Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-08-10
CHAPTER ky.

words, John Rex had successfully car
ried out the scheme by which he had
usurped the rights of his old convict
comrade.
John Rex often wondered at the
strange ease with which he had carriet
out so monstrous and seemingly difficult
an imposture. After he was landed /.
Sydney by the vessel which Sarah Pur-
foy had sent to save him, he found him
self slave to a bondage scarcely less
Calling than that from which he had
escaped-the bondage of enforced COM
panionship with an unloved woman. The
opportune death of one of her assigned
servants enabled Sarah Purfoy to in
stall the escaped convict in his room. In
the strange state of society which pre-
vailed of necessity in New South Wales
at that period, it was not unusual for
assigned servants to marry among the
free settlers, and when it was heard
that Mrs Purfoy, the widow of a whal-
ing captain, had married John Carr, her
storekeeper, transported for embezzle-
ment, and with two years of his SEN
tence yet to run, no one expressed sur
prise. Indeed, when, the year after
John Carr blossomed as an "expiree,"
master OF ine wife and tine fortune,
there were many about him who would
have made his existence in Australia
pleasant enough. But John Rex had no
notion of remaining longer than he could
help, and ceaselessly sought means of
escape from his second prison house. For
long time his search was unsuccess-
ful. Much as she loved the scoundrel.
Sarah Purfoy did not scruple to tell him
that she had bought him, and regarded
MIN as her property. He knew that if
ne made any attempt to escape from his
marriage bonds, the woman who had
rlsKed so much to save him would not
hesitate to deliver him over to the au-
thorities.
i know you don't care for me now,
John," she said, with grim complacen.
cy; but your life is in my hands, and
II you desert me l will bring you to the
gallows."
In vain, in his secret eagerness to be
rid OF her, he ragged and chafed. He
was tied hand and foot. She held his
money, and her shrewd wit had more
than doubled it. She was all-powerful.
and he could but wait until her death
or some lucky accident should rid him
OF her, and leave him free to follow out
the scheme he had matured. "Once rid
OF her, he thought in his solitary rides
over the station of which he was tho
| nominal owner, "the rest Is easy. I shall
, return to England with plausible story
, OF shipwreck, and shall doubtless be re-.
, ceived with open arms by the dear
mother from whom l have been so long
parted. Richard Devine shall have bis
own again"
One day the chance came to him.
His wife was III. and the ungratefuj
scoundrel stole five hundred pounds
and, taking two horses, reached Sydney,
: and obtained passage in a vessel bound
for Rio.
Having escaped from thralldom, John
Hex proceeded to play for the great
stake OF his life with the utmost caution.
This was the tale he hit upon: He had
been saved from the burning Hydaspes
by vessel bound for Rio Ignorant of
the death of Sir Richard, and prompted
by the pride which was known to be a
leading feature of his character, he had
determined not to return, until fortune
should have bestowed upon him wealth
, at least equal to the inheritance from
which he had been ousted. In Spanish
America he had striven to accumulate
that wealth in vain. AS traveller, specu.
+ lator, sailor, he had toiled for fourteen
years, and had failed. Worn out and
penitent, he had returned home to find n
corner of English earth in which to Law
: his weary bones. The tale was plausible
3 enough, and in the telling of it he was
armed at all points. There was little
fear that the navigator of the captured
Osprey, the man who had lived in Chill.
and cut out" cattle on the Carrum
Plains, would prove lacking in knowl-
edge of riding, seamanship, or Spanish
customs. Moreover, he had determined
upon course of action which showed
:. his knowledge of human nature.
The will under which Richard Devine
. inherited had been made when the tes-
tator was in the first hopeful glow of
paternity. By its terms Lady Devine
, !, was to receive a life interest of three
thousand year in her husbands prop
,, erty-which was placed in the hands of
two trustees until her eldest son died.
or attained the age of twenty-five years.
, When either of these events should oc-
cur, the property was to be realized,
= Lady Devine receiving a sum of a hun
dred thousand pounds, the remainder 60
o ing absolutely to the son, If living. The
: trustees appointed were Lady Devihe's
father, Col Wotton Wade, and Mr.. ST.
0 las Kuaid, Sir Richards solicitor. Col.
+ Wade, before his death, had appointed
his own son, Mr.. Francis Wade, to act
= In his stead. When Mr.. Quaid died
t Francis Wade continued alone in his
= trust. Sir Richards sister and her hus.
n band, Anthony Frere, of Bristol, were
t long ago dead, and their representative
e Maurice Frere, content at last In the
J, lot that fortune had sent him, had given
/. up all thought Of meddling with his un.
y cle's business. John Rex, therefore, in
s the person of the returned Richard, had