Tom Hungerford: A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 253, 5 December 1872, Page 9

Tom Hungerford: A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

By William Baldwin.

Ohapteb XIV. — Burgess, Kelly, and Levy.

"Blow me, if I was ever a more taken in in my life, Tommy, than I was with that 'ere lay last night. It was cursed hard luck. Twenty notes, and not a damned long tail one among 'em all ; that's what I call hard luck — cursed hard luck." " Tt was a blasted sell, and no mistake." ' "The blastedest a sell as ever I seed. Blow my eyes if I know as how Phil could be so taken in, a saying as how he had seed the bloke stowing away that ere pile, and a swearing as how there was no end of " long tailers " among 'em, when blow the long tailer there was in the lot. It ain't like Phil." "I wonderwhat's a-keeping Phil. He aught to be here afore now, he and that young bloke." " Blow me if I know what's a-keep-ing him, Tommy. I only hope in the devil's name he ain't been and got ' pinched.' If he don't stop that 'ere trick, he'll be bringing that leery cove Jones down on the top of us afore we knows where we are. He is a sharp one that 'ere cove, damn him. I passed him to-day in the township, and blow me if he didn't a-screw .his eyes through and through me like gimlets. But he'd better let me alone, he had, or I'll do for him, sharp as he thinks his pelf. By G-— d I will." " Pass thejbottle, Dick ? What about that ere ring ?" j " Phil says as it's echneiu." " We had the Devil's luck last night, and no mistake ; but this 'ere lay as we're after now, is likely to turn out better." Look here, Tommy, I don't half like the look of this 'ere lay ; I don't indeed, I don't care for the job, I tells you that. It's a dangerous job ; a damned dangerous job ; and if we takes it in hand, this here young cove mustbleed freely, and we must do it cautiously, yes; we must do it very cautiously." " But I say, Dick, it's a running go, ain't it." *' What's a running go ?" asked Dick impatiently. " Why this 'ere i cove," answered the other, " wanting ito put " and he nodded his head sideways, " out of the way. It ain't about that escort business; and there ain't no use in thinking as how it is, cause it ain't. Damn my eyes, Dick, if I don't think as it's a plant, and that this 'ere young cove aiu't square." . " Damn you, and your plant," was the angry response. " Blow me," continued the speaker, "if you and Phil ain't a-growing white livefed of late. Phil goes ou a sermonising as to how it's against his conscience- to spill blood. Who the h— l cares for him or his conscience, I'd like to know. And here are you a-going on talking about plants when there ain't no plants a thought on. I tells you, once for all, I'll not Btand any more of this parson dodge from him or you. It ain't the kind o' dodge as ever I seed your brother Bill Noon a-coming. Ah ! be had rare stuff in him, had Bill." " But wasn't Bill a squeezed cause of Sandy Eraser peaching ?" asked the other quietly, without heeding this outburst of temper. "Yes, Tommy, he was," was the answer, and there was in the answer something of softness, nor was the tone altogether devoid of sadness. " Poor Bill," he continued ; " Sandy Eraser, curse him, did for him and no mistake. But Lord, Sandy Fraser and this 'ere cove, ain't chaps of the same kidney. This 'ere cove is a cur, Tommy ; and a cur as you might kick without his so much as turning round to bite you ; and Sandy Fraser was no cur, blast him, that he wasn't. People think as how it's your cur as peaches ; but it ain't, leastwise it takes more pluck nor what people thinks to peach. Damn my eyes, Tommy," he continued after a moment's pause, "if I b'lieved as this 'ere cove thought of playinsr us any such little game as that 'ere, I'd do for him this very night, as I did for Hewitt at Ballarat, and many a better man nor Hewitt. But I don't b'lieve it, I don't indeed.. I wish to God Phil would come though," he added anxi-

ously,and then they both paused tolisten, paused for some time, speaking never a word the while. And now, .whilst so pausing, it will no doubt be expected we should bestow upon them a passing glance, and give them a few brief words in the way of description. And I may as well tell the reader at once, before I proceed any further, who these two men are; te?l him they are none othert than the now notorious Burgess and Kelly ; and I may also say he has met them both before in thess pages — and that very recently ; but the meeting was a casual one, and of the very briefest. They were two of those men whom Tim Dvvyer had overheard, or, speaking more correctly, had partly overheard, tbe previous evening, whisperingtogether in the bar of the Gcflden Age, whose words had so sorely troubled him, and caused much anxiety of mind. Cause for sore trouble and deep anxiety of mind in good truth was there, did Tim but'know all. Could he but have guessed at the character of the, men, or had it been

permitted him to catch the very faintest glimmering of their purpose, of a surety but little comfort or peace of mind would have come in Tim's way that night. "

