects on the men.

" They are never fit for anything after a bout at your store," he said. "If you must find them in whisky let it be of a better and milder quality ; in fact worth the money they give for it." The last sentence aroused Macintosh's ' deep and abiding wrath ; which smoul- ■ dered with the greater intensity, because he gave it no vent in words, pretending not to have heard the young man's remonstrances, though the dark flush on his '■ face convinced Maurice that his words had not fallen on deaf ears, however unheeding they might choose to be.

The fourth room in the cottage had' been appropriated to the use of the young clerk. This arrangement had been made by the company, and Maurice did not care to alter it ; indeed, it was difficult to see how he could have done so, as the men's huts were already over-crowded, ' and he was too much of a new chum to entertain the idea of building another for himself, so he took the apartment prepared for him and made the best of it.

It was a lean-to, long and narrow ; at the lowest end he could scarcely stand upright, while the small window made it . always dark and gloomy, and the wind whistled at its will through the ill-lined weather-boardings. Not much like the - bright, well-appointed rooms which he had been accustomed in the old country, but he had come to New Zealand prepared to " rough it," and he made light of all discomforts. Two things pleased him, . one was that the store was between his lean to and the roomß used by the Macintosh family, so that he did not suffer from some of the worst inconveniences of a wooden house ; and the other, that his door opened directly outwards, so that he could come and go without any communication with the other inmates of the cottage. The room, poor and bare as it was, was his only refuge from the troubles and annoyances of the outer world, and many a long and lonely evening he apent ' there, trying to read by the light of a small kerosene lamp, and listening against his will to the rush of the wind, and the sough of the rising tide as it beat on the great jagged rocks which lined the sea shore some few hundred yards distant. It was a wild and eerie spot. The mine itself stretched from the sea beach, where its mouth was, back into the hill behind. None knew how deep and how far the seam extended. Part of the surrounding land belonged to Government and had been leased by the partners who were now working the mine. Of them— with the exception of Ellis — Maurice knew little except the names. The land on ' either side of the slip thus leased was freehold and belonged to a non-resident proprietor who was supposed to be in' England, and whose interests were care-. lesßly watched over by an agent in Dunedin. The seam did not extend deeply under ground, but was worked like g

tunnel into the hillside,«o that lifts were not required, and the coal was run out on a tramway straight to a tiny wharf, thence it was shipped away in small boats to the various sea : ports on the coast. The coal was not of the first quality, it was brown and sulphureous, but it burned fairly well, and was in much [request at those places in the neighbourhood where wood was scarce and dear. And the Btatement which Ellis had made to Maurice that if they could put out twice the quantity there would be no difficulty in Belling it, was quite true. "We ought to make our fortunes," he had said. And Maurice soon perceived that a coal mine was a far more certain source of prosperity than a gold mine. ' But Macintosh's determined opposition made him uneasy, vaguely he felt that there was "a screw loose somewhere, and he experienced this feeling so strongly that he could not write home freely ,and gaily aB he would like to have done, and bo it came to pass that two mails went out bearing no letters from his pen ; and when a third mail day came he deferred wriiing until che last moment, and then some business matter detained him so that he trusted his letter to another hand to post. That letter never reached England, and whether it was lost or wilfully destroyed he never knew ; it was, however, only one of many which shared the aame fate, and never reached its destination, CHAPTER XL "My father will kill you." The sense of secrecy and mystery in connection with the mine increased and deepened as the year drew on. , Maurice suspected and feared, but made no positive discovery of any kind. One summer evening, after he had been at Wai-wai about three months and was beginning to have a good knowledge of the neighbourhood, he sauntered up to Macintosh, who, leaning on a fence, was umoking his evening pipe, and getting into conversation with him suggested a gtroll along the coast. The overseer acquiesced sulkily. Maurice exerted for his benefit, all that diarm of manner for which he was famous, and the Scotchman's reserve relaxed and his , surly visage puckered itself into quaint creases as the young man told good Btories, or repeated witty sayings. It is a mistake to suppose that it is only educated people who appreciate conversational powers. The same ready tongue and bright wit, which had charmed so many at home and abroad, were not without their effect on this illiterate obstinate miner. He forgot his deafness and spoke with leBS brogue than usual. They strolled about until the twilight began to fall ; then Maurice said : "By the way, Macintosh, I wish you would show me exactly how far our land extends, and where Mr Cambell's property begins ; I know it must be somewhere about here." ", Your na sac far fra' recht," returned the other, and taking the pipe from hia mouth, he pointed out the boundaries one by one ; here a huge boulder, there a cabbage tree, or a blind gully, it had not been considered worth while to fence the barren unbroken soil. Maurice followed the boundaries with his eyes. " The land is bleak enough to look at," i he said carelessly, "its riches are all underground, and I suppose the coal extends under Cambell's land, as well as under ours. Eh, Macintosh !" " Deed sir, I canna say," was the cautious answer, as the Scot set his face homeward. Maurice lingered a moment and then overtook him with long strides. "I say, Macintosh," he cried, "it would be awkward for us if the seam was to turn right or left and leave our land altogether and go into Cambell's ; but I Buppose there is no danger of that, coal is is not so uncertain in its movements." The overseer started and his clay pipe fell from between his teeth ; he kicked the fragments away with a muttered imprecation. "Gallants will aye be clavering," he said in a scornful tone, "Dinna ye fash yer'sel aboot the mine, young man. It'll last your time." " Indeed I hope so," returned Maurice, but that would be an awkward state of affairs. Would it not V And he laughed, and, as if amused at his own fancy. Maointosh shot a keen quick glance at the careless speaker as if to probe his meaning and see how much he knew or suspected ; then without any'ceremony of leave-taking, he turned abruptly away end entered his house, leaving Maurice's question unanswered. The young man smiled slightly at the churlish manner of his subordinate, who was however only subordinate in name, and then he turned his face towards the murky sky and sent his thoughts far far away over the dancing waters of the wide Pacific. He was &oon lost in bright dreams, half of memory, half of hope, and he started as a woman's hand, reddened with toil and exposure, but still a woman's, soft and clinging, touched his arm. " Well, Maggie," he said without turning round. "What ha' ye done to raise father's dander the nicht, Miester Stretton," said the girl, "hea'n a fine takin' and. miscallin' you awful. Have you said ought to rile him?" "Not that I know of, Maggie. He broke his pipe a while since and perhaps that angered him, and you know that he is not over fond of me. The reasons of his dislike may be known to you, certainly they are not known to me."

