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diff --git a/38277.txt b/38277.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6265e12 --- /dev/null +++ b/38277.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10408 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of From Squire to Squatter, by Gordon Stables + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: From Squire to Squatter + A Tale of the Old Land and the New + +Author: Gordon Stables + +Release Date: December 11, 2011 [EBook #38277] +[Last updated: November 1, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM SQUIRE TO SQUATTER *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +From Squire to Squatter +A Tale of the Old Land and the New +By Gordon Stables +Published by John F. Shaw and Co., 48 Paternoster Row, London. +This edition dated 1888. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +BOOK I--AT BURLEY OLD FARM. + +"TEN TO-MORROW, ARCHIE." + +"So you'll be ten years old to-morrow, Archie?" + +"Yes, father; ten to-morrow. Quite old, isn't it? I'll soon be a man, +dad. Won't it be fun, just?" + +His father laughed, simply because Archie laughed. "I don't know about +the fun of it," he said; "for, Archie lad, your growing a man will +result in my getting old. Don't you see?" + +Archie turned his handsome brown face towards the fire, and gazed at +it--or rather into it--for a few moments thoughtfully. Then he gave his +head a little negative kind of a shake, and, still looking towards the +fire as if addressing it, replied: + +"No, no, no; I don't see it. Other boys' fathers _may_ grow old; mine +won't, mine couldn't, never, _never_." + +"Dad," said a voice from the corner. It was a very weary, rather +feeble, voice. The owner of it occupied a kind of invalid couch, on +which he half sat and half reclined--a lad of only nine years, with a +thin, pale, old-fashioned face, and big, dark, dreamy eyes that seemed +to look you through and through as you talked to him. + +"Dad." + +"Yes, my dear." + +"Wouldn't you like to be old really?" + +"Wel--," the father was beginning. + +"Oh," the boy went on, "I should dearly love to be old, very old, and +very wise, like one of these!" Here his glance reverted to a story-book +he had been reading, and which now lay on his lap. + +His father and mother were used to the boy's odd remarks. Both parents +sat here to-night, and both looked at him with a sort of fond pity; but +the child's eyes had half closed, and presently he dropped out of the +conversation, and to all intents and purposes out of the company. + +"Yes," said Archie, "ten is terribly old, I know; but is it quite a man +though? Because mummie there said, that when Solomon became a man, he +thought, and spoke, and did everything manly, and put away all his boy's +things. I shouldn't like to put away my bow and arrow--what say, mum? +I shan't be altogether quite a man to-morrow, shall I?" + +"No, child. Who put that in your head?" + +"Oh, Rupert, of course! Rupert tells me everything, and dreams such +strange dreams for me." + +"You're a strange boy yourself, Archie." + +His mother had been leaning back in her chair. She now slowly resumed +her knitting. The firelight fell on her face: it was still young, still +beautiful--for the lady was but little over thirty--yet a shade of +melancholy had overspread it to-night. + +The firelight came from huge logs of wood, mingled with large pieces of +blazing coals and masses of half-incandescent peat. A more cheerful +fire surely never before burned on a hearth. It seemed to take a pride +in being cheerful, and in making all sorts of pleasant noises and +splutterings. There had been bark on those logs when first heaped on, +and long white bunches of lichen, that looked like old men's beards; but +tongues of fire from the bubbling, caking coals had soon licked those +off, so that both sticks and peat were soon aglow, and the whole looked +as glorious as an autumn sunset. + +And firelight surely never before fell on cosier room, nor on cosier +old-world furniture. Dark pictures, in great gilt frames, hung on the +walls, almost hiding it; dark pictures, but with bright colours standing +out in them, which Time himself had not been able to dim; albeit he had +cracked the varnish. Pictures you could look into--look in through +almost--and imagine figures that perhaps were not in them at all; +pictures of old-fashioned places, with quaint, old-fashioned people and +animals; pictures in which every creature or human being looked +contented and happy. Pictures from masters' hands many of them, and +worth far more than their weight in solid gold. + +And the firelight fell on curious brackets, and on a tall corner-cabinet +filled with old delf and china; fell on high, narrow-backed chairs, and +on one huge carved-oak chest that took your mind away back to centuries +long gone by and made you half believe that there must have been "giants +in those days." + +The firelight fell and was reflected from silver cups, and goblets, and +candlesticks, and a glittering shield that stood on a sideboard, their +presence giving relief to the eye. Heavy, cosy-looking curtains +depended from the window cornices, and the door itself was darkly +draped. + +"Ten to-morrow. How time does fly!" + +It was the father who now spoke, and as he did so his hand was stretched +out as if instinctively, till it lay on the mother's lap. Their eyes +met, and there seemed something of sadness in the smile of each. + +"How time does fly!" + +"Dad!" + +The voice came once more from the corner. + +"Dad! For years and years I've noticed that you always take mummie's +hand and just look like that on the night before Archie's birthday. +Father, why--" + +But at that very moment the firelight found something else to fall +upon--something brighter and fairer by far than anything it had lit up +to-night. For the door-curtain was drawn back, and a little, wee, +girlish figure advanced on tiptoe and stood smiling in the middle of the +room, looking from one to the other. This was Elsie, Rupert's +twin-sister. His "beautiful sister" the boy called her, and she was +well worthy of the compliment. Only for a moment did she stand there, +but as she did so, with her bonnie bright face, she seemed the one thing +that had been needed to complete the picture, the centre figure against +the sombre, almost solemn, background. + +The fire blazed more merrily now; a jet of white smoke, that had been +spinning forth from a little mound of melting coal, jumped suddenly into +flame; while the biggest log cracked like a popgun, and threw off a +great red spark, which flew half-way across the room. + +Next instant a wealth of dark-brown hair fell on Archie's shoulder, and +soft lips were pressed to his sun-dyed cheek, then bright, laughing eyes +looked into his. + +"Ten to-morrow, Archie! _Aren't_ you proud?" + +Elsie now took a footstool, and sat down close beside her invalid +brother, stretching one arm across his chest protectingly; but she shook +her head at Archie from her corner. + +"Ten to-morrow, you great big, big brother Archie," she said. + +Archie laughed right merrily. + +"What are you going to do all?" + +"Oh, such a lot of things! First of all, if it snows--" + +"It is snowing now, Archie, fast." + +"Well then I'm going to shoot the fox that stole poor Cock Jock. Oh, my +poor Cock Jock! We'll never see him again." + +"Shooting foxes isn't sport, Archie." + +"No, dad; it's revenge." + +The father shook his head. + +"Well, I mean something else." + +"Justice?" + +"Yes, that is it. Justice, dad. Oh, I did love that cock so! He was +so gentlemanly and gallant, father. Oh, so kind! And the fox seized +him just as poor Jock was carrying a crust of bread to the old hen Ann. +He threw my bonnie bird over his shoulder and ran off, looking so sly +and wicked. But I mean to kill him! + +"Last time I fired off Branson's gun was at a magpie, a nasty, +chattering, unlucky magpie. Old Kate says they're unlucky." + +"Did you kill the magpie, Archie?" + +"No, I don't think I hurt the magpie. The gun must have gone off when I +wasn't looking; but it knocked me down, and blackened all my shoulder, +because it pushed so. Branson said I didn't grasp it tight enough. But +I will to-morrow, when I'm killing the fox. Rupert, you'll stuff the +head, and we'll hang it in the hall. Won't you, Roup?" Rupert smiled +and nodded. + +"And I'm sure," he continued, "the Ann hen was so sorry when she saw +poor Cock Jock carried away." + +"Did the Ann hen eat the crust?" + +"What, father? Oh, yes, she did eat the crust! But I think that was +only out of politeness. I'm sure it nearly choked her." + +"Well, Archie, what will you do else to-morrow?" + +"Oh, then, you know, Elsie, the fun will only just be beginning, because +we're going to open the north tower of the castle. It's already +furnished." + +"And you're going to be installed as King of the North Tower?" said his +father. + +"Installed, father? Rupert, what does that mean?" + +"Led in with honours, I suppose." + +"Oh, father, I'll instal myself; or Sissie there will; or old Kate; or +Branson, the keeper, will instal me. That's easy. The fun will all +come after that." + +Burley Old Farm, as it was called--and sometimes Burley Castle--was, at +the time our story opens, in the heyday of its glory and beauty. Squire +Broadbent, Archie's father, had been on it for a dozen years and over. +It was all his own, and had belonged to a bachelor uncle before his +time. This uncle had never made the slightest attempt to cause two +blades of grass to grow where only one had grown before. Not he. He +was well content to live on the little estate, as his father had done +before him, so long as things paid their way; so long as plenty of sleek +beasts were seen in the fields in summer, or wading knee-deep in the +straw-yard in winter; so long as pigs, and poultry, and feather stock of +every conceivable sort, made plenty of noise about the farm-steading, +and there was plenty of human life about, the old Squire had been +content. And why shouldn't he have been? What does a North-country +farmer need, or what has he any right to long for, if his larder and +coffers are both well filled, and he can have a day on the stubble or +moor, and ride to the hounds when the crops are in? + +But his nephew was more ambitious. The truth is he came from the South, +and brought with him what the honest farmer folks of the Northumbrian +borders call a deal of new-fangled notions. He had come from the South +himself, and he had not been a year in the place before he went back, +and in due time returned to Burley Old Farm with a bonnie young bride. +Of course there were people in the neighbourhood who did not hesitate to +say, that the Squire might have married nearer home, and that there was +no accounting for taste. For all this and all that, both the Squire and +his wife were not long in making themselves universal favourites all +round the countryside; for they went everywhere, and did everything; and +the neighbours were all welcome to call at Burley when they liked, and +had to call when Mrs Broadbent issued invitations. + +Well, the Squire's dinners were truly excellent, and when afterwards the +men folk joined the ladies in the big drawing-room, the evenings flew +away so quickly that, as carriage time came, nobody could ever believe +it was anything like so late. + +The question of what the Squire had been previously to his coming to +Burley was sometimes asked by comparative strangers, but as nobody could +or cared to answer explicitly, it was let drop. Something in the South, +in or about London, or Deal, or Dover, but what did it matter? he was "a +jolly good fellow--ay, and a gentleman every inch." Such was the +verdict. + +A gentleman the Squire undoubtedly was, though not quite the type of +build, either in body or mind, of the tall, bony, and burly men of the +North--men descended from a race of ever-unconquered soldiers, and +probably more akin to the Scotch than the English. + +Sitting here in the green parlour to-night, with the firelight playing +on his smiling face as he talked to or teased his eldest boy, Squire +Broadbent was seen to advantage. Not big in body, and rather round than +angular, inclining even to the portly, with a frank, rosy face and a +bold blue eye, you could not have been in his company ten minutes +without feeling sorry you had not known him all his life. + +Amiability was the chief characteristic of Mrs Broadbent. She was a +refined and genuine English lady. There is little more to say after +that. + +But what about the Squire's new-fangled notions? Well, they were really +what they call "fads" now-a-days, or, taken collectively, they were one +gigantic fad. Although he had never been in the agricultural interest +before he became Squire, even while in city chambers theoretical farming +had been his pet study, and he made no secret of it to his fellow-men. + +"This uncle of mine," he would say, "whom I go to see every Christmas, +is pretty old, and I'm his heir. Mind," he would add, "he is a genuine, +good man, and I'll be genuinely sorry for him when he goes under. But +that is the way of the world, and then I'll have my fling. My uncle +hasn't done the best for his land; he has been content to go--not run; +there is little running about the dear old boy--in the same groove as +his fathers, but I'm going to cut out a new one." + +The week that the then Mr Broadbent was in the habit of spending with +his uncle, in the festive season, was not the only holiday he took in +the year. No; for regularly as the month of April came round, he +started for the States of America, and England saw no more of him till +well on in June, by which time the hot weather had driven him home. + +But he swore by the Yankees; that is, he would have sworn by them, had +he sworn at all. The Yankees in Mr Broadbent's opinion were far ahead +of the English in everything pertaining to the economy of life, and the +best manner of living. He was too much of a John Bull to admit that the +Americans possessed any superiority over this tight little isle, in the +matter of either politics or knowledge of warfare. England always had +been, and always would be, mistress of the seas, and master of and over +every country with a foreshore on it. "But," he would say, "look at the +Yanks as inventors. Why, sir, they beat us in everything from +button-hook. Look at them as farmers, especially as wheat growers and +fruit raisers. They are as far above Englishmen, with their insular +prejudices, and insular dread of taking a step forward for fear of going +into a hole, as a Berkshire steam ploughman is ahead of a Skyeman with +his wooden turf-turner. And look at them at home round their own +firesides, or look at their houses outside and in, and you will have +some faint notion of what comfort combined with luxury really means." + +It will be observed that Mr Broadbent had a bold, straightforward way +of talking to his peers. He really had, and it will be seen presently +that he had, "the courage of his own convictions," to use a hackneyed +phrase. + +He brought those convictions with him to Burley, and the courage also. + +Why, in a single year--and a busy, bustling one it had been--the new +Squire had worked a revolution about the place. Lucky for him, he had a +well-lined purse to begin with, or he could hardly have come to the root +of things, or made such radical reforms as he did. + +When he first took a look round the farm-steading, he felt puzzled where +to begin first. But he went to work steadily, and kept it up, and it is +truly wonderful what an amount of solid usefulness can be effected by +either man or boy, if he has the courage to adopt such a plan. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK. + +It was no part of Squire Broadbent's plan to turn away old and faithful +servants. He had to weed them though, and this meant thinning out to +such an extent that not over many were left. + +The young and healthy creatures of inutility had to shift; but the very +old, the decrepit--those who had become stiff and grey in his uncle's +service--were pensioned off. They were to stay for the rest of their +lives in the rural village adown the glen--bask in the sun in summer, +sit by the fire of a winter, and talk of the times when "t'old Squire +was aboot." + +The servants settled with, and fresh ones with suitable "go" in them +established in their place, the live stock came in for reformation. + +"Saint Mary! what a medley!" exclaimed the Squire, as he walked through +the byres and stables, and past the styes. "Everything bred anyhow. No +method in my uncle's madness. No rules followed, no type. Why the +quickest plan will be to put them all to the hammer." + +This was cutting the Gordian-knot with a vengeance, but it was perhaps +best in the long run. + +Next came renovation of the farm-steading itself; pulling down and +building, enlarging, and what not, and while this was going on, the land +itself was not being forgotten. Fences were levelled and carted away, +and newer and airier ones put up, and for the most part three and +sometimes even five fields were opened into one. There were woods also +to be seen to. The new Squire liked woods, but the trees in some of +these were positively poisoning each other. Here was a larch-wood, for +instance--those logs with the long, grey lichens on them are part of +some of the trees. So closely do the larches grow together, so white +with moss, so stunted and old-looking, that it would have made a +merry-andrew melancholy to walk among them. What good were they? Down +they must come, and down they had come; and after the ground had been +stirred up a bit, and left for a summer to let the sunshine and air into +it, all the hill was replanted with young, green, smiling pines, +larches, and spruces, and that was assuredly an improvement. In a few +years the trees were well advanced; grass and primroses grew where the +moss had crept about, and the wood in spring was alive with the song of +birds. + +The mansion-house had been left intact. Nothing could have added much +to the beauty of that. It stood high up on a knoll, with rising +park-like fields behind, and at some considerable distance the blue +slate roofs of the farm-steading peeping up through the greenery of the +trees. A solid yellow-grey house, with sturdy porch before the hall +door, and sturdy mullioned windows, one wing ivy-clad, a broad sweep of +gravel in front, and beyond that, lawns and terraces, and flower and +rose gardens. And the whole overlooked a river or stream, that went +winding away clear and silvery till it lost itself in wooded glens. + +The scenery was really beautiful all round, and in some parts even wild; +while the distant views of the Cheviot Hills lent a charm to everything. + +There was something else held sacred by the Squire as well as the +habitable mansion, and that was Burley Old Castle. Undoubtedly a +fortress of considerable strength it had been in bygone days, when the +wild Scots used to come raiding here, but there was no name for it now +save that of a "ruin." The great north tower still stood firm and bold, +and three walls of the lordly hall, its floor green with long, rank +grass; the walls themselves partly covered with ivy, with broom growing +on the top, which was broad enough for the half-wild goats to scamper +along. + +There was also the _donjon_ keep, and the remains of a _fosse_; but all +the rest of this feudal castle had been unceremoniously carted away, to +erect cowsheds and pig-styes with it. + + "So sinks the pride of former days, + When glory's thrill is o'er." + +No, Squire Broadbent did not interfere with the castle; he left it to +the goats and to Archie, who took to it as a favourite resort from the +time he could crawl. + +But these--all these--new-fangled notions the neighbouring squires and +farmers bold could easily have forgiven, had Broadbent not carried his +craze for machinery to the very verge of folly. So _they_ thought. +Such things might be all very well in America, but they were not called +for here. Extraordinary mills driven by steam, no less +wonderful-looking harrows, uncanny-like drags and drilling machines, +sowing and reaping machines that were fearfully and wonderfully made, +and ploughs that, like the mills, were worked by steam. + +Terrible inventions these; and even the men that were connected with +them had to be brought from the far South, and did not talk a homely, +wholesome _lingua_, nor live in a homely, wholesome way. + +His neighbours confessed that his crops were heavier, and the cereals +and roots finer; but they said to each other knowingly, "What about the +expense of down-put?" And as far as their own fields went, the +plough-boy still whistled to and from his work. + +Then the new live stock, why, type was followed; type was everything in +the Squire's eye and opinion. No matter what they were, horses, cattle, +pigs, sheep, and feather stock, even the dogs and birds were the best +and purest of the sort to be had. + +But for all the head-shaking there had been at first, things really +appeared to prosper with the Squire; his big, yellow-painted wagons, +with their fine Clydesdale horses, were as well known in the district +and town of B--as the brewer's dray itself. The "nags" were capitally +harnessed. What with jet-black, shining leather, brass-work that shone +like burnished gold, and crimson-flashing fringes, it was no wonder that +the men who drove them were proud, and that they were favourites at +every house of call. Even the bailiff himself, on his spirited hunter, +looked imposing with his whip in his hand, and in his spotless cords. + +Breakfast at Burley was a favourite meal, and a pretty early one, and +the capital habit of inviting friends thereto was kept up. Mrs +Broadbent's tea was something to taste and remember; while the cold +beef, or that early spring lamb on the sideboard, would have converted +the veriest vegetarian as soon as he clapped eyes on it. + +On his spring lamb the Squire rather prided himself, and he liked his +due meed of praise for having reared it. To be sure he got it; though +some of the straightforward Northumbrians would occasionally quizzingly +enquire what it cost him to put on the table. + +Squire Broadbent would not get out of temper whatever was said, and +really, to do the man justice, it must be allowed that there was a +glorious halo of self-reliance around his head; and altogether such +spirit, dash, and independence with all he said and did, that those who +breakfasted with him seemed to catch the infection. Their farms and +they themselves appeared quite behind the times, when viewed in +comparison with Broadbent's and with Broadbent himself. + +If ever a father was loved and admired by a son, the Squire was that +man, and Archie was that particular son. His father was Archie's _beau +ideal_ indeed of all that was worth being, or saying, or knowing, in +this world; and Rupert's as well. + +He really was his boys' hero, but behaved more to them as if he had been +just a big brother. It was a great grief to both of them that Rupert +could not join in their games out on the lawn in summer--the little +cricket matches, the tennis tournaments, the jumping, and romping, and +racing. The tutor was younger than the Squire by many years, but he +could not beat him in any manly game you could mention. + +Yes, it was sad about Rupert; but with all the little lad's suffering +and weariness, he was _such_ a sunny-faced chap. He never complained, +and when sturdy, great, brown-faced Archie carried him out as if he had +been a baby, and laid him on the couch where he could witness the games, +he was delighted beyond description. + +I'm quite sure that the Squire often and often kept on playing longer +than he would otherwise have done just to please the child, as he was +generally called. As for Elsie, she did all her brother did, and a good +deal more besides, and yet no one could have called her a tom girl. + +As the Squire was Archie's hero, I suppose the boy could not help taking +after his hero to some extent; but it was not only surprising but even +amusing to notice how like to his "dad" in all his ways Archie had at +the age of ten become. The same in walk, the same in talk, the same in +giving his opinion, and the same in bright, determined looks. Archie +really was what his father's friends called him, "a chip of the old +block." + +He was a kind of a lad, too, that grown-up men folks could not help +having a good, romping lark with. Not a young farmer that ever came to +the place could have beaten Archie at a race; but when some of them did +get hold of him out on the lawn of an evening, then there would be a bit +of fun, and Archie was in it. + +These burly Northumbrians would positively play a kind of pitch and toss +with him, standing in a square or triangle and throwing him back and +fore as if he had been a cricket ball. And there was one very tall, +wiry young fellow who treated Archie as if he had been a sort of +dumb-bell, and took any amount of exercise out of him; holding him high +aloft with one hand, swaying him round and round and up and down, +changing hands, and, in a word, going through as many motions with the +laughing boy as if he had been inanimate. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I do not think that Archie ever dressed more quickly in his life, than +he did on the morning of that auspicious day which saw him ten years +old. To tell the truth, he had never been very much struck over the +benefits of early rising, especially on mornings in winter. The parting +between the boy and his warm bed was often of a most affecting +character. The servant would knock, and the gong would go, and +sometimes he would even hear his father's voice in the hall before he +made up his mind to tear himself away. + +But on this particular morning, no sooner had he rubbed his eyes and +began to remember things, than he sprang nimbly to the floor. The bath +was never a terrible ordeal to Archie, as it is to some lads. He liked +it because it made him feel light and buoyant, and made him sing like +the happy birds in spring time; but to-day he did think it would be a +saving of time to omit it. Yes, but it would be cowardly, and on this +morning of all mornings; so in he plunged, and plied the sponge +manfully. He did not draw up the blinds till well-nigh dressed. For +all he could see when he did do so, he might as well have left them +down. The windows--the month was January--were hard frozen; had it been +any other day, he would have paused to admire the beautiful frost +foliage and frost ferns that nature had etched on the panes. He blew +his breath on the glass instead, and made a clean round hole thereon. + +Glorious! It had been snowing pretty heavily, but now the sky was +clear. The footprints of the wily fox could be tracked. Archie would +follow him to his den in the wild woods, and his Skye terriers would +unearth him. Then the boy knelt to pray, just reviewing the past for a +short time before he did so, and thinking what a deal he had to be +thankful for; how kind the good Father was to have given him such +parents, such a beautiful home, and such health, and thinking too what a +deal he had to be sorry for in the year that was gone; then he gave +thanks, and prayer for strength to resist temptation in the time to +come; and, it is needless to say, he prayed for poor invalid Rupert. + +When he got up from his knees he heard the great gong sounded, and +smiled to himself to think how early he was. Then he blew on the pane +and looked out again. The sky was blue and clear, and there was not a +breath of wind; the trees on the lawn, laden with their weight of +powdery snow, their branches bending earthwards, especially the larches +and spruces, were a sight to see. And the snow-covered lawn itself, oh, +how beautiful! Archie wondered if the streets of heaven even could be +more pure, more dazzlingly white. + +Whick, whick, whick, whir-r-r-r-r! + +It was a big yellow-billed blackbird, that flew out with startled cry +from a small Austrian pine tree. As it did so, a cloud of powdery snow +rose in the air, showing how hard the frost was. + +Early though it was--only a little past eight--Archie found his father +and mother in the breakfast-room, and greetings and blessings fell on +his head; brief but tender. + +By-and-bye the tutor came in, looking tired; and Archie exulted over +him, as cocks crow over a fallen foe, because he was down first. + +Mr Walton was a young man of five or six and twenty, and had been in +the family for over three years, so he was quite an old friend. +Moreover, he was a man after the Squire's own heart; he was manly, and +taught Archie manliness, and had a quiet way of helping him out of every +difficulty of thought or action. Besides, Archie and Rupert liked him. + +After breakfast Archie went up to see his brother, then downstairs, and +straight away out through the servants' hall to the barn-yards. He had +showers of blessings, and not a few gifts from the servants; but old +Scotch Kate was most sincere, for this somewhat aged spinster really +loved the lad. + +At the farm-steading he had many friends to see, both hairy and +feathered. He found some oats, which he scattered among the last, and +laughed to see them scramble, and to hear them talk. Well, Archie at +all events believed firmly that fowls can converse. One very lovely red +game bird, came boldly up and pecked his oats from Archie's palm. This +was the new Cock Jock, a son of the old bird, which the fox had taken. +The Ann hen was there too. She was bold, and bonnie, and saucy, and +seemed quite to have given up mourning for her lost lord. Ann came at +Archie's call, flew on to his wrist, and after steadying herself and +grumbling a little because Archie moved his arm too much, she shoved her +head and neck into the boy's pocket, and found oats in abundance. That +was Ann's way of doing business, and she preferred it. + +The ducks were insolent and noisy; the geese, instead of taking higher +views of life, as they are wont to do, bent down their stately necks, +and went in for the scramble with the rest. The hen turkeys grumbled a +great deal, but got their share nevertheless; while the great gobbler +strutted around doing attitudes, and rustling himself, his neck and head +blood-red and blue, and every feather as stiff as an oyster-shell. He +looked like some Indian chief arrayed for the war-path. + +Having hurriedly fed his feathered favourites, Archie went bounding off +to let out a few dogs. He opened the door and went right into their +house, and the consequence was that one of the Newfoundlands threw him +over in the straw, and licked his face; and the Skye terriers came +trooping round, and they also paid their addresses to him, some of the +young ones jumping over his head, while Archie could do nothing for +laughing. When he got up he sang out "Attention!" and lo! and behold +the dogs, every one looking wiser than another, some with their +considering-caps on apparently, and their heads held knowingly to one +side. + +"Attention!" cried the boy. "I am going to-day to shoot the fox that +ran off with the hen Ann's husband. I shall want some of you. You +Bounder, and you little Fuss, and you Tackier, come." + +And come those three dogs did, while the rest, with lowered tails and +pitiful looks, slunk away to their straw. Bounder was an enormous +Newfoundland, and Fuss and Tackier were terriers, the former a Skye, the +latter a very tiny but exceedingly game Yorkie. + +Yonder, gun on shoulder, came tall, stately Branson, the keeper, clad in +velveteen, with gaiters on. Branson was a Northumbrian, and a grand +specimen too. He might have been somewhat slow of speech, but he was +not slow to act whenever it came to a scuffle with poachers, and this +last was not an unfrequent occurrence. + +"My gun, Branson?" + +"It's in the kitchen, Master Archie, clean and ready; and old Kate has +put a couple of corks in it, for fear it should go off." + +"Oh, it is loaded then--really loaded!" + +"Ay, lad; and I've got to teach you how to carry it. This is your first +day on the hill, mind, and a rough one it is." + +Archie soon got his leggings on, and his shot-belt and shooting-cap and +everything else, in true sportsman fashion. + +"What!" he said at the hall door, when he met Mr Walton, "am I to have +my tutor with me _to-day_?" + +He put strong emphasis on the last word. + +"You know, Mr Walton, that I am ten to-day. I suppose I am conceited, +but I almost feel a man." + +His tutor laughed, but by no means offensively. + +"My dear Archie, I _am_ going to the hill; but don't imagine I'm going +as your tutor, or to look after you. Oh, no! I want to go as your +friend." + +This certainly put a different complexion on the matter. + +Archie considered for a moment, then replied, with charming +condescension: + +"Oh, yes, of course, Mr Walton! You are welcome, I'm sure, to come _as +a friend_." + +CHAPTER THREE. + +A DAY OF ADVENTURE. + +If we have any tears all ready to flow, it is satisfactory to know that +they will not be required at present. If we have poetic fire and +genius, even these gifts may for the time being be held in reservation. +No "Ode to a Dying Fox" or "Elegy on the Death and Burial of Reynard" +will be necessary. For Reynard did not die; nor was he shot; at least, +not sufficiently shot. + +In one sense this was a pity. It resulted in mingled humiliation and +bitterness for Archie and for the dogs. He had pictured to himself a +brief moment of triumph when he should return from the chase, bearing in +his hand the head of his enemy--the murderer of the Ann hen's husband-- +and having the brush sticking out of his jacket pocket; return to be +crowned, figuratively speaking, with festive laurel by Elsie, his +sister, and looked upon by all the servants with a feeling of awe as a +future Nimrod. + +In another sense it was not a pity; that is, for the fox. This sable +gentleman had enjoyed a good run, which made him hungry, and as happy as +only a fox can be who knows the road through the woods and wilds to a +distant burrow, where a bed of withered weeds awaits him, and where a +nice fat hen is hidden. When Reynard had eaten his dinner and licked +his chops, he laid down to sleep, no doubt laughing in his paw at the +boy's futile efforts to capture or kill him, and promising himself the +pleasure of a future moonlight visit to Burley Old Farm, from which he +should return with the Ann hen herself on his shoulder. + +Yes, Archie's hunt had been unsuccessful, though the day had not ended +without adventure, and he had enjoyed the pleasures of the chase. + +Bounder, the big Newfoundland, first took up the scent, and away he went +with Fuss and Tackier at his heels, the others following as well as they +could, restraining the dogs by voice and gesture. Through the spruce +woods, through a patch of pine forest, through a wild tangle of tall, +snow-laden furze, out into the open, over a stream, and across a wide +stretch of heathery moorland, round quarries and rocks, and once more +into a wood. This time it was stunted larch, and in the very centre of +it, close by a cairn of stones, Bounder said--and both Fuss and Tackier +acquiesced--that Reynard had his den. But how to get him out? + +"You two little chaps get inside," Bounder seemed to say. "I'll stand +here; and as soon as he bolts, I shall make the sawdust fly out of him, +you see!" + +Escape for the fox seemed an impossibility. He had more than one +entrance to his den, but all were carefully blocked up by the keeper +except his back and front door. Bounder guarded the latter, Archie went +to watch by the former. + +"Keep quiet and cool now, and aim right behind the shoulder." + +Quiet and cool indeed! how could he? Under such exciting circumstances, +his heart was thumping like a frightened pigeon's, and his cheeks +burning with the rush of blood to them. + +He knelt down with his gun ready, and kept his eyes on the hole. He +prayed that Reynard might not bolt by the front door, for that would +spoil his sport. + +The terrier made it very warm for the fox in his den. Small though the +little Yorkie was, his valour was wonderful. Out in the open Reynard +could have killed them one by one, but here the battle was unfair, so +after a few minutes of a terrible scrimmage the fox concluded to bolt. + +Archie saw his head at the hole, half protruded then drawn back, and his +heart thumped now almost audibly. + +Would he come? Would he dare it? + +Yes, the fox dared it, and came. He dashed out with a wild rush, like a +little hairy hurricane. "Aim behind the shoulder!" Where was the +shoulder? Where was anything but a long sable stream of something +feathering through the snow? + +Bang! bang! both barrels. And down rolled the fox. Yes, no. Oh dear, +it was poor Fuss! The fox was half a mile away in a minute. + +Fuss lost blood that stained the snow brown as it fell on it. And +Archie shed bitter tears of sorrow and humiliation. + +"Oh, Fuss, my dear, dear doggie!" he cried, "_I_ didn't mean to hurt +you." + +The Skye terrier was lying on the keeper's knees and having a snow +styptic. + +Soon the blood ceased to flow, and Fuss licked his young master's hands, +and presently got down and ran around and wanted to go to earth again; +and though Archie felt he could never forgive himself for his +awkwardness, he was so happy to see that Fuss was not much the worse +after all. + +But there would be no triumphant home-returning; he even began to doubt +if ever he would be a sportsman. Then Branson consoled him, and told +him he himself didn't do any better when he first took to the hill. + +"It is well," said Mr Walton, laughing, "that you didn't shoot me +instead." + +"Ye-es," said Archie slowly, looking at Fuss. It was evident he was not +quite convinced that Mr Walton was right. + +"Fuss is none the worse," cried Branson. "Oh, I can tell you it does +these Scotch dogs good to have a drop or two of lead in them! It makes +them all the steadier, you know." + +About an hour after, to his exceeding delight, Archie shot a hare. Oh +joy! Oh day of days! His first hare! He felt a man now, from the top +of his Astrachan cap to the toe caps of his shooting-boots. + +Bounder picked it up, and brought it and laid it at Archie's feet. + +"Good dog! you shall carry it." + +Bounder did so most delightedly. + +They stopped at an outlying cottage on their way home. It was a long, +low, thatched building, close by a wood, a very humble dwelling indeed. + +A gentle-faced widow woman opened to their knock. She looked scared +when she saw them, and drew back. + +"Oh!" she said, "I hope Robert hasn't got into trouble again?" + +"No, no, Mrs Cooper, keep your mind easy, Bob's a' right at present. +We just want to eat our bit o' bread and cheese in your sheiling." + +"And right welcome ye are, sirs. Come in to the fire. Here's a broom +to brush the snow fra your leggins." + +Bounder marched in with the rest, with as much swagger and independence +as if the cottage belonged to him. Mrs Cooper's cat determined to +defend her hearth and home against such intrusion, and when Bounder +approached the former, she stood on her dignity, back arched, tail +erect, hair on end from stem to stern, with her ears back, and green +fire lurking in her eyes. Bounder stood patiently looking at her. He +would not put down the hare, and he could not defend himself with it in +his mouth; so he was puzzled. Pussy, however, brought matters to a +crisis. She slapped his face, then bolted right up the chimney. +Bounder put down the hare now, and gave a big sigh as he lay down beside +it. + +"No, Mrs Cooper, Bob hasn't been at his wicked work for some time. +He's been gi'en someone else a turn I s'pose, eh?" + +"Oh, sirs," said the widow, "it's no wi' my will he goes poachin'! If +his father's heid were above the sod he daren't do it. But, poor Bob, +he's all I have in the world, and he works hard--sometimes." + +Branson laughed. It was a somewhat sarcastic laugh; and young Archie +felt sorry for Bob's mother, she looked so unhappy. + +"Ay, Mrs Cooper, Bob works hard sometimes, especially when settin' +girns for game. Ha! ha! Hullo!" he added, "speak of angels and they +appear. Here comes Bob himself!" + +Bob entered, looked defiantly at the keeper, but doffed his cap and +bowed to Mr Walton and Archie. "Mother," he said, "I'm going out." + +"Not far, Bob, lad; dinner's nearly ready." + +Bob had turned to leave, but he wheeled round again almost fiercely. He +was a splendid young specimen of a Borderer, six feet if an inch, and +well-made to boot. No extra flesh, but hard and tough as copper bolts. +"Denner!" he growled. "Ay, denner to be sure--taties and salt! Ha! and +gentry live on the fat o' the land! If I snare a rabbit, if I dare to +catch one o' God's own cattle on God's own hills, I'm a felon; I'm to be +taken and put in gaol--shot even if I dare resist! Yas, mother, I'll be +in to denner," and away he strode. + +"Potatoes and salt!" Archie could not help thinking about that. And he +was going away to his own bright home and to happiness. He glanced +round him at the bare, clay walls, with their few bits of daubs of +pictures, and up at the blackened rafters, where a cheese stood--one +poor, hard cheese--and on which hung some bacon and onions. He could +not repress a sigh, almost as heart-felt as that which Bounder gave when +he lay down beside the hare. + +When the keeper and tutor rose to go, Archie stopped behind with Bounder +just a moment. When they came out, Bounder had no hare. + +Yet that hare was the first Archie had shot, and--well, he _had_ meant +to astonish Elsie with this proof of his prowess; but the hare was +better to be left where it was--he had earned a blessing. + +The party were in the wood when Bob Cooper, the poacher, sprang up as if +from the earth and confronted them. + +"I came here a purpose," he said to Branson. "This is not your wood; +even if it was I wouldn't mind. What did you want at my mother's +hoose?" + +"Nothing; and I've nothing to say to ye." + +"Haven't ye? But ye were in our cottage. It's no for nought the glaud +whistles." + +"I don't want to quarrel," said Branson, "especially after speakin' to +your mother; she's a kindly soul, and I'm sorry for her and for you +yoursel', Bob." + +Bob was taken aback. He had expected defiance, exasperation, and he was +prepared to fight. + +Archie stood trembling as these two athletes looked each other in the +eyes. + +But gradually Bob's face softened; he bit his lip and moved impatiently. +The allusion to his mother had touched his heart. + +"I didn't want sich words, Branson. I--may be I don't deserve 'em. I-- +hang it all, give me a grip o' your hand!" + +Then away went Bob as quickly as he had come. + +Branson glanced at his retreating figure one moment. + +"Well," he said, "I never thought I'd shake hands wi' Bob Cooper! No +matter; better please a fool than fecht 'im." + +"Branson!" + +"Yes, Master Archie." + +"I don't think Bob's a fool; and I'm sure that, bad as he is, he loves +his mother." + +"Quite right, Archie," said Mr Walton. + +Archie met his father at the gate, and ran towards him to tell him all +his adventures about the fox and the hare. But Bob Cooper and everybody +else was forgotten when he noticed what and whom he had behind him. The +"whom" was Branson's little boy, Peter; the "what" was one of the +wildest-looking--and, for that matter, one of the wickedest-looking-- +Shetland ponies it is possible to imagine. Long-haired, shaggy, droll, +and daft; but these adjectives do not half describe him. + +"Why, father, wherever--" + +"He's your birthday present, Archie." + +The boy actually flushed red with joy. His eyes sparkled as he glanced +from his father to the pony and back at his father again. + +"Dad," he said at last, "I know now what old Kate means about 'her cup +being full.' Father, my cup overflows!" + +Well, Archie's eyes were pretty nearly overflowing anyhow. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +IN THE OLD CASTLE TOWER. + +They were all together that evening in the green parlour as usual, and +everybody was happy and merry. Even Rupert was sitting up and laughing +as much as Elsie. The clatter of tongues prevented them hearing Mary's +tapping at the door; and the carpet being so thick and soft, she was not +seen until right in the centre of the room. + +"Why, Mary," cried Elsie, "I got such a start, I thought you were a +ghost!" + +Mary looks uneasily around her. + +"There be one ghost, Miss Elsie, comes out o' nights, and walks about +the old castle." + +"Was that what you came in to tell us, Mary?" + +"Oh, no, sir! If ye please, Bob Cooper is in the yard, and he wants to +speak to Master Archie. I wouldn't let him go if I were you, ma'am." + +Archie's mother smiled. Mary was a privileged little parlour maiden, +and ventured at times to make suggestions. + +"Go and see what he wants, dear," said his mother to Archie. + +It was a beautiful clear moonlight night, with just a few white +snow-laden clouds lying over the woods, no wind and never a hush save +the distant and occasional yelp of a dog. + +"Bob Cooper!" + +"That's me, Master Archie. I couldn't rest till I'd seen ye the night. +The hare--" + +"Oh! that's really nothing, Bob Cooper!" + +"But allow me to differ. It's no' the hare altogether. I know where to +find fifty. It was the way it was given. Look here, lad, and this is +what I come to say, Branson and you have been too much for Bob Cooper. +The day I went to that wood to thrash him, and I'd hae killed him, an I +could. Ha! ha! I shook hands with him! Archie Broadbent, your +father's a gentleman, and they say you're a chip o' t'old block. I +believe 'em, and look, see, lad, I'll never be seen in your preserves +again. Tell Branson so. There's my hand on't. Nay, never be afear'd +to touch it. Good-night. I feel better now." + +And away strode the poacher, and Archie could hear the sound of his +heavy tread crunching through the snow long after he was out of sight. + +"You seem to have made a friend, Archie," said his father, when the boy +reported the interview. + +"A friend," added Mr Walton with a quiet smile, "that I wouldn't be too +proud of." + +"Well," said the Squire, "certainly Bob Cooper is a rough nut, but who +knows what his heart may be like?" + +Archie's room in the tower was opened in state next day. Old Kate +herself had lit fires in it every night for a week before, though she +never would go up the long dark stair without Peter. Peter was only a +mite of a boy, but wherever he went, Fuss, the Skye terrier, accompanied +him, and it was universally admitted that no ghost in its right senses +would dare to face Fuss. + +Elsie was there of course, and Rupert too, though he had to be almost +carried up by stalwart Branson. But what a glorious little room it was +when you were in it! A more complete boy's own room could scarcely be +imagined. It was a _beau ideal_; at least Rupert and Archie and Elsie +thought so, and even Mr Walton and Branson said the same. + +Let me see now, I may as well try to describe it, but much must be left +to imagination. It was not a very big room, only about twelve feet +square; for although the tower appeared very large from outside, the +abnormal thickness of its walls detracted from available space inside +it. There was one long window on each side, and a chair and small table +could be placed on the sill of either. But this was curtained off at +night, when light came from a huge lamp that depended from the ceiling, +and the rays from which fought for preference with those from the +roaring fire on the stone hearth. The room was square. A door, also +curtained, gave entrance from the stairway at one corner, and at each of +two other corners were two other doors leading into turret chambers, and +these tiny, wee rooms were very delightful, because you were out beyond +the great tower when you sat in them, and their slits of windows granted +you a grand view of the charming scenery everywhere about. + +The furniture was rustic in the extreme--studiously so. There was a +tall rocking-chair, a great dais or sofa, and a recline for +Rupert--"poor Rupert" as he was always called--the big chair was the +guest's seat. + +The ornaments on the walls had been principally supplied by Branson. +Stuffed heads of foxes, badgers, and wild cats, with any number of +birds' and beasts' skins, artistically mounted. There were also heads +of horned deer, bows and arrows--these last were Archie's own--and +shields and spears that Uncle Ramsay had brought home from savage wars +in Africa and Australia. The dais was covered with bear skins, and +there was quite a quantity of skins on the floor instead of a carpet. +So the whole place looked primeval and romantic. + +The bookshelf was well supplied with readable tales, and a harp stood in +a corner, and on this, young though she was, Elsie could already play. + +The guest to-night was old Kate. She sat in the tall chair in a corner +opposite the door, Branson occupied a seat near her, Rupert was on his +recline, and Archie and Elsie on a skin, with little Peter nursing +wounded Fuss in a corner. + +That was the party. But Archie had made tea, and handed it round; and +sitting there with her cup in her lap, old Kate really looked a strange, +weird figure. Her face was lean and haggard, her eyes almost wild, and +some half-grey hair peeped from under an uncanny-looking cap of black +crape, with long depending strings of the same material. + +Old Kate was housekeeper and general female factotum. She was really a +distant relation of the Squire, and so had it very much her own way at +Burley Old Farm. + +She came originally from "just ayant the Border," and had a wealth of +old-world stories to tell, and could sing queer old bits of ballads too, +when in the humour. + +Old Kate, however, said she could not sing to-night, for she felt as yet +unused to the place; and whether they (the boys) believed in ghosts or +not she (Kate) did, and so, she said, had her father before her. But +she told stories--stories of the bloody raids of long, long ago, when +Northumbria and the Scottish Borders were constantly at war--stories +that kept her hearers enthralled while they listened, and to which the +weird looks and strange voice of the narrator lent a peculiar charm. + +Old Kate was just in the very midst of one of these when, twang! one of +the strings of Elsie's harp broke. It was a very startling sound +indeed; for as it went off it seemed to emit a groan that rang through +the chamber, and died away in the vaulted roof. Elsie crept closer to +Archie, and Peter with Fuss drew nearer the fire. + +The ancient dame, after being convinced that the sound was nothing +uncanny, proceeded with her narrative. It was a long one, with an old +house in it by the banks of a winding river in the midst of woods and +wilds--a house that, if its walls had been able to speak, could have +told many a marrow-freezing story of bygone times. + +There was a room in this house that was haunted. Old Kate was just +coming to this, and to the part of her tale on which the ghosts on a +certain night of the year always appeared in this room, and stood over a +dark stain in the centre of the floor. + +"And ne'er a ane," she was saying, "could wash that stain awa'. Weel, +bairns, one moonlicht nicht, and at the deadest hoor o' the nicht, +nothing would please the auld laird but he maun leave his chaimber and +go straight along the damp, dreary, long corridor to the door o' the +hauntid room. It was half open, and the moon's licht danced in on the +fleer. He was listening--he was looking--" + +But at this very moment, when old Kate had lowered her voice to a +whisper, and the tension at her listeners' heart-strings was the +greatest, a soft, heavy footstep was heard coming slowly, painfully as +it might be, up the turret stairs. + +To say that every one was alarmed would but poorly describe their +feelings. Old Kate's eyes seemed as big as watch-glasses. Elsie +screamed, and clung to Archie. + +"Who--oo--'s--Who's there?" cried Branson, and his voice sounded fearful +and far away. + +No answer; but the steps drew nearer and nearer. Then the curtain was +pushed aside, and in dashed--what? a ghost?