The Lust of Hate - Guy Newell Boothby (english love story books txt) 📗
- Author: Guy Newell Boothby
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had come up with, the crowd to enquire the reason of the excitement.
“What’s all this about? What has he done to you?”
Without a second’s thought I sprang upon a barrel and addressed
them. Speaking with all the eloquence at my command, I first asked
them if there was anyone present who remembered me. There was a dead
silence for nearly a minute, then a burly miner standing at the back
of the crowd shouted that he did. He had worked a claim next door to
mine at Banyan Creek, he said, and was prepared to swear to my
identity whenever I might wish him to do so. I asked him if he could
tell me the name of my partner on that field, and he instantly
answered “Old Ben Garman.” My identity and my friendship with Ben
having been thus established, I described Ben’s arrival at
Markapurlie, and Bartrand’s treatment of us both. I went on to tell
them how I had nursed the old man until he died, and how on his
deathbed he had told me of the rich find he had made in the Boolga
Ranges. I gave the exact distances, and flourished the chart before
their faces so that all might see it. I next described Gibbs as one
of Bartrand’s tools, and commented upon the ink-stain, on the back of
the plan which had aroused my curiosity after my illness. This done,
I openly taxed Bartrand with having stolen my secret, and dared him
to deny it. As if in confirmation of my accusation, it was then
remembered by those present that he had been the first man upon the
field, and, moreover, that he had settled on the exact spot marked
upon my plan. After this, the crowd began to imagine that there might
really be something in the charge I had brought against the fellow.
Bartrand, I discovered later, had followed his old Queensland
tactics, and by his bullying had made himself objectionable upon the
field. For this reason the miners were not prejudiced in his
favour.
In the middle of our dispute, and just at the moment when ominous
cries of “Lynch him” were beginning to go up, there was a commotion
behind us, and presently the Commissioner, accompanied by an escort
of troopers, put in an appearance, and enquired the reason of the
crowd. Having been informed, the great man beckoned me to him and led
me down the hill to the tent, which at that time was used as a Court
House. Here I was confronted with Bartrand, and ordered to tell my
tale. I did so, making the most I could of the facts at my disposal.
The Commissioner listened attentively, and when I had finished turned
to Bartrand.
“Where did you receive the information which led you to make your
way to this particular spot?” he asked.
“From the same person who gave this man his,” coolly replied
Bartrand. “If Mr. Pennethorne had given me an opportunity, I would
willingly have made this explanation earlier. But on the hill yonder
he did all the talking, and I was permitted no chance to get in a
word.”
“You mean to say then,” said the Commissioner in his grave,
matter-of-fact way, “that this Ben Garman supplied you with the
information that led you to this spot—prior to seeing Mr.
Pennethorne.”
“That is exactly what I do mean,” replied Bartrand quickly.
“Mr. Pennethorne, who at that time was in my employment as
storekeeper upon Markapurlie Station, was out at one of the boundary
riders’ huts distributing rations when Garman arrived. The latter was
feeling very ill, and not knowing how long he might be able to get
about, was most anxious to find sufficient capital to test this mine
without delay. After enquiry I agreed to invest the money he
required, and we had just settled the matter in amicable fashion when
he fell upon the ground in a dead faint. Almost at the same instant
Mr. Pennethorne put in an appearance and behaved in a most unseemly
manner. Unless his motives are revenge, I cannot conceive, your
worship, why I should have been set upon in this fashion.”
The Commissioner turned to me.
“What have you to say to this?” he asked.
“Only that he lies,” I answered furiously. “He lies in every
particular. He has been my enemy from the very first moment I set
eyes upon him, and I feel as certain as that I am standing before you
now, that Ben Garman did not reveal to him his secret. I nursed the
old man on his deathbed, and if he had confided his secret to any one
he would have been certain to tell me. But ha impressed upon me the
fact that he had not done so. When he was dead I became seriously ill
in my turn, and the information that led to this man’s taking up the
claim was stolen from me, I feel convinced, while I was in my
delirium. The man is a bully and a liar, and not satisfied with that
record, he has made himself a thief.”
“Hush, hush, my man,” said the Commissioner, soothingly. “You must
not talk in that way here. Now be off, both of you, let me hear of no
quarrelling, and tomorrow I will give my decision.”
We bowed and left him, each hating the other like poison, as you
may be sure.
Next morning a trooper discovered me camped by the Creek, and
conducted me to the Commissioner’s presence. I found him alone, and
when I was ushered in he asked me to sit down.
