_ CHAPTER LVI. ADVENTURES CONTINUED
"Come, ain't you covies agoing to move along and get some lush, or is you goin' to stand here all night, and hanged to you?" cried the doorkeeper, who had secured the door, and wanted to turn his attention to any amusement that might be going on, including that of being asked to drink by any good-natured bushranger present.
"Don't you be in a hurry, you old grampus," cried Mr. Brown, with a swagger and an indifferent look, as though he had been used to just such society as was present. "We are strangers here, but we have lived in the bush for a few years, and knows a 'Trap' from an innocent."
To even claim the title of a bushranger was sufficient to secure respect from the common thieves who congregated around Ballarat, as there was so much danger connected with the pursuit of a robber who was obliged to live in the bush, and rarely show his face, except to attack a train, that petty knaves were always awed when one of the fierce rovers of the prairies made his appearance and condescended to speak. The doorkeeper's manners underwent an instantaneous change, and from the fierce bully he softened to the fawning panderer.
"I axes yer pardon, gents, 'cos I didn't know ye, and 'sposed you was sneaks from Melbourne. Let me show you to a table, and supply you with lush, and (here the fellow's voice subsided to a whisper) I knows the bottles that holds the best rum."
"You're the fellow for us," cried the inspector, slapping him on his back with pretended frankness. "Bring on the lush, and hang the expense. We're in for a time, and a jolly one at that."
Our cicerone led us across the room, and while we were walking every eye was upon us, and the least hesitancy or timidity would have betrayed and brought the whole pack upon us before we were ready to receive them. Therefore, without swaggering, or pretending to be very independent, we reached our allotted table, and called for three bottles of ale and three pipes.
Just then Dan called Steel Spring's attention, and we could hear him inquire in a whisper if he knew us. The long-legged scamp turned deliberately around, pretended to be surprised, hastily swallowed his rum, and then rushed towards us.
"Vel, if this isn't a surprise may I never speak again, or make an honest living vhile in the bush. To think that three of my old pals should turn up jist as I vanted 'um, is a vonderful thing and no mistake. If ye axes me vat I'll drink, I shall say rum."
We all pretended to be pleased to see the follow, and gave him such a rough welcome as we deemed his companions would be likely to bestow, and then, to his extreme gratification, ordered the rum that he was so eager to taste.
"It's all right," we could hear the ruffians, by whom we were surrounded, say. "Steel Spring knows 'um, and that's 'nough;" and then each man applied himself with renewed energy to drinking and smoking, and laying plans for future robberies.
"I should never have known you," Steel Spring whispered, "if you hadn't have peached about the toggles vot you vas going to vare. I don't believe that your blessed mother would know you, and as for your fathers they would be puzzled at any rate."
This was uttered in a whisper, and while the doorkeeper was gone for the rum and ale; and I suppose it was intended to be complimentary, although we didn't look upon it in that light.
"Is he here?" I asked, glancing around the room, and endeavoring to imagine which of those present was the assassin.
"Yes, it's all right; but I can't point him out, 'cos it would attract attention. Keep quiet, and drink your hale in peace."
We were constrained to follow Steel Spring's advice, although I promised him a kicking for his impudence.
"Jim," cried a black bearded fellow who sat near us, and who, Mr. Brown whispered, had served six years as a convict, and who preferred Australia to the old country, "when is you going to try your hand at the trade agin?"
"Not until the brads get low, and when Dan refuses to trust me for lush and grub," was the answer.
"Isn't it a pity that I haven't got the power to arrest these fellows, and hang them without a trial? They deserve punishment, yet there is no evidence by which they can be convicted. Your California lynch law would work wonders here in a short time."
The inspector felt as enthusiastic as an artist in the presence of a great painting, and Steel Spring was obliged to whisper a few words of caution for fear of a discovery.
The doorkeeper brought our drink, and expressed great gratification when we asked him to take a drop at our expense; but Dan, who was watching the operation, looked much more pleased when he saw Fred display a few gold pieces, and pay for the same; and at length the reserve of the landlord wore off; and seeing that we were strangers and had money, he made an excuse to call at our table, and grunt forth a few words of welcome.
"Is you from the town or bush?" he asked, appealing to Fred as the leader, because I suppose he had on better clothes than the inspector and myself.
"From the town; but on the lookout for a chance for the bush," my friend returned.
"Whose gang have you faked with?" was the next interrogation.
