Gleeson, fearful and subdued, scrambled up as he was told.
"Now," said Palmer Billy, with a fine tone of indignant authority, "we"ll go on to the second portion of this "ere drama. Pa.s.s me over them straps, my lad," he added, turning to Tony, and pointing to the weather-worn thongs he had bound round his swag.
As soon as he had them, he placed one in a noose round Gleeson"s neck, and drew it tight enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to check breathing.
"You hold this, lad," he said to Tony, who took the loose end of the strap and, just to see that it was all secure, jerked it slightly.
"I haven"t done you harm," Gleeson began to whine; "I haven"t done you harm. I"ll do anything----"
"Dry up," Palmer Billy snarled. "We"ll tell you when to talk."
Taking up one of the picks, he stepped in front of Gleeson, and held the pick so that the point of it rested on the crown of his head. Peters, following a hint, took up another, and stood by the side, holding it over his shoulder as though ready to strike.
"Now then, you scab of a mining shark," Palmer Billy said, in the full force of his raucous voice, "you"ll say what I bid you, or we"ll sink a shaft through your skull and see where your brains lie. D"ye hear?"
Gleeson, muddled, dazed, and terrified, mumbled out that he had never done them any harm.
"We ain"t talking about that, because there ain"t no talk in it. We ain"t sharks, but you are, and we"re just going to teach you something of what work is like. First you"ll tell us just what your game was and who were in it. Then we"ll tell you what we"ll do."
"You"re choking me," Gleeson whined. "I can"t breathe, and you"re breaking my head. I never did----"
"What was your game?" Peters interrupted to ask.
"I told you. I never meant to harm you. It was a fair deal. The claim was to be sold between ourselves, and then the big find was to be made and the claim sold again, only to some one else, and then----well, that"s all. There"s nothing wrong in that. It"s done every day in mining. It"s the only thing that pays in mining. Grubbing for nuggets is no good. Not one in ten thousand makes anything out of that; any fool can make a pile out of the other, if he only does it properly. I know the ropes. I"ll put you all into a good thing later on, you see; something with more money in it than you"ll make in a lifetime at grubbing after nuggets. You trust me. I"m square. I don"t want to harm you. We"re all mates, and----"
"Who were standing in over this swindle with you?" Peters asked.
"It wasn"t a swindle. It was a fair speculation--a good open deal, and it would have made the fortune of every one who had the savee to see through it. Where"s the swindle to sell what others want to buy and at their own valuation? We don"t ask them to buy. We don"t put up the price. We only tell people what a good thing we"ve got, and let it get known that so much gold has been found on our claim. If they come in and offer us big sums for our chance, and we take the offer, where"s the swindle?"
Palmer Billy, moved to intense indignation, dropped the pick he was holding, and walked away for ten yards, swinging round and coming back with an angry stride.
"Swear, you slippery-tongued shark, you; swear by all the bones in your body that if you----"
The oath, whatever it might have been, was never completed nor administered, for his emotions becoming too much for him to hold in check, Palmer Billy sprang upon Gleeson, and gave vent to his feelings in a manner which was more satisfying to him than a mere oratorical outburst. Had he been allowed to complete his intention, the future career of Gleeson would not have been connected with mining swindles.
For a time Peters and Tony, neither being predisposed in favour of Gleeson, stood by watching the chastis.e.m.e.nt Palmer Billy meted out, undisturbed by the cries for mercy and the yells of pain which the resounding blows of the raging digger called forth from his victim. It was only when both cries and yells ceased, and Gleeson lay senseless and inert, that they interfered.
"You"re only wasting it," Peters said quietly, as he took hold of Palmer Billy"s arm. "He can"t feel it now."
Tony caught the other arm in time to prevent it delivering a blow at the man who had interrupted Palmer Billy"s pleasant entertainment of thrashing one of a tribe who had so often lured him to destruction.
"Darned dirty I-talyan," he gasped, as he struggled to break away and re-open the campaign on the prostrate Gleeson.
"Give him a chance," Peters said. "Let him get his wind. There"ll be none left for us to go for if you don"t ease up a bit."
"That"s fair, boys; that"s fair," Palmer Billy exclaimed. "It"s your go next; I"ll stand by while you have your go."
"But what have you left for us?" Tony asked, as he let go Palmer Billy"s arm.
Gleeson, very much bruised and dishevelled, lay on the broad of his back, breathing heavily.
"Put him in the shade, with a bucket of water on his head. He"ll understand what honest mining means when he wakes up," Palmer Billy remarked, as he looked down at the prostrate figure.
They carried him into the shadow of the scrub and poured some water from the creek over his head. Then they left him to recover, while they gave their attention to the meal which had been so unceremoniously postponed.
When they had finished, they turned their attention again to Gleeson.
