| Show A FELONS PA LOVE BY HENRY W N NESFIELD CHAPTER WIT VIII what horse borse was that I 1 heard galloping about in the night inquired sir hall on the th following morning did any break out of the paddock no air it was baynes replied one of the hands hand ibe lie rode roda up in the night might Bay barnea nea what did he be come back for ile he said bald they were mere til all drunk and fighting down at sullivans sullivan and b he could find and no place to sleep in so h he rode home lie he must go back at ones once then I 1 can t have those pack horses homes hanging about down there for days together ile he ham hai pone air lr ile he started off at daylight 1 that a all right then mald mr hall when the men who slept in fix bob luke a hut gut got up that moo ning they noticed that he be had bad already gone out 1 I wonder what made luke turn out so BO early I 1 one ot of them remarked but no DO further notice mas aa taken of his bis ab ence aenice until breakfast time what a become of luke asked aked a stockman toi kman as a there was no sign of him when that meal wits wa nearly finished you had bad better put that stew blew on the fire clr to keep hot for him maybe he ha la Is out after tome some or of the horses dinner time came but no luke and shortly 9 arter warda mr nall hall happened to want him no one hag ban seen him this morning air tr was waa the answer he be received we cali cant t think m bat a become of him no one ham haa seen een him repeated mr hall I 1 what do you mean ila he slept on the ata tion last night I 1 sup up polls pot he slept in my hut but replied the man and turned la in as usual last night I 1 noticed t that bat in particular because he be was wai the last in bed and had bad to put pat out the light aheu we awoke this morning he was already up and out oat but we dian didn t take much notice of 1 I had his bed been slept in 1 I suppose so BO air lr I 1 never looked lie he went to bed I 1 am sure cure as I 1 lay awake for a good ten tea minutes minute after I 1 turned la in and I 1 never beard him so go out come with me BOO to the hut but and show we me hi bit bunk continued mr hall the bunk that luke was in the habit of in had evidently hen been ud lead but the blankets had not been turned down there to his hat bat cried a man and there are ar hla his boots boota on the ground 1 that abati a odd anyhow I 1 I 1 perhaps Per hapa he put on another pair suggested the squatter no air lr bob luke had bad only this one pair which as you bee art are pretty well we 11 worn through lie H was wa saying buying only the other day that be wished the drays would hurry burry up as a he wanted a new pair it certainly in 1 very singular gln gular mused mr hall he been drinking had he be no air lr lies he i never bad a drop of 0 anything since he a been on the station that I 1 know of I 1 did he be ever seem ero queer in his head or a trance in any way ay never a m bit air rather the other way on there a nothing nt bing wrong with bob ile he a no more chanky than I 1 am m well tome some of the men had bad better go co out at once and have a look tor for him if we do not find him by sundown I 1 will ment lend over to mount gippe and inform the police sergeant sei geant there are black tracker there who will soon goon trace him men were accordingly tent sent out in tory every direction and the country waa wa a comred scoured for several li miles tilles around but 00 0 o sign of bob luke could be discovered mr hall began to feel uneasy won ihring what could have become of the lain and when evening approached lack jack hall started off to inform the pollee police at mount gippa some borne forty milea way away towards toward nightfall the pack horses arrived with torn tom baynes from sullivans public house mr hall met them as they pulled up at the store nit n Is I 1 a very strange affa affair ir about gob bob luke asat ln t it tom he remarked yes ye air lr replied baynes bayne busying himself in 1 taking off some rome of the packs 1 I heard beard of it down at sulla yana from one of the chaps I 1 wonder where he can have hato got to you tou came back to the station in the slight I 1 biose you saw caw nothing of blar no 1140 91 clr ir but I 1 look about me blauch am aj it was waa all I 1 could do to see ea the track you galloped tal loped fast enough up pat past tt tl hut buts I 1 beard you from the house and thought it was wai a horse broken locae efrom of from rom tho the paddock TM air lr the old mare started off with wibb m we when she got near home and I 1 couldn coulden t hold ter ber in and you saw w nothing of luke luka hla big caasi gain again asked no sir ir abat made you come back from illint ill Tnt mr hr hall had bad alt air ady been told the run and nd bay 61 reply WM was simply limply a of 0 what hat he be had beil heard rd clr nn men mo U ball 1 were ail 11 ll t aate Af te more or less drunk and fighting and ho he could find no place to sleep in the old mare was bandy blind as he be had loft her in the stock block yard with a good feed and he thought he be would bo be able to find his way back to the station and return early to the drays draya the next morning mr bir hall more and more perplexed about luke a disappearance it he be lad had been drinking heavily he be said bald to his wife n no 0 one aou would id feel fee I 1 I 