Outlaw and Lawmaker/Chapter 38
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
"THE LAST BARON COOLA."
Nearly a week later Elsie was sitting on her cairn by the Crossing. She had got into the way latterly of taking up this position in the afternoon, perhaps because the place had tender associations for her; perhaps because she was always expecting Blake. He was still at Baròlin, and had written to her again, but he had not yet ridden over to the Dell, as in the letter he had promised to do. It was getting towards sundown when she heard the tramp of a horse's feet—a hurried tramp, as though the rider were in fear or distress. The sound did not come from the Baròlin road, but from that which led to Tunimba.
Elsie got up and walked to the edge of the creek to see Frank Hallett pressing eagerly down the opposite bank.
He urged his horse across and then up to where she stood, then dismounted, his face full of trouble.
"Elsie," he exclaimed, not waiting for her to speak, "I am thankful to have found you here! You have heard nothing?"
"Nothing," she repeated. "What is there to hear?"
"Bad news for you, my poor Elsie. I thought it might have been telegraphed from the Bean-tree. That villain Trant, I suppose, has caused Blake to be denounced as Moonlight, and Macpherson with the police arrived at Tunimba just before I left, on their way to the cave at the Falls."
Elsie staggered, and would have fallen but for Frank's protecting arm.
"Be brave," he said. "I have come to you that we may save him. We will give him warning at Baròlin, if he is there. If not, tell me where he may be found."
"He is at Barolin," she said, recovering herself. "Come, I will go with you."
"You!" he exclaimed.
"Yes. I will be with him whatever happens. But we will save him. Oh, Frank, we must save him!"
She was walking rapidly towards the Humpey, Frank leading his horse by her side. As they walked he told her breathlessly all he knew.
It was Pompo who had given the information, and offered to lead the police to the cave. Mr. Torbolton would not believe that Blake was implicated, but Trant had been clever enough to furnish the half-caste with conclusive proof, which had made it clear to Captain Macpherson, at any rate, that the Outlaw and the Lawmaker were one. Trant had either left the colony, or was in secure hiding. No trace of him was discoverable.
Pompo had not betrayed him, but indeed strenuously asserted Trant's innocence. But no one believed him. Captain Macpherson, in a state of wild excitement, had arrived with his troopers at Tunimba on his way to the cave. There had been some little delay about the warrant, which he had counted on one of the Halletts signing. Jem was away, and Frank had refused to sign, and they had been obliged to seek another magistrate. In the meantime, Frank had mounted and ridden furiously to the Humpey to take counsel with Elsie.
The girl stopped him at a cross-cut. One path led round by the stock-yard, the other to the house. She pointed to him to take the first.
"Look here," she said, keen and collected, with all her woman's wits about her, in the face of danger to the man she loved, "you must go to the stock-yard, where I know Ina's horse and one for Lord Waveryng are saddled. He and Em were to go for a canter at sunset. Take the horses to the Crossing, and wait for me. I will slip into the house and leave a note, so that Ina may not be frightened at my being away, and I shall join you before many minutes."
He did as she bade him. It seemed providential that the horses should be in readiness. He had not waited long before he saw her light figure flying down the narrow path half hidden by gum-trees, which led from the house. No one had seen either of them, and Elsie had left a note on her dressing-table which would re-assure Ina as to her safety.
She had put on her riding skirt, and had a lady's spur in her hand. It was a sudden inspiration which had made her snatch it from its peg in the passage. She was panting and breathless, but she would not let him wait a moment. He lifted her on her horse, and presently they were cantering fast along the track to the Gorge.
It was not more than eight miles, and the country was fairly level. The sun had only just set as they reached the Baròlin slip rails, and as good luck had it, Jack Nutty, the half-caste, mounted on a spirited young horse, was riding down towards them. On the way Elsie had told Frank all that she knew and might tell of Blake's career, and the young man's heart was less vindictive towards his rival and more sympathetic with the woman he loved, and who, in her turn, loved so unwisely. The whole story now was clear to him, the secret of the double life and of the bush-rangers' hiding-place.
