JUMPER ADAMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4739, 2 September 1893, Page 2

JUMPER ADAMS.

I " There'll be thunder and blazes in the diggin's I when Peaceful Sam comes back an' finds 'is claim ' jumped," observed Hairy Tom sagely to tho crowd of loafers assembled ia the bay of the " Soaring Buster," the first and by far the largest of the three public-houses that had sprung up ' like mushrooms at the recently discovered Merrybefggoldfield; and, one and all, the listeners nodded their heads knowingly and agreed with the spokesman. The first shock of astonishment had given way to a feeling of excitement, which prevaded the whole commubity and became so intense that one ; by one the diggers had abandoned their work and collected in groups to discuss the situation and speculate upon the impending storm, Upon one man only had the general contagion apparently no effect; and yet, strange to say, he alone was the cause of the disturbance. When the others dropped their tools ho continued to hammer serenely away with his pick at the bank of the creek, humming the while a merry tune. No frown of anxiety creased his deep-bronzed brow, and no tremor of nervousness weakened the blows of his tool. To describe the situation we must go back a little. When gold was first discovered at the Merryberg fields, a month or two previously, a rush, in a small way, set in, and diggers from all ' part 3 of Queensland quickly congregated upon the scene like vultures round a carcase. In the first batch of arrivals was one Samuel Stoner, a big, hulking bully, with the strength of an ox and the profanity of a carrier, who, on account of his fighting propensities, was facetiously dubbed " Peaceful Sam," a name which ever afterwards clung to him, and by which alone he soon came 1 to be known. Having had some previous experience in prospecting, he was not Blow in staking . put the likeliest olaim on the river and getting to work. Gold there was in his claim without a doubt, although at first he found no nuggets, and • he worked at it like a nigger from early morning till late at night; and when he was on the work there was nobody who could hold a pick with i him. After two months of incessant toil, Peaceful : Sam had amassed one hundred and sixty ounces of the precious metal. This would yield him ' something between five and six hundred pounds, quite sufficient to afford him a week's good spree ; so a right royal spree he determined to have. : Accordingly he bought a horse, packed up his gold in a canvas bag, which he slung across the pommel of his saddle, and set out for Eockhampton, some sixty miles distant, with the avowed intention of banking his gold, and then "knocking down his cheque" — that is, the cheque would be handed whole to the landlord of some hotel or saloon, who would ■ supply his guest and those whom he cared to treat with liquor until the amount was exhausted — or was supposed to be (which was not' always the samo thing). 1 In the meantime Peaceful Sam had, by means ' of incessant bullying and the use of the most bloodthirsty threats, constituted himself a sort of " cook of the wait," and his name was a terror in the community; so much so, in fact, that upon leaving for Eockhampton he not only made no provision for preserving the title to his claim, but Openly dared anybody to appropriate, or "jump" it, during his absence. I Upon the tenth day after ho had left a stranger appeared at Mcrryberg with a pick and shovel and ' very little else. The now comer was a wiry but i youthful-looking man, slightly below the middle ! height, whose beardless face made him perhaps appear younger than he really was. At the outside he could not have been more than thirty; but he had a shrewd look in his keen eyes and a firm cut about the mouth and chin, that spoke of indomitable pluck and set determination. He said his name was Adams. In n very business-like manner he proceeded at once to rig up a shanty, and the same night saw him housed beneath his own but somewhat frail roof. The next morning he was stirring early and, pipe in- mouth, sauntered leisurely through the diggings. By-and-by he came to Peaceful Sam'a vacant claim and examined it with a critical eye, taking up a handful of soil and sifting it in his palm. Then he turned to the man who was working the next claim and enquired how it was that this one was vacant. The man, who happened to be none other than Hairy Tom, willingly supplied the asked-for information, and further descanted at large upon the character of the late tenant and . the probable treatment anybody would receive who had the hardihood to jump the claim. Other diggers came up and corroborated his statements. "What's the name o' this "ere terror ?" asked the young "man coolly. " Peaceful Sam." ".Ain'the got another name?" '.'