Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-07-07

bush we're trotteu out ior our Inspection
in a most business-liks manner, and tall,
fair, handsome, shy Eoglish girl OF two or
three and twenty was bound over by mys-
FERROUS documents to meet me ct certain
time and place, and under my charge, to
proceed to Wyalla, transport for her
boxes being duly arranged for. And
that was my first introduction to Mary
Lawson.
Then. with many thanks to my fair
friend, away sped 1, on business 1 under
sto-d much better than that Of hiring
housemai6s- wit, the buying of what
we Australians call buggy, but what Is
known in the States es a wagon, or buck
board-four light wheels, all about the
same height, q perch, shallow tray and
splashbOard, mounted on fore and aft
springs, on which is 3 seat for two; the
whole as tight, tough, and elastic as
skillful combination Of mild steel,
hickory, and leather, can DO made to be,
and the best vehicle yet devised for
travelling over the complication OF ruts,
rocks. and roots which are known as roads
in the Australian bush. Mine was an
Abbott newly imported from Con
cord, Y H. not q caesp article by any
means. but a very good one. Aud week
sfterward-my visit to Sydney too soon
over, for had sold thousand head oil
atore cattle to a Victoria man, 10 be mus
tered and delivered hundred miles down
tie road, and had not many weeks 70 90 II
in-I was on my way home, with Mrs.
Hayes housemaid by my SIDE, IN the
buggy.
/ had driven enc of my horses myself;
about the other there existed tradition,
or the station, that some one had once
seen him in harness. He certainly, at
first starting, seemed to have forgotten his
early experiences. My companion, how
ever. treated his eccentricities as a matter
of course, merely remarking that che was
nssd 70 horses. 1t was evident that she
had GOOD nerves. The young woman IN
dulzed il ore good cry during the journey,
mpch TO NV alarm, but, otherwise, took
tbe many strange sights aud sounds sne
saw and heard very quietly. she spoke
GOOD Fnelish. and seemed nice IN her
WAYS. and was, she told ms, tue daughter
of Devoushire farmer and eatlls dealer,
and after her parents death had oeen ior
a while in service in London.
Jim Curtis, the Wyalls stockman, met
ne fftv miles down the road, with fresh
heres and I handed over my charge 10
Ms. Kaye, after q prosperous quincy. jim
was a line. tall, handsome young fellow, 8
So of an Australian "COrnstalk," slim
mi brosd-shouldered, with curling fair
te,rl snd hair and good tempered eyes. A
soiandid rider and horse breaker, good
Istockusu. either IN the bush or IN the yard,
be v,,s vel liked everywhere, and model
In be initiated By all the JackaEoos and
new chums in the district. Aud, in
clean white shirt and mOleskin trousers,
meat boots. and little cabbage hat, with
his handsome brown face and perfect seat
on horseback, he looked the beau ideal OF
a daring stockmsn, and was celebrated for
various exploits among cattle aud horses
Indeed, it needed a good man to follow him
among ranges or in scrub or to back up
10 him after a mob Of wild cattle. Jim
WAS the son of a small farmer, Singleton
way: his father and neither had probably
both come to the colony under Govern
mant,n as the phrase used to be.
Well. to shorten my story, went home,
8 mustered my cattle, and, in couple OF
/ months time, sgain found myself a guest
o az W,alla. I, Of course, inquired for and
saw nv housemaid; she had recovered
q from her mosquito bites, and was, unde-
o piablv. q very handsome girl. Mrs. Kaye
t liked her, and praised me for the way N
which / had executed her commission.
- The next news that heard, some months
later. OF Mary Lawson was that she was
engaged 10 be married to Jim Curtis,
o but the event was not to come Oh
e until latter sheariDg" an inter
val Of some months. Then came evil It'd
! ings. Jim had got mixed up with some
horss-dealing transactions, had yielded to
C the temptations to which all stOckmen are
= exuosed where stray horses abound, had
been tried for horss-stealing, and had been
. convicted of "illegal possession" OF GER
: tain mare and foal, which is about The ut
most Of which bush Jury will find e man
guilty. SO Curtis, instead OF marrying the
pretty new chum, had before him the pros
5 pect OF nine months imprisonment in Ber-
nina Jail.
J Nv friends at Wyalla, where jim WAS 8
, ilyorite, were very sorry for him. Here
; was a young fellows whole life ruined fer
what might only have been a case Of sol
I die1ing,n or q mistake about brand; and
here, TOO, was hrs. Kaye's fayOrite parlor-
3 maid crying her eyes out about her lover
. and vowing that she would marry Jim as
soon as be came ont Of prison. About
that time a sort of epidemic of bushrang-
ing, or robbery under arms, had set in.
|. Pei.ley, Gardner, Morgan, the Clarks
and many Others had made the
country ring with their desperate deeds.
Many men had been shot, and robbery
l., 80 a. rNa1 of. Ms
In the partially-ssttled districts of New
South Wales there was growing up class
OF Young men, many Of them OF convict
blood, lawless, and very Ignorant, prefer
ring an idle life, diversified by little
horse planting or downright horse and cat
tie stealing to steady work. From this to
bushranging is but a step and to such
young men these brigsnd5 seemed heroes.
These men were good bushmen, splendid
u horsemen, and were sympathizsd with by
the small settlers, many CT whom have d
hered tary hatred Of g policeman. To In
form against these men was 10 court death,
and they flung about their stolen sOvereigns
with lavish recklessness.
When bushTangar said TO 8 man, "Bail
up, you, or I'll shoot you, " be meant what
! he said. and often did it. Thus tae terror
they inspired vas great and their example
contagious. Banks, gold escorts, mails,
stations and travellers had been stuck up
without number, and the robbers seemed
to have the gift OF fern seed, and there was
| q certain amount Of uneasiness pervading
our district, though as yet we were free
from molestatiOn.
About twelve months after Jim Curtis's
trial we heard that be had been seen about
Wgalla cattle station. And news came,
too. that Mary Lawson had left Mrs.
Ksye's employment rather suddenly, and
that lady had little doubt that the girl in
tended 10 carry out her intentions of mar