The Book Of The Bush, George Dunderdale [thriller novels to read .txt] 📗

Story 1 (Purging Out The Old Leaven.) Pg 1

 

While The World Was Young,  Nations Could Be Founded Peaceably.  There

Was Plenty Of Unoccupied Country,  And When Two Neighbouring

Patriarchs Found Their Flocks Were Becoming Too Numerous For The

Pasture,  One Said To The Other:  "Let There Be No Quarrel,  I Pray,

Between Thee And Me; The Whole Earth Is Between Us,  And The Land Is

Watered As The Garden Of Paradise.  If Thou Wilt Go To The East,  I

Will Go To The West; Or If Thou Wilt Go To The West,  I Will Go To The

East."  So They Parted In Peace.

 

But When The Human Flood Covered The Whole Earth,  The Surplus

Population Was Disposed Of By War,  Famine,  Or Pestilence.  Death Is

The Effectual Remedy For Over-Population.  Heroes Arose Who Had No

Conscientious Scruples.  They Skinned Their Natives Alive,  Or

Crucified Them.  They Were Then Adored As Demi-Gods,  And Placed Among

The Stars.

 

Pious Aeneas Was The Pattern Of A Good Emigrant In The Early Times,

But With All His Piety He Did Some Things That Ought To Have Made His

Favouring Deities Blush,  If Possible.

 

America,  When Discovered For The Last Of Many Times,  Was Assigned By

The Pope To The Spaniards And Portuguese.  The Natives Were Not

Consulted; But They Were Not Exterminated; Their Descendants Occupy

Story 1 (Purging Out The Old Leaven.) Pg 2

 

The Land To The Present Day.

 

England Claimed A Share In The New Continent,  And It Was Parcelled

Out To Merchant Adventurers By Royal Charter.  The Adventures Of

These Merchants Were Various,  But They Held On To The Land.

 

New England Was Given To The Puritans By No Earthly Potentate,  Their

Title Came Direct From Heaven.  Increase Mather Said:  "The Lord God

Has Given Us For A Rightful Possession The Land Of The Heathen People

Amongst Whom We Dwell;" And Where Are The Heathen People Now?

 

Australia Was Not Given To Us Either By The Pope Or By The Lord.  We

Took This Land,  As We Have Taken Many Other Lands,  For Our Own

Benefit,  Without Asking Leave Of Either Heaven Or Earth.  A

Continent,  With Its Adjacent Islands,  Was Practically Vacant,

Inhabited Only By That Unearthly Animal The Kangaroo,  And By Black

Savages,  Who Had Not Even Invented The Bow And Arrow,  Never Built A

Hut Or Cultivated A Yard Of Land.  Such People Could Show No Valid

Claim To Land Or Life,  So We Confiscated Both.  The British Islands

Were Infested With Criminals From The Earliest Times.  Our Ancestors

Were All Pirates,  And We Have Inherited From Them A Lurking Taint In

Our Blood,  Which Is Continually Impelling Us To Steal Something Or

Kill Somebody.  How To Get Rid Of This Taint Was A Problem Which Our

Statesmen Found It Difficult To Solve.  In Times Of War They

Mitigated The Evil By Filling The Ranks Of Our Armies From The Gaols,

And Manning Our Navies By The Help Of The Press-Gang,  But In Times Of

Peace The Scum Of Society Was Always Increasing.

 

At Last A Great Idea Arose In The Mind Of England.  Little Was Known

Of New Holland,  Except That It Was Large Enough To Harbour All The

Criminals Of Great Britain And The Rest Of The Population If

Necessary.  Why Not Transport All Convicts,  Separate The Chaff From

The Wheat,  And Purge Out The Old Leaven?  By Expelling All The

Wicked,  England Would Become The Model Of Virtue To All Nations.

