Читать книгу Grand Deceptions - G. S. Willmott - Страница 16

Trust

But Always Verify

Chapter 9

March 4, 1857

George continued working on his own for he didn’t want to arouse suspicions. He could not descend into the shaft alone, so he worked on the tailings from previous digs. He did find a small amount of gold but nothing like the nugget they had uncovered.

Henry had been gone for four days. George had hoped he would have received a telegram by this time, but nothing had been received thus far.

The digger kept working for another five days and still no word from Henry. George began to worry that bushrangers had bailed his partner up. He decided to visit his good friend Mathew and ask his advice on what to do. Although he implicitly trusted his friend, he chose not to divulge to Mathew the size of nugget.

‘I’m at a loss, Mathew. My partner Henry took a sizable nugget into Melbourne to sell nine days ago, and I haven’t heard a word.’

‘That is strange. If he’d been robbed we would have heard about it by now. I suggest you take one of my horses and ride into Melbourne and see whether you can find him.’

George decided to take Mathew’s advice after his friend assured him he would have one of his employees keep an eye on his mine in his absence.

March 10, 1857

The following morning George began his two-day journey to Melbourne he arrived at 9 am 12 March he ate breakfast in a café in Bourke Street and then headed for the English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank where the partnership’s account was held. He requested to speak with the manager Mr Simpson.

‘Good morning Mr Griffith; this is an unexpected pleasure. Don’t tell me you’ve uncovered another enormous nugget.’

‘So you are aware of the nugget we discovered?’

‘Why yes; of course. Your partner Mr Baynes brought it into the bank last week. It took two of my tellers to carry it.’

‘What value did the bank place on it?’

‘Surely, Mr Baynes would have informed you we put £10,300 on it?’

George said grimly, ‘Mr Baynes has not informed me of anything. He has not communicated with me since departing Ballarat ten days ago.’

‘Oh dear, would you like me to check the balance of the account?’

‘Yes I would, thank you.’

The bank manager excused himself, retiring to the back office to view the ledger. He returned ashen- faced. ‘Mr Griffith, I don’t know what to say. The account has a nil balance.’

‘It is as I expected. He’s stolen the entire amount.’

‘I’m sorry, Mr Griffith… if there’s anything the bank can do…’

‘I think you’ve done enough already.’

George left the bank in a daze. His big opportunity to create wealth and possibly return home to England was gone.

After walking the streets of Melbourne for a few hours trying to determine what, if anything, he could do, he decided to check the shipping reports. He made his way to Port Melbourne. Ironically the S S Great Britain sailed for Liverpool on March 6. He approached the shipping company and requested to view the passenger list. Surprisingly they agreed, but after scanning the list he could not find Henry Baynes. His conclusion was the bastard had used a false name, or he was still in Australia somewhere.

The following day, a dejected George departed Melbourne for Ballarat. His only hope was to find another nugget like the one Henry stole, although he knew the chances were minimal. The other conundrum he faced was finding another digger he could trust to work the shaft with him.

Once back in Ballarat, he returned the horse to the Golden Nugget stables and sought to meet with Mathew.

He found him in the manager’s suite and this time he told Mathew the entire story, including the value of the stolen nugget. Mathew was flabbergasted.

George left his friend and returned to his digger’s hut close to the mine to contemplate his future.

George’s Hut

Mathew sent a message to John to meet him at the hotel that night at 7 pm. John obliged, and they met in Mathew’s suite.

Mathew started in without preamble. ‘John I’ve just seen George after his return from Melbourne. The poor bugger has been cleaned out by his partner.’ Mathew described what had happened to their good friend and how he had been left with nothing. ‘The bastard not only stole the nugget which he sold for £10,300, but he also cleared out another £2000 they had in their joint bank account.’

‘What can we do to help him?’ asked John.

‘Are you willing to carry out a few more robberies?’

‘I don’t know mate. I could justify getting my money back from that card cheat, but I’m not sure I could bring myself to rob innocent people.’

‘No, neither could I.’

‘So, what do you mean?’

‘I’m talking about the gold shipments.’

‘Do you think we could handle that?’

‘Sure, it’s the same as robbing a stagecoach except the stakes are higher. Plus, we’ll have three of us.’

‘Have you discussed it with George yet?’

‘No, I wanted to talk to you first. Are you in?’

‘I’m in if George agrees.’

‘All right, why don’t I arrange dinner here tomorrow night, and we can discuss it then?’

‘That sounds fine with me. What time?’

‘Let’s make it 7.30 pm. I’ll contact George and see whether he can make it. I’ll tell him 8 pm. I want him to walk in and see us both sitting at the table in our disguises.’

John smiled faintly. ‘Well, that will shock him.’

Mathew walked the mile to George’s cottage where he found his friend sitting in front of the fire, staring at the flames. ‘Hello, George how are you feeling?’

‘Not particularly good at the moment.’

‘Well, I can certainly understand that. George, I’d like you to come to my place for dinner tonight. John will be joining us.’

‘Thank you for the offer, Mathew, but I don’t feel like socialising right now.’

‘I think John and I have a solution to your problem and we’d like to discuss it with you over dinner.’

‘Well,’ allowed George, ‘that sounds promising. I suppose I’d better come.’

‘Excellent, we’ll see you there at 8 pm.’

Mathew left his friend wondering about what possible solution his two friends had devised.

The Banshees were in their full female regalia when George knocked on Mathew’s door.

‘Come in George.’

George stared at the sight before him. ‘My God, what’s going on?’

‘Do you think we look pretty, George?’

‘Bloody hell! Pretty is not a word that springs to mind.’

Mathew laughed at his expression. ‘Sit down at the table, and we’ll explain what’s going on.’

The two men explained why they were dressed as females and how they had robbed Harmsworth of all his wealth after he’d cheated John of £5,000.

‘So, George, would you care to be the third Banshee? We will only steal the gold shipments, depriving the banks and the government of their ill-gotten gains.’

‘I don’t know. It sounds risky.’

‘If done correctly the risk is minimised significantly.’

‘Well, I suppose this is my best option to get back on top. Actually, my only option.’

‘So, you are in?’

‘I’m in.’

‘Excellent! Well John, we’d better get out of these outfits before they bring in our dinner.’