Читать книгу Dinky Darbison - Edwin J Welch - Страница 5

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THE three men jumped from their seats and rushed out, Robson following, after making a vain attempt to assure Mrs. Darbison that there was no cause for alarm, as it was probably one of the women who was more frightened than hurt by some slight accident.

But when they reached the kitchen they found it in possession of a man whose face was concealed by a cloth mask, holding a revolver in his hand, and threatening to use it if the two women, huddled in the farthest corner, uttered another sound. Hearing the men as they reached the door, he suddenly turned, and, raising his weapon, ordered their immediate return to the house, and the frightened women to follow them. Not being armed, they could only obey. When all were safely inside he locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and, looking them all over, exclaimed:—

"Where is that dog Evesham?"

"Mr. Evesham is in his room, sick," said Darbison.

"Very good, I will attend him there shortly. Robson, get me a drink, and be quick about it. Be seated, gentlemen. As long as you attend to my orders you have nothing to fear, but take care that you don't disobey them. Mr. Darbison, I have a long journey in front of me, and I am short of funds. I must trouble you for what cash you have in the house, irrespective of cheques, which would be useless."

"You seem to be well acquainted with Barumbah and its occupants," said Darbison. "May I ask——"

"Ask nothing if you are wise, but produce the money."

"Very well, we are unarmed men, and at your mercy. You will, I presume, allow me to go to my room for it?"

"Sit down, sir, and hand the keys, if they are required, to Robson. If the amount is insufficient I shall be compelled to make a search for myself, but I warn you against trickery of any sort!"

On the old man's return to the room he deposited a considerable sum in notes, gold, and silver on the table, where it was left untouched by the bushranger, who then said:—

"Gentlemen, you will please to remain seated whilst I transact the business which brought me here. I have to interview Mr. Evesham. Thank you, yes, I know the way to his room. Again let me warn you of the consequences of any attempt to follow or interfere with me, as I have no wish to be compelled to use this!"

Pointing the revolver at the group as he spoke, he then opened a French light leading on to the verandah, and walked straight to the door of Evesham's room, which he entered without knocking.

"Who the devil are you, and what do you mean by this intrusion? Armed and masked, too! What is it you want? Money? Because if that's it you'll be disappointed. There's no money here."

"Silence, you anointed liar and scoundrel, and don't move a muscle as you value your dirty, degraded life. Two only of your questions demand answers. I will take what money I can find, presently. In the meantime I shall appropriate this very handsome watch and chain and these diamond studs," lifting them from the dressing table as he spoke. "So much for your second question. Now for the first." Still keeping his pistol levelled at the recumbent figure on the bed, he tore off the mask with his disengaged hand and said:—

"Now I think you will know who I am, Evesham!"

"Yes, I recognise you, Tom Dickson. You are the man who was engaged for the shearing last year and bolted before it commenced."

"Liar again. You knew me, and I saw that you did, the day I came to the station, cunningly as you tried to conceal it. And you know me now, as the poor dupe whom you first rooked and then made a tool of to bring other young idiots into the toils you and your comrades worked so successfully.

"True, I came here as Tom Dickson in the struggle to earn an honest living, but you knew then, as you know now, that I am, or rather was, your brother officer, Chelpont, and I left here the same day I was engaged because I knew that I should kill you if I remained. I knew nothing of your being in this country, or of the name by which you are known here, until I saw you. Your letter to England after that, in which you lied so cruelly about me, is in my pocket now. It was sent to my father and came back to me. Now, before I leave this house, you will write a confession, which will be witnessed by Mr. Darbison, and——"

A rustling as of drapery near the door attracted his attention, and as he turned to look Evesham's hand came from under the pillow. "I'll see you hung first," came the response, accompanied by a shot, and instantly followed by an agonising scream from Mrs. Darbison, whose curiosity, combined with fear for Evesham's safety, had made her follow the footsteps of the masked man, though warned not to do so.

She had but just reached the door, and was in the act of stealthily pushing it open, when the heavy bullet from a single-barrelled derringer missed the mark for which it was intended, passed through her hand, and on into the garden.

All was confusion. For an instant only the stranger hesitated, then replaced his revolver in his belt, and turned to the door as Mrs. Darbison flew past him, flung herself on the bed beside Evesham, screaming all the time with pain, bleeding freely, interspersing admissions of her love for him with denunciations of the bushranger, who, she declared, had fired at and tried to kill her.

"That is another lie! The man who fired the shot is the scoundrel beside you, and here is the pistol from which it was fired," picking up the derringer from the the floor, and turning to the door, where the men he had ordered to remain in the dining-room were now standing, gazing on the scene in bewilderment, but about to rush the intruder, who quickly faced them and said:—

"Mr. Darbison, I do not know how much or how little you may have seen or heard. Probably sufficient to convince you that I am not altogether what I may appear to be. At any rate I was a gentleman once, and a brother officer of that despicable wretch inside there, the crawling thief to whom I owe my downfall. When I came to the station last season to get a job of shearing I knew nothing of his being here, but I recognised him at once, and I saw that the recognition was mutual, although he tried hard to conceal his part of it. If I had remained I must have killed him. But enough of that. During the evening I was at the men's hut, I found out a great deal about Barumbah, and, although I would not pain you if I could avoid it, I must necessarily refer to the fact of the men's knowledge of that of which you appeared to be in ignorance—the infatuation of your wife for the treacherous hound with whom she now is. That, however, was in no sense any business of mine, but I decided to trade upon the knowledge to the extent of using it, and with violence if necessary, to force a confession from him of the hideous wrong he did me and to compel restitution of some part of what he robbed me. To carry out my plan I decided to act the role of a bushranger and risk the penalty. I realise now that I have failed, in part at least, if not in all, and whilst I most earnestly and sincerely apologise to you for the part I have played, I am content to leave him for the present in your hands, knowing full well that retribution must now overtake him."

Having returned to the dining-room, the stranger walked to the table, and, pointing to the money Robson had placed there, and alongside which he deposited the derringer with which Evesham had fired at him, said: "There is the money, Mr. Darbison, which I may say I had no intention of retaining; it was merely taken as part of the game I was mistakenly playing. There is the derringer, and if Robson will oblige me with pen and ink I will leave my name and the name and address of a well-known and reputable citizen of Brisbane, through whom you can communicate with me should you require my evidence at any time, though in the peculiar existing circumstances I scarcely think that likely." Then he walked slowly down the passage, and with a final "Good-night, gentlemen," disappeared in the darkness, shortly after which they heard the sound of a horse's feet on the hard road in front of the house.