The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-01-07

I JUL "
SIS that your little gal?'
sYes."
"Where's the mother?"
'Dead.n
"Shool That's too bad. What's the
gals manner"
eva
Mighty sweet. Say, gal, come and
kiss me-"
She went over to him and kissed his
bronzed and bearded cheek without the
slightest hesitation, and he held her for
a moment and looked her over and said:
'Sweet as honeyi Iwouldnt hurt you
for all the gold in the big world!H
She was allowed to return to her IA
Their. and the leader then said:
"We shall hold you three peppery
gents until you raise $500 for us, and as
these Americans might give the alarm
we shall be obliged to hold them as well.
Sorry to do it, but business is business,
and if we don't look out for ourselves no
one will"
Each of the Englishmen swore by
all that was good and great that he'd
never pay a cent, but the bush rangers
only laughed at their words. At a late
hour we were ordered to go to sleep, and
the last thing I saw before my eyes closed
was the guard sitting on a rock at my
feet. The night passed quietly, and as
soon as we had breakfasted in the morn
ing the leader took pen, ink and paper
from a box and said to the Englishmen:
Snow, then, heres the chance to write
to your friends to raise the rocks, and I'll
see that the letters reach Them
Each one of the three refused point
blank to make any attempt to raise
money, although it was plain they had a
desperate lot to deal with and that they
would suffer FOR their obstinacy.
"Well. some other day viii do just as
WELL" laughed the leader, ''but / want
it understood thateach day of delay adds
e25 to the ransom"
We were then united, given a few
minutes to get over our stiffness of limb,
and then we all set off over a rugged,
scrubby country toward a range of hills.
We travelled steadily until noon and then
came to a very secure stronghold among
the hills. By placing US in a natural
Enclosure of about an eighth of an acre
we were surrounded by rocky walls on
three sides, and ON the fourth the bush
rangers built their fire and made their
camp. AS we were penned in here the
chief of the bush rangers announced to
the Englishmen that he would give them
two DAYS in which to make UP their
minds to send for the money. If they
held out at the end of that time he
would take his own measures to extort
the money. One of the Englishmen was
large landowner in Australia, another
was a civil officer at Melbourne, the
third was fresh from England and was
intending to start a manufactory of
some sort at Melbourne or Sydney.
Davis and | both labored with them to
make them realize the situation, but
they were pigheaded and obstinate, de-
claring that it was all a bluff, and that
the rangers would not dare proceed to
extremes. We believed differently.
They were escaped convicts, each one
outlawed, and q more villainous gang
one never looked at.
On the morning Of the third day, with
Oub IAdfAAE aAitlOf V0 10 A ClC 4Cdot 4uT-
ing the interval, the chief called for their
decision. Each Englishman CURLY re.
piled that he would never get another
dollar of their money. The civil officer
was the leader and the most independent.
He was seized, tied hand and foot, and
after his boots and stockings had been re-
moved he was placed with his feet to a
fire. He stood the torture until we could
smell the odor Of his burning soles and
then gave in. The other two followed
his example without waiting for the tor
lure. Each one wrote a note to a friend
in Melbourne worded by dictation. While
the chief was a rough looking fellow, he
proved to have a very fair education.
When the letters We're ready he took
them and started, presumably to find a
messenger to act as a go-between. There
were four left to guard us, and after the
chief had gone one Of them bruised some
herbs and kindly tied up the English
mans feet. Our three fellow prisoners
rather Stunned Davis and myself during
the afternoon, seeming to be put out be-
cause we were not called upon to ransom
ourselves. But we afterward recalled
that they made much of the child, and
had her with them a good share of the
time. Each outlaw also had a good word
for her whenever she came near, and she
was permitted to run about without re.
straint.
AT 4 o'clock in the afternoon this was
the situation: Three of the guards were
asleep beyond the fire. The fourth sat