I forced "Thunder-and-Lightning's" right hand behind his back and held it there, while I slipped a pair of handcuffs out of my pocket and secured it; then I wrenched the left hand in the same manner and handcuffed it.
I was so elated I could not contain myself any longer. I shouted "hurrah," and laughed loud and long. I suppose my nerves had been strung to such a pitch I had to let them down a little.
"Thunder-and-Lightning" lay quite still. At first I thought he was dead, as he had fallen upon his head. Perhaps his skull was broken; but, as I never knew an Irishman to be killed by a fall on his head, I soon felt pretty easy in my mind that he was all right. Hard knocks with shillelahs, for thousands of years, have developed a thickening of the bone; or is it a survival of the fittest?
I slipped his pistols into my belt, then coo-ed for ten minutes, and fired a shot. To my great delight I heard a cautious, "What's the matter? Where are you?"
"I'm here! I want help!" I shouted. Three men and six dogs soon made their appearance.
"Wha may you be, my fine fallow, an' what's the maiter?" said an old man, who was holding a bull-dog by a chain, and saying to him, "Doun, Nero, doun!"
I told them in few words that the digger who had lived up the hill had been murdered, that his wife had been shot in the leg, that she was lying a short distance beyond, and that I had captured the murderer.
"Jist let ma doug Nero hand 'im by the cauf o's leg, an' he winna get awa," said the old man.
"Poor Tom, and poor Lizzie," said the men, who were decent fellows, and very sympathetic. Two of them went away to attend to the woman; one of them stayed with me. In a short time Lizzie was carried to a tent, and given into the care of some women. The police were informed of what had taken place, and two of them came. We marched the murderer to the lock-up, then I called for a lantern, and flashed it in his face. He was "Thunder-and-Lightning"; no mistake about that—broken nose, black eyes, and scar.
There is not much more to tell. I took charge of the scoundrel, and hardly lost sight of him, till he was safely lodged in Her Majesty's gaol in Melbourne. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and hanged by the neck till he was dead. His Excellency the Governor thanked me warmly, and a large money reward with immediate promotion came very opportunely.