 

So The System Was Established.  Old Ships Were Chartered And Filled

With The Contents Of The Gaols.  If The Ships Were Not Quite

Seaworthy It Did Not Matter Much.  The Voyage Was Sure To Be A

Success; The Passengers Might Never Reach Land,  But In any Case They

Would Never Return.  On The Vessels Conveying Male Convicts,  Some

Soldiers And Officers Were Embarked To Keep Order And Put Down

Mutiny.  Order Was Kept With The Lash,  And Mutiny Was Put Down With

The Musket.  On The Ships Conveying Women There Were No Soldiers,  But

An Extra Half-Crew Was Engaged.  These Men Were Called "Shilling-A-Month"

Men,  Because They Had Agreed To Work For One Shilling A Month For The

Privilege Of Being Allowed To Remain In Sydney.  If The Voyage Lasted

Twelve Months They Would Thus Have The Sum Of Twelve Shillings With

Which To Commence Making Their Fortunes In The Southern Hemisphere.

But The "Shilling-A-Month" Man,  As A Matter Of Fact,  Was Not Worth

One Cent The Day After He Landed,  And He Had To Begin Life Once More

Barefoot,  Like A New-Born Babe.

 

Story 1 (Purging Out The Old Leaven.) Pg 3

The Seamen'S Food On Board These Transports Was Bad And Scanty,

Consisting Of Live Biscuit,  Salt Horse,  Yankee Pork,  And Scotch

Coffee.  The Scotch Coffee Was Made By Steeping Burnt Biscuit In

Boiling Water To Make It Strong.  The Convicts' Breakfast Consisted

Of Oatmeal Porridge,  And The Hungry Seamen Used To Crowd Round The

Galley Every Morning To Steal Some Of It.  It Would Be Impossible For

A Nation Ever To Become Virtuous And Rich If Its Seamen And Convicts

Were Reared In Luxury And Encouraged In Habits Of Extravagance.

 

When The Transport Cast Anchor In The Beautiful Harbour Of Port

Jackson,  The Ship'S Blacksmith Was Called Out Of His Bunk At

Midnight.  It Was His Duty To Rivet Chains On The Legs Of The

Second-Sentence Men--The Twice Convicted.  They Had Been Told On

The Voyage That They Would Have An Island All To Themselves,  Where

They Would Not Be Annoyed By The Contehey Not Only Gave His Speeches In Full,  But They

Commented On Them Editorially,  At Great Length,  And With The Exception

Of The Brown Papers,  Favorably.  By The Time Enoch Was On His Way Home,

With But Two Weeks More Of Speech Making Before Him,  It Looked As

Though The Thought Of War With Mexico Had Been Definitely Quashed.  And

Enoch Was Tired To The Very Marrow Of His Bones.

 

But The Brown Papers Were Not Finished.  One Evening,  In arizona,

Shortly After The Train Had Pulled Out Of A Station,  Enoch Asked For

The Newspapers That Had Been Brought Aboard From The Desert City.

Charley Abbott,  Who Had Been With The Newspaper Men On The Observation

Platform For An Hour Or So,  Answered The Secretary'S Request With A

Curiously Distraught Manner.

 

"I--That Is--Mr. Huntingdon,  Jonas Says You Slept Worse Than Ever Last

Night.  Why Not Save The Papers Till Morning And Try To Sleep Now?"

 

Enoch Looked At His Secretary Keenly.  "Picked Up Some Brown Papers

Here,  Eh!  Nothing That Bunch Can Say Can Hurt Me,  Old Man."

 

"Don'T You Ever Think It!" Exclaimed Charley Vehemently.  "You Might As

Well Say You Were Immune To Rattler Bites,  Mr. Huntingdon--" Here His

Voice Broke.

 

"Look Here,  Abbott," Said Enoch,  "If It'S Bad,  I'Ve Got To Fight It,

Haven'T I?"

 

"But This Sort Of Thing,  A Man--"  Charley Suddenly Steadied Himself.