They stopped Jack Nutty and asked for news of his master. At first the half-caste would give only evasive replies. Blake was not in the house; he was out on the run. Then, when Elsie told him wildly of his master's peril, Jack Nutty, all alert, turned his horse's head towards Mount Luya. "Massa sit down along a cave," he cried, and galloped thitherward, leaving Elsie and Hallett to follow.
They knew now that the danger was imminent. It was a race between the troopers and themselves. Blake's liberty, perhaps his life, depended on which should reach the Falls first.
Oh, for Abatos, trained, sure-footed, and swift. Fortunately, Ina Gage's horse and that which Lord Horace had used to ride, and which had been saddled for Lord Waveryng, were both half thoroughbreds, and creatures of pace and mettle. Hallett was, of course, a magnificent bush-rider, and Elsie a fearless horsewoman. They dashed on, never slacking, though the country grew wilder, following close on Jack Nutty, who, uttering every now and then excited cries in the native language, rode as though possessed.
On among thickening gum-trees, over fallen logs, through dense prickly scrub, up and down gorges, and now to where the bunyas showed their black serrated wall against the spurs of Mount Luya. The moon had come out—that same moon which had faintly lighted the Falls expedition, and the ride that had been paradise to Elsie, as she had lain in her lover's arms. This ride seemed a nightmare, the flying trees evil demons, the night noises impish jibes, and Mount Luya and the Burrum Peaks towering ahead, till they reached the scrub, like gigantic fiends of menace. Once they thought they heard the sound of voices—it was only the cry of the native bear; and the tramp they fancied to be pursuing horses was that of startled beasts on a cattle camp by the border of the scrub. Jack Nutty got down, and carefully examined the ground for a trail, and put his ear to the earth , rising with a grim smile of satisfaction. "Ba'al, that fellow come yet," he said; and again they darted on into the labyrinthine depths of the scrub. Elsie's skirts were torn, her face was bleeding where the bunya spikes had scratched her, every limb of her body was tense with the strain, she was scarcely conscious of herself, her whole being seemed devoured with the frenzied eagerness to arrive in time. She remembered the Outlaw's downfall, and kept up her horse's head. The animal's side was streaming beneath her habit, where she had struck it with the spur. They were a long time in the scrub, and every moment was an agony, lest in the darkness and difficulty of the way one of the horses should slip or start back frightened, so that precious time would be lost.
But at last, at last! The beams of moonlight that struck down through the roofing branches became broader, and showed ahead a clear luminous open space. It was the clear patch behind the precipice to which Blake had led her through the fissure, the place where Jack Nutty had been in waiting with Abatos.
And Abatos was there now, testifying to his master's vicinity. Blake had evidently left him tethered, while he had made his way on foot to the cave. The animal was tied securely to a gum-tree, and whinnied at sight of Jack Nutty. The half-caste threw himself from his horse and seized the bridles of Elsie's and Hallett's horses. Frank lifted Elsie down, and the girl fell almost fainting in his arms. But she rallied herself quickly, and drank eagerly from the flask of diluted brandy, which he held to her lips. The draught gave her new strength.
"Quick!" she cried. "I know the way. What are we to do with the horses? They must not stop here."
"Mine plant that fellow," said Jack Nutty—"little way—behind that fellow rock—in the scrub." He pointed to an abutting spur up to which the bunyas grew close, and as he did so began to undo Abatos' bridle. "Ba'al me go along a you," he went on. "Mine stop here—keep very quiet—look after horses. Suppose policeman come me ready."
Elsie scarcely waited to hear him. She could trust herself to find the way. Once through the fissure it was easy. She led Hallett after her, and in a moment they were lost in the bowels, as it seemed, of the mountain. Gropingly they felt their way along the gallery, and by and by emerged again into the moonlight, and stood on the ledge leading round to the Baròlin rock.