. Stoner, I Vlieve," replied Hairy Tom. • .: "Well, then," went on the intrepid Adams, j " when Mr Stoner comes back 'c can start j prospectin' agen. There's gold 'erej and Adama • is goin' to work it! " An' if Peaceful Sam works in this claim. agen, 'c works for me." ■ r • At the3e words the little knot-of listeners stared at one another aghast and then tried to dissuade the young man from carrying out his design. But all their efforts only served to strengthen his determination. " EH chaw yer up," remarked Hairy Tom ; '•' Vs twice as big as you. There ain't a man in the diggin's durst tackle 'im." " Then 'eH find a pretty tough bit to chaw at," replied Adams nonchalantly. " Ormebbe, 'ell cleave yer skull with 'is shovel," I .hazarded another. To which the doughty ■ Adams ■ quietly responded, "If 'c don't get 'is own split open first. Look 'ere, now, mates! I've only got five pounds in the world; but I'll lay that wi' any of yer, even money, that I stick to tho claim; au' Penceful Sam neither chaws me. up nor splits my skull open ; an' if you'll lay me two to one, I'll jump 'is blooming shanty too! '' The fatter ofter was quickly taken; Stoner's shanty was pointed out to the daring stranger, who at once took possession, after removing his lew belongings to it, and then coolly aud methodically set to work with pick and shovel in tho deserted claim. Eleven day,3 had already passed sinos 'Peaceful

T tjsm's departure to Rockhampton, and he might '; now be expected back at any hour. Just after sun3et, that very night, when the bar of the ; Soaring Buster was crammed with diggers, all j still eagerly discussing the man they now referred j I to as " Jumper" Adams, a bullock waggon drove | into the diggings and pulled up at the door of the I public-house. At the front of the waggon sat Stoner, looking frightfully seedy and bilious. He had successfully knocked down his cheque, and had returned for another spell of -work. A3 the bully entered the bar an embarrassed hush fell upou the expectant crowd. Stoner looked from one to another enquiringly, but nobody cared to lire the train. Wonts of explanation hovered on the tip of many a tongue, but, reckles? roughs as they were, they felt v sort of admiration for Jumper Adams' pluck, while at the same time they had no great love for Peaceful Sam, and each man was loth to set the bully at the interloper, although he knew that sooner or later the encounter must come off. Stoner glanced savagely round, and then seizing a little . man who stoud near by the shoulder, fiercely demanded, embellishing his request with a few choice ornamental oaths, " Wol's up? Out wi' it, ye.r flamin' crowbait." ."A stranger's come an' jumped yer claim," the little man jerked ?ufc spasmodically. Everybody waited breathlessly to hear the first explosion, but for a time everybody was disappointed. Never in all his chequered career had Peaceful Sam Received suoh a stagger as this. The shock was more than he was prepared for. The bare idea of anybody daring to jump his claim ! He could hardly grasp it, and he reeled back helplessly against the men who stood behind him. He even forgot to swear ! The sight of the bully being so taken aback was so novel that a broad grin appeared upon more than one swarthy visage, and an audible titter avose upon the outskirts of the crowd. Before Stoner could recover his composure, a voice from near the door piped out, ','Aa' lie's jumped yer shanty, too !" The second shock was quite as severe as the first had been — if not more so — and for a few seconds Stoner glared vacantly around in silence. It was the ominous calm before the breaking of the storm, and ere any of the loafers volunteered any further intelligence Peaceful Sam found his tongue and gave vent to a perfect avalanche of expletives. Never once did he falter; and in its way his effort was a most finished performance. " Where is the thieving anatchev, an' I'll go an' cut 'is liver- out?" he roared passionately, with flashing eyes, bringing down his fist heavily on tho counter. "Isee'd 'im turnin' inter yer shanty when 'eknocked off work a bit since," replied one. Peaceful Sam made for the door, and emerged into the fast gathering night, showering curses around him, while the crowd followed close at his heels to witness