--no, only honest great +Bounder. + +Bounder had found out there was something going on, and that Fuss was up +there, and he didn't see why he should be left out in the cold. That +was all; but the feeling of relief when he did appear was unprecedented. + +Old Kate required another cup of tea after that. Then Branson got out +his fiddle from a green baize bag; and if he had not played those merry +airs, I do not believe that old Kate would have had the courage to go +downstairs that night at all. + +Archie's pony was great fun at first. The best of it was that he had +never been broken in. The Squire, or rather his bailiff, had bought him +out of a drove; so he was, literally speaking, as wild as the hills, and +as mad as a March hare. But he soon knew Archie and Elsie, and, under +Branson's supervision, Scallowa was put into training on the lawn. He +was led, he was walked, he was galloped. But he reared, and kicked, and +rolled whenever he thought of it, and yet there was not a bit of vice +about him. + +Spring had come, and early summer itself, before Scallowa permitted +Archie to ride him, and a week or two after this the difficulty would +have been to have told which of the two was the wilder and dafter, +Archie or Scallowa. They certainly had managed to establish the most +amicable relations. Whatever Scallowa thought, Archie agreed to, and +_vice versa_, and the pair were never out of mischief. Of course Archie +was pitched off now and then, but he told Elsie he did not mind it, and +in fact preferred it to constant uprightness: it was a change. But the +pony never ran away, because Archie always had a bit of carrot in his +pocket to give him when he got up off the ground. + +Mr Walton assured Archie that these carrots accounted for his many +tumbles. And there really did seem to be a foundation of truth about +this statement. For of course the pony had soon come to know that it +was to his interest to throw his rider, and acted accordingly. So after +a time Archie gave the carrot-payment up, and matters were mended. + +It was only when school was over that Archie went for a canter, unless +he happened to get up very early in the morning for the purpose of +riding. And this he frequently did, so that, before the summer was +done, Scallowa and Archie were as well known over all the countryside as +the postman himself. + +Archie's pony was certainly not very long in the legs, but nevertheless +the leaps he could take were quite surprising. + +On the second summer after Archie got this pony, both horse and rider +were about perfect in their training, and in the following winter he +appeared in the hunting-field with the greatest _sang-froid_, although +many of the farmers, on their weight-carrying hunters, could have jumped +over Archie, Scallowa, and all. The boy had a long way to ride to the +hounds, and he used to start off the night before. He really did not +care where he slept. Old Kate used to make up a packet of sandwiches +for him, and this would be his dinner and breakfast. Scallowa he used +to tie up in some byre, and as often as not Archie would turn in beside +him among the straw. In the morning he would finish the remainder of +Kate's sandwiches, make his toilet in some running stream or lake, and +be as fresh as a daisy when the meet took place. + +Both he and Scallowa were somewhat uncouth-looking. Elsie, his sister, +had proposed that he should ride in scarlet, it would look so romantic +and pretty; but Archie only laughed, and said he would not feel at home +in such finery, and his "Eider Duck"--as he sometimes called the pony-- +would not know him. "Besides, Elsie," he said, "lying down among straw +with scarlets on wouldn't improve them." + +But old Kate had given him a birthday present of a little Scotch +Glengarry cap with a real eagle's feather, and he always wore this in +the hunting-field. He did so for two reasons; first, it pleased old +Kate; and, secondly, the cap stuck to his head; no breeze could blow it +off. + +It was not long before Archie was known in the field as the "Little +Demon Huntsman." And, really, had you seen Scallowa and he feathering +across a moor, his bonnet on the back of his head, and the pony's +immense mane blowing straight back in the wind, you would have thought +the title well earned. In a straight run the pony could not keep up +with the long-legged horses; but Archie and he could dash through a +wood, and even swim streams, and take all manner of short cuts, so that +he was always in at the death. + +The most remarkable trait in Archie's riding was that he could take +flying leaps from heights: only a Shetland pony could have done this. +Archie knew every yard of country, and he rather liked heading his +Lilliputian nag right away for a knoll or precipice, and bounding off it +like a roebuck or Scottish deerhound. The first time he was observed +going straight for a bank of this kind he created quite a sensation. +"The boy will be killed!" was the cry, and every lady then drew rein and +held her breath. + +Away went Scallowa, and they were on the bank, in the air, and landed +safely, and away again in less time that it takes me to tell of the +exploit. + +The secret of the lad's splendid management of the pony was this: he +loved Scallowa, and Scallowa knew it. He not only loved the little +horse, but studied his ways, so he was able to train him to do quite a +number of tricks, such as lying down "dead" to command, kneeling to +ladies--for Archie was a gallant lad--trotting round and round +circus-fashion, and ending every performance by coming and kissing his +master. Between you and me, reader, a bit of carrot had a good deal to +do with the last trick, if not with the others also. + +It occurred to this bold boy once that he might be able to take Scallowa +up the dark tower stairs to the boy's own room. The staircase was +unusually wide, and the broken stones in it had been repaired with logs +of wood. He determined to try; but he practised riding him blindfolded +first. Then one day he put him at the stairs; he himself went first +with the bridle in his hand. + +What should he do if he failed? That is a question he did not stop to +answer. One thing was quite certain, Scallowa could not turn and go +down again. On they went, the two of them, all in the dark, except that +now and then a slit in the wall gave them a little light and, far +beneath, a pretty view of the country. On and on, and up and up, till +within ten feet of the top. + +Here Scallowa came to a dead stop, and the conversation between Archie +and his steed, although the latter did not speak English, might have +been as follows: "Come on, 'Eider Duck'!" + +"Not a step farther, thank you." + +"Come on, old horsie! You can't turn, you know." + +"No; not another step if I stay here till doomsday in the afternoon. +Going upstairs becomes monotonous after a time. No; I'll be shot if I +budge!" + +"You'll be shot if you don't. Gee up, I say; gee up!" + +"Gee up yourself; I'm going to sleep." + +"I say, Scallowa, look here." + +"What's that, eh? a bit of carrot? Oh, here goes?" And in a few +seconds more Scallowa was in the room, and had all he could eat of cakes +and carrots. Archie was so delighted with his success that he must go +to the castle turret, and halloo for Branson and old Kate to come and +see what he had got in the tower. + +Old Kate's astonishment knew no bounds, and Branson laughed till his +sides were sore. Bounder, the Newfoundland, appeared also to appreciate +the joke, and smiled from lug to lug. + +"How will you get him down?" + +"Carrots," said Archie; "carrots, Branson. The 'Duck' will do anything +for carrots." + +The "Duck," however, was somewhat nervous at first, and half-way +downstairs even the carrots appeared to have lost their charm. + +While Archie was wondering what he should do now, a loud explosion +seemed to shake the old tower to its very foundation. It was only +Bounder barking in the rear of the pony. But the sound had the desired +effect, and down came the "Duck," and away went Archie, so that in a few +minutes both were out on the grass. + +And here Scallowa must needs relieve his feelings by lying down and +rolling; while great Bounder, as if he had quite appreciated all the fun +of the affair, and must do something to allay his excitement, went +tearing round in a circle, as big dogs do, so fast that it was almost +impossible to see anything of him distinctly. He was a dark shape _et +preterea nihil_. + +But after a time Scallowa got near to the stair, which only proves that +there is nothing in reason you cannot teach a Shetland pony, if you love +him and understand him. + +The secret lies in the motto, "Fondly and firmly." But, as already +hinted, a morsel of carrot comes in handy at times. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +"BOYS WILL BE BOYS." + +Bob Cooper was as good as his word, which he had pledged to Archie on +that night at Burley Old Farm, and Branson never saw him again in the +Squire's preserves. + +Nor had he ever been obliged to appear before the Squire himself--who +was now a magistrate--to account for any acts of trespass in pursuit of +game on the lands of other lairds. But this does not prove that Bob had +given up poaching. He was discreetly silent about this matter whenever +he met Archie. + +He had grown exceedingly fond of the lad, and used to be delighted when +he called at his mother's cottage on his "Eider Duck." There was always +a welcome waiting Archie here, and whey to drink, which, it must be +admitted, is very refreshing on a warm summer's day. + +Well, Bob on these occasions used to show Archie how to make flies, or +busk hooks, and gave him a vast deal of information about outdoor life +and sport generally. + +The subject of poaching was hardly ever broached; only once, when he and +Archie were talking together in the little cottage, Bob himself +volunteered the following information: + +"The gentry folks, Master Archie, think me a terrible man; and they +wonder I don't go and plough, or something. La! they little know I've +been brought up in the hills. Sport I must hae. I couldna live away +from nature. But I'm never cruel. Heigho! I suppose I must leave the +country, and seek for sport in wilder lands, where the man o' money +doesn't trample on the poor. Only one thing keeps me here." + +He glanced out of the window as he spoke to where his old mother was +cooking dinner _al fresco_--boiling a pot as the gipsy does, hung from a +tripod. + +"I know, I know," said Archie. + +"How old are you now, Master Archie?" + +"Going on for fourteen." + +"Is _that_ all? Why ye're big eno' for a lad o' seventeen!" + +This was true. Archie was wondrous tall, and wondrous brown and +handsome. His hardy upbringing and constant outdoor exercise, in +summer's shine or winter's snow, fully accounted for his stature and +looks. + +"I'm almost getting too big for my pony." + +"Ah! no, lad; Shetlands'll carry most anything." + +"Well, I must be going, Bob Cooper. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye, Master Archie. Ah! lad, if there were more o' your kind and +your father's in the country, there would be fewer bad men like--like +me." + +"I don't like to hear you saying that, Bob. Couldn't you be a good man +if you liked? You're big enough." + +The poacher laughed. + +"Yes," he replied, "I'm big enough; but, somehow, goodness don't strike +right home to me like. It don't come natural--that's it." + +"My brother Rupert says it is so easy to be good, if you read and pray +God to teach and help you." + +"Ah, Master Archie, your brother is good himself, but he doesn't know +all." + +"My brother Rupert bade me tell you that; but, oh, Bob, how nice he can +speak. I can't. I can fish and shoot, and ride 'Eider Duck;' but I +can't say things so pretty as he can. Well, good-bye again." + +"Good-bye again, and tell your brother that I can't be good all at one +jump like, but I'll begin to try mebbe. So long." + +Archie Broadbent might have been said to have two kinds of home +education; one was thoroughly scholastic, the other very practical +indeed. The Squire was one in a hundred perhaps. He was devoted to his +farm, and busied himself in the field, manually as well as orally. I +mean to say that he was of such an active disposition that, while +superintending and giving advice and orders, he put his hand to the +wheel himself. So did Mr Walton, and whether it was harvest-time or +haymaking, you would have found Squire Broadbent, the tutor, and Archie +hard at it, and even little Elsie doing a little. + +I would not like to say that the Squire was a radical, but he certainly +was no believer in the benefits of too much class distinction. He +thought Burns was right when he said-- + +"A man's a man for a' that." + +Was he any the less liked or less respected by his servants, because he +and his boy tossed hay in the same field with them? I do not think so, +and I know that the work always went more merrily on when they were +there; and that laughing and even singing could be heard all day long. +Moreover, there was less beer drank, and more tea. The Squire supplied +both liberally, and any man might have which he chose. Consequently +there was less, far less, tired-headedness and languor in the evening. +Why, it was nothing uncommon for the lads and lasses of Burley Old Farm +to meet together on the lawn, after a hard day's toil, and dance for +hours to the merry notes of Branson's fiddle. + +We have heard of model farms; this Squire's was one; but the servants, +wonderful to say, were contented. There was never such a thing as +grumbling heard from one year's end to the other. + +Christmas too was always kept in the good, grand old style. Even a yule +log, drawn from the wood, was considered a property of the performances; +and as for good cheer, why there was "lashins" of it, as an Irishman +would say, and fun "galore," to borrow a word from beyond the Border. + +Mr Walton was a scholarly person, though you might not have thought so, +had you seen him mowing turnips with his coat off. He, however, taught +nothing to Archie or Rupert that might not have some practical bearing +on his after life. Such studies as mathematics and algebra were dull, +in a manner of speaking; Latin was taught because no one can understand +English without it; French and German conversationally; geography not by +rote, but thoroughly; and everything else was either very practical and +useful, or very pleasant. + +Music Archie loved, but did not care to play; his father did not force +him; but poor Rupert played the zither. He loved it, and took to it +naturally. + +Rupert got stronger as he grew older, and when Archie was fourteen and +he thirteen, the physician gave good hopes; and he was even able to walk +by himself a little. But to some extent he would be "Poor Rupert" as +long as he lived. + +He read and thought far more than Archie, and--let me whisper it--he +prayed more fervently. + +"Oh, Roup," Archie would say, "I should like to be as good as you! +Somehow, I don't feel to need to pray so much, and to have the Lord +Jesus so close to me." + +It was a strange conceit this, but Rupert's answer was a good one. + +"Yes, Archie, I need comfort more; but mind you, brother, the day may +come when you'll want comfort of this kind too." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Old Kate really was a queer old witch of a creature, superstitious to a +degree. Here is an example: One day she came rushing--without taking +time to knock even--into the breakfast parlour. + +"Oh, Mistress Broadbent, what a ghast I've gotten!" + +"Dear me!" said the Squire's wife; "sit down and tell us. What is it, +poor Kate?" + +"Oh! Oh!" she sighed. "Nae wonder my puir legs ached. Oh! sirs! sirs! + +"Ye ken my little pantry? Well, there's been a board doon on the fleer +for ages o' man, and to-day it was taken out to be scrubbit, and what +think ye was reveeled?" + +"I couldn't guess." + +"Words, 'oman; words, printed and painted on the timmer--'_Sacred to the +Memory of Dinah Brown, Aged 99_.' A tombstone, 'oman--a wooden +gravestone, and me standin' on't a' these years." + +Here the Squire was forced to burst out into a hearty laugh, for which +his wife reprimanded him by a look. + +There was no mistake about the "wooden tombstone," but that this was the +cause of old Kate's rheumatism one might take the liberty to doubt. + +Kate was a staunch believer in ghosts, goblins, fairies, kelpies, +brownies, spunkies, and all the rest of the supernatural family; and I +have something to relate in connection with this, though it is not +altogether to the credit of my hero, Archie. + +Old Kate and young Peter were frequent visitors to the room in the +tower, for the tea Archie made, and the fires he kept on, were both most +excellent in their way. + +"Boys will be boys," and Archie was a little inclined to practical +joking. It made him laugh, so he said, and laughing made one fat. + +It happened that, one dark winter's evening, old Kate was invited up +into the tower, and Branson with Peter came also. Archie volunteered a +song, and Branson played many a fine old air on his fiddle, so that the +first part of the evening passed away pleasantly and even merrily +enough. Old Kate drank cup after cup of tea as she sat in that weird +old chair, and, by-and-by, Archie, the naughty boy that he was, led the +conversation round to ghosts. The ancient dame was in her element now; +she launched forth into story after story, and each was more +hair-stirring than its predecessor. + +Elsie and Archie occupied their favourite place on a bear's skin in +front of the low fire; and while Kate still droned on, and Branson +listened with eyes and mouth wide open, the boy might have been noticed +to stoop down, and whisper something in his sister's ear. + +Almost immediately after a rattling of chains could be heard in one of +the turrets. Both Kate and Branson started, and the former could not be +prevailed upon to resume her story till Archie lit a candle and walked +all round the room, drawing back the turret curtains to show no one was +there. + +Once again old Kate began, and once again chains were heard to rattle, +and a still more awesome sound followed--a long, low, deep-bass groan, +while at the same time, strange to say, the candle in Archie's hand +burnt blue. To add to the fearsomeness of the situation, while the +chain continued to rattle, and the groaning now and then, there was a +very appreciable odour of sulphur in the apartment. This was the +climax. Old Kate screamed, and the big keeper, Branson, fell on his +knees in terror. Even Elsie, though she had an inkling of what was to +happen, began to feel afraid. + +"There now, granny," cried Archie, having carried the joke far enough, +"here is the groaning ghost." As he spoke he produced a pair of kitchen +bellows, with a musical reed in the pipe, which he proceeded to sound in +old Kate's very face, looking a very mischievous imp while he did so. + +"Oh," said old Kate, "what a scare the laddie has given me. But the +chain?" + +Archie pulled a string, and the chain rattled again. "And the candle? +That was na canny." + +"A dust of sulphur in the wick, granny." Big Branson looked ashamed of +himself, and old Kate herself began to smile once more. + +"But how could ye hae the heart to scare an old wife sae, Master +Archie?" + +"Oh, granny, we got up the fun just to show you there were no such +things as ghosts. Rupert says--and he should know, because he's always +reading--that ghosts are always rats or something." + +"Ye maunna frichten me again, laddie. Will ye promise?" + +"Yes, granny, there's my hand on it. Now sit down and have another cup +of tea, and Elsie will play and sing." + +Elsie could sing now, and sweet young voice she had, that seemed to +carry you to happier lands. Branson always said it made him feel a boy +again, wandering through the woods in summer, or chasing the butterflies +over flowery beds. + +And so, albeit Archie had carried his practical joke out to his own +satisfaction, if not to that of every one else, this evening, like many +others that had come before it, and came after it, passed away +pleasantly enough. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was in the spring of the same year, and during the Easter holidays, +that a little London boy came down to reside with his aunt, who lived in +one of Archie's father's cottages. + +Young Harry Brown had been sent to the country for the express purpose +of enjoying himself, and set about this business forthwith. He made up +to Archie; in fact, he took so many liberties, and talked to him so +glibly, and with so little respect, that, although Archie had imbued +much of his father's principles as regards liberalism, he did not half +like it. + +Perhaps, after all, it was only the boy's manner, for he had never been +to the country at all before, and looked upon every one--Archie +included--who did not know London, as jolly green. But Archie did not +appreciate it, and, like the traditional worm, he turned, and once again +his love for practical joking got the better of his common-sense. + +"Teach us somefink," said Harry one day, turning his white face up. He +was older, perhaps, than Archie, but decidedly smaller. "Teach us +somefink, and when you comes to Vitechapel to wisit me, I'll teach you +summut. My eye, won't yer stare!" + +The idea of this white-chafted, unwholesome-looking cad, expecting that +_he_, Squire Broadbent's son, would visit _him_ in Whitechapel! But +Archie managed to swallow his wrath and pocket his pride for the time +being. + +"What shall I teach you, eh? I suppose you know that potatoes don't +grow on trees, nor geese upon gooseberry-bushes?" + +"Yes; I know that taters is dug out of the hearth. I'm pretty fly for a +young un." + +"Can you ride?" + +"No." + +"Well, meet me here to-morrow at the same time, and I'll bring my +'Duck.'" + +"Look 'ere, Johnnie Raw, ye said '_ride_,' not '_swim_.' A duck teaches +swimmin', not ridin'. None o' yer larks now!" + +Next day Archie swept down upon the Cockney in fine form, meaning to +impress him. + +The Cockney was not much impressed; I fear he was not very +impressionable. + +"My heye, Johnnie Raw," he roared, "vere did yer steal the moke?" + +"Look you here, young Whitechapel, you'll have to guard that tongue of +yours a little, else communications will be cut. Do you see?" + +"It _is_ a donkey, ain't it, Johnnie?" + +"Come on to the field and have a ride." + +Five minutes afterwards the young Cockney on the "Eider Duck's" back was +tearing along the field at railway speed. John Gilpin's ride was +nothing to it, nor Tam O'Shanter's on his grey mare, Meg! Both these +worthies had stuck to the saddle, but this horseman rode upon the neck +of the steed. Scallowa stopped short at the gate, but the boy flew +over. + +Archie found his friend rubbing himself, and looking very serious, and +he felt happier now. + +"Call that 'ere donkey a heider duck? H'm? I allers thought heider +ducks was soft! + +"One to you, Johnnie. I don't want to ride hany more." + +"What else shall I teach you?" + +"Hey?" + +"Come, I'll show you over the farm." + +"Honour bright? No larks!" + +"Yes; no larks!" + +"Say honour." + +"Honour." + +Young Whitechapel had not very much faith in his guide, however; but he +saw more country wonders that day than ever he could have dreamt of; +while his strange remarks kept Archie continually laughing. + +Next day the two boys went bird-nesting, and really Archie was very +mischievous. He showed him a hoody-crow's nest, which he represented as +a green plover's or lapwing's; and a blackbird's nest in a furze-bush, +which he told Harry was a magpie's; and so on, and so forth, till at +last he got tired of the cheeky Cockney, and sent him off on a mile walk +to a cairn of stones, on which he told him crows sometimes sat and +"might have a nest." + +Then Archie threw himself on the moss, took out a book, and began to +read. He was just beginning to repent of his conduct to Harry Brown, +and meant to go up to him like a man when he returned, and crave his +forgiveness. + +But somehow, when Harry came back he had so long a face, that wicked +Archie burst out laughing, and forgot all about his good resolve. + +"What shall I teach you next?" said Archie. + +"Draw it mild, Johnnie; it's 'Arry's turn. It's the boy's turn to teach +you summut. Shall we 'ave it hout now wi' the raw uns? Bunches o' +fives I means. Hey?" + +"I really don't understand you." + +"Ha! ha! ha! I knowed yer was a green 'un, Johnnie. Can yer fight? +Hey? 'Cause I'm spoilin' for a row." + +And Harry Brown threw off his jacket, and began to dance about in +terribly knowing attitudes. + +"You had better put on your clothes again," said Archie. "Fight _you_? +Why I could fling you over the fishpond." + +"Ah! I dessay; but flingin' ain't fightin', Johnnie. Come, there's no +getting hout of it. It ain't the first young haristocrat I've +frightened; an' now you're afraid." + +That was enough for Archie. And the next moment the lads were at it. + +But Archie had met his match; he went down a dozen times. He remained +down the last time. + +"It is wonderful," he said. "I quite admire you. But I've had enough; +I'm beaten." + +"Spoken like a plucked 'un. Haven't swallowed yer teeth, hey?" + +"No; but I'll have a horrid black-eye." + +"Raw beef, my boy; raw beef." + +"Well; I confess I've caught a tartar." + +"An' I caught a crab yesterday. Wot about your eider duck? My heye! +Johnnie, I ain't been able to sit down conweniently since. I say, +Johnnie?" + +"Well." + +"Friends, hey?" + +"All right." + +Then the two shook hands, and young Whitechapel said if Archie would buy +two pairs of gloves he would show him how it was done. So Archie did, +and became an apt pupil in the noble art of self-defence; which may be +used at times, but never abused. + +However, Archie Broadbent never forgot that lesson in the wood. + +CHAPTER SIX. + +"JOHNNIE'S GOT THE GRIT IN HIM." + +On the day of his fight with young Harry in the wood, Archie returned +home to find both his father and Mr Walton in the drawing-room alone. +His father caught the lad by the arm. "Been tumbling again off that +pony of yours?" + +"No, father, worse. I'm sure I've done wrong." He then told them all +about the practical joking, and the _finale_. + +"Well," said the Squire, "there is only one verdict. What do you say, +Walton?" + +"Serve him right!" + +"Oh, I know that," said Archie; "but isn't it lowering our name to keep +such company?" + +"It isn't raising our name, nor growing fresh laurels either, for you to +play practical jokes on this poor London lad. But as to being in his +company, Archie, you may have to be in worse yet. But listen! I want +my son to behave as a gentleman, even in low company. Remember that +boy, and despise no one, whatever be his rank in life. Now, go and beg +your mother's and sister's forgiveness for having to appear before them +with a black-eye." + +"Archie!" his father called after him, as he was leaving the room. + +"Yes, dad?" + +"How long do you think it will be before you get into another scrape?" + +"I couldn't say for certain, father. I'm sure I don't want to get into +any. They just seem to come." + +"There's no doubt about one thing, Mr Broadbent," said the tutor +smiling, when Archie had left. + +"And that is?" + +"He's what everybody says he is, a chip of the old block. Headstrong, +and all that; doesn't look before he leaps." + +"Don't _I_, Walton?" + +"Squire, I'm not going to flatter you. You know you don't." + +"Well, my worthy secretary," said the Squire, "I'm glad you speak so +plainly. I can always come to you for advice when--" + +"When you want to," said Walton, laughing. "All right, mind you do. +I'm proud to be your factor, as well as tutor to your boys. Now what +about that Chillingham bull? You won't turn him into the west field?" + +"Why not? The field is well fenced. All our picturesque beasts are +there. He is only a show animal, and he is really only a baby." + +"True, the bull is not much more than a baby, but--" + +The baby in question was the gift of a noble friend to Squire Broadbent; +and so beautiful and picturesque did he consider him, that he would have +permitted him to roam about the lawns, if there did not exist the +considerable probability that he would play battledore and shuttlecock +with the visitors, and perhaps toss old Kate herself over the garden +wall. + +So he was relegated to the west field. This really was a park to all +appearance. A few pet cattle grazed in it, a flock of sheep, and a +little herd of deer. They all lived amicably together, and sought +shelter under the same spreading trees from the summer's sun. The +cattle were often changed, so were the sheep, but the deer were as much +fixtures as the trees themselves. + +The changing of sheep or cattle meant fine fun for Archie. He would be +there in all his glory, doing the work that was properly that of +herdsmen and collie dogs. There really was not a great deal of need for +collies when Archie was there, mounted on his wild Shetland pony, his +darling "Eider Duck" Scallowa; and it was admittedly a fine sight to see +the pair of them--they seemed made for each other--feathering away +across the field, heading and turning the drove. At such times he would +be armed with a long whip, and occasionally a beast more rampageous than +the rest would separate itself from the herd, and, with tail erect and +head down, dash madly over the grass. This would be just the test for +Archie's skill that he longed for. Away he would go at a glorious +gallop; sometimes riding neck and neck with the runaway and plying the +whip, at other times getting round and well ahead across the beast's +bows with shout and yell, but taking care to manoeuvre so as to steer +clear of an ugly rush. + +In this field always dwelt one particular sheep. It had, like the pony, +been a birthday present, and, like the pony, it hailed from the _Ultima +Thule_ of the British North. If ever there was a demon sheep in +existence, surely this was the identical quadruped. Tall and lank, and +daft-looking, it possessed almost the speed of a red deer, and was as +full of mischief as ever sheep could be. The worst of the beast was, +that he led all the other woolly-backs into mischief; and whether it +proposed a stampede round the park, ending with a charge through the +ranks of the deer, or a well-planned attempt at escape from the field +altogether, the other sheep were always willing to join, and sometimes +the deer themselves. + +Archie loved that sheep next to the pony, and there were times when he +held a meet of his own. Mousa, as he called him, would be carted, after +the fashion of the Queen's deer, to a part of the estate, miles from +home; but it was always for home that Mousa headed, though not in a true +line. No, this wonderful sheep would take to the woods as often as not, +and scamper over the hills and far away, so that Archie had many a fine +run; and the only wonder is that Scallowa and he did not break their +necks. + +The young Chillingham bull was as beautiful as a dream--a nightmare for +instance. He was not very large, but sturdy, active, and strong. +Milk-white, or nearly so, with black muzzle and crimson ears inside, +and, you might say, eyes as well. Pure white black-tipped horns, erect +almost, and a bit of a mane which added to his picturesqueness and wild +beauty. His name was Lord Glendale, and his pedigree longer than the +Laird o' Cockpen's. + +Now, had his lordship behaved himself, he certainly would have been an +ornament to the society of Westfield. But he wouldn't or couldn't. +Baby though he was, he attempted several times to vivisect his +companions; and one day, thinking perhaps that Mousa did not pay him +sufficient respect, his lordship made a bold attempt to throw him over +the moon. So it was determined that Lord Glendale should be removed +from Westfield. At one end of the park was a large, strong fence, and +Branson and others came to the conclusion that Glendale would be best +penned, and have a ring put in his nose. + +Yes, true; but penning a Chillingham wild baby-bull is not so simple as +penning a letter. There is more _present_ risk about the former +operation, if not _future_. + +"Well, it's got to be done," said Branson. + +"Yes," said Archie, who was not far off, "it's got to be done." + +"Oh, Master Archie, you _can't_ be in this business!" + +"Can't I, Branson? You'll see." + +And Branson did see. He saw Archie ride into the west field on +Scallowa, both of them looking in splendid form. Men with poles and +ropes and dogs followed, some of the former appearing not to relish the +business by any means. + +However, it would probably be an easier job than they thought. The plan +would be to get the baby-bull in the centre of the other cattle, +manoeuvre so as to keep him there, and so pen all together.--This might +have been done had Archie kept away, but it so happened that his +lordship was on particularly good terms with himself this morning. +Moreover, he had never seen a Shetland pony before. What more natural, +therefore, than a longing on the part of Lord Glendale to examine the +little horse _inside_ as well as out? + +"Go gently now, lads," cried Branson. "Keep the dogs back, Peter, we +must na' alarm them." + +Lord Glendale did not condescend to look at Branson. He detached +himself quietly from the herd, and began to eat up towards the spot +where Archie and his "Duck" were standing like some pretty statue. +Eating up towards him is the correct expression, as everyone who knows +bulls will admit; for his lordship did not want to alarm Archie till he +was near enough for the grand rush. Then the fun would commence, and +Lord Glendale would see what the pony was made of. While he kept +eating, or rather pretending to eat, his sly red eyes were fastened on +Archie. + +Now, had it been Harry Brown, the Whitechapel boy, this ruse on the part +of the baby-bull might have been successful. But Archie Broadbent was +too old for his lordship. He pretended, however, to take no notice; but +just as the bull was preparing for the rush he laughed derisively, +flicked Lord Glendale with the whip, and started. + +Lord Glendale roared with anger and disappointment. + +"Oh, Master Archie," cried Branson, "you shouldn't have done that!" + +Now the play began in earnest. Away went Archie on Scallowa, and after +him tore the bull. Archie's notion was to tire the brute out, and there +was some very pretty riding and manoeuvring between the two +belligerents. Perhaps the bull was all too young to be easily tired, +for the charges he made seemed to increase in fierceness each time, but +Archie easily eluded him. + +Branson drove the cattle towards the pen, and got them inside, then he +and his men concentrated all their attention on the combatants. + +"The boy'll be killed as sure as a gun!" cried the keeper. Archie did +not think so, evidently; and it is certain he had his wits about him, +for presently he rode near enough to shout: + +"Ease up a hurdle from the back of the pen, and stand by to open it as I +ride through." + +The plan was a bold one, and Branson saw through it at once. + +Down he ran with his men, and a back hurdle was loosened. + +"All right!" he shouted. + +And now down thundered Scallowa and Archie, the bull making a beautiful +second. + +In a minute or less he had entered the pen, but this very moment the +style of the fight changed somewhat; for had not the attention of +everyone been riveted on the race, they might have seen the great +Newfoundland dashing over the field, and just as Lord Glendale was +entering the pen, Bounder pinned him short by the tail. + +The brute roared with pain and wheeled round. Meanwhile Archie had +escaped on the pony, and the back hurdle was put up again. But how +about the new phase the fight had taken? + +Once more the boy's quick-wittedness came to the front. He leapt off +the pony and back into the pen, calling aloud, "Bounder! Bounder! +Bounder!" + +In rushed the obedient dog, and after him came the bull; up went the +hurdle, and off went Archie! But, alas! for the unlucky Bounder. He +was tossed right over into the field a moment afterwards, bleeding +frightfully from a wound in his side. + +To all appearance Bounder was dead. In an agony of mind the boy tried +to staunch the blood with his handkerchief; and when at last the poor +dog lifted his head, and licked his young master's face, the relief to +his feelings was so great that he burst into tears. Archie was only a +boy after all, though a bold and somewhat mischievous one. + +Bounder now drank water brought from a stream in a hat. He tried to get +up, but was too weak to walk, so he was lifted on to Scallowa's broad +back and held there, and thus they all returned to Burley Old Farm. + +So ended the adventure with the baby-bull of Chillingham. The ring was +put in his nose next day, and I hope it did not hurt much. But old Kate +had Bounder as a patient in the kitchen corner for three whole weeks. + +A day or two after the above adventure, and just as the Squire was +putting on his coat in the hall, who should march up to the door and +knock but Harry Brown himself. + +Most boys would have gone to the backdoor, but shyness was not one of +Harry's failings. + +"'Ullo!" he said; for the door opened almost on the instant he knocked, +"Yer don't take long to hopen to a chap then." + +"No," said Squire Broadbent, smiling down on the lad; "fact is, boy, I +was just going out." + +"Going for a little houting, hey? Is 'pose now you're Johnnie's +guv'nor?" + +"I think I know whom you refer to. Master Archie, isn't it? and you're +the little London lad?" + +"I don't know nuffink about no Harchies. P'r'aps it _is_ Harchibald. +But I allers calls my friends wot they looks like. He looks like +Johnnie. Kinsevently, guv'nor, he _is_ Johnnie to me. D'ye twig?" + +"I think I do," said Squire Broadbent, laughing; "and you want to see my +boy?" + +"Vot I vants is this 'ere. Johnnie is a rare game un. 'Scuse me, +guv'nor, but Johnnie's got the grit in him, and I vant to say good-bye; +nuffink else, guv'nor." + +Here Harry actually condescended to point a finger at his lip by way of +salute, and just at the same moment Archie himself came round the +corner. He looked a little put out, but his father only laughed, and he +saw it was all right. + +These were Harry's last words: "Good-bye, then. You've got the grit in +ye, Johnnie. And if hever ye vants a friend, telegraph to 'Arry Brown, +Esq., of Vitechapel, 'cos ye know, Johnnie, the king may come in the +cadger's vay. Adoo. So long. Blue-lights, and hoff we goes." + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +"THEY'RE UP TO SOME BLACK WORK TO-NIGHT." + +Another summer flew all too fast away at Burley Old Farm and Castle +Tower. The song of birds was hushed in the wild woods, even the +corn-crake had ceased its ventriloquistic notes, and the plaintive wee +lilt of the yellow-hammer was heard no more. The corn grew ripe on +braeland and field, was cut down, gathered, stooked, and finally carted +away. The swallows flew southwards, but the peewits remained in droves, +and the starlings took up their abode with the sheep. Squires and +sturdy farmers might now have been met tramping, gun in hand, over the +stubble, through the dark green turnip-fields, and over the distant +moorlands, where the crimson heather still bloomed so bonnie. + +Anon, the crisp leaves, through which the wind now swept with harsher +moan, began to change to yellows, crimsons, and all the hues of sunset, +and by-and-by it was hunting-time again. + +Archie was unusually thoughtful one night while the family sat, as of +yore, round the low fire in the green parlour, Elsie and Rupert being +busy in their corner over a game of chess. + +"In a brown study, Archie?" said his mother. + +"_No_, mummie; that is, Yes, I was thinking--" + +"Wonders will never cease," said Rupert, without looking up. Archie +looked towards him, but his brother only smiled at the chessmen. The +boy was well enough now to joke and laugh. Best of signs and most +hopeful. + +"I was thinking that my legs are almost too long now to go to the meet +on poor Scallowa. Not that Scallowa would mind. But don't you think, +mummie dear, that a long boy on a short pony looks odd?" + +"A little, Archie." + +"Well, why couldn't father let me have Tell to-morrow? He is not going +out himself." + +His father was reading the newspaper, but he looked at Archie over it. +Though only his eyes were visible, the boy knew he was smiling. + +"If you think you won't break your neck," he said, "you may take Tell." + +"Oh," Archie replied, "I'm quite sure I won't break _my_ neck!" + +The Squire laughed now outright. + +"You mean you _might_ break Tell's, eh?" + +"Well, dad, I didn't _say_ that." + +"_No_, Archie, but you _thought_ it." + +"I'm afraid, dad, the emphasis fell on the wrong word." + +"Never mind, Archie, where the emphasis falls; but if you let Tell fall +the emphasis will fall where you won't like it." + +"All right, dad, I'll chance the emphasis. Hurrah!" + +The Squire and Mr Walton went off early next day to a distant town, and +Branson had orders to bring Tell round to the hall door at nine sharp; +which he did. The keeper was not groom, but he was the tallest man +about, and Archie thought he would want a leg up. + +Archie's mother was there, and Elsie, and Rupert, and old Kate, and +little Peter, to say nothing of Bounder and Fuss, all to see "t' young +Squire mount." But no one expected the sight they did see when Archie +appeared; for the lad's sense of fun and the ridiculous was quite +irrepressible. And the young rascal had dressed himself from top to toe +in his father's hunting-rig--boots, cords, red coat, hat, and all +complete. Well, as the boots were a mile and a half too big for him-- +more or less, and the breeches and coat would have held at least three +Archie Broadbents, while the hat nearly buried his head, you may guess +what sort of a guy he looked. Bounder drew back and barked at him. Old +Kate turned her old eyes cloudwards, and held up her palms. Branson for +politeness' sake _tried_ not to laugh; but it was too much, he went off +at last like a soda-water cork, and the merriment rippled round the ring +like wildfire. Even poor Rupert laughed till the tears came. Then back +into the house ran Archie, and presently re-appeared dressed in his own +velvet suit. + +But Archie had not altogether cooled down yet. He had come to the +conclusion that having an actual leg up, was not an impressive way of +getting on to his hunter; so after kissing his mother, and asking Rupert +to kiss Elsie for him, he bounded at one spring to Branson's shoulder, +and from this elevation bowed and said "good morning," then let himself +neatly down to the saddle. + +"Tally ho! Yoicks!" he shouted. Then clattered down the avenue, +cleared the low, white gate, and speedily disappeared across the fields. + +Archie had promised himself a rare day's run, and he was not +disappointed. The fox was an old one and a wily one--and, I might add, +a very gentlemanly old fox--and he led the field one of the prettiest +dances that Dawson, the greyest-headed huntsman in the North, ever +remembered; but there was no kill. No; Master Reynard knew precisely +where he was going, and got home all right, and went quietly to sleep as +soon as the pack drew off. + +The consequence was that Archie found himself still ten miles from home +as gloaming was deepening into night. Another hour he thought would +find him at Burley Old Farm. But people never know what is before them, +especially hunting people. + +It had been observed by old Kate, that after Archie left in the morning, +Bounder seemed unusually sad. He refused his breakfast, and behaved so +strangely that the superstitious dame was quite alarmed. + +"I'll say naething to the ladies," she told one of the servants, "but, +woe is me! I fear that something awfu' is gain tae happen. I houp the +young laddie winna brak his neck. He rode awa' sae daft-like. He is +just his faither a' ower again." + +Bounder really had something on his mind; for dogs do think far more +than we give them credit for. Well, the Squire was off, and also Mr +Walton, and now his young master had flown. What did it mean? Why he +would find out before he was many hours older. So ran Bounder's +cogitations. + +To think was to act with Bounder; so up he jumped, and off he trotted. +He followed the scent for miles; then he met an errant collie, and +forgetting for a time all about his master, he went off with him. There +were many things to be done, and Bounder was not in a hurry. They +chased cows and sheep together merely for mischief's sake; they gave +chase to some rabbits, and when the bunnies took to their holes, they +spent hours in a vain attempt to dig them out. The rabbits knew they +could never succeed, so they quietly washed their faces and laughed at +them. + +They tired at last, and with their heads and paws covered with mould, +commenced to look for mice among the moss. They came upon a wild bees' +home in a bank, and tore this up, killing the inmates bee by bee as they +scrambled out wondering what the racket meant. They snapped at the bees +who were returning home, and when both had their lips well stung they +concluded to leave the hive alone. Honey wasn't _very_ nice after all, +they said. At sunset they bathed in a mill-dam and swam about till +nearly dusk, because the miller's boy was obliging enough to throw in +sticks for them. Then the miller's boy fell in himself, and Bounder +took him out and laid him on the bank to drip, neither knowing nor +caring that he had saved a precious life. But the miller's boy's mother +appeared on the scene and took the weeping lad away, inviting the dogs +to follow. She showered blessings on their heads, especially on "the +big black one's," as the urchin called Bounder, and she put bread and +milk before them and bade them eat. The dogs required no second +bidding, and just as Bounder was finishing his meal the sound of hoofs +was heard on the road, and out bounced Bounder, the horse swerved, the +rider was thrown, and the dog began to wildly lick his face. + +"So it's you, is it, Bounder?" said Archie. "A nice trick. And now +I'll have to walk home a good five miles." + +Bounder backed off and barked. Why did his master go off and leave him +then? That is what the dog was saying. + +"Come on, boy," said Archie. "There's no help for it; but I do feel +stiff." + +They could go straight over the hill, and through the fields and the +wood, that was one consolation. + +So off they set, and Archie soon forgot his stiffness and warmed to his +work. + +Bounder followed close to his heels, as if he were a very old and a very +wise dog indeed; and harrying bees' hives, or playing with millers' +boys, could find no place in his thoughts. + +Archie lost his way once or twice, and it grew quite dark. He was +wondering what he should do when he noticed a light spring up not far +away, and commenced walking towards it. It came from the little window +of a rustic cottage, and the boy knew at once now in which way to steer. + +Curiosity, however, impelled him to draw near to the window. He gave +just one glance in, but very quickly drew back. Sitting round a table +was a gang of half a dozen poachers. He knew them as the worst and most +notorious evil-doers in all the country round. They were eating and +drinking, and guns stood in the corners, while the men themselves seemed +ready to be off somewhere. + +Away went Archie. He wanted no nearer acquaintance with a gang like +that. + +In his way home he had to pass Bob Cooper's cottage, and thought he +might just look in, because Bob had a whole book of new flies getting +ready for him, and perhaps they were done. + +Bob was out, and his mother was sitting reading the good Book by the +light of a little black oil lamp. She looked very anxious, and said she +felt so. Her laddie had "never said where he was going. Only just went +away out, and hadn't come back." + +It was Archie's turn now to be anxious, when he thought of the gang, and +the dark work they might be after. Bob was not among them, but who +could tell that he would not join afterwards? + +He bade the widow "Good-night," and went slowly homewards thinking. + +He found everyone in a state of extreme anxiety. Hours ago Tell had +galloped to his stable door, and if there be anything more calculated to +raise alarm than another, it is the arrival at his master's place of a +riderless horse. + +But Archie's appearance, alive and intact, dispelled the cloud, and +dinner was soon announced. + +"Oh, by the way," said Archie's tutor, as they were going towards the +dining-room, "your old friend Bob Cooper has been here, and wants to see +you! I think he is in the kitchen now." + +Away rushed Archie, and sure enough there was Bob eating supper in old +Kate's private room. + +He got up as Archie's entered, and looked shy, as people of his class do +at times. + +Archie was delighted. + +"I brought the flies, and some new sorts that I think will do for the +Kelpie burn," he said. + +"Well, I'm going to dine, Bob; you do the same. Don't go till I see +you. How long have you been here?" + +"Two hours, anyhow." + +When Archie returned he invited Bob to the room in the Castle Tower. +Kate must come too, and Branson with his fiddle. + +Away went Archie and his rough friend, and were just finishing a long +debate about flies and fishing when Kate and Peter, and Branson and +Bounder, came up the turret stairs and entered the room. + +Archie then told them all of what he had seen that night at the cottage. + +"Mark my words for it," said Bob, shaking his head, "they're up to some +black work to-night." + +"You mustn't go yet awhile, Bob," Archie said. "We'll have some fun, +and you're as well where you are." + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE WIDOW'S LONELY HUT. + +Bob Cooper bade Archie and Branson good-bye that night at the bend of +the road, some half mile from his own home, and trudged sturdily on in +the starlight. There was sufficient light "to see men as trees +walking." + +"My mother'll think I'm out in th' woods," Bob said to himself. "Well, +she'll be glad when she knows she's wrong this time." + +Once or twice he started, and looked cautiously, half-fearfully, round +him; for he felt certain he saw dark shadows in the field close by, and +heard the stealthy tread of footsteps. + +He grasped the stout stick he carried all the firmer, for the poacher +had made enemies of late by separating himself from a well-known gang of +his old associates--men who, like the robbers in the ancient ballad-- + + "Slept all day and waked all night, + And kept the country round in fright." + +On he went; and the strange, uncomfortable feeling at his heart was +dispelled as, on rounding a corner of the road, he saw the light +glinting cheerfully from his mother's cottage. + +"Poor old creature," he murmured half aloud, "many a sore heart I've +given her. But I'll be a better boy now. I'll--" + +"Now, lads," shouted a voice, "have at him!" + +"Back!" cried Bob Cooper, brandishing his cudgel. "Back, or it'll be +worse for you!" + +The dark shadows made a rush. Bob struck out with all his force, and +one after another fell beneath his arm. But a blow from behind disabled +him at last, and down he went, just as his distracted mother came +rushing, lantern in hand, from her hut. There was the sharp click of +the handcuffs, and Bob Cooper was a prisoner. The lantern-light fell on +the uniforms of policemen. + +"What is it? Oh, what has my laddie been doin'?" + +"Murder, missus, or something very like it! There has been dark doin's +in th' hill to-night!" + +Bob grasped the nearest policeman by the arm with his manacled hands. +"When--when did ye say it had happened?" + +"You know too well, lad. Not two hours ago. Don't sham innocence; it +sits but ill on a face like yours." + +"Mother," cried Bob bewilderingly, "I know nothing of it! I'm +innocent!" + +But his mother heard not his words. She had fainted, and with rough +kindness was carried into the hut and laid upon the bed. When she +revived some what they left her. + +It was a long, dismal ride the unhappy