Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-10-11


wllispcrcd L was in the holy terror
lest You answered Mr. Nat. If you'd
done that
She shu,!,rrrd and shut her lips.
We'll. what if had:" said Tom, be-
ginning to feel sorry he had not,
"Nivrr ask me she returned. only
bear In mind that what they'll call In
science IS II crime out here. Give 'em
check. an It's twenty-five or fifty-an'
now I've told ye. lis Well ye should
know. There's some poor Teller from
here gets il livery Monday as liver Is.
But you mustn't; 50 niver cheek 'en.
me dear, and niver come near me
kitchen amy more. Sure it'd be the
dith OF young gIntleman like you"
Would IT." said Tom. well. never
you fear. Peggy. I'm not such n fool
as oil that. and III give them no rea-
son. you may depend"
They may be- afther maxim one.
Tom. dear. Faith an they'd have one
ready made If they cot We here! There's
the second bell. For Gods sake be of
An reminder Pcggy's words"
III go when I'm ready, Peggy, not
until; and don't shut down that win
dow or you'll take off my fingers.
Your hand again. It's to you l shall
owe my whole skim
He gave her his hand. She took 1t be-
tween both Of hers and pressed 1t with
fervor that should have given him
another warning on the spot. But her
kind voice only put him in mind Of
Claire SO far away; nor did he hear 1t
again for some few days. Now and
then she would wave to him from tho
kitchen window. but it was always to
wave him back. More often he waved
to her from the stable door, but she
invariably shook her black head at him
with the greatest vigor.
Meanwhile her words came true.
Mr.. Nat had conceived q palpable
spite against the new groom, and from
things the latter heard in the convicts'
hut. where he went for his meals. he
might have understood the reason,
these same things making him the less
eager to see ve"y much more Of Peggy
the cook. Still. he gave her wave
whenever he espied her in tho distance.
for he owed the girl much already. He
was daily prof1ting by her good advice,
since no day passed without Its meas
ure o. willful provocatIon from the
ruffianly Nut But Tom was not to he
provoked by sheer or taunt or oath.
Moreover. he made an excellent groom
and, being seen no more about the
house. gave no further occasion to the
enemy, who dropped his overt perse-
cutions. but detested Tom the more
for his unexceptionable conduct.
This feeling was intensified by the
effect Of that conduct in q certain
quarter. Tom became quite a favorite
with the despotic old army surgeon,
and Mr.. Nat went in constant dread
OF his "sunstrokes" in Sydney and on
the road coming to his fathers ears.
1t was this dread that decided him to
let Tom alone and to bidc his own
time for revenge. for, besides being
privy to the sons Irregularities and
dangerously established in the fathers
favor. the new groom had indeed done
Mr.. NAT IN injury Of which he himself
was all unconscious. Days grew into
weeks meanwhile. the old year burnt
Into the new. and one week day was
still much like another on this print
tive Australian farm. When the third
bell rang at sunrise, every hut dis
gOrged its surcharge Of convicts, and
Ginger called them over like SO many
schoolboys in front Of the palisade.
Then the shepherds to the pastures,
the plowmen to the arabic land. the
bullock drivers to their teams, and
Tom to his stables for the livelong
day. Such as could come were sum-
moned to breakfast at and to dinner
ut by the great bell Changing In its
eucalyptian belfry, and oil hands were
recalled by 1t between 8 and o at night.
Sunday was nominal day Of rest
which included two long compulsory
services In the courtyard beneath q
savage sun. DR.. Sullivan read the
prayers with the voice of an execu-
TONER. his bamboo cane on the desk
In front of him for use as n baton
or rs an Instrumental correction for
the man who dared to smile or to
whisper within bis reach. The terrible
OLD man would also take this weekly
opportunity OF animadverting ON the
lost souls and abandoned character of
his conv1cts IN general, with particular
illusions to those whose enormfties had
earned them the lash during the ORE
ceding week. He never failed to as
sure future offenders that they would
be punished without mercy in their
turn and would slash the desk with
his cane to emphasize his words. So
religion and ferocity ran hand In hand
Mt Castle Sullivan, nor was hypocrisy
very far behind. Mr.. Nat led the
hymns In a devout, sustained, stem
torian below, while a maiden sister.
the only lady Of the establishment,
whose voice the convicts never heard
and whose face they seldom saw but
on these occasions, supplied q per-
functory accompaniment on the piano
forte.
Amid the branches Of the red gums
without flocks Of parrots would chat
ter mockiugly, their vivid reds and
yellows lighting up the somber hues
OF those perennial leaves that whis-
pered none the less enticingly Of cool
siestas In tho shade. Yet Sunday after
Sunday these tyrannical observances
were maintained and enforced, and
the evangelical doctor loved to boast
of the device whereby he had enforced
them in the beginning. On the first
Sunday nhe-tenths of his men had
announced themselves Roman Cath
olics. So he had drawn up these gentry
In line outside the pallsade and there
Kept them standing out Of earshot but
IN the full glare Of the sun, during the
entire service. And on the Sunday FOL-
lowing there was not Roman Cath.
Ole among them.
What remained of their ruined dav
The convicts spent In breaking as many
rs possible Of those commandments
which DR.. Sullivan had been dinniay
IN their ears. Larceny, however was
the crime most In favor at the farm.
whose boundaries were seldom sxempt
from that foul parasite Of the convict