Jr. Horatio Alger

“ Clearly it was a case of attempted robbery.
“Run, Jack, run!” said Harry, in excitement. “Let us help the old man!”
“I’m with you,” answered the young sailor briefly.
Harry had in his hand a heavy walking-stick—his only weapon—but he did not stop to consider the personal risk he was running. As he drew near, the old man, whose feeble strength was quite unequal to a conflict with a man so much younger, swayed and fell backward. His assailant bent over him, and despite his feeble resistance began to search his pockets, at the same time indulging in savage threats. ”

“ Campbell,” said Harry, “and consider your offer a good one. But it would be lonely for us here, and, though we may change our minds, we would like to try the goldfields first.”
“It’s only natural, lads,” said the shepherd. “You are young, and you crave excitement. When you are as old as I am, you won’t mind the quiet. But if you have bad luck at Bendigo come back here, and you shall be welcome to stay as long as you like, and to accept my offer if you feel like it then.”
“I am sorry you won’t stay,” said Lucy, with a shade of sadness. ”

“ In any mining settlement a thief fares hard. In the absence of any established code of laws, the relentless laws of Judge Lynch are executed with merciless severity. Beads of perspiration began to form on the brow of the thief as he realised the terrible danger he had incurred. What good would it do him after all to get away with the nugget if it should cost him his life, and that was a contingency, as his experience assured him, by no means improbable. ”

“ To Harry and Jack the sight was a novel one, and they regarded the extemporised village with interest.
Obed’s eyes glistened, and he rubbed his hands with delight.
“This seems like home,” he said. “It’s just like Shantytown in Californy, where I worked three months last year. I say, boys, how do you like it?”
[98] “I shouldn’t like to live here very long,” said Harry.
“I like shipboard better,” said Jack.
“I agree with you, boys,” said Obed, “but it’ll suit me well enough if I can find enough gold here. When I’ve made my pile, Australy won’t hold me long. I shall make tracks for home.” ”

“ Almost before I could speak it was discharged and the captain fell. He must have been killed instantly.”
“I little thought what lay before me when I left home,” said Harry.
“I wish I knew what lies before us now,” said Jack.
“I am afraid our prospects are rather dark. We must take care at any rate not to fall again into the hands of the bushrangers. I am most afraid of that man Fletcher. If he could have his way, he would show us no mercy.”
“Let us go on again,” said Jack. “I only stopped to catch my breath.”
“You are right, Jack. The farther we get away from the bushrangers the better.” ”

“ Rupert Ring smiled slightly as he heard Fletcher’s modest claim.
“Comrades,” he said, “you have heard Fletcher’s appeal. It is true that he is the oldest in service among you. It is for you to consider whether that entitles him to the post of leader. Those of you who are in favour of Dick Fletcher as your leader will signify it by raising your right hands.” ”

“ He found to his dismay that the hotel charge for their very plain accommodations was a pound a day for each of them. But Melbourne was full of strangers, drawn thither by flaming accounts of the richness of the mines and the bright prospects of acquiring sudden fortunes, and war prices were prevalent everywhere.
“A pound a day!” exclaimed Jack in open-eyed amazement. “Do they take us for millionaires?”
“I began to think they were imposing upon us,” said Harry, “till I made inquiries elsewhere. I find a pound a day is about the usual tariff for such accommodations as we have.” ”

“ As Harry listened he began to understand that Fletcher acted as a decoy, to ingratiate himself with parties leaving Melbourne for the mines, and then giving secret information to the bushrangers with whom he was connected, enabling them to attack and plunder his unsuspecting companions.
“That’s a pretty mean sort of business,” he said to Jack, when he had an opportunity to speak to him without being overheard. “I’d rather be a robber right out than lure people into danger.” ”

“ LATE in the afternoon, John Fox knocked at the door of Benjamin Howard, in the town of Ferguson. It was a hundred miles distant from Colebrook, his own residence, and he grudged the three dollars he had spent for railroad fare; still he thought that the stake was worth playing for.
“I am John Fox of Colebrook,” he said, when Mr. Howard entered the room. “You may have heard of me.”
“I have,” answered Mr. Howard, slightly smiling.
“I am the only living relative of Harry Vane, that is, I and my family.”
“I have heard Harry speak of you,” said Mr. Howard, non-committally. ”

“ THE BOYS ARRIVE AT BENDIGO
“YOU are entitled to half the reward offered for the apprehension of this man,” said the leader of the police to Obed Stackpole. “I congratulate you. Fifty pounds is a sum not to be despised.”
“Especially when a man has been robbed of all he possesses by bushrangers,” said Obed. “If you’ll excuse me, captain, why does your government allow them rascals to roam round the country, plundering and killing honest men?”
The captain of police shrugged his shoulders.
“We can’t help it, my good man. We do all we can,” he answered. ”

“ The man hasn’t long to live.”
This proved to be the case. During the night Harry and Jack, who were accommodated with beds in a hut near the prison, heard a noise and a sound of men’s voices, but they were too fatigued and worn-out to be thoroughly roused. In the morning, when they left the hut, they needed no explanation. From a lofty branch of a gum-tree a hundred yards to the west dangled the body of the unfortunate criminal, a terrible spectacle, contrasting painfully with the bright and cheerful morning. ”

“ Harry and Jack seated themselves on a settle near the fire, and the girl continued to eye them curiously.
“I suppose you are boys,” she said.
“We don’t call ourselves men yet,” answered Harry.
“I never saw a boy before,” was the unexpected remark of their young hostess.
“What!” ejaculated the two boys in concert.
“I scarcely ever saw anybody,” explained the girl. “My father and I live here alone, and have lived here for years. He has a flock of fifteen hundred sheep to watch and tend. Sometimes another shepherd calls here, and we had a visit from the bushrangers last year.” ”

