Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-05-28

finally arrived at the ranch, and for the
next six months | was hard at work as a
sheep herder, and neither saw nor heard
much of the outside world. Then one
day [ was called in off my range, which
was about five miles from Davidson
house. Each of his herders had from
800 to 800 sheep under his care on a
range by him self, and each lived alone
with his dog in a hut Once week the
relief" as we called him, made the
rounds and left provisions and heard our
reports. Several of the natives had Wis
tied me-harmless fellows, who wanted
matches or tobacco, but no white man
excepting the relief had come near me
for three months before | got the call to
report at headquarters. l went in to
two gentlemen who had late
ly arrived from England One of
them, Mr. Cullen, was from my own
town of Shrewsbury, and the other,
Mr.. Williams, was from Manchester.
They had come out to Australia to take
up a range and go into sheep as an in
vestment, neither of them intending to
remain, but to do the business through
an agent. They had purchased 1000
sheep of Mr.. Davidson as a starter, and
had taken a range above us on the Oar
ling River. My flock was to go, as also
that OF the herder to the south of me,
and we had been called in to receive in
structions. Both Of us herders were to
enter the employ of the new arrivals,
who had already secured their land and
built the house and stables for the over
seer. This man had come up from AIDE
laide with them, and was Scotchman
named Mcfarland The other, who
was an Irish lad of 20. was O'Hara.
When we made ready to start the two
gentlemen were mounted on horses
The overseer drove the bullock wagon,
assisted by black, and O'Hara and my
self were on foot. Some of our neigh
bors had been troubled with bushran-
gers, but we had seen nothing of them,
and, as the police patrol in the district
had lately been increased, we felt no
fear that the rangers would NEEDLE with
us on our journey. The weather was
now pretty cold, but as the country was
bad we had to let the sheep pick their
way and go slow. In the first three
days we made only about twentv-seven
miles, but this was thought to be good
progress under the circumstances. On
the third night, when at least ten miles
from any settlers, and more than that
from any regular highway, we found
natural valley in which the sheep could
be herded, and our own camp was made
in grove of ironwood, near water
hole. We had finished supper and
were grouped about the fire, when one
of the dogs barked, and we looked up to
find ourselves covered by five rifles.
There were five strange, hard-looking
men forming half circle about us, hav-
ing crept into the grove SO softly that the
dogs had not heard them until the last
moment.
'sBrail up, or under you go - shouted
voice, and every one of us threw up
his hands
''Now, then, the first one that makes
a shy move gets a bullet. Close in,
bows -
The five advanced to our feet, each
keeping his gun leveled and when [
could see the man who had spoken [ at
once identified him as Ballarat Sam,
whom | had befriended months before.
He recognized me almost as quickly,
and, taking a step forward, he said:
well, boy, you did me good turn
that day, and III not forget it. Move
over to the left. Now, then, gents, who
are you?"
The gentlemen gave him their names
and told him their business. They were
pretty badly frightened, as | could see,
W 11llS tIlC ONSiOCSI lICIIIDlcu Inc IIlet11
in a chill As he was big, strong fell
low, and had laughed at the idea of
bushrangers meddling with us, [ could
not understand his fear until Sam spoke
again.
'Better and bettern' he said, as
fierce look came into his eyes. 'tBoys,
here's that overseer who set the patrol
on our track down below, and who
wasn't satisfied with that, but must turn
out to help them. | think we have
made good haul of it.
All our arms were in the wagon, and
we were helpless to offer any resistance.
The first thing they did was to despoil
the two gentlemen and the overseer of
everything of value, and then each one
was lashed to a tree. O'Hara was or
dered to sit down beside me, and the
black took matters so cOolly that nothing
him to turn to and get supper, and he
cheerfully obeyed. When they had
eaten and drunk and lighted their pipes
Sam turned to me with:
"And so you didn't tell the police that
you gave me food and pistol 20
mo, sir"
81 know you didn't, for I was that
tired out that | laid myself down for
two hours almost in your camp. Even
when they told you who | was and that
price was set upon my head you
hadn't a word to say"
S'No, sir.
"Well, you boys have nothing to fear.
We have nothing against you. After a
day or two you may go free"
There was no sleep for anybody until
after midnight, and [ don't think the
two gentlemen or the overseer slept at
ALL | know they were wide awake
enough when I opened my eyes in the
morning. All of us had bite to eat
after the outlaws had finished, and then
the wagon was robbed of whatever they
fancied and hauled off about thirty rods
and upset in deep gully. The oxen
were turned loose with the sheep, and
when we set out Sam and two of the
men rode the horses and the rest of us
went on foot. One outlaw on foot went
ahead and the others closed up behind
us, and the general direction was to the
north. Every mile took us into wilder
and more unsettled country, and it was
SO broken that | felt that [ could not get
out even if turned free.