man had that night; and indeed it +was well on in the morning before the party with their prisoner reached +the town of B--. + +Bob's appearance before a magistrate was followed almost instantly by +his dismissal to the cells again. The magistrate knew him. The police +had caught him "red-handed," so they said, and had only succeeded in +making him prisoner "after a fierce resistance." + +"Remanded for a week," without being allowed to say one word in his own +defence. + +The policeman's hint to Bob's mother about "dark doin's in th' hill" was +founded on fearful facts. A keeper had been killed after a terrible +_melee_ with the gang of poachers, and several men had been severely +wounded on both sides. + +The snow-storm that came on early on the morning after poor Bob Cooper's +capture was one of the severest ever remembered in Northumbria. The +frost was hard too all day long. The snow fell incessantly, and lay in +drifts like cliffs, fully seven feet high, across the roads. + +The wind blew high, sweeping the powdery snow hither and thither in +gusts. It felt for all the world like going into a cold shower-bath to +put one's head even beyond the threshold of the door. Nor did the storm +abate even at nightfall; but next day the wind died down, and the face +of the sky became clear, only along the southern horizon the white +clouds were still massed like hills and cliffs. + +It was not until the afternoon that news reached Burley Old Farm of the +fight in the woods and death of the keeper. It was a sturdy old postman +who had brought the tidings. He had fought his way through the snow +with the letters, and his account of the battle had well-nigh caused old +Kate to swoon away. When Mary, the little parlour maid, carried the +mail in to her master she did not hesitate to relate what she had heard. + +Squire Broadbent himself with Archie repaired to the kitchen, and found +the postman surrounded by the startled servants, who were drinking in +every word he said. + +"One man killed, you say, Allan?" + +"Ay, sir, killed dead enough. And it's a providence they caught the +murderer. Took him up, sir, just as he was a-goin' into his mother's +house, as cool as a frosted turnip, sir." + +"Well, Allan, that is satisfactory. And what is his name?" + +"Bob Cooper, sir, known all over the--" + +"Bob Cooper!" cried Archie aghast. "Why, father, he was in our room in +the turret at the time." + +"So he was," said the Squire. "Taken on suspicion I suppose. But this +must be seen to at once. Bad as we know Bob to have been, there is +evidence enough that he has reformed of late. At all events, he shall +not remain an hour in gaol on such a charge longer than we can help." + +Night came on very soon that evening. The clouds banked up again, the +snow began to fall, and the wind moaned round the old house and castle +in a way that made one feel cold to the marrow even to listen to. + +Morning broke slowly at last, and Archie was early astir. Tell, with +the Shetland pony and a huge great hunter, were brought to the door, and +shortly after breakfast the party started for B--. + +Branson bestrode the big hunter--he took the lead--and after him came +the Squire on Tell, and Archie on Scallowa. This daft little horse was +in fine form this morning, having been in stall for several days. He +kept up well with the hunters, though there were times that both he and +his rider were all but buried in the gigantic wreaths that lay across +the road. Luckily the wind was not high, else no living thing could +long have faced that storm. + +The cottage in which widow Cooper had lived ever since the death of her +husband was a very primitive and a very poor one. It consisted only of +two rooms, what are called in Scotland "a butt and a ben." Bob had been +only a little barefooted boy when his father died, and probably hardly +missed him. He had been sent regularly to school before then, but not +since, for his mother had been unable to give him further education. +All their support was the morsel of garden, a pig or two, and the fowls, +coupled with whatever the widow could make by knitting ribbed stockings +for the farmer folks around. Bob grew up wild, just as the birds and +beasts of the hills and woods do. While, however, he was still a little +mite of a chap, the keepers even seldom molested him. It was only +natural, they thought, for a boy to act the part of a squirrel or +polecat, and to be acquainted with every bird's nest and rabbit's burrow +within a radius of miles. When he grew a little older and a trifle +bigger they began to warn him off, and when one day he was met marching +away with a cap full of pheasant's eggs, he received as severe a +drubbing as ever a lad got at the hands of a gamekeeper. + +Bob had grown worse instead of better after this. The keepers became +his sworn enemies, and there was a spice of danger and adventure in +vexing and outwitting them. + +Unfortunately, in spite of all his mother said to the contrary, Bob was +firmly impressed with the notion that game of every kind, whether fur or +feather, belonged as much to him as to the gentry who tried to preserve +them. The fresh air was free; nobody dared to claim the sunshine. Then +why the wild birds, and the hares and rabbits? + +Evil company corrupts good manners. That is what his copy-book used to +tell him. But Bob soon learned to laugh at that, and it is no wonder +that as he reached manhood his doings and daring as a poacher became +noted far and near. + +He was beyond the control of his mother. She could only advise him, +read to him, pray for him; but I fear in vain. Only be it known that +Bob Cooper really loved this mother of his, anomalous though it may +seem. + +Well, the keepers had been very harsh with him, and the gentry were +harsh with him, and eke the law itself. Law indeed! Why Bob was all +but an outlaw, so intense was his hatred to, and so great his defiance +of the powers that be. + +It was strange that what force could not effect, a few soft words from +Branson, and Archie's gift of the hare he had shot on his birthday, +brought about. Bob Cooper's heart could not have been wholly +adamantine, therefore he began to believe that after all a gamekeeper +might be a good fellow, and that there might even exist gentlefolks +whose chief delight was not the oppression of the poor. He began after +that to seek for honest work; but, alas! people looked askance at him, +and he found that the path of virtue was one not easily regained when +once deviated from. + +His quondam enemy, however, Branson, spoke many a good word for him, and +Bob was getting on, much to his mother's delight and thankfulness, when +the final and crashing blow fell. + +Poor old widow Cooper! For years and years she had but two comforts in +this world; one was her Bible, and the other--do not smile when I tell +you--was her pipie. + +Oh! you know, the poor have not much to make them happy and to cheer +their loneliness, so why begrudge the widow her morsel of tobacco? + +In the former she learned to look forward to another and a better world, +far beyond that bit of blue sky she could see at the top of her chimney +on a summer's night--a world where everything would be bright and +joyful, where there would be no vexatious rheumatism, no age, and +neither cold nor care. From the latter she drew sweet forgetfulness of +present trouble, and happy recollections of bygone years. + +Sitting there by the hearth all alone--her son perhaps away on the +hill--her thoughts used oftentimes to run away with her. Once more she +would be young, once again her hair was a bonnie brown, her form little +and graceful, roses mantling in her cheeks, soft light in her eyes. And +she is wandering through the tasselled broom with David by her side. +"David! Heigho!" she would sigh as she shook the ashes from her pipie. +"Poor David! it seems a long, long time since he left me for the better +land," and the sunlight would stream down the big, open chimney and fall +upon her skinny hands--fall upon the elfin-like locks that escaped from +beneath her cap--fall, too, on the glittering pages of the Book on her +lap like a promise of better things to come. + +Before that sad night, when, while sitting up waiting for her son, she +was startled by the sudden noise of the struggle that commenced at her +door, she thought she had reason to be glad and thankful for the +softening of her boy's heart. + +Then all her joy collapsed, her hopes collapsed--fell around her like a +house of cards. It was a cruel, a terrible blow. + +The policeman had carried her in, laid her on the bed with a rough sort +of kindness, made up the fire, then gone out and thought no more about +her. + +How she had spent the night need hardly be said; it is better imagined. +She had dropped asleep at last, and when she awoke from fevered dreams +it was daylight out of doors, but darkness in the hut. The window and +door were snowed up, and only a faint pale light shimmered in through +the chimney, falling on the fireless hearth--a dismal sight. + +Many times that day she had tried to rise, but all in vain. The cold +grew more intense as night drew on, and it did its work on the poor +widow's weakened frame. Her dreams grew more bright and happy though, +as her body became numbed and insensible. It was as though the spirit +were rejoicing in its coming freedom. But dreams left her at last. +Then all was still in the house, save the ticking of the old clock that +hung against the wall. + +The Squire speedily effected Bob Cooper's freedom, and he felt he had +really done a good thing. + +"Now, Robert," he told him, "you have had a sad experience. Let it be a +lesson to you. I'll give you a chance. Come to Burley, and Branson +will find you honest work as long as you like to do it." + +"Lord love you, sir!" cried Bob. "There are few gentry like you." + +"I don't know so much about that, Robert. You are not acquainted with +all the good qualities of gentlefolks yet. But now, Branson, how are we +all to get home?" + +"Oh, I know!" said Archie. "Scallowa can easily bear Branson's weight, +and I will ride the big hunter along with Bob." + +So this was arranged. + +It was getting gloamed ere they neared the widow's lonesome hut. The +Squire with Branson had left Archie and Bob, and cut across the frozen +moor by themselves. + +"How glad my mother will be!" said Bob. + +And now they came in sight of the cottage, and Bob rubbed his eyes and +looked again and again, for no smoke came from the chimney, no signs of +life was about. + +The icicles hung long and strong from the eaves; one side of the hut was +entirely overblown with drift, and the door in the other looked more +like the entrance to some cave in Greenland north. Bad enough this was; +but ah, in the inside of the poor little house the driven snow met them +as they pushed open the door! It had blown down the wide chimney, +covered the hearth, formed a wreath like a sea-wave on the floor, and +even o'er-canopied the bed itself. And the widow, the mother, lay +underneath. No, not dead; she breathed, at least. + +When the room had been cleared and swept of snow; when a roaring fire +had been built on the hearth, and a little warm tea poured gently down +her throat, she came gradually back again to life, and in a short time +was able to be lifted into a sitting position, and then she recognised +her son and Archie. + +"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Bob, the tears streaming over his +sun-browned face, "the Maker'll never forgive me for all the ill I've +done ye." + +"Hush! Bobbie, hush! What, lad, the Maker no' forgive ye! Eh, ye +little know the grip o' His goodness! But you're here, you're innocent. +Thank Him for that." + +"Ye'll soon get better, mother, and I'll be so good. The Squire is to +give me work too." + +"It's o'er late for me," she said. "I'd like to live to see it, but His +will be done." + +Archie rode home the giant hunter, but in two hours he was once more +mounted on Scallowa, and feathering back through the snow towards the +little cottage. The moon had risen now, and the night was starry and +fine. + +He tied Scallowa up in the peat shed, and went in unannounced. + +He found Bob Cooper sitting before the dying embers of the fire, with +his face buried in his hands, and rocking himself to and fro. + +"She--just blessed me and wore away." + +That was all he said or could say. And what words of comfort could +Archie speak? None. He sat silently beside him all that livelong +night, only getting up now and then to replenish the fire. But the +poacher scarcely ever changed his position, only now and then he +stretched out one of his great hands and patted Archie's knee as one +would pet a dog. + +A week passed away, and the widow was laid to rest beneath the frozen +ground in the little churchyard by the banks of the river. Archie went +slowly back with Bob towards the cottage. On their way thither, the +poacher--poacher now no more though--entered a plantation, and with his +hunting-knife cut and fashioned a rough ash stick. + +"We'll say good-bye here, Master Archie." + +"What! You are not going back with me to Burley Old Farm?" + +Bob took a small parcel from his pocket, and opening it exposed the +contents. + +"Do you know them, Master Archie?" + +"Yes, your poor mother's glasses." + +"Ay, lad, and as long as I live I'll keep them. And till my dying day, +Archie, I'll think on you, and your kindness to poor poacher Bob. No, +I'm not goin' back to Burley, and I'm not going to the cottage again. +I'm going away. Where? I couldn't say. Here, quick, shake hands, +friend. Let it be over. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye." + +And away went Bob. He stopped when a little way off, and turned as if +he had forgotten something. + +"Archie!" he cried. + +"Yes, Bob." + +"Take care of my mother's cat." + +Next minute he leapt a fence, and disappeared in the pine wood. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE WHOLE YARD WAS ABLAZE AND BURNING FIERCELY. + +One year is but a brief span in the history of a family, yet it may +bring many changes. It did to Burley Old Farm, and some of them were +sad enough, though some were glad. A glad change took place for +instance in the early spring, after Bob's departure; for Rupert appeared +to wax stronger and stronger with the lengthening days; and when Uncle +Ramsay, in a letter received one morning, announced his intention of +coming from London, and making quite a long stay at Burley, Rupert +declared his intention of mounting Scallowa, and riding over to the +station to meet him. And the boy was as good as his word. In order +that they might be both cavaliers together, Uncle Ramsay hired a horse +at D--, and the two rode joyfully home side by side. + +His mother did not like to see that carmine flush on Rupert's cheeks, +however, nor the extra dark sparkle in his eyes when he entered the +parlour to announce his uncle's arrival, but she said nothing. + +Uncle Ramsay Broadbent was a brother of the Squire, and, though +considerably older, a good deal like him in all his ways. There was the +same dash and go in him, and the same smiling front, unlikely to be +dismayed by any amount of misfortune. + +"There are a deal of ups and downs in the ocean of life," Archie heard +him say one day; "we're on the top of a big wave one hour, and in the +trough of the sea next, so we must take things as they come." + +Yes, this uncle was a seafarer; the skipper of a sturdy merchantman that +he had sailed in for ten long years. He did not care to be called +captain by anyone. He was a master mariner, and had an opinion, which +he often expressed, that plain "Mr" was a gentleman's prefix. + +"I shan't go back to sea again," he said next morning at breakfast. + +"Fact is, brother, my owners think I'm getting too old. And maybe +they're right. I've had a fair innings, and it is only fair to give the +young ones a chance." + +Uncle Ramsay seemed to give new life and soul to the old place. He +settled completely down to the Burley style of life long before the +summer was half over. He joined the servants in the fields, and worked +with them as did the Squire, Walton, and Archie. And though more +merriment went on in consequence, there was nevertheless more work done. +He took an interest in all the boys' "fads," spent hours with them in +their workshop, and made one in every game that was played on the grass. +He was dreadfully awkward at cricket and tennis however; for such games +as these are but little practised by sailors. Only he was right willing +to learn. + +There was a youthfulness and breeziness about Uncle Ramsay's every +action, that few save seafarers possess when hair is turning white. Of +course, the skipper spent many a jolly hour up in the room of the Castle +Tower, and he did not object either to the presence of old Kate in the +chair. He listened like a boy when she told her weird stories; and he +listened more like a baby than anything else when Branson played his +fiddle. + +Then he himself would spin them a yarn, and hold them all enthralled, +especially big-eyed Elsie, with the sterling reality and graphicness of +the narrative. + +When Uncle Ramsay spoke you could see the waves in motion, hear the +scream of the birds around the stern, or the wind roaring through the +rigging. He spoke as he thought; he painted from life. + +Well, the arrival of Uncle Ramsay and Rupert's getting strong were two +of the pleasant changes that took place at Burley in this eventful year. +Alas! I have to chronicle the sad ones also. Yet why sigh? To use +Uncle Ramsay's own words, "You never know what a ship is made of until +stormy seas are around you." + +First then came a bad harvest--a terribly bad harvest. It was not that +the crops themselves were so very light, but the weather was cold and +wet; the grain took long to ripen. The task of cutting it down was +unfortunately an easy one, but the getting it stored was almost an +impossibility. At the very time when it was ripe, and after a single +fiercely hot day, a thunder-storm came on, and with it such hail as the +oldest inhabitant in the parish could not remember having seen equalled. +This resulted in the total loss of far more of the precious seed, than +would have sown all the land of Burley twice over. + +The wet continued. It rained and rained every day, and when it rained +it poured. + +The Squire had heard of a Yankee invention for drying wheat under cover, +and rashly set about a rude but most expensive imitation thereof. He +first mentioned the matter to Uncle Ramsay at the breakfast-table. The +Squire seemed in excellent spirits that morning. He was walking briskly +up and down the room rubbing his hands, as if in deep but pleasant +thought, when his brother came quietly in. + +"Hullo! you lazy old sea-dog. Why you'd lie in your bed till the sun +burned a hole in the blanket. Now just look at me." + +"I'm just looking at you." + +"Well, I've been up for hours. I'm as hungry as a Caithness Highlander. +And I've got an idea." + +"I thought there was something in the wind." + +"Guess." + +"Guess, indeed! Goodness forbid I should try. But I say, brother," +continued Uncle Ramsay, laughing, "couldn't you manage to fall asleep +somewhere out of doors, like the man in the story, and wake up and find +yourself a king? My stars, wouldn't we have reforms as long as your +reign lasted! The breakfast, Mary? Ah, that's the style!" + +"You won't be serious and listen, I suppose, Ramsay." + +"Oh, yes; I will." + +"Well, the Americans--" + +"The Americans again; but go on." + +"The Americans, in some parts where I've been, wouldn't lose a straw in +a bad season. It is all done by means of great fanners and heated air, +you know. Now, I'm going to show these honest Northumbrian farmers a +thing or two. I--" + +"I say, brother, hadn't you better trust to Providence, and wait for a +fair wind?" + +"Now, Ramsay, that's where you and I differ. You're a slow Moses. I +want to move ahead a trifle in front of the times. I've been looking +all over the dictionary of my daily life, and I can't find such a word +as 'wait' in it." + +"Let me give you some of this steak, brother." + +"My plan of operations, Ramsay, is--" + +"Why," said Mrs Broadbent, "you haven't eaten anything yet!" + +"I thought," said Uncle Ramsay, "you were as hungry as a Tipperary +Highlander, or some such animal." + +"My plan, Ramsay, is--" etc, etc. + +The two "etc, etc's" in the last line stand for all the rest of the +honest Squire's speech, which, as his sailor brother said, was as long +as the logline. But for all his hunger he made but a poor breakfast, +and immediately after he jumped up and hurried away to the barn-yards. + +It was a busy time for the next two weeks at Burley Old Farm, but, to +the Squire's credit be it said, he was pretty successful with his +strange operation of drying wheat independent of the sun. His ricks +were built, and he was happy--happy as long as he thought nothing about +the expense. But he did take an hour or two one evening to run through +accounts, as he called it. Uncle Ramsay was with him. + +"Why, brother," said Ramsay, looking very serious now indeed, "you are +terribly down to leeward--awfully out of pocket!" + +"Ah! never mind, Ramsay. One can't keep ahead of the times now-a-days, +you know, without spending a little." + +"Spending a little! Where are your other books? Mr Walton and I will +have a look through them to-night, if you don't mind." + +"Not a bit, brother, not a bit. We're going to give a dance to-morrow +night to the servants, so if you like to bother with the book-work I'll +attend to the terpsichorean kick up." + +Mr Walton and Uncle Ramsay had a snack in the office that evening +instead of coming up to supper, and when Mrs Broadbent looked in to say +good-night she found them both quiet and hard at work. + +"I say, Walton," said Uncle Ramsay some time after, "this is serious. +Draw near the fire and let us have a talk." + +"It is sad as well as serious," said Walton. + +"Had you any idea of it?" + +"Not the slightest. In fact I'm to blame, I think, for not seeing to +the books before. But the Squire--" + +Walton hesitated. + +"I know my brother well," said Ramsay. "As good a fellow as ever lived, +but as headstrong as a nor'-easter. And now he has been spending money +on machinery to the tune of some ten thousand pounds. He has been +growing crop after crop of wheat as if he lived on the prairies and the +land was new; and he has really been putting as much down in seed, +labour, and fashionable manures as he has taken off." + +"Yet," said Walton, "he is no fool." + +"No, not he; he is clever, too much so. But heaven send his pride, +honest though it be, does not result in a fall." + +The two sat till long past twelve talking and planning, then they opened +the casement and walked out on to the lawn. It was a lovely autumn +night. The broad, round moon was high in the heavens, fighting its way +through a sky of curdling clouds which greatly detracted from its +radiance. + +"Look, Walton," said the sailor, "to windward; yonder it is all blue +sky, by-and-by it will be a bright and lovely night." + +"By-and-by. Yes," sighed Walton. + +"But see! What is that down yonder rising white over the trees? Smoke! +Why, Walton, the barn-yards are all on fire!" + +Almost at the same moment Branson rushed upon the scene. + +"Glad you're up, gentlemen," he gasped. "Wake the Squire. The servants +are all astir. We must save the beasts, come of everything else what +will." + +The farm-steading of Burley was built in the usual square formation +round a centre straw-yard, which even in winter was always kept so well +filled that beasts might lie out all night. To the north were the +stacks, and it was here the fire originated, and unluckily the wind blew +from that direction. It was by no means high; but fire makes its own +wind, and in less than half an hour the whole yard was ablaze and +burning fiercely, while the byres, stables, and barns had all caught. +From the very first these latter had been enveloped in dense rolling +clouds of smoke, and sparks as thick as falling snowflakes, so that to +save any of the live stock seemed almost an impossibility. + +With all his mania for machinery, and for improvements of every kind +possible to apply to agriculture, it is indeed a wonder that the Squire +had not established a fire brigade on his farm. But fire was an +eventuality which he had entirely left out of his reckoning, and now +there was really no means of checking the terrible conflagration. + +As soon as the alarm was given every one did what he could to save the +live stock; but the smoke was blinding, maddening, and little could be +done save taking the doors off their hinges. + +Who knows what prodigies of valour were performed that night by the +humble cowmen even, in their attempts to drive the oxen and cows out, +and away to a place of safety? In some instances, when they had nearly +succeeded, the cattle blocked the doorways, or, having got out to the +straw-yard, charged madly back again, and prevented the exit of their +fellows. Thus several servants ran terrible risks to their lives. + +They were more successful in saving the horses, and this was greatly +owing to Archie's presence of mind. He had dashed madly into the stable +for his pet Scallowa. The Shetland pony had never looked more wild +before. He sniffed the danger, he snorted and reared. All at once it +occurred to Archie to mount and ride him out. No sooner had he got on +his back than he came forth like a lamb. He took him to a field and let +him free, and as he was hurrying back he met little Peter. + +"Come, Peter, come," he cried; "we can save the horses." + +The two of them rushed to the stable, and horse after horse was bridled +and mounted by little Peter and ridden out. + +But a fearful hitch occurred. Tell, the Squire's hunter, backed against +the stable door and closed it, thus imprisoning Archie, who found it +impossible to open the door. + +The roof had already caught. The horses were screaming in terror, and +rearing wildly against the walls. + +Peter rushed away to seek assistance. He met Branson, and in a word or +two told him what had happened. + +Luckily axes were at hand, and sturdy volunteers speedily smashed the +door in, and poor Archie, more dead than alive, with torn clothes and +bleeding face, was dragged through. + +The scene after this must be left to imagination. But the Squire +reverently and fervently thanked God when the shrieks of those +fire-imprisoned cattle were hushed in death, and nothing was to be heard +save the crackle and roar of the flames. + +The fire had lit up the countryside for miles around. The moonlight +itself was bright, but within a certain radius the blazing farm cast +shadows against it. + +Next morning stackyards, barn-yards, farm-steading, machinery-house, and +everything pertaining to Burley Old Farm, presented but a smouldering, +blackened heap of ruins. + +Squire Broadbent entertained his poor, frightened people to an early +breakfast in the servants' hall, and the most cheerful face there was +that of the Squire. Here is his little speech: + +"My good folks, sit down and eat; and let us be thankful we're all here, +and that no human lives are lost. My good kinswoman Kate here will tell +you that there never yet was an ill but there might be a worse. Let us +pray the worse may never come." + +CHAPTER TEN. + +"AFTER ALL, IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY." + +For weeks to come neither Uncle Ramsay nor Walton had the heart to add +another sorrow to the Squire's cup of misery. They knew that the fire +had but brought on a little sooner a catastrophe which was already +fulling; they knew that Squire Broadbent was virtually a ruined man. + +All the machinery had been rendered useless; the most of the cattle were +dead; the stacks were gone; and yet, strange to say, the Squire hoped +on. Those horses and cattle which had been saved were housed now in +rudely-built sheds, among the fire-blackened ruins of their former +wholesome stables and byres. + +One day Branson, who had always been a confidential servant, sent Mary +in to say he wished to speak to the Squire. His master came out at +once. + +"Nothing else, Branson," he said. "You carry a long face, man." + +"The wet weather and the cold have done their work, sir. Will you walk +down with me to the cattle-sheds?" + +Arrived there, he pointed to a splendid fat ox, who stood in his stall +before his untouched turnips with hanging head and dry, parched nose. +His hot breath was visible when he threw his head now and then uneasily +round towards his loin, as if in pain. There was a visible swelling on +the rump. Branson placed a hand on it, and the Squire could hear it +"bog" and crackle. + +"What is that, Branson? Has he been hurt?" + +"No, sir, worse. I'll show you." + +He took out his sharp hunting-knife. + +"It won't hurt the poor beast," he said. + +Then he cut deep into the swelling. The animal never moved. No blood +followed the incision, but the gaping wound was black, and filled with +air-bubbles. + +"The quarter-ill," said the cowman, who stood mournfully by. + +That ox was dead in a few hours. Another died next day, two the next, +and so on, though not in an increasing ratio; but in a month there was +hardly an animal alive about the place except the horses. + +It was time now the Squire should know all, and he did. He looked a +chastened man when he came out from that interview with his brother and +Walton. But he put a right cheery face on matters when he told his +wife. + +"We'll have to retrench," he said. "It'll be a struggle for a time, but +we'll get over it right enough." + +Present money, however, was wanted, and raised it must be. + +And now came the hardest blow the Squire had yet received. It was a +staggering one, though he met it boldly. There was then at Burley Old +Mansion a long picture gallery. It was a room in an upper story, and +extended the whole length of the house--a hall in fact, and one that +more than one Squire Broadbent had entertained his friends right royally +in. From the walls not only did portraits of ancestors bold and gay, +smile or frown down, but there hung there also many a splendid landscape +and seascape by old masters. + +Most of the latter had to be sold, and the gallery was closed, for the +simple reason that Squire Broadbent, courageous though he was, could not +look upon its bare and desecrated walls without a feeling of sorrow. + +Pictures even from the drawing-room had to go also, and that room too +was closed. But the breakfast-room, which opened to the lawn and rose +gardens, where the wild birds sang so sweetly in summer, was left +intact; so was the dining-room, and that cosy, wee green parlour in +which the family delighted to assemble around the fire in the winter's +evenings. + +Squire Broadbent had been always a favourite in the county--somewhat of +an upstart and iconoclast though he was--so the sympathy he received was +universal. + +Iconoclast? Yes, he had delighted in shivering the humble idols of +others, and now his own were cast down. Nobody, however, deserted him. +Farmers and Squires might have said among themselves that they always +knew Broadbent was "going the pace," and that his new-fangled American +notions were poorly suited to England, but in his presence they did all +they could to cheer him. + +When the ploughing time came round they gave him what is called in the +far North "a love-darg." Men with teams of horses came from every farm +for miles around and tilled his ground. They had luncheon in a marquee, +but they would not hear of stopping to dinner. They were indeed +thoughtful and kind. + +The parson of the parish and the doctor were particular friends of the +Squire. They often dropped in of an evening to talk of old times with +the family by the fireside. + +"I'm right glad," the doctor said one evening, "to see that you don't +lose heart, Squire." + +"Bless me, sir, why should I? To be sure we're poor now, but God has +left us a deal of comfort, doctor, and, after all, _it doesn't take much +to make a man happy_." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Boys will be boys. Yes, we all know that. But there comes a time in +the life of every right-thinking lad when another truth strikes home to +him, that boys will be men. + +I rather think that the sooner a boy becomes cognisant of this fact the +better. Life is not all a dream; it must sooner or later become a stern +reality. Life is not all pleasant parade and show, like a field-day at +Aldershot; no, for sooner or later pomp and panoply have to be exchanged +for camp-life and action, and bright uniforms are either rolled in blood +and dust, or come triumphant, though tarnished, from the field of glory. +Life is not all plain sailing over sunlit seas, for by-and-by the +clouds bank up, storms come on, and the good ship has to do battle with +wind and wave. + +But who would have it otherwise? No one would who possesses the +slightest ray of honest ambition, or a single spark of that pride of +self which we need not blush to own. + +One day, about the beginning of autumn, Rupert and Archie, and their +sister Elsie, were in the room in the tower. They sat together in a +turret chamber, Elsie gazing dreamily from the window at the beautiful +scenery spread out beneath. The woods and wilds, the rolling hills, the +silvery stream, the half-ripe grain moving in the wind, as waves at sea +move, and the silvery sunshine over all. She was in a kind of a +daydream, her fingers listlessly touching a chord on the harp now and +then. A pretty picture she looked, too, with her bonnie brown hair, and +her bonnie blue eyes, and thorough English face, thorough English +beauty. Perhaps Archie had been thinking something of this sort as he +sat there looking at her, while Rupert half-lay in the rocking-chair, +which his brother had made for him, engrossed as usual in a book. + +Whether Archie did think thus or not, certain it is that presently he +drew his chair close to his sister's, and laying one arm fondly on her +shoulder. + +"What is sissie looking at?" he asked. + +"Oh, Archie," she replied, "I don't think I've been looking at anything; +but I've been seeing everything and wishing!" + +"Wishing, Elsie? Well, you don't look merry. What were you wishing?" + +"I was wishing the old days were back again, when--when father was rich; +before the awful fire came, and the plague, and everything. It has made +us all old, I think. Wouldn't you like father was rich again?" + +"I am not certain; but wishes are not horses, you know." + +"_No_," said Elsie; "only if it could even be always like this, and if +you and Rupert and I could be always as we are now. I think that, poor +though we are, everything just now is so pretty and so pleasant. But +you are going away to the university, and the place won't be the same. +I shall get older faster than ever then." + +"Well, Elsie," said Archie, laughing, "I am so old that I am going to +make my will." + +Rupert put down his book with a quiet smile. + +"What are you going to leave me, old man? Scallowa?" + +"No, Rupert, you're too long in the legs for Scallowa, you have no idea +what a bodkin of a boy you are growing. Scallowa I will and bequeath to +my pretty sister here, and I'll buy her a side-saddle, and two +pennyworth of carrot seed. Elsie will also have Bounder, and you, +Rupert, shall have Fuss." + +"Anything else for me?" + +"Don't be greedy. But I'll tell you. You shall have my tool-house, and +all my tools, and my gun besides. Well, this room is to be sister's +own, and she shall also have my fishing-rod, and the book of flies that +poor Bob Cooper made for me. Oh, don't despise them, they are all +wonders!" + +"Well really, Archie," said Elsie, "you talk as earnestly as if you +actually were going to die." + +"Who said I was going to die? No, I don't mean to die till I've done +much more mischief." + +"Hush! Archie." + +"Well, I'm hushed." + +"Why do you want to make your will?" + +"Oh, it isn't wanting to make my will! I am--I've done it. And the +'why' is this, I'm going away." + +"To Oxford?" + +"No, Elsie, not to Oxford. I've got quite enough Latin and Greek out of +Walton to last me all my life. I couldn't be a doctor; besides father +is hardly rich enough to make me one at present. I couldn't be a +doctor, and I'm not good enough to be a parson." + +"Archie, how you talk." + +There were tears in Elsie's eyes now. + +"I can't help it. I'm going away to enter life in a new land. Uncle +Ramsay has told me all about Australia. He says the old country is used +up, and fortunes can be made in a few years on the other side of the +globe." + +There was silence in the turret for long minutes; the whispering of the +wind in the elm trees beneath could be heard, the murmuring of the +river, and far away in the woods the cawing of rooks. + +"Don't you cry, Elsie," said Archie. "I've been thinking about all this +for some time, and my mind is made up. I'm going, Elsie, and I know it +is for the best. You don't imagine for a single moment, do you, that +I'll forget the dear old times, and you all? No, no, no. I'll think +about you every night, and all day long, and I'll come back rich. You +don't think that I _won't_ make my fortune, do you? Because I mean to, +and will. So there. Don't cry, Elsie." + +"_I'm_ not going to cry, Archie," said Rupert. + +"Right, Rupert, you're a brick, as Branson says." + +"I'm not old enough," continued Rupert, "to give you my blessing, though +I suppose Kate would give you hers; but we'll all pray for you." + +"Well," said Archie thoughtfully, "that will help some." + +"Why, you silly boy, it will help a lot." + +"I wish I were as good as you, Rupert. But I'm just going to try hard +to do my best, and I feel certain I'll be all right." + +"You know, Roup, how well I can play cricket, and how I often easily +bowl father out. Well, that is because I've just tried my very hardest +to become a good player; and I'm going to try my very hardest again in +another way. Oh, I shall win! I'm cocksure I shall. Come, Elsie, dry +your eyes. Here's my handkie. Don't be a little old wife." + +"You won't get killed, or anything, Archie?" + +"No; I won't get killed, or eaten either." + +"They do tell me," said Elsie--"that is, old Kate told me--that the +streets in Australia are all paved with gold, and that the roofs of the +houses are all solid silver." + +"Well, I don't think she is quite right," said Archie, laughing. +"Anyhow, uncle says there is a fortune to be made, and I'm going to make +it. That's all." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Archie went straight away down from that boy's room feeling every inch a +man, and had an interview with his father and uncle. + +It is needless to relate what took place there, or to report the +conversation which the older folks had that evening in the little green +parlour. Both father and uncle looked upon Archie's request as +something only natural. For both these men, singular to say, had been +boys once themselves; and, in the Squire's own words, Archie was a son +to be proud of. + +"We can't keep the lad always with us, mother," said Squire Broadbent; +"and the wide world is the best of schools. I feel certain that, go +where he will, he won't lose heart. If he does, I should be ashamed to +own him as a son. So there! My only regret is, Ramsay, that I cannot +send the lad away with a better lined pocket." + +"My dear silly old brother, he will be better as he is. And I'm really +not sure that he would not be better still if he went away, as many have +gone before him, with only a stick and a bundle over his shoulder. You +have a deal too much of the Broadbent pride; and Archie had better leave +that all behind at home, or be careful to conceal it when he gets to the +land of his adoption." + +The following is a brief list of Archie's stock-in-trade when he sailed +away in the good ship _Dugong_ to begin the world alone: 1. A good stock +of clothes. 2. A good stock of assurance. 3. Plenty of hope. 4. Good +health and abundance of strength. 5. A little nest egg at an Australian +bank to keep him partly independent till he should be able to establish +a footing. 6. Letters of introduction, blessings, and a little pocket +Bible. + +His uncle chose his ship, and sent him away round the Cape in a good +old-fashioned sailing vessel. And his uncle went to Glasgow to see him +off, his last words being, "Keep up your heart, boy, whatever happens; +and keep calm in every difficulty. Good-bye." + +Away sailed the ship, and away went Archie to see the cities that are +paved with gold, and whose houses have roofs of solid silver. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +BOOK II--AT THE GOLDEN GATES. + +"SPOKEN LIKE HIS FATHER'S SON." + + "Cheer, boys, cheer, no more of idle sorrow, + Courage, true hearts shall bear us on our way; + Hope flies before, and points the bright to-morrow, + Let us forget the dangers of to-day." + +That dear old song! How many a time and oft it has helped to raise the +drooping spirits of emigrants sailing away from these loved islands, +never again to return! + +The melody itself too is such a manly one. Inez dear, bring my fiddle. +Not a bit of bravado in that ringing air, bold and all though it is. +Yet every line tells of British ardour and determination--ardour that no +thoughts of home or love can cool, determination that no danger can +daunt. + +"Cheer, boys, cheer." The last rays of the setting sun were lighting up +the Cornish cliffs, on which so few in that good ship would ever again +set eyes, when those around the forecastle-head took up the song. + +"Cheer, boys, cheer." Listen! Those on the quarterdeck join in the +chorus, sinking in song all difference of class and rank. And they +join, too, in that rattling "Three times three" that bids farewell to +England. + +Then the crimson clouds high up in the west change to purple and brown, +the sea grows grey, and the distant shore becomes slaty blue. Soon the +stars peep out, and the passengers cease to tramp about, and find their +way below to the cosily-lighted saloon. + +Archie is sitting on a sofa quite apart from all the others. The song +is still ringing in his head, and, if the whole truth must be told, he +feels just a trifle down-hearted. He cannot quite account for this, +though he tries to, and his thoughts are upon the whole somewhat +rambling. They would no doubt be quite connected if it were not for the +distracting novelty of all his present surroundings, which are as +utterly different from anything he has hitherto become acquainted with +as if he had suddenly been transported to another planet. + +No, he cannot account for being dull. Perhaps the motion of the ship +has something to do with it, though this is not a very romantic way of +putting it. Archie has plenty of moral courage; and as the ship +encountered head winds, and made a long and most difficult passage down +through the Irish Sea, he braced himself to get over his morsel of _mal +de mer_, and has succeeded. + +He is quite cross with himself for permitting his mind to be tinged with +melancholy. That song ought to have set him up. + +"Why should we weep to sail in search of fortune?" + +Oh, Archie is not weeping; catch him doing anything so girlish and +peevish! He would not cry in his cabin where he could do so without +being seen, and it is not likely he would permit moisture to appear in +his eyes in the saloon here. Yet his home never did seem to him so +delightful, so cosy, so happy, as the thoughts of it do now. Why had he +not loved it even more than he did when it was yet all around him? The +dear little green parlour, his gentle lady mother that used to knit so +quietly by the fire in the winter's evenings, listening with pleasure to +his father's daring schemes and hopeful plans. His bonnie sister, +Elsie, so proud of him--Archie; Rupert, with his pale, classical face +and gentle smile; matter-of-fact Walton; jolly old Uncle Ramsay. They +all rose up before his mind's eye as they had been; nay but as they +might be even at that very moment. And the room in the tower, the +evenings spent there in summer when daylight was fading over the hills +and woods, and the rooks flying wearily home to their nests in the +swaying elm trees; or in winter when the fire burned brightly on the +hearth, and weird old Kate sat in her high-backed chair, telling her +strange old-world stories, with Branson, wide-eyed, fiddle in hand, on a +seat near her, and Bounder--poor Bounder--on the bear's skin. Then the +big kitchen, or servants' hall--the servants that all loved "master +Archie" so dearly, and laughed and enjoyed every prank he used to play. + +Dear old Burley! should he ever see it again? A week has not passed +since he left it, and yet it seems and feels a lifetime. + +He was young a week ago; now he is old, very old--nearly a man. Nearly? +Well, nearly, in years; in thoughts, and feelings, and circumstances +even--_quite_ a man. But then he should not feel down-hearted for this +simple reason; he had left home under such bright auspices. Many boys +run away to sea. The difference between their lot and his is indeed a +wide one. Yes, that must be very sad. No home life to look back upon, +no friends to think of or love, no pleasant present, no hopeful future. + +Then Archie, instead of letting his thoughts dwell any longer on the +past, began at once to bridge over for himself the long period of time +that must elapse ere he should return to Burley Old Farm. Of course +there would be changes. He dared say Walton would be away; but Elsie +and Rupert would still be there, and his father and mother, looking +perhaps a little older, but still as happy. And the burned +farm-steading would be restored, or if it were not, it soon should be +after he came back; for he would be rich, rolling in wealth in fact, if +half the stories he had heard of Australia were true, even allowing that +_all_ the streets were not paved with gold, and _all_ the houses not +roofed with sparkling silver. + +So engrossed was he with these pleasant thoughts, that he had not +observed the advent of a passenger who had entered the saloon, and sat +quietly down on a camp-stool near him. A man of about forty, dressed in +a rough pilot suit of clothes, with a rosy weather-beaten but pleasant +face, and a few grey hairs in his short black beard. + +He was looking at Archie intently when their eyes met, and the boy felt +somewhat abashed. The passenger, however, did not remove his glance +instantly; he spoke instead. + +"You've never been to sea before, have you?" + +"No, sir; never been off the land till a week ago." + +"Going to seek your fortune?" + +"Yes; I'm going to _make_ my fortune." + +"Bravo! I hope you will." + +"What's to hinder me?" + +"Nothing; oh, nothing much! Everybody doesn't though. But you seem to +have a bit of go in you." + +"Are you going to make yours?" said Archie. + +The stranger laughed. + +"No," he replied. "Unluckily, perhaps, mine was made for me. I've been +out before too, and I'm going again to see things." + +"You're going in quest of adventure?" + +"I suppose that is really it. That is how the story-books put it, +anyhow. But I don't expect to meet with adventures like Sinbad the +Sailor, you know; and I don't think I would like to have a little old +man of the sea with his little old legs round my neck." + +"Australia is a very wonderful place, isn't it?" + +"Yes; wonderfully wonderful. Everything is upside-down there, you know. +To begin with, the people walk with their heads downwards. Some of the +trees are as tall as the moon, and at certain seasons of the year the +bark comes tumbling off them like rolls of shoeleather. Others are +shaped like bottles, others again have heads of waving grass, and others +have ferns for tops. There are trees, too, that drop all their leaves +to give the flowers a chance; and these are so brilliantly red, and so +numerous, that the forest where they grow looks all on fire. Well, many +of the animals walk or jump on two legs, instead of running on four. +Does that interest you?" + +"Yes. Tell me something more about birds." + +"Well, ducks are everywhere in Australia, and many kinds are as big as +geese. They seem to thrive. And ages ago, it is said by the natives, +the moles in Australia got tired of living in the dark, and held a +meeting above-ground, and determined to live a different mode of life. +So they grew longer claws, and short, broad, flat tails, and bills like +ducks, and took to the water, and have been happy ever since. + +"Well, there are black swans in abundance; and though it is two or three +years since I was out last, I cannot forget a beautiful bird, something +betwixt a pheasant and peacock, and the cock's tail is his especial +delight. It is something really to be proud of, and at a distance looks +like a beautiful lyre, strings and all. The cockatoos swarm around the +trees, and scream and laugh at the lyre-bird giving himself airs, but I +daresay this is all envy. The hen bird is not a beauty, but her chief +delight is to watch the antics and attitudes of her lord and master as +he struts about making love and fun to her time about, at one moment +singing a kind of low, sweet song, at another mocking every sound that +is heard in the forest, every noise made by man or bird or beast. No +wonder the female lyre-bird thinks her lord the cleverest and most +beautiful creature in the world! + +"Then there is a daft-looking kingfisher, all head and bill, and +wondering eyes, who laughs like a jackass, and makes you laugh to hear +him laugh. So loud does he laugh at times that his voice drowns every +other sound in the forest. + +"There is a bird eight feet high, partly cassowary, partly ostrich, that +when attacked kicks like a horse, or more like a cow, because it kicks +sideways. But if I were to sit here till our good ship reached the +Cape, I could not tell you about half the curious, beautiful, and +ridiculous creatures and things you will find in Australia if you move +much about. I do think that that country beats all creation for the +gorgeousness of its wild birds and wild flowers; and if things do seem a +bit higgledy-piggledy at first, you soon settle down to it, and soon +tire wondering at anything. + +"But," continued the stranger, "with all their peculiarities, the birds +and beasts are satisfied with their get-up, and pleased with their +surroundings, although all day long in the forests the cockatoos, and +parrots, and piping crows, and lyre-birds do little else but joke and +chaff one another because they all look so comical. + +"Yes, lad, Australia you will find is a country of contrarieties, and +the only wonder to me is that the rivers don't all run up-hill instead +of running down; and mind, they are sometimes broader at their sources +than they are at their ends." + +"There is plenty of gold there?" asked Archie. + +"Oh, yes, any amount; but--" + +"But what, sir?" + +"The real difficulty--in fact, the only difficulty--is the finding of +it." + +"But that, I suppose, can be got over." + +"Come along with me up on deck, and we'll talk matters over. It is hot +and stuffy down here; besides, they are going to lay the cloth." + +Arrived at the quarterdeck, the stranger took hold of Archie's arm, as +if he had known him all his life. + +"Now," he said, "my name is Vesey, generally called Captain Vesey, +because I never did anything that I know of to merit the title. I've +been in an army or two in different parts of the globe as a free lance, +you know." + +"How nice!" + +"Oh, delightful!" said Captain Vesey, though from the tone of his voice +Archie was doubtful as to his meaning. "Well," he added, "I own a +yacht, now waiting for me, I believe, at the Cape of Good Hope, if she +isn't sunk, or burned, or something. And your tally?" + +"My what, sir?" + +"Your tally, your name, and the rest of it?" + +"Archie Broadbent, son of Squire Broadbent, of Burley Old Farm, +Northumberland." + +"What! you a son of Charlie Broadbent? Yankee Charlie, as we used to +call him at the club. Well, well, well, wonders will never cease; and +it only shows how small the world is, after all." + +"And you used to know my father, sir?" + +"My dear boy, I promised myself the pleasure of calling on him at +Burley. I've only been home for two months, however; and I heard--well, +boy, I needn't mince matters--I heard your father had been unfortunate, +and had left his place, and gone nobody could tell me whither." + +"No," said Archie, laughing, "it isn't quite so bad as all that; and it +is bound to come right in the end." + +"You are talking very hopefully, lad. I could trace a resemblance in +your face to someone I knew the very moment I sat down. And there is +something like the same cheerful ring in your voice there used to be in +his. You really are a chip of the old block." + +"So they say." And Archie laughed again, pleased by this time. + +"But, you know, lad, you are very young to be going away to seek your +fortune." + +"I'll get over that, sir." + +"I hope so. Of course, you won't go pottering after gold!" + +"I don't know. If I thought I would find lots, I would go like a shot." + +"Well, take my advice, and don't. There, I do not want to discourage +you; but you better turn your mind to farming--to squatting." + +"That wouldn't be very genteel, would it?" + +"Genteel! Why, lad, if you're going to go in for genteelity, you'd best +have stayed at home." + +"Well, but I have an excellent education. I can write like +copper-plate. I am a fair hand at figures, and well up in Latin and +Greek; and--" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" Captain Vesey laughed aloud. "Latin and Greek, eh? You +must keep that to yourself, boy." + +"And," continued Archie boldly, "I have a whole lot of capital +introductions. I'm sure to get into a good office in Sydney; and in a +few years--" + +Archie stopped short, because by the light that streamed from the +skylight he could see that Captain Vesey was looking at him +half-wonderingly, but evidently amused. + +"Go on," said the captain. + +"Not a word more," said Archie doggedly. + +"Finish your sentence, lad." + +"I shan't. There!" + +"Well, I'll do it for you. You'll get into a delightful office, with +mahogany writing-desks and stained glass windows, Turkey carpet and an +easy-chair. Your employer will take you out in his buggy every Sunday +to dine with him; and after a few years, as you say, he'll make you a +co-partner; and you'll end by marrying his daughter, and live happy ever +after." + +"You're laughing at me, sir. I'll go down below." + +"Yes, I'm laughing at you, because you're only a greenhorn; and it is as +well that I should squeeze a little of the lime-juice out of you as +anyone else. No, don't go below. Mind, I was your father's friend." + +"Yes," pouted poor Archie; "but you don't appear to be mine. You are +throwing cold water over my hopes; you are smashing my idols." + +"A very pretty speech, Archie Broadbent. But mind you this--a hut on +solid ground is better far than a castle in the air. And it is better +that I should storm and capsize your cloud-castle, than that an absolute +stranger did so." + +"Well, I suppose you are right. Forgive me for being cross." + +"Spoken like his father's son," said Captain Vesey, grasping and shaking +the hand that Archie extended to him. "Now we know each other. Ding! +ding! ding! there goes the dinner-bell. Sit next to me." + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"KEEP ON YOUR CAP. I WAS ONCE A POOR MAN MYSELF." + +The voyage out was a long, even tedious one; but as it has but little +bearing on the story I forbear to describe it at length. + +The ship had a passenger for Madeira, parcels for Ascension and Saint +Helena, and she lay in at the Cape for a whole week. + +Here Captain Vesey left the vessel, bidding Archie a kind farewell, +after dining with him at the Fountain, and roaming with him all over the +charming Botanical Gardens. + +"I've an idea we'll meet again," he said as he bade him adieu. "If God +spares me, I'll be sure to visit Sydney in a year or two, and I hope to +find you doing well. You'll know if my little yacht, the _Barracouta_, +comes in, and I know you'll come off and see me. I hope to find you +with as good a coat on your back as you have now." + +Then the _Dugong_ sailed away again; but the time now seemed longer to +Archie than ever, for in Captain Vesey he really had lost a good +friend--a friend who was all the more valuable because he spoke the +plain, unvarnished truth; and if in doing so one or two of the young +man's cherished idols were brought tumbling down to the ground, it was +all the better for the young man. It showed those idols had feet of +clay, else a little cold water thrown over them would hardly have had +such an effect. I am sorry to say, however, that no sooner had the +captain left the ship, than Archie set about carefully collecting the +pieces of those said idols and patching them up again. + +"After all," he thought to himself, "this Captain Vesey, jolly fellow as +he is, never had to struggle with fortune as I shall do; and I don't +think he has the same pluck in him that my father has, and that people +say I have. We'll see, anyhow. Other fellows have been fortunate in a +few years, why shouldn't I? 