The Gully of Bluemansdyke, and Other storiesDoyle, Arthur Conan
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The Gully of Bluemansdyke, and Other stories
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Detective and mystery stories, English; Fiction; Short stories
A couple of months after narrating his experiences, Wolf Tone Maloney
finished his term, and was released. For a long time I neither saw him
nor heard of him; and he had almost slipped from my memory, until I was
reminded, in a somewhat tragic manner, of his existence. I had been
attending a patient some distance off in the country, and was riding
back, guiding my tired horse among the boulders which strewed the
pathway, and endeavouring to see my way through the gathering darkness,
when I came suddenly upon a little wayside inn. As I walked my horse up
towards the door, intending to make sure of my bearings before
proceeding further, I heard the sound of a violent altercation within
the little bar. There seemed to be a chorus of expostulation or
remonstrance, above which two powerful voices rang out loud and angry.
As I listened, there was a momentary hush, two pistol shots sounded
almost simultaneously, and, with a crash, the door burst open, and a
pair of dark figures staggered out into the moonlight. They struggled
for a moment in a deadly wrestle, and then went down together among the
loose stones. I had sprung off my horse, and, with the help of
half-a-dozen rough fellows from the bar, dragged them away from one
another.
A glance was sufficient to convince me that one of them was dying fast.
He was a thick-set, burly fellow, with a determined cast of countenance.
The blood was welling from a deep stab in his throat, and it was evident
that an important artery had been divided. I turned away from him in
despair, and walked over to where his antagonist was lying. He was shot
through the lungs, but managed to raise himself upon his hand as I
approached, and peered anxiously up into my face. To my surprise I saw
before me the haggard features and flaxen hair of my prison
acquaintance, Maloney.
"Ah, Doctor!" he said, recognising me. "How is he? Will he die?"
He asked the question so earnestly that I imagined he had softened at
the last moment, and feared to leave the world with another homicide
upon his conscience. Truth, however, compelled me to shake my head
mournfully, and to intimate that the wound would prove a mortal one.
Maloney gave a wild cry of triumph, which brought the blood welling out
from between his lips. "Here, boys," he gasped to the little group
around him. "There's money in my inside pocket. Damn the expense! Drinks
round. There's nothing mean about me. I'd drink with you, but I'm going.
Give the Doc. my share, for he's as good----" Here his head fell back
with a thud, his eye glazed, and the soul of Wolf Tone Maloney, forger,
convict, ranger, murderer, and Government peach, drifted away into the
Great Unknown.
* * * * *
I cannot conclude without borrowing the account of the fatal quarrel
which appeared in the columns of the _West Australian Sentinel_. The
curious will find it in the issue of the 4th of October 1881:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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