The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-10-06

ask, "What has all this to do with the
Ophir gold fields and killing an old
man 7"
found Ophir, then, peculiar and
yet romantic looking place. Two
hills rose in a pyramid shape toward
the sky, both covered with gentle un
dulations, both thinly timbered to theil
submits The lower slopes of these
hills were thickley dotted with diggers
tents,and the Summer Hill creek wound
right around their base.
At the time | reached this gold field
the dlggings there were estimated to
cover an extent of 800 miles, though
eight months previously the existence
of gold in any part of Australia was
utterly unknown.
lost no time in pitching my tent
and making out claim, and twenty
four hours later was hard at work as
the rest of them.
Ny tent was pitched in close prox
unity to one occupied by two strong,
burly fellows Of the old convict class
or at least such set them down to be,
on account of the odd way in which /
fancied each of them lifted the left leg
III walking, peculiarly appertaining
TO most men who have been accustomed
to perambulate in leg irons for any
lengthy period. These men were al
ways very civil to me, and of course !
was the same to them, and yet some
how or other, contracted a dread of
them which could reither overcome
or combat and when sometimes one
or the other of them would stroll up,
pipe in mouth to the edge of my pit
and ask me how / was getting on, /
used to fancy that it was done to see
whether | was turning up anything
good, and consequently, worth robbing,
and used to conceal my gold in all
sorts of out of-the.way places to elude
their suspected designs.
One night heard horrid revelation
that confirmed all my suspicious against
these men. And now / come to the
very subject matter of my story.
have said that my tent adjoined
that of my two mysterious acquaintan-
ces in fact, the canvas of one tent
touched that of the other; and from
my tent could hear the conversation
they carried on in theirs very plainly.
| had never before listened to their dis
course, but one night, just as l was re-
firing to bed, l heard one say to the
other, eyes, this little knife did for
him / killed the old man with one
blow, sir"
'Did you now And did the fellow
resist you ?"
Faith and he did," replied the as
sassin. "He grasped me till he nearly
passed the life out Of me, and tried to
rip me with his spur but drove the
knife into him up to the hilt, and then
l cut his head off.
'HBravo, Charlie y cried the other {;
"that makes the seventh old man we We
killed since our arrival in the colonies,
don't it,"
"No, the eighth was the reply. Don't
you remember the black fellow 2"
"Oh, ay, to be sure, right you are, )"
Sdii tuc oJucl DuI WudO nave yOu
done with the ilIustrious dead in this
present instance ?"
"Why, | left the body in the bush,
with the exception of the legs, which
are here 10 the tent
The conversation here ceased, and
was not resumed in fact, a stentorian
snoring soon told me that it was very
improbable that it would be so, for that
night, at the least so crept into my
bed, not to sleep, chow could |, after so
horrible discovery p but to reflect
upon all that | had heard.
''The eighth old man they had killed!
and one of them an unfortunate black
fellow. Oh, the wretched miscreants!"
| muttered to myself and then my
mind wandered away, and | wondered
why it was that they murdered old
men-how it was that their last victim
tried to rip his murderer up with spur
and what on earth had induced the
assassin to cut off the victim legs and
bring them into his tent ? At last,
however, | did sink into a disturbed,
unrefreshing slumber, and was afflicted
by frightful dream, in which l fan
cied that one of my next door neigh
bors was kneeling on my chest and cut
ting my throat from ear to ear.
My dream had in fact some slight
foundation, for / was awakened by a
rough hand shaking me by the shoul-
der; and my eyes, on opening them,
rested on the roughly bearded face of
the very man | had been dreaming
of.
| was about to scream Murder y
for l thought that my last hour had
come but, glancing around,I saw that
it was broad daylight, and that the fel-
low was merely asking me for a match
to light his pipe with. This | imme-
diately gave him and he went away
with muttered expression of thanks.
That day, instead of going to work,
| set out for the tent of the Police
Commissioner and after a long walk
succeeded in reaching it. l had to
wait very long time before | was
granted an audience, but when | was
ushered into the presence of the dread
functionary and told him as succinctly
as possible the circumstances of the
case and how | bad heard the rascals
confess their numerous crimes, and par.
ticularly their last murder, the proofs
of which We're within their tent, the
enthusiasm of the Commissioner
was fully aroused, and he felt as anx
ious for their capture and punishment
as myself. He suggested that tive
policemen, disguised as diggers and
well armed, should come to my ten,
that evening on the pretense of paying
me visit as old acquaintance, anC
that after it was dark and the murder,
ers had turned in for the night W,
should rush into their tent and secur,
them.
This was very feasible plot and
heartily entered into it. So i minutel,
described the position of my tent, and
to make it more easily discoverable,
promised that bright red pocke
handkerchief should be hanging tC
some conspicuous part of it, as though
to dry and, having made all these ar