“ Then again it was very mortifying to watch the exultation of Fletcher and Colson, who had finally triumphed over them after being successfully baffled.
“The worst of it is,” said Obed to Harry, who was walking alongside of him, “that them skunks have got the best of it. It’s their time to crow now.”
“That’s the way I feel,” said Harry soberly. “I believe I would rather have lost twice as much to anybody else.”
“We haven’t lost all, that’s a comfort. They will take the money we have with us, but if ever we escape to Melbourne, there is the nugget money waiting for us.” ”

“ The boys left the office in high spirits.
“I don’t see but our prospects are bright, Jack,” said Harry.
“I didn’t think so when we were on the island,” said Jack, “or when we were captives among the bushrangers.”
“No; we have certainly seen some hard times. Let us hope that we have had our share, and may look forward now to happier days.”
Now that their future was arranged, the boys were in a hurry to leave the city and visit their friends. Obed sympathised with them.
“Boys,” said he, “I’m gettin’ kinder homesick. There’s an old man and a girl I want to see, and tell ’em of my good luck.” ”

“ Stackpole. “I want to see him a free man, with a home that can’t be taken from him. Then I’ll look after the other matter.”
“You are right, Obed. I only wish I had a father to help and care for,” said Harry soberly.
“I’ve got a stepfather,” said Jack, “but I don’t feel much like helping him.”
“You have a mother, Jack.”
“Yes, but I shall have to be careful about giving her money, for her husband would get it away from her before long.”
“Well, boys, we won’t borrow trouble before the time comes. For all I know Suke Stanwood may have got tired of waitin’ for me, and married some other feller.” ”

“ Clinton, with modified pleasure, offering two fingers for Jack to shake, for he had not forgotten that Jack had been a sailor.
“When did you come from Australia?” asked Clinton.
“We only arrived day before yesterday.”
“And what luck did you have at the mines?”
“We struck it rich. We are all capitalists, Jack and all.”
“You don’t say so! I wish I had gone with you, really now.”
“I don’t think you’d have liked it, Mr. Clinton. We had a hard time. We had to wade through mud and mire, and sleep on the ground, and twice we were captured by bushrangers. They wanted Jack and myself to join the band.” ”

“ The boys smiled, but not hilariously. They felt, as Obed expressed it, that matters were indeed becoming serious. To run short of money nearly ten thousand miles from home was no light thing.
“We might sell the claim,” suggested Harry.
Obed shook his head.
“I don’t think we could,” he replied. “Everybody would understand our reason for selling—that we despaired of finding any gold—and instead of getting twenty-five pounds, I doubt if you could get twenty-five shillings for it. You know about how long twenty-five shillings would last us.” ”

“ There are three principal localities—Ballarat, Bendigo, and Ovens. We might try one of the three, and if we don’t have good luck make our way to another.”
“Which shall we try first?”
“I have thought of Bendigo. I hear of one party that cleared two thousand pounds out of one hole.”
“How much is that?” asked Jack, who was not very well acquainted with any but United States currency.
“It is equal to ten thousand dollars,” answered Harry.
“That’s a big pile of money,” said Jack, his eyes sparkling.
“True, but we mustn’t expect to be so fortunate. It isn’t everybody who succeeds as well as that.” ”

“ As a rule, the miners retired early. They became fatigued during the day, and sleep was welcome. There was, indeed, a gambling saloon at some distance, frequented by the more reckless, but generally good hours were observed in the camp.
About half-past eleven, Obed nudged Harry and Jack, who had fallen asleep.
“What is it?” asked Harry, in a drowsy tone.
“Hush!” whispered Obed. “Don’t make any more noise than you can help. I think it will be safe to go and secure the nugget now.”
This was enough. Harry was wide awake in an instant, and he in turn roused Jack. ”

“ We have been captured by bushrangers, taken to their camp, seen the murder of their leader, escaped, and after walking for miles through a rough wilderness here we are, tired out and in danger of starvation.”
“Don’t say any more, Harry,” said Jack faintly. “I can realise it without your description.”
“I wish Obed were with us,” said Harry, after a pause. “Perhaps he could think of some way out of our trouble. He is an experienced man, and is used to roughing it. As for me, I feel helpless.” ”

“ The nugget was raised, and wrapped in a red bandanna handkerchief, which Obed had brought all the way from his New England home.
“It must weigh seventy-five pounds,” whispered Obed exultantly. “Boys, we’re in tall luck. It was worth coming out to Australy for. We’ll keep it in the cabin over night, and to-morrow we’ll put it where it will be safe.”
They gained the cabin without having been seen so far as they knew. Of the hundreds of men sleeping within a furlong’s distance, not one dreamed of a discovery which was to draw the attention of the whole colony to Bendigo. ”

“ It had been the professor’s intention to give a series of performances in Melbourne and other parts of Australia, but the unexpected delay had led him to change his plans, and he now proposed to return home at once. Harry Vane, however, having no near family ties, for he was an orphan, felt inclined to stay with Jack, and try his fortune for a time in the New World, which appealed strongly to his imagination and youthful love of adventure. ”

“ Meanwhile Jack had been attentively examining the face of the alleged victim. He quietly beckoned to Harry to move off to a little distance.
“Well, Jack, what is it?” asked Harry, somewhat surprised.
“That man is one of the bushrangers. I remember his face very well. It is one of the gang that captured us.”
Harry was naturally startled.
“Are you sure of this?” he asked.
“Yes, I know him as well as I do Obed.”
“Then it is a plot. We must get away if we can. There is danger in staying here.” ”