They walked on, skirting the precipice. Hallett could hardly repress an exclamation of astonishment at the lonely grandeur of the scene, and the almost entire inaccessibility of the spot. "No wonder Macpherson couldn't track them!" he said to himself.
The great rock of the human head looked strangely weird in the moonlight, with its withes of grey moss hanging like hair, and its majestic rugged outline of feature. Again Elsie drew him on. They had gone into the mountain once more, and here was the gallery where she had been chloroformed. She made Frank light a match, and they felt for the stone doorway. The stone lay back. A few steps, and they were in the bushrangers' cave. A fat lamp shed a dim illumination on the rough interior, the rock walls, the slab table on its stone supports, the settle, the ration bags heaped in a corner. Except for the lamp there was no sign of human presence.
Elsie took up the lamp, and with a knowledge of the cave which surprised Frank, who had not fully grasped the circumstances of her recent incarceration, flashed it into each of the other chambers, and returned to the central cave having found no one. She gave a small "Coo-ee," but there was no answer.
"He must be outside in the crater," she cried. "We must look for him there. Oh! to think of this time lost!"
They went out into the great green space enclosed by its mountain walls, into which the moon shone with a clear and wondrous brilliancy. Frank gazed about him with wonder and admiration. He saw the blue waterhole of unfathomable depth, the growing corn, the animals stabled securely in their volcanic paddock. It was marvellous to him that this place should have existed all his lifetime—countless ages before him—under his very eyes as it were, and he had never known of it. He made some remark of this kind to Elsie, but she paid no heed.
"Help me to find him!" she cried, in agony. "Go that way, and Iwill go this—and coo-ee, softly—no, it does not matter. No one could hear unless they were in the cave itself."
But her first coo-ee echoing back was answered by a voice on the other side of the crater, and presently she could see the fire-tip of a cigar thrown to the earth. Blake advanced, not at first certain who his visitors were and prepared for resistance, his revolver in his hand.
"It is I—Elsie," she cried, "Elsie and Frank Hallett. We have come to warn you. The troopers are on your track. They may be here now."
"Who has betrayed me?" he asked calmly, as he approached them.
"Trant," said Frank. "Pompo was his instrument. You know best what motive he had for revenge."
"It is I who am the cause of it all," moaned Elsie. "It is I who have ruined you, and made him mad for revenge."
"My poor Elsie!" answered Blake, with intense tenderness. " Say rather that it is I who have ruined you."
She caught his hand and passionately kissed it. "Come," she said, dragging him forward, "we are going to save you, Frank and I; we have come for that. The horses are hidden in the scrub. Only let us get out of the mountain before the police come, and all will be well. You have Abatos, and you will ride for your life over the border, and get off into some ship or boat from Myall Heads. I have thought it all out as we rode here. You must bribe the cedar-cutters. And that's the thing,—have you money? I had forgotten "
"Yes, I have some money hidden here," he said, "plenty. That is what I came for to-night."
They walked back to the cave, and he went into the inner chamber where she had slept, and which she now was certain had been his sleeping-place also. She heard a sound of falling stone and a scraping of iron, and went in to him.
"Oh, quick, quick! Can I not help you?"
"I have it," he answered, and she saw him pull out a box which had been hidden in a crevice of the rock, and take from it a bundle of notes and some gold, which he stowed into his breast pocket.
"I am ready," he said. "But first, Elsie, my darling, tell me. whatever happens, that you forgive me for the blight I have brought upon you."
"Forgive you! I love you. I would die for you. I will live for you and with you. I love you," she repeated. "Is not that enough? But here again I make the vow I have made in my heart: I will never belong to another man. If they put you in prison I will wait for you to my life's end. If you die I will be faithful to you for eternity."
He caught her in his arms and pressed one hurried, passionate kiss upon her lips. She tore herself from him, and led him on. Frank was before them. He had heard her words; he had seen that kiss. Her vow was the knell of his last hope.
