Frank Oldfield Part 28

"And you too, Mr Oldfield?"

"Well, I am at present," replied the other, colouring; "and I hope to continue so."

"Ah, then, I suppose you've never signed the pledge."

"No; more's the pity."

"Oh, Mayster Frank," interposed Jacob, "you promised me, when you were so ill, as you'd sign when you got better."

"And so I will; but it's no use signing for the first time now, when I'm going home in a total abstinence s.h.i.+p. I'll join some society at home.

Our good rector's, for instance. Yes; I'll join his, and my name and example will be really of some use then."

"Excuse me, Mr Oldfield, pressing you on the subject, but I hope you'll allow me the privilege of an old friend," said the captain. "I feel so very strongly on the matter. I've seen so very much mischief done from putting off; and if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing at once; take my advice--'There's no time like the present;' 'Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day;' these are two good proverbs. I've found them of immense value in my line of life."

"Yes; they're very good proverbs, no doubt," said Frank, laughing; "but there are some as good, perhaps, on the other side, though you won't think so; for instance, 'Second thoughts are best,' and 'Better late than never.'"

"True, Mr Oldfield; but 'late' often runs into never."

Frank made a gay, evasive reply, and turned hastily away, leaving Jacob to arrange some matters in his cabin, while he went himself on sh.o.r.e.

He was loitering about among the warehouses till Jacob should join him, when a figure which seemed familiar to him approached, in earnest conversation with another man, but he could not see the face of either distinctly. After a while they parted, and the man whom he seemed to recognise was left alone, and turned towards him. But could it really be? Dare he believe his eyes? Yes; there could be no mistake, it was indeed Juniper Graves. That rather reckless character was, however, much more spruce in his appearance, and better dressed, than when in Frank Oldfield's service. There was an a.s.sumption of the fine gentleman about him, which made him look ludicrously contemptible, and had Frank not been roused to furious indignation at the sight of him, he could hardly have refrained from a violent outburst of merriment at the absurd airs and graces of his former servant. As it was, breathless with wrath, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng, and his face in a crimson glow, he rushed upon the object of his just resentment, and, seizing him by the collar, exclaimed in a voice of suppressed pa.s.sion,--

"You--you confounded scoundrel! you rascally thief! So I've caught you at last. I'll make very short work with _you_, you ungrateful villain."

Then he paused for a moment, and shaking him violently, added,--

"What have you to say for yourself, why I shouldn't hand you over at once to the police?"

Nothing could be more whimsically striking than the contrast between Juniper Graves' grand and jaunty bearing a moment before, and his present utter crawling abjectness. He became white with terror, and looked the very picture of impotent cowardice. But this was but for a minute; then his self-possession returned to him. He felt that, if his master gave him over immediately in charge to the police, everything was lost; but if he could only get a hearing for a few minutes, before any further step was taken, he was persuaded that he could manage to stem the torrent that was bearing against him, especially as, fortunately for him, Frank Oldfield and himself were alone. His first object, therefore, was to gain time.

"Oh, Mr Frank, Mr Frank!" he cried beseechingly, "spare me--spare me-- you don't know all--you're labouring under a great misapplication; if you only knew all, you'd think very indifferently of me."

"That's just what I do now," said the other, smiling in spite of himself. Juniper saw the smile. He was satisfied that his case was not hopeless.

"Pray, Mr Frank," he said humbly and softly, "pray do take your hand off my coat; there's no need, sir--I shan't try to escape, sir--I'll follow you as impressively as a lamb--only give me time, and I'll explain all."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Frank; "do you mean to tell me that you'll explain back my fifty pounds into my pocket again?"

"Yes, sir, and more besides, if you'll only be patient and hear me.

Thank you, sir. If you'll just step in here, sir, I hope to be able to explain all to your satisfaction."

They entered a little office connected with a weighing-machine, which happened to be vacant at the time.

"Now, mind," said Frank Oldfield, when they were shut in alone, "I'll have a straightforward statement, without any prevarication, or I give you over at once into custody. If you can't clear yourself, and I don't see how you possibly can, there's the jail before you, the only place you're fit for."

"I'm quite aware, sir, that appearances are against me," said the other meekly; "but, Mr Frank, you'll not refuse to listen to your old servant, that's devoted himself so faithfully to you and yours in England, and came across the seas just because he couldn't abide to be separated from you any longer."

"Come, sir," said Frank Oldfield sternly; "I'm not to be talked over in this way. You weren't so very anxious to avoid separation when you left me on a sick-bed, and made off with my fifty pounds. Come, sir, give me your explanation, as you call it, at once, and without any nonsense about your faithfulness to me and mine, or I shall put the prison-door between you and me, and that'll be a separation you'll not get over so easily."

"But you haven't heard me, sir; you haven't heard all. You don't know what I have to say in attenuation of my offence."

"I mayn't have heard all, Juniper, but I've both heard and seen about you a great deal more than I like; so let me warn you again, I must have a plain, straightforward statement. What have you done with my money, and how can you justify your abandoning me in my illness?"

"Ah! Mr Frank, you little know me--you little know what's in my heart.

