THE NOVELIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 41

THE NOVELIST.

£No"w Fibst Published.]

THE PRICE OF A LIFE.

By FABIAN BULL. Author o£ "After Lone Years." "Stella," "The Maharajah's Diamonds," " The House in the fells/ "The Letter in Cypher," "He and She," "The Hero of the Araw»," <ftc., &c.

]ALir Rights Reserved.]

Ohapteb XXXIV.

The Indictments' IE miners "surged up and down is a dense mass, moved hither and tbither like waves of wheat when the storm blast blowa over it. "What is the matter?" "Why have we bean called here?" "What is wrong I" they asked ono another; and though they got no immediate answer they did not disperse, bat remained in expectation of the information whioh they knew mnst come sooner or later. Stubba had summoned them, and a<*ked them to m«»t him there on a matter of life and death. And they knew that in due time he would appear. After a little delay be did so, and taking no notice of them, sprang Into aa empty dray which the carters to | whom it belonged had just discharged, and I which stood outside the township, waiting until its owner should be ready for the return journey. Its low, broad frame, crossed and recrossed by stout timbers, formed an excellent platform from which to address the assembled meeting. As Hiram got vp — not without difficulty, for his right arm was still in apliatu, and his once sunburnt faca was pals and drawn — a. murmur ran through the crowd, to most of whom he was well knowa,, though few had seen him since his accident. " Miners of Bandigo and Ballarat," he hegar!, "of Oven 6 and Goal Greek. I see that you remember me." " Yes, yes,- we remember you. Go oa — hurry up, old chap I " ' "That's all very well, but I have something to tell yoa that cannot be told in a miaate ; that will take some little time in the telling. Will you listen to me patiently 1 " " All right, we ain't in a hurry. Go it, old hoss." " Do you remember Jakes, my old pal, the best chum man ever had 7 " ■ f " Yes, yes, what about him ? " " .He's dead. Murdered." " Ah ! " A deep-toned inspiration, which swayed the crowd as one man, broke from the diggers. They swayed backwards and forwards, and the resemblance to a field of : wheat became more parfect. "Yes, Jakes is dead, foully murdered," I replied Stubbs. " Aud by his mate, a man ! whom I picked ap in tbe streets of Melbourne half -starving, and brought here, and to whom I gave a share of my claim and treated like a brother." " Who was it 1 " asked one and another ; but no one answered or seemed to know, and again they riveted their attention on the speaker. " I made him my partner. It is not my ' way to do things by halves. I fancied him. I don't know why, but I did. Perhaps he was like my brother or some friend in the old country. Anyhow, I fancied him, and brought him up here to Dead 1 Man's Flat. Oar claim proved a do flier, and so. I started off I prospecting again, and found a grand spot. Boys, I wish I could show it to you 1 " "So do we." " Why didn't you 2 " . . « Not too late to do it now," rose from, all sides. Stubbs shook his head. " Unfortunately it is too late, as you will hear. Jakes and I and this other fellow went to it. We went on tbe quiet, because we wanted to make a little pile before we reported to the Government and took our reward. It was a grand place, the richest spot . I ever saw. Gold was just lying on the ground, calling one to pick .it up. And 1 need not tell you we were not slow to do that. ,It was making one's pile and no mistake. After a time we wanted more tucker, and the traitor went back to get it. Of course, we told him to keep dark and not blab. Well, he was back a day sooner than we expected, and when he came back be told us a queer jam. He said two men had dogged him on bia return to the camp with the tucker, and that he had killed them. We did nat know whether to believe his story or not, Jakes and I ; anyway we did not like it." " Aoh himmal litis de kuf ," said the German, Frita who together with Vost forced his way through the crowd, and came to the front, standing just under the platform. Stubbs saw that he had scored a point. " dome -up her© and tell your own tale 1 " he said. They obeyed, and Tost acting as spokesman, again repeated the story which he had told Grimshaw. As he told it the anger of the miners increased, and cursea loud and deep rose from the crowd, and fists wera olenched and shaken, and hands were laid menacingly on knife and tomahawk. It was a cowardly crime which all oould appreciate, and the gentle kindly German and his mate had made many frieads. When the" story wa« done, "Vcfit stepped

