Fern Vale Volume Iii Part 12

Mr. Billing, though not blessed with too great a share of physical courage, had, nevertheless, in the moment of danger, a sufficient perception of the line of conduct necessary for the defence of himself and those under his protection. Notwithstanding that the gun he then held in his hand was in all probability the first that he ever had in his possession with the intent of putting it to use, he handled it as if it were an old and friendly companion, and proposed that he and his two female colleagues should fire simultaneously on the savages, so as to give them the idea that the house was well defended. His suggestion, however, was overruled by Mrs. Rainsfield, who at once expressed her disapprobation of such a course; being convinced, as she said, that the blacks could not force the building, and even if they did that they would have no cause to commit any violence to any of the inmates. While if they found that they could not gain admittance they would depart at most, perhaps, with robbing the store. This belief was far from according with Mr. Billing's opinion, but he was constrained to a.s.sent to the will of the lady; and they all, with a breathless silence, continued to watch the movements of their a.s.sailants.

The blacks finding they were unmolested, and seeing no opposition offered to them, and no signs of life about the house, became bolder and attempted to force some of the doors and windows; while the affrighted party sat in a state of fearful anxiety, and, though unseen themselves, they could plainly distinguish the forms of the aborigines trying the window of the room in which they were. Mr. Billing at this moment placed the muzzle of his gun close to the gla.s.s of the window, that was left visible through a crevice in the barricade, and had he fired would have a.s.suredly sent one savage to his account in the other world. Would that he had; for in all probability it would have driven the blacks to a distance from the house, and possibly saved us from the task of narrating this fearful tragedy. But his eagerness to fire was restrained by Mrs. Rainsfield, and the moment was lost; for the blacks, finding their efforts to gain an ingress unavailing, gave up the fruitless attempt, and withdrew to some short distance to hold converse on their proceedings.

Mrs. Rainsfield at once began to congratulate herself and her friends that they had retired as she had antic.i.p.ated, leaving them nothing more to fear; and at that moment hearing the faint voice of Eleanor calling to her she hastened to account for the disturbance about the house and appease her alarm. Eleanor was in a state of considerable agitation, having been aroused from her fitful slumbers by the noise of the blacks, and being still very low in strength and spirits, and excessively nervous, her alarm and agitation threatened to bring on fever again. It was only with considerable difficulty that Mrs. Rainsfield could persuade her she had no cause to fear. She told her that the blacks had already taken their departure from the house, and would in all probability by that time have left the station; and she entreated her not to give herself any uneasiness, but to be still for a few minutes, and then she would return to her bedside and sit with her for the remainder of the night.

With these a.s.surances, Eleanor was constrained to be pacified, and so Mrs. Rainsfield returned to the sitting-room, where she found Mrs.

Billing wringing her hands and crying in an agony of grief. Mr. Billing was more calm, but not less apprehensive of danger or death. He drew the lady of the house to the crevice of the window to gaze upon the scene without, while she uttered a cry of surprise and terror, as her startled vision took in the tableau there displayed. Before the house stood a group of the a.s.sailants in all the hideousness of barbarity, paint, and savage nudity. They had possessed themselves of "fire sticks," which acted as torches, at the same time that they served to exhibit their bodies in all their diabolical repulsiveness; and their intentions were too plainly indicated in their jestures. To say that they looked like a band of incarnate fiends would be to convey but a poor impression of the horrors of their appearance, as the fitful light reflected their hideous forms; exhibiting them in, if possible, a more fearful aspect than their stern realities; and giving them the appearance as the beholders thought (and as was, alas! but too true) of being besmeared with blood. It is not to be wondered at that at such a sight the hearts of two frail women, and even that of a man, should have quailed; and if not before despair certainly did then seize upon the spirits of those present.