They hurried through the gallery, and the further entrance cave, and across the plateau where the rock-lilies waved and scented the night air with their fragrance. Then suddenly there rang through the night the shot of a pistol; and then another. Elsie shrieked in despair. She gazed round in the helpless frenzy of an animal trapped with her young, and ready to defend them with her blood. On one side the unscalable precipice, on the other the slimy depths of the waterhole and the treacherous quicksands. And before them nearly a quarter of a mile of that ledge path with no hope of escape to right or left.
"They are upon us," Blake said quietly. "We can do nothing now."
Elsie made a frantic movement backwards.
"Go into the cave again; let us put up the stone and defy them."
"For what use? It would mean bloodshed first, and certain capture later. No, I haven't taken any man's life so far. I won't do it now."
"You are right," said Hallett. "Face the inevitable. It is better to give yourself up quietly, Blake," he exclaimed with emotion. "I'm sorry for you. I'd have sacrificed all I'm worth to save you."
"Yes, I know you would," Blake answered. "You would have done it for her sake, Hallett," he added with deep emotion. "I deserve nothing from you but curses. I have also robbed you of your dearest hope, as I have robbed her of her happiness"
"No, no!" cried Elsie, passionately. "You have taught me what happiness is."
He turned on her a look of infinite love and remorse.
"It is true," he said. "I have ruined the lives of all those I loved, of all those who have loved me. I am the scapegoat of my generation, the mad, bad Blake. Well, it ends with me. I am the last of my name, the last Blake of Coola."
There was a rush of feet. "Stand back, Elsie, against the rock," said Blake, hoarsely. "Good-bye, my one love," he whispered; "pray for me and forgive me. Keep beside her, Hallett. Take care of her."
He stepped boldly forward to the edge of the precipice. At that moment Captain Macpherson's voice sounded in ringing tones, as, with his gun pointed, he appeared round the curve of the gallery followed by a black line of troopers, the mountings of their carbines glittering in the moonlight. "Stir, and I fire! Morres Blake, alias Moonlight, in the Queen's name I arrest you."
Blake made no answer. With one swift, sudden movement he threw himself backward and disappeared. They heard the thud of his fallen body, a hundred feet below, and then a splash as it was swallowed up for ever in the depths of the Baròlin waterhole.
And this was the end of Morres Blake, last Baron Coola.
········
These things happened a good many years ago. This strange tragic episode was felt to be a blot on the history of Leichardt's Land, and the leaders on both sides did their utmost to shroud in mystery the facts of their late Colonial Secretary's double life. By his death Blake had done all he could to spare his friends and his adopted country disgrace. The Moonlight tragedy was never wholly cleared up. Trant disappeared, and was not heard of again. Sam Shehan disappeared also. Pompo was pardoned, and Jack Nutty had been killed by one of the first shots fired that night. Lady Waveryng got some of her diamonds, but the rest were gone from her descendants for ever.
Elsie was very ill after the events of that terrible night. She had an attack of brain fever, and for weeks all was dark. She never knew of the blare of notoriety which surrounded her name, and no one ever spoke to her of Moonlight. She thought of Blake only as the embodiment of an ideal love, and as such in her heart she worshipped his memory, clinging fanatically to the vow she had made to be faithful to him to her life's end. It was a very different Elsie who looked on the world when she rose from her sick bed. Life was never to her the same again.
Ina nursed her through her illness, and the Waveryngs stayed till danger was over. Then they went back to England, and Ina, who followed with her mother and Elsie, joined them later. Elsie and her mother lived mostly at Rome, and Elsie developed a latent taste for art, which served her in good stead in later days. Ina spent a great part of the time she was in Europe with the Waveryngs. Elsie never went back to Australia, but it has been Ina's lot to return to her old haunts on the Luya. Two years after her departure, Frank Hallett, a prominent Australian politician, took a trip to Europe, and at the Waveryngs met again Ina Gage. There he asked her to marry him, and she returned with him as his wife.
THE END.