The two fellows were sitting in their tent, in one of the outlying gullies near Waitahuna, awaiting the arrival of a confederate, awaitiug him with some impatience, discussing meanwhile some robbery of the previous night, and some contemplated piece of villainy they had on hand, doing so in the words I have just narrated. They sat, as I say, impatiently and silently, and as they bo sat in tbe dimcandle light, seldom has the light of candle or the light of day either, fallen on two such thoroughly repulsive ruffians. Yes, assuredly they looked two thorough ruffians, carrying about them in their appearance very plainly the outward visible signs of their ruffianism. * And as far as outward looks went, it would be difficult to say which seemed the greater ruffian of the two. Their eyebrows were shaggy, their eves small and sunken, and their faces fierce and scowling. Brutality and savageness, and fellness of purpose, were written on these two faces, but assuredly there was not one single trait of mercy, nor one single gleam of pity in either of them ; no, not ono. They were both small men — remarkably small men. Kelly was a shade the taller of the

two ; and Kelly stood little if anything above five fleet five iv height ; but they were both men of muscular build. As I have just said, it would be difficult to say which of the two seemed the greater ruffian ; but I think that at the first glance, the ruffianism

of Burgess was not so glaringly repu'sive. At the first glance, but not at the second. Just ut first you saw that Burgess had more regular features, that his whiskers and moustache had a trimmer nattier look about them, that his complexion, instead of being sallow as Kelly's, was fresh and more inclined to be ruddy ; that his forehead was freer from wrinkles, and his eyes were of a deeper hazel. At the first glance you gave the man, these things would have told in his favor as regards the contrast ; but the second showed you he was the more daugerous, and more deadly villain of the two. There was that in bis snake-like glittering eye that warned you to beware, warned you to do so as plainly as if you heard the rattle of the rattlesnake ;' and that about the jaw and mouth which showed he had, what Kelly had not, determination, fierce full determination, determination and ferocity combined.

Yes ; Burgess was a man truly ferocious of purpose, and immovable of purpose as he was ferocious. Truly one of the doomed ones of the earth, to all human seeming born for no other purpose than to commit deeds of darkness himself, and to lead others into the commission of such deeds, permitting of no rivalry in such leadership. Sullivan spoke truly of him, when lie said " Burgess's word was law." amongst the gang, and when armed he was " like a spoilt child."

Heaven help the man who had to appeal to either of these miscreants in his hour of need, but assuredly heaven's help would be needed fourfold for the man who had to appeal to Burgess for mercy.

" Here he comes at last, damn him," said the latter, as the sounds of approaching footsteps caujjht his sharper ears, and as he said so the two men instinctively laid their hands on their revolvers, instinctively and with a caution that had become a sort of secoud nature with them. But this caution of theirs was unneeded on the present occasion.

" What in the devil's name has been a-keeping you, Phil," asked Burgess angrily, addressing his words to the foremost of the two new comers, a hooked nose roan of decidedly Jewish appearance. " Blow my eyes, if I didn't think as ic's pulled you'd been."

" Pulled. Phil Levy pulled. Come that's good, Dick. My God it is. Whoever tries to pull Phil Levy, I'll find him a chicken as roosts .high. Bu*- it's this here young chap," he added, pointing to his companion " as kept me a-waiting. But the time wasn't a wasted. A young friend of mine as thinks his self no end of a swell at euchre, comes up to me as I was a-waiting, and asks me to play with him. 'No, my dear,' says I, 'l would rather not, seeing as I knows nothingatall abouo euchre.' ' Gammon,' says he, a-winking at me. Ah ! he was a wicked young man, and would make niea play with him, in spite of myself. And would you believe it, Dick, that 'ere young noau had the misfortune to lose all his money, while I was awaiting. Ha ! ha ! ha !" and he laughed a low chuckling internal laugh. He spoke in a facetious, oily, cringing sort of way, and his manner of speaking corresponded with his outward looks, i for he was oily and cringing and cunning to look at. He was a Jew ; you could see that, see it at a glanpe. Jew was plainly to be seen in his low retreating forehead, black hair, dark restless eyes, long hooked nose, large cruel mouth, and thick sensual lip. This was Phil Levy, the most despicable member of that gang of ruffians; despicable in that, though just as cruel, and more cunning he was, without one spark of Burgess's of Kelly's daring; was at heart a thorough coward. Burgess and Kelly, we think of with deep horror ; Levy withdeep loathing. I know of nothing more, truly; loathsome in the whole

annals of crime, than these wretches last — what shall I call it — a deed without a name. Refusing to shoot bis victim, reusing to do so because the shedding of man's blood was forbidden him in express words, and strangling him in consequence. Verfly, " a deed without a name." But reference has been made to two new comers, to another individual besides Levy. This individual had entered the tent in company with Levy, and was referred to by the latter as the young chap, on whose shoulders rested the responsibility of that delay of his which Bnrgess had taken in such ill part. He was young as to age — the younger of all th,e party — their junior by a dozen years at least; and as to crime immeasurably their junior. But he had much of the gallows bird about him for all that, being a bloated, dissipated, disreputable looking young miscreant, whose connexion with this gang will be explained before the present chapter closes. "Sit down, Misther. What did you say as your name was again — Delany ; well, Delany is as good a name as any other," exclaimed Burgess, addressing himself to Delany, and giving him a meaning glance as he did so ; a sharp searching suspicious glance. Stow yourself away on them ere blankets, mate," he said. " and have something to drink afore we begins to talk of this here little job of yours." And as he said so, he poured him out some whiskey in a pannikin ; pouring it out carefully, and not without something of mental calculation as to the result.