The object of the villains had by this time become perfectly apparent, and though neither of the trio dared to breathe their individual suspicions they were unanimous in the one belief that the lighted torches were intended to fire the premises; and thus either drive them from their shelter or bury them in the ruins. They therefore saw that only two courses were open to them; either to arm themselves and defend the house until the last, or to throw it open to the savages and try and pacify them with any _douceur_ the wretches might covet. That there was extreme danger in thus throwing themselves upon the mercy of fiends they were perfectly aware; and any one better acquainted with the black's character would have considered it absolute madness and voluntarily seeking for a death more horrible than that which would await them in a defensive perseverance. But the exercise of calm judgment and reason could hardly be expected from two agitated and terrified women, and one man whose nature was made of very little sterner stuff than theirs.

Mrs. Rainsfield was the first that broke the painful silence that ensued, and addressing Mr. Billing, said: "I think we had better open the door at once, or they will set fire to the house, and we will be burnt alive. If they determine to kill us we can but meet our death with firmness; while there is a possibility of their sparing us if we satisfy their cupidity by allowing them to plunder the place. Will you open the door, Mr. Billing, and attempt the work of conciliation?"

Mr. Billing silently obeyed this behest, and addressed himself to the blacks, who were at this time standing immediately before the house preparing to apply the fire. They instantly desisted from their incendiary work when they saw signs of capitulation, and directed their gaze to the doorway. By the light of their own "fire sticks" they could distinguish Mr. Billing, who stood there with the women at his back perfectly unarmed; having left his gun by Mrs. Rainsfield's desire in the room they had vacated so as to give the savages, as she imagined, no cause for offence by appearing to offer any resistance. When the blacks satisfied themselves that they had nothing to fear they burst out into a loud laugh of derision, and crowded towards the defenceless garrison in a menacing and mocking att.i.tude. What were the feelings of the trio at this moment it would be difficult even to conjecture. With Mrs. Billing, however, those of the mother overcame all personal and selfish considerations, and she darted from the house to ascertain the fate of her children. That action may be said to have decided the doom of the whole party; for though possibly even under other circ.u.mstances the blacks might not have spared those whom they had got into their power, and the strong probability is that they would not, yet the sudden movement of Mrs. Billing cost her her life, and gave the savages the stimulus to commence the further shedding of blood.

Mrs. Billing had not proceeded many steps before she uttered a loud shriek and fell prostrate to the earth with a spear piercing her back and protruding its point from her breast. Her husband witnessing the deed, eliminated from his bosom all feelings save those of devotion and sympathy for his wife, rushed to clasp her in his arms and met a similar fate. The climax of this fearful tragedy was nearly attained. Mrs.

Rainsfield fled from the open doorway, where she had been the spectator of this connubial sacrifice, and sought momentary refuge with her children in her room. Just as the blacks entered the house the servants, who had by this time been aroused to a sense of their danger, opened a door which led from the kitchen into the hall. But perceiving the murderous a.s.sailants pouring in they left the door wide open as they had flung it and made a hasty exit by another pa.s.sage into the obscurity of the night, and beat a precipitate retreat to the bush. In their flight they were followed by a few of the savages who had perceived them; but who shortly tired of a chase in which fear lent wings to the pursued.

They returned to aid their colleagues in forcing an entrance into the room of Mrs. Rainsfield and commenced their work there of insatiable cruelty with hideous and diabolical evidences of satisfaction.

The atrocities of these fiends were more like the evil machinations of devils than the actions of human beings. But to enumerate all the horrors, and to paint the scene with sufficiently forcible life-like delineation, would be beyond the capabilities of our pen, and would only sicken our readers by the perusal. Therefore we will merely say that they first murdered the children before the eyes of their mother, while they sported with the agonising despair of their victim, and then despatched the lady; brutally mangling her body in their inordinate l.u.s.t for blood.

Eleanor had remained spell-bound during the perpetration of those horrors, which she had animation sufficient to discern were being enacted in the house; but without either enough strength to move, or power of utterance to give vent to the fearful sensations that preyed upon her mind. Alarm we cannot call it: such a feeling sinks into insignificance compared with the mental anguish she then endured; being conscious, from the heart-rending cries that struck her ear, that her dearest earthly friends were meeting with a death too horrible to contemplate, and not knowing how speedily a similar fate awaited herself. She lay thus in a sort of trance, or tremulous expectancy, for some considerable time, while she could hear the work of destruction going on all around; to which work the savages had taken when they had completed their murders. But still they had not visited her, and she continued to lie, the prey to the most fearful mental agonies.