But they had not hurried over their meal, having little care or consideration for him; and he, recovering consciousness while yet they were engaged, felt no qualms about making his retreat as quickly and as quietly as possible. Aching in every bone, and with every muscle bruised, he crept away through the shelter of the scrub, not daring to look for the swag he had thrown down, or the hat which had been knocked from his head. There was only one instinct or desire in his being--the instinct which drives the wounded rat back to its hole to die, the instinct of self-preservation working in its meanest range. His swagger and bl.u.s.ter had been hopelessly crushed out of him by the vigour of Palmer Billy"s attack; and to have been, as he considered, twice deserted by his own comrades, rendered his subjugation even more complete.
By the time that his flight was discovered he had over half an hour"s start. The opinion as to the direction he had taken was unanimous--he must have gone back to the other creek to join his mate Walker.
"You slip over and pa.s.s the word along the creek," Palmer Billy said to Tony. "Tell the boys we were keeping him for them to deal with when they found how they"d been sold. They"ll be about fit to boil him when they find out they"re all sold."
"If a few of them come along," Peters said, "we can run him down in a few hours, and then we can----"
"Roast him," Palmer Billy interrupted savagely.
"Better let him get bushed. It"s a hundred chances to one if he"ll travel far after the hammering you gave him," Tony said.
"No, that would be cruel," Palmer Billy exclaimed. "He"s only a mining shark, but still, white men ain"t cruel."
So Tony left them, and returned to the creek in full expectation of finding Gleeson there before him. But as he approached the slope which extended down from the level track to the creek, he was astonished to see his own horse and Gleeson"s quietly feeding, with their bridles, broken, trailing from their heads. To catch and mount his own was soon accomplished, and he rode on to the creek.
His approach was entirely ignored by the men along the banks, and he sat still on the bare back of his horse for a time looking with amazement before him.
Up the creek and down the creek men were stooping over the water, and many of them standing in it, as they washed, in every description of utensil, from a billy-lid to a soft felt hat, the gravel they obtained from immediately beneath the scanty turf on the banks. There was no talking, no shouting, no quarrelling. Behind each man there was a small patch where the turf had been turned back so as to enable the gravel to be scooped up, and the energies of every one seemed to be wholly devoted to the washing of the gravel, handful by handful, while the eyes were strained to catch a sight of the smallest particle of gold in the muddy swirl the gravel and water made in the article used for a dish. The intentness with which the work was done; the feverish movements of the men; the quick gestures and the grasping care exercised by them over the gravel,--all suggested that their antic.i.p.ations had been realized, and they were really obtaining gold from the dirt.
Tony rode nearer the line of men. One had a small square of flannel open on the ground beside him, with a stone at each corner to prevent its being blown away, and in the centre Tony saw a small but steadily growing pile of yellow metal. Another man was using the lid of his billy as a dish to wash the gravel, while into the billy itself he was putting what he picked out of the slush. Yet another, as low down on his luck, perhaps, as it was possible even for a Boulder Creeker to be, was washing the gravel in his old felt hat, and had stripped the shirt from his back to lay on the ground as a receptacle for the gold he found; and the pile on the shirt showed he had struck a promising patch.
Everywhere it was the same; everywhere the men were silent and busy, and everywhere they were finding gold. The discovery drove all idea of Gleeson out of Tony"s head, and he turned his horse back towards the rise, and rode rapidly up it and across to the scrub where he had left Peters and Palmer Billy.
"They"re on gold; there"s gold all along the creek," he shouted out, as he galloped up to where the two were standing.
For answer Peters held out the lid of the billy-can, and Tony saw in it four large nuggets and a quant.i.ty of coa.r.s.e gold dust.
"That came out of the first two dishes," he said.
"We"ve struck it rich since you"ve been away, lad, struck it rich, which is all through killing that d.a.m.ned shark," Palmer Billy cried, capering up to him. "But--what price?" he exclaimed, as he stopped and stared at the horse. "Where did you raise this?"
"Down by the creek. Gleeson"s was there as well," Tony answered.
"It"s your own horse?" Peters said. "The one that was stolen?"
"That"s so," Tony replied. "But there were only the two, and I left Gleeson"s where it was."
"It"s right into our hands," Peters went on. "We were just yarning about it as soon as we saw there was gold in the creek."
"Tucker, lad, tucker," Palmer Billy interrupted. "We"re going to work along the creek while the stores last, but there"s only enough for a few days, and we were wondering. Now it"s all straight. You can ride off for enough to keep us going for a month if needs be."
While the stores lasted they worked in the creek; when the stock became so low as to threaten a famine, Tony, with the gold already won in his possession, started off, riding bare-backed for the spot where the saddles had been "planted," and carefully avoiding the men along the other creek. Finding the saddles where they had been left, he took his own and rode away towards Birralong, antic.i.p.ating the entertainment he would have at the expense of the wise men who had prophesied so freely about the results of following up a wild-cat scheme.