down bom the platform and took b!s place among the crowd. Stnbbfi oonfcinaed. "Do jou wonder that Jakes and I grew snspioioaa of this man altar we heard this story, and when we wanted more tucker neither of as was willing to go and leave the other alone with him. We wanted him to go again, bub he said he had taken his tarn, and refused to badge. Most of the gold was in a care, and to get at thin we turned the current of the creek which flowed over the roof. It was a long winding cave, and one day when Jakes And I were working at the further end we heard the sound of running water, and goon found that it was pouring in from the roof. We couldn't understand this at all, bat after a time we began to smell a rat, and we suspected that our rascally partner had been playing us a trick, that he had turned back the water of the creek, and let it into the cave. Why did we think this ? you ask. Wby 1 because the thing couldn't do itself. It had been well thought and planned out, and what is more, he had shut up the mouth of the cave and fixed ifc so that we couldn't find It nohow. And so we were caught, Jakes and I, like rats in a trap." The orator paused, partly beoause he was oat of breath and weakened by his lqug illness, and partly because his rough native eloquence taught him to pauee at the telling point of his narrative. The group of miners drew nearer to the dray, their upturned facet shone in the light of the setting sud, and in. their swarthy visagea fierce passion and- revenge appeared distinctly visible ; but they knew that the story was not finished, and they waited patiently for the end. "We did not at first realise what had happened," resumed the Yankee. "We flaw and heard the water, but we did not understand that it was filling the lower part of the cave, and that it would rise until it should fill the whole cave and drown us, if we did not die of hunger before. Jakes was the first to see the danger. Ho proposed that we should try to find the opening and remove the stones or whatever it was that closed it. And he swam out to find the place, and afterwards I swam too. We had our picks, and we t! ought there would be no difficulty in maklDg a way through the side where the hole bad been, even if we couldn't find it — a few blows would make a way out for the water and ourselves. But it was harder than we bad expected ; we had no spot on which to stand, and the water was over our heads. Besides this we bad only one candle, which was stuck in my hat. We looked and felt carefully for the spot where the opeoing had been, but we could not find it. We struck the rook, but without a standing place to hit from we oould do nothing. Then we found a projecting point and stood upon that, thinking it would bear us ; we raised our arms to strike together, but the rock gave way. We fell backward into the deep water. My hat tumbled off and the candle too, and the lattei was Immediately extinguished." Again- the Yankee paused. The sun had ennk lower, but his red light stillillaminad the earnest faces of the miners, who were listening intently. " The water was aot very do6p, and I struck out immediately, being' chiefly annoyed at the loss of the candle. I stepped oat of the water, calling 'Jakes, Jakes, where are you ? ' 1 called again, and yet again, till the hollow cave rang with the ory. Then I went back to the water, feeling- my way with my feet, hoping that I might find the candle. Oh, how terrible was the darkness.' What wouW I not haves given for a single ray of light show where I was and for what I waa sacking. ' Jakes, Jakes ! ' I cried, ' where are you 1 Where are you 1 ' but no answer came. Then I lost myself, and could not toll on which side to gat out of the water, but kept striking against the rock until it seemed to me that it was closing in around me on every side. I suppose I just went round and round in a circle, as men do who are lost on the plains or in the scrub. I cannot tell how long this lasted ; I was quite giddy and seemed to be going mad. Then my foot struck against something soft — a man's body — Jakes. I stooped and raised it in my arms ; it was heavy and cold— quite cold. Ifc was lying in only a few fe»t of water — water not np to his w;«st if he had stood upright, so I thought that he must have fainted. I did not think that he was dead. I dragged him. out of the water, for then I found my way easily without any more difficulty. I laid him on the floor of the cave, and then I found that the waters had risen a great deal since we went into them, for oar clothes were all afloat. I wrapped Jakes'sbody in them to try to bring back a little warmth and I rubbed his limbß and did my best to restore him tolife, but all was useless and the darkaess was terrible. I felt a wound in his temple where he mutt have struck it in falling, and I thought that blood had flowed from it, bat I could notr*be sure. Then I went back to the water to hunt for the candle, tramping ■teadily backwards and forwards, diving and hunting around with my hands. At last I found it. I got out of the water somehow, and finding a matchbox in my waistcoat pocket lighted the candle. Of coarse it splattered a bit at first, but I succeeded in the end. Then I looked at Jakes, and I saw that he was dead, quite dead. Say, boys, was my mate murdered, or was he not ?" "He was murdered I" rose the deep cry from the serried ranks of the excited miners ; "foully, treacherously murdered 1 Who did it? Show as the man I " Stubbs put up his hand. " Wait a bit. I want to tell you Borne more. This man has not a good record. Ha comes from England, where he was one of those wretches called fraudulent trustees. He was the bead of a big firm- of lawyers • thousands and thousands of pounds were placed in his hands— the large properties of the rich, the small savings of the poor. He made ducks and drakes of them all, bringing ruin, despair, and misery upon the rightful owners. Happy homes were blighted by his deeds, widows and orphan* were beggared, small tradesmen were forced to close their shops and their workrooms, labouring folk who had scraped and pinched all their live* to save a few pounds to keep them oat of the workhouse, when they found it was all gone, died miserably, fearing to eat the bread of charity. There's a man hera who will tell you about all this better than I can." He made a sign, and Qrimshaw sprang up berido him, «nd told la oimpls. stirring lan-

