"
Lord Hartledon leaned back in his chair and listened to the explanation.
A very simple one, after all. Gum, one of the wildest and most careless
characters possible when in Australia, gambled away, before sailing,
the money he had acquired. Accident made him acquainted with George
Gordon, also going home in the same ship and with money. Gordon was
killed the night before sailing--(Mr. Carr had well described it as
a drunken brawl)--killed accidentally. Gum was present; he saw his
opportunity, went on board as Gordon, and claimed the luggage--some
of it gold--already on board. How the mutiny broke out was less clear;
but one of the other passengers knew Gum, and threatened to expose him;
and perhaps this led to it. Gum, at any rate, was the ringleader, and
this passenger was one of the first killed. Gum--Gordon as he was
called--contrived to escape in the open boat, and found his way to land;
thence, disguised, to England and to Calne; and at Calne he had since
lived, with the price offered for George Gordon on his head.
It was a strange and awful story: and Lord Hartledon felt a shiver run
through him as he listened. In truth, that shed was the safest and
fittest place for him to die in!
As die he did ere the third day was over. And was buried as Pike, the
wild man, without a mourner. Clerk Gum stood over the grave in his
official capacity; and Dr.
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