A ROMANCE OF BROKEN HILL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4855, 20 January 1894, Page 1

A ROMANCE OF BROKEN HILL.

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION. (Melbourne Age.) On a blazing hot day some fourteen years ago the. working head of one of the foremost legal firms in the city Bat in his room transacting intricate business. There were will forma and transfers, and mortgagee, and all the rest o£ the dusty material upon which lawyers thrive scattered about the table. The lawyer leant on the table, his head on his hand, and his keen face — bearing a curious resemblance to Carlyle's — all knitted and corrugated with thought. Evidently this waa a peculiarly intricate matter upon which his brain was working, and every now and than, as he pushed aside one document and took up another, plain traces of irritation could be observed, the same sort of expression that comes over the face of an expert chess player when he finds himself in an untenable position. A knock was heard at the door, and a clerk entered. A client had called and must be seen. The client was seen, advised in curt, sharp sentences and dismissed, and the lawyer turned to his papers once more. Then there was another knock and another client, and when the last had been despatched the chief rang impatiently the metal bell at his elbow. " I am not in to anyone, Wilkins," he Baid quickly to the junior clerk who entered; "not to anyone, mind/' and he settled himself in his chair fora prolonged wrestle with hiß papers. A quarter of an hour passed, the big clock on the mantelpiece only breaking the silence of the room, and then there came once more the regulation tap at the door. The lawyer looked up with something very like a frown on his ordinarily serene face. It was really too bad, when all his energies were concentrated and just ripe for gathering, and being thrown in one Btrong- effort on the weak epot in' thia refractory case, to be interrupted by some wretched clerk about a matter of detail. Still there was no help for it, and as the knock was repeated he cried desperately, "Come in." Perhaps of all the strange visitors the room hadseen the one who stood before the astonished eyes of the lawyer now was the strangest, and though theoretically and in novels an attorney is not supposed to relax, the lawyer smiled in spite of his irritation at being disturbed. This was certainly a very outrS client. The small figure of a boy, some thirteen years old, who looked much smaller because his clothes were several sizestoo large for him, and his legs and arms were much thinner than they had any right to be, Btood doubtfully eyeing the man of law. His rough frieze jaoket and moleskin trousara, together with his hobnail boots, and the total absence of anything that might indicate underlinen, gave him the appearance of a youthful desperado who had broken loose from prison ; indeed, the astonished lawyer looked as if he half expected a revelation of a startling character. However, he was not one to allow surprise of any kind to master him for any length of time. " Well, my lad, and what can I do Cor you?" " Tou sent for me, sir." " I sent for you ?" "Yes, Bir." "There surely ia some laughable mistake hero !" returned the lawyer. "No mistake, sir," broke in the lad. "I've come from the Industrial School. They told me you wanted me." Then the explanation of it all came across Mr S 'b memory. A few weeks \ before, having need of a boy to do odd jobs about the grounds of his private house, he bad applied to the authorities of the school, and this was the result. It was, liter all, a very commonplace incident, and Mr S. waa beginning to think once more of his interrupted work and loßt minutes. Still there was something about the certainty of tho'lad's demeanour that interested him. "I did not send for you, my boy. *1 jent for a lad from the school, and, of jourae, I must make enquiries and satisfy nyself that we are likely to suit each )ther." " No j you sent for me," replied the boy. ' I Bhall suit you, because I will do everything you want of me, and I am determined to enter your service;" " You are determined ? " " Yes. I shall get education and be able ;o find out who my mother and father vete, and riae." That boy was father of the man, and ifter a few more wordß he left the room ?ith the lawyer's private address written >n a card, He was to go to his house traightaway and date hia service from ihathour. In thia curious way the discovery of one if the greatest silver fields had, in a neaaure, been laid in train. But for the bcoident of a small boy from the industrial chool meeting a kind hearted lawyer, yho could read character quickly and .ccurately, it is more th;ia doubtful vhother Broken Hill would have been teard of to-day. The email boy duly entered into his [uties at the lawyer's house, and these rere, at first, of a humble Eort. Odd joba ,bout the grounds, boot blaokening and :nife cleaning were his principal occupaions; but all his work, it was found, was >erformed with a thoroughness and quicktess that the generation of previous boys he lawyer had employed had been comtlete Btrangers to. It waa said of tapoleon that if he had been born a ehoe>lack he would have been the beat shoe>lack the world had ever seen; and rith young Philip— -it was plain from the

