Midnight Webs Part 37

said another. While the third had been ill in bed; but forgot his pains when the dire news was brought.

Again there was a council of war; and it was decided that nothing better could be done than to wait for daylight and farther reinforcements.

"Don't you think so, Lawler?" said one of his friends, noticing that the settler looked gloomy and discontented.

"Yes, I think so," he said. "It's quite right--quite right; but I could not help thinking of those poor creatures waiting for our help, and wondering, hour after hour, why no aid comes. But we have done our best, neighbours, and I must agree that it would be folly to go on now in the dark, and weak-handed; for I suppose they would still outnumber us, according to Mr Meadows's account."

"It's giving them a few more hours to live," said one of the last arrivals grimly; "for I'm afraid they will not meet with much mercy."

"Nor give much," said another. And then he made a motion to the rest to preserve silence; for Mr Meadows was listening, half shuddering, to the remarks made.

"What do you advise, parson?" said one, who had not yet spoken. "You know most about this sad business. Should we go or stay?"

"Friend Laing," said Mr Meadows feebly, "I would that you had not asked me that question. With the thoughts of that poor lamb in the clutches of those ravening wolves, my heart says, Go--go at once, and strike to save her. But then reason saith, Would you send these men--fathers of children, dear husbands of loving and anxious wives--to encounter useless peril, and come to ruin and death, for want of a little care?

But I think this: the miles are long between this and the Moa's Nest.

Suppose that we proceeded with caution during the dark cool hours, so as to be ready to pursue the task at daybreak? One of your number could stay here, ready to bring on the rest of our friends when they arrive; while, without proceeding to attack, we might draw off the attention of the convicts, as well as succour Edward Murray and the brave savage, who must be faint and weary long ere this--if they still live," he muttered to himself.

The advice was received with general tokens of satisfaction; but when it came to the question who should stay behind, no man displayed his willingness to undertake that tame part of the duty. One suggested that Mr Meadows would be unable to accompany them; but he did not know the stanch spirit of the old man, who st.u.r.dily declared his intention of following.

"This food and rest were all I required," he said; "and I shall be no hindrance to you. My pony will bear me; and if I should be left behind for a while, I daresay I can overtake you."

Seeing his determination, lots were drawn as to who should stay; for there was a certain feeling of respect shown by all towards their common friend.

The preparations were soon made, each man carrying a supply of provisions; and then they filed cautiously along the track, keeping ever on the alert, for each man knew that at any time a volley from behind some clump of trees or rocks far overhead, might perhaps empty half the saddles of the little party.

STORY THREE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE AVENGERS' WAY.

Daylight found them standing, dark of face, around the barely cold ashes of the Moa's Nest; and the stern determination of the party might have been read in their compressed lips and fierce looks, as more than one man mentally registered an oath of the stern vengeance he would take for this cruel desolation of a peaceful home.

A short interval of rest and refreshment, and the horses were stabled in one of the sheds yet standing; arms were examined, and the party began to ascend the Gap, slowly and cautiously, for they knew that unless the convicts had made their way round by the sea, they must be somewhere higher up, amongst these natural fortresses.

It was a very slow rate at which they progressed, for they anxiously searched for and examined every trace left by the convicts, though these were comparatively few, Wahika having previously picked up and hidden the greater part as he followed the ruffianly crew.

But soon these tokens disappeared, and they pressed on higher and higher, watching eagerly for farther signs of their enemy.

Once the foremost man halted, holding up his hand as a sign to those who followed, for there was the distant sound as of a gun; but it reached their ears in a strange, m.u.f.fled way, as if discharged on the other side of the mountains; and another, which followed soon after, was even less distinct.

"They must be farther up, round the bend," said one; and on they proceeded, taking advantage of every inequality for concealment. Every man's rifle was ready to reply to the shot which was expected at any instant; but on they still went, without encountering a foe.

Hour after hour had pa.s.sed; and at length, heated and wearied, a halt was called by the side of a rapid, babbling stream. Provisions were brought out, and then, for the first time, it was seen that one of the party was missing.

"Where's the parson?" exclaimed the one who first made the discovery; when, upon comparing notes, it was found that he had not been noticed by any one for some hours.

"Poor old fellow, he could not keep up," said Lawler. "We shall find him under a tree, resting, when we go back. He was not without food, fortunately, for I saw that he had it, or he would have gone without."