Sounds of rapidly approaching hors.e.m.e.n were then heard, and the blacks began to leave the scene of their b.l.o.o.d.y desolation for fear of the retribution which they expected from the approaching rescue. To Eleanor, though she was nigher to death than a sublinary existence, the sound was joyous; and she began to entertain hope that the relief would prove opportune for the saving of her friends, as she felt it already was for the rescue of herself. But oh! how unaccountable are the decrees of Providence. At the very moment when she imagined the house was vacated by the murderers the door of her room opened, and a hideous black monster literally besmeared with blood burst in, and with uplifted arm and b.l.o.o.d.y weapon, rushed to extinguish in her soul the flickering spark of life. The black was followed by another, also with a hand elevated and grasping a tomahawk. But the sight was more than Eleanor's shattered nerves could bear; and starting into a sitting posture on her bed, her tongue was loosened; she gave one piercing shriek, and sank back senseless half leaning over the edge of her couch. The fate, however, she had expected she did not meet with; for, instead of the glancing steel of the second black being imbrued with her blood, it was buried in the brain of the first, who sank to the floor a corpse.

The cause of Eleanor's escape we may here explain to the reader. The frame of the door to her room was placed in immediate contiguity to that of the one which opened into the kitchen; and by some strange design of the builder this latter was made to open out into the hall. Thus when the servants opened it, and left it so, the fortuitous circ.u.mstance of its irregularity proved Eleanor's preservation; for when thrown back it entirely concealed the entrance to her room, and eluded almost completely the vigilance of the murderers. It was, as we have seen, just as they were retreating from the place that one of the stragglers accidentally discovered it; and, thinking that the spot had not been visited by either himself or his compeers, he entered to satisfy his curiosity by a hasty visit; which would a.s.suredly have terminated the existence of Eleanor but for the timely blow dealt him by his fellow.

This extraordinary internecine action may also require some elucidation; and we will dispel the mystery by an explanation. Barw.a.n.g and his party upon their first visit to Strawberry Hill, when they met with their repulse, became convinced that their movements had been betrayed by one of their tribe, and they doubted not but that the betrayal emanated from Jemmy Davies. They therefore kept a watch upon him lest he should again carry information to Mr. Rainsfield, and preserved their own councils from his knowledge; so that, until they had actually started on their expedition, he was quite ignorant of their plans. When an opportunity offered, however, he followed them on their track up to the house; and, though he did not venture into the building, he kept hovering about in the hope that he might be able to render some a.s.sistance to the family.

But not until the approaching sounds of horses' feet drew off the ma.s.ses of the tribe did he deem it safe for his own security to enter. He did so; and, as he pa.s.sed into the hall, he saw one of his countrymen opening the door of a room and stand for a moment in the aperture gazing fixedly in one direction. The glance of this savage's eye, as his own keen vision caught the momentary flash, told Jemmy Davies that vengeance gleamed from the other's...o...b.. and in an instant he sprang after him, and saved an innocent life by the sacrifice of one worse than worthless and infamous. When he was convinced the house was empty of his countrymen, and being aware that if he were caught in the place by any white man the colour of his skin would be the warrant for his instant death, he took a hasty survey of the fearful scene of blood that was visible even in the partial darkness, and left the house by the back as two hors.e.m.e.n, riding rapidly up to the front, leapt from their saddles and rushed in.

These two, as may be conjectured, were John Ferguson and Joey.

