CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
TRUST FOR TRUST.
"Some one found my gun and taking aim at me," thought Nic, feelingthoroughly how bad a plan it was for any one to bring out a gun forself-defence and then leave it for an enemy to seize.
That watch kept upon the gun muzzle did not last many moments, for arough, mocking voice said loudly:
"Well: come to take me? Here I am."
"Leather!--I mean, I mean Frank Mayne," cried Nic joyously, as he sprangto his feet; "found you at last!"
"Yes," said the convict bitterly, "you have found me at last. Where areyour men?"
"What men?" said Nic, staring.
"The bloodhounds you've brought to hunt me," said the convict.
"Don't talk nonsense!" cried Nic sharply. "You don't think I shouldbring any one to hunt you?"
"Why not?"
"Because you know I wouldn't be such a brute. But, I say, I was rightthen. I've been trying ever since you went away to think out where youcould be gone."
"And sending the police after me," said the convict bitterly.
"You know better than that," cried Nic; "but, I say, I was right then.I felt sure you would be here."
"Why should you be?" said the man suspiciously.
"Because, don't you remember once, months ago, talking about the gorge?"
"True, I did; I had forgotten. But where are the police now?"
"Gone back to the port. How did you know they had been?"
"From the blacks."
"There, I knew it!" cried Nic. "The cunning rascals, and they pretendedthey had no idea of where you were."
"Poor fellows," said the convict, smiling bitterly; "they are faithfulenough."
"But they might have told me," said Nic. "Even you don't seem to trustme now."
"How can a man, who is hunted like a wild beast with dogs and blacktrackers, trust any one, boy?" cried the convict fiercely. "You knowwhat it would have been if they had found me, and I had run instead ofsurrendering. They would have shot me down like a savage beast."
Nic nodded as he gazed up at the fierce countenance, whose eyes seemedto glare down at him.
"There," continued the convict, "you have found me. Of course you knowthere is a heavy reward. You can earn it for pocket money."
"Yes," cried Nic, speaking fiercely now, "and go over to the villagetuck shop, and spend it with my school-fellows."
"Of course," said the man banteringly. "Only there's one drawback, boy.You are caught in a trap there, and when you are found there will onlybe your bones."
"Oh, I say, Leather, what a savage you have turned! I say, have a bitof damper? I have some left."
The man made no reply for a few moments. Then, in an altered tone:
"Have you found any way out?"
"No. It is a regular trap; but I was thirsty, and I came down to drink.Fell half the way," said Nic, holding up a bleeding hand.
"I went down the same way," said the convict quietly.
"Then there is a way out?" said Nic sharply.
"Yes, over the brink yonder."
"Oh yes, I found that out," said Nic, with a laugh; "but I don't want tobreak my neck. How did you get out?"
"Over there," said the convict quietly. "It requires a steady head, butyou can creep along a narrow ledge, and get back to the top here, threeor four hundred yards farther on. I did not find it out till I wasnearly starved to death."
"Poor old chap," said Nic quietly. "I say, this sounds more like you."
"Does it? Did any one see you coming?"
"Bungarolo. But I sent him home before I was halfway here."
"He would not tell tales, poor fellow. They have had my life in theirhands ever since."
"But, I say, Leather, it's awkward talking like this. I'll come up toyou;" and he moved toward the edge.
"No, no, don't stir," cried the man fiercely. And Nic stamped angrilyupon the rock.
"Why don't you shoot me?" he cried. "You've got the gun. There, beoff; I don't want to see which way you go. Look here, Sorrel's overyonder somewhere. Go and find him, and ride off up the country as faras you like. Only send him back some day by one of the blacks, I'll payhim with blankets and things. I can't give him to you, because, as youknow, he was father's gift. There's a pack of meal on his back; Ibrought it in case I could find you; but you'd better take this lump ofdamper too."
The convict made no reply for some minutes, but lay there at the edge ofthe rocks gazing sadly down at Nic, who had thrown himself upon hischest, and was looking into the gorge.
"Nic," he said at last.
"Well," was the reply; but the boy did not turn his head.
"Don't misunderstand me, lad; I said don't try to come up, because therisk of going along there made me shudder. I'm coming down to helpyou--where's your hand?"
"Oh, I say, I beg your pardon," cried Nic, springing up. "I didn'tmean--I thought--I--I say, Leather, mind how you come."
"Yes, I'll mind," said the man. "But the gun. It is not safe to pitchit down to you."
"No; leave it up there."
"For another enemy to get hold of it. No, my lad, that won't do.There, if I hold it crosswise like this, and drop it down, you can catchit."
"Yes, I think so."
"Then try."
As he spoke the man went down upon his face, held the gun at arm'slength as far down over the edge as he could, and then after a warninglet it fall.
