BROCKLEBANK'S TENT. A TALE OF UNFOUNDED ACCUSATION. IN FOUR CHAPTERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 105, 12 February 1870, Page 7

BROCKLEBANK'S TENT. A TALE OF UNFOUNDED ACCUSATION. IN FOUR CHAPTERS.

*• Chapter 11. I felt very friendless and dispirited upon our arrival, for I could not reckon that Brocklebank would extend his hospitality to me as Avell as to Fry, and I had no fancy for sleeping alone out of doors wrapped in my blankets, though in company I had done so for several successive nights. On hearing Fry's voice, Brooklebank came to the door of his tent, and I was at once prepossessed by his quiet, gentleman-like appearance. He was a young man of twenty-four, with a pale, handsome face, and large, dark, expressive eyes. " This," says Fry, in a most ungracious way, pointing to me as if 1 was a cur-dog, "is a chap I came up the road Avith, I don't know anything about him," he added, in an audible whisper. " Have you no friends on Bendigo?" asked Brocklebank kindly. "None that I can find to-night," I replied, blushing like a school-girl, " but I hope to fjnd them in a day or two." Some whispered conversation took place betAA-een Fry and Brocklebank after this. " I must take the poor boy in," I heard the latter say. " Well, don't hold me responsible," groAA'led the former ; " I knoAV nothing of him." I don't think Fry had any special animosity against me, it Avas merely his natural crustiness ; but I felt so angry Avith him that I could have rushed upon him and assaulted him on the spot. My wrath, however, was dissipated by Brocklebauk saying in a pleasant vo'ce — i . " Come in, Mr. Parker, don't be \ afraid ; I can giA r e you a shake-doAvn, ' and as soon as I get a pot of tea ready you shall have some sardines and soft bread, Avhich I dare say will be a treat after the rough fare of the road." I slept that night like a dozen hum-ming-top?!. Only those Avho have lain for several successive nights under the cold sky of a Victorian September, and have Avoke up drenched, perhaps, with rain, can appreciate the delight of a roof overhead, albeit only a roof of canvas. Next morning, after breakfast, Fry rose, aud addressing his felloAv-towns-man in his usual curt, morose style, said — " I'm off to Eagle Hawk " (this Avas a gully some tAvo miles distant) "to look after my mates. See you again 1 -> - 1— •• 1 Xj^-~*~ ' V'-^V. , .\/ lyf ßotlihis couM tv ' •Aer tii.) i Rroeidciv./kV roantu:;/ to- 1 • ,, J 1 maie mcuu, molou.^. v,x' „ • ' waif and stray of the great Australian immigration. Although he was keepa wholesale store, and selling glasses o.' lemonade, bottles of pickles, and dggers ! boots to any chance passer)f, I learnt that he Avas a young man i)[" highly respectable connections, in Liverpool, the son of a Nonconformist : linister, and that, like myself, he had :eon drawn out by a spirit of adventtre. I presently asked him hoAV I kd better set about finding my friends. 0a hearing that I possessed no more social address than Bendigo, he shook his head, said that the diggings covered ar enormous area, and that I might spend a month in visiting every gully . in succession. I had better call at the post-office or the Camp, and ascertain if there was a letter awaiting me there. I went to the Camp, and. enquired at the post-office. There was no letter for "Mr. Frederick Parker, late of "Watling-street, London,"" , I returned to Iron Bark Grully in rather a desponding frame of mind. I Avas heartily asha,med of myself at the time for my loav spirits, but I am not surprised now that a lad of eighteen, Avko in London had been surrounded by attentive friends and relations, slould feel rather lonely among the motley, self-seeking herd of goldhunters. I told Brocklebank of my ill fortune, and asked him what I had better do. , " Do nothing to-day," he said kindly. "You are tired with your week's travelling. Take it easy. You can mate yourself useful by helping me in the store." I was delighted at these words, and fell ta work with alacrity. Before two hours had elapsed I found myself dispensing slices of bacon at three shillings a pound, and assisting sturdy diggers, seated on a tree stump in front of the Royal Liver, to pull on refractory pairs of new boots. Our distinctive flag, bearing as its emblem the fabulous bird which forms the crest of the good town of Liverpool, waved gracefully overhead in the sunshine, and my spirits rose as I once more found myself of some use in the world. In those primitive days there was little coin current on the diggings. Miners paid for their stores in virgin gold just dug from the soil. Storekeepers made large profits by these transactions, for owing to the insecurity of the roads, the value of gold was from five shillings to ten shillings lower on the diggings than ifc Avas in Melbourne. I forget the exact price now, but I think that gold purchased

on Bendigo in 1852 at three pounds five shillings and three pounds ten shillings an ounce, was worth three pounds fifteen in Melbourne. In these times, when the smallest margin of profit attracts speculators to the most distant goldfield, such a difference seems almost incredible.