Fearful as John had been of the nature of events he believed were transpiring the sight that met his gaze as he entered the dwelling struck him dumb with horror, and perfectly sick at heart, and paralysed at the b.l.o.o.d.y disclosure. The whole floor of the house was slippery with the gore of the murdered victims as it had been carried about by the feet of the murderers. He hastily struck a light from the materials he had about him; and, with the pulsations of his heart almost audible, made a survey of the habitation. The first things that he noticed were the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Billing, which had been dragged by the savages into the hall, possibly with the intention of consuming the whole in flames after they had finished their work; and then in the sitting-room he saw the signs of the barricade that had been hastily thrown up before the window. From that he hastened to the one which had in life been occupied by the amiable lady that had been mistress of the place, and there he witnessed the mangled remains of herself and her family. As he gazed upon the hardly to be recognised features of that friend who had so often greeted him with the cordial grasp of friends.h.i.+p he could not restrain the tears that in a flood coursed their way down his cheeks. Continuing his melancholy search he next entered the room of Eleanor, and almost stumbled over the carca.s.s of the black who lay in the middle of the floor weltering in his blood. This sight caused him no little surprise; especially, when with a sad foreboding he approached the couch of that being he adored above all mundane objects, to find her pendent form though insensible was scathless. But it was not a moment to indulge in conjectures; he had discovered his idol in the midst of death still living. So placing the unconscious creature on the bed, and enveloping her in the clothes, he s.n.a.t.c.hed her in his arms; and pressing her to his breast bore off the precious load.

With the a.s.sistance of his attendant he mounted his horse; and despatching Joey instantly with injunctions to fly, if possible, to Alma for the doctor and bring him to Fern Vale, he turned his own horse's head homewards, and proceeded as fast as the animal with his additional burden could travel.

Bright and beautiful the morning dawned as he rode towards his home; but serene as were the sublimities of nature their contemplation had no place in his mind. All his thoughts were centred in the inaminate form encircled by his arms. Thus he rode unconscious to all around, and would have so ridden to the end of his journey had not a faint sigh struck his ear; and he instantly stopped his horse to enable him to enjoy the sight of returning vitality to his much loved Eleanor. He gently removed the covering that he had placed over her face, when her melancholy eyes for a moment rested upon his. It was only for a moment, however, for they were instantly secluded from the light by the closing lids; and, considering it better not to agitate her with conversation, and satisfied for the time with the a.s.surance of his hearing and vision, he impressed one rapturous kiss on her fair forehead, again covered her face from the morning air, and proceeded on his way.

CHAPTER XII.

"All those rivers That fed her veins with warm and crimson streams Frozen and dried up; if these be signs of death, Then is she dead.... But I will be true E'en to her dust and ashes."

DECKER.

Mr. Rainsfield pursued his way homewards little antic.i.p.ating the sight that awaited him on his arrival; but, owing to the heavy state of the roads from the saturation of the ground, he was only enabled to travel slowly. Consequently he perceived the flood coming down the Gibson long before he reached the crossing-place of the Wombi; and, knowing that there would be no use attempting a pa.s.sage there, since the bridge had been swept away, he at once struck off for the Dingo Plains to get over by the upper crossing-place. By making this detour it was near morning before he approached the station.

Upon his reaching home he at once went to the stable and attended to his horse, the first consideration of a bushman, and then bent his steps to the house, feeling an unaccountable sensation of awe, which the pervading solitude and death-like stillness inspired him with. This feeling he was ashamed to indulge in, and tried to banish it from his mind and deceive his conscience by attempting to whistle a lively air, while he submitted his right boot to a playful castigation with his riding-whip. All these stratagems, however, proved futile: a gloom had settled upon him which he could not shake off, and he hastened his steps to his dwelling with his heart in a perturbation that gave place to the most fearful apprehensions as he perceived the house open to free ingress. The truth at once burst upon him with overwhelming force, and he rushed like one demented into the room where he had expected to meet the embrace of his wife, but only to witness her mutilated remains surrounded by those of her children. He gazed upon their forms for some minutes in the uncertain light with a sad, though calm and almost stoical cast of countenance; and then, kneeling by the side of his wife's body, he parted her clotted hair from off her brow, which he stooped down and kissed, and, while das.h.i.+ng a scalding tear from his eye, thus apostrophised the fane of the departed spirit:

"And was it for this I left you, my darling Mary, to seek for you protection, and obtain a.s.sistance to drive the disturbers of our happiness from the land? Oh! that I could but have foreseen this, to have either preserved you and our poor little innocents, or perished while I s.h.i.+elded your heart with my breast. Curses on my cruel fate, and the blinding fancies of security which led me away from your side. Oh, Mary, Mary! more dear to me than life, to have lost you thus, butchered!