guage the story of the death of his father and his mother. « Say, boys," oriod Stabbs, " did thoie two die by the visitation of God or were they murdered I " "They were murdered I" came the deep, ringing voloe oil the crowd, speaking as one man. " Foully, oruelly murdered. Show us the man 1 " " Not yet. I have another indictment to bring against him. When he had done all the mteobief he could do in England, he sneaked away from his creditor* and came out here for his health (!) On the way out the ship in which thie Jonah sailed came in contact with an iceberg and was wrecked. The crew took to the boats, and oar fradalent bankrupt got into the boat with the womsn and children and made the sailors shove off, leaving other two women, as he thought, to die." A howl of oxeor&tion interrupted the speaker at this point, and the eyes of the angry men shone like tbose of wild beasts, and thefr clenched handa rose and fell. " The strange part," continued the orator, "is that these women did not die. They are still living, and eager to bring the doabledyed scoandrel to punishment. Bat all those who were with him in the boat died. Whether or not he had a hand in that no one knows but himself, and he, the sole survivor, was picked up some weeks later. Than he took advantage of th» position to suffer a convenient loss of memory, forgetting bis own name and that of the ship, and starting life in a eew country under a bow name, fiat unfortuaately the new mask covered an old face, and the rascal who had stolen the money of the poor survived to rob and murder his mates. If we let him go now it will only be to do more mischief." "We won't let him go. Whera is he? Show him to as." "There he i»l" All this time the wretched man, feeling that his hoar had come, had stood voder an old wattle, in close custody of two sturdy bleoks. He watched the proceedings with gloomy eyes; his thoughts were still more gloomy. As Stabbs continued' bis indictment, and the ring of upturned faces grew darker and more - threatening, Hardoastle knew thit he was already condemned ; yet he watched them with a terrible fasoination, like a bird under the influence of the rattle-snake. One by one his crimes were put before him, as they appeared to other men, and he saw himself as others saw him ; but the piotare so drawn did not affect him to any sort of repentance, only to helpless' despair. " Where is he ? Shew him to us," yelled the miners. And Stubbs answered, " Ther« f '» All eyes were turned to him with a look of such hatred and disgust that he might well tremble before it. Hiram made the two blacks a sign that they shnuld bring him before them. And summoniDg all his courage, he walked between his sable guards to the foot of the Improvised platform, whera stood his accusers, whom he confronted without flinching. "Oonrad Hardcastle, alias Oharles Hall," said Stubbs, " you have heard my indictment. Oan you give any reasons why judgment should not bs pronounced against you ? " "Any number," said Hardcastle coolly, "if there were the slightest chance of their being listened to ; bat I know that my case is already prejadged. In the first place, why do you address me by the nams of Hardcastle and accuse me of crimes committed in England of which I now nothing 2 " A thrill of indignation ran through the orowd. (Jrlmshaw stepped oat; tha red light of the sunset was reflected on his strong face. "Do you know mo t " he said. "I never saw you before in my life," asseverated the other with a curse. "Bat I know you," retorted Robert