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But the letter possessed other points of interest - of almost
universal interest - to which no such scruples need apply; for it
cleared up certain features of the foregoing narrative which had
long been mysteries to all the world; and it gave me what I had
tried in vain to fathom all these years, some explanation, or rather
history, of the young Lancastrian's complicity with Joaquin Santos
in the foul enterprise of the Lady Jermyn. And these passages I
shall reproduce word for word; partly because of their intrinsic
interest; partly for such new light as they day throw on this or
that phase of the foregoing narrative; and, lastly, out of fairness
to (I hope) the most gallant and most generous youth who ever slipped
upon the lower slopes of Avemus.
Wrote Rattray:
"You wondered how I could have thrown in my lot with such a man.
You may wonder still, for I never yet told living soul. I pretended
I had joined him of my own free will. That was not quite the case.
The facts were as follows:
"In my teens (as I think you know) I was at sea. I took my second
mate's certificate at twenty, and from that to twenty-four my
voyages were far between and on my own account. I had given way
to our hereditary passion for smuggling. I kept a 'yacht' in
Morecambe Bay, and more French brandy than I knew what to do with
in my cellars. It was exciting for a time, but the excitement did
not last. In 1851 the gold fever broke out in Australia. I shipped
to Melbourne as third mate on a barque, and I deserted for the
diggings in the usual course. But I was never a successful digger.
I had little luck and less patience, and I have no doubt that many
a good haul has been taken out of claims previously abandoned by me;
for of one or two I had the mortification of hearing while still in
the Colony. I suppose I had not the temperament for the work. Dust
would not do for me - I must have nuggets. So from Bendigo I drifted
to the Ovens, and from the Ovens to Ballarat. But I did no more
good on one field than on another, and eventually, early in 1853, I
cast up in Melbourne again with the intention of shipping home in
the first vessel. But there were no crews for the homeward-bounders,
and while waiting for a ship my little stock of gold dust gave out.
I became destitute first - then desperate. Unluckily for me, the
beginning of '53 was the hey-day of Captain MelviHe, the notorious
bushranger. He was a young fellow of my own age. I determined to
imitate his exploits. I could make nothing out there from an honest
life; rather than starve I would lead a dishonest one. I had been
born with lawless tendencies; from smuggling to bushranging was an
easy transition, and about the latter there seemed to be a gallantry
and romantic swagger which put it on the higher plane of the two.
But I was not born to be a bushranger either. I failed at the very
first attempt. I was outwitted by my first victim, a thin old
gentleman riding a cob at night on the Geelong road.
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