"Once we were with Black Darnley; but most of the time we have been together, picking up odds and ends, not making big strides, for fear of the Traps. We are getting short, and came here 'cos we were told that Steel Spring was going into business, and wanted a little help."
If Dan had any suspicious that we were not what we seemed, he kept them to himself at any rate, for after drinking "confusion to all d----d Traps," he returned to his old place behind the bar, and left us to do what we pleased. We were glad to get rid of him, for he had a wicked eye, and could see through a disguise quicker than any other man in Ballarat, robber or policeman. I afterwards accused Mr. Brown of giving him some private signal by which he was warned to hold his tongue, but the inspector denied it, not so emphatic as I could have wished, however.
"Go and invite your friend to join us," Mr. Brown said, addressing Steel Spring, for the night began to wear away. "If we are to pull together, we want to see what land of stuff a man's made of, so that we can know what risks to run and what to avoid. Them's my sentiments, and I don't care a d---- who knows 'um."
This was spoken in a tone of voice loud enough for half a dozen thieves to hear; and as Steel Spring had given out that, he was intending to raise a gang, they did not any longer feel suspicious as to our movements.
"That's the kind of talk I like a man to spit out," cried a huge black ruffian who sat near us, bringing his hand down upon his table with so much good will that a cup before him spilled out half its contents. "I like to 'sociate with men who have pluck, and know what they is about. D----n a coward, dead or alive," and with this emphatic declaration the ruffian drank what spirits remained in his cup, and then called for more.
"That's Tom Benchley," whispered the inspector, "and in spite of his big words and fierce looks, an arrant coward at heart. He frightens people by bouncing, although a boy of twenty could make him eat his words. You see that he sits alone. Most, of those in the room consider him a disgrace to what they call a profession; but the fellow always has money, and so Dan gives him the right of _entree_ to the select scenes."
Steel Spring, who had been to the farther end of the room, whispering with a young man, now returned, and introduced him to us as Ben Jackson. He was not more than twenty-four years of age; and I saw in a moment that he had never passed any portion of his time at the hulks, and that if he had ever been engaged in robberies it was only recently, and that he was not yet quite hardened to crime.
"Gents," said Steel Spring, waving his hand with an attempt to do the genteel, "allow me to introduce Mr. Jackson, a covey vot is desirous of jining our select society, provided, as the land sharks say, you is villing."
Jackson appeared delighted with the introduction; although I thought that I could detect a slight look of disgust upon his face when we extended our soiled hands and shook his white palm.
"Our friend tells the truth--I want to join a gang where I can make money, and then leave the country without danger. I don't want to stop in Australia all my days by a d----d sight."
Even the profanity was forced, and did not come from his heart. He considered it necessary to use an oath to make himself appear an adept in crime--but I saw through the disguise, and pitied him.
"It ain't every man that applies for a chance can jine with us," the inspector answered, assuming a deep and bass tone of voice, and language suited to his supposed condition. "We want men--half a dozen good, firm men, and then we can roll the money in without much trouble. Squat yourself, and then we can think of this 'ere subject, and find out what you can do to help us when we reach the bush."
"I like to meet men, and hope to prove myself one before we part," speaking in a manner that showed he was not destitute of education. "I've never been in the bush, but I hope under good guidance I shall soon be, and then if I show a white feather I'll agree to go without my share of the prize money."
"That's fair talk," I muttered, "and I think that the kid will make a goat. Let's trust him."
"I'm sure I'm very much pleased with your favorable opinion, and I hope I shall deserve it. I've already done some things that can't he beat, although I'm not in the possession of much money. Gentlemen, I must ask you to drink at my expense, if I can manage to negotiate with Dan for credit."
Jackson started for a short conference with the barkeeper, and Steel Spring whispered to the inspector to "draw him out, and hear him talk."
Dan apparently required some persuasion to give credit, but at length the representations of Jackson prevailed, and he returned to us radiant.
"The d----d old '_fence_,'" he muttered, "he is afraid of giving credit as a churchman, and nearly as mean. The next time I'm in Ballarat, I hope that I shall have money enough to pay for select lodgings, and then he and his 'Cricket' may go to the devil. What are you going to take?"
We ordered our liquor, and after it was brought made a show of tasting it, but we knew better than to drink spirit at the Cricket.