the fun, and if necessary, to prevent Jumper Adams from being killed outright. Meanwhile, the object of the bully's wrath was peacefully unconscious of what was going on up at the Roaring Buster. As the light began to fail. he had knocked off work for the day and adjourned to the shanty, where he was now comfortably settled on an empty keg with a billy of tea and a damper before him. Calmly indifferent to the fate that was supposed to be hanging over him, he applied himself with keen appetite to the creature-comforts, and had almost emptied his billy when the tramp of many feet broke in upon him through the bark walls of his shelter. Above the surging din of the advancing crowd he could distinctly near the infuriated Stoner's sanguinary threats, and a curious smile played for a moment on Jumper Adams' shrewd features as he paused and listened intently. Then the smile faded, and he resumed his usual nonchalant air as he once more lifted the tin vessel to his lips and drained oft' the last drops from it. As lie put down the empty billy on the cask that did duty for a table the door of the shanty was burst suddenly open, and Peaceful Sam crossed the threshold, announcing his arrival with a specimen of his most belligerent oratory; while the diggers crowded round the door, hustling each other roughly in their eagerness to obtain a position from which they could watch, the issue of events. Apparently the curses had no effect upon Jumper Adams, for he quietly remained seated on his keg, and did not even take the trouble to raise hi 3 head until Stoner had advanced with clenched fist to the middle of the little room. Then — and not until then— did the lesser man, without rising, cooly turn his dark, determined eyes full on the bully, and very calmly and very deliberately he said — '•' Sam Stoner, drop it! For close on five years I've followed your trail from goldfield to goldfield and from rush to rush, from Sandhurst to Ballarat, from Gyinpie to Charters Towers, and from Canoona to Merryberg. You know what there is between you. and me; and now I've come up with you, you can bet your soul and swag you don't shake mo off." Whether it was the speaker's words or the sight of his face that wrought the electrical change in Peaceful Sam's demeanour the spectators could not determine ; but certain it was that the two ahocka he had received at tho "Eoaring Buster " were mere flea-bites to this. This was a clean knock-down blow, which instantaneously crushed every vestige of fight out of the braggart. His upraised fist fell listlessly . by his side, hig jaw droppfed, and his eyes fairly bulged from his sallow cheeks as he stood, for a second or two rooted to the spot before dropping limply on to a log that served for a seat. It was very evidontthat Jumper Adams stood ia no danger either of being "chawed up" or of having his skull Bplit open. For a few minutes he kept his eyes steadily on the cowed bully j then he turned tothe spectators, and with a grim smile of satisfaction on his face, said — " You can leave us now, mates; there ain't going terbeno pantcrmime performance to-night, an' Peaceful Sam an' me 'as" a bit o 3 business to talk over together." So the mystiGed diggers returned to the " Boarihg Buater" to argue upon the inexplicable turn events had taken, leaving the discomfited Stoner and the triumphant Adams to enjoy each other's society undisturbed. What passed that night, in the shanty nobody .knew j- bdt-. soon after -sun•rise the following morning, Peaceful Sam, with a. sullen frown on his face, was noticed to be at work in his old claim under the personal supervision of Jumper Adams, who did not forget, bythe -"way, promptly to collect tho amount of Ma wager. What was the nature of the influence that Adams exerted over the former bully — now bully no longer — none of the other diggers could find out, and very soon they gave up trying to. From that day the two worked steadily together, Stoner doing the digging and heavy, work while Adams attended to the washing and lighter jobs. There •were no more sprees — no more chequei to be' knocked down for Peaceful Sam, for his new master wa3 a strict disciplinarian and kept the big man's nose diligently to the grindstone. Early and late, week in and week out, the thud of the pick and the creak of tho cradle could be heard issuing from Adams' claim, and regularly twice a month a consignment of gold was sent down to the Bank at Eoekhampton. Soon it began to be whispered about the. diggings that some big nuggets had been found in Adams' claim ; but how far tho rumour was correct Merryberg never knew, for the proprietor j was singularly close upon business matters. ! Still, it was generally understood that he was | making money fast, though how quickly was I entirely a matter of conjecture. Perhaps Hairy I Tom, who worked the adjoining claim, was tho j most competent of the outsiders to form an J opinion, for he himself wa9 doing remarkably well, although he was working single handed, and his claim was, he judged, vastly inferior to his neighbour's. As for Peaceful Sam, he at first submitted to : the new arrangement with a very bad grace, and it was tho unanimous opinion of the frequenters of tho "Roaring Buster" that, had his taskmaster's hold upon him — whatever it | was— been les3 powerful, he would speedily j j have kicked over the traces. By-and-by his I • sulky demeanour gave way to an air of hopeless i resignation, which lasted for twelve months or so. At the end of that time ho began to have occasional interval of dismal cheerfulness, and • once ho was heard to laugh. It was a e'epressing ' .mournful sort of n laugh, it is true; yet it was a j • laugh, and Merryberg marvelled. But Peaceful j

Sam's spirit was broken. He had lost that fluency of language that had at one time been the admiration of ail who heard him, and his fame as a rowdy had long since sunk into oblivion. But Jumper Adaim never changed. He remained the same shrewd, level-headed follow he was the first day he appeared upon the scene right up to the very day upon which he suddenly left Merryberg, dragging Peaceful Sam with him like a chained hound. jSfobody but himself — and, perhaps, Stoner — was aware of his intentions, and a few hours afterwards the news that he had sold his claim and left Merryberg for good came like a thunder-clap upon the diggings. After another year of digging, and "cradling," and " panning-off," the gold in Hairy Tom's claim suddenly gave out, and he, too, left Merryberg. Now Hairy Tom was by no means the unmitigated fool that the Australian gold-seeker generally develops into. Occasionally he had varied the tedium of constant digging with a few days' spree, but he had never systematically knocked down his cheque whenever ho had a hundred or two to his credit, and thus it happened that at the time his claim was played out he had a considerable balance Wing in the Bank at Eockhampton. With this he determined to quit the goldfields and settle down. Of course, his first thoughts-turned to the Old Country, and nothing would do hut he must come to England. Accordingly ha made his arrangements. A few . weeks lafer the good ship Calabar landed him at Plymouth, and in due time the mail train deposited him at Paddington. In the courss of hia sight«seeing rambles about the metropolis he wandered as far as Botton Row one bright afternoon in May, and stood watching the endles.9 strenm of gay equipages that flowed before him, bearing along the rank and fashion of London. He had not stood many minutes when his eye 3 suddenly became rivetted upon a well-appointed landau, drawn by a pair of spirited greys, which was approaching. It was not the vehicle itself that attracted his attention, neither wa9 it the well-matched grays. He had eyes only, for the figure of a big man with a white hat, a light dust coat, and a flaming scarlet tie, who occupied the greater portion of the principal seat — a man with the features of Peaceful Sam. "Say, pard," he began, familiarly digging a gentleman who stood near in the ribs, "can you tell me whose that kerridge is ?" "The one with the greys?" returned the gentleman good-humouredly. "Yes."'- --" That is Mr Stoner's, the wealthy Australian— or porhaps I ought to say Mr 3 Stoner's." • "Mrs Stoner's!" repeated Hairy Tom. " Yes — the lady in it." The vehicle being now quite close to where he stood Hairy Tom turned his attention to the second and onlj other occupant of it, whom ho had not previously noticed, being too intent upon gazing at Peaceful Sam's familiar face. There was something about the lady which seemed strangely familiar to him yet it did not at first occur to him where he had seen her before. I He thought hard for a moment. Then a gleam of the truth broke in upon him, and he gave vent to a long low whistle as the carriage passed and disappeared in the crowd. "... " You have seen Mrs Stoner before, eh?" queried the gentleman, watching him with an amused smile. "Seed her afore? "he replied; "well— yes, only the last time I seed 'er they didn't call 'er Sirs Stoner— she was Jumper Adams."