Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-03-25

reason to regret the steps | took, as
will be seen in the sequel. I took the
little steamer Western, Captain Lucas
to Portland, two hundred and sixty
miles, and after stopping day or two
at Macs celebrated hotel, I started by
the mail for the far interior. After
three days journey I arrived at H. as a
traveller, looking for job of work; |
had tolerable heavy swag, and this
with my cannikin and billy gave me all
the appearance of a 5ona,,feze ene l
went straight up to the bar, had my
nobbler, lighted my pipe, and then sat
down outside to consider my next
movement. It was necessary that |
should have some one in my confidence
but | resolved not to trust the local
police, as in these remote stations their
life of idleness Gifted makes them loafers
and gossips. | resolved to call Mr. T.
the hotel keeper and postmaster aside
- he had been an officer in the army
years-and tell him my errand. | did
so-never was. secret better kept-and
returned as if nothing. had occurred.
Towards evening the bar was pretty
full and l took the opportunity OF
SAYING publicly to Mr.. T. that was
out OF work, that l was groom, that
did not want to 60 on station, and
should be glad of a chance job. He a.
once told me to go to his stables and
tell his foreman to take me on as an
extra stable hand. gave Mr.. T. my
swag TO take care of it; it contained
my uniform, and my authority from
headquarters to act as detective He
understood all, and that was sufficient.
Gas groom I remained here seven
months; able for long while to do
nothing; but feeling more and more
confident that the general suspicion of
Stevens was well founded. Of course
| became intimate with him, bnt only
in the evenings when my work was
done; in all respects acted as an
ordinary groom, receiving my weekly
wages and carefully avoiding every
thing that might lead any one to sup
pose was anything but groom
Often have I laughed within myself as
a mounted trooper has ridden up, and
called me to take his horse and give
him feed however, I kept my own
counsel, and little by little light dawned
upon my track. Over the never failing
pipe l had frequent conversations with
Stevens about this old man; on such
occasions he would generally fix bis
eyes upon the ground, which gave me
opportunity to watch him the more
narrowly. | could then see the
nervous twitching of his face, the biting
OF his lip, and the sudden passing of
bis handkerchief across his brow, which
convinced me that he knew more of
this affair than | did Frequently at
the close of our conversations, in which
Stevens was making these unconscious
self-revelations would he say, 4 hate
talking of this dismal subject; let 5
have another glass"
"On such occasions he always said:
I'll shout; you are only groom, l can
afford it better than you Gradually
he took to regular drinking; morning,
noon, and night he was to be found at
the bar. When joked about his
finances he had his answer ready; he
had sold his horse, Or an old mate had
called and gwen him some cash SO
long, however, as he shouted freely,
few cared where the money came from
My eyes, however, were steadily fixed
on his drinking habits as the clue to
my researches.
Summer was now coming on. -
Though it was late summer, it was
regular hot Australian one, and in the
course of few weeks the Gleneg
began to dry up, and its long chain of
water holes to appear. Now was the
time for ascertaining whether the re
mains of the old man were to be found
in any Of the water holes in the neigh,
borhood of H.. and ole evening, as |
was talking to Stevens about this,
said :-"You or I may as well try and
find the remains of Jeffrey, and so lay
claim to the Government reward" /
noticed this gave him quite a turn
and although he tried to conceal it, |
saw that he trembled all over, and
though generally very mild spoken, he
got quite angry with me, and told me
l might do what liked, but he wasn't
so fond of looking after dead men, es
pecially if they were murdered.
81 replied, "No one said that Jeffrey
was murdered you have always said
he made away with himself" 81
thought so once, but now, the more |
think over the matter, the more con.
WINGED / am that he was murdered
"That has TO be proved said l, sand
to prove it we must first find the re-
mains, and as the river dries up l have
no douht we shall find than in ono of