"Right," cried Nic, catching it cleverly. "Now, how are you going tomanage? I came down just there."
"And I'll try twenty feet to my left here," said the convict; and,selecting a place, he lowered himself down until he hung by his hands,and then began to descend with wonderful activity, reaching the bottomwithout a slip, solely from the rapidity of his movements.
"Why, Leather," cried Nic, grasping his hand, "you are as active as asquirrel."
"A man needs to be to lead my life, boy," said the convict quietly."Hah! that seems to put humanity into one again. The blacks arefriendly enough; but it is for the touch of a white hand one yearns."
"Have some damper?" said Nic suddenly, so as to hide a peculiar feelingwhich troubled him.
The convict took the bread cake, broke it, and began to eat, seekingrefuge in the act for the same reason.
"Hah!" he said, smiling, "it tastes good. Nic, boy, you forgive me allI have said?"
"Of course I do. But, I say, how have you managed to live?"
"The same as a black would. This is the first bread I have eaten sinceI broke away and became a savage."
"Do you think they will manage to catch you?" said Nic, after a pause.
"Not alive, my lad. Well, let's have just a few words together, andthen you must go."
"You will stop about here, I suppose?"
The convict shook his head.
"Hunted beasts stay where they are safe. Hunt them, and they go fartheraway."
"You have been hunted, but you have not gone farther away."
"No, boy, because this is my sanctuary. There, you see I trust you, andI know that I am safe in your hands. Let's sit down."
Nic willingly did so, and the convict went on eating the bread cake,talking quietly the while.
"There is no place I could find where I should be so safe, Nic," hesaid; "and this is near human nature, which one likes, even if it isunkind. I had often thought of breaking away and making for the bush,feeling convinced that if I reached the place I could manage to livewhere so many poor wretches who have escaped found their end. But I wasservant to a just man; your mother and sisters treated me when they sawme as if they were sorry for me, and I could not go. Then you dame,boy, and tied me tighter to the place, making all the petty troublescaused by that overbearing brute seem like nothing."
"I tied you tighter to the place?" cried Nic.
"Yes. Why, the hours I spent with you when you found me out in the runwere the only happy ones I had had for years."
"Oh, I di
dn't do much," said Nic hurriedly. "I'm afraid it was becauseI liked to talk to you about birds and things. But, I say, do you meanto keep to this life?"
"Do you think I can give up and submit to that worst punishment of--tobe flogged?"
"No," cried Nic firmly; "you can't do that. You must wait. And lookhere, I tell you what: try and find a way down into the gorge, and keepit a secret. Why, you can build yourself a gunyah (bark hut) somewherebelow, and live there, and make your garden and keep fowls, and thereare sheep and cattle. I'll bring you a live chicken now and then, andseeds and cuttings, and tea and sugar and flour when I come, and then wecan go fishing and hunting and collecting together. Why, it will becapital."
The convict smiled.
"I don't see anything to laugh at," said Nic.
"I suppose not, you young enthusiast."
"That I'm not," cried the boy. "It's you who take too miserable a viewof things."
"With cause, boy."
"Well, yes, there is plenty of cause," said Nic: "but you really couldlive down there safely for years without being found out--if you couldget down."
"I can get down, and I have been down there since I broke away. I havemade myself a bark gunyah, and for the present that is my home, Nic."
"Capital," cried the boy eagerly. "Take me and show me."
The convict shook his head.
"No," he said; "you and I must never meet."
"Why?" said Nic, in rather an ill-used tone.
"Because you would be disgracing yourself by associating with a man ofmy character, and you would be breaking laws made for the protection ofthe settlers who employ convict servants."
"You are not a man of bad character," said Nic quietly; "and as to law--well, I suppose it would be breaking that; but then the law doesn't knowany better. It does not know you like I do."
"There, boy, we will not argue the question. I'm black enough as it is,but I want to do you good, Nic, not harm. Come," he continued, rising,"time is going on, and you are some distance from home. Where is yourhorse?"
"Miles away."
"Then you must be moving."
"There's no hurry," said Nic.
"Yes, there is. You have a dangerous ledge to go along."
"I can get along better when I am more rested," said the boy.
The convict smiled.
"Then let me put it in a more selfish way," he said. "It is close onsundown, and I have a long way to go to my home. A more dangerous waythan yours, and I could not attempt it after it begins to grow dusk."
"I'm ready," said Nip, springing up; "but tell me this: when will youmeet me again?"
"Perhaps never," said the convict.
"Then I shall come hunting for you every day till I find the way downinto the gorge."
"And bring the government people on my track?"
"No, I won't do that," said Nic; "but I will find you out, and I can nowthat I know where you are."
"I doubt it, boy. The gorge is enormous, and I am the only man whoknows the way down."
"Pooh! The blacks would know. Bungarolo would show me now he knows Ihave seen you."
