The Roaring Days . . of '94 . . (For the Free Lance)

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 64, 21 September 1901, Page 18

The Roaring Days .. of '94 . . (For the Free La nce )

1 1>\ Mai Mai j

IT was on the Darling, in the roaring da\s ot '94, and Bob Brooke, the boss of Bunga-Bunga was m no onwable hame ot mind. The country was in revolt, the paddocks fall ot unshorn sheep and tlie banks leady to scoop Bunga-Bunga into their gieedy maw Brookes had expected Ins mob ot sheaieis and iouseabouts that vcn da\ , and he spent his time in riding between the homestead and the nvei, waiting and watching tor the men that were to bung salvation to him. His directors forbade him to pay the lecently-formed union wages, and he, to Sti\e his wool crop, had sent to Adelaide for a load of non unionists. He went to the shearers' hue, he paced the shed flooi , he examined the machines in an agony of nervousness, always returning to the river bank to watch for the men who came not. He had wearily resigned the station to the banks and ruin, he had pictured himself humping an unaccustomed swag into the backblocks, and had generally cursed the fates that led lum into bush life, when he looked towards the sierra <>i tall gum tiees lining the Dai ling banks There, outlined against the daik green baekgiound, came a posse ot blue-dad hoisemen, riding at tup speed Police 1 What the de\il do thev want''"' and, unhooking his horse from the verandah-post, and mounting he cantered dow n to meet them. The sergeant in charge did not leave him long in doubt of his mission "What's the mattci 2 Unionists are the matter, and they intend making things lively for jou and "souis with Bryant and May " The sergeant told Brookes how from word sent tluough from Wentworth the unionists at Myaltown intended sticking up the scabs from Morgan and they had done so The police had ndden post haste to pi event the hght, and had arnved only in time to see the "Bodnev" steamer m flames, the "scabs" taken pusoner, to get two troopers killed, and to be ignoininioush driven to Bunga Bunga for shelter "And if you want to save yourself and vour wool shed, Mr Brookes," continued the sergeant, "you'd better get the hands to make leady, for that fiend Moran is at "the head of the unionists, and is making this way a& fast as stolen horseflesh can bring him." In the distance a rapidly-approaching dust-storm, and with it the veils of savage men From the east a mob of sheep wildlv fleeing befoie a grass file and fiom the nver bank the shaip crack Y of burning gum scrub The unionists had come, and had brought with them their Bryant and May vengeance 1 A ha.sty council of war, a rapid collecting of available men and arms, wet blankets hung over sheep-jaids for scteens, a settling down to the grim leality of the laid, and the unionists weie on them Vahantlv the police and the station hands fought those howling, diunken savages, but nuinbeis weie against tin in Fairlv beating down opposition, the discontented shelters charged the sheep-\ard w ith their lances, made from sheei blades, fastened to saplings, and killed even man within those palisades The delightful occupation of setting fire to the woolshed and outbuildings next occupied them The huts weie ah eddy in flames, a unionist had built a fiie in the woolpress, and the rest weie devastating the store, when Moran tut us fiom his wantonness to listen Hist bves u hat's that ' J>> That" was a tioop ot mounted rifles tiding towaids them at a haul gallop The fight was shaip, but \eiv short "Mourn fell moil,il|\ wounded at the lust lusill.ide Latei the unionists siiiiemleied m a bodv Wheie had the soldieis come from.- 1 Jackv the blackboy, who came with them knew Jacky had smelt trouble that morning, w lien he passed the union camp had nvei heard Moran 's lemark that he would fiie every station on the Dai ling, and had taken the bass's best horse and galloped to Bileannia with the news If those unionists have not expired picking oakum 1901 is about the vear for them to appeal in public again and demand libeitv and laige wages in the gie.it name of unionism We undn stand that the report of the Joint (ioldfields Committee will be shortly laid before the House Inasmuch as upwaids of 13 per head of the whole population of Xew Zealand has been invested in izold-di edgmir it is ceitainlv in the intrust of the coiiimunit \ that moinbeis of both Houses should eive p.nliMil.u ,il fi ill ion to all d< tails in the lepoj ts.

Now that Rugby football has practically closed down foi the reason, the Association players have taken advantage of the Athletic Paik being di&engaged to play finals tor the Senioi Charity Cup and Junior Challenge Cup there next Saturday. A good attendance of the general public will be appreciated by the executive of the Wellington Football Association, as thenfunds sadly need leplenishing, especially after the expense entailed in sending a team to Auckland this sason. The annual meeting of the Midland Cricket Club is to be held at the Trocadeio to-night. (Friday). The lepoit to be presented at the meeting congratulates members, on the success attained bv the club in championship matches last season -the first eleven being bracketed with the Wellington team as winneis of the Senior Championship, the second and third elevens winning tlio championships in their respective classes. Tucker, with an average of 30.37 foi nine innings wins the senioi batting average, Upham, with 8.70 for 34 wickets the bowling. J. V*. Jonet> — 48 for four innings — won the junior batting a\ eragr, and P. Staples — 30.9 for 13 innings — the third-class average. It needs Lord Byion's brilliant pen, Hi3 clever, brainy head, To tell us how and why and when Some people are not dead. But since he's gone we'll tell the way. How good health to assuie, And colds and hacking coughs alLiv, Take Woods' Great PhppLimiNi Cutt.