by a set of ruthless savages, consumes my very heart. But you shall be revenged. By heaven! you shall." And, springing to his feet with clenched fists, and gazing into s.p.a.ce as the whole expression of his countenance changed, he continued:

"What is life to me now, deprived of all the ties that bound me to this earth? It shall be devoted to the cause of vengeance; and here, Mary! in the presence of your spirit, and in the sight of my Maker, I swear to be revenged upon all the blacks in this country; never shall one cross my path alive. I'll spare neither their old nor their young. I'll hunt them from their dens, like the vermin that they are. They shall be made to bite the dust. Their bodies shall rot, and their bones bleach in the sun. Never shall they rest until they are wholly exterminated, or my strength and life fail me; and I swear that so long as one black remains of all their race my vengeance shall not be satisfied. Hear me, Mary!

while I pray to G.o.d for the strength of Hercules, and the age of Methuselah, that I may be a terror to their species, and they may learn to curse the day when first they tasted the blood of mine. And oh, Mary!

if thou seest me from the portals of that abode where the eternal dwell, look down upon me and commend my work, help my weak arm; encourage my drooping spirit; be a light to beacon my path in the remainder of my gloomy pa.s.sage through this world; and let not the cup of vengeance be removed from the lips of thy foul murderers until they have tasted of the very dregs. So now, my angel wife! my once fond and loving but now lost wife! sacrificed through thy husband's folly and neglect, if vengeance is sweet to thee thy spirit shall be appeased; for henceforth my name shall be one to strike dismay into the souls of blacks throughout the land. So help me G.o.d!"

Having uttered this fearful oath, and calling down the aid of his Maker to a.s.sist him in its performance, Rainsfield left the room and the house a broken-hearted man; re-saddled his horse, which he mounted, and went he knew not whither. His state was truly piteous; his better and softer nature was in perpetual warfare with his fiendish feelings, which prompted nothing but a thirst for vengeance. The memory of his wife, and the sudden shock occasioned by her loss and fearful death, had at first subdued the evil pa.s.sions of the mortal; and he had gazed upon the placid features of the corpse with a calm and settled grief. But as he awoke to a plainer perception of the horrors of the event, and what must have been the sufferings of his defenceless family, with the brutality of their h.e.l.lish a.s.sailants, all softer feelings evanished before the sterner one revenge; which in the one moment of decision he determined should be the sole object of his future life. In this frame of mind he left his home, that had so lately been smiling and happy but now gloomy, b.l.o.o.d.y, and to be shunned; for he felt to dwell under that roof again was impossible. His home for the future would be under the canopy of heaven, and his life that of the avenger. Thus he left the house, misfortune having so overcome his reason that he had no idea of further inspection of the building, possibly believing that all had met with the same fate, not even to glance into the room of Eleanor; and he wandered forth absorbed in grief, without any definite notion of where he was to go, or how he was to dispose of the bodies.

Towards noon of the following day he entered the towns.h.i.+p of Alma, and his horse stopping instinctively before the door of the "Woolpack" inn, he alighted; and allowed the animal to be taken from him while he mechanically entered the house. The news of the ma.s.sacre had already spread through the country, while the thousand tongues of mercurial gossip had imparted to the original tragedy as many phases of horror as imagination could possibly invent. The fearful occurrence had arrested the attention, and absorbed all the interest of the residents of Alma; and they were in several knots in deep and earnest conclave, discussing the b.l.o.o.d.y event, as they saw the chief sufferer approaching their town.

The loudest declamation, and the deepest uttered anathemas against the natives, were in an instant checked. The earnestly a.s.severated opinion, that the lives of the settlers would be perpetually in danger, unless the blacks were speedily exterminated,--the noisy declaration of some bold patriot, as he expressed his determination to declare eternal warfare against the savages, and even to enter upon the crusade single-handed if no one would lend him aid; with the faint voice of some more philanthropic polemic, who attempted to check the stream of exuberant pa.s.sion, by palliating without defending (on the plea of retribution) the horrible murder,--were all hushed, and gave place to a heartfelt though silent sympathy as Mr. Rainsfield rode into the town.