“Mr. Pennethorne,” said he, when the trooper had departed, “I have
sent for you to talk to you about the charge you have brought against
the proprietor of the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ mine on the hillside
yonder. After mature consideration, I’m afraid I cannot further
consider your case. You must see for yourself that you have nothing
at all to substantiate the charge you make beyond your own bald
assertion. If, as you say, you have been swindled, yours is indeed a
stroke of bad luck, for the mine is a magnificent property; but if,
on the other hand—as I must perforce believe, since he was first
upon the field—Bartrand’s statement is a true one, then I can only
think you have acted most unwisely in behaving as you have done. If
you will be guided by me, you will let the matter drop. Personally I
do not see that you can do anything else. Bartrand evidently received
the news before you did, and, as I said just now, in proof of
that we have the fact that he was first on the field. There is no
gainsaying that.”
“But I was ill and could not come,” I burst out. “I tell you he
stole from me the information that enabled him to get here at
all.”
“Pardon me, I do not know that. And now it only remains for me to
ask you to remember that we can have no disturbance here.”
“I will make no disturbance,” I answered. “You need have no fear
of that. If I cannot get possession of my property by fair means I
shall try elsewhere.”
“That does not concern me,” he replied. “Only, I think on the
evidence you have at present in your possession you’ll be wasting
your time and your money. By the way, your name is Gilbert
Pennethorne, is it not?”
“Yes,” I said, without much interest, “and much good it has ever
done me.”
“I ask the question because there’s an advertisement in the
Sydney Morning Herald which seems to be addressed to you. Here
it is!”
He took up a paper and pointed to a few lines in the “agony”
column. When he handed it to me I read the following:—
“If Gilbert Pennethorne, third son of the late Sir Anthony William
Pennethorne, Bart., of Polton-Penna, in the County of Cornwall,
England, at present believed to be resident in Australia, will apply
at the office of Messrs. Grey and Dawkett, solicitors, Maoquarie
Street, Sydney, he will hear of something to his advantage.”
I looked at the paper in a dazed sort of fashion, and then, having
thanked the Commissioner for his kindness, withdrew. In less than two
hours I was on my way to Sydney to interview Messrs. Grey and
Dawkett. On arriving I discovered their office, and when I had
established my identity, learned from them that my father had died
suddenly while out hunting, six months before, and that by his will I
had benefited to the extent of five thousand pounds sterling.
Three days later the excitement and bitter disappointment through
which I had lately passed brought on a relapse of my old illness, and
for nearly a fortnight I hovered between life and death in the Sydney
Hospital. When I left that charitable institution it was to learn
that Bartrand was the sole possessor of what was considered the
richest gold mine in the world, and that he, after putting it into
the hands of reliable officers, had left Australia for London.
As soon as I was quite strong again I packed up my traps, and,
with the lust of murder in my heart, booked a passage in a P. and 0.
liner, and followed him.
CHAPTER I. ENGLAND ONCE MORE.
WHEN I reached England, the icy hand of winter was upon the land.
The streets were banked feet high with snow, and the Thames at London
Bridge was nothing but a mass of floating ice upon which an active
man could have passed from shore to shore. Poor homeless wretches
were to be seen sheltering themselves in every nook and cranny, and
the morning papers teemed with gruesome descriptions of dead bodies
found in drifts, of damage done to property, and of trains delayed
and snowed up in every conceivable part of the country. Such a winter
had not been experienced for years, and when I arrived and realised
what it meant for myself, I could not but comment on my madness in
having left an Australian summer to participate in such a direful
state of things.
Immediately on arrival I made my way to Blankerton’s Hotel, off
the Strand, and installed myself there. It was a nice, quiet place,
and suited me admirably. The voyage home from Australia had done me a
world of good—that is to say as far as my bodily health was
concerned—but it was doubtful whether it had relieved my brain of
any of the pressure recent events in Australia had placed upon it.
Though nearly three months had elapsed since my terrible
disappointment in the Boolga Ranges, I had not been able to reconcile
myself to it; and as the monotonous existence on board ship allowed
me more leisure, it probably induced me to brood upon it more than I
should otherwise have done. At any rate, my first thought on reaching
London was that I was in the same City with my enemy, and my second
to wonder how I could best get even with him. All day and all night
this idea held possession of my brain. I could think of nothing but
my hatred of the man, and as often as I saw his name mentioned in the
columns of the Press, the more vehement my desire to punish him
became. Looking back on it now it seems to me that I could not
have been quite right in my head at that time, though to all intents
and purposes I was as rational a being as ever stepped in shoe
leather. In proof of what I mean, I can remember, times
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