Iron Bark Grully was a most prosaic, sober place. Men Avorked from six to six, and took it as coolly as navvies on piecework, that is to say, they went at it with a will. "Work over, they made their dampers, washed their socks and shirts, or lounged round an open-air fire, discussing the local gossip. Broi cklebank, however, informed me in the course of the evening, when we Avere alone together, that the little community gathered together at the head of Iron Bark Ghilly consisted of exceptionally quiet and respectable people. Several of them came from South Australia, a colony which had always maintained a high reputation, and one or two ol those standing by our log-fire were substantial Adelaide tradesmen, who, having been smitten by the universal epidemic, had deserted their shops, and come to seek a speedier road to fortune. One of these adventurers, a chemist and druggist from Eundle-street, Adelaide, took my fancy immediately, and avc soon became very intimate together. lie advised me to be in no hurry about beginning gold-digging. There Avas plenty of time, and plenty of gold left in spite of all the croaking one heard. Then, by way of consoling me for my loneliness, he hinted that if, in a feAV days, I should be unable to find my friends — and he thought it very likely that I might never find them — he Avould try and introduce me to some respectable mates. But these prudent observations scarcely satisfied my youthful ardour. I had travelled sixteen thousand miles to dig gold, and I wanted to begin at once. I confessed my longings to my new friend, Langford. "Well," he remarked, "if you're very anxious to begin, you can go ' surfacing ' by yourself. Grold is found in minute quantities in almost every part of the soil of these gullies. I have seeen a man washing the common road dust, and as he Avent on all day at it I fancy it paid him. You Avon't want many implements. A pick, a shovel, aud a tin dish Avill set you up as a 'surfacer.' " These Avords impressed me amazingly. Hoav delightful ifc Avould be, with nothing but a tin dish, to Avash out in the course of the morning gold enough for a Aveek's board ! I reckoned thus : " Between breakfast and dinner I can surely wash out twelve fes full of dirt; Avell, if each of ,c dishes only contains twelve ■ ')s of gold, the merest specs pos--_,,fMW, i stiall nave six pennyAveights of i ■' 7 Avorth eighteen shillings or a •)u • id." Such Avere my sanguine ex- . ations. ' j 4fore going to bed that night, fklebank, according to a custom Lxoh he told me he invariably observed, went carefully over all the little packets of gold Avhich he had •bought, either during that day or on former occasions. "Twenty-seven packets," I heard him say aloud. * | He then placed them, box and all, in the little receptacle under the floor of the tent, unchained Boxer, the bullmastiff 1 , who had been tied up during the day, examined the capping of his revolver, placed it beneath his bed Avithin arm's length, and retired to rest. I cannot say how long. l had been asleep, when I aAvoke suddenly with a convulsive start, opened my eyes^ffcd gazed confusedly around me. was I really awake, or was this merely an attack of nightmare ? "What I saAv Avas sufficiently disquieting. Brocklebank had been the last to get into bed, and he had extinguished the candle. But when I awoke — or fancied I had awoke, for on the following morning I attributed all my terrors to the heaviness of an unleavened cake which I had eaten for supper — when I awoke, my eyes Avere dazzled by a bright light, and I presently perceived that there Avas no less than three candles burning, two on the counter where we Avere accustomed to weigh out the groceries, and one on the floor. I was still more surprised to observe that Brocklebank was out of bed, partially dressed, and that he was stooping over the caAaty where his treasures were deposited. After a few moments, he rose to his feet and confronted me. I was horrified. The handsome face, which a few hours before had Avorn such a calm, business-like expression, was now distorted by passion ; the eyes Avhich had sparkled with a kindly shrewdness, now glared wildly, yet in such a vacant, objectless manner, that they appeared totally unconscious that I was staring into them with all my might. A few minutes later, after he had carefully replaced the flag which concealed his goJd-chamber from ordinary A T iew, Brocklebank put his haud beneath his bed, and drew out his revolver. The sight of the weapon seemed to enrage bim ; he ground his teeth together, and began to pace rapidly round and round the tent. As far as I coujd judge, it was the dead hour of the night, and all sounds, except the distant hayings of a dog, had up to this moment been hushed. But the noise of Brocklebank's rapid footsteps aroused the watchful bull-mastiff outside, and he began to growl. The sound of the dog's voice, subdued as it

was, seem to fill the proprietor of the store with alarm. His flushed countenance grew pale ; he hastened round and round the tent with singular rapidity, and as he performed this strange march, he pointed his revolver successively toAvards the four quarters of the compass, muttering, " North, east, south, and west. My enemies are on all sides !"

I felt very much alarmed while this extraordinary scene AA'as being enacted ; but I also felt entirely helpless, as if some superhuman poAver had chained my limbs to the bed on which I lay. I gradually formed a conviction that I was only dreaming, that the alarming fignre before me, Avith its distorted countenance, its muttered threats, and its brandished weapon, was only a creature of the imagination, and that the real Brocklebank Avas fast asleep in his bed.

This conviction must, I suppose, have soothed me considerably, for the imaginery Brocklebank had scarcely uttered the words which I have just recorded, when I was overcome by an irresistable droAvsiness, and remembered nothing further.