"I hope no mischief will befall him," said another; and then they fell to consulting, in cautious tones, as to the next best proceeding; whether to press on farther, or to retrace their steps, and examine some of the ravines, so as to join the strength they hoped by that time to meet approaching from the lower part of the Gap, while, at the same time, they would pick up Mr Meadows.

"I should be for going on," said Lawler, "only that I think the last plan is the better; for I can't help thinking they have never come up here. Let's go back: we're losing time."

Following out his suggestion, the men rose, and began, with the same precautions, to retrace their steps, by this time spreading out in a more extended line; while, about the same time, a party of a dozen friends commenced the ascent of the Gap, following the plainly-marked track left by the first detachment.

STORY THREE, CHAPTER NINETEEN.

MR MEADOWS'S WEAKNESS.

Mr Meadows struggled on, hour after hour, with his companions, only enabled to keep up with them by their exceedingly slow progress; for, from time to time, he would sit for a few minutes while they pa.s.sed on for some little distance, and then, following the track, he would overtake them at their slow, watchful pace.

He pressed on; sometimes tottering, sometimes resting so long that he had to strive hard to reach the last man. The heat seemed to overcome him; and at last, seating himself by the bright stream, upon whose banks he was, he let five, ten, twenty minutes, an hour slip away, heedless of all save the exhaustion that had enervated him.

Gradually a delicious sleep stole upon him, and then for a while all was blank.

But at length the weary man awoke, and started in pursuit of his companions, reproaching himself for his cruelty in sleeping at an hour like this; though, at the time, his forward progress was but a weary totter from tree to tree, against whose trunks he was often glad to lean his hands.

"It is of no use," he groaned. "I'm worn out; and until Nature has done her part of restoration, I am helpless as a child."

He sat down, and rested again, and then rose; for the distant report of a gun fell upon his ear; repeated, too, once or twice; and turning from his companions' track, he faced towards that side of the Gap from amidst whose craggy fastnesses the sound seemed to proceed.

"I have no strength," muttered Mr Meadows feebly; "but I have still my eyesight, and I may be able to play the spy. Why are they not here?

They have gone on too far; but if they hear the firing, they will soon return."

He pa.s.sed through the dense undergrowth, and then stopped short, for he had hit upon a well-marked track, which looked as if the gra.s.s had been trampled down by footprints to and fro.

"Strange," he said, "that it should fall to the weakest of the party to discover this. I'll go on; but not in the guise of warfare;" and he leaned his gun against a tree, and toiled patiently along the track. No easy task, for it led up and up, along the valley side, higher and higher; each few steps giving a view over the tops of the trees just pa.s.sed.

"Not the way taken by the gallant young man," he muttered, "for not one of the branches he was to have broken, has met my eye. It is plain that I have not struck upon his track; but I may be able to report good news to our friends on my return."

Once more came the faint, m.u.f.fled sound of a gun; and collecting his fast-flagging energies, Mr Meadows pushed on, until breathless, and with bleeding hands and knees, he stood looking down with astonishment into a little rocky amphitheatre, strewn with provisions and the plunder taken by the convicts from the Moa's Nest.

He stepped down, for the place appeared to be quite forsaken, and vainly tried to make out the cause of its being untenanted, when, looking round, he started with dismay; for half-seated, half-lying, with his back to the rocks, was the form of a human being, but so disfigured, that it seemed impossible for life to exist in such a ruin. But life was there; for, to the clergyman's horror, he saw that the man was engaged with a knife in his left hand, slowly and deliberately trying to back off his right at the wrist.

For a few moments, Mr Meadows could not speak; then, hurrying up, he arrested the man, exclaiming, "Surely, friend, that operation cannot be necessary?"

"Let it be--let it be," was the answer, in a strange, muttering voice, which came from the mutilated face. "It's a vile hand--a bad hand, stained with crime."

It required but little effort to wrest the knife from the convict's hand; and then, binding a handkerchief round the bleeding wrist, Mr Meadows gazed, shuddering, in the man's face, as his head fell back, and he fainted.

"He cannot live through those injuries," muttered the clergyman. And leaning forward, he dropped a little brandy from the flask he carried between the man's lips, when, after a few minutes, he revived, and spoke in a more collected way.

"Is any one there?" he asked.

"Yes; there is one here," was the reply.