outset that whatever he set his hand to was to be carried out with all his might, Meanwhile, the lines of his new life were cast in the pleaeantest places. The lawyer had signed an agreement not only to maintain and clothe his j>roUg£, but also to educate him, and this latter obligation he carried ont in the most liberal manner. Philip was educated with the sona of the house, waß treated as one of the family, and enjoyed in every way the advantage!, for the first time, of a refined home. He was not slow to profit by them. Always reserved and painstaking, it waß soon found that his mind was of a calibre that fitted him to a station in life far beyond what hie still humble dutiea would have entitled him to. His kind hearted patron was not slow to perceive thie, and one day he proposed to Philip that he should enter into possession of a desk in his office. The offer waa accepted gladly, and for a year the boy was busily occupied in mastering the routine of office details. Over this portion of an eventful career it is not necessary to lipgor. Suffice to say that in the office, as in the house, young Philip developed preoisely the same good qualities that had at the outset attraoted the attention of his employer. He had been in the office for a little over one year, when something happened which was to alter all his future, and not only his, but the lives, in all probability, of thousands of people. Just as some of the greatest and moßt momentous acts in history have hinged on trifles, so it is not too much to say the opening up of the great Barrier field turned on the accident that about fourteen years ago Philip suddenly and without warning displayed symptoms of a severe chest and lung affection. His employer was, of course, greatly concerned, and, without letting the boy know, he had him thoroughly examined by an eminent doctor. The result of it was to confirm the most melancholy forebodings. Philip, it was pronounced, waß literally full of disease j his span of life at the outside .could not be long, and the only hope wan to get him away into the country. The lawyer determined to act at oncei Without telling Philip that his health had been pronounced so precarious, Mr S— communicated with Mr George M'Culloch, with whom, at this time, lie waa in intimate business relations, The upshot of it was that Mr George M'Culloch agreed to give the boy employment at Mount Gippa station at a email salary, arranging that he should live in his house and receive as much attention and care as if he had been a member of the family. So young Philip, nothing loth to exchange the city for the country, duly set out one fine morning, with a good stock of clothes, a £6 note, and the good wishes of his adopted family, every member of whioh had become greatly attached to him by this time. What followed readß like one of thoie narratives of our ohildhood's days, whioh are intended to point the moral and adorn the tale of life to the young. Philip's wages did not amount to more than a few shillings a weekj but these few shillings he saved, and it began to be noticed on the Btation that whenever he had a day to spare he would disappear mysteriously with an old shepherd. However, both of them had always been somewhat of a solitary nature, and beyond it being fully recognised that Philip and the shepherd made periodical journeys into the country beyond the outer runs, no notice was taken of these jaunts for a time. They themselves were the first to give a clue to the motive for these mysterious rides. There was country, they told Mr M'Culloch, about the station that bore all the indications of rich silver bearing land, and one day Mr George M'Culloch called all the men on the Btation together, and told them of the shepherd's and Philip's discoveries. There were seven of them all told, and a compact was entered into that they should share and share alike, and from that moment the hunt for the precious metal commenced. Before many months had elapsed the ground had been pegged out, an agreement had been drawn up between the seven, arranging for the distribution of profits and the proportion of interests, and the great Proprietary mine had actually come into existence. How it proved at the outset a deposit of almost inexhaustible wealth ; how its original shares, after being divided, re-divided and subdivided, became of comparatively fabulous value, are matters of history as well known throughout Australia as the story of the Eureka Stockade. It was eome eight years after the day that Mr S had first seen the quaint little figure of Philip that he was again to be found sitting in His office, busy with his day's work. Presently there was a knock at the door, and in response to his call to enter there stepped into the room a tall, broad shouldered young man dressed fashionably and in good taste. The lawyer welcomed him gravely, thinking that a client whose face was unfamiliar, was before him. The client, for his part, greeted the lawyer with a cheery shake of the hand, and eeemed surprised and not a little mortified that the response was not more enthusiastic. However, it was not surprising that in the handsome, well set up young man before him Mr S. should have failed to recognise the little waif from the Industrial School of twelve years before. A few wordß were sufficient to explain matters, and the delighted and surprised lawyer was soon eagerly questioning his erstwhile protdgi. "What are you doing, Philip, may I af»k?" " Oh, I'm a station hand at Mr George M'Culloch's," replied Philip, with a twinkle in his eye. " A station hand," gasped the lawyer, " and you wear kid gloves and a frook coat and stay at Scott's Hotol. Surely, you are not one of those foolish fellowa who work hard for years and then come down to town and spend it all in m few days P " " Oh, no. I've got £26,000 in the bank, besides a number of original shares in the Proprietary mine at Broken Hill! " and Philip went on to relate the story of Mb good fortune. " And what do you intend to do with it all?" "Well, I shall do what Mr George M'Culloch does with the shares. I have a sister living, and I shall provide for her, and then I should like to find out something about my parents. I have always had a conviction that they were people far removed from a common rank of life." A few more words followed, and Philip left. He eaw the lawyer and his family frequently during the next few weeks, and then sailed for England. / He was aa good as hia word, and his ins tin eta in remark to his parentage proved to have been perfectly well grounded. His father had belonged to one of the best families in England, and his uncle, whom he discovered in London, and who welcomed him warmly, was and is at the present moment a distinguished ornament of the judicial benoh. Philip never parted with a single share in theProprietary.andto-dayjheiseatimatedtQ be worth something like £800,000. He has provided handsomely for his Bister and her husband, and to-day at the age of twentyBGven years lives happily with his wife and children on his estate near Sydney. Part of his story is well known to many, but few guess that the young millionaire owed his rise to the lucky coincidence that sent