Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-06-29

'Dlii RSStu Tie part lie iItlNl bOI III III tIIC
Castle Sullivan outrage, fell i'll as
man can be just as the road to JOY
and freedom lay smooth and clear be-
fore him. He was in raging de-
lirium when the free pardon arrived |
from Governor Gipps, together with |
an order for the cOnviCts absolute re- |
lease. 1t seemed he was about to be |
released indeed. Long weeks lie lin
gered, battling indomitably, and what |
hand coaXed him back to light and life
and whose prayers awaited hut the low
ing hand and the passionate prayers OF
the girl who only lived now TO make
him forget the past? McanW lille her
father was not idle. Nicholas Harding
was useless i'll Il sickrOoln, and his
money could not save Toms life. But
there were other things that it could
do combined with the natural energy
and the practical ability which were
also his. Turn again to those old sgd
ney papers. They Will not tell You who
instigatcd the inquiry. found the wit
nesScs, paid their expenses and indeed
threw his money right and left i'll tue
good cause. But they do recount the
ruin of the most glaring ana atrocious
slave drivers the CGlony contained.
They do report the several liti%ations
by which that most desirable end was
achieved, nor TO their eternal credit
does Il single sheet take the side of
the Sulliyans of Castle Sullivan. The
name still fingers in colonial annals.
1t is still strong in all humane and
honest noStrils. but of DIR. Sullivan ana
his rufIiauly son n! traces have been
lost.
Not the least telling witness against
them WAS one who certainly could not
be accused of eXtrdvagant sympathy
with the fel0nry. Major Honeybone
enjoyed himself enormously in sgd
ney. both ut the courthouse and else
where. lie and Nicholas Harding be-
came perfect crOnics during the weary
days OF Toms cOnvalesccnce.
"Gadzooils sir. he gave me more
trouble than any three men in the
gang" the major would say. but
knew him for Il gentleman at bottom.
I'd like to shake his hand and tell him
| I'm sorry for this and that"
lbtl MslIpI IlDIt'N iJbit WIS lOI ltE-
mitted TO see the invalid. and indeed he
quilted Sydney rather precipitately in
| the end. The plucky veteran had ask
| ed question of Lady Starkie. as her
| ladyship long afterward cOnfided to
| Claire. with an obviously pleasurable
Indignation. on the. FIorentia's poop.
Nor was it until the long and s0oth-
ing homeward voyage was half over
! that the conva!escent was vouchsafed
an answer to certain questions which
he had tired of asking in his illness.
What had brought Nicholas HaSIing
to New South Wales? He must have
sailed but a few days after Claire
! What had he found out in those few
days, since the discovery Of Daintree's
! crime still came as Il surprise to him!
You never saw the woman who
took Claire'S iewe!ry:" said Nicholas
Harding. 1T is to her we owe it that
my girl is not Il mIdman's wife. The
woman was naturally Il spy. She had
spied upon her mistress. but on Dain
tree also. and to Claire she had cause
to be grateful, as Claire will tell you il
you ask her. The very night after
she sailed in the Rosamund this wo
man came to my house She had faller
very low. Death seemed to me to have
, set its seal upon her, but she had in
: formation which she would only sell
until | told her where Claire had gone
and whom she was to marry. ThcI
, and there it all came out. l must sd!
there was no huckStering then. TIL,
wretched woman seemed genuinely dis
tressed. She told me"-Harding wiped
5 his mouth. and his voice trembled-
''she told me my daughter was gone t
t be Il murderers wife"
Yet you did not know of it?'
81 did not know about Blaydes. Tha
made the second"
5 His second murderF' gasped Tom.
cor manslaughter-call it what yo
+ will. The first was the worst. 1t wa
fratricide. There were two brothers
g James was the younger. Out shoot
ing one day when they were bot
mere lads, he shot dog dead in hi
passion. The brother abused him.
an instant he also was shot throug
the heart 1t was brought in an acc
utHl, Dul luo IduiilN hHeW w lidl
was They drummed him out The
refused to see his face again. ii
, was as much transported as any felo
! in New South Wales, with as good
cause. We never knew why his fan
lily would have nothing to do with hin
; Why, for instance, the very flowers h
: laid upon his mothers grave wei
u summarily returned to him. 1t seen
:, ed inhuman, but l think it was yer
I human now. God help me, l though
Il it was only the ordinary wild OF
Z made too much Of. But was at faul
L grievously at fault Bitterly / regr'
/ it. Bitterly l shall rue it till my dyiI
II day"
: Nicholas Harding was deeply move
' He was indeed different man. In
hoarse voice he described the horro
5 of the interminable outward voyag
{ the perpetual dread of being too lat
Il the nightly nightmare of Claire ma
: ried to a criminal lunatic if not dea