"Mr. Secretary,  They'Ve Put Some Nasty Personal Lies About You In The

Paper.  The Country At Large And All Of Us Who Know You,  Scorn The Lies

As Much As They Do Brown.  In a Day Or So,  It We Ignore Them,  The Stuff

Will Have Been Forgotten.  I Beg Of You,  Don'T Read Any Newspapers

Until I Tell You All'S Clear."

 

Enoch Smiled.  "Why,  My Dear Old Chap,  I'Ve Weathered All Sorts Of Mud

Slinging!"

 

"But Never This Particular Brand," Insisted Charley.

 

Story 1 (Purging Out The Old Leaven.) Pg 4

"Let'S Have The Papers,  Abbott.  I'M Not Afraid Of Anything Brown Can

Say."

 

Charley Grimly Handed The Papers To The Secretary And Returned To The

Observation Platform.

 

A Reporter Had Seen Enoch In The Gambling House On The Evening Of

Diana'S Departure For The Canyon.  He Had Learned Something From The

Gambling House Keeper Of The Secretary'S Several Trips There.  The

Reporter Had Then,  With Devilish Ingenuity,  Followed Enoch Back To

Minetta Lane,  Where He Had Found Luigi.  Then Followed Eight Or Ten

Paragraphs In Luigi'S Own Words,  Giving An Account Of Enoch And Enoch'S

Mother.  The Whole Story Was Given With A Deadly Simplicity,  That It

Seemed To The Secretary Must Carry Conviction With It.

 

As Enoch Had Told Abbott,  He Had Weathered Much Political Mud Slinging,

But Even His Worst Political Enemies Had Spared Him This.  His

Adherents Had Made Much Of The Fact That Enoch Was Slum Bred And Self

Made.  That Was The Sort Of Story Which The Inherent Democracy Of

America Loved.  But The Brown Account Made Of Enoch A Creature Of The

Underworld,  Who Still Loved His Early Haunts And Returned To Them In

All Their Vileness.  And In all The Years Of His Political Life,  No

Newspaper But This Had Ever Mentioned Enoch'S Mother.  The Tale Closed

With A Comment On The Fact That Enoch,  Who Shunned All Women,  Had Been

Seen Several Times In Washington Giving Marked Attention To Miss Diana

Allen.  Diana And Her Work Were Fully Identified.

 

Enoch Read The Account To The Last Word,  A Flush Of Agonizing

Humiliation Deepening On His Face As He Did So.  When He Had Finished,

He Doubled The Paper Carefully,  And Laid It On The Chair Next To His.

Then He Lighted A Cigarette And Sat With Folded Arms,  Unseeing Eyes On

The Newspaper.  When Jonas Came In an Hour Later,  The Cigarette,

Unsmoked,  Was Cold Between The Secretary'S Lips.  With Trembling Hands,

The Colored Man Picked Up The Paper And With Unbelievable Venom

Gleaming In His Black Eyes,  He Carried It To The Rear Door,  Spat Upon

It And Flung It Out Into The Desert Night.  Then He Returned To Enoch.

 

"Mr. Secretary," He Said Huskily,  "Let Me Take Your Keys."

 

Mechanically Enoch Obeyed.  Jonas Selected A Small Key From The Bunch

And,  Opening A Large Leather Portfolio,  He Tooected A SmWere Fitted Out In Sydney,  And

It Was Found That Money Could Be Made By Oil And Whalebone As Well As

By Rum.  Sealing Was Also Pursued In Small Vessels,  Which Were Often

Lost,  And Sealers Lie Buried In all The Islands Of The Southern Seas,

Many Of Them Having A Story To Tell,  But No Story-Teller.

 

Whalers,  Runaway Seamen,  Shilling-A-Month Men,  And Escaped Convicts

Were The Earliest Settlers In New Zealand,  And Were The First To Make

Peaceful Intercourse With The Maoris Possible.  They Built Themselves

Houses With Wooden Frames,  Covered With Reeds And Rushes,  Learned To

Converse In The Native Language,  And Became Family Men.  They Were

Most Of Them English And Americans,  With