'In a few years?' Yes, these are the very +words Captain Vesey laughed at me for. 'In a few years?' To be sure. +And why not? What _is_ the good of a fortune to a fellow after he gets +old, and all worn down with gout and rheumatism? 'Cheer, boys, cheer;' +I'm going in to win." + +How slow the ship sailed now, apparently; and when it did blow it +usually blew the wrong way, and she would have to stand off and on, or +go tack and half-tack against it, like a man with one long leg and one +short. But she was becalmed more than once, and this did seem dreadful. +It put Archie in mind of a man going to sleep in the middle of his +work, which is not at all the correct thing to do. + +Well, there is nothing like a sailing ship after all for teaching one +the virtue of patience; and at last Archie settled down to his sea life. +He was becoming quite a sailor--as hard as the wheel-spokes, as brown +as the binnacle. He was quite a favourite with the captain and +officers, and with all hands fore and aft. Indeed he was very often in +the forecastle or galley of an evening listening to the men's yarns or +songs, and sometimes singing a verse or two himself. + +He was just beginning to think the _Dugong_ was Vanderdecken's ship, and +that she never would make port at all, when one day at dinner he noticed +that the captain was unusually cheerful. + +"In four or five days more, please God," said he, "we'll be safe in +Sydney." + +Archie almost wished he had not known this, for these four or five days +were the longest of any he had yet passed. He had commenced to worship +his patched-up idols again, and felt happier now, and more full of hope +and certainty of fortune than he had done during the whole voyage. + +Sometimes they sighted land. Once or twice birds flew on board--such +bright, pretty birds too they looked. And birds also went wheeling and +whirring about the ship--gulls, the like of which he had never seen +before. They were more elegant in shape and purer in colour than ours, +and their voices were clear and ringing. + +Dick Whittington construed words out of the sound of the chiming bells. +Therefore it is not at all wonderful that Archie was pleased to believe +that some of these beautiful birds were screaming him a welcome to the +land of gold. + +Just at or near the end of the voyage half a gale of wind blew the ship +considerably out of her course. Then the breeze went round to fair +again, the sea went down, and the birds came back; and one afternoon a +shout was heard from the foretop that made Archie's heart jump for very +joy. + +"Land ho!" + +That same evening, as the sun was setting behind the Blue Mountains, +leaving a gorgeous splendour of cloud-scenery that may be equalled, but +is never surpassed in any country, the _Dugong_ sailed slowly into +Sydney harbour, and cast anchor. + +At last! Yes, at last. Here were the golden gates of the El Dorado +that were to lead the ambitious boy to fortune, and all the pleasures +fortune is capable of bestowing. + +Archie had fancied that Sydney would prove to be a very beautiful place; +but not in his wildest imaginings had he conjured up a scene of such +surpassing loveliness as that which now lay before him, and around him +as well. + +On the town itself his eye naturally first rested. There it lay, miles +upon miles of houses, towers, and steeples, spread out along the coast, +and rising inland. The mountains and hills beyond, their rugged +grandeur softened and subdued in the purple haze of the day's dying +glory; the sky above, with its shades of orange, saffron, crimson, opal, +and grey; and the rocks, to right and left in the nearer distance, with +their dreamy clouds of foliage, from which peeped many a lordly mansion, +many a fairy-like palace. He hardly noticed the forests of masts; he +was done with ships, done with masts, for a time at least; but his +inmost heart responded to the distant hum of city life, that came gently +stealing over the waters, mingling with the chime of evening bells, and +the music of the happy sea-gulls. + +Would he, could he, get on shore to-night? "No," the first officer +replied, "not before another day." + +So he stood on deck, or walked about, never thinking of food--what is +food or drink to a youth who lives on hope?--till the gloaming shades +gave place to night, till the southern stars shone over the hills and +harbour, and strings upon strings of lamps and lights were hung +everywhere across the city above and below. + +Now the fairy scene is changed. Archie is on shore. It is the forenoon +of another day, and the sun is warm though not uncomfortably hot. There +is so much that is bracing and invigorating in the very air, that he +longs to be doing something at once. Longs to commence laying the +foundation-stone of that temple of fortune which--let Captain Vesey say +what he likes--he, Archie Broadbent, is bent upon building. + +He has dressed himself in his very English best. His clothes are new +and creaseless, his gloves are spotless, his black silk hat immaculate, +the cambric handkerchief that peeps coyly from his breast pocket is +whiter than the snow, his boots fit like gloves, and shine as softly +black as his hat itself, and his cane even must be the envy of every +young man he meets. + +Strange to say, however, no one appears to take a very great deal of +notice of him, though, as he glances towards the shop windows, he can +see as if in a mirror that one or two passengers have looked back and +smiled. But it couldn't surely have been at him? Impossible! + +The people, however, are apparently all very active and very busy, +though cool, with a self-possession that he cannot help envying, and +which he tries to imitate without any marked degree of success. + +There is an air of luxury and refinement about many of the buildings +that quite impresses the young man; but he cannot help noticing that +there is also a sort of business air about the streets which he hardly +expected to find, and which reminds him forcibly of Glasgow and +Manchester. He almost wishes it had been otherwise. + +He marches on boldly enough. + +Archie feels as if on a prospecting tour--prospecting for gold. Of +course he is going to make his fortune, but how is he going to begin? +That is the awkward part of the business. If he could once get in the +thin end of the wedge he would quickly drive it home. + +"There is nothing like ambition. If we steer a steady course." + +Of course there isn't. But staring into a china-shop window will do him +little good. I do not believe he saw anything in that window however. +Only, on turning away from it, his foot goes splash into a pool of dirty +water on the pavement, or rather on what ought to be a pavement. That +boot is ruined for the day, and this reminds him that Sydney streets are +_not_ paved with gold, but with very unromantic matter-of-fact mud. +Happy thought! he will dine. + +The waiters are very polite, but not obsequious, and he makes a hearty +meal, and feels more at home. + +Shall he tip this waiter fellow? Is it the correct thing to tip +waiters? Will the waiter think him green if he does, or green if he +doesn't? + +These questions, trifling though they may appear, really annoyed Archie; +but he erred on the right side, and did tip the waiter--well too. And +the waiter brightened up, and asked him if he would like to see a +playbill. + +Then this reminded Archie that he might as well call on some of the +people to whom he had introductions. So he pulled out a small bundle of +letters, and he asked the waiter where this, that, and t'other street +was; and the waiter brought a map, and gave him so many hints, that when +he found himself on the street again he did not feel half so foreign. +He had something to do now, something in view. Besides he had dined. + +"Yes, he'd better drive," he said to himself, "it would look better." +He lifted a finger, and a hansom rattled along, and drew up by the kerb. +He had not expected to find cabs in Sydney. His card-case was handy, +and his first letter also. + +He might have taken a 'bus or tram. There were plenty passing, and very +like Glasgow 'buses they were too; from the John with the ribbons to the +cad at the rear. But a hansom certainly looked more aristocratic. + +Aristocratic? Yes. But were there any aristocrats in Sydney? Was +there any real blue blood in the place? He had not answered those +questions to his satisfaction, when the hansom stopped so suddenly that +he fell forward. + +"Wait," he said to the driver haughtily. + +"Certainly, sir." + +Archie did not observe, however, the grimace the Jehu made to another +cabman, as he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, else he would +hardly have been pleased. + +There was quite a business air about the office into which the young man +ushered himself, but no one took much notice of him. If he had had an +older face under that brand-new hat, they might have been more struck +with his appearance. + +"Ahem! Aw--!" Archie began. + +"One minute, sir," said the clerk nearest him. "Fives in forty +thousand? Fives in forty are eight--eight thousand." + +The clerk advanced pen in mouth. + +"Do you come from Jenkins's about those bills?" + +"No, I come from England; and I've a letter of introduction to your +_master_." Archie brought the last word out with a bang. + +"Mr Berry isn't in. Will you leave a message?" + +"No, thank you." + +"As you please." + +Archie was going off, when the clerk called after him, "Here is Mr +Berry himself, sir." + +A tall, brown-faced, elderly gentleman, with very white hair and +pleasant smile. He took Archie into the office, bade him be seated, and +slowly read the letter; then he approached the young man and shook +hands. The hand felt like a dead fish's tail in Archie's, and somehow +the smile had vanished. + +"I'm really glad to see your father's son," he said. "Sorry though to +hear that he has had a run of bad luck. Very bad luck it must be, too," +he added, "to let you come out here." + +"Indeed, sir; but I mean to make my for--that is, I want to make my +living." + +"Ay, young man, living's more like it; and I wish I could help you. +There's a wave of depression over this side of our little island at +present, and I don't know that any office in town has a genteel +situation to offer you." + +Archie's soul-heat sank a degree or two. + +"You think, sir, that--" + +"I think that you would have done better at home. It would be cruel of +me not to tell you the truth. Now I'll give you an example. We +advertised for a clerk just a week since--" + +"I wish I'd been here." + +"My young friend, you wouldn't have had the ghost of a chance. We had +five-and-thirty to pick and choose from, and we took the likeliest. I'm +really sorry. If anything should turn up, where shall I communicate?" + +Where should he communicate? And this was his father's best friend, +from whom the too sanguine father expected Archie would have an +invitation to dinner at once, and a general introduction to Sydney +society. + +"Oh, it is no great matter about communicating, Mr Berry; aw!--no +matter at all! I can afford to wait a bit and look round me. I--aw!-- +good morning, sir." + +Away stalked the young Northumbrian, like a prince of the blood. + +"A chip of the old block," muttered Mr Berry, as he resumed his desk +work. "Poor lad, he'll have to come down a peg though." + +The cabby sprang towards the young nob. + +"Where next, sir?" + +"Grindlay's." + +Archie was not more successful here, nor anywhere else. + +But at the end of a week, during which time he had tried as hard as any +young man had ever tried before in Sydney or any other city to find some +genteel employment, he made a wise resolve; viz, to go into lodgings. + +He found that living in a hotel, though very cheerful, made a terrible +hole in his purse; so he brought himself "down a peg" by the simple +process of "going up" nearer the sky. + +Here is the explanation of this paradox. It was Archie's custom to +spend his forenoons looking for something to do, and his evenings +walking in the suburbs. + +Poor, lonely lad, that never a soul in the city cared for, any more than +if he had been a stray cat, he found it wearisome, heart-breaking work +wandering about the narrow, twisting streets and getting civilly +snubbed. He felt more of a gentleman when dining. Afterwards his +tiredness quite left him, and hope swelled his heart once more. So out +he would go and away--somewhere, anywhere; it did not matter so long as +he could see woods, and water, and houses. Oh, such lovely suburban +villas, with cool verandahs, round which flowering creepers twined, and +lawns shaded by dark green waving banana trees, beneath which he could +ofttimes hear the voices of merry children, or the tinkle of the light +guitar. He would give reins to his fancy then, and imagine things--such +sweet things! + +Yes, he would own one of the biggest and most delightful of these +mansions; he should keep fleet horses, a beautiful carriage, a boat--he +must have a boat, or should it be a gondola? Yes, that would be nicer +and newer. In this boat, when the moonlight silvered the water, he +would glide over the bay, returning early to his happy home. His bonnie +sister should be there, his brother Rupert--the student--his mother, and +his hero, that honest, bluff, old father of his. What a dear, +delightful dream! No wonder he did not care to return to the realities +of his city life till long after the sun had set over the hills, and the +stars were twinkling down brighter and lovelier far than those lights he +had so admired the night his ship arrived. + +He was returning slowly one evening and was close to the city, but in a +rather lonely place, when he noticed something dark under the shade of a +tree, and heard a girl's voice say: + +"Dearie me! as missus says; but ain't I jolly tired just!" + +"Who is that?" said Archie. + +"On'y me, sir; on'y Sarah. Don't be afear'd. I ain't a larrikin. Help +this 'ere box on my back like a good chummie." + +"It's too heavy for your slight shoulders," quoth gallant Archie. "I +don't mind carrying it a bit." + +"What, a gent like you! Why, sir, you're greener than they make 'em +round here!" + +"I'm from England." + +"Ho, ho! Well, that accounts for the milk. So'm I from Hengland. This +way, chummie." + +They hadn't far to go. + +"My missus lives two story up, top of a ware'us, and I've been to the +station for that 'ere box. She do take it out o' me for all the wage. +She do." + +Archie carried the box up the steep stairs, and Sarah's mistress herself +opened the door and held a candle. A thin, weary-looking body, with +whom Sarah seemed to be on the best and most friendly terms. + +"Brought my young man," said Sarah. "Ain't he a smartie? But, heigho! +_so_ green! _You_ never!" + +"Come in a minute, sir, and rest you. Never mind this silly girl." + +Archie did go in a minute; five, ten, ay fifteen, and by that time he +had not only heard all this ex-policeman's wife's story, but taken a +semi-attic belonging to her. + +And he felt downright independent and happy when next day he took +possession. + +For now he would have time to really look round, and it was a relief to +his mind that he would not be spending much money. + +Archie could write home cheerfully now. He was sure that something +would soon turn up, something he could accept, and which would not be +derogatory to the son of a Northumbrian squire. More than one +influential member of commercial society had promised "to communicate +with him at the very earliest moment." + +But, alas! weeks flew by, and weeks went into months, and no more signs +of the something were apparent than he had seen on the second day of his +arrival. + +Archie was undoubtedly "a game un," as Sarah called him; but his heart +began to feel very heavy indeed. + +Living as cheaply as he could, his money would go done at last. What +then? Write home for more? He shuddered to think of such a thing. If +his first friend, Captain Vesey, had only turned up now, he would have +gone and asked to be taken as a hand before the mast. But Captain Vesey +did not. + +A young man cannot be long in Sydney without getting into a set. Archie +did, and who could blame him. They were not a rich set, nor a very fast +set; but they had a morsel of a club-room of their own. They formed +friendships, took strolls together, went occasionally to the play, and +often had little "adventures" about town, the narratives of which, when +retailed in the club, found ready listeners, and of course were +stretched to the fullest extent of importance. + +They really were not bad fellows, and would have done Archie a good turn +if they could. But they could not. They laughed a deal at first at his +English notions and ideas; but gradually Archie got over his greenness, +and began to settle down to colonial life, and would have liked Sydney +very much indeed if he had only had something to do. + +The ex-policeman's wife was very kind to her lodger. So was Sarah; +though she took too many freedoms of speech with him, which tended to +lower his English squirearchical dignity very much. But, to do her +justice, Sarah did not mean any harm. + +Only once did Archie venture to ask about the ex-policeman. "What did +he do?" + +"Oh, he drinks!" said Sarah, as quietly as if drinking were a trade of +some kind. Archie asked no more. + +Rummaging in a box one day, Archie found his last letter of +introduction. It had been given him by Uncle Ramsay. + +"You'll find him a rough and right sort of a stick," his uncle had said. +"He _was_ my steward, now he is a wealthy man, and can knock down his +cheque for many thousands." + +Archie dressed in his best and walked right away that afternoon to find +the address. + +It was one of the very villas he had often passed, in a beautiful place +close by the water-side. + +What would be his reception here? + +This question was soon put at rest. + +He rang the bell, and was ushered into a luxuriously-furnished room; a +room that displayed more richness than taste. + +A very beautiful girl--some thirteen years of age perhaps--got up from a +grand piano, and stood before him. + +Archie was somewhat taken aback, but bowed as composedly as he could. + +"Surely," he thought, "_she_ cannot be the daughter of the rough and +right sort of a stick who had been steward to his uncle. He had never +seen so sweet a face, such dreamy blue eyes, or such wealth of hair +before. + +"Did you want to see papa? Sit down. I'll go and find him." + +"Will you take this letter to him?" said Archie. + +And the girl left, letter in hand. + +Ten minutes after the "rough stick" entered, whistling "Sally come up." + +"Hullo! hullo!" he cried, "so here we are." + +There he was without doubt--a big, red, jolly face, like a full moon +orient, a loose merino jacket, no waistcoat or necktie, but a +cricketer's cap on the very back of his bushy head. He struck Archie a +friendly slap on the back. + +"Keep on yer cap," he shouted, "I was once a poor man myself." + +Archie was too surprised and indignant to speak. + +"Well, well, well," said Mr Winslow, "they do tell me wonders won't +never cease. What a whirligig of a world it is. One day I'm cleanin' a +gent's boots. Gent is a capting of a ship. Next day gent's nephew +comes to me to beg for a job. Say, young man, what'll ye drink?" + +"I didn't come to _drink_, Mr Winslow, neither did I come to _beg_." + +"Whew-ew-ew," whistled the quondam steward, "here's pride; here's a +touch o' the old country. Why, young un, I might have made you my +under-gardener." + +The girl at this moment entered the room. She had heard the last +sentence. + +"Papa!" she remonstrated. Then she glided out by the casement window. + +Burning blushes suffused Archie's cheeks as he hurried over the lawn +soon after; angry tears were in his eyes. His hand was on the +gate-latch when he felt a light touch on his arm. It was the girl. + +"Don't be angry with poor papa," she said, almost beseechingly. + +"No, no," Archie cried, hardly knowing what he did say. "What is your +name?" + +"Etheldene." + +"What a beautiful name! I--I will never forget it. Good-bye." + +He ran home with the image of the child in his mind--on his brain. + +Sarah--plain Sarah--met him at the top of the stairs. He brushed past +her. + +"La! but ye does look glum," said Sarah. + +Archie locked his door. He did not want to see even Sarah--homely +Sarah--that night. + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +"SOMETHING IN SOAP." + +It was a still, sultry night in November. Archie's balcony window was +wide open, and if there had been a breath of air anywhere he would have +had the benefit of it. That was one advantage of having a room high up +above the town, and there were several others. For instance, it was +quieter, more retired, and his companions did not often take him by +storm, because they objected to climb so many stairs. Dingy, small, and +dismal some might have called it, but Archie always felt at home up in +his semi-attic. It even reminded him of his room in the dear old tower +at Burley. Then his morsel of balcony, why that was worth all the money +he paid for the room itself; and as for the view from this charming, +though non-aristocratic elevation, it was simply unsurpassed, +unsurpassable--looking far away over a rich and fertile country to the +grand old hills beyond--a landscape that, like the sea, was still the +same, but ever changing; sometimes smiling and green, sometimes bathed +in tints of purple and blue, sometimes grey as a sky o'ercast with rain +clouds. Yes, he loved it, and he would take a chair out here on a +moonlight evening and sit and think and dream. + +But on this particular night sleep, usually so kind to the young man, +absolutely refused to visit his pillow. He tried to woo the goddess on +his right side, on his left, on his back; it was all in vain. Finally, +he sat bolt upright in his little truckle bed in silent defiance. + +"I don't care," he said aloud, "whether I sleep or not. What does it +matter? I've nothing to do to-morrow. Heigho!" + +Nothing to do to-morrow! How sad! And he so young too. Were all his +dreams of future fortune to fade and pass away like this--nothing to do? +Why he envied the very boys who drove the mill wagons that went lazily +rolling past his place every day. They seemed happy, and so contented; +while he--why his very life--had come to be all one continued fever. + +"Nothing to do yet, sir?" It was the ordinary salutation of his +hard-working mite of a landlady when he came home to his meal in the +afternoon. "I knows by the weary way ye walks upstairs, sir, you aren't +successful yet, sir." + +"Nothink to do yet, sir?" They were the usual words that the slavey +used when she dragged upstairs of an evening with his tea-things. + +"Nothink to do," she would say, as she deposited the tray on the table, +and sank _sans ceremonie_ into the easy-chair. "Nothink to do. What a +'appy life to lead! Now 'ere's me a draggin' up and down stairs, and a +carryin' of coals and a sweepin', and a dustin' and a hanswering of the +door, till, what wi' the 'eat and the dust and the fleas, my poor little +life's well-nigh worrited out o' me. Heigho! hif I was honly back again +in merrie England, catch me ever goin' to any Australia any more. But +you looks a horned gent, sir. Nothink to do! My eye and Betty Martin, +ye oughter to be 'appy, if you ain't." + +Archie got up to-night, enrobed himself in his dressing-gown, and went +and sat on his balcony. This soothed him. The stars were very bright, +and seemed very near. He did not care for other companionship than +these and his own all-too-busy thoughts. There was hardly a sound to be +heard, except now and then the hum of a distant railway train increasing +to a harsh roar as it crossed the bridge, then becoming subdued again +and muffled as it entered woods, or went rolling over a soft and open +country. + +Nothing to do! But he must and would do something. Why should he +starve in a city of plenty? He had arms and hands, if he hadn't a head. +Indeed, he had begun of late to believe that his head, which he used to +think so much of, was the least important part of his body. He caught +himself feeling his forearm and his biceps. Why this latter had got +smaller and beautifully less of late. He had to shut his fist hard to +make it perceptible to touch. This was worse and worse, he thought. He +would not be able to lift a fifty-six if he wanted to before long, or +have strength enough left to wield a stable broom if he should be +obliged to go as gardener to Winslow. + +"What next, I wonder?" he said to himself. "First I lose my brains, if +ever I had any, and now I have lost my biceps; the worst loss last." + +He lit his candle, and took up the newspaper. + +"I'll pocket my pride, and take a porter's situation," he murmured. +"Let us see now. Hullo! what is this? 'Apprentice Wanted--the drug +trade--splendid opening to a pushing youngster.' Well, I am a pushing +youngster. 'Premium required.' I don't care, I have a bit of money +left, and I'll pay it like a man if there is enough. Why the drug trade +is grand. Sydney drug-stores beat Glasgow's all to pieces. Druggists +and drysalters have their carriages and mansions, their town and country +houses. Hurrah! I'll be something yet!" + +He blew out the candle, and jumped into bed. The gentle goddess +required no further wooing. She took him in her lap, and he went off at +once like a baby. + +Rap--rap--rap--rap! + +"Hullo! Yes; coming, Sarah; coming." + +It was broad daylight; and when he admitted Sarah at last, with the +breakfast-tray, she told him she had been up and down fifty times, +trying to make him hear. Sarah was given to a little exaggeration at +times. + +"It was all very well for a gent like he," she said, "but there was her +a-slavin' and a-toilin', and all the rest of it." + +"Well, well, my dear," he cut in, "I'm awfully sorry, I assure you." + +Sarah stopped right in the centre of the room, still holding the tray, +and looked at him. + +"What!" she cried. "Ye ain't a-going to marry me then, young man! What +are ye my-dearing me for?" + +"No, Sarah," replied Archie, laughing; "I'm not going to marry you; but +I've hopes of a good situation, and--" + +"Is that all?" Sarah dumped down the tray, and tripped away singing. + +Archie's interview with the advertiser was of a most satisfactory +character. He did not like the street, it was too new and out of the +way; but then it would be a beginning. + +He did not like his would-be employer, but he dared say he would improve +on acquaintance. There was plenty in the shop, though the place was +dingy and dirty, and the windows small. The spiders evidently had fine +times of it here, and did not object to the smell of drugs. He was +received by Mr Glorie himself in a little back sanctum off the little +back shop. + +The premium for apprenticing Archie was rather more than the young man +could give; but this being explained to the proprietor of these +beautiful premises, and owner of all the spiders, he graciously +condescended to take half. Archie's salary--a wretched pittance--was to +commence at once after articles were signed; and Mr Glorie promised to +give him a perfect insight into the drug business, and make a man of +him, and "something else besides," he added, nodding to Archie in a +mysterious manner. + +The possessor of the strange name was a queer-looking man; there did not +appear much glory about him. He was very tall, very lanky, and thin, +his shoulders sloping downwards like a well-pointed pencil, while his +face was solemn and elongated, like your own, reader, if you look at it +in a spoon held lengthways. + +The articles were signed, and Archie walked home on feathers apparently. +He went upstairs singing. His landlady ran to the door. + +"Work at last?" + +Archie nodded and smiled. + +When Sarah came in with the dinner things she danced across the room, +bobbing her queer, old-fashioned face and crying-- + +"Lawk-a-daisy, diddle-um-doo, Missus says you've got work to do!" + +"Yes, Sarah, at long last, and I'm so happy." + +"'Appy, indeed!" sang Sarah. "Why, ye won't be the gent no longer!" + +Archie certainly had got work to do. For a time his employer kept him +in the shop. There was only one other lad, and he went home with the +physic, and what with studying hard to make himself _au fait_ in +prescribing and selling seidlitz powders and gum drops, Archie was +pretty busy. + +So months flew by. Then his long-faced employer took him into the back +premises, and proceeded to initiate him into the mysteries of the +something else that was to make a man of him. + +"There's a fortune in it," said Mr Glorie, pointing to a bubbling +grease-pot. "Yes, young sir, a vast fortune." + +"What is the speciality?" Archie ventured to enquire. + +"The speciality, young sir?" replied Mr Glorie, his face relaxing into +something as near a smile as it would permit of. "The speciality, sir, +is soap. A transparent soap. A soap, young sir, that is destined to +revolutionise the world of commerce, and bring _my_ star to the +ascendant after struggling for two long decades with the dark clouds of +adversity." + +So this was the mystery. Archie was henceforward, so it appeared, to +live in an atmosphere of scented soap; his hope must centre in bubbles. +He was to assist this Mr Glorie's star to rise to the zenith, while his +own fortune might sink to nadir. And he had paid his premium. It was +swallowed up and simmering in that ugly old grease-pot, and except for +the miserable salary he received from Mr Glorie he might starve. + +Poor Archie! He certainly did not share his employer's enthusiasm, and +on this particular evening he did not walk home on feathers, and when he +sat down to supper his face must have appeared to Sarah quite as long +and lugubrious as Mr Glorie's; for she raised her hands and said: + +"Lawk-a-doodle, sir! What's the matter? Have ye killed anybody?" + +"Not yet," answered Archie; "but I almost feel I could." + +He stuck to his work, however, like a man; but that work became more and +more allied to soap, and the front shop hardly knew him any more. + +He had informed the fellows at the club-room that he was employed at +last; that he was apprenticed to the drug trade. But the soap somehow +leaked out, and more than once, when he was introduced to some +new-comer, he was styled-- + +"Mr Broadbent," and "something in soap." + +This used to make him bite his lips in anger. + +He would not have cared half so much had he not joined this very club, +with a little flourish of trumpets, as young Broadbent, son of Squire +Broadbent, of Burley Old Castle, England. + +And now he was "something in soap." + +He wrote home to his sister in the bitterness of his soul, telling her +that all his visions of greatness had ended in bubbles of rainbow hue, +and that he was "something in soap." He felt sorry for having done so +as soon as the letter was posted. + +He met old Winslow one day in the street, and this gentleman grasped +Archie's small aristocratic hand in his great brown bear's paw, and +congratulated him on having got on his feet at last. + +"Yes," said Archie with a sneer and a laugh, "I'm 'something in soap.'" + +"And soap's a good thing I can tell you. Soap's not to be despised. +There's a fortune in soap. I had an uncle in soap. Stick to it, my +lad, and it'll stick to you." + +But when a new apprentice came to the shop one day, and was installed in +the front door drug department, while he himself was relegated to the +slums at the back, his cup of misery seemed full, and he proceeded +forthwith to tell this Mr Glorie what he thought of him. Mr Glorie's +face got longer and longer and longer, and he finally brought his +clenched fist down with such a bang on the counter, that every bottle +and glass in the place rang like bells. + +"I'll have the law on you," he shouted. + +"I don't care; I've done with you. I'm sick of you and your soap." + +He really did not mean to do it; but just at that moment his foot kicked +against a huge earthenware jar full of oil, and shivered it in pieces. + +"You've broke your indenture! You--you--" + +"I've broken your jar, anyhow," cried Archie. + +He picked up his hat, and rushing out, ran recklessly off to his club. + +He was "something in soap" no more. + +He was beggared, but he was free, unless indeed Mr Glorie should put +him in gaol. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE KING MAY COME IN THE CADGER'S WAY. + +Mr Glorie did not put his runaway apprentice in gaol. He simply +advertised for another--with a premium. + +Poor Archie! His condition in life was certainly not to be envied now. +He had but very few pounds between him and actual want. + +He was rich in one thing alone--pride. He would sooner starve than +write home for a penny. No, he _could_ die in a gutter, but he could +not bear to think they should know of it at Burley Old Farm. + +Long ago, in the bonnie woods around Burley, he used to wonder to find +dead birds in dark crannies of the rocks. He could understand it now. +They had crawled into the crannies to die, out of sight and alone. + +His club friends tried to rally him. They tried to cheer him up in more +ways than one. Be it whispered, they tried to make him seek solace in +gambling and in the wine-cup. + +I do not think that I have held up my hero as a paragon. On the +contrary, I have but represented him as he was--a bold, determined lad, +with many and many a fault; but now I am glad to say this one thing in +his favour: he was not such a fool as to try to drown his wits in wine, +nor to seek to make money questionably by betting and by cards. + +After Archie's letter home, in which he told Elsie that he was +"something in soap," he had written another, and a more cheerful one. +It was one which cost him a good deal of trouble to write; for he really +could not get over the notion that he was telling white lies when he +spoke of "his prospects in life, and his hopes being on the ascendant;" +and as he dropped it into the receiver, he felt mean, demoralised; and +he came slowly along George Street, trying to make himself believe that +any letter was better than no letter, and that he would hardly have been +justified in telling the whole truth. + +Well, at Burley Old Farm things had rather improved, simply for this +reason: Squire Broadbent had gone in heavily for retrenchment. + +He had proved the truth of his own statement: "It does not take much in +this world to make a man happy." The Squire was happy when he saw his +wife and children happy. The former was always quietly cheerful, and +the latter did all they could to keep up each other's hearts. They +spent much of their spare time in the beautiful and romantic tower-room, +and in walking about the woods, the grounds, and farm; for Rupert was +well now, and was his father's right hand, not in the rough-and-tumble +dashing way that Archie would have been, but in a thoughtful, +considering way. + +Mr Walton had gone away, but Branson and old Kate were still to the +fore. The Squire could not have spared these. + +I think that Rupert's religion was a very pretty thing. He had lost +none of his simple faith, his abiding trust in God's goodness, though he +had regained his health. His devotions were quite as sincere, his +thankfulness for mercies received greater even than before, and he had +the most unbounded faith in the efficacy of prayer. + +So his sister and he lived in hope, and the Squire used to build castles +in the green parlour of an evening, and of course the absent Archie was +one of the kings of these castles. + +After a certain number of years of retrenchment, Burley was going to +rise from its ashes like the fabled phoenix--machinery and all. The +Squire was even yet determined to show these old-fashioned farmer folks +of Northumbria "a thing or two." + +That was his ambition; and we must not blame him; for a man without +ambition of some kind is a very humble sort of a clod--a clod of very +poor clay. + +But to return to Sydney. + +Archie had received several rough invitations to go and visit Mr +Winslow. He had accepted two of these, and, singular to say, +Etheldene's father was absent each time. Now, I refuse to be +misunderstood. Archie did not "manage" to call when the ex-miner was +out; but Archie was not displeased. He had taken a very great fancy for +the child, and did not hesitate to tell her that from the first day he +had met her he had loved her like his sister Elsie. + +Of course Etheldene wanted to know all about Elsie, and hours were spent +in telling her about this one darling sister of his, and about Rupert +and all the grand old life at Burley. + +"I should laugh," cried Archie, "if some day when you grew up, you +should find yourself in England, and fall in love with Rupert, and marry +him." + +The child smiled, but looked wonderfully sad and beautiful the next +moment. She had a way like this with her. For if Etheldene had been +taken to represent any month of our English year, it would have been +April--sunshine, flowers, and showers. + +But one evening Archie happened to be later out in the suburbs than he +ought to have been. The day had been hot, and the night was +delightfully cool and pleasant. He was returning home when a tall, +rough-looking, bearded man stopped him, and asked "for a light, old +chum." Archie had a match, which he handed him, and as the light fell +on the man's face, it revealed a very handsome one indeed, and one that +somehow seemed not unfamiliar to him. + +Archie went on. There was the noise of singing farther down the street, +a merry band of youths who had been to a race meeting that clay, and +were up to mischief. + +The tall man hid under the shadow of a wall. + +"They're larrikins," he said to himself, and "he's a greenhorn." He +spat in his fist, and kept his eye on the advancing figures. + +Archie met them. They were arm-in-arm, five in all, and instead of +making way for him, rushed him, and down he went, his head catching the +kerb with frightful force. They at once proceeded to rifle him. But +perhaps "larrikins" had never gone to ground so quickly and so +unexpectedly before. It was the bearded man who was "having his fling" +among them, and he ended by grabbing one in each hand till a policeman +came up. + +Archie remembered nothing more then. + +When he became sensible he was in bed with a bandaged head, and feeling +as weak all over as a kitten. Sarah was in the room with the landlady. + +"Hush, my dear," said the latter; "you've been very ill for more than a +week. You're not to get up, nor even to speak." + +Archie certainly did not feel inclined to do either. He just closed his +eyes and dozed off again, and his soul flew right away back to Burley. + +"Oh, yes; he's out of danger!" It was the doctor's voice. "He'll do +first-rate with careful nursing." + +"He won't want for that, sir. Sarah here has been like a little mother +to him." + +Archie dozed for days. Only, whenever he was sensible, he could notice +that Sarah was far better dressed, and far older-looking and +nicer-looking than ever she had been. And now and then the big-bearded +man came and sat by his bed, looking sometimes at him, some times at +Sarah. + +One day Archie was able to sit up; he felt quite well almost, though of +course he was not really so. + +"I have you to thank for helping me that night," he said. + +"Ay, ay, Master Archie; but don't you know me?" + +"No--no. I don't think so." + +The big-bearded man took out a little case from his pocket, and pulled +therefrom a pair of horn-bound spectacles. + +"Why!" cried Archie, "you're not--" + +"I _am_, really." + +"Oh, Bob Cooper, I'm pleased to see you! Tell me all your story." + +"Not yet, chummie; it is too long, or rather you're too weak. Why, +you're crying!" + +"It's tears of joy!" + +"Well, well; I would join you, lad, but tears ain't in my line. But +somebody else will want to see you to-morrow." + +"Who?" + +"Just wait and see." + +Archie did wait. Indeed he had to; for the doctor left express orders +that he was not to be disturbed. + +The evening sun was streaming over the hills when Sarah entered next day +and gave a look towards the bed. + +"I'm awake, Sarah." + +"It's Bob," said Sarah, "and t'other little gent. They be both a-comin' +upstairs athout their boots." + +Archie was just wondering what right Sarah had to call Bob Cooper by his +christian name, when Bob himself came quietly in. + +"Ah!" he said, as he approached the bed, "you're beginning to look your +old self already. Now who is this, think you?" + +Archie extended a feeble white hand. + +"Why, Whitechapel!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Wonders will never cease!" + +"Well, Johnnie, and how are ye? I told ye, ye know, that 'the king, +might come in the cadger's way.'" + +"Not much king about me now, Harry; but sit down. Why I've come through +such a lot since I saw you, that I begin to feel quite aged. Well, it +is just like old times seeing you. But you're not a bit altered. No +beard, or moustache, or anything, and just as cheeky-looking as when you +gave me that thrashing in the wood at Burley. But you don't talk so +Cockneyfied." + +"No, Johnnie; ye see I've roughed it a bit, and learned better English +in the bush and scrub. But I say, Johnnie, I wouldn't mind being back +for a day or two at Burley. I think I could ride your buck-jumping +'Eider Duck' now. Ah, I won't forget that first ride, though; I've got +to rub myself yet whenever I think of it." + +"But how on earth did you get here at all, the pair of you?" + +"Well," said Harry, "that ain't my story 'alf so much as it is Bob's. I +reckon he better tell it." + +"Oh, but I haven't the gift of the gab like you, Harry! I'm a slow +coach. I am a duffer at a story." + +"Stop telling both," cried Archie. "I don't want any story about the +matter. Just a little conversational yarn; you can help each other out, +and what I don't understand, why I'll ask, that's all." + +"But wait a bit," he continued. "Touch that bell, Harry. Pull hard; it +doesn't ring else. My diggins are not much account. Here comes Sarah, +singing. Bless her old soul! I'd been dead many a day if it hadn't +been for Sarah." + +"Look here, Sarah." + +"I'm looking nowheres else, Mister Broadbent; but mind you this, if +there's too much talking, I'm to show both these gents downstairs. +Them's the doctor's orders, and they've got to be obeyed. Now, what's +your will, sir?" + +"Tea, Sarah." + +"That's right. One or two words at a time and all goes easy. Tea you +shall have in the twinkling of a bedpost. Tea and etceteras." + +Sarah was as good as her word. In ten minutes she had laid a little +table and spread it with good things; a big teapot, cups and saucers, +and a steaming urn. + +Then off she went singing again. + +Archie wondered what made her so happy, and meant to ask her when his +guests were gone. + +"Now, young Squire," said Harry, "I'll be the lady; and if your tea +isn't to your taste, why just holler." + +"But don't call me Squire, Harry; I left that title at home. We're all +equal here. No kings and no cadgers." + +"Well, Bob, when last I saw you in old England, there was a sorrowful +face above your shoulders, and I'll never forget the way you turned +round and asked me to look after your mother's cat." + +"Ah, poor mother! I wish I'd been better to her when I had her. +However, I reckon we'll meet some day up-bye yonder." + +"Yes, Bob, and you jumped the fence and disappeared in the wood! Where +did you go?" + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +BOB'S STORY: WILD LIFE AT THE DIGGINGS. + +"Well, it all came about like this, Archie: 'England,' I said to myself, +says I, 'ain't no place for a poor man.' Your gentry people, most o' +them anyhow, are just like dogs in the manger. The dog couldn't eat the +straw, but he wouldn't let the poor hungry cow have a bite. Your landed +proprietors are just the same; they got their land as the dog got his +manger. They took it, and though they can't live on it all, they won't +let anybody else do it." + +"You're rather hard on the gentry, Bob." + +"Well, maybe, Archie; but they ain't many o' them like Squire Broadbent. +Never mind, there didn't seem to be room for me in England, and I +couldn't help noticing that all the best people, and the freest, and +kindest, were men like your Uncle Ramsay, who had been away abroad, and +had gotten all their dirty little meannesses squeezed out of them. So +when I left you, after cutting that bit o' stick, I made tracks for +London. I hadn't much money, so I tramped all the way to York, and then +took train. When I got to London, why I felt worse off than ever. Not +a soul to speak to; not a face I knew; even the bobbies looking sour +when I asked them a civil question; and starvation staring me in the +face." + +"Starvation, Bob?" + +"Ay, Archie, and money in my pocket. Plenty o' shilling dinners; but, +lo! what was _one_ London shilling dinner to the like o' me? Why, I +could have bolted three! Then I thought of Harry here, and made tracks +for whitechapel. I found the youngster--I'd known him at Burley--and he +was glad to see me again. His granny was dead, or somebody; anyhow, he +was all alone in the world. But he made me welcome--downright happy and +welcome. I'll tell you what it is, Archie lad, Harry is a little +gentleman, Cockney here or Cockney there; and deep down below that +white, thin face o' his, which three years and over of Australian +sunshine hasn't made much browner, Harry carries a heart, look, see! +that wouldn't disgrace an English Squire." + +"Bravo, Bob! I like to hear you speak in that way about our friend." + +"Well, that night I said to Harry, 'Isn't it hard, Harry.' I says, +'that in this free and enlightened land a man is put into gaol if he +snares a rabbit?' + +"'Free and enlightened fiddlestick!' that was Harry's words. 'I tell ye +what it is, Bob,' says he, 'this country is played out. But I knows +where there are lots o' rabbits for the catching.' + +"'Where's that?' I says. + +"'Australia O!' says Harry. + +"'Harry,' says I, 'let us pool up, and set sail for the land of +rabbits--for Australia O!' + +"'Right you are,' says Harry; and we pooled up on the spot; and from +that day we haven't had more'n one purse between the two of us, have we, +Harry?" + +"Only one," said Harry; "and one's enough between such old, old chums." + +"He may well say old, _old_ chums, Archie; he may well put the two olds +to it; for it isn't so much the time we've been together, it's what +we've come through together; and shoulder to shoulder has always been +our motto. We've shared our bed, we've shared our blanket, our damper +and our water also, when there wasn't much between the two of us. + +"We got helped out by the emigration folks, and we've paid them since, +and a bit of interest thrown in for luck like; but when we stood +together in Port Jackson for the first time, the contents of our purse +wouldn't have kept us living long, I can assure you. + +"'Cities aren't for the like of us, Harry,' says I. + +"'Not now,' says Harry. + +"So we joined a gang going west. There was a rush away to some place +where somebody had found gold, and Harry and I thought we might do as +well as any o' them. + +"Ay, Archie, that was a rush. 