And even after he was lost to their vision, by ensconsure in the "Woolpack," their conversations were resumed in a lower cadence, lest (even at a distance at which their most stentorian utterances could hardly have been distinguishable) the nature of their conversation should strike his ear and recall the subject of his grief.

The news had reached them that morning by Joey when he arrived post-haste for the doctor. He had been fortunate in finding the resident son of Galen at home; and, obeying the injunctions of his master, had delivered his message, and returned with him immediately. Short as had been his stay it was quite long enough to enable the inhabitants to elicit from him the facts of which the reader is acquainted. They learnt with some degree of satisfaction that one of the family still retained life, and would possibly be able, at some time, to recount the circ.u.mstances of the ma.s.sacre. Thus, in the presence of so much to engender the feeling of compa.s.sion, a morbid curiosity to learn all the details of horror seized upon the minds of the good people of Alma. But such is the nature of man; selfishness reigns supreme, and s.h.i.+nes forth in all his motions and actions.

When Joey returned with the doctor he deviated from the beaten track, to cross the Wombi by the upper fords; thinking that his companion might object to the more dangerous one of the lower. Rainsfield, on the contrary, in his journey, never dreaming of dangers or difficulties, had taken the lower; hence the parties had missed one another. This caused the gossips of Alma to wonder greatly what had brought him away from his house; especially as they had heard that he had been absent at the time of the outrage, and must have since visited the scene, and met the doctor and messenger on the road. But they were unacquainted with the circ.u.mstance that had prevented the meeting, and they were destined, at least at that time, to remain in ignorance; for the landlord of the inn to whom they had recourse, rough and unfeeling as he appeared, had too much respect for the grief of his visitor to attempt obtaining any information from him.

The landlord, without enquiring from him if he would take any meal, prepared the table for a repast, and placed on it some edibles, with a bottle of brandy and some water. Then, without uttering a syllable, he left the room and the sorrow-stricken man to an uninterrupted solitude.

Rainsfield sat for some time gazing fixedly on the viands before him without attempting or desiring to partake of them; retaining an unaltered position on each occasion that he was surveyed by the sympathising host through the key-hole of the door. In this state he might have remained, until exhausted nature had induced a return to consciousness, had not his attention been attracted by the arrival of an extensive cavalcade at the door of the inn. Glancing his eye languidly over the features of the riders as they were dismounting he instantly recognised amongst the group the person and voice of Bob Smithers; and the object of the party was at once made apparent.

New life was at once infused into his veins; the blood once more mantled his cheek, and fire was imparted to his eye, as he, with compressed lip and determined visage, leapt from his seat and strode to the doorway.

"Show those gentlemen in here, landlord," he said, addressing that individual, as he was ushering the newly-arrived travellers into a separate room.

"I thought, sir, you would prefer to be alone," replied the landlord, "so I was going to let you have the parlour to yourself."

"Never mind, let them come in here," replied Rainsfield.

The party by this time had entered the room they were shown to, so the landlord turned to them, and said:

"If you would like to step into the other room, gents, you will find it more comfortable; there is only one other gent there, perhaps you know him," he continued in an under tone, "it is Mr. Rainsfield."

A low murmur ran through the party at the mention of the name, though it was unheard by Rainsfield himself, he having turned again into the parlour. The name of Rainsfield was repeated by them all in a tone of voice that unmistakeably indicated a sorrowful compa.s.sion. They were all squatters in the district and friends of Smithers, who had collected them to go to the a.s.sistance of their neighbour for his protection against the aborigines. They had heard as they came along the fearful news of the ma.s.sacre, and had accelerated their speed to arrive on the scene of action as soon as possible, in the hope of finding some of the family living, or being in time to afford some a.s.sistance, either in the preservation of their lives, the protection of their property, or the chastis.e.m.e.nt of their murderers.

Smithers instantly proposed to join Mr. Rainsfield, and at once adjourned to the other room, followed by his companions; and, as he entered and advanced with extended hand, but without venturing to speak, Rainsfield grasped the proffered token of friends.h.i.+p, while he said: "Too late, Smithers! too late! except for revenge, and that is all I hope to live for."

