Page:In bad company and other stories.djvu/524

 not dissimilar from those of Mr. Campbell. A Goldfields Commissioner, a sportsman, and a determined man, he was attacked in his own house at Dunn's Plains, near Bathurst, while the robbers of the escort were still at large.

Like Mr. Campbell, he was prepared, was a dead shot, and killed one of his assailants. I may mention that I knew Mr. Keightley well for many years, and had the account of the affair from himself. The gang surrounded the house at mid-day, and finding such cover as they might, commenced firing, after calling upon the garrison to surrender. Mr. Keightley, on his part, kept up a brisk fire from time to time, and dislodged several of the besiegers from their hiding-places. He himself narrowly escaped being hit on several occasions, as his position was not completely protected. Bourke had been the most daring and aggressive of the party, and in gaining a nearer position, he partially exposed himself and was laid low by a snap-shot.

Up to this stage of the affair the conditions were not unlike those of the Goimbla siege. The robbers lost a man in each case. But here the circumstances varied materially. The attack on Mr. Keightley's household was during daylight—the one on Mr. Campbell's after nightfall. On the death of O'Malley, the robbers decided upon a retreat; but soon after Bourke fell, a discovery was made that Mr. Keightley's ammunition had been expended. He was therefore at their mercy, and had no alternative but to yield.

The four persons then in the house—Mr. and Mrs. Keightley, Dr. Pechey, a relative of the lady of the house, and a servant woman—surrendered themselves to the bushrangers, who announced their intention of shooting Mr. Keightley in requital for their comrade's death. To this end he was marched to some distance by two of the bushrangers, while the others were holding a colloquy with Mrs. Keightley and the servant, who passionately implored them to spare Mr. Keightley's life.

They retorted that he had not spared Bourke's, and also that 'he had boasted that he would have the reward which the Government had offered for their capture.'

Mrs. Keightley replied that he had never dreamed of a reward: he was the last man to take blood-money; if he had shot Bourke it was in defence of his home, which any