"By the way," Mr. Brown said, "you was saying something about your not being green, and that you had tried your hand at one or two things. Now, if you have no objections, we should like to know how you've been employed, so that we can judge of your mettle."
The young fellow paused; and I could see that shame was not entirely banished from his heart, for he colored, and then endeavored to crush his feelings with a drink of poisonous spirit.
"What need I care," he exclaimed, at length, a "short life and a merry one for me. A fellow may as well be dead as destitute of money, and when it can't be got by hard work, I'm in favor of taking it wherever I can get it."
"Them's the sentiments," cried the inspector, and then muttered in an undertone, "that have hanged better men than you."
"You see, gentlemen," Jackson continued, the liquor opening his heart, and making him loquacious, "that I began life in Liverpool, in the old country. I was apprenticed to a grocer, but I looked upon weighing coffee and tea as not the kind of employment for a man; so one day I stepped out of the store on board of a ship that was just ready to sail for Melbourne, and started to seek my fortune in this part of the world."
"Didn't you have any capital to begin with?" interrogated the inspector, with a wink of encouragement.
"Well, yes," hesitated the young fellow; "I forgot to say that I had five hundred sovereigns in my pocket at the time I left; and they were intrusted to me by my master to put into the Bank of Liverpool."
"Ah, that was something like," cried the inspector, rubbing his hands. "How old Slocum must have been astonished when he found that you was gone."
"You knew my master, then," cried Jackson, starting up with alarm depicted upon his countenance.
"Of course I didn't know him; but I can read, can't I? Didn't an advertisement appear in one of the papers at Melbourne, offering a reward for the arrest of one Charley Wright. But don't fear us; go on with your yarn. You've made a good beginning."
"I'm glad that you think so, 'cos I don't know as you'd approve of such kinds of pickings."
"Approve of 'em?" echoed the inspector. "No matter; you go on, and while talking I'll order more lush."
"I didn't find so many chances to make a fortune as I expected here," Jackson continued, "but I got employment in a store, where I worked daytimes, and at night I used to do a little on my own account in the pasteboard line; but I wasn't very successful, and somehow or other I think I was cheated."
"It's exceedingly probable," cried the inspector, _sotto voce_.
"And when I found that I was cleaned out after a few weeks, I attempted to retrieve my losses by borrowing from my employers," Jackson continued.
"Without their consent or knowledge," Mr. Brown remarked.
The young fellow smiled faintly, and nodded his head in token of assent, and then continued:
"One day I borrowed a hundred pounds, thinking that I could replace it without its being missed, if I was lucky at cards; but somehow I wasn't, and my employers began to make a stir in relation to the matter."
"That must have been exceedingly disagreeable to your feelings," the inspector insinuated.
"Well, it was rather hard, I will own, 'cos I might have been lucky after a while, and then I could have paid the whole debt without trouble; but men in business don't seem to have much consideration for their clerks; and I think that a good deal of crime originates through their obstinacy and stupidity.
"I was obliged to leave the firm with whom I was spending my time; and I did it so suddenly that they had no chance to arrest me, or to investigate matters. I stepped out of the store while the partners were holding a consultation, and in ten minutes time I was on board the 'Smiling Queen' steamboat, bound for Sydney, and beyond the reach of the police.
"I didn't have a recommendation in my pocket, for I didn't think to ask for one when I left Melbourne; and I have always entertained some doubts as to whether I could have obtained one had I requested it."
"Ingenuous youth," muttered the inspector, almost fascinated by his impudence.
"I tried to get a clerkship in Sydney, but didn't succeed; and then I accepted a situation as marker in a billiard saloon, where I flourished for a time--but one night a miner, who had been drinking quite freely, lost about a pound of dust, and was fool enough to make a fuss about it. I was suspected of stealing it; and although I pledged my word that I knew nothing of the matter, yet the gold was found in my pocket, and I was obliged to share with the police in order to get clear."
Mr. Brown endeavored to hide his chagrin by drinking from his glass, while Steel Spring could hardly contain himself he was so delighted at the _expose_.
"A precious sot of wermin those police fellers, hey?" cried the scamp, in defiance of all my frowns.
"O, they are the most rapacious set of villains," Jackson continued, "that ever lived. A man can't do an honest day's work without sharing with them. I know 'em, thoroughly."
"Perhaps you do," Mr. Brown replied, carelessly, and at the same time he gave Steel Spring such a tremendous kick on his thin shin bone that the poor devil was almost bent up double with agony.