You little know how every pulse reverberates with deepest affection.

But I'll go to the point, sir, at once;" for Frank began to exhibit signs of impatience. "When I saw you was getting ill, sir, and not able to care for yourself, I says to myself, 'I must ride off for a doctor.

But what'll my poor master do while I'm gone? he's no power to help himself, and if any stranger should come in--and who knows it mightn't be one of these bushrangers!--he'd be sure to take advantage of him and steal his money while he lay helpless.' So says I to myself again, 'I think I'll risk it. I know it'll look awkward,'--but there's nothing like a good conscience, when you know you haven't meant to do wrong.

'I'll just take the money with me, and keep it safe for him till I get back.' Nay, please, Mr Frank, hear me out. Well, I took the fifty pounds, I don't deny it; it may have been an error in judgment, but we're all of us infallible beings. I rode off to find a doctor, but no doctor could I find; but I met a young bushman, who said he'd get some one to look after you till I could return."

"And why didn't you return; and how came you to want two horses to fetch the doctor with?" asked Frank impatiently.

"Ah! dear sir, don't be severe with me till you know all. I took both the horses for the same reason that I took the money. I was afraid a stranger might come while I was away, perhaps a bushranger, and the very first thing he'd have laid his hands on would have been the horse."

"Well; and why didn't you come back?"

"I did try, sir, to come back, but I missed my road, and made many fruitful efforts to regain my lost track. At last, after I'd tried, and tried, and tried again, I gave up in despair, and I should have perished in the scowling wilderness if I hadn't met with a party going to the diggings. Then the thought crossed my mind, 'I'll go and dig for gold; if I succeed, I'll show my dear master that I'm no slave to Mammoth, but I'll lay down my spoils at his feet; and if I fail, I cannot help it.'

Well, sir, I went and dug with a good will. I prospered. I came back to look for my dear master, but I could not find him--he was evacuated.

At last I heard that you were going to England, Mr Frank, and I said to myself; 'I'll go too. I'll pay my own pa.s.sage. I'll be the dear young master's devoted servant, and he shall see by my unwearied intentions that I never really could have meant to do him wrong.'"

"And do you really think me such a fool as to believe all this?" asked Frank contemptuously.

"Yes, sir; I do hope you will, sir," was the reply of Juniper. "There, sir," he added, "I'll give you the best proof that I'm not the rogue you took me for. Please, sir, to read what's on that packet, and then open it."

Frank took from his hands a heavy parcel, on which was clearly written, "F Oldfield, Esquire; from Juniper Graves." He opened it. It contained six ten-pound notes and a leather bag full of nuggets.

"There, sir," said Juniper, triumphantly, "you can tell that this is no got-up thing. I've had no time to write these words on the paper since you collared me. I've carried it about just as it is for weeks, as you may plainly see by looking at the cover of it, till I could give it into your own hands."

It was clear, certainly, that the paper had been folded and directed some considerable time back, as was manifest from the marks of wear and rubbing which it exhibited. Frank was staggered.

"Really, Juniper," he said, "I don't know what to think, I can't deny that this packet has been made up for me before our present meeting, and it has all the appearance of having been some considerable time just as it now is. It certainly looks as if you didn't mean to rob me, as you've paid me, I should think, nearly double what you took. Of course, I don't want that. I shall not take more than my fifty pounds."

"Oh, sir, do take the rest, as some amends for the anxiety I've caused you by my foolish act, in taking charge of your money in the way I did without your knowledge or permission. It was wrong, and I oughtn't to have done it; but I meant it for the best. And oh, dear master, do think the best of me. I never did mean to harm you; and I'm ready to go with you now from the Pole to the Antipathies."

"No, Juniper, I shall only take my own," said his master; and he restored him one of the ten-pound notes and the nuggets, which Juniper accepted with apparent reluctance.

"So far," said Frank Oldfield, "let bygones be bygones. I trust that you'll not make any more such awkward mistakes."

"You're satisfied then, sir?" asked Graves.

"Yes, so far as my money is concerned. But there's a graver charge against you still. Jacob Poole has informed me, and a.s.serts it most positively, that you stole into his tent at the diggings and tried to murder him."

"Well, did I ever!" exclaimed Juniper, holding up both his hands in amazement. "I really think, sir, that young man can't be quite right in his head. _Me_ try to murder him! why, I've never set eyes on him since the day he spoke so impertinently to me at the cottage. _Me_ murder him! what can the poor, silly young man be thinking of. It's all his fancy, sir; merely congestion of the brain, sir, I a.s.sure you; nothing but congestion of the brain."

"It may be so," replied Frank; "but here he comes himself; let us hear what he has to say on the subject."

They both stepped out into the open air as Jacob Poole came up.

Poor Jacob, had he seen the "father of lies" himself walking with his master, he could hardly have been more astounded. He rubbed his eyes, and stared hard again at Frank and his companion, to a.s.sure himself that he was not mistaken or dreaming. No; there could be no doubt of it.

Frank Oldfield was there, and Juniper Graves was as clearly there; and it was equally plain that there was more of confidence than of distrust in his master's manner towards the robber and intended murderer. What could it all mean?