"The blacks do not know, Nic. I should not know if I had not discoveredit two years ago by accident when trying to save the life of a sheepwhich had fallen. There, be content. You have seen me. Some day wemay meet again. Now then, we must lose no more time."
"Very well," said Nic; "only mind this: I will not do anything to riskhaving you discovered; but I will come to you."
"I know you will not do anything to harm me, my lad; but you aredeceiving yourself, my boy. You will not come to me. Now, are youready?"
"Yes. Where's this dangerous shelf?"
"I will take you along it. Where is your handkerchief?"
"It was too hot to have it round my neck," said Nic, smiling, as he tookit from where it was tied about his waist.
"I am going to bind it round your eyes," said the convict.
"What! For fear that I should find the way down into the gorge?"
"No; because your head may turn giddy when you see the depth below you.I want you to trust me, Nic, to lead you safely along the shelf. Canyou do this?"
Nic was silent for a few moments.
"I feel as if I want to trust you," he said at last; "but I don't feelas if I can--no, no, I don't mean that. I mean that I want to trustyou, but I can't trust myself. No, that isn't it exactly. I supposeI'm afraid. Why can't I walk close behind you?"
"Because I doubt your doing it without practice. I expect that youwould go along half-way and then lose your nerve, and I don't think Icould lift and carry you then. Won't you trust me, Nic?"
The boy looked sharply into his eyes for a moment, and then leanedforward for his eyes to be bound, thinking the while of the log bridgeover the fern gully and his feelings there.
"There," said the convict, as he secured the knot firmly. "Now listen:I shall take hold of your hand to hold it tightly, and I want you to tryand make yourself part of me for the next ten minutes, obeying everytouch, and taking step for step with me. Don't pause, don't hesitate;only keep on feeling that I am guiding you safely through the darkness.There is no risk if you do this."
"I'm ready," said Nic; "only begin quickly, please, and let's get itdone."
"Then come along."
Nic felt his hand seized in a strong, firm grip, and followed as he wasled, hesitating once, and showing a disposition to hang back, but it wasonly for a moment. The next he was walking slowly and steadily behindthe convict, who led him between two or three bushes, and then along anarrow shelf which passed round the end of the rock slip; and as soon asit was cleared the buttress at that end grew still more narrow, so thatthe boy felt his right arm brushing against the perpendicular rock wall,while his left hung free.
He could not see, but he knew that his left fingers must be pointingdown into the tremendous gulf; and in imagination he saw with wonderfulaccuracy through the golden transparent air the various plants whichgrew from the interstices of the titanic wall, the bushes and shrubs,the pendent vines and clinging creepers, the shelves and faults in thestrata here and there deeper down, and then lower and lower still thegaps and hollows whence stalwart trees had risen from seeds dropped orhidden by some bird--trees which had grown out almost horizontally, andthen curved up into their proper vertical position, to rise up and up asthe years rolled on, though now they looked mere shrubs a handbreadthhigh.
And as the boy walked on he saw lower and lower the forest monarchsdwarfed to shrubs, and lower still patches of timber that wereindistinct and looking hardly more than grass, while here and there thelight of the setting sun gleamed ruddily from the water of the chain oflakes.
It was but the picture raised by memory from where it was printed uponNic's mind, but it was very accurate, and almost exactly what he wouldhave seen had his eyes been free during that long, long walk, as itseemed--a walk of a few brief minutes though, and then his hand wasdropped.
"Don't do that till you've unbound my eyes," said Nic sharply.
"Why not, boy? we are in safety now."
Nic's breath was exhaled in a hoarse sigh as he felt the kerchief drawnfrom his face, and he looked round to see that they were among trees.
"Was it very dangerous?" he said.
"Very; or I would not have asked you to be bound. Now, my lad,good-bye."
"No, no; I have quite a load of meal for you on the horse."
"There is no time to fetch it. Leave it for me on the chance of myfinding it."
"But where? You never will."
The convict thought for a moment.
"I'll tell you," he said. "Lay it in the crack close to the edge of theprecipice where I held you half over that day. Cover it with grass. Itwill be on your way home, and I shall be able to find it if the coast isclear. Once more: straight away for where your horse is grazing. Canyou find it, do you think?"
"Oh yes. I can follow my way back," said Nic. "I shall see my trackshere a
nd there."
"Then once more: good-bye."
He turned sharply and disappeared, while, tired and disappointed, Nichad a hard task to retrace his steps to the horse, whistling for it ashe drew near where he felt that it ought to be, and gladdened at last,just as darkness was falling, by a responsive neigh.
The long bag of meal was hung up in a tree that Nic felt he could findagain, and then he rode home.
"Poor Leather will think I have deceived him and be suspicious, but it'simpossible to find that place by the precipice to-night."