"I ax your pardon," cried Mr. Brown; "I didn't know that your foot was there."
"Vell, you've found out," was the reply of the poor devil, as he rubbed his leg.
"After the transaction with the miner, I heard that a man could make a good living, if he was any ways smart, at Ballarat, so I came here and done pretty well, until an unfortunate occurrence took place, which has been the means of making me fight shy for a few weeks past."
"You see he used a 'sticker' rather freely," cried Steel Spring, in a careless way, as though stabbing was a meritorious act, which Jackson's modesty was too great for him to disclose.
"I thought I asked you to say nothing of the matter!" exclaimed Jackson, with a pallid cheek, and a frightened expression.
"Veil, so you did, but vat of it? Ain't ve all friends; and ain't it right that ve should know how much pluck a man has got?"
"If the gentleman has done any thing that is gallus, let's hear it," grumbled Fred.
"Ah, that's the talk; out with it at once," we all exclaimed, although in so low a tone that our neighbors did not hear us.
"Well, since the subject is broached, I don't mind giving you an account of the most dangerous expedition that I ever undertook; but mum is the word, for if that d----d Brown should get hold of me, I should have to swing for it."
"O, mum it is," we all repeated; and none were louder than the inspector in giving the promise.
"Well, the fact of it is," Jackson continued, "soon after I got here, and began handling the 'pasteboards,' I made the acquaintance of a young fellow who was at work mining with an uncle. I managed to clean him pretty well out; and then he used to steal pretty smart sums from his relative, until at last the old man missed his dust, and remonstrated against such injustice.
"One day, after a hard quarrel, the nephew came to me, and proposed that we should enter his uncle's tent, and take what gold he had left, and divide it equally between us. I didn't like the idea, but my friend was so sanguine that a few thousand pounds could be made without much of an effort, that I at last consented."
"I 'spose you mean that affair of Critchet's," the inspector said. "I could have told you that nothing was to be got in that quarter."
"How--you know of that attempt at mur--"
He did not finish the sentence, for the word seemed to choke him.
"Know of it?" repented the inspector; "of course I did. Don't I belong to a gang that hears of all such things? What would an organization be worth unless the news was reported?"
"But you didn't know that I was connected with the matter, did you?"
"Never you mind me--when you belong to the association you will know as much as I do. I'll give you the credit of saying that the job you undertook was well conducted, and only failed through the old fellow's shrewdness. Now drive on, and don't be bashful."
"We agreed upon a night," Jackson continued, "and about one o'clock we crept into old Critchet's tent, and began digging where we supposed the dust was buried, but to our disappointment found it was gone.
"My companion was so enraged that he uttered an exclamation loud enough to awaken his uncle, and he sprang from his bed and shouted for help. We feared that his cries would bring assistance, when we knew that our errand would be suspected, and that our arrest would be certain. We seemed animated by a kindred feeling, and both of our knives struck the old fellow at the same moment. He gave a groan, and fell to the ground, and then, fearing that he was not finished, we dealt half a dozen more stabs, and ran, as fast as our legs could carry us, to a gambling saloon, where we endeavored to forget our disappointment and terror by imbibing deeply of liquor.
"A little before daylight we stole back to the tent, thinking that we would raise an alarm in case he was dead; but we discovered that the old fellow had crept from his tent to a store kept by two Yankees. We tracked him by his blood, and feared that we were lost, but Follet--"
"Follet was the name of your companion, hey?" Fred asked.
Jackson hesitated for a moment, and then continued,--
"I may as well own that it was, 'cos I'm with friends who won't betray me. Follet said that he would visit the store, and by cross-examining the Yankees, find out what they meant to do, and whether the old man had made any revelations. He did so, and while there managed to drop a knife, which I had bought from them a week or two before, and which I took care to blood up, and then went before the commissioner, and boldly accused them of murdering his uncle.
"The dodge succeeded badly; the d----d fool of a commissioner let the store keepers off on bail, and shoved Follet in jail, to be held as a witness. But he's a good and true one, and has not once alluded to me."
"Is that all?" asked the inspector.
"That's all," replied Jackson, emptying his glass.
"Well, now, let me see your hands," Mr. Brown said.
Jackson held out his hands, which Mr. Brown grasped firmly, and then I heard two sharp "clicks," and to my surprise, and the consternation of our companion, a pair of stout handcuffs were on his wrists, and he was a prisoner. _