quickly. "Friends," he added, turning to the miners, "this is indeed Oonrad Hardcastle, the fcaudulent trustee, the trusted man of business, who ruined all who confided in him ; the destroyer of countless persons, whose rained lives and broken fortanes call atond for vengeance. I swear that this is he and no other." An indiscribable movement, bstween a groan and acurse, burst from the crowd, and they surged a step nearer to the doomed man. " That accusation is proved," said Stubbs qnietly. "Now for the next. Did you or did you not try to compass the deaths of Yost and Frite in Canyon Gully?" "I did," said the accused boldly; "and . there's not one of you bat woald have done the same. Self preservation is the first law of nature. If I had not got rid of them somehow, 3hey woald have followed me to our find, and what would Stabbs himself have said to that ? " ; It was a bold stroke, and it told. The tricks the prospectors had played to throw i men off the scent were well known and j generally condoned. ; Stubbs saw his error, and spoke quickly. I " I should have said that all fair means' were allowable under such circumstances ; but that setting men to walk over a precipice to certain death was going a little too far." "It was not certain death," said Hardoastle, " seeing they are still alive." " No aanks to yoa," said the crippled German, speaking for the first time. " 'Twas a fall to make dead, any man, only the water save us, aud my leg- and all my bodee is sore and ache all over mlt what you sail call de sorumatics. See, Ino can use them, and zee doctor say zey will never more be right." " Poor fellow," said a voice from the orowd of strong men;' "it would be better to die than to be so crippled." "Yah," said the little man simply, "I tinte so too, bat raeia matter and main weib— who would feed dem ? " The feelings of the orowd veered back into the former direction, and both Sfcabb3 and Hardcastle felt it. "Now," said the Yankae, "for the last count of your accusation. Did yoa' or did yoa not block up Jakes and me in the treasure cavo, and — having first turned on the water — leave us there to perish." Hardo&stle hesitated ; he knew that denial woald bs useless, and so determined to ibatsaa tt oa#.

"How can that be, since yon are bW now * " , "And Jakes?" "If he hadn't baau a fool ha woald have escaped too. ••Scoundrel! " replied Stabb3, fairly carried , oat of himtolf by the insolence of the, prisoner. "Do you dare thus to justify your crimes ? Boys, yoa know your daty." A sudden rash forward, and it seemed toHardoastle as if a dozen hands were laid at onoe upon his collar, and a vice-like^ grip seized either arm. He straggled madly, frantically, to free himself, until the sweat stood in great drops upon his brow, yet he coald not move hand or foot or loosen one iota of the stern olatoh laid upon him. . | Then a cry rose from "the outskirts of the camp. i " The warden— the warden is here." The stem vindicators of justice heard it,' and paused. The wretched oriminal heard It, and hope roie ones more within his heart. "If the warden interferes I am saved," he thought ; and he raised his head to cry oat. Q'Uck at thought Stubbs grasped the situation and the need for instant action. " Gag the prisoner at once and take him to my old humpy in the scrub. You know the place. No one will go there. And at midnight we will meet again/ There will ba' a fine moon — quite enough for oar work. Away with you at once { not in a body, but by ' twos and threes, lest we excite suspicion. S will meet the warden."