"And in which we can now only serve you," replied his companion. "But we will organize some plan of operation; we count fifteen now, and are sufficient to be irresistible to the whole tribe of blacks. In the meantime let the landlord prepare dinner, and then we will discuss matters quietly. I think you know all our friends here?"

The form of introduction being gone through where the parties were not acquainted, and the shaking of hands where they were, the necessary instructions were given to the landlord to prepare something for the company, and they fell into a desultory conversation previous to entering upon their plans. It is not our intention to weary the reader with a verbose report of the initiatory proceedings of the party, and will therefore merely state that they formed themselves into a mutual protection society, with the professed object of combining to repel the encroachments of the blacks, though in reality to hunt them down like dogs. For the furtherance of this scheme they bound themselves by stringent oaths to let none escape them, but to kill all they should come across. Each individual swore to take active part in the process of destruction so as to make all equally implicated. They vowed, by the most solemn obligations, never to make any disclosure that would criminate any of the society; while, before any neophyte could be admitted within the periphery of their mysterious bonds, it was determined he should be subjected to an ordeal that would protect the members from the possibility of any disclosure that would cause their amenability to the law.

In the course of conversation with the landlord Smithers learnt that one of the family (which his informant could not tell him) was still living, and that a messenger, supposed from Fern Vale, had come over that morning for the doctor. Smithers communicated this to Rainsfield, who then remembered for the first time that he had not visited the room of Eleanor, and therefore inferred that it must be she, he having had too clear a demonstration of the total absence of life in the bodies of his wife and children. This he mentioned to Smithers, and they both agreed that Eleanor must have been discovered by some of the Fergusons, who had removed her to their own house, and sent for the doctor. They therefore determined to adhere to their original plan of starting early on the following morning, after taking a night's rest where they were, it being needed by most of the party as well as by their horses.

On the following morning they were early on the road, so that few saw them leave the towns.h.i.+p. But though nothing had been said by any of the Society respecting the object of their journey it was pretty shrewdly guessed at, if not positively known, by most of the inhabitants; and it was evident to them no body of men, armed with rifles and revolvers, could be travelling to the scene of a murderous outrage with any peaceable intent. The sympathies, however, of most went with them; and even though some of their number had been disposed in simple argument to feel for the blacks, none dared to incur public opprobrium by making any representations of the supposed hostilities to official quarters. The Society itself proceeded on its way very quietly, its members being mostly absorbed in sketching out, mentally, plans of the campaign on which they were entering, so that the journey was almost entirely performed in silence.

When they reached the station its appearance was quite desolate; no signs of life were perceptible, and the stillness of death spread around its influence, which was sensibly felt by all. The house was closed to all ingress, and on the door was nailed a card bearing the words: "Let Mr. Rainsfield proceed to Fern Vale the instant on his arrival." Rainsfield read the sentence, and at once guessed the import; he perceived that when the murder had been discovered by the Fergusons they had removed the bodies thither, if possible, to await his arrival before interment; and he determined to go on at once, though, before departing, he desired once more to gaze upon the rooms through which the steps of his wife and the merry voices of his children had so lately resounded, but which were now tenantless, desolate, and b.l.o.o.d.y. An entrance was effected by a back window, and the party admitted; when great was the surprise of Mr. Rainsfield to find no sign or vestige of the fearful crime that had there so lately been committed. He read in all this the kind hand of his neighbours, and his heart smote him in the midst of his grief for the manner in which he had behaved to young Ferguson. To his friends he pointed out with a melancholy precision the spots where he had found the various bodies, described their position and their mutilated condition, and then wandered through the rooms with an abstracted air conjuring in his imagination the scenes that were pa.s.sed, never more to return, and peopling them in his fancy with those loved forms whose spirits had fled to the source from whence they sprang.

His friends did not attempt to interrupt the gratification of this melancholy pleasure, but allowed him to be the first to propose a retreat, which, when he did, they were ready to agree to. The whole party then left the house to proceed to Fern Vale; and while they are on the road we will precede them and take a momentary glance at the doings there, both at the exact period of our narrative and also retrospectively for a few hours.