1 in n t the he lea least n t our surprised pr ise d but the roan man was sober enough and showed no signs of eccentricity so far ar as aa I 1 can find out it beats anything I 1 ever experienced perien ced perhaps he will turn up in the morning and we shall find a very r simple solution to the puzzle after all ilia 1 he morning came and went and day after day passed by but no robert luke appeared the mounted with the black trackers tra chera scoured the country for over thirty miles around and left hardly a rock or a patch ol of scrub every building on the station had been examined and there only remained tom baynes hut hat to visit baynes was the first to suggest that it should be searched theres been a lot of I 1 know air lr he be sald about my wife alfa a shutting herself up so PO poor thing she can t help that I 1 wish she ha could get about so I 1 should like the sergeant to satisfy himself that luke fall t in biding there I 1 nobody would be foolish enough to suppose he be wax was baynes replied mr hall smiling broiling lit at the young man a anxiety but we had better as aa you may bay look everywhere while we are about it mr hall had really a secret desire to behold this hidden treasure in the way of a wife who was so ao persistently sheltered from the vulgar gaze accordingly he made one of the party to ex ei amine the hut but when the troopers knocked at the door it was standing a little way open come in said a low voice half sitting halt Tt reclining ClinIng upon abl bed which occupied one corner of the one on room the hut but possessed dressed in the ordinary printed calico gown of a working woman a shawl over her feet and some acme needle needlework mork on which she he was engaged upon he be lap was wo mrs baynes her jet black hair was neatly smoothed in front and braided at the back and her pale fare face and nervous manner denoted the invalid she worm wor colored very sorry to intrude mrs baynes I 1 sin am sure said bald mr lit hall bit b it we are compelled to search everywhere tor for thin lost loaf man your husband has ha no doubt told you about it yes yea yes yen replied mrs baynes it seems very strange that he be should have gone on like that what a nice woman thought mr air hall and a good looking one tool its a thousand that she should be broken down no wonder monder baynes Is careful of her then he said bald aloud it we were only certain that ho he had gone oft off somewhere it would be satisfactory is In but we can find no traces of him anywhere besides a man does not run oft off in the middle of the night without hla bill boots boota leaving two or three months wit wa on CB behind him unless le is be hag ban a very important reason tor for doing no BO there was very little for the sergeant to inspect in the hut but a deal table two rough benches the led bed upon which mrs baynes reclined and whim had n 4 hannings hangings hang ings or drapery upon it that could conceal anything and one or two small boxes containing clothes these articles made up the entire furniture of the apartment the walls which were of roughly hewn slabs blabs nailed to the tha frame of the hut but were carefully capered over oer with old sydney morning heralds while the two small window frames were covered with calico A hut hat which Is built for the dual purpose of cooking and sleeping in generally has a large fireplace which entirely occupies one end of it such a one had this and upon the hearth there blazed a log tire beneath a kettle kettie which hung from an lion bar altogether the visit to the hut did not occupy above div five minutes the sergeant declared himself salts batts fled and mrs baynes rising from the bed begged mr hall fall to tay stay and ao J of some tea the kettle to Is already on the boll air 1 she raid eald pray do not disturb yourself mrs baynes the squatter answered to as ebe be stood up we are too sorry for having baying had to come at all when the search party part lad bad withdrawn the sergeant remarked to mr hall the oman I 1 suppose ive heard so much talk about the one people said was mad and abut s lait up here beret I 1 dare say nay replied mr hall I 1 people say all sorts of things thing she a the cook a wife and Is in a hopeless invalid but she Is very good at her bar needle and my mv wife Is uncommonly glad to have her bar here poor thing she looks very white and 1111 1 rho rhe disappearance ot of bob luke remained bained a complete enigma the colonial papers under tinder the th head jar nc of tie mysterious lou disappearance on an the th lunna 1 A is f sorts ort ot of solutions to the fId fiddles dlos and penny s atnori found tn in it ft a larsa large scope for their imaginations all the remarkable disappearances that bad ever eat r been recorded were brought to light again and as a last loophole out of 0 the difficulty it was waa suggested that the man had bad for or some bom urgent reason determined to lose IOB his identity and so BO had gone off leaving hta his boots behind him in order to throw people oi off the scent like moist moat other this woon won became a thing of the past the subject at last grew monotonous and in a very few months people had ceased to think any more about it what after all m as a bushman more or lers lepa of whom no one knew anthina an ani thing and for far whom hom nobody cared care J 7 |