Burgess had read this fellow, this Delany, through and through the previous evening, had then read the cowardice and currishness of his nature, speaking of him to Kelly, and speaking of him truly, as a cur who might be kicked, and who would bear his kicking as curs do by putting his tail between his legs. Burgess knew the

man he had to deal with, and he accordingly determined inwardly to himself to turn his knowledge to good account ; determined he would do so at the very outset, by striking terror into the fellow's inmost heart, such terror as was not likely soon to pass away.

Now to carry out this object of his, it behoved him in the first place, so he told himself, to be careful as to the quantity of whiskey he gave Delany ; careful that the dose should carry with it nothing in the way of fictitious courage, " Dutch courage," as Burgess would have expressed it, had he given expression in words to the thoughts within him. Just at first, iudeed, the giving the fellow any such dose at all, seemed to him a questionable course of procedure ; but upon second thoughts, he decided it would be best, and all things considered most advisable to treat Delany whh some outward show of cordiality. It would behest so -far as making that terror abiding, he told himself, ito bear himself towards his visitor with seeming openness, teaching him the lesson he intended to teach in a friendly off band kind of way. We will see with what craft tbe lesson was taught;

"We tries to treat our friends well, mate," he said as he handed Delany his whiskey, and at the same time drank of some himself, doing so as a matter of form, for Burgess was a man of abstemious habits. "We tries to treat our friends well," he said. " Them as acts friendly by us 'ull always find as how we acts friendly by them j but a friend as pretends he's a friend and ain't, why blow my eyes he'd better keep out of our way, do you see, mate. Blow m) eyes if it wouldn't be better for him, "do you see, to swallow a keg of gunpowder, and then set fire to his self, nor to come near us : leastwise it would be better, nor to come near •'Charley. 1 "Charley is our Boss," he added, winking at his confederates.

" Did the Captain ever tell you, Phil, how he served out Flash Jimmy?" he asked turning to Levy.

The latter answered in the negative. " Nor you, Tommy 1 " Kelly shook his head. " Noc as I knows on Dick. How was it?"

"Well, there was a little job as we'd been concerned in at the Ovens ; and somehow Charley heard as how Flash Jimmy a-meant to split. You and I would have blown his blasted brains out on the spot, mates."

"If it was my own mother as a meant to do it, and she was a-feeding me with a spoon, I'd * squaize ' her on the spot, I would, by , and that afore she could once 'pay out,'" answered Kelly fiercely, scowling at Delany as he did so.

"Of course you would, Tommy," continued Burgess, " and so would Phil, and so would I ; but ah, Charley ain't like us. 'No, Dick,' says he to me, when I said as how I'd like to slash Jimmy's throat one night ; ' no. Dick,' says he, 'you leave Jimmy to me.' ' I can't a-fancy,' says he, his eyes flashing fii-e, l as how auybody as knows me would split. I can't indeed, Dick,' says ho, ' and maybe Jimmy 'ull think better of ifc. But if he does split,' says he, ' I'll tear his heart out, T will, if I have to follow him to follow him to H— l.' Well, Jimmy did split, damn him, and we was all pulled. But Lord, Charley wasn't to be caught like that. He was a-ready prepared, and it was showed as clear-— as clear as daylight, as how we could have had nothing to do with that ere job, a-aeeing aa how we was a hundred miles' away

at the time, and so we .gets off. Flash Jimuaj sees as how it was all up with this little game of his, and he turns white-livered, and bolts to Melbourne by the escort, and from Melbourne he bolts to London by the very first ship as sails, a-thinking as how he'd get clear of Charley. But Charley wasn't to be got clear of; not he. Now, what do you suppose Charley did, mates ? Why, he starts away in the very next ship for London, and he tracks that ere Flash Jimmy through London, and from London lie tracks him to -Dublin, and from Dublin, blow me, if he didn't a-track him to New York. Afc New York he come'd up with him, and what do you think he does to that Flash Jimmy ? " he asked, he paused for a minute or two as he asked this question. "What do you think he does to that ere Flash Jimmy ?" he repeated slowly. "He had him watched, and at last he was grabbed, and Charley gets him into his own hands and he killed him — killed him by inches, Tommy," he added, addressing himself to Kelly. "JXTes, killed him by inches, taking days to do it and weeks to do it ; a tortoring him all the while — tortoring him in away as would have made a red Indian ashamed of his self. And afore be was dead he tore out his heart, aud got it preserved and brought it back with him, to show us how he was as good as his word. Ah ! if the devil himself was to try and trick Charley, mate," he said looking at Dulany, " the devil would find as how Charh-y was his match at that 'ere game. Blow me if he wouldn't."