" Maybe he doesna care to be fashed wi' fremd folk," answered the girl vaguely. She was Colonial in breeding, and inclination, if not in birth, and could use her national brogue almost a» it pleased her. ' Maurice knew this and said :

" Come, Maggie, dont talk Scotch to me, you know I don't understand it. Is it not a lovely evening V " I don't know what you mean about lovely," she answered simply, " those red clouds are pretty enough, but they look as if it would be rough to-morrow." "It always rains or blows in this infernal country," said Maurice impatiently. His companion smiled, the imprecation did not shock her, she was accustomed to much stronger expressions, and Maurice had heard more than one round oath fall from her pretty lips. "Yes, it will be rough to-morrow, and the boats won't be able to win in," she said, shading her eyes and looking out to sea.

"Maggie! does Captain Jack ever go into the mine ?" questioned Maurice. "No sir, none ever enter but father and his men ; who should wish to go into such a dirty horrid place ?" " Well, I wish to go ; and what is more, I intend to go." "Oh no," she cried with sudden agitation." Don't think of it, you must not think of it."

"But I do think of it, it is my duty to go, and in spite of your father's opposition i mean to do so, on the very earliest opportunity." "You will never go into the mine," she said in a low strained voice. And looking at her with astonishment, he saw that her ruddy face had paled to the very lips, and that she trembled in every limb with some unknown excitement or fear. " Why Maggie, what ails you ?" "Nothing, nothing, don't mind me." " But I must mind you, I cannot bear to see you looking so ill and scared. Have you seen a ghost V "Perhaps I have," she answered. " But come, Mr Stretton, promise me that you won't try to go into the mine." " You are very mysterious," he said, laughing, "give me a reason for this strange wish." "Because," said the girl in a low piercing tone, "father will kill you ; I ■heard him say so." And then without waiting for another word she sprang down ,the steep pointed rocks to the very edge of the water, and was out of sight in a moment. ! Maurice stood for a few seconds like one stunned, then he hastened to the beach, determined to follow and question her clooely, but she easily slipped pa3t him in the gathering darkness, and all his search was in vain.

"Maggie, Maggie," he cried. But no answer came, save from the flapping wings of the sea-gulls, as, startled by his cries, they sped away over the ■darkling waves. "Maggie, Maggie." The rock echoes gave an indistinct reply, and he wandered on vaguely searching and calling. ' After a while he ceased to trouble ihimself about the girl, feeling sure that she had found her way home, and gave himself up entirely to his own strange thoughts.

"My father will kill you." The words rang in his eara, just as she had uttered them with an accent of truth which could not be mistaken.

Almost from the first day of his arrival at Wai-wai he had felt that there was some mystery connected with the mine. Nay before he went there, when Ellis first made him the offer, he had felt that all was not right, and now the more he realised that offer and dwelt upon Ellis's manner, the more convinced he was that there was something underhand about the affair, though what its nature mightbe, he could not conjecture. Here imagination lost itself in vague and purposeless wandering. Had it been a mine of gold or diamonds it might easily have been " salted," but who would take the trouble to " salt" a coal mine and then to shut it up from all visitors. No, the the idea was absurd ; even he, who was so ignorant of all mining details, could not entertain it for a moment. But then what could he imagine, what could he suspect* The whole thing was vexatiously mysterious and absurd.

"My father will kill you." The words were doubtless a mere threat, though the girl had seemed to believe them. It was painful to Maurice to be the object of such determined dislike and opposition. Hitherto he had been an almost universal favourite, and this new experience was as new as it was unpleasant. He had easily divined that the man was jealous of him and his authority, but he had expected soon to live down the dislike and find in Macintosh a partisan, if not a friend ; and now ho was told that the man's hatred amounted to murder, for certainly the wish had been there, though the words might be intended only as a threat.

Maurice Stretton was no'coward, young strong men seldom are, for courage is much more a physical endowment than people are willing to confess, and he was in no way inclined to swerve from his purpose of exploring the mine, because the overseer thought proper to hate him and to utter foolish threats which he could not possibly carry out. " Silly fellow, 7 ' said Maurice, Bmilingto himself in the dark, "could he expect to frighten me with such talk 1 It was all very well for Maggie, poor little pigeon, she believed it all. How frightened the child was, and how anxious for my safety. Ah, well, one thing is certain, she does not hate me."

No she did not hate him, on the contrary she was rapidly learning to love him with all the ardour of a passionate, untutored, selfish nature, and it _ may well be doubted whether such love is not more fatal to its object than any hate could be.

It could not be said that Maurice Stretton had made a good start in that career which was to lead to fortune and Eveline. Of the two persons with whom he was thrown into closest contact one loved him too much, and the other loved him too little, and both the love and the hate were likely to prove equally dangerous. {To be Continued.T-Commcnced in No. 1424 )