'Tinklers, tailors, sodjers, sailors.' I +declare we thought ourselves the best o' the whole gang, and I think so +still. + +"We were lucky enough to meet an old digger, and he told us just exactly +what to take and what to leave. One thing we _did_ take was steamboat +and train, as far as they would go, and this helped us to leave the mob +a bit in the rear. + +"Well, we got high up country at long last--" + +"Hold!" cried Harry. "He's missing the best of it. Is that fair, +Johnnie?" + +"No, it isn't fair." + +"Why, Johnnie, we hadn't got fifty miles beyond civilisation when, what +with the heat and the rough food and bad water, Johnnie, my London legs +and my London heart failed me, and down I must lie. We were near a bit +of a cockatoo farmer's shanty." + +"Does it pay to breed cockatoos?" said Archie innocently. + +"Don't be the death o' me, Johnnie. A cockatoo farmer is just a +crofter. Well, in there Bob helped me, and I could go no farther. How +long was I ill, Bob?" + +"The best part o' two mouths, Harry." + +"Ay, Johnnie, and all that time Bob there helped the farmer--dug for +him, trenched and fenced, and all for my sake, and to keep the life in +my Cockney skin." + +"Well, Harry," said Bob, "you proved your worth after we got up. You +hardened down fine after that fever." + +Harry turned towards Archie. + +"You mustn't believe all Bob says, Johnnie, when he speaks about me. +Bob is a good-natured, silly sort of a chap; and though he has a beard +now, he ain't got more 'n 'alf the lime-juice squeezed out of him yet." + +"Never mind, Bob," said Archie, "even limes and lemons should not be +squeezed dry. You and I are country lads, and we would rather retain a +shade of greenness than otherwise; but go on, Bob." + +"Well, now," continued Bob, "I don't know that Harry's fever didn't do +us both good in the long run; for when we started at last for the +interior, we met a good lot of the rush coming back. There was no fear +of losing the tracks. That was one good thing that came o' Harry's +fever. Another was, that it kind o' tightened his constitution. La! he +could come through anything after that--get wet to the skin and dry +again; lie out under a tree or under the dews o' heaven, and never +complain of stiffness; and eat corn beef and damper as much as you'd +like to put before him; and he never seemed to tire. As for me, you +know, Archie, I'm an old bush bird. I was brought up in the woods and +wilds; and, faith, I'm never so much at home as I am in the forests. +Not but what we found the march inland wearisome enough. Worst of it +was, we had no horses, and we had to do a lot of what you might call +good honest begging; but if the squatters did give us food going up, we +were willing to work for it." + +"If they'd let us, Bob." + +"Which they didn't. Hospitality and religion go hand in hand with the +squatter. When I and Harry here set out on that terribly long march, I +confess to both of ye now I didn't feel at all certain as to how +anything at all would turn out. I was just as bad as the young bear +when its mother put it down and told it to walk. The bear said, 'All +right, mother; but how is it done?' And as the mother only answered by +a grunt, the young bear had to do the best it could; and so did we. + +"'How is it going to end?' I often said to Harry. + +"'We can't lose anything, Bob,' Harry would say, laughing, 'except our +lives, and they ain't worth much to anybody but ourselves; so I'm +thinkin' we're safe.'" + +Here Bob paused a moment to stir his tea, and look thoughtfully into the +cup, as if there might be some kind of inspiration to be had from that. + +He laughed lightly as he proceeded: + +"I'm a bad hand at a yarn; better wi' the gun and the 'girn,' Harry. +But I'm laughing now because I remember what droll notions I had about +what the Bush, as they call it, would be like when we got there." + +"But, Johnnie," Harry put in, "the curious thing is, that we never did +get there, according to the settlers." + +"No?" + +"No; because they would always say to us, 'You're going Bush way, aren't +ye, boys?' And we would answer, 'Why, ain't we there now?' And they +would laugh." + +"That's true," said Bob. "The country never seemed to be Bush enough +for anybody. Soon's they settled down in a place the Bush'd be farther +west." + +"Then the Bush, when one is going west," said Archie, "must be like +to-morrow, always one day ahead." + +"That's it; and always keeping one day ahead. But it was Bush enough +for us almost anywhere. And though I feel ashamed like to own it now, +there was more than once that I wished I hadn't gone there at all. But +I had taken the jump, you see, and there was no going back. Well, I +used to think at first that the heat would kill us, but it didn't. Then +I made sure the want of water would. That didn't either, because, one +way or another, we always came across some. But I'll tell you what +nearly killed us, and that was the lonesomeness of those forests. Talk +of trees! La! Archie, you'd think of Jack and the beanstalk if you saw +some we saw. And why didn't the birds sing sometimes? But no, only the +constant bicker, bicker of something in the grass. There were sounds +though that did alarm us. We know now that they were made by birds and +harmless beasts, but we were all in the dark then. + +"Often and often, when we were just dropping, and thought it would be a +comfort to lie down and die, we would come out of a forest all at once, +and feel in a kind of heaven because we saw smoke, or maybe heard the +bleating o' sheep. Heaven? Indeed, Archie, it seemed to be; for we had +many a kindly welcome from the roughest-looking chaps you could possibly +imagine. And the luxury of bathing our poor feet, with the certainty of +a pair of dry, clean socks in the mornin', made us as happy as a couple +of kings. A lump of salt junk, a dab of damper, and a bed in a corner +made us feel so jolly we could hardly go to sleep for laughing. + +"But the poor beggars we met, how they did carry on to be sure about +their bad luck, and about being sold, and this, that, and t'other. Ay, +and they didn't all go back. We saw dead bodies under trees that nobody +had stopped to bury; and it was sad enough to notice that a good many of +these were women, and such pinched and ragged corpses! It isn't nice to +think back about it. + +"Had anybody found gold in this rush? Yes, a few got good working +claims, but most of the others stopped till they couldn't stop any +longer, and had to get away east again, crawling, and cursing their fate +and folly. + +"But I'll tell you, Archie, what ruined most o' them. Just drink. It +is funny that drink will find its way farther into the bush at times +than bread will. + +"Well, coming in at the tail o' the day, like, as Harry and I did, we +could spot how matters stood at a glance, and we determined to keep +clear of bush hotels. Ah! they call them all hotels. Well, I'm a rough +un, Archie, but the scenes I've witnessed in some of those drinking +houffs has turned my stomach. Maudlin, drunken miners, singing, and +blethering, and boasting; fighting and rioting worse than poachers, +Archie, and among them--heaven help us!--poor women folks that would +melt your heart to look on. + +"'Can we settle down here a bit?' I said to Harry, when we got to the +diggings. + +"'We'll try our little best, old chum,' was Harry's reply. + +"And we did try. It was hard even to live at first. The food, such as +it was in the new stores, was at famine price, and there was not much to +be got from the rivers and woods. But after a few months things mended; +our station grew into a kind o' working town. We had even a graveyard, +and all the worst of us got weeded out, and found a place there. + +"Harry and I got a claim after no end of prospecting that we weren't up +to. We bought our claim, and bought it cheap; and the chap we got it +from died in a week. Drink? Ay, Archie, drink. I'll never forget, and +Harry I don't think will, the last time we saw him. We had left him in +a neighbour's hut down the gully dying to all appearance, too weak +hardly to speak. We bade him 'good-bye' for the last time as we +thought, and were just sitting and talking like in our slab hut before +turning in, and late it must have been, when the door opened, and in +came Glutz, that was his name. La! what a sight! His face looked like +the face of a skeleton with some parchment drawn tight over it, his +hollow eyes glittered like wildfire, his lips were dry and drawn, his +voice husky. + +"He pointed at us with his shining fingers, and uttered a low cry like +some beast in pain; then, in a horrid whisper, he got out these words: + +"'Give me drink, drink, I'm burning.' + +"I've seen many a sight, but never such a one as that, Archie. We +carried him back. Yes, we did let him have a mouthful. What mattered +it. Next day he was in a shallow grave. I suppose the dingoes had him. +They had most of those that died. + +"Well, by-and-by things got better with Harry and me; our claim began to +yield, we got dust and nuggets. We said nothing to anybody. We built a +better sort of shanty, and laid out a morsel of garden, we fished and +hunted, and soon learned to live better than we'd done before, and as we +were making a bit of money we were as happy as sandboys. + +"No, we didn't keep away from the hotel--they soon got one up--it +wouldn't have done not to be free and easy. But we knew exactly what to +do when we did go there. We could spin our bits o' yarns, and smoke our +pipes, without losing our heads. Sometimes shindies got up though, and +revolvers were used freely enough, but as a rule it was pretty quiet." + +"Only once, when that little fellow told you to 'bail up.'" + +"What was that, Harry?" asked Archie. + +"Nothing much," said Bob shyly. + +"He caught him short round the waist, Johnnie, and smashed everything on +the counter with him, then flung him straight and clear through the +doorway. When he had finished he quietly asked what was to pay, and Bob +was a favourite after that. I reckon no one ever thought of challenging +him again." + +"Where did you keep your gold?" + +"We hid it in the earth in the tent. There was a black fellow came to +look after us every day. We kept him well in his place, for we never +could trust him; and it was a good thing we did, as I'm going to tell +you. + +"We had been, maybe, a year and a half in the gully, and had got +together a gay bit o' swag, when our claim gave out all at once as +'twere--some shift o' the ground or lode. Had we had machinery we might +have made a round fortune, but there was no use crying about it. We +quietly determined to make tracks. We had sent some away to Brisbane +already--that we knew was safe, but we had a good bit more to take about +us. However, we wouldn't have to walk all the way back, for though the +place was half-deserted, there were horses to be had, and farther along +we'd manage to get drags. + +"Two of the worst hats about the place were a man called Vance, and a +kind of broken-down surgeon of the name of Williams. They lived by +their wits, and the wonder is they hadn't been hanged long ago. + +"It was about three nights before we started, and we were coming home up +the gully. The moon was shining as bright as ever I'd seen it. The dew +was falling too, and we weren't sorry when we got inside. Our tame +dingo came to meet us. He had been a pup that we found in the bush and +brought up by hand, and a more faithful fellow never lived. We lit our +fat-lamp and sat down to talk, and a good hour, or maybe more, went by. +Then we lay down, for there was lots to be done in the morning. + +"There was a little hole in the hut at one end where Wango, as we called +the wild dog, could crawl through; and just as we were dozing off I +heard a slight noise, and opened my eyes enough to see poor Wango +creeping out. We felt sure he wouldn't go far, and would rush in and +alarm us if there were the slightest danger. So in a minute more I was +sleeping as soundly as only a miner can sleep, Archie. How long I may +have slept, or how late or early it was, I couldn't say, but I awoke all +at once with a start. There was a man in the hut. Next minute a shot +was fired. I fell back, and don't remember any more. Harry there will +tell you the rest." + +"It was the shot that wakened me, Archie, but I felt stupid. I groped +round for my revolver, and couldn't find it. Then, Johnnie, I just let +them have it Tom Sayers's fashion--like I did you in the wood, if you +remember." + +"There were two of them?" + +"Ay, Vance and the doctor. I could see their faces by the light of +their firing. They didn't aim well the first time, Johnnie, so I +settled them. I threw the doctor over my head. His nut must have come +against something hard, because it stilled him. I got the door opened +and had my other man out. Ha! ha! It strikes me, Johnnie, that I must +have wanted some exercise, for I never punished a bloke before as I +punished that Vance. He had no more strength in him than a bandicoot by +the time I was quite done with him, and looked as limp all over and just +as lively as 'alf a pound of London tripe. + +"I just went to the bluff-top after that, and coo-eed for help, and +three or four right good friends were with us in as many minutes, +Johnnie. + +"We thought Bob was dead, but he soon spoke up and told us he wasn't, +and didn't mean to die. + +"Our chums would have lynched the ruffians that night. The black fellow +was foremost among those that wanted to. But I didn't like that, no +more did Bob. They were put in a tent, tied hand and foot, and our +black fellow made sentry over them. Next day they were all gone. Then +we knew it was a put-up job. Poor old Wango was found with his throat +cut. The black fellow had enticed him out and taken him off, then the +others had gone for us." + +"But our swag was safe," said Bob, "though I lay ill for months after. +And now it was Harry's turn to nurse; and I can tell you, Archie, that +my dear, old dead-and-gone mother couldn't have been kinder to me than +he was. A whole party of us took the road back east, and many is the +pleasant evening we spent around our camp fire. + +"We got safe to Brisbane, and we got safe here; but somehow we're a kind +o' sick of mining." + +"Ever hear more of your assailants?" asked Archie. + +"What, the chaps who tried to bail us up? Yes. We did hear they'd +taken to bush-ranging, and are likely to come to grief at that." + +"Well, Bob Cooper, I think you've told your story pretty tidily, with +Harry's assistance; and I don't wonder now that you've only got one +purse between you." + +"Ah!" said Bob, "it would take weeks to tell you one half of our +adventures. We may tell you some more when we're all together in the +Bush doing a bit of farming." + +"All together?" + +"To be sure! D'ye reckon we'll leave you here, now we've found you? +We'll have one purse between three." + +"Indeed, Bob, we will not. If I go to the Bush--and now I've half a +mind to--I'll work like a New Hollander." + +"Bravo! You're a chip o' the old block. Well, we can arrange that. +We'll hire you. Will that do, my proud young son of a proud old sire?" + +"Yes; you can hire me." + +"Well, we'll pay so much for your hands, and so much for your head and +brains." + +Archie laughed. + +"And," continued Bob, "I'm sure that Sarah will do the very best for the +three of us." + +"Sarah! Why, what do you mean, Bob?" + +"Only this, lad: Sarah has promised to become my little wife." + +The girl had just entered. + +"Haven't you, Sarah?" + +"Hain't I what?" + +"Promised to marry me." + +"Well, Mister Archie Broadbent, now I comes to think on't, I believes I +'ave. You know, mister, you wouldn't never 'ave married me." + +"No, Sarah." + +"Well, and I'm perfectly sick o' toilin' up and down these stairs. +That's 'ow it is, sir." + +"Well, Sarah," said Archie, "bring us some more nice tea, and I'll +forgive you for this once, but you mustn't do it any more." + +It was late ere Bob and Harry went away. Archie lay back at once, and +when, a few minutes after, the ex-policeman's wife came in to see how he +was, she found him sound and fast. + +Archie was back again at Burley Old Farm, that is why he smiled in his +dreams. + +"So I'm going to be a hired man in the bush," he said to himself next +morning. "That's a turn in the kaleidoscope of fortune." + +However, as the reader will see, it did not quite come to this with +Archie Broadbent. + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +A MINER'S MARRIAGE. + +It was the cool season in Sydney. In other words, it was winter just +commencing; so, what with balmy air and beauty everywhere around, no +wonder Archie soon got well. He had the kindest treatment too, and he +had youth and hope. + +He could now write home to his parents and Elsie a long, cheerful letter +without any twinge of conscience. He was going to begin work soon in +downright earnest, and get straight away from city life, and all its +allurements; he wondered, he said, it had not occurred to him to do this +before, only it was not too late to mend even yet. He hated city life +now quite as much as he had previously loved it, and been enamoured of +it. + +It never rains but it pours, and on the very day after he posted his +packet to Burley he received a registered letter from his uncle. It +contained a bill of exchange for fifty pounds. Archie blushed scarlet +when he saw it. + +Now had this letter and its contents been from his father, knowing all +he did of the straits at home, he would have sent the money back. But +his uncle evidently knew whom he had to deal with; for he assured Archie +in his letter that it was a loan, not a gift. He might want it he said, +and he really would be obliging him by accepting it. He--Uncle Ramsay-- +knew what the world was, and so on and so forth, and the letter ended by +requesting Archie to say nothing about it to his parents at present. + +"Dear old boy," said Archie half aloud, and tears of gratitude sprang to +his eyes. "How thoughtful and kind! Well, it'll be a loan, and I'll +pray every night that God may spare him till I get home to shake his +honest brown paw, and thrust the fifty pounds back into it. No, it +would be really unkind to refuse it." + +He went straight away--walking on feathers--to Bob's hotel. He found +him and Harry sitting out on the balcony drinking sherbet. He took a +seat beside them. + +"I'm in clover, boys," he cried exultingly, as he handed the cash to Bob +to look at. + +"So you are," said Bob, reading the figures. "Well, this is what my old +mother would call a Godsend. I always said your Uncle Ramsay was as +good as they make 'em." + +"It looks a lot of money to me at present," said Archie. "I'll have all +that to begin life with; for I have still a few pounds left to pay my +landlady, and to buy a blanket or two." + +"Well, as to what you'll buy, Archie," said Bob Cooper, "if you don't +mind leaving that to us, we will manage all, cheaper and better than you +could; for we're old on the job." + +"Oh! I will with pleasure, only--" + +"I know all about that. You'll settle up. Well, we're all going to be +settlers. Eh? See the joke?" + +"Bob doesn't often say funny things," said Harry; "so it must be a fine +thing to be going to get married." + +"Ay, lad, and I'm going to do it properly. Worst of it is, Archie, I +don't know anybody to invite. Oh, we must have a dinner! Bother +breakfasts, and hang honeymoons. No, no; a run round Sydney will suit +Sarah better than a year o' honeymooning nonsense. Then we'll all go +off in the boat to Brisbane. That'll be a honeymoon and a half in +itself. Hurrah! Won't we all be so happy! I feel sure Sarah's a +jewel." + +"How long did you know her, Bob, before you asked her the momentous +question?" + +"Asked her _what_!" + +"To marry you." + +"Oh, only a week! La! that's long enough. I could see she was true +blue, and as soft as rain. Bless her heart! I say, Archie, who'll we +ask?" + +"Well, I know a few good fellows--" + +"Right. Let us have them. What's their names?" + +Out came Bob's notebook, and down went a dozen names. + +"That'll be ample," said Archie. + +"Well," Bob acquiesced with a sigh, "I suppose it must. Now we're going +to be spliced by special licence, Sarah and I. None of your doing +things by half. And Harry there is going to order the cabs and +carriages, and favours and music, and the parson, and everything +firstchop." + +The idea of "ordering the parson" struck Archie as somewhat incongruous; +but Bob had his own way of saying things, and it was evident he would +have his own way in doing things too for once. + +"And," continued Bob, "the ex-policeman's wife and I are going to buy +the bonnie things to-morrow. And as for the 'bobby' himself, we'll have +to send him away for the day. He is too fond of one thing, and would +spoil the splore." + +Next day sure enough Bob did start off with the "bobby's" wife to buy +the bonnie things. A tall, handsome fellow Bob looked too; and the +tailor having done his best, he was altogether a dandy. He would +persist in giving his mother, as he called her, his arm on the street, +and the appearance of the pair of them caused a good many people to look +after them and smile. + +However, the "bonnie things" were bought, and it was well he had someone +to look after him, else he would have spent money uselessly as well as +freely. Only, as Bob said, "It was but one day in his life, why +shouldn't he make the best of it?" + +He insisted on making his mother a present of a nice little gold watch. +No, he _wouldn't_ let her have a silver one, and it _should_ be "set +with blue-stones." He would have that one, and no other. + +"Too expensive? No, indeed!" he cried. "Make out the bill, master, and +I'll knock down my cheque. Hurrah! one doesn't get married every +morning, and it isn't everybody who gets a girl like Sarah when he does +get spliced! So there!" + +Archie had told Bob and Harry of his first dinner at the hotel, and how +kind and considerate in every way the waiter had been, and how he had +often gone back there to have a talk. + +"It is there then, and nowhere else," said Bob, "we'll have our wedding +dinner." + +Archie would not gainsay this; and nothing would satisfy the lucky miner +but chartering a whole flat for a week. + +"That's the way we'll do it," he said; "and now look here, as long as +the week lasts, any of your friends can drop into breakfast, dinner, or +supper. We are going to do the thing proper, if we sell our best +jackets to help to pay the bill. What say, old chummie?" + +"Certainly," said Harry; "and if ever I'm fool enough to get married, +I'll do the same kind o' thing." + +A happy thought occurred to Archie the day before the marriage. + +"How much loose cash have you, Bob?" + +"I dunno," said Bob, diving his hands into both his capacious pockets-- +each were big enough to hold a rabbit--and making a wonderful rattling. + +"I reckon I've enough for to-morrow. It seems deep enough." + +"Well, my friend, hand over." + +"What!" cried Bob, "you want me to bail up?" + +"Bail up!" + +"You're a downright bushranger, Archie. However, I suppose I must +obey." + +Then he emptied his pockets into a pile on the table--gold, silver, +copper, all in the same heap. Archie counted and made a note of all, +put part away in a box, locked it, gave Bob back a few coins, mostly +silver, and stowed the rest in his purse. + +"Now," said Archie, "be a good old boy, Bob; and if you want any more +money, just ask nicely, and perhaps you'll have it." + +There was a rattling thunder-storm that night, which died away at last +far beyond the hills, and next morning broke bright, and cool, and +clear. + +A more lovely marriage morning surely never yet was seen. + +And in due time the carriages rolled up to the church door, horses and +men bedecked in favours, and right merry was the peal that rang forth +from Saint James's. + +Sarah did not make by any means an uninteresting bride. She had not +over-dressed, so that showed she possessed good taste. + +As for the stalwart Northumbrian, big-bearded Bob, he really was +splendid. He was all a man, I can assure you, and bore himself as such +in spite of the fact that his black broadcloth coat was rather wrinkly +in places, and that his white kid gloves had burst at the sides. + +There was a glorious glitter of love and pride in his dark blue eyes as +he towered beside Sarah at the altar, and he made the responses in tones +that rang through all the church. + +After the ceremony and vestry business Bob gave a sigh of relief, and +squeezed Sarah's hand till she blushed. + +The carriage was waiting, and a pretty bit of a mob too. And before Bob +jumped in he said, "Now, Harry, for the bag." + +As he spoke he gave a look of triumph towards Archie, as much as to say, +"See how I have sold you." + +Harry handed him a bag of silver coins. + +"Stand by, you boys, for a scramble," shouted Bob in a voice that almost +brought down the church. + +"Coo-ee!" + +And out flew handful after handful, here, there, and everywhere, till +the sack was empty. + +When the carriages got clear away at last, there was a ringing cheer +went up from the crowd that really did everybody's heart good to hear. + +Of course the bridegroom stood up and waved his hat back, and when at +last he subsided: + +"Och!" he sighed, "that is the correct way to get married. I've got all +their good wishes, and they're worth their weight in gold, let alone +silver." + +The carriages all headed away for the heights of North Shore, and on to +the top of the bay, from whence such a glorious panorama was spread out +before them as one seldom witnesses. The city itself was a sight; but +there were the hills, and rocks, and woods, and the grand coast line, +and last, though not least, the blue sea itself. + +The breakfast was _al fresco_. It really was a luncheon, and it would +have done credit to the wedding of a Highland laird or lord, let alone a +miner and _quondam_ poacher. But Australia is a queer place. Bob's +money at all events had been honestly come by, and everybody hailed him +king of the day. He knew he was king, and simply did as he pleased. +Here is one example of his abounding liberality. Before starting back +for town that day he turned to Archie, as a prince might turn: + +"Archie, chummie," he said. + +"You see those boys?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, they all look cheeky." + +"Very much so, Bob." + +"And I dearly love a cheeky boy. Scatter a handful of coins among them, +and see that there be one or two yellow ones in the lot." + +"What nonsense!" cried Archie; "what extravagant folly, Bob!" + +"All right," said Bob quietly. "I've no money, but--" He pulled out his +splendid gold hunter. + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Why, let them scramble for the watch." + +"No, no, Bob; I'll throw the coins." + +"You have to," said Bob, sitting down, laughing. + +The dinner, and the dance afterwards, were completely successful. There +was no over-crowding, and no stuck-up-ness, as Bob called it. Everybody +did what he pleased, and all were as happy and jolly as the night was +long. + +Bob did not go away on any particular honeymoon. He told Sarah they +would have their honeymoon out when they went to the Bush. + +Meanwhile, day after day, for a week, the miner bridegroom kept open +house for Archie's friends; and every morning some delightful trip was +arranged, which, faithfully carried out, brought everyone hungry and +happy back to dinner. + +There is more beauty of scenery to be seen around Sydney in winter than +would take volumes to describe by pen, and acres of canvas to depict; +and, after all, both author and artist would have to admit that they had +not done justice to their subject. + +Now that he had really found friends--humble though they might be +considered in England--life to Archie, which before his accident was +very grey and hopeless, became bright and clear again. He had a +present, and he believed he had a future. He saw new beauties +everywhere around him, even in the city; and the people themselves, who +in his lonely days seemed to him so grasping, grim, and heartless, began +to look pleasant in his eyes. This only proves that we have happiness +within our reach if we only let it come to us, and it never will while +we sit and sulk, or walk around and growl. + +Bob, with his young wife and Archie and Harry, made many a pilgrimage +all round the city, and up and through the sternly rugged and grand +scenery among the Blue Mountains. Nor was it all wild and stern, for +valleys were visited, whose beauty far excelled anything else Archie had +ever seen on earth, or could have dreamt of even. Sky, wood, hill, +water, and wild flowers all combined to form scenes of loveliness that +were entrancing at this sweet season of the year. + +Twenty times a day at least Archie was heard saying to himself, "Oh, how +I wish sister and Rupert were here!" + +Then there were delightful afternoons spent in rowing about the bay. + +I really think Bob was taking the proper way to enjoy himself after all. +He had made up his mind to spend a certain sum of money on seeing all +that was worth seeing, and he set himself to do so in a thoroughly +business way. Well, if a person has got to do nothing, the best plan is +to do it pleasantly. + +So he would hire one of the biggest, broadest-beamed boats he could +find, with two men to row. They would land here and there in the course +of the afternoon, and towards sunset get well out into the centre of the +bay. This was the time for enjoyment. The lovely chain of houses, the +woods, and mansions half hid in a cloudland of soft greens and hazy +blues; the far-off hills, the red setting sun, the painted sky, and the +water itself casting reflections of all above. + +Then slowly homewards, the chains of lights springing up here, there, +and everywhere as the gloaming began to deepen into night. + +If seeing and enjoying such scenes as these with a contented mind, a +good appetite, and the certainty of an excellent dinner on their return, +did not constitute genuine happiness, then I do not know from personal +experience what that feeling is. + +But the time flew by. Preparations had to be made to leave this +fascinating city, and one day Archie proposed that Bob and he should +visit Winslow in his suburban villa. + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +MR WINSLOW IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT. + +"You'll find him a rough stick," said Archie. + +"What, rougher than me or Harry?" said Bob. + +"Well, as you've put the question I'll answer you pat. I don't consider +either you or Harry particularly rough. If you're rough you're right, +Bob, and it is really wonderful what a difference mixing with the world +has done for both of you; and if you knew a little more of the rudiments +of English grammar, you would pass at a pinch." + +"Thank ye," said Bob. + +"You've got a bit of the bur-r-r of Northumbria in your brogue, but I do +believe people like it, and Harry isn't half the Cockney he used to be. +But, Bob, this man--I wish I could say gentleman--Winslow never was, and +never could be, anything but a shell-back. He puts me in mind of the +warty old lobsters one sees crawling in and out among the rocks away +down at the point yonder. + +"But, oh!" added Archie, "what a little angel the daughter is! Of +course she is only a baby. And what a lovely name--Etheldene! Isn't it +sweet, Bob?" + +"I don't know about the sweetness; there is a good mouthful of it, +anyhow." + +"Off you go, Bob, and dress. Have you darned those holes in your +gloves?" + +"No; bought a new pair." + +"Just like your extravagance. Be off!" + +Bob Cooper took extra pains with his dressing to-day, and when he +appeared at last before his little wife Sarah, she turned him round and +round and round three times, partly for luck, and partly to look at him +with genuine pride up and down. + +"My eye," she said at last, "you does look stunning! Not a pin in +sight, nor a string sticking out anywheres. You're going to see a young +lady, I suppose; but Sarah ain't jealous of her little man. She likes +to see him admired." + +"Yes," said Bob, laughing; "you've hit the nail straight on the head; I +am going to see a young lady. She is fourteen year old, I think. But +bless your little bobbing bit o' a heart, lass, it isn't for her I'm +dressed. No; I'm going with t' young Squire. He may be all the same as +us out here, and lets me call him Archie. But what are they out here, +after all? Why, only a set o' whitewashed heathens. No, I must dress +for the company I'm in." + +"And the very young lady--?" + +"Is a Miss Winslow. I think t' young Squire is kind o' gone on her, +though she _is_ only a baby. Well, good-bye, lass." + +"Good-bye, little man." + +Etheldene ran with smiles and outstretched arms to meet Archie, but drew +back when she noticed the immense bearded stranger. + +"It's only Bob," said Archie. "Is your father in?" + +"Yes, and we're all going to have tea out here under the trees." + +The "all" was not a very large number; only Etheldene's governess and +father, herself, and a girl playmate. + +Poor Etheldene's mother had died in the Bush when she was little more +than a baby. The rough life had hardly suited her. And this child had +been such a little bushranger from her earliest days that her present +appearance, her extreme beauty and gentleness, made another of those +wonderful puzzles for which Australia is notorious. + +Probably Etheldene knew more about the blacks, with their strange +customs and manners, their curious rites and superstitions, and more +about the home life of wallabies, kangaroos, dingoes, birds, insects, +and every thing that grew wild, than many a professed naturalist; but +she had her own names, or names given by blacks, to the trees and to the +wild flowers. + +While Etheldene, somewhat timidly it must be confessed, was leading big +Bob round the gardens and lawns by the hand as if he were a kind of +exaggerated schoolboy, and showing him all her pets--animate and +inanimate--her ferns and flowers and birds, Winslow himself came upon +the scene with the _Morning Herald_ in his hand. He was dressed--if +dressing it could be called--in the same careless manner Archie had last +seen him. It must be confessed, however, that this semi-negligent style +seemed to suit him. Archie wondered if ever he had worn a necktie in +his life, and how he would look in a dress suit. He lounged up with +careless ease, and stuck out his great spade of a hand. + +Archie remembered he was Etheldene's father, and shook it. + +"Well, youngster, how are you? Bobbish, eh? Ah, I see Ethie has got in +tow with a new chum. Your friend? Is he now? Well, that's the sort of +man I like. He's bound to do well in this country. You ain't a bad +sort yourself, lad; but nothing to that, no more than a young turkey is +to an emu. Well, sit down." + +Mr Winslow flung himself on the grass. It might be rather damp, but he +dared not trust his weight and bulk on a lawn-chair. + +"So your friend's going to the Bush, and going to take you with him, +eh?" + +Archie's proud soul rebelled against this way of talking, but he said +nothing. It was evident that Mr Winslow looked upon him as a boy. + +"Well, I hope you'll do right both of you. What prospects have you?" + +Archie told him how high his hopes were, and how exalted his notions. + +"Them's your sentiments, eh? Then my advice is this: Pitch 'em all +overboard--the whole jing-bang of them. Your high-flown notions sink +you English greenhorns. Now, when I all but offered you a position +under me--" + +"Under your gardener," said Archie, smiling. "Well, it's all the same. +I didn't mean to insult your father's son. I wanted to know if you had +the grit and the go in you." + +"I think I've both, sir. Father--Squire Broadbent--" + +"Squire Fiddlestick!" + +"Sir!" + +"Go on, lad, never mind me. Your father--" + +"My father brought me up to work." + +"Tossing hay, I suppose, raking flower-beds and such. Well, you'll find +all this different in Australian Bush-life; it is sink or swim there." + +"Well, I'm going to swim." + +"Bravo, boy!" + +"And now, sir, do you mean to tell me that brains go for nothing in this +land of contrariety?" + +"No," cried Winslow, "no, lad. Goodness forbid I should give you that +impression. If I had only the gift of the gab, and were a good writer, +I'd send stuff to this paper," (here he struck the sheet that lay on the +grass) "that would show men how I felt, and I'd be a member of the +legislature in a year's time. But this is what I say, lad, _Brains +without legs and arms, and a healthy stomach, are no good here_, or very +little. We want the two combined; but if either are to be left out, why +leave out the brains. There is many an English youth of gentle birth +and good education that would make wealth and honour too in this new +land of ours, if he could pocket his pride, don a workman's jacket, and +put his shoulder to the wheel. That's it, d'ye see?" + +"I think I do." + +"That's right. Now tell me about your uncle. Dear old man! We never +had a cross word all the time I sailed with him." + +Archie did tell him all, everything, and even gave him his last letter +to read. + +By-and-by Etheldene came back, still leading her exaggerated schoolboy. + +"Sit down, Mr Cooper, on the grass. That's the style." + +"Well," cried Archie, laughing, "if everybody is going to squat on the +grass, so shall I." + +Even Etheldene laughed at this; and when the governess came, and +servants with the tea, they found a very happy family indeed. + +After due introductions, Winslow continued talking to Bob. + +"That's it, you see, Mr Cooper; and I'm right glad you've come to me +for advice. What I don't know about settling in Bushland isn't worth +knowing, though I say it myself. There are plenty long-headed fellows +that have risen to riches very quickly, but I believe, lad, the same men +would have made money in their own country. They are the geniuses of +finance; fellows with four eyes in their head, and that can look two +ways at once. But they are the exception, and the ordinary man needn't +expect such luck, because he won't get it. + +"Now there's yourself, Mr Cooper, and your friend that I haven't seen; +you've made a lucky dive at the fields, and you're tired of +gold-digging. I don't blame you. You want to turn farmer in earnest. +On a small scale you are a capitalist. Well, mind, you're going to play +a game, in which the very first movement may settle you for good or +evil. + +"Go to Brisbane. Don't believe the chaps here. Go straight away up, +and take time a bit, and look round. Don't buy a pig in a poke. +Hundreds do. There's a lot of people whose interest is to sell A1 +claims, and a shoal of greenhorns with capital who want to buy. Now +listen. Maybe not one of these have any experience. They see +speculation in each other's eyes; and if one makes a grab, the other +will try to be before him, and very likely the one that lays hold is +hoisted. Let me put it in another way. Hang a hook, with a nice piece +of pork on it, overboard where there are sharks. Everyone would like +the pork, but everyone is shy and suspicious. Suddenly a shark, with +more speculation in his eye than the others, prepares for a rush, and +rather than he shall have it all the rest do just the same, and the +lucky one gets hoisted. It's that way with catching capitalists. So I +say again, Look before you leap. Don't run after bargains. They may be +good, but--This young fellow here has some knowledge of English farming. +Well, that is good in its way, very good; and he has plenty of muscle, +and is willing to work, that is better. If he were all alone, I'd tell +him to go away to the Bush and shear sheep, build fences, and drive +cattle for eighteen months, and keep his eyes wide open, and his ears +too, and he'd get some insight into business. As it is, you're all +going together, and you'll all have a look at things. You'll see what +sort of stock the country is suited for--sheep, or cattle, or both; if +it is exposed, or wet, or day, or forest, or all together. And you'll +find out if it be healthy for men and stock, and not 'sour' for either; +and also you'll consider what markets are open to you. For there'd be +small use in rearing stock you couldn't sell. See?" + +"Yes," said Bob; "I see a lot of difficulties in the way I hadn't +thought of." + +"Go warily then, and the difficulties will vanish. I think I'll go with +you to Brisbane," added Winslow, after a pause. "I'm getting sick +already of civilised life." + +Etheldene threw her arms round her father's neck. + +"Well, birdie, what is it? 'Fraid I go and leave you too long?" + +"You mustn't leave me at all, father. I'm sometimes sick of civilised +life. I'm going with you wherever you go." + +That same evening after dinner, while Etheldene was away somewhere with +her new friend--showing him, I think, how to throw the boomerang-- +Winslow and Archie sat out in the verandah looking at the stars while +they sipped their coffee. + +Winslow had been silent for a time, suddenly he spoke. + +"I'm going to ask you a strange question, youngster," he said. + +"Well, sir?" said Archie. + +"Suppose I were in a difficulty, from what you have seen of me would you +help me out if you could?" + +"You needn't ask, sir," said Archie. "My uncle's friend." + +"Well, a fifty-pound note would do it." + +Archie had his uncle's draft still with him. He never said a word till +he had handed it to Winslow, and till this eccentric individual had +crumpled it up, and thrust it unceremoniously, and with only a grunt of +thanks, into one of his capacious pockets. + +"But," said Archie, "I would rather you would not look upon it as a +loan. In fact, I am doubting the evidence of my senses. You--with all +the show of wealth I see around me--to be in temporary need of a poor, +paltry fifty pounds! Verily, sir, this is the land of contrarieties." + +Winslow simply laughed. + +"You have a lot to learn yet," he said, "my young friend; but I admire +your courage, and your generous-heartedness, though not your business +habits." + +Archie and Bob paid many a visit to Wistaria Grove--the name of +Winslow's place--during the three weeks previous to the start from +Sydney. + +One day, when alone with Archie, Winslow thrust an envelope into his +hands. + +"That's your fifty pounds," he said. "Why, count it, lad; don't stow it +away like that. It ain't business." + +"Why," said Archie, "here are three hundred pounds, not fifty pounds!" + +"It's all yours, lad, every penny; and if you don't put it up I'll put +it in the fire." + +"But explain." + +"Yes, nothing more easy. You mustn't be angry. No? Well, then, I +knew, from all accounts, you were a chip o' the old block, and there was +no use offending your silly pride by offering to lend you money to buy a +morsel of claim, so I simply borrowed yours and put it out for you." + +"Put it out for me?" + +"Yes, that's it; and the money is honestly increased. Bless your +innocence! I could double it in a week. It is making the first +thousand pounds that is the difficulty in this country of contrarieties, +as you call it." + +When Archie told Bob the story that evening, Bob's answer was: + +"Well, lad, I knew Winslow was a good-hearted fellow the very first day +I saw him. Never you judge a man by his clothes, Archie." + +"First impressions certainly _are_ deceiving," said Archie; "and I'm +learning something new every day of my life." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"I am going round to Melbourne for a week or two, boys," said Winslow +one day. "Which of you will come with me?" + +"I'll stop here," said Bob, "and stick to business. You had better go, +Archie." + +"I would like to, if--if I could afford it." + +"Now, just look here, young man, you stick that eternal English pride of +yours in your pocket. I ask you to come with me as a guest, and if you +refuse I'll throw you overboard. And if, during our journey, I catch +you taking your pride, or your purse either, out of your pocket, I'll +never speak another word to you as long as I live." + +"All right," said Archie, laughing; "that settles it. Is Etheldene +going too?" + +"Yes, the child is going. She won't stay away from her old dad. She +hasn't a mother, poor thing." + +Regarding Archie's visit to Victoria, we must let him speak himself +another time; for the scene of our story must now shift. + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +BOOK III--IN THE WILD INTERIOR. + +"IN THIS NEW LAND OF OURS." + +There was something in the glorious lonesomeness of Bush-life that +accorded most completely with Archie's notions of true happiness and +independence. His life now, and the lives of all the three, would be +simply what they chose to make them. To use the figurative language of +the New Testament, they had "taken hold of the plough," and they +certainly had no intention of "looking back." + +Archie felt (this too is figurative) as the mariner may be supposed to +feel just leaving his native shore to sail away over the broad, the +boundless ocean to far-off lands. His hand is on the tiller; the shore +is receding; his eye is aloft, where the sails are bellying out before +the wind. There is hardly a sound, save the creaking of the blocks, or +rattle of the rudder chains, the joyous ripple of the water, and the +screaming of the sea-birds, that seem to sing their farewells. Away +ahead is the blue horizon and the heaving sea, but he has faith in his +good barque, and faith in his own skill and judgment, and for the time +being he is a Viking; he is "monarch of all he surveys." + +"Monarch of all he surveys?" Yes; these words are borrowed from the +poem on Robinson Crusoe, you remember; that stirring story that so +appeals to the heart of every genuine boy. + +There was something of the Robinson Crusoe element in Archie's present +mode of living, for he and his friends had to rough it in the same +delightfully primitive fashion. They had to know and to practise a +little of almost every trade under the sun; and while life to the boy-- +he was really little more--was very real and very earnest, it felt all +the time like playing at being a man. + +But how am I to account for the happiness--nay, even joyfulness--that +appeared to be infused in the young man's very blood and soul? Nay, not +appeared to be only, but that actually was--a joyfulness whose effects +could at times be actually felt in his very frame and muscle like a +proud thrill, that made his steps and tread elastic, and caused him to +gaily sing to himself as he went about at his work. May I try to +explain this by a little homely experiment, which you yourself may also +perform? See, here then I have a small disc of zinc, no larger than a +coat button, and I have also a shilling-piece. I place the former on my +tongue, and the latter between my lower lip and gum, and lo! the moment +I permit the two metallic edges to touch I feel a tingling thrill, and +if my eyes be shut I perceive a flash as well. It is electricity +passing through the bodily medium--my tongue. The one coin becomes _en +rapport_, so to speak, with the other. So in like manner was Archie's +soul within him _en rapport_ with all the light, the life, the love he +saw around him, his body being but the wholesome, healthy, solid medium. + +_En rapport_ with the light. Why, by day this was everywhere--in the +sky during its midday blue brightness; in the clouds so gorgeously +painted that lay over the hills at early morning, or over the wooded +horizon near eventide. _En rapport_ with the light dancing and +shimmering in the pool down yonder; playing among the wild flowers that +grew everywhere in wanton luxuriance; flickering through the tree-tops, +despite the trailing creepers; gleaming through the tender greens of +fern fronds in cool places; sporting with the strange fantastic, but +brightly-coloured orchids; turning greys to white, and browns to bronze; +warming, wooing, beautifying all things--the light, the lovely light. +_En rapport_ with the life. Ay, there it was. Where was it not? In +the air, where myriads of insects dance and buzz and sing and poise +hawk-like above flowers, as if inhaling their sweetness, or dart hither +and thither in their zigzag course, and almost with the speed of +lightning; where monster beetles go droning lazily round, as if +uncertain where to alight; where moths, like painted fans, hover in the +sunshine, or fold their wings and go to sleep on flower-tops. In the +forests, where birds, like animated blossoms, living chips of dazzling +colours, hop from boughs, climb stems, run along silvery bark on trees, +hopping, jumping, tapping, talking, chattering, screaming, with bills +that move and throats that heave even when their voices cannot be heard +in the feathered babel. Life on the ground, where thousands of busy +beetles creep, or play hide-and-seek among the stems of tall grass, and +where ants innumerable go in search of what they somehow never seem to +find. Life on the water slowly sailing round, or in and out among the +reeds, in the form of bonnie velvet ducks and pretty spangled teal. +Life in the water, where shoals of fish dart hither and thither, or rest +for a moment in shallows to bask in the sun, their bodies all a-quiver +with enjoyment. Life in the sky itself, high up. Behold that splendid +flock of wonga-wonga pigeons, with bronzen wings, that seem to shake the +sunshine off them in showers of silver and gold, or, lower down, that +mob of snowy-breasted cockatoos, going somewhere to do something, no +doubt, and making a dreadful din about it, but quite a sight, if only +from the glints of lily and rose that appear in the white of their +outstretched wings and tails. Life everywhere. + +_En rapport_ with all the love around him. Yes, for it is spring here, +though the autumn tints are on the trees in groves and woods at Burley. +Deep down in the forest yonder, if you could penetrate without your +clothes being torn from your back, you might listen to the soft murmur +of the doves that stand by their nests in the green gloom of fig trees; +you would linger long to note the love passages taking place among the +cosy wee, bright, and bonnie parrakeets; you would observe the hawk +flying silently, sullenly, home to his castle in the inaccessible +heights of the gum trees, but you would go quickly past the forest dens +of lively cockatoos. For everywhere it is spring with birds and beasts. +They have dressed in their gayest; they have assumed their fondest +notes and cries; they live and breathe and buzz in an atmosphere of +happiness and love. + +Well, it was spring with Nature, and it was spring in Archie's heart. + +Work was a pleasure to him. + +That last sentence really deserves a line to itself. Without the ghost +of an intention to moralise, I must be permitted to say, that the youth +who finds an undoubted pleasure in working is sure to get on in +Australia. There is that in the clear, pure, dry air of the back Bush +which renders inactivity an impossibility to anyone except +ne'er-do-wells and born idiots. This is putting it strongly, but it is +also putting it truthfully. + +Archie felt he had done with Sydney, for a time at all events, when he +left. He was not sorry to shake the dust of the city from his +half-wellingtons as he embarked on the _Canny Scotia_, bound for +Brisbane. + +If the Winslows had not been among the passengers he certainly would +have given vent to a sigh or two. + +All for the sake of sweet little Etheldene? Yes, for her sake. Was she +not going to be Rupert's wife, and his own second sister? Oh, he had it +all nicely arranged, all cut and dry, I can assure you! + +Here is a funny thing, but it is also a fact. The very day that the +_Canny Scotia_ was to sail, Archie took Harry with him, and the two +started through the city, and bore up for the shop of Mr Glorie. + +They entered. It was like entering a gloomy vault. Nothing was +altered. There stood the rows on rows of dusty bottles, with their +dingy gilt labels; the dusty mahogany drawers; the morsel of railinged +desk with its curtain of dirty red; there were the murky windows with +their bottles of crusted yellows and reds; and up there the identical +spider still working away at his dismal web, still living in hopes +apparently of some day being able to catch a fly. + +The melancholy-looking new apprentice, who had doubtless paid the new +premium, a long lantern-jawed lad with great eyes in hollow sockets, and +a blue-grey face, stood looking at the pair of them. + +"Where is your master, Mr--?" + +"Mr Myers, sir. Myers is my name." + +"Where is Mr Glorie, Mr Myers?" + +"D'ye wish to see'm, sir?" + +"Don't it seem like it?" cried Harry, who for the life of him "could not +help putting his oar in." + +"Master's at the back, among--the soap." + +He droned out the last words in such a lugubrious tone that Archie felt +sorry for him. + +Just then, thinking perhaps he scented a customer, Mr Glorie himself +entered, all apron from the jaws to the knees. + +"Ah! Mr Glorie," cried Archie. "I really couldn't leave Sydney +without saying ta-ta, and expressing my sorrow for breaking--" + +"Your indenture, young sir?" + +"No; I'm glad I broke that. I mean the oil-jar. Here is a sovereign +towards it, and I hope there's no bad feeling." + +"Oh, no, not in the least, and thank you, sir, kindly!" + +"Well, good-bye. Good-bye Mr Myers. If ever I return from the Bush +I'll come back and see you." + +And away they went, and away went Archie's feeling of gloom as soon as +he got to the sunny side of the street. + +"I say," said Harry, "that's a lively coon behind the counter. Looks to +me like a love-sick bandicoot, or a consumptive kangaroo. But don't you +know there is such a thing as being too honest? Now that old +death-and-glory chap robbed you, and had it been me, and I'd called +again, it would have been to kick him. But you're still the old +Johnnie." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Now if I were writing all this tale from imagination, instead of +sketching the life and struggles of a real live laddie, I should have +ascended into the realms of romance, and made a kind of hero of him +thus: he should have gone straight away to the bank when he received +that 50 pounds from his uncle, and sent it back, and then gone off to +the bush with twopence halfpenny in his pocket, engaged himself to a +squatter as under-man, and worked his way right up to the pinnacle of +fortune. + +But Archie had not done that; and between you and me and the binnacle, +not to let it go any further, I think he did an extremely sensible thing +in sticking to the money. + +Oh, but plenty of young men who do not have uncles to send them +fifty-pound notes to help them over their first failures, do very well +without such assistance! So let no intending emigrant be disheartened. + +Again, as to Winslow's wild way of borrowing said 50 pounds, and +changing it into 300 pounds, that was another "fluke," and a sort of +thing that might never happen again in a hundred years. + +Pride did come in again, however, with a jump--with a gay Northumbrian +bound--when Bob and Harry seriously proposed that Johnnie, as the latter +still called him, should put his money in the pool, and share and share +alike with them. + +"No, no, no," said the young Squire, "don't rile me; that would be so +obviously unfair to _you_, that it would be unfair to _myself_." + +When asked to explain this seeming paradox, he added: + +"Because it would rob me of my feeling of independence." + +So the matter ended. + +But through the long-headed kindness and business tact of Winslow, all +three succeeded in getting farms that adjoined, though Archie's was but +a patch compared to the united great farms of his chums, that stretched +to a goodly two thousand acres and more, with land beyond to take up as +pasture. + +But then there was stock to buy, and tools, and all kinds of things, to +say nothing of men's and boys' wages to be paid, and arms and ammunition +to help to fill the larder. + +At this time the railway did not go sweeping away so far west as it does +now, the colony being very much younger, and considerably rougher; and +the farms lay on the edge of the Darling Downs. + +This was a great advantage, as it gave them the run of the markets +without having to pay nearly as much in transit and freight as the stock +was worth. + +They had another advantage in their selection--thanks once more to +Winslow--they had Bush still farther to the west of them. Not adjacent, +to be sure, but near enough to make a shift of stock to grass lands, +that could be had for an old song, as the saying is. + +The selection was procured under better conditions than I believe it is +to be had to-day; for the rent was only about ninepence an acre, and +that for twenty years, the whole payable at any time in order to obtain +complete possession. + +[At present agricultural farms may be selected of not more than 1280 +acres, and the rent is fixed by the Land Board, not being less than +threepence per acre per annum. A licence is issued to the selector, who +must, within five years, fence in the land or make permanent +improvements of a value equal to the cost of the fence, and must also +live on the selection. If at the end of that time he can prove that he +has performed the above conditions, he will be entitled to a +transferable lease for fifty years. The rent for the first ten years +will be the amount as at first fixed, and the rent for every subsequent +period of five years will be determined by the Land Board, but the +greatest increase that can be made at any re-assessment is fifty per +cent.] + +It must not be imagined that this new home of theirs was a land flowing +with milk and honey, or that they had nothing earthly to do but till the +ground, sow seed, and live happy ever after. Indeed the work to be +performed was all earthly, and the milk and honey had all to come. + +A deal of the very best land in Australia is covered with woods and +forests, and clearing has to be done. + +Bob wished his busy little body of a wife to stay behind in Brisbane +till he had some kind of a decent crib, as he called it, ready to invite +her to. + +But Sarah said, "No! Where you go I go. Your crib shall be my crib, +Bob, and I shall bake the damper." This was not very poetical language, +but there was a good deal of sound sense about Sarah, even if there was +but little poetry. + +Well, it did seem at first a disheartening kind of wilderness they had +come to, but the site for the homesteads had been previously selected, +and after a night's rest in their rude tents and waggons, work was +commenced. Right joyfully too,-- + +"Down with them! Down with the lords of the forests." + +This was the song of our pioneers. Men shouted and talked, and laughed +and joked, saws rasped and axes rang, and all the while duty went +merrily on. Birds find beasts, never disturbed before in the solitude +of their homes, except by wandering blacks, crowded round--only keeping +a safe distance away--and wondered whatever the matter could be. The +musical magpies, or laughing jackasses, said they would soon settle the +business; they would frighten those new chums out of their wits, and out +of the woods. So they started to do it. They laughed in such loud, +discordant, daft tones that at times Archie was obliged to put his +fingers in his ears, and guns had to be fired to stop the row. So they +were not successful. The cockatoos tried the same game; they cackled +and skraighed like a million mad hens, and rustled and ruffled their +plumage, and flapped their wings and flew, but all to no purpose--the +work went on. + +The beautiful lorries, parrakeets, and budgerigars took little notice of +the intruders, but went farther away, deserting half-built nests to +build new ones. The bonnie little long-tailed opossum peeped down from +his perch on the gums, looking exceedingly wise, and told his wife that +not in all his experience had there been such goings on in the forest +lands, and that something was sure to follow it; his wife might mark his +words for that. The wonga-wongas grumbled dreadfully; but great hawks +flew high in the air, swooping round and round against the sun, as they +have a habit of doing, and now and then gave vent to a shrill cry which +was more of exultation than anything else. "There will be dead bones to +pick before long." That is what the hawks thought. Snakes now and then +got angrily up, puffed and blew a bit, but immediately decamped into the +denser cover. + +The dingoes kept their minds to themselves until night fell, and the +stars came out; the constellation called the Southern Cross spangled the +heaven's dark blue, then the dingoes lifted up their voices and wept; +and, oh, such weeping! Whoso has never heard a concert of Australian +wild dogs can have no conception of the noise these animals are capable +of. Whoso has once heard it, and gone to sleep towards the end of it, +will never afterwards complain of the harmless musical reunions of our +London cats. + +But sleep is often impossible. You have got just to lie in bed and +wonder what in the name of mystery they do it for. They seem to quarrel +over the key-note, and lose it, and try for it, and get it again, and +again go off into a chorus that would "ding doon" Tantallan Castle. And +when you do doze off at last, as likely as not, you will dream of +howling winds and hungry wolves till it is grey daylight in the morning. + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +BURLEY NEW FARM. + +There was so much to be done before things could be got "straight" on +the new station, that the days and weeks flew by at a wonderful pace. I +pity the man or boy who is reduced to the expedient of killing time. +Why if one is only pleasantly and usefully occupied, or engaged in +interesting pursuits, time kills itself, and we wonder where it has gone +to. + +If I were to enter into a minute description of the setting-up of the +stock and agricultural farm, chapter after chapter would have to be +written, and still I should not have finished. I do not think it would +be unprofitable reading either, nor such as one would feel inclined to +skip. But as there are a deal of different ways of building and +furnishing new places the plan adopted by the three friends might not be +considered the best after all. Besides, improvements are taking place +every day even in Bush-life. However, in the free-and-easy life one +leads in the Bush one soon learns to feel quite independent of the finer +arts of the upholsterer. + +In that last sentence I have used the adjective "easy;" but please to +observe it is adjoined to another hyphenically, and becomes one with +it--"free-and-easy." There is really very little ease in the Bush. Nor +does a man want it or care for it--he goes there to work. Loafers had +best keep to cities and to city life, and look for their _little_ +enjoyments in parks and gardens by day, in smoke-filled billiard-rooms +or glaringly-lighted music-halls by night, go to bed at midnight, and +make a late breakfast on rusks and soda-water. We citizens of the woods +and wilds do not envy them. We go to bed with the birds, or soon after. +We go to sleep, no matter how hard our couches may be; and we do sleep +too, and wake with clear heads and clean tongues, and after breakfast +feel that nothing in the world will be a comfort to us but work. Yes, +men work in the Bush; and, strange to say, though they go there young, +they do not appear to grow quickly old. Grey hairs may come, and Nature +may do a bit of etching on their brows and around their eyes with the +pencil of time, but this does not make an atom of difference to their +brains and hearts. These get a trifle tougher, that is all, but no +older. + +Well, of the three friends I think Archie made the best Bushman, though +Bob came next, then Harry, who really had developed his powers of mind +and body wonderfully, which only just proves that there is nothing after +all, even for a Cockney, like rubbing shoulders against a rough world. + +A dozen times a week at least Archie mentally thanked his father for +having taught him to work at home, and for the training he had received +in riding to hounds, in tramping over the fields and moors with Branson, +in gaining practical knowledge at the barn-yards, and last, though not +least, in the good, honest, useful groundwork of education received from +his tutor Walton. + +There was something else that Archie never failed to feel thankful to +heaven for, and that was the education his mother had given him. + +Remember this: Archie was but a rough, harum-scarum kind of a British +boy at best, and religious teaching might have fallen on his soul as +water falls on a duck's back, to use a homely phrase. But as a boy he +had lived in an atmosphere of refinement. He constantly breathed it +till he became imbued with it; and he received the influence also +second-hand, or by reflection, from his brother Rupert and his sister. + +Often and often in the Bush, around the log fire of an evening, did +Archie speak proudly of that beloved twain to his companions. His +language really had, at times, a smack of real, downright innocence +about it, as when he said to Bob once: "Mind you, Bob, I never was what +you might call good. I said, and do say, my prayers, and all the like +of that; but Roup and Elsie were so high above me that, after coming in +from a day's work or a day on the hill, it used to be like going into +church on a week-day to enter the green parlour. I felt my own mental +weakness, and I tried to put off my soul's roughness with my dirty boots +in the kitchen." + +But Archie was now an excellent superintendent of work. He knew when +things were being well done, and he determined they should be. Nothing +riled him more than an attempt on the part of any of the men to take +advantage of him. + +They soon came to know him; not as a tyrant, but simply as one who would +have things rightly done, and who knew when they _were_ being rightly +done, even if it were only so apparently simple a matter as planting a +fence-post; for there is a right way and a wrong way of doing that. + +The men spoke of him as the young Boss. Harry being ignored in all +matters that required field-knowledge. + +"We don't want nary a plumbline," said a man once, "when the young +Boss's around. He carries a plumbline in his eye." + +Archie never let any man know when he was angry; but they knew +afterwards, however, that he had been so from the consequences. Yet +with all his strictness he was kind-hearted, and very just. He had the +happy gift of being able to put himself in the servant's place while +judging betwixt man and master. + +Communications were constantly kept up between the station and the +railway, by means of waggons, or drays and saddle-horses. Among the +servants were several young blacks. These were useful in many ways, and +faithful enough; but required keeping in their places. To be in any way +familiar with them was to lose their respect, and they were not of much +consequence after that. When completed, the homestead itself was +certainly not devoid of comfort, though everything was of the homeliest +construction; for no large amount of money was spent in getting it up. +A Scotchman would describe it as consisting of "twa butts and a ben," +with a wing at the back. The capital letter L, laid down longways +thus--I will give you some notion of its shape. There were two doors in +front, and four windows, and a backdoor in the after wing, also having +windows. The wing portion of the house contained the kitchen and +general sitting-room; the right hand portion the best rooms, ladies' +room included, but a door and passage communicated with these and the +kitchen. + +This house was wholly built of sawn wood, but finished inside with lath +and plaster, and harled outside, so that when roofed over with those +slabs of wood, such as we see some old-English church steeples made of, +called "shingles," the building was almost picturesque. All the more so +because it was built on high ground, and trees were left around and near +it. + +The kitchen and wing were _par excellence_ the bachelor apartments, of +an evening at all events. + +Every thing that was necessary in the way of furnishing found its way +into the homestead of Burley New Farm; but nothing else, with the +exception of that of the guests'-room. Of this more anon. + +The living-house was completed first; but all the time that this was +being built men were very busy on the clearings, and the sites were +mapped out for the large wool-shed, with huge adjoining yards, where the +sheep at shearing-time would be received and seen to. + +There were also the whole paraphernalia and buildings constituting the +cattle and horse-yards, a killing and milking-yard; and behind these +were slab huts, roofed with huge pieces of bark, rudely but most +artistically fixed, for the men. + +These last had fire-places, and though wholly built of wood, there was +no danger of fire, the chimneys being of stone. + +Most of the yards and outhouses were separate from each other, and the +whole steading was built on elevated ground, the store-hut being not far +from the main or dwelling-house. + +I hardly know what to liken the contents of this store, or the inside of +the place itself, to. Not unlike perhaps the half-deck or fore-cabin of +a Greenland ship on the day when stores are being doled out to the men. +Or, to come nearer home, if ever the reader has been in a remote and +rough part of our own country, say Wales or Scotland, where gangs of +navvies have been encamped for a time, at a spot where a new line of +railway is being pushed through a gully or glen. + +Just take a peep inside. There is a short counter of the rudest +description, on which stand scales and weights, measures and knives. +Larger scales stand on the floor, and everywhere around you are heaps of +stores, of every useful kind you could possibly name or imagine, and +these are best divided into four classes--eatables, wearables, luxuries, +and tools. + +Harry is at home here, and he has managed to infuse a kind of regularity +into the place, and takes a sort of pride in knowing where all his wares +are stored. The various departments are kept separate. Yonder, for +instance, stand the tea, coffee, and cocoa-nibs, and near them the sugar +of two kinds, the bags of flour, the cheeses (in boxes), the salt (in +casks), soda, soap, and last, but not least, the tobacco and spirits; +this last in a place by itself, and well out of harm's way. Then there +is oil and candles--by-and-bye they will make these on the farm-- +matches--and this brings us to the luxuries--mustard, pepper of various +sorts, vinegar, pickles, curry, potted salmon, and meats of many kinds, +and bags of rice. Next there is a small store of medicines of the +simplest, not to say roughest, sorts, both for man and beast, and rough +bandages of flannel and cotton, with a bundle of splints. + +Then comes clothing of all kinds--hats, shirts, jackets, boots, shoes, +etc. Then tools and cooking utensils; and in a private cupboard, quite +away in a corner, the ammunition. + +It is unnecessary to add that harness and horse-shoes found a place in +this store, or that a desk stood in one corner where account-books were +kept, for the men did not invariably pay down on the nail. + +I think it said a good deal for Sarah's courage that she came right away +down into the Bush with her "little man," and took charge of the cooking +department on the station, when it was little, if any, better than +simply a camp, with waggons for bedrooms, and a morsel of canvas for +gentility's sake. + +But please to pop your head inside the kitchen, now that the +dwelling-house has been up for some little time. Before you reach the +door you will have to do a bit of stepping, for outside nothing is +tidied up as yet. Heaps of chips, heaps of stones and sticks and +builders' rubbish, are everywhere. Even when you get inside there is a +new smell--a limy odour--to greet you in the passage, but in the kitchen +itself all is order and neatness. A huge dresser stands against the +wall just under the window. The legs of it are a bit rough to be sure, +but nobody here is likely to be hypercritical; and when the dinner-hour +arrives, instead of the vegetables, meat, and odds-and-ends that now +stand thereon, plates, and even knives and forks, will be neatly placed +in a row, and Sarah herself, her cooking apron replaced by a neater and +nattier one, will take the head of the table, one of the boys will say a +shy kind of grace, and the meal will go merrily on. + +On a shelf, slightly raised above the floor, stand rows of clean +saucepans, stewpans, and a big, family-looking business of a frying-pan; +and on the wall hang bright, shining dish-covers, and a couple of racks +and shelves laden with delf. + +A good fire of logs burns on the low hearth, and there, among ashes +pulled on one side for the purpose, a genuine "damper" is baking, while +from a movable "sway" depends a chain and crook, on which latter hangs a +pot. This contains corned beef--very well, call it _salt_ if you +please. Anyhow, when Sarah lifts the lid to stick a fork into the +boiling mess an odour escapes and pervades the kitchen quite appetising +enough to make the teeth of a Bushman water, if he had done anything +like a morning's work. There is another pot close by the fire, and in +this sweet potatoes are boiling. + +It is a warm spring day, and the big window is open to admit the air, +else poor Sarah would be feeling rather uncomfortable. + +What is "damper"? It is simply a huge, thick cake or loaf, made from +extremely well-kneaded dough, and baked in the hot ashes of the hearth. +Like making good oat cakes, before a person can manufacture a "damper" +properly, he must be in a measure to the manner born. There is a deal +in the mixing of the dough, and much in the method of firing, and, after +all, some people do not care for the article at all, most useful and +handy and even edible though it be. But I daresay there are individuals +to be found in the world who would turn up their noses at good oat cake. +Ah, well, it is really surprising what the air of the Australian Bush +does in the way of increasing one's appetite and destroying +fastidiousness. + +But it is near the dinner-hour, and right nimbly Sarah serves it up; and +she has just time to lave her face and hands, and change her apron, when +in comes Bob, followed by Archie and Harry. Before he sits down Bob +catches hold of Sarah by both hands, and looks admiringly into her face, +and ends by giving her rosy cheek a kiss, which resounds through the +kitchen rafters like the sound of a cattle-man's whip. + +"I declare, Sarah lass," he says heartily, "you are getting prettier and +prettier every day. Now at this very moment your lips and cheeks are as +red as peonies, and your eyes sparkle as brightly as a young kangaroo's; +and if any man a stone heavier than myself will make bold to say that I +did wrong to marry you on a week's courtship, I'll kick him over the +river and across the creek. 'For what we are about to receive, the Lord +make us truly thankful. Amen.' Sit in, boys, and fire away. This beef +is delightful. I like to see the red juice following the knife; and the +sweet potatoes taste well, if they don't look pretty. What, Sarah, too +much done? Not a bit o' them." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The creek that Bob talked about kicking somebody across was a kind of +strath or glen not very far from the steading, and lying below it, green +and luxuriant at present. It wound away up and down the country for +miles, and in the centre of it was a stream or river or burn, well +clothed on its banks with bush, and opening out here and there into +little lakes or pools. This stream was--so old Bushmen said--never +known to run dry. + +In the winter time it would at times well merit the name of river, +especially when after a storm a "spate" came down, with a bore perhaps +feet high, carrying along in its dreadful rush tree trunks, rocks, +pieces of bank--everything, in fact, that came in its way, or attempted +to withstand its giant power. "Spates," however, our heroes hoped would +come but seldom; for it is sad to see the ruin they make, and to notice +afterwards the carcases of sheep and cattle, and even horses, that +bestrew the haughs, or banks, and give food to prowling dingoes and +birds of the air, especially the ubiquitous crow. + +The ordinary state of the water, however, is best described by the word +stream or rivulet, while in droughty summers it might dwindle down to a +mere burn meandering from pool to pool. + +The country all around was plain and forest and rolling hills. It was +splendidly situated for grazing of a mixed kind. But our three friends +were not to be content with this, and told off the best part of it for +future agricultural purposes. Even this was to be but a nucleus, and at +this moment much of the land then untilled is yielding abundance of +grain. + +Not until the place was well prepared for them were cattle bought and +brought home. Sheep were not to be thought of for a year or two. + +With the cattle, when they began to arrive, Winslow, who was soon to pay +the new settlement a visit, sent up a few really good stockmen. And now +Archie was to see something of Bush-life in reality. + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +RUNAWAY STOCK--BIVOUAC IN THE BUSH-NIGHT SCENE. + +Australian cattle have one characteristic in common with some breeds of +pigeons, notably with those we call "homers." They have extremely good +memories as to localities, and a habit of "making back," as it is +termed, to the pastures from which they have been driven. This comes to +be very awkward at times, especially if a whole herd decamps or takes "a +moonlight flitting." + +It would be mere digression to pause to enquire what God-given instinct +it is, that enables half-wild cattle to find their way back to their old +homes in as straight a line as possible, even when they have been driven +to a new station by circuitous routes. Many other animals have this +same homing power; dogs for example, and, to a greater extent, cats. +Swallows and sea-birds, such as the Arctic gull, and the albatross, +possess it in a very high degree; but it is still more wonderfully +displayed in fur seals that, although dispersed to regions thousands and +thousands of miles away during winter, invariably and unerringly find +their road back to a tiny group of wave and wind-swept islands, four in +number, called the Prybilov group, in the midst of the fog-shrouded sea +of Behring. The whole question wants a deal of thinking out, and life +is far too short to do it in. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +One morning, shortly after the arrival of the first great herd of stock, +word was brought to head-quarters that the cattle had escaped by +stampede, and were doubtless on their way to the distant station whence +they had been bought. + +It was no time to ask the question, Who was in fault? Early action was +necessary, and was provided for without a moment's hesitation. + +I rather think that Archie was glad to have an opportunity of doing a +bit of rough riding, and showing off his skill in horse management. He +owned what Bob termed a clipper. Not a very handsome horse to look at, +perhaps, but fleet enough and strong enough for anything. As +sure-footed as a mule was this steed, and as regards wisdom, a perfect +equine Solomon. + +At a suggestion of Bob's he had been named Tell, in memory of the Tell +of other days. Tell had been ridden by Archie for many weeks, so that +master and horse knew each other well. Indeed Archie had received a +lesson or two from the animal that he was not likely to forget; for one +day he had so far forgotten himself as to dig the rowel into Tell's +sides, when there was really no occasion to do anything of the sort. +This was more than the horse could stand, and, though he was not an +out-and-out buck-jumper, nevertheless, a moment after the stirrup +performance, Archie found himself making a voyage of discovery, towards +the moon apparently. He descended as quickly almost as he had gone up, +and took the ground on his shoulder and cheek, which latter was well +skinned. Tell had stood quietly by looking at him, and as Archie patted +him kindly, he forgave him on the spot, and permitted a remount. + +Archie and Bob hardly permitted themselves to swallow breakfast, so +anxious were they to join the stockmen and be off. + +As there was no saying when they might return, they did not go +unprovided for a night or two out. In front of their saddles were +strapped their opossum rugs, and they carried also a tin billy each, and +provisions, in the shape of tea, damper, and cooked corned beef; nothing +else, save a change of socks and their arms. + +Bob bade his wife a hurried adieu, Archie waved his hand, and next +minute they were over the paddocks and through the clearings and the +woods, in which the trees had been ring-barked, to permit the grass to +grow. And such tall grass Archie had never before seen as that which +grew in some parts of the open. + +"Is it going to be a long job, think you, Bob?" + +"I hardly know, Archie. But Craig is here." + +"Oh, yes, Gentleman Craig, as Mr Winslow insists on calling him! You +have seen him." + +"Yes; I met him at Brisbane. And a handsome chap he is. Looks like a +prince." + +"Isn't it strange he doesn't rise from the ranks, as one might say; that +he doesn't get on?" + +"I'll tell you what keeps him back," said Bob, reining his horse up to a +dead stop, that Archie might hear him all the easier. + +"I'll tell you what keeps him back now, before you see him. I mustn't +talk loud, for the very birds might go and tell the fellow, and he +doesn't like to be 'minded about it. He drinks!" + +"But he can't get drink in the Bush." + +"Not so easily, though he has been known before now to ride thirty miles +to visit a hotel." + +"A shanty, you mean." + +"Well, they call 'em all hotels over here, you must remember." + +"And would he just take a drink and come back?" + +Bob laughed. + +"Heaven help him, no. It isn't one drink, nor ten, nor fifty he takes, +for he makes a week or two of it." + +"I hope he won't take any such long rides while he is with us." + +"No. Winslow says we are sure of him for six months, anyhow. Then +he'll go to town and knock his cheque down. But come on, Craig and his +lads will be waiting for us." + +At the most southerly and easterly end of the selection they met +Gentleman Craig himself. + +He rode forward to meet them, lifting his broad hat, and reining up when +near enough. He did this in a beautifully urbane fashion, that showed +he had quite as much respect for himself as for his employers. He was +indeed a handsome fellow, and his rough Garibaldian costume fitted him, +and set him out as if he had been some great actor. + +"This is an awkward business," he began, with an easy smile; "but I +think we'll soon catch the runaways up." + +"I hope so," Bob said. + +"Oh, it was all my fault, because I'm boss of my gang, you know. I +ought to have known better, but a small mob of stray beasts got among +ours, and by-and-by there was a stampede. It was dirty-dark last night, +and looked like a storm, so there wouldn't have been an ounce of use in +following them up." + +He flicked his long whip half saucily, half angrily, as he spoke. + +"Well, never mind," Bob replied, "we'll have better luck next, I've no +doubt." + +Away they went now at a swinging trot, and on crossing the creek they +met Craig's fellows. + +They laid their horses harder at it now, Bob and Archie keeping a bit in +the rear, though the latter declared that Tell was pulling like a young +steam-engine. + +"Why," cried Archie at last, "this beast means to pull my arms out at +the shoulders. I always thought I knew how to hold the reins till now." + +"They have a queer way with them, those bush-ranging horses," said Bob; +"but I reckon you'll get up to them at last." + +"If I were to give Tell his head, he would soon be in the van." + +"In the van? Oh, I see, in the front!" + +"Yes; and then I'd be lost. Why these chaps appear to know every inch +of the ground. To me it is simply marvellous." + +"Well, the trees are blazed." + +"I've seen no blazed trees. Have you?" + +"Never a one. I say, Craig." + +"Hullo!" cried the head stockman, glancing over his shoulder. + +"Are you steering by blazed trees?" + +"No," he laughed; "by tracks. Cattle don't mind blazed trees much." + +Perhaps Bob felt green now, for he said no more. Archie looked about +him, but never a trail nor track could he decipher. + +Yet on they rode, helter-skelter apparently, but cautiously enough for +all that. Tell was full of fire and fun; for, like Verdant Green's +horse, when put at a tiny tree trunk in his way, he took a leap that +would have carried him over a five-bar-gate. + +There was many a storm-felled tree in the way also and many a dead +trunk, half buried in ferns; there were steep stone-clad hills, +difficult to climb, but worse to descend, and many a little rivulet to +cross; but nothing could interfere with the progress of these hardy +horses. + +Although the sun was blazing hot, no one seemed to feel it much. The +landscape was very wild, and very beautiful; but Archie got weary at +last of its very loveliness, and was not one whit sorry when the +afternoon halt was called under the pleasant shade of trees, and close +by the banks of a rippling stream. + +The horses were glad to drink as well as the men, then they were +hobbled, and allowed to browse while all hands sat down to eat. + +Only damper and beef, washed down by a billyful of the clear water, +which, strange to say, was wonderfully cool. + +When the sun was sinking low on the forest-clad horizon, there was a +joyful but half-suppressed shout from Craig and his men. Part of the +herd was in sight, quietly browsing up a creek. + +Gentleman Craig pointed them out to Archie; but he had to gaze a +considerable time before he could really distinguish anything that had +the faintest resemblance to cattle. + +"Your eye is young yet to the Bush," said Craig, laughing, but not in +any unmannerly way. + +"And now," he continued, "we must go cautiously or we spoil all." + +The horsemen made a wide detour, and got between the bush and the mob; +and the ground being favourable, here it was determined to camp for the +night. The object of the stockmen was not to alarm the herd, but to +prevent them from getting any farther off till morning, when the march +homewards would commence. With this intent, log fires were built here +and there around the herd; and once these were well alight the mob was +considered pretty safe. All, however, had been done very quietly; and +during the livelong night, until grey dawn broke over the hills, the +fellows would have to keep those fires burning. + +Supper was a more pleasing meal, for there was the addition of tea; +after which, with their feet to the log fire--Bob and Craig enjoying a +whiff of tobacco--they lay as much at their ease, and feeling every whit +as comfortable, as if at home by the "ingleside." Gentleman Craig had +many stories and anecdotes to relate of the wild life he had had, that +both Archie and Bob listened to with delight. + +"I'll take one more walk around," said Craig, "then stretch myself on my +downy bed. Will you come with me, Mr Broadbent?" + +"With pleasure," said Archie. + +"Mind how you step then. Keep your whip in your hand, but on no account +crack it. We have to use our intellect _versus_ brute force. If the +brute force became alarmed and combined, then our intellect would go to +the wall, there would be another stampede, and another long ride +to-morrow." + +Up and down in the starlight, or by the fitful gleams of the log fires, +they could see the men moving like uneasy ghosts. Craig spoke a word or +two kindly and quietly as he passed, and having made his inspection, and +satisfied himself that all was comparatively safe, he returned with +Archie to the fire. + +Bob was already fast asleep, rolled snugly in his blanket, with his head +in the hollow of his upturned saddle; and Archie and Craig made speed to +follow his example. + +As for Craig, he was soon in the land of Nod. He was a true Bushman, +and could go off sound as a bell the moment he stretched himself on his +"downy bed," as he called it. + +But Archie felt the situation far too new to permit of slumber all at +once. He had never lain out thus before; and the experience was so +delightful to him that he felt justified in lying awake a bit, and +looking at the stars. The distant dingoes began to howl, and more than +once some great dark bird flew over the camp, high overhead, but on +silent wings. + +His thoughts wandered away over the thousands and thousands of miles +that intervened between him and home, and he began to wonder what they +were all doing at Burley; for it would be broad daylight there, and very +likely his father was trudging over the moors, or through the stubbles. +But dreams came and mingled with his waking thoughts at last, and were +just usurping them all when he became conscious of the approach of +stealthy footsteps. + +He lay perfectly still, though his hand sought his ready revolver; for +stories of black fellows stealing on out-sleeping travellers began to +crowd through his mind, and being young to the Bush, he could not +prevent that heart of his from throbbing uneasily and painfully against +his ribs. + +How did they brain people, he was wondering, with a boomerang or nullah? +or was it not more common to spear them? + +But, greatly to his relief, the figure immediately afterwards revealed +itself in the person of one of the men, silently placing an armful of +wood on the half-dying embers. Then he silently glided away again, and +next minute Archie was wrapt in the elysium of forgetfulness. + +The dews lay all about, glittering in the first beams of the sun, when +he awoke, feeling somewhat cold and considerably stiff; but warm tea and +a breakfast of wondrous solidity soon put him all to rights again. + +Two nights after this the new stock was safe in the yards; and every +evening before sundown, for many a day to come, they had to be "tailed," +and brought within the strong bars of the rendezvous. + +Branding was the next business. This is no trifling matter with old +cattle. With the calves indeed it is a bit troublesome at times, but +the grown-up ones resent the adding of insult to injury. It is no +uncommon thing for men to be severely injured during the operation. +Nevertheless the agility displayed by the stockmen and their excessive +coolness is marvellous to behold. + +Most of those cattle were branded with a "B.H.," which stood for Bob and +Harry; but some were marked with the letters "A.B.," for Archibald +Broadbent, and--I need not hide the truth--Archie was a proud young man +when he saw these marks. He realised now fully that he had commenced +life in earnest, and was a squatter, not only in name, but in reality. + +The fencing work and improvements still went gaily on, the ground being +divided into immense paddocks, many of which our young farmers trusted +to see ere long covered with waving grain. + +The new herds soon got used to the country, and settled down on it, +dividing themselves quietly into herds of their own making, that were +found browsing together mornings and evenings in the best pastures, or +gathered in mobs during the fierce heat of the middle-day. + +Archie quickly enough acquired the craft of a cunning and bold stockman, +and never seemed happier than when riding neck and neck with some +runaway semi-wild bull, or riding in the midst of a mob, selecting the +beast that was wanted. And at a job like the latter Tell and he +appeared to be only one individual betwixt the two of them, like the +fabled Centaur. He came to grief though once, while engaged heading a +bull in as ugly a bit of country as any stockman ever rode over. It +happened. Next chapter, please. + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +A WILD ADVENTURE--ARCHIE'S PRIDE RECEIVES A FALL. + +It happened--I was going to say at the end of the other page--that in a +few weeks' time Mr Winslow paid his promised visit to Burley New Farm, +as the three friends called it. + +Great preparations had been made beforehand because Etheldene was coming +with her father, and was accompanied by a black maid. Both Etheldene +and her maid had been accommodated with a dray, and when Sarah, with her +cheeks like ripe cherries, and her eyes like sloes, showed the young +lady to her bedroom, Etheldene was pleased to express her delight in no +measured terms. She had not expected anything like this. Real +mattresses, with real curtains, a real sofa, and real lace round the +looking-glass. + +"It is almost too good for Bush-life," said Etheldene; "but I am so +pleased, Mrs Cooper; and everything is as clean and tidy as my own +rooms in Sydney. Father, do come and see all this, and thank Mrs +Cooper prettily." + +Somewhat to Archie's astonishment a horse was led round next morning for +Etheldene, and she appeared in a pretty dark habit, and was helped into +the saddle, and gathered up the reins, and looked as calm and +self-possessed as a princess could have done. + +It was Gentleman Craig who was the groom, and a gallant one he made. +For the life of him Archie could not help envying the man for his +excessive coolness, and would have given half of his cattle--those with +the bold "A.B.'s" on them--to have been only half as handsome. + +Never mind. Archie is soon mounted, and cantering away by the young +lady's side, and feeling so buoyant and happy all over that he would not +have exchanged places with a king on a throne. + +"Oh, yes," said Etheldene, laughing, as she replied to a question of +Archie's, "I know nearly everything about cattle, and sheep too! But," +she added, "I'm sure you are clever among them already." + +Archie felt the blood mount to his forehead; but he took off his broad +hat and bowed for the compliment, almost as prettily as Gentleman Craig +could have done himself. + +Now, there is such a thing as being too clever, and it was trying to be +clever that led poor Archie to grief that day. + +The young man was both proud and pleased to have an opportunity of +showing Etheldene round the settlement, all the more so that there was +to be a muster of the herds that day, and neighbour-squatters had come +on horseback to assist. This was a kind of a love-darg which was very +common in Queensland a few years ago, and probably is to this day. + +Archie pointed laughingly towards the stock whip Etheldene carried. He +never for a moment imagined it was in the girl's power to use or manage +such an instrument. + +"That is a pretty toy, Miss Winslow," he said. + +"Toy, do you call it, sir?" said this young Diana, pouting prettily. +"It is only a lady's whip, for the thong is but ten feet long. But +listen." + +It flew from her hands as she spoke, and the sound made every animal +within hearing raise head and sniff the air. + +"Well," said Archie, "I hope you won't run into any danger." + +"Oh," she exclaimed, "danger is fun!" And she laughed right merrily, +and looked as full of life and beauty as a bird in spring time. + +Etheldene was tall and well-developed for her age, for girls in this +strange land very soon grow out of their childhood. + +Archie had called her Diana in his own mind, and before the day was over +she certainly had given proof that she well merited the title. + +New herds had arrived, and had for one purpose or another to be headed +into the stock yards. This is a task of no little difficulty, and +to-day being warm these cattle appeared unusually fidgety. Twos and +threes frequently stampeded from the mob, and went determinedly dashing +back towards the creek and forest, so there was plenty of opportunities +for anyone to show off his horsemanship. Once during a chase like this +Archie was surprised to see Etheldene riding neck and neck for a time +with a furious bull. He trembled for her safety as he dashed onwards to +her assistance. But crack, crack, crack went the brave girl's whip; she +punished the runaway most unmercifully, and had succeeded in turning him +ere her Northumbrian cavalier rode up. A moment more and the bull was +tearing back towards the herd he had left, a stockman or two following +close behind. + +"I was frightened for you," said Archie. + +"Pray, don't be so, Mr Broadbent. I don't want to think myself a +child, and I should not like you to think me one. Mind, I've been in +the Bush all my life." + +But there was more and greater occasion to be frightened for Etheldene +ere the day was done. In fact, she ran so madly into danger, that the +wonder is she escaped. She had a gallant, soft-mouthed horse--that was +one thing to her advantage--and the girl had a gentle hand. + +But Archie drew rein himself, and held his breath with fear, to see a +maddened animal, that she was pressing hard, turn wildly round and +charge back on horse and rider with all the fury imaginable. A turn of +the wrist of the bridle hand, one slight jerk of the fingers, and +Etheldene's horse had turned on a pivot, we might almost say, and the +danger was over. + +So on the whole, instead of Archie having had a very grand opportunity +for showing off his powers before this young Diana, it was rather the +other way. + +The hunt ended satisfactory to both parties; and while Sarah was getting +an extra good dinner ready, Archie proposed a canter "to give them an +appetite." + +"Have you got an appetite, Mr Broadbent? I have." + +It was evident Etheldene was not too fine a lady to deny the possession +of good health. + +"Yes," said Archie; "to tell you the plain truth, I'm as hungry as a +hunter. But it'll do the nags good to stretch their legs after so much +wheeling and swivelling." + +So away they rode again, side by side, taking the blazed path towards +the plains. + +"You are sure you can find your way back, I suppose?" said Etheldene. + +"I think so." + +"It would be good fun to be lost." + +"Would you really like to be?" + +"Oh, we would not be altogether, you know! We would find our way to +some hut and eat damper, or to some grand hotel, I suppose, in the Bush, +and father and Craig would soon find us." + +"Father and you have known Craig long?" + +"Yes, many, many years. Poor fellow, it is quite a pity for him. +Father says he was very clever at college, and is a Master of Arts of +Cambridge." + +"Well, he has taken his hogs to a nice market." + +"But father would do a deal for him if he could trust him. He has told +father over and over again that plenty of people would trust him if he +could only trust himself." + +"Poor man! So nice-looking too! They may well call him Gentleman +Craig." + +"But is it not time we were returning?" + +"Look! look!" she cried, before Archie could answer. "Yonder is a +bull-fight. Whom does the little herd belong to?" + +"Not to us. We are far beyond even our pastures. We have cut away from +them. This is a kind of no-man's land, where we go shooting at times; +and I daresay they are trespassers or wild cattle. Pity they cannot be +tamed." + +"They are of no use to anyone, I have heard father say, except to shoot. +If they be introduced into a herd of stock cattle, they teach all the +others mischief. But see how they fight! Is it not awful?" + +"Yes. Had we not better return? I do not think your father would like +you to witness such sights as that." + +The girl laughed lightly. + +"Oh," she cried, "you don't half know father yet! He trusts me +everywhere. He is very, very good, though not so refined as some would +have him to be." + +The cows of this herd stood quietly by chewing their cuds, under the +shade of a huge gum tree, while two red-eyed giant bulls struggled for +mastery in the open. + +It was a curious fight, and a furious fight. At the time Archie and his +companion came in sight of the conflict, they had closed, and were +fencing with their horns with as much skill, apparently, as any two men +armed with foils could have displayed. The main points to be gained +appeared to be to unlock or get out of touch of each other's horns long +enough to stab in neck and shoulder, and during the time of being in +touch to force back and gain ground. Once during this fight the younger +bull backed his opponent right to the top of a slight hill. It was a +supreme effort, and evidently made in the hope that he would hurl him +from a height at the other side. But in this he was disappointed; for +the top was level, and the older one, regaining strength, hurled his +enemy down the hill again far more quickly than he had come up. Round +and round, and from side to side, the battle raged, till at long last +the courage and strength of one failed completely. He suffered himself +to be backed, and it was evident was only waiting an opportunity to +escape uncut and unscathed. This came at length, and he turned and, +with a cry of rage, dashed madly away to the forest. The battle now +became a chase, and the whole herd, holloaing good luck to the victor, +joined in it. + +As there was no more to be seen, Archie and Etheldene turned their +horses' heads homewards. + +They had not ridden far, however, before the vanquished bull himself +hove in sight. He was alone now, though still tearing off in a panic, +and moaning low and angrily to himself. + +It was at this moment that what Archie considered a happy inspiration +took possession of our impulsive hero. + +"Let us wait till he passes," he said, "and drive him before us to +camp." + +Easily said. But how was it to be done? + +They drew back within the shadow of a tree, and the bull rushed past. +Then out pranced knight Archie, cracking his stock whip. + +The monster paused, and wheeling round tore up the ground with his hoofs +in a perfect agony of anger. + +"What next?" he seemed to say to himself. "It is bad enough to be +beaten before the herd; but I will have my revenge now." + +The brute's roaring now was like the sound of a gong, hollow and +ringing, but dreadful to listen to. + +Archie met him boldly enough, intending to cut him in the face as he +dashed past. In his excitement he dug his spurs into Tell, and next +minute he was on the ground. The bull rushed by, but speedily wheeled, +and came tearing back, sure now of blood in which to dip his ugly hoofs. + +Archie had scrambled up, and was near a tree when the infuriated beast +came down on the charge. Even at this moment of supreme danger Archie-- +he remembered this afterwards--could not help admiring the excessively +business-like way the animal came at him to break him up. There was a +terrible earnestness and a terrible satisfaction in his face or eyes; +call it what you like, there it was. + +Near as Archie was to the tree, to reach and get round it was +impossible. He made a movement to get at his revolver; but it was too +late to draw and fire, so at once he threw himself flat on the ground. +The bull rushed over him, and came into collision with the tree trunk. +This confused him for a second or two, and Archie had time to regain his +feet. He looked wildly about for his horse. Tell was quietly looking +on; he seemed to be waiting for his young master. But Archie never +would have reached the horse alive had not brave Etheldene's whip not +been flicked with painful force across the bull's eyes. That blow saved +Archie, though the girl's horse was wounded on the flank. + +A minute after both were galloping speedily across the plain, all danger +over; for the bull was still rooting around the tree, apparently +thinking that his tormentors had vanished through the earth. + +"How best can I thank you?" Archie was saying. + +"By saying nothing about it," was Etheldene's answer. + +"But you have saved my life, child." + +"A mere bagatelle, as father says," said this saucy Queensland maiden, +with an arch look at her companion. But Archie did not look arch as he +put the next question. + +"Which do you mean is the bagatelle, Etheldene, my life, or the saving +of it?" + +"Yes, you may call me Etheldene--father's friends do--but don't, please, +call me child again." + +"I beg your pardon, Etheldene." + +"It is granted, sir." + +"But now you haven't answered my question." + +"What was it? I'm so stupid!" + +"Which did you mean was the bagatelle--my life, or the saving of it?" + +"Oh, both!" + +"Thank you." + +"I wish I could save Gentleman Craig's life," she added, looking +thoughtful and earnest all in a moment. + +"Bother Gentleman Craig!" thought Archie; but he was not rude enough to +say so. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because he once saved mine. That was when I was lost in the Bush, you +know. He will tell you some day--I will ask him to. He is very proud +though, and does not like to talk very much about himself." + +Archie was silent for a short time. Why, he was wondering to himself, +did it make him wretched--as it certainly had done--to have Etheldene +look upon his life and the saving of it as a mere bagatelle. Why should +she not? Still the thought was far from pleasant. Perhaps, if he had +been killed outright, she would have ridden home and reported his death +in the freest and easiest manner, and the accident would not have +spoiled her dinner. The girl could have no feeling; and yet he had +destined her, in his own mind, to be Rupert's wife. She was unworthy of +so great an honour. It should never happen if he could prevent it. +Suddenly it occurred to him to ask her what a bagatelle was. + +"A bagatelle?" she replied. "Oh, about a thousand pounds. Father +always speaks of a thousand pounds as a mere bagatelle." + +Archie laughed aloud--he could not help it; but Etheldene looked merrily +at him as she remarked quietly, "You wouldn't laugh if you knew what I +know." + +"Indeed! What is it?" + +"We are both lost!" + +"Goodness forbid!" + +"You won't have grace to say to-day--there will be no dinner; that's +always the worst of being lost." + +Archie looked around him. There was not a blazed tree to be seen, and +he never remembered having been in the country before in which they now +rode. + +"We cannot be far out," he said, "and I believe we are riding straight +for the creek." + +"So do I, and that is one reason why we are both sure to be wrong. It's +great fun, isn't it?" + +"I don't think so. We're in an ugly fix. I really thought I was a +better Bushman than I am." + +Poor Archie! His pride had received quite a series of ugly falls since +morning, but this was the worst come last. He felt a very crestfallen +cavalier indeed. + +It did not tend to raise his spirits a bit to be told that if Gentleman +Craig were here, he would find the blazed-tree line in a very short +time. + +But things took a more cheerful aspect when out from a clump of trees +rode a rough-looking stockman, mounted on a sackful of bones in the +shape of an aged white horse. + +He stopped right in front of them. + +"Hillo, younkers! Whither away? Can't be sundowners, sure-ly!" + +"No," said Archie; "we are not sundowners. We are riding straight home +to Burley New Farm." + +"'Xcuse me for contradicting you flat, my boy. It strikes me ye ain't +boss o' the sitivation. Feel a kind o' bushed, don't ye?" + +Archie was fain to confess it. + +"Well, I know the tracks, and if ye stump it along o' me, ye won't have +to play at babes o' the wood to-night." + +They did "stump it along o' him," and before very long found themselves +in the farm pasture lands. + +They met Craig coming, tearing along on his big horse, and glad he was +to see them. + +"Oh, Craig," cried Etheldene, "we've been having such fun, and been +bushed, and everything!" + +"I found this 'ere young gent a-bolting with this 'ere young lady," said +their guide, whom Craig knew and addressed by the name of Hurricane +Bill. + +"A runaway match, eh? Now, who was in the fault? But I think I know. +Let me give you a bit of advice, sir. Never trust yourself far in the +Bush with Miss Ethie. She doesn't mind a bit being lost, and I can't be +always after her. Well, dinner is getting cold." + +"Did you wait for us?" said Etheldene. + +"Not quite unanimously, Miss Ethie. It was like this: Mr Cooper and +Mr Harry waited for you, and your father waited for Mr Broadbent. It +comes to the same thing in the end, you know." + +"Yes," said Etheldene, "and it's funny." + +"What did you come for, Bill? Your horse looks a bit jaded." + +"To invite you all to the hunt. Findlayson's compliments, and all that +genteel nonsense; and come as many as can. Why, the kangaroos, drat +'em, are eating us up. What with them and the dingoes we've been having +fine times, I can tell ye!" + +"Well, it seems to me, Bill, your master is always in trouble. Last +year it was the blacks, the year before he was visited by bushrangers, +wasn't he?" + +"Ye-es. Fact is we're a bit too far north, and a little too much out +west, and so everything gets at us like." + +"And when is the hunt?" + +"Soon's we can gather." + +"I'm going for one," said Etheldene. + +"What _you_, Miss?" said Hurricane Bill. "You're most too young, ain't +ye?" + +The girl did not condescend to answer him. + +"Come, sir, we'll ride on," she said to Archie. + +And away they flew. + +"Depend upon it, Bill, if she says she is going, go she will, and +there's an end of it." + +"Humph!" That was Bill's reply. He always admitted he had "no great +fancy for womenfolks." + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +ROUND THE LOG FIRE--HURRICANE BILL AND THE TIGER-SNAKE--GENTLEMAN +CRAIG'S RESOLVE. + +Kangaroo driving or hunting is one of the wild sports of Australia, +though I have heard it doubted whether there was any real sport in it. +It is extremely exciting, and never much more dangerous than a ride +after the hounds at home in a rough country. + +It really does seem little short of murder, however, to surround the +animals and slay them wholesale; only, be it remembered, they are +extremely hard upon the herbage. It has been said that a kangaroo will +eat as much as two sheep; whether this be true or not, these animals +must be kept down, or they will keep the squatter down. Every other +species of wild animal disappears before man, but kangaroos appear to +imagine that human beings were sent into the bush to make two blades of +grass grow where only one grew before, and that both blades belong to +them. + +The only people from Burley New Farm who went to the Findlayson kangaroo +drive were Harry, Archie, and Etheldene, and Craig to look after her. +Me. Winslow stopped at home with Bob, to give him advice and suggest +improvements; for he well knew his daughter would be safe with Gentleman +Craig. + +It was a long ride, however, and one night was to be spent in camp; but +as there was nothing to do, and nothing in the shape of cattle or sheep +to look after, it was rather jolly than otherwise. They found a +delightful spot near a clear pool and close by the forest to make their +pitch on for the night. + +Hurricane Bill was the active party on this occasion; he found wood with +the help of Harry, and enough of it to last till the morning. The +beauty, or one of the beauties, of the climate in this part of Australia +is, that with the sun the thermometer sinks, and the later spring and +even summer nights are very pleasant indeed. + +When supper was finished, and tea, that safest and best of stimulants, +had been discussed, talking became general; everybody was in good +spirits in the expectation of some fun on the morrow; for a longish ride +through the depth of that gloomy forest would bring them to the plain +and to Findlayson's in time for a second breakfast. + +Hurricane Bill told many a strange story of Australian life, but all in +the way of conversation; for Bill was a shy kind of man, and wanted a +good deal of drawing-out, as the dog said about the badger. + +Archie gave his experiences of hunting in England, and of shooting and +fishing and country adventure generally in that far-off land, and he had +no more earnest listener than Etheldene. To her England was the land of +romance. Young though she was, she had read the most of Walter Scott's +novels, and had an idea that England and Scotland were still peopled as +we find these countries described by the great wizard, and she did not +wish to be disillusioned. The very mention of the word "castle," or +"ruin," or "coat of mail," brought fancies and pictures into her mind +that she would not have had blotted out on any account. + +Over and over again, many a day and many a time, she had made Archie +describe to her every room in the old farm; and his turret chamber high +up above the tall-spreading elm trees, where the rooks built and cawed +in spring, and through which the wild winds of winter moaned and soughed +when the leaves had fallen, was to Etheldene a veritable room in +fairyland. + +"Oh," she said to-night, "how I should love it all! I do want to go to +England, and I'll make father take me just once before I die." + +"Before ye die, miss!" said Hurricane Bill. "Why it is funny to hear +the likes o' you, with all the world before ye, talkin' about dying." + +Well, by-and-by London was mentioned, and then it was Harry's turn. He +was by no means sorry to have something to say. + +"Shall I describe to you, Miss Winslow," he said, "some of the wild +sights of Whitechapel?" + +"Is it a dreadfully wild place, Mr Brown?" + +"It is rather; eh, Johnnie?" + +"I don't know much about it, Harry." + +"Well, there are slums near by there, miss, that no man with a black +coat and an umbrella dare enter in daylight owing to the wild beasts. +Then there are peelers." + +"What are peelers? Monkeys?" + +"Yes, miss; they are a sort of monkeys--blue monkeys--and carry sticks +same as the real African ourang-outangs do. And can't they use them +too!" + +"Are they very ugly?" + +"Awful, and venomous too; and at night they have one eye that shines in +the dark like a wild cat's, and you've got to stand clear when that +eye's on you." + +"Well," said Etheldene, "I wouldn't like to be lost in a place like +that. I'd rather be bushed where I am. But I think, Mr Brown, you are +laughing at me. Are there any snakes in Whitechapel?" + +"No, thank goodness; no, miss. I can't stand snakes much." + +"There was a pretty tiger crept past you just as I was talking though," +she said with great coolness. + +Harry jumped and shook himself. Etheldene laughed. + +"It is far enough away by this time," she remarked. "I saw something +ripple past you, Harry, like a whip-thong. I thought my eyes had made +it." + +"You brought it along with the wood perhaps," said Craig quietly. + +"'Pon my word," cried Harry, "you're a lot of Job's comforters, all of +you. D'ye know I won't sleep one blessed wink to-night. I'll fancy +every moment there is a snake in my blanket or under the saddle." + +"They won't come near you, Mr Brown," said Craig. "They keep as far +away from Englishmen as possible." + +"Not always," said Bill. "Maybe ye wouldn't believe it, but I was +bitten and well-nigh dead, and it was a tiger as done it. And if I +ain't English, then there ain't an Englishman 'twixt 'ere and Melbourne. +See that, miss?" He held up a hand in the firelight as he spoke. + +"Why," said Etheldene, "you don't mean to say the snake bit off half +your little finger?" + +"Not much I don't; but he bit me _on_ the finger, miss. I was a +swagsman then, and was gathering wood, as we were to-night, when I got +nipped, and my chum tightened a morsel of string round it to keep the +poison away from the heart, then he laid the finger on a stone and +chopped it off with his spade. Fact what I'm telling you. But the +poison got in the blood somehow all the same. They half carried me to +Irish Charlie's hotel. Lucky, that wasn't far off. Then they stuck the +whiskey into me." + +"Did the whiskey kill the poison?" said Archie. + +"Whiskey kill the poison! Why, young sir, Charlie's whiskey would have +killed a kangaroo! But nothing warmed me that night; my blood felt +frozen. Well, sleep came at last, and, oh, the dreams! 'Twere worse +ten thousand times than being wi' Daniel in the den o' lions. Next day +nobody hardly knew me; I was blue and wrinkled. I had aged ten years in +a single night." + +"I say," said Harry, "suppose we change the subject." + +"And I say," said Craig, "suppose we make the beds." + +He got up as he spoke, and began to busy himself in preparations for +Etheldene's couch. It was easily and simply arranged, but the +arrangement nevertheless showed considerable forethought. + +He disappeared for a few minutes, and returned laden with all the +necessary paraphernalia. A seven-foot pole was fastened to a tree; the +other end supported by a forked stick, which he sharpened and drove into +the ground. Some grass was spread beneath the pole, a blanket thrown +carefully over it, the upturned saddle put down for a pillow, and a tent +formed by throwing over the pole a loose piece of canvas that he had +taken from his saddle-bow, weighted down by some stones, and the whole +was complete. + +"Now, Baby," said Craig, handing Etheldene a warm rug, "will you be +pleased to retire?" + +"Where is my flat candlestick?" she answered. Gentleman Craig pointed +to the Southern Cross. "Yonder," he said. "Is it not a lovely one?" + +"It puts me in mind of old, old times," said Etheldene with a sigh. +"And you're calling me 'Baby' too. Do you remember, ever so long ago in +the Bush, when I was a baby in downright earnest, how you used to sing a +lullaby to me outside my wee tent?" + +"If you go to bed, and don't speak any more, I may do so again." + +"Good-night then. Sound sleep to everybody. What fun!" Then Baby +disappeared. + +Craig sat himself down near the tent, after replenishing the fire--he +was to keep the first watch, then Bill would come on duty--and at once +began to sing, or rather 'croon' over, an old, old song. His voice was +rich and sweet, and though he sang low it could be heard distinctly +enough by all, and it mingled almost mournfully with the soughing of the +wind through the tall trees. + +"My song is rather a sorrowful ditty," he had half-whispered to Archie +before he began; "but it is poor Miss Ethie's favourite." But long +before Craig had finished no one around the log fire was awake but +himself. + +He looked to his rifle and revolvers, placed them handy in case of an +attack by blacks, then once more sat down, leaning his back against a +tree and giving way to thought. + +Not over pleasant thoughts were those of Gentleman Craig's, as might +have been guessed from his frequent sighs as he gazed earnestly into the +fire. + +What did he see in the fire? _Tableaux_ of his past life? Perhaps or +perhaps not. At all events they could not have been very inspiriting +ones. No one could have started in life with better prospects than he +had done; but he carried with him wherever he went his own fearful +enemy, something that would not leave him alone, but was ever, ever +urging him to drink. Even as a student he had been what was called "a +jolly fellow," and his friendship was appreciated by scores who knew +him. He loved to be considered the life and soul of a company. It was +an honour dearer to him than anything else; but deeply, dearly had he +paid for it. + +By this time he might have been honoured and respected in his own +country, for he was undoubtedly clever; but he had lost himself, and +lost all that made life dear--his beautiful, queenly mother. He would +never see her more. She was _dead_, yet the memory of the love she bore +him was still the one, the only ray of sunshine left in his soul. + +And he had come out here to Australia determined to turn over a new +leaf. Alas! he had not done so. + +"Oh, what a fool I have been!" he said in his thoughts, clenching his +lists until the nails almost cut the palms. + +He started up now and went wandering away towards the trees. There was +nothing that could hurt him there. He felt powerful enough to grapple +with a dozen blacks, but none were in his thoughts; and, indeed, none +were in the forest. + +He could talk aloud now, as he walked rapidly up and down past the weird +grey trunks of the gum trees. + +"My foolish pride has been my curse," he said bitterly. "But should I +allow it to be so? The thing lies in a nutshell I have never yet had +the courage to say, 'I will not touch the hateful firewater, because I +cannot control myself if I do.' If I take but one glass I arouse within +me the dormant fiend, and he takes possession of my soul, and rules all +my actions until sickness ends my carousal, and I am left weak as a +child in soul and body. If I were not too proud to say those words to +my fellow-beings, if I were not afraid of being laughed at as a +_coward_! Ah, that's it! It is too hard to bear! Shall I face it? +Shall I own myself a coward in this one thing? I seem compelled to +answer myself, to answer my own soul. Or is it my dead mother's spirit +speaking through my heart? Oh, if I thought so I--I--" + +Here the strong man broke down. He knelt beside a tree trunk and sobbed +like a boy. Then he prayed; and when he got up from his knees he was +calm. He extended one hand towards the stars. + +"Mother," he said, "by God's help I shall be free." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When the morning broke pale and golden over the eastern hills, and the +laughing jackasses came round to smile terribly loud and terribly +chaffingly at the white men's preparation for their simple breakfast, +Craig moved about without a single trace of his last night's sorrow. He +was busy looking after the horses when Etheldene came bounding towards +him with both hands extended, so frank and free and beautiful that as he +took hold of them he could not help saying: + +"You look as fresh as a fern this morning, Baby." + +"Not so green, Craig. Say 'Not so green.'" + +"No, not so green. But really to look at you brings a great big wave of +joy surging all over my heart. But to descend from romance to +common-sense. I hope you are hungry? I have just been seeing to your +horse. Where do you think I found him?" + +"I couldn't guess." + +"Why in the water down yonder. Lying down and wallowing." + +"The naughty horse! Ah, here come the others! Good morning all." + +"We have been bathing," said Archie. "Oh, how delicious!" + +"Yes," said Harry; "Johnnie and I were bathing down under the trees, and +it really was a treat to see how quickly he came to bank when I told him +there was an alligator taking stock." + +"We scared the ducks though. Pity we didn't bring our guns and bag a +few." + +"I believe we'll have a right good breakfast at Findlayson's," said +Craig; "so I propose we now have a mouthful of something and start." + +The gloom of that deep forest became irksome at last; though some of its +trees were wondrous to behold in their stately straightness and +immensity of size, the trunks of others were bent and crooked into such +weird forms of contortion, that they positively looked uncanny. + +Referring to these, Archie remarked to Craig, who was riding by his +side: + +"Are they not grotesquely beautiful?" + +Craig laughed lightly. + +"Their grotesqueness is apparent anyhow," he replied. "But would you +believe it, in this very forest I was a week mad?" + +"Mad!" + +"Yes; worse than mad--delirious. Oh, I did not run about, I was too +feeble! but a black woman or girl found me, and built a kind of bark +gunja over me, for it rained part of the time and dripped the rest. And +those trees with their bent and gnarled stems walked about me, and +gibbered and laughed, and pointed crooked fingers at me. I can afford +to smile at it now, but it was very dreadful then; and the worst of it +was I had brought it all on myself." + +Archie was silent. + +"You know in what way?" added Craig. + +"I have been told," Archie said, simply and sadly. + +"For weeks, Mr Broadbent, after I was able to walk, I remained among +the blacks doing nothing, just wandering aimlessly from place to place; +but the woods and the trees looked no longer weird and awful to me then, +for I was in my right mind. It was spring--nay, but early summer--and I +could feel and drink in all the gorgeous beauty of foliage, of tree +flowers and wild flowers, nodding palms and feathery ferns; but, oh! I +left and went south again; I met once more the white man, and forgot all +the religion of Nature in which my soul had for a time been steeped. So +that is all a kind of confession. I feel the better for having made it. +We are all poor, weak mortals at the best; only I made a resolve last +night." + +"You did?" + +"Yes; and I am going to keep it. I am going to have help." + +"Help!" + +"Yes, from Him who made those stately giants of the forest and changed +their stems to silvery white. He can change all things." + +"Amen!" said Archie solemnly. + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +AT FINDLAYSON'S FARM--THE GREAT KANGAROO HUNT--A DINNER AND CONCERT. + +Gentleman Craig was certainly a strange mortal; but after all he was +only the type of a class of men to be found at most of our great +universities. Admirable Crichtons in a small way, in the estimation of +their friends--bold, handsome, careless, and dashing, not to say +clever--they may go through the course with flying colours. But too +often they strike the rocks of sin and sink, going out like the splendid +meteors of a November night, or sometimes--if they continue to float-- +they are sent off to Australia, with the hopes of giving them one more +chance. Alas! they seldom get farther than the cities. It is only the +very best and boldest of them that reach the Bush, and there you may +find them building fences or shearing sheep. If any kind of labour at +all is going to make men of them, it is this. + +Two minutes after Craig had been talking to Archie, the sweet, clear, +ringing notes of his manly voice were awaking echoes far a-down the dark +forest. + +Parrots and parrakeets, of lovely plumage, fluttered nearer, holding low +their wise, old-fashioned heads to look and listen. Lyre-birds hopped +out from under green fern-bushes, raising their tails and glancing at +their figures in the clear pool. They listened too, and ran back to +where their nests were to tell their wives men-people were passing +through the forest singing; but that they, the cock lyre-birds, could +sing infinitely better if they tried. + +On and on and on went the cavalcade, till sylvan beauty itself began to +pall at last, and no one was a bit sorry when all at once the forest +ended, and they were out on a plain, out in the scrub, with, away +beyond, gently-rising hills, on which trees were scattered. + +The bleating of sheep now made them forget all about the gloom of the +forest. They passed one or two rude huts, and then saw a bigger smoke +in the distance, which Bill told Archie was Findlayson's. + +Findlayson came out to meet them. A Scot every inch of him, you could +tell that at a glance. A Scot from the soles of his rough shoes to the +rim of his hat; brown as to beard and hands, and with a good-natured +face the colour of a badly-burned brick. + +He bade them welcome in a right hearty way, and helped "the lassie" to +dismount. + +He had met "the lassie" before. + +"But," he said, "I wadna hae kent ye; you were but a bit gilpie then. +Losh! but ye have grown. Your father's weel, I suppose? Ah, it'll be a +while afore anybody makes such a sudden haul at the diggin' o' gowd as +he did! But come in. It's goin' to be anither warm day, I fear. + +"Breakfast is a' ready. You'll have a thistle fu' o' whiskey first, you +men folks. Rin butt the hoose, my dear, and see my sister. Tell her to +boil the eggs, and lift the bacon and the roast ducks." + +He brought out the bottle as he spoke. Both Harry and Archie tasted to +please him. But Craig went boldly into battle. + +"I'm done with it, Findlayson," he said. "It has been my ruin. I'm +done. I'm a weak fool." + +"But a wee drap wadna hurt you, man. Just to put the dust out o' your +wizzen." + +Craig smiled. + +"It is the wee draps," he replied, "that do the mischief." + +"Well, I winna try to force you. Here comes the gude wife wi' the +teapot." + +"Bill," he continued, "as soon as you've satisfied the cravins o' +Nature, mount the grey colt, and ride down the Creek, and tell them the +new chums and I will be wi' them in half an hour." + +And in little over that specified time they had all joined the hunt. + +Black folks and "orra men," as Findlayson called them, were already +detouring around a wide track of country to beat up the kangaroos. + +There were nearly a score of mounted men, but only one lady besides +Etheldene, a squatter's bold sister. + +The dogs were a sight to look at. They would have puzzled some +Englishmen what to make of them. Partly greyhounds, but larger, +sturdier, and stronger, as if they had received at one time a cross of +mastiff. They looked eminently fit, however, and were with difficulty +kept back. Every now and then a distant shout was heard, and at such +times the hounds seemed burning to be off. + +But soon the kangaroos themselves began to appear thick and fast. They +came from one part or another in little groups, meeting and hopping +about in wonder and fright. They seemed only looking for a means of +escape; and at times, as a few rushing from one direction met others, +they appeared to consult. Many stood high up, as if on tiptoe, gazing +eagerly around, with a curious mixture of bewilderment and fright +displayed on their simple but gentle faces. + +They got small time to think now, however, for men and dogs were on +them, and the flight and the murder commenced with a vengeance. There +were black fellows there, who appeared to spring suddenly from the +earth, spear-armed, to deal terrible destruction right and left among +the innocent animals. And black women too, who seemed to revel in the +bloody sight. If the whites were excited and thirsty for carnage, those +aborigines were doubly so. + +Meanwhile the men had dismounted, Archie and Harry among the rest, and +were firing away as quickly as possible. There is one thing to be said +in favour of the gunners; they took good aim, and there was little +after-motion in the body of the kangaroo in which a bullet had found a +billet. + +After all Archie was neither content with the sport, nor had it come up +as yet to his _beau ideal_ of adventure from all he had heard and read +of it. The scene was altogether noisy, wild, and confusing. The blacks +gloated in the bloodshed, and Archie did not love them any the more for +it. It was the first time he had seen those fellows using their spears, +and he could guess from the way they handled or hurled them that they +would be pretty dangerous enemies to meet face to face in the plain or +scrub. + +"Harry," he said after a time, "I'm getting tired of all this; let us go +to our horses." + +"I'm tired too. Hallo! where is the chick-a-biddy?" + +"You mean Miss Winslow, Harry." + +"Ay, Johnnie." + +"I have not seen her for some time." + +They soon found her though, near a bit of scrub, where their own horses +were tied. + +She was sitting on her saddle, looking as steady and demure as an +equestrian statue. The sunshine was so finding that they did not at +first notice her in the shade there until they were close upon her. + +"What, Etheldene!" cried Archie; "we hardly expected you here." + +"Where, then?" + +"Following the hounds." + +"What! into that mob? No, that is not what I came for." + +At that moment Craig rode up. + +"So glad," he said, "to find you all here. Mount, gentlemen. Are you +ready, Baby?" + +"Ready, yes, an hour ago, Craig." + +They met horsemen and hounds not far away, and taking a bold detour over +a rough and broken country, at the edge of a wood, the hounds found a +"forester," or old man kangaroo. The beast had a good start if he had +taken the best advantage of it; but he failed to do so. He had +hesitated several times; but the run was a fine one. A wilder, rougher, +more dangerous ride Archie had never taken. + +The beast was at bay before very long, and his resistance to the death +was extraordinary. + +They had many more rides before the day was over; and when they +re-assembled in farmer Findlayson's hospitable parlour, Archie was fain +for once to own himself not only tired, but "dead beat." + +The dinner was what Harry called a splendid spread. Old Findlayson had +been a gardener in his younger days in England, and his wife was a cook; +and one of the results of this amalgamation was, dinners or breakfasts +either, that had already made the Scotchman famous. + +Here was soup that an epicure would not have despised, fish to tempt a +dying man, besides game of different kinds, pies, and last, if not +least, steak of kangaroo. + +The soup itself was made from the tail of the kangaroo, and I know +nothing more wholesome and nourishing, though some may think it a little +strong. + +While the white folks were having dinner indoors, the black fellows were +doing ample justice to theirs _al fresco_, only they had their own +_cuisine_ and _menu_, of which the least said the better. + +"You're sure, Mr Craig, you winna tak' a wee drappie?" + +If the honest squatter put this question once in the course of the +evening, he put it twenty times. + +"No, really," said Craig at last; "I will not tak' a wee drappie. I've +sworn off; I have, really. Besides, your wife has made me some +delightful tea." + +"Weel, man, tak' a wee drappie in your last cup. It'll cheer ye up." + +"Take down your fiddle, Findlayson, and play a rattling strathspey or +reel, that'll cheer me up more wholesomely than any amount of 'wee +drappies.'" + +"Come out o' doors then." + +It was cool now out there in Findlayson's garden--it was a real garden +too. His garden and his fiddle were Findlayson's two fads; and that he +was master of both, their present surroundings of fern and flower, and +delicious scent of wattle-blossom, and the charming strains that floated +from the corner where the squatter stood were proof enough. The fiddle +in his hands talked and sang, now bold or merrily, now in sad and +wailing notes that brought tears to even Archie's eyes. Then, at a +suggestion of Craig's, Etheldene's sweet young voice was raised in song, +and this was only the beginning of the concert. Conversation filled up +the gaps, so that the evening passed away all too soon. + +Just as Findlayson had concluded that plaintive and feeling air "Auld +Robin Gray," a little black girl came stealthily, silently up to +Etheldene, and placed a little creature like a rabbit in her lap, +uttering a few words of Bush-English, which seemed to Archie's ear +utterly devoid of sense. Then the black girl ran; she went away to her +own camp to tell her people that the white folks were holding a +corroboree. + +The gift was a motherless kangaroo, that at once commenced to make +itself at home by hiding its innocent head under Etheldene's arm. + +The party soon after broke up for the night, and next day but one, early +in the morning, the return journey was commenced, and finished that +night; but the sun had gone down, and the moon was shining high and full +over the forest, before they once more reached the clearing. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +A NEW ARRIVAL. + +Winslow made months of a stay in the Bush, and his services were of +great value to the young squatters. The improvements he suggested were +many and various, and he was careful to see them carried out. + +Dams were made, and huge reservoirs were dug; for, as Winslow said, +their trials were all before them, and a droughty season might mean +financial ruin to them. + +"Nevertheless," he added one day, addressing Bob, "I feel sure of you; +and to prove this I don't mind knocking down a cheque or two to the tune +of a thou or three or five if you want them. + +"I'll take bank interest," he added, "not a penny more." + +Bob thanked him, and consulted the others that evening. True, Archie's +aristocratic pride popped up every now and then, but it was kept well +under by the others. + +"Besides, don't you see, Johnnie," said Harry, "this isn't a gift. +Winslow is a business man, and he knows well what he is about." + +"And," added Bob, "the fencing isn't finished yet. We have all those +workmen's mouths to fill, and the sooner the work is done the better." + +"Then the sheep are to come in a year or so, and it all runs away with +money, Johnnie. Our fortunes are to be made. There is money on the +ground to be gathered up, and all that Winslow proposes is holding the +candle to us till we fill our pockets." + +"It is very kind of him," said Archie, "but--" + +"Well," said Bob, "I know where your 'buts' will end if you are not +careful. You will give offence to Mr Winslow, and he'll just turn on +his heel and never see us again." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Think so? Yes, Archie, I'm sure of it. A better-hearted man doesn't +live, rough and all as he is; and he has set his mind to doing the right +thing for us all for your sake, lad, and so I say, think twice before +you throw cold water over that big, warm heart of his." + +"Well," said Archie, "when you put it in that light, I can see matters +clearly. I wouldn't offend my good old Uncle Ramsay's friend for all +the world. I'm sorry I ever appeared bluff with him. So you can let +him do as he pleases." + +And so Winslow did to a great extent. + +Nor do I blame Bob and Harry for accepting his friendly assistance. +Better far to be beholden to a private individual, who is both earnest +and sincere, than to a money-lending company, who will charge double +interest, and make you feel that your soul is not your own. + +Better still, I grant you, to wait and work and plod; but this life is +almost too short for much waiting, and after all, one half of the world +hangs on to the skirts of the other half, and that other half is all the +more evenly balanced in consequence. + +I would not, however, have my young readers misunderstand me. What I +maintain is this, that although a poor man cannot leave this country in +the expectation that anybody or any company will be found to advance the +needful to set him up in the business of a squatter, still, when he has +worked hard for a time, beginning at the lowermost ring of the ladder, +and saved enough to get a selection, and a few cattle and sheep, then, +if he needs assistance to heave ahead a bit, he will--if everything is +right and square--have no difficulty in finding it. + +So things went cheerily on at Burley New Farm. And at last Winslow and +Etheldene took their departure, promising to come again. + +"So far, lads," said Winslow, as he mounted his horse, "there hasn't +been a hitch nowheres. But mind keep two hands at the wheel." + +Mr Winslow's grammar was not of the best, and his sentences generally +had a smack of the briny about them, which, however, did not detract +from their graphicness. + +"Tip us your flippers, boys," he added, "and let us be off. But I'm +just as happy as if I were a father to the lot of you." + +Gentleman Craig shook hands with Mr Winslow. He had already helped +Etheldene into her saddle. + +Archie was standing by her, the bridle of his own nag Tell thrown +carelessly over his arm; for good-byes were being said quite a mile from +the farm. + +"I'll count the days, Etheldene, till you come again," said Archie. +"The place will not seem the same without you." + +Craig stood respectfully aside till Archie had bade her adieu, then, +with his broad hat down by his side, he advanced. He took her hand and +kissed it. + +"Good-bye, Baby," he said. + +There were tears in Etheldene's eyes as she rode away. Big Winslow took +off his hat, waved it over his head, and gave voice to a splendid +specimen of a British cheer, which, I daresay, relieved his feelings as +much as it startled the lories. The "boys" were not slow in returning +that cheer. Then away rode the Winslows, and presently the grey-stemmed +gum trees swallowed them up. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two whole years passed by. So quickly, too, because they had not been +idle years. Quite the reverse of that, for every day brought its own +duties with it, and there was always something new to be thought about +or done. + +One event had taken place which, in Bob's eyes, eclipsed all the +others--a little baby squatter saw the light of day. But I should not +have used the word eclipsed. Little "Putty-face," as Harry most +irreverently called her, did not eclipse anything; on the contrary, +everything grew brighter on her arrival, and she was hailed queen of the +station. The news spread abroad like wildfire, and people came from far +and near to look at the wee thing, just as if a baby had never been born +in the Bush before. + +Findlayson dug the child with his forefinger in the cheek, and nodded +and "a-goo-ed" to it, and it smiled back, and slobbered and grinned and +jumped. Findlayson then declared it to be the wisest "wee vision o' a +thing the warld ever saw." Sarah was delighted, so was the nurse--a +young sonsy Scotch lass brought to the station on purpose to attend to +baby. + +"But," said Findlayson, "what about bapteezin' the blessed wee vision." + +"Oh," said Bob, "I've thought of that! Craig and I are going to +Brisbane with stock, and we'll import a parson." + +It so happened that a young missionary was on his way to spread the glad +tidings among the blacks, and it did not need much coaxing on Bob's part +to get him to make a detour, and spend a week at Burley New Farm. So +this was the imported parson. + +But being in Brisbane, Bob thought he must import something else, which +showed what a mindful father he was. + +He had a look round, and a glance in at all the shop windows in Queen +Street, finally he entered an emporium that took his fancy. + +"Ahem!" said Bob. "I want a few toys." + +"Yes, sir. About what age, sir?" + +"The newest and best you have." + +"I didn't refer to the age of the toys," said the urbane shopkeeper, +with the ghost of a smile in his eye. "I should have said, Toys +suitable for what age?" + +"For every age," replied Bob boldly. + +The shopkeeper then took the liberty of remarking that his visitor must +surely be blessed with a quiverful. + +"I've only the one little girl," said Bob. "She fills the book as yet. +But, you see, we're far away in the Bush, and baby will grow out of +gum-rings and rattles, won't she, into dolls and dung-carts? D'ye see? +D'ye understand?" + +"Perfectly." + +It ended in Bob importing not only the parson in a dray, but a box of +toys as big as a sea-chest, and only Bob himself could have told you all +that was in it. That box would have stocked a toyshop itself and Harry +and Archie had the grandest of fun unpacking it, and both laughed till +they had to elevate their arms in the air to get the stitches out of +their sides. + +The amusing part of it was that innocent Bob had bought such a lot of +each species. + +A brown paper parcel, for example, was marked "1 gross: gum-rings." + +"That was a job lot," said Bob, explaining. "I got them at a reduction, +as the fellow said. Besides, if she has one in each hand, and another +in her mouth, it will keep her out of mischief for a month or two to +begin with." + +There was no mistake about it, baby was set up; for a time, at all +events. + +Not only did visitors--rough and smooth, but mostly rough--come from +afar, but letters of congratulation also. Winslow said in a letter that +Etheldene was dying to come and see "the vision," and so was he, though +not quite so bad. "Only," he added, "as soon Eth is finished we'll both +run up. Eth is going to Melbourne to be finished, and I think a year +will do the job." + +"Whatever does he mean," said stalwart Bob, "by finishing Eth, and doing +the job?" + +"Why, you great big brush turkey," said Sarah, "he means finishing her +edication, in coorse!" + +"Oh, I see now!" said Bob. "To be sure; quite right. I say, Sarah, +we'll have to send 'the vision' to a slap-up lady's school one of these +days, won't us?" + +"Bob," replied Sarah severely, "tell that lazy black chap, Jumper, to +dig some potatoes." + +"I'm off, Sarah! I'm off!" + +Both Harry and Archie had by this time become perfect in all a +squatter's art. + +Both had grown hard and hardy, and I am not sure that Harry was not now +quite as bold a rider as Archie himself, albeit he was a Cockney born, +albeit he had had to rub himself after that first ride of his on +Scallowa, the "Eider Duck." + +Well, then, both he and Archie were perfectly _au fait_ at cattle work +in all its branches, and only those who have lived _on_ and had some +interest _in_ farming have an idea what a vast amount of practical work +breeding cattle includes. One has really to be Jack-of-all-trades, and +a veterinary surgeon into the bargain. Moreover, if he be master, and +not merely foreman, there are books to be kept; so he must be a good +accountant, and a good caterer, and always have his weather eye lifting, +and keeping a long lookout for probable changes in the markets. + +But things had prospered well at Burley New Station. One chief reason +of this was that the seasons had been good, and that there was every +prospect that the colony of Queensland was to be one of the most +respected and favourite in the little island. + +For most of his information on the management of sheep, Archie and his +companions were indebted to the head stockman, Gentleman Craig. He had +indeed been a Godsend, and proved himself a blessing to the station. It +is but fair to add that he had sacredly and sternly kept the vow he had +registered that night. + +He did not deny that it had been difficult for him to do so; in fact he +often referred to his own weakness when talking to Archie, whose +education made him a great favourite and the constant companion of +Craig. + +"But you don't feel any the worse for having completely changed your +habits, do you?" said Archie one day. + +Craig's reply was a remarkable one, and one that should be borne in mind +by those teetotallers who look upon inebriety as simply a species of +moral aberration, and utterly ignore the physiology of the disease. + +"To tell you the truth, Mr Broadbent, I am both better and worse. I am +better physically; I am in harder, more robust, muscular health; I'm as +strong in the arms as a kicking kangaroo. I eat well, I sleep fairly +well, and am fit in every way. But I feel as if I had passed through +the vale of the shadow of death, and it had left some of its darkness on +and in my soul. I feel as if the cure had mentally taken a deal out of +me; and when I meet, at Brisbane or other towns, men who offer me drink +I feel mean and downcast, because I have to refuse it, and because I +dared not even take it as food and medicine. No one can give up habits +of life that have become second nature without mental injury, if not +bodily. And I'm more and more convinced every month that intemperance +is a disease of periodicity, just like gout and rheumatism." + +"You have cravings at certain times, then?" + +"Yes; but that isn't the worst. The worst is that periodically in my +dreams I have gone back to my old ways, and think I am living once again +in the fool's paradise of the inebriate; singing wild songs, drinking +recklessly, talking recklessly, and looking upon life as but a brief +unreality, and upon time as a thing only to be drowned in the wine-cup. +Yes, but when I awake from these pleasantly-dreadful dreams, I thank God +fervidly I have been but dreaming." + +Archie sighed, and no more was said on the subject. + +Letters came from home about once a month, but they came to Archie only. +Yet, though Bob had never a friend to write to him from Northumbria, +nor Harry one in Whitechapel, the advent of a packet from home gave +genuine joy to all hands. + +Archie's letters from home were read first by Archie himself, away out +under the shade of a tree as likely as not. Then they were read to his +chums, including Sarah and Diana. + +Diana was the baby. + +But they were not finished with even then. No; for they were hauled out +and perused night after night for maybe a week, and then periodically +for perhaps another fortnight. There was something new to talk about +found in them each time; something suggesting pleasant conversation. + +Archie was often even amused at "his dear old dad's" remarks and advice. +He gave as many hints, and planned as many improvements, as though he +had been a settler all his life, and knew everything there was any need +to know about the soil and the climate. + +He believed--i.e., the old Squire believed--that if he were only out +among them, he would show even the natives [white men born in the Bush] +a thing or two. + +Yes, it was amusing; and after filling about ten or twelve +closely-written pages on suggested improvements, he was sure to finish +up somewhat as follows in the postscript: + +"But after all, Archie, my dear boy, you must be very careful in all you +do. Never go like a bull at a gate, lad. Don't forget that I--even I-- +was not altogether successful at Burley Old Farm." + +"Bless that postscript," Archie would say; "mother comes in there." + +"Does she now?" Sarah would remark, looking interested. + +"Ay, that she does. You see father just writes all he likes first-- +blows off steam as it were; and mother reads it, and quietly dictates a +postscript." + +Then there were Elsie's letters and Rupert's, to say nothing of a note +from old Kate and a crumpled little enclosure from Branson. Well, in +addition to letters, there was always a bundle of papers, every inch of +which was read--even the advertisements, and every paragraph of which +brought back to Archie and Bob memories of the dear old land they were +never likely to forget. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +THE STREAM OF LIFE FLOWS QUIETLY ON. + +One day a grand gift arrived from England, being nothing less than a +couple of splendid Scotch collies and a pair of Skye terriers. They had +borne the journey wonderfully well, and set about taking stock, and +settling themselves in their new home, at once. + +Archie's pet kangaroo was an object of great curiosity to the Skyes at +first. On the very second day of their arrival Bobie and Roup, as they +were called, marched up to the kangaroo, and thus addressed him: + +"We have both come to the conclusion that you are something that +shouldn't be." + +"Indeed!" said the kangaroo. + +"Yes; so we're going to let the sawdust out of you." + +"Take that then to begin with!" said Mr Kangaroo; and one of the dogs +was kicked clean and clear over a fern bush. + +They drew off after that with their tails well down. They thought they +had made a mistake somehow. A rabbit that could kick like a young colt +was best left to his own devices. + +The collies never attempted to attack the kangaroo; but when they saw +the droll creature hopping solemnly after Archie, one looked at the +other, and both seemed to laugh inwardly. + +The collies were placed under the charge of Craig to be broken to use, +for both were young, and the Skyes became the vermin-killers. They +worked in couple, and kept down the rats far more effectually than ever +the cats had done. They used to put dingoes to the rout whenever or +wherever they saw them; and as sometimes both these game little animals +would return of a morning severely bitten about the face and ears, it +was evident enough they had gone in for sharp service during the night. + +One curious thing about the Skyes was, that they killed snakes, and +always came dragging home with the loathsome things. This was very +clever and very plucky; nevertheless, a tame laughing jackass that Harry +had in a huge cage was to them a pet aversion. Perhaps the bird knew +that; for as soon as he saw them he used to give vent to a series of +wild, defiant "ha-ha-ha's" and "hee-hee-hee's" that would have laid a +ghost. + +The improvements on that portion of Burley New Farm more immediately +adjoining the steading had gone merrily on, and in a year or two, after +fencing and clearing the land, a rough style of agriculture was +commenced. The ploughs were not very first-class, and the horses were +oxen--if I may make an Irish bull. They did the work slowly but well. +They had a notion that every now and then they ought to be allowed to go +to sleep for five minutes. However, they were easily roused, and just +went on again in a dreamy kind of way. + +The land did not require much coaxing to send up crops of splendid +wheat. It was a new-born joy to Bob and Archie to ride along their +paddocks, and see the wind waving over the growing grain, making the +whole field look like an inland sea. + +"What would your father say to a sight like that?" said Bob one morning +while the two were on their rounds. + +"He would start subsoiling ploughs and improve it." + +"I don't know about the improvement, Archie, but I've no doubt he would +try. But new land needs little improving." + +"Maybe no; but mind you, Bob, father is precious clever, though I don't +hold with all his ways. He'd have steam-ploughs here, and steam-harrows +too. He'd cut down the grain to the roots by steam-machines, or he'd +have steam-strippers." + +"But you don't think we should go any faster?" + +"Bob, I must confess I like to take big jumps myself. I take after my +father in some things, but after my Scottish ancestors in others. For +instance, I like to know what lies at the other side of the hedge before +I put my horse at it." + +The first crops of wheat that were taken off the lands of Burley New +Farm were gathered without much straw. It seemed a waste to burn the +latter; but the distance from the railway, and still more from a +market-town, made its destruction a necessity. + +Nor was it altogether destruction either; for the ashes served as a +fertiliser for future crops. + +As things got more settled down, and years flew by, the system of +working the whole station was greatly improved. Bob and Harry had +become quite the home-farmers and agriculturists, while the cattle +partially, and the sheep almost wholly, became the care of Archie, with +Gentleman Craig as his first officer. + +Craig certainly had a long head on his broad shoulders. He did not +hesitate from the first to give his opinions as to the management of the +station. One thing he assured the three friends of: namely, that the +sheep must be sent farther north and west if they were to do well. + +"They want higher and dryer ground," he said; "but you may try them +here." + +I think at this time neither Bob nor Archie knew there was anything more +deadly to be dreaded than foot-rot, which the constant attention of the +shepherds, and a due allowance of blue-stone, served out from Harry's +stores, kept well under. + +They gained other and sadder experience before very long, however. + +At first all went as merrily as marriage bells. The first +sheep-shearing was a never-to-be-forgotten event in the life of our +Bushmen. + +The season was October--a spring month in Australia--and the fleeces +were in fine form, albeit some were rather full of grass seed. They +were mostly open, however, and everyone augured a good clip. + +Sarah was very busy indoors superintending everything; for there was +extra cooking to be done now. Wee Diana, who had developed into quite a +Bush child, though a pretty one, toddled about here, there, and +everywhere; the only wonder is--as an Irishman might say--that she did +not get killed three or four times a day. Diana had long since abjured +gum-rings and rattles, and taken to hoops and whips. One of the collie +dogs, and the pet kangaroo, were her constant companions. As previously +stated, both collies had been sent to Craig to be trained; but as Bounce +had a difference of opinion with one of the shepherds, he concluded he +would make a change by the way of bettering himself, so he had taken +French leave and come home to the steading. He would have been sent off +again, sure enough, if he had not--collie-like--enlisted Sarah herself +on his behalf. This he had done by lying down beside little Diana on +the kitchen floor. The two kissed each other and fell asleep. Bounce's +position was assured after that. + +Findlayson, who did not mean to commence operations among his own +fleeces for another month, paid a visit to Burley, and brought with him +a few spare hands. Harry had plenty to do both out of doors and in his +stores; for many men were now about the place, and they must all eat and +smoke. + +"As sure as a gun," said Findlayson the first morning, "that +Joukie-daidles o' yours 'ill get killed." + +He said this just after about three hundred sheep had rushed the child, +and run over her. It was the fault of the kangaroo on one hand, and the +collie, Bounce, on the other. Findlayson had picked her off the ground, +out of a cloud of dust, very dirty, but smiling. + +"What is to be done with her?" said Bob, scratching his head. + +"Fauld her," said Findlayson. + +"What does that mean?" + +Findlayson showed him what "faulding" meant. He speedily put up a +little enclosure on an eminence, from which Diana could see all without +the possibility of escaping. So every day she, with her dog and the pet +kangaroo, to say nothing of a barrow-load of toys, including a huge +Noah's ark, found herself happy and out of harm's way. Diana could be +seen at times leaning over the hurdle, and waving a hand exultingly in +the air, and it was presumed she was loudly cheering the men's +performance; but as to hearing anything, that seemed utterly out of the +question, with the baa-ing and maa-ing of the sheep. + +When the work was in full blast it certainly was a strange sight, and +quite colonial. Archie had been at sheep-shearings before at home among +the Cheviot Hills, but nothing to compare to this. + +There was, first and foremost, the sheep to be brought up in batches or +flocks from the distant stations, men and dogs also having plenty to do +to keep them together, then the enclosing them near the washing-ground. +The dam in which the washing took place was luckily well filled, for +rain had fallen not long before. Sheep-washing is hard work, as anyone +will testify who has tried his hand at it for even half a day. Sheep +are sometimes exceedingly stupid, more particularly, I think, about a +time like this. The whole business is objected to, and they appear +imbued with the idea that you mean to drown them, and put every obstacle +in your way a stubborn nature can invent. + +The sheep, after being well scrubbed, were allowed a day to get dry and +soft and nice. Then came the clipping. Gentleman Craig was stationed +at a platform to count the fleeces and see them ready for pressing, and +Archie's work was cut out in seeing that the fellows at the clipping did +their duty properly. + +It was a busy, steaming time, on the whole, for everybody, but merry +enough nevertheless. There was "lashins" of eating and drinking. +Findlayson himself took charge of the grog, which was mostly rum, only +he had a small store of mountain dew for his own special consumption. + +Harry was quite the Whitechapel tradesman all over, though you could not +have told whether the grocer or butcher most predominated in his +appearance. + +The clipping went on with marvellous speed, a rivalry existing between +the hands apparently; but as they were paid by the number of fleeces, +there was evident desire on the part of several to sacrifice perfection +to rapidity. + +When it was all over there was still a deal to be done in clearing up +and getting the whole station resettled, one part of the resettling, and +the chief too, being the re-establishing of the sheep on their pasturage +after marking them. + +The wool was pressed into bales, and loaded on huge bullock-waggons, +which are in appearance something between an ordinary country wood-cart +and a brewer's dray. The road to the distant station was indeed a rough +one, and at the slow rate travelled by the bullock teams the journey +would occupy days. + +Craig himself was going with the last lot of these, and Archie had +started early and ridden on all alone to see to business in Brisbane. + +He had only been twice at the town in the course of three years, so it +is no wonder that now he was impressed with the notion that the +well-dressed city folks must stare at him, to see if he had any hay-seed +in his hair. + +Winslow was coming round by boat, and Etheldene as well; she had been at +home for some time on a holiday. + +Why was it, I wonder, that Archie paid a visit to several outfitters' +shops in Brisbane, and made so many purchases? He really was well +enough dressed when he entered the town; at all events, he had looked a +smart young farmer all over. But when he left his bedroom on the +morning of Winslow's arrival, he had considerably more of the English +Squire than the Australian Squatter about his _tout ensemble_. But he +really looked a handsome, happy, careless young fellow, and that bit of +a sprouting moustache showed off his good looks to perfection. He could +not help feeling it sometimes as he sat reading a paper in the hotel +hall, and waiting for his friends, and was fool enough to wonder if +Etheldene would think him improved in appearance. + +But Archie was neither "masher" nor dandy at heart. He was simply a +young man, and I would not value any young man who did not take pains +with his personal appearance, even at the risk of being thought proud. + +Archie had not long to wait for Winslow. He burst in like a fresh +sea-breeze--hale, hearty, and bonnie. He was also a trifle better +dressed than usual. But who was that young lady close by his left hand? +That couldn't be--yes, it was Etheldene, and next moment Archie was +grasping a hand of each. + +Etheldene's beauty had matured; she had been but a girl, a child, when +Archie had met her before. Now she was a bewitching young lady, modest +and lovely, but, on the whole, so self-possessed that if our hero had +harboured any desire to appear before her at his very best, and keep up +the good impression by every means in his power, he had the good sense +to give it up and remain his own natural honest self. + +But he could not help saying to himself, "What a wife she will make for +Rupert! And how Elsie will love and adore her! And I--yes, I will be +content to remain the big bachelor brother." + +There was such a deal to ask of each other, such a deal to do and to +say, that days flew by before they knew where they were, as Winslow +expressed it. + +On the fifth day Gentleman Craig arrived to give an account of his +stewardship. + +Etheldene almost bounded towards him. + +But she looked a little shy at his stare of astonishment as he took her +gloved hand. + +"Baby," he exclaimed, "I would hardly have known you! How you have +improved!" + +Then the conversation became general. + +When accounts were squared, it was discovered that, by the spring wool, +and last year's crops and bullocks, the young squatters had done +wonderfully well, and were really on a fair way to wealth. + +"Now, Archie Broadbent," said Winslow that night, "I am going to put you +on to a good thing or two. You are a gentleman, and have a gentleman's +education. You have brains, and can do a bit of speculation; and it is +just here where brains come in." + +Winslow then unfolded his proposals, which were of such an inviting kind +that Archie at once saw his way to benefit by them. He thanked Winslow +over and over again for all he had done for him, and merely stipulated +that in this case he should be allowed to share his plans with Bob and +Harry. + +To this, of course, Winslow made no objection. + +"As to thanking me for having given ye a tip or two," said Winslow, +"don't flatter yourself it is for your sake. It is all to the memory of +the days I spent as steward at sea with your good old uncle. Did you +send him back his fifty pounds?" + +"I did, and interest with it." + +"That is right. That is proper pride." + +Archie and the Winslows spent a whole fortnight in Brisbane, and they +went away promising that ere long they would once more visit the +station. + +The touch of Etheldene's soft hand lingered long in Archie's. The last +look from her bonnie eyes haunted him even in his dreams, as well as in +his waking thoughts. The former he could not command, so they played +him all kinds of pranks. But over his thoughts he still had sway; and +whenever he found himself thinking much about Etheldene's beauty, or +winning ways, or soft, sweet voice, he always ended up by saying to +himself, "What a love of a little wife she will make for Rupert!" + +One day, while Archie was taking a farewell walk along Queen Street, +glancing in here and there at the windows, and now and then entering to +buy something pretty for Sarah, something red--dazzling--for her black +servant-maid, and toys for Di, he received a slap on the back that made +him think for a moment a kangaroo had kicked him. + +"What!" he cried, "Captain Vesey?" + +"Ay, lad, didn't I say we would meet again?" + +"Well, wonders will never cease! Where have you been? and what have you +been doing?" + +"Why I've gone in for trade a bit. I've been among the South Sea +Islands, shipping blacks for the interior here; and, to tell you the +truth, my boy, I am pretty well sick of the job from all I've seen. It +is more like buying slaves, and that is the honest truth." + +"And I suppose you are going to give it up?" The captain laughed--a +laugh that Archie did not quite like. + +"Yes," he said, "I'll give it up after--another turn or two. But come +and have something cooling, the weather is quite summery already. What +a great man you have grown! When I saw you first you were just a--" + +"A hobbledehoy?" + +"Something like that--very lime-juicy, but very ardent and sanguine. I +say, you didn't find the streets of Sydney paved with gold, eh?" + +"Not quite," replied Archie, laughing as he thought of all his misery +and struggles in the capital of New South Wales. + +"But," he added, "though I did not find the streets paved with gold, I +found the genuine ore on a housetop, or near it, in a girl called +Sarah." + +"What, Archie Broadbent, you don't mean to say you're married?" + +"No; but Bob is." + +"What Bob? Here, waiter, bring us drinks--the best and coolest you have +in the house. Now, lad, you've got to begin at the beginning of your +story, and run right through to the end. Spin it off like a man. I'll +put my legs on a chair, smoke, and listen." + +So Archie did as he was told, and very much interested was Captain +Vesey. + +"And now, captain, you must promise to run down, and see us all in the +Bush. We're a jolly nice family party, I can assure you." + +"I promise, my boy, right heartily. I hope to be back in Brisbane in +six months. Expect to see me then." + +They dined together, and spent the evening talking of old times, and +planning all that they would do when they met. + +Next day they parted. + +The end of this spring was remarkable for floods. Never before had our +heroes seen such storms of rain, often accompanied with thunder and +lightning. Archie happened to be out in the forest when it first came +on. + +It had been a hot, still, sulphurous morning, which caused even the pet +kangaroo to lie panting on his side. Then a wind came puffing and +roaring through the trees in uncertain gusts, shaking the hanging +curtains of climbing plants, rustling and rasping among the sidelong +leaved giant gums, tearing down tree ferns and lovely orchids, and +scattering the scented bloom of the wattle in every direction. + +With the wind came the clouds, and a darkness that could be felt. + +Then down died the fitful breeze, and loud and long roared and rattled +the thunder, while the blinding lightning seemed everywhere. It rushed +down the darkness in rivers like blood, it glanced and glimmered on the +pools of water, and zigzagged through the trees. From the awful +hurtling of the thunder one would have thought every trunk and stem were +being rent and riven in pieces. + +Tell--the horse--seemed uneasy, so Archie made for home. The rain had +come on long before he reached the creek, but the stream was still +fordable. + +But see! He is but half-way across when, in the interval between the +thunder peals, he can hear a steady rumbling roar away up the creek and +gulley, but coming closer and closer every moment. + +On, on, on, good Tell! Splash through that stream quicker than ever you +went before, or far down the country to-morrow morning two swollen +corpses will be seen floating on the floods! + +Bewildered by the dashing rain, and the mist that rose on every side, +Archie and his trusty steed had but reached high ground when down came +the bore. + +A terrible sight, though but dimly seen. Fully five feet high, it +seemed to carry everything before it. Alas! for flocks and herds. +Archie could see white bodies and black, tumbling and trundling along in +the rolling "spate." + +The floods continued for days. And when they abated then losses could +be reckoned. Though dead cattle and sheep now lay in dozens about the +flat lands near the creek, only a small percentage of them belonged to +Burley. + +Higher up Findlayson had suffered, and many wild cattle helped to swell +the death bill. + +But it was bad enough. + +However, our young squatters were not the men to sit down to cry over +spilt milk. + +The damage was repaired, and the broken dams were made new again. And +these last were sadly wanted before the summer went past. For it was +unusually hot, the sun rising in a cloudless sky, blazing down all day +steadily, and setting without even a ray being intercepted by a cloud. + +Bush fires were not now infrequent. While travelling in a distant part +of the selection, far to the west, in company with Craig, whom he had +come to visit, they were witnesses to a fire of this sort that had +caught a distant forest. Neither pen nor pencil could do justice to +such a scene. Luckily it was separated from the Burley estate by a deep +ravine. One of the strangest sights in connection with it was the wild +stampede of the panic-stricken kangaroos and bush horses. + +To work in the fields was now to work indeed. Bob's complexion and +Archie's were "improved" to a kind of brick-red hue, and even Harry got +wondrously tanned. + +There was certainly a great saving in clothes that year, for excepting +light, broad-brimmed hats, and shirts and trousers, nothing else was +worn by the men. + +But the gardens were cool in the evening, in spite of the midday glare +of the sun, and it was delightful to sit out in the open for an hour or +two and think and talk of the old country; while the rich perfume of +flowers hung warm in the air, and the holy stars shimmered and blinked +in the dark blue of the sky. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +"I'LL WRITE A LETTER HOME." + +The summer wore away, autumn came, the harvest was made good, and in +spite of the drought it turned out well; for the paddocks chosen for +agricultural produce seldom lacked moisture, lying as they did on the +low lands near the creek, and on rich ground reclaimed from the scrub. + +Our Bushmen were congratulating themselves on the success of their +farming; for the banking account of all three was building itself, so to +speak, slowly, but surely. + +Archie was now quite as wealthy as either of his companions; for his +speculations, instigated by his friend Winslow, had turned out well; so +his stock had increased tenfold, and he had taken more pasture to the +westward and north, near where Bob's and Harry's sheep now were; for +Craig's advice had been acted on. + +None too soon though; for early in the winter an old shepherd arrived in +haste at the homesteading to report an outbreak of inflammatory catarrh +among the flocks still left on the lower pastures. + +The events that quickly followed put Archie in mind of the "dark days" +at Burley Old Farm, when fat beasts were dying in twos and threes day +after day. Sheep affected with this strange ailment lived but a day or +two, and the only thing to do was to kill them on the very first +symptoms of the ailment appearing. They were then just worth the price +of their hides and tallow. + +Considering the amount of extra work entailed, and the number of extra +hands to be hired, and the bustle and stir and anxiety caused by the +outbreak, it is doubtful if it would not have been better to bury them +as they fell, skin and all. + +This was one of the calamities which Winslow had pointed out to Archie +as likely to occur. But it was stamped out at last. The sheep that +remained were sent away to far-off pastures; being kept quite separate, +however, from the other flocks. So the cloud passed away, and the +squatters could breathe freely again, and hope for a good lambing +season, when winter passed away, and spring time came once more. + +"Bob," said Archie one evening, as they all sat round the hearth before +retiring to bed, "that fire looks awfully cosy, doesn't it? And all the +house is clean and quiet--oh, so quiet and delightful that I really +wonder anyone could live in a city or anywhere near the roar and din of +railway trains! Then our farm is thriving far beyond anything we could +have dared to expect. We are positively getting rich quickly, if, +indeed, we are not rich already. And whether it be winter or summer, +the weather is fine, glorious sometimes. Indeed, it is like a foretaste +of heaven, Bob, in my humble opinion, to get up early and wander out of +doors." + +"Well," said Bob, "small reason to be ashamed to say that, my boy." + +"Hold on, Bob, I'm coming to the part I'm ashamed of; just you smoke +your pipe and keep quiet. Well, so much in love am I with the new +country that I'm beginning to forget the old. Of course I'll always-- +always be a true Englishman, and I'd go back to-morrow to lay down my +life for the dear old land if it was in danger. But it isn't, it +doesn't want us, it doesn't need us; it is full to overflowing, and I +daresay they can do without any of us. But, Bob, there is my dear old +father, mother, Elsie, and Rupert. Now, if it were only possible to +have them here. But I know my father is wedded to Burley, and his +life's dream is to show his neighbours a thing or two. I know too that +if he starts machinery again he will be irretrievably lost." + +Archie paused, and the kangaroo looked up into his face as much as to +say, "Go on, I'm all attention." + +"Well, Bob, if I make a pile here and go home, I'll just get as fond of +Burley as I was when a boy, and I may lose my pile too. It seems +selfish to speak so, but there is no necessity for it. So I mean to try +to get father to emigrate. Do you think such a thing is possible, Bob?" + +"It's the same with men as with trees, Archie. You must loosen the +ground about them, root by root must be carefully taken up if you want +to transplant them, and you must take so much of the old earth with them +that they hardly know they are being moved. Sarah, bring the coffee. +As for my own part, Archie, I am going back; but it is only just to see +the old cottage, the dear old woods, and--and my mother's grave." + +"Yes," said Archie, thoughtfully. "Well, root by root you said, didn't +you?" + +"Ay, root by root." + +"Then I'm going to begin. Rupert and Elsie will be the first roots. +Roup isn't over strong yet. This country will make a man of him. Bob +and you, Harry, can go to bed as soon as you like. I'm going out to +think and walk about a bit. Stick another log or two on the fire, and +as soon as you have all turned in I'll write a letter home. I'll begin +the uprooting, though it does seem cruel to snap old ties." + +"Well," said Harry, "thank goodness, I've got no ties to snap. And I +think with you, Archie, that the old country isn't a patch on the new. +Just think o' the London fogs. You mind them, Sarah." + +"I does, 'Arry." + +"And the snow." + +"And the slush, 'Arry." + +"And the drizzle." + +"And the kitchen beetles, boy. It would take a fat little lot to make +me go back out o' the sunshine. Here's the coffee." + +"Keep mine hot, Sarah." + +Away went Archie out into the night, out under the stars, out in the +falling dew, and his kangaroo went jumping and hopping after him. + +The sky was very bright and clear to-night, though fleece-shaped, +snow-white clouds lay low on the horizon, and the moon was rising +through the distant woods, giving the appearance of some gigantic fire +as its beams glared red among the topmost branches. + +There was the distant howling or yelling of dingoes, and the low, +half-frightened bleat of sheep, and there was the rippling murmur of the +stream not far off, but all else was still. + +It was two hours before Archie found his way back. The kangaroo saw him +to the door, then went off to curl up in the shed till the hot beams of +the morning sun should lure him forth to breakfast. + +And all alone sat Archie, by the kitchen table, writing a letter home by +the light of candles made on the steading. + +It was very still now in the house--only the ticking of the clock, the +occasional whirr of some insect flying against the window, anxious to +come into the light and warmth and scratching of the young man's pen. + +Surely the dog knew that Archie was writing home, for presently he got +slowly up from his corner and came and leant his head on his master's +knee, in that wise and kindly way collies have of showing their thoughts +and feelings. Archie must leave off writing for a moment to smooth and +pet the honest "bawsent" head. + +Now it would be very easy for us to peep over Archie's shoulder and read +what he was writing, but that would be rude; anything rather than +rudeness and impoliteness. Rather, for instance, let us take a voyage +across the wide, terribly wide ocean, to pay a visit to Burley Old Farm, +and wait till the letter comes. + +"I wonder," said Elsie with a gentle sigh, and a long look at the fire, +"when we may expect to hear from Archie again. Dear me, what a long, +long time it is since he went away! Let me see, Rupert, it is going on +for six years, isn't it?" + +"Yes. Archie must be quite a man by now." + +"He's all right," said the Squire. + +"That he is, I know," said Uncle Ramsay. + +"He's in God's good hands," said the mother, but her glasses were so +moist she had to take them off to wipe them; "he is in God's good hands, +and all we can do now is to pray for him." + +Two little taps at the green-parlour door and enter the maid, not +looking much older, and not less smart, than when last we saw her. + +"If you please, sir, there's a gentleman in the study as would like to +see you." + +"Oh," she added, with a little start, "here he comes!" + +And there he came certainly. + +"God bless all here!" he cried heartily. + +"What," exclaimed the Squire, jumping up and holding out his hand, "my +dear old friend Venturesome Vesey!" + +"Yes, Yankee Charlie, and right glad I am to see you." + +"My wife and children, Vesey. Though you and I have often met in town +since my marriage, you've never seen them before. My brother, whom you +know." + +Vesey was not long in making himself one of the family circle, and he +gave his promise to stay at Burley Old Farm for a week at least. + +Rupert and Elsie took to him at once. How could they help it? a sailor +and gentleman, and a man of the world to boot. Besides, coming directly +from Archie. + +"I just popped into the house the very morning after he had written the +letter I now hand to you," said Captain Vesey. "He had an idea it would +be safer for me to bring it. Well, here it is; and I'm going straight +away out to the garden to smoke a pipe under the moon while you read it. +Friend as I am of Archie's, you must have the letter all to +yourselves;" and away went Vesey. + +"Send for old Kate and Branson," cried the Squire, and they accordingly +marched in all expectancy. + +Then the father unfolded the letter with as much reverence almost as if +it had been _Foxe's Book of Martyrs_. + +Every eye was fixed upon him as he slowly read it. Even Bounder, the +great Newfoundland, knew something unusual was up, and sat by Elsie all +the time. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Archie's Letter Home. + + "My dearest Mother,--It is to you I write first, because I know that a + proposal I have to make will 'take you aback,' as my friend Winslow + would say. I may as well tell you what it is at once, because, if I + don't, your beloved impatience will cause you to skip all the other + parts of the letter till you come to it. Now then, my own old mummy, + wipe your spectacles all ready, catch hold of the arm of your chair + firmly, and tell Elsie to 'stand by'--another expression of + Winslow's--the smelling-salts bottle. Are you all ready? Heave oh! + then. I'm going to ask you to let Rupert and Elsie come out to me + here. + + "Have you fainted, mummy? Not a bit of it; you're my own brave + mother! And don't you see that this will be only the beginning of the + end? And a bright, happy end, mother, I'm looking forward to its + being. It will be the reunion of us all once more; and if we do not + live quite under one roof, as in the dear old days at Burley Old Farm, + we will live in happy juxtaposition. + + "'What!' you cry, 'deprive me of my children?' It is for your + children's good, mummy. Take Rupert first. He is not strong now, but + he is young. If he comes at once to this glorious land of ours, on + which I am quite enthusiastic, he will get as hardy as a New Hollander + in six months' time. Wouldn't you like to see him with roses on his + face, mother, and a brow as brown as a postage stamp? Send him out. + Would you like him to have a frame of iron, with muscles as tough as a + mainstay? Send him out. Would you like him to be as full of health + as an egg is full of meat? and so happy that he would have to get up + at nights to sing? Then send him here. + + "Take poor me next. You've no notion how homesick I am; I'm dying to + see some of you. I am making money fast, and I love my dear, free, + jolly life; but for all that, there are times that I would give up + everything I possess--health, and hopes of wealth--for sake of one + glance at your dear faces, and one run round Burley Old Farm with + father." + + This part of Archie's letter told home. There were tears in Mrs + Broadbent's motherly eyes; and old Kate was heard to murmur, "Dear, + bonnie laddie!" and put her apron to her face. + + "Then," the letter continued, "there is Elsie. It would do her good + to come too, because--bless the lassie!--she takes her happiness at + second-hand; and knowing that she was a comfort to us boys, and made + everything cheery and nice, would cause her to be as jolly as the + summer's day is long or a gum tree high. Then, mother, we three + should work together with only one intent--that of getting you and + father both out, and old Kate and Branson too. + + "As for you, dad, I know you will do what is right; and see how good + it would be for us all to let Roup and Elsie come. Then you must + remember that when we got things a bit straighter, we would expect you + and mother to follow. You, dear dad, would have full scope here for + your inventive genius, and improvements that are thrown away in + England could be turned to profit out here. + + "We would not go like a bull at a gate at anything, father; but what + we do want here is machinery, easily worked, for cutting up and + dealing with wood; for cutting up ground, and for destroying tree + stumps; and last, but not least, we want wells, and a complete system + of irrigation for some lands, that shall make us independent to a + great extent of the sparsely-failing rains of some seasons. Of course + you could tell us something about sheep disease and cattle plague, and + I'm not sure you couldn't help us to turn the wild horses to account, + with which some parts of the interior swarm." + +Squire Broadbent paused here to exclaim, as he slapped his thigh with +his open palm: + +"By Saint Andrews, brother, Archie is a chip of the old block! He's a +true Broadbent, I can tell you. He appreciates the brains of his father +too. Heads are what are wanted out there; genius to set the mill +a-going. As for this country--pah! it's played out. Yes, my children, +you shall go, and your father will follow." + + "My dear Elsie and Rupert," the letter went on, "how I should love to + have you both out here. I have not asked you before, because I wanted + to have everything in a thriving condition first; but now that + everything is so, it wants but you two to help me on, and in a year or + two--Hurrah! for dad and the mum! + + "Yes, Elsie, your house is all prepared. I said nothing about this + before. I've been, like the duck-bill, working silently out of + sight--out of your sight I mean. But there it is, the finest house in + all the district, a perfect mansion; walls as thick as Burley Old + Tower--that's for coolness in summer. Lined inside with cedar--that's + for cosiness in winter. Big hall in it, and all the rooms just + _facsimile_ of our own house at home, or as near to them as the + climate will admit. + + "But mind you, Elsie, I'm not going to have you banished to the Bush + wilds altogether. No, lassie, no; we will have a mansion--a real + mansion--in Sydney or Brisbane as well, and the house at Burley New + Farm will be our country residence. + + "I know I'll have your answer by another mail, and it will put new + life into us all to know you are coming. Then I will start right away + to furnish our house. Our walls shall be polished, pictures shall be + hung, and mirrors everywhere; the floors shall glitter like beetles' + wings, and couches and skins be all about. I'm rather lame at house + description, but you, Elsie, shall finish the furnishing, and put in + the nicknacks yourself. + + "I'm writing here in the stillness of night, with our doggie's head + upon my knee. All have gone to bed--black and white--in the house and + round the Station. But I've just come in from a long walk in the + moonlight. I went out to be alone and think about you; and what a + glorious night, Rupert! We have no such nights in England. Though it + is winter, it is warm and balmy. It is a delight to walk at night + either in summer or winter. Oh, I do wish I could describe to you my + garden as it is in spring and early summer! That is, you know, _our_ + garden that is going to be. I had the garden laid out and planted + long before the house was put up, and now my chief delight is to keep + it up. You know, as I told you before, I went to Melbourne with the + Winslows. Well, we went round everywhere, and saw everything; we + sailed on the lovely river, and I was struck with the wonderful beauty + of the gardens, and determined ours should be something like it. And + when the orange blossom is out, and the fragrant verbenas, and a + thousand other half-wild flowers, with ferns, ferns, ferns everywhere, + and a fountain playing in the shadiest nook--this was an idea of + Harry's--you would think you were in fairyland or dreamland, or + 'through the looking-glass,' or somewhere; anyhow, you would be + entranced. + + "But to-night, when I walked there, the house--our house you know-- + looked desolate and dreary, and my heart gave a big superstitious thud + when I heard what I thought was a footstep on the verandah, but it was + only a frog as big as your hat. + + "That verandah cost me and Harry many a ramble into the scrub and + forest, but now it is something worth seeing, with its wealth of + climbing flowering plants, its hanging ferns, and its clustering + marvellous orchids. + + "Yes, the house looks lonely; looks haunted almost; only, of course, + ghosts never come near a new house. But, dear Elsie, how lovely it + will look when we are living in it! when light streams out from the + open casement windows! when warmth and music are there! Oh, come + soon, come _soon_! You see I'm still impulsive. + + "You, Elsie, love pets. I daresay Bounder will come with you. Poor + Scallowa! I was sorry to hear of his sad death. But we can have all + kinds of pets here. We have many. To begin with, there is little + Diana, she is queen of the station, and likely to be; she is + everybody's favourite. Then there are the collies, and the kangaroo. + He is quite a darling fellow, and goes everywhere with me. + + "Our laughing jackass is improving every day. He looks excessively + wise when you talk to him, and if touched up with the end of a brush + of turkey's feathers, which we keep for the purpose, he goes off into + such fits of mad hilarious, mocking, ringing laughter that somebody + has got to pick him up, cage and all, and make all haste out of the + house with him. + + "We have also a pet bear; that is Harry's. But don't jump. It is no + bigger than a cat, and far tamer. It is a most wonderful little + rascal to climb ever you saw. Koala we call him, which is his native + name, and he is never tired of exploring the roof and rafters; but + when he wants to go to sleep, he will tie himself round Sarah's waist, + with his back downwards, and go off as sound as a top. + + "We have lots of cats and a cockatoo, who is an exceedingly + mischievous one, and who spends most of his life in the garden. He + can talk, and dance, and sing as well. And he is a caution to snakes, + I can tell you. I don't want to frighten you though. We never see + the 'tiger' snake, or hardly ever, and I think the rest are harmless. + I know the swagsmen, and the sundowners too, often kill the carpet + snake, and roast and eat it when they have no other sort of fresh + meat. I have tasted it, and I can tell you, Rupert, it is better than + roasted rabbit. + + "I'm going to have a flying squirrel. The first time I saw these + creatures was at night among the trees, and they startled me--great + shadowy things sailing like black kites from bough to bough. + + "Kangaroos are cautions. We spend many and many a good day hunting + them. If we did not kill them they would eat us up, or eat the + sheep's fodder up, and that would be all the same. + + "Gentleman Craig has strange views about most things; he believes in + Darwin, and a deal that isn't Darwin; but he says kangaroos first got + or acquired their monster hindlegs, and their sturdy tails, from + sitting up looking over the high grass, and cropping the leaves of + bushes. He says that Australia is two millions of years old at the + very least. + + "I must say I like Craig very much. He is so noble and handsome. + What a splendid soldier he would have made! But with all his grandeur + of looks--I cannot call it anything else--there is an air of + pensiveness and melancholy about him that is never absent. Even when + he smiles it is a sad smile. Ah! Rupert, his story is a very strange + one; but he is young yet, only twenty-six, and he is now doing well. + He lives by himself, with just one shepherd under him, on the very + confines of civilisation. I often fear the blacks will bail up his + hut some day, and mumkill him, and we should all be sorry. Craig is + saving money, and I believe will be a squatter himself one of these + days. Etheldene is very fond of him. Sometimes I am downright + jealous and nasty about it, because I would like you, Rupert, to have + Etheldene for a wife. And she knows all about the black fellows, and + can speak their language. Well, you see, Rupert, you could go and + preach to and convert them; for they are not half so bad as they are + painted. The white men often use them most cruelly, and think no more + of shooting them than I should of killing an old man kangaroo. + + "When I began this letter, dearest Elsie and old Roup, I meant to tell + you such a lot I find I shall have no chance of doing--all about the + grand trees, the wild and beautiful scenery, the birds and beasts and + insects, but I should have to write for a week to do it. So pray + forgive my rambling letter, and come and see it all for yourself. + + "Come you must, else--let me see now what I shall threaten. Oh, I + have it; I won't ever return! But if you do come, then in a few years + we'll all go back together, and bring out dad and the dear mummy. + + "I can't see to write any more. No, the lights are just as bright as + when I commenced; but when I think of dad and the mum, my eyes _will_ + get filled with moisture. So there! + + "God bless you all, _all_, from the mum and dad all the way down to + Kate, Branson, and Bounder. + + "Archie Broadbent, C.O.B. + + "P.S.--Do you know what C.O.B. means? It means Chip of the Old Block. + Hurrah!" + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +RUMOURS OF WAR. + +As soon as Squire Broadbent read his son's letter he carefully folded it +up, and with a smile on his face handed it to Rupert. And by-and-bye, +when Captain Vesey returned, and settled into the family circle with the +rest, and had told them all he could remember about Archie and Burley +New Farm in Australia, the brother and sister, followed by Bounder, +slipped quietly out and told old Kate they were going to the tower. +Would she come? That she would. And so for hours they all sat up there +before the fire talking of Archie, and all he had done and had been, and +laying plans and dreaming dreams, and building castles in the air, just +in the same way that young folks always have done in this world, and +will, I daresay, continue to do till the end of time. + +But that letter bore fruit, as we shall see. + +Things went on much as usual in the Bush. Winter passed away, spring +came round and lambing season, and the shepherds were busy once more. +Gentleman Craig made several visits to the home farm, and always brought +good news. It was a glorious time in every way; a more prosperous +spring among the sheep no one could wish to have. + +On his last visit to the house Craig stayed a day or two, and Archie +went back with him, accompanied by a man on horseback, with medicines +and some extra stores--clothing and groceries, etc, I mean, for in those +days live stock was sometimes called stores. + +They made Findlayson's the first night, though it was late. They found +that the honest Scot had been so busy all day he had scarcely sat down +to a meal. Archie and Craig were "in clipping-time" therefore, for +there was roast duck on the table, and delightful potatoes all steaming +hot, and, as usual, the black bottle of mountain dew, a "wee drappie" of +which he tried in vain to get either Craig or Archie to swallow. + +"Oh, by-the-bye, men," said Findlayson, in the course of the evening-- +that is, about twelve o'clock--"I hear bad news up the hills way." + +"Indeed," said Craig. + +"Ay, lad. You better ha'e your gun loaded. The blacks, they say, are +out in force. They've been killing sheep and bullocks too, and picking +the best." + +"Well, I don't blame them either. Mind, we white men began the trouble; +but, nevertheless, I'll defend my flock." + +Little more was said on the subject. But next morning another and an +uglier rumour came. A black fellow or two had been shot, and the tribe +had sworn vengeance and held a corroboree. + +"There's a cloud rising," said Findlayson. "I hope it winna brak o'er +the district." + +"I hope not, Findlayson. Anyhow, I know the black fellows well. I'm +not sure I won't ride over after I get back and try to get to the bottom +of the difference." + +The out-station, under the immediate charge of Gentleman Craig, was +fully thirty miles more to the north and west than Findlayson's, and on +capital sheep-pasture land, being not very far from the hills--a branch +ridge that broke off from the main range, and lay almost due east and +west. + +Many a splendidly-wooded glen and gully was here; but at the time of our +story these were still inhabited by blacks innumerable. Savage, fierce, +and vindictive they were in all conscience, but surely not so brave as +we sometimes hear them spoken of, else could they have swept the country +for miles of the intruding white man. In days gone by they had indeed +committed some appallingly-shocking massacres; but of late years they +had seemed contented to either retire before the whites or to become +their servants, and receive at their hands that moral death--temptation +to drink--which has worked such woe among savages in every quarter of +the inhabitable globe. + +As Archie and his companion came upon the plain where--near the top of +the creek on a bit of tableland--Craig's "castle," as he called it, was +situated, the owner looked anxiously towards it. At first they could +see no signs of life; but as they rode farther on, and nearer, the +shepherd himself came out to meet them, Roup, the collie, bounding +joyfully on in front, and barking in the exuberance of his glee. + +"All right and safe, shepherd?" + +"All right and safe, sir," the man returned; "but the blacks have been +here to-day." + +"Then I'll go there to-morrow." + +"I don't think that's a good plan." + +"Oh! isn't it? Well, I'll chance it. Will you come, Mr Broadbent?" + +"I will with pleasure." + +"Anything for dinner, George?" + +"Yes, sir. I expected you; and I've got a grilled pheasant, and fish +besides." + +"Ah, capital! But what made you expect me to-day?" + +"The dog Roup, sir. He was constantly going to the door to look out, so +I could have sworn you would come." + +The evening passed away quietly enough. + +Dwelling in this remote region, and liable at any time to be attacked, +Gentleman Craig had thought it right to almost make a fort of his little +slab hut. He had two black fellows who worked for him, and with their +assistance a rampart of stones, earth, and wood was thrown up, although +these men had often assured him that "he," Craig, "was 'corton budgery,' +and that there was no fear of the black fellows 'mumkill' him." + +"I'm not so very sure about it," thought Craig; "and it is best to be on +the safe side." + +They retired to-night early, having seen to the sheep and set a black to +watch, for the dingoes were very destructive. + +Both Craig and Archie slept in the same room, and they hardly undressed, +merely taking off their coats, and lying down on the rough bed of +sacking, with collie near the door to do sentry. + +They had not long turned in when the dog began to growl low. + +"Down charge, Roup," said Craig. + +Instead of obeying, the dog sprang to the door, barking fiercely. + +Both Archie and Craig were out of bed in a moment, and handling their +revolvers. Craig managed to quieten Roup, and then listened +attentively. + +The wind was rising and moaning round the chimney, but above this sound +they could hear a long-prolonged "Coo--oo--ee!" + +"That's a white man's voice," said Craig; "we're safe." + +The door and fort was at once opened, and a minute after five squatters +entered. + +"Sorry we came so late," they said; "but we've been and done it, and it +took some time." + +"What have you done?" said Craig. + +"Fired the woods all along the gullies among the hills." + +"Is that fair to the blacks?" + +"Curse them!" exclaimed the spokesman. "Why do they not keep back? The +law grumbles if we shoot the dogs, unless in what they please to call +self-defence, which means after they have speared our beasts and +shepherds, and are standing outside our doors with a nullah ready to +brain us." + +Craig and Archie went to the door and looked towards the hills. + +What a scene was there! The fire seemed to have taken possession of the +whole of the highlands from east to west, and was entwining wood and +forest, glen and ravine, in its snake-like embrace. The hills +themselves were cradled in flames and lurid smoke. The stems of the +giant gum trees alone seemed to defy the blaze, and though their summits +looked like steeples on fire, the trunks stood like pillars of black +marble against the golden gleam behind them. The noise was deafening, +and the smoke rolled away to leeward, laden with sparks thick as the +snowflakes in a winter's fall. It was an appalling sight, the +description of which is beyond the power of any pen. + +"Well, men," said Craig when he re-entered the hut, "I don't quite see +the force of what you have done. It is like a declaration of war, and, +depend upon it, the black fellows will accept the challenge." + +"It'll make the grass grow," said one of the men with a laugh. + +"Yes," said another; "and that grass will grow over a black man's grave +or two ere long, if I don't much mistake." + +"It wouldn't be worth while burying the fiends," said a third. "We'll +leave them to the rooks." + +"Well," said Craig, "there's meat and damper there, men. Stir up the +fire, warm your tea, and be happy as long as you can. We're off to +bed." + +Gentleman Craig was as good as his word next day. He rode away in +search of the tribe, and after a long ride found them encamped on a +tableland. + +As it turned out they knew him, and he rode quietly into their midst. + +They were all armed with spear, and nullah, and boomerang. They were +tattooed, nearly naked, and hideous enough in their horrid war-paint. + +Craig showed no signs of fear. Indeed he felt none. He told the chief, +however, that he had not approved of the action of the white men, his +brothers, and had come, if possible, to make peace. Why should they +fight? There was room enough in the forest and scrub for all. If +they--the blacks--would leave the cattle and flocks of the squatters +alone, he--Craig--could assure them things would go on as happily as +before. + +"And if not?" they asked. + +"If not, for one black man there was in the country, there were a +thousand white. They would come upon them in troops, even like the +locusts; they would hunt them as they hunted the dingoes; they would +kill them as dingoes were killed, and before long all the black fellows +would be in the land of forgetfulness. What would it profit them then +that they had speared a few white fellows?" + +Craig stayed for hours arguing with these wild men, and left at last +after having actually made peace with honour. + +The cloud had rolled away, for a time at all events. + +In the course of a few days Archie and his man left on his return +journey. Findlayson made up his mind to go on with him to Burley New +Farm; for this Scot was very fond of an occasional trip eastwards, and +what he called a "twa-handed crack" with Bob or Harry. + +Everybody was glad to see him; for, truth to tell, no one had ever seen +Findlayson without a smile on his old-fashioned face, and so he was well +liked. + +Bob came galloping out to meet them, and with him, greatly to Archie's +astonishment, was what he at first took for a black bear. + +The black bear was Bounder. + +Archie dismounted and threw his arms round the great honest dog's neck, +and almost burst into tears of joy. + +For just half a minute Bounder was taken aback; then memory came rushing +over him; he gave a jump, and landed Archie on his back, and covered his +face and hair with his canine kisses. But this was not enough. Bounder +must blow off steam. He must get rid of the exuberance of his delight +before it killed him. So with a half-hysterical but happy bark he went +off at a tangent, and commenced sweeping round and round in a circle so +quickly that he appeared but a black shape. This wild caper he kept up +till nearly exhausted, then returned once more to be embraced. + +"So they've come." It was all that Archie could say. + +Yes, they had come. Elsie had come, Rupert had come, Branson and +Bounder had come. + +And oh, what a joyful meeting that was! Only those who have been +separated for many long years from all they love and hold dear, and have +met just thus, as Archie now met his sister and brother, can have any +appreciation of the amount of joy that filled their hearts. + +The very first overflowing of this joy being expended, of course the +next thing for both Archie and the newcomers to say was, "How you've +changed!" + +Yes, they had all changed. None more so than Elsie. She always gave +promise of beauty; but now that Archie held her at arms' length, to look +at and criticise, he could not help exclaiming right truthfully: + +"_Why_, Elsie, you're almost as beautiful as Etheldene!" + +"Oh, what a compliment!" cried Rupert. "I wouldn't have it, Elsie. +That '_almost_' spoils it." + +"Just you wait till you see Etheldene, young man," said Archie, nodding +his head. "You'll fall in love at once. I only hope she won't marry +Gentleman Craig. And how is mother and father?" + +Then questions came in streams. To write one half that was spoken that +night would take me weeks. They all sat out in the verandah of the old +house; for the night was sultry and warm, and it was very late indeed +before anyone ever thought of retiring. + +Findlayson had been unusually quiet during the whole of the evening. To +be sure, it would not have been quite right for him to have put in his +oar too much, but, to tell the truth, something had happened which +appeared to account for his silence. Findlayson had fallen in love-- +love at first sight. Oh, there are such things! I had a touch of the +complaint myself once, so my judgment is critical. Of course, it is +needless to say that Elsie was the bright particular star, that had in +one brief moment revolutionised the existence and life of the ordinarily +placid and very matter-of-fact Findlayson. So he sat to-night in his +corner and hardly spoke, but, I daresay, like Paddy's parrot, he made up +for it in thinking; and he looked all he could also, without seeming +positively rude. + +Well, a whole fortnight was spent by Archie in showing his brother and +sister round the station, and initiating them into some of the mysteries +and contrarieties of life in the Australian Bush. + +After this the three started off for Brisbane and Sydney, to complete +the purchase of furniture for Archie's house. Archie proved himself +exceedingly clever at this sort of thing, considering that he was only a +male person. But in proof of what I state, let me tell you, that before +leaving home he had even taken the measure of the rooms, and of the +windows and doors. And when he got to Sydney he showed his taste in the +decorative art by choosing "fixings" of an altogether Oriental and +semi-aesthetic design. + +At Sydney Elsie and Rupert were introduced to the Winslows, and, as soon +as he conveniently could, Archie took his brother's opinion about +Etheldene. + +Very much to his astonishment, Rupert told him that Etheldene was more +sisterly than anything else, and he dare say she was rather a nice +girl--"as far as girls go." + +Archie laughed outright at Rupert's coolness, but somehow or other he +felt relieved. + +First impressions go a far way in a matter of this kind, and it was +pretty evident there was little chance of Rupert's falling in love with +Etheldene, for some time at least. + +Yet this was the plan of campaign Archie had cut out: Rupert and +Etheldene should be very much struck with each other from the very +first; the young lady should frequently visit at Burley New Farm, and, +for the good of his health, Rupert should go often to Sydney. Things +would progress thus, off and on, for a few years, then the marriage +would follow, Rupert being by this time settled perhaps, and in a fair +way of doing well. I am afraid Archie had reckoned without his host, or +even his hostess. + +He was not long in coming to this conclusion either; and about the same +time he made another discovery, very much to his own surprise; namely, +that he himself was in love with Etheldene, and that he had probably +been so for some considerable length of time, without knowing it. He +determined in his own mind therefore that he would steel his heart +towards Miss Winslow, and forget her. + +Before Elsie and Rupert came to settle down finally at the farm, they +enjoyed, in company with Mr Winslow and his daughter, many charming +trips to what I might call the show-places of Australia. Sydney, and +all its indescribably-beautiful surroundings, they visited first. Then +they went to Melbourne, and were much struck with all the wealth and +grandeur they saw around them, although they could not help thinking the +actual state of the streets was somewhat of a reproach to the town. +They sailed on the Yarra-Yarra; they went inland and saw, only to marvel +at, the grandeur of the scenery, the ferny forests, the glens and hills, +the waterfalls and tumbling streams and lovely lakes. And all the time +Rupert could not get rid of the impression that it was a beautiful +dream, from which he would presently awake and find himself at Burley +Old Farm. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +THE MASSACRE AT FINDLAYSON'S FARM. + +By the time Elsie and Rupert had returned from their wanderings winter +was once more coming on; but already both the sister and brother had got +a complexion. + +The house was quite furnished now, guest room and all. It was indeed a +mansion, though I would not like to say how much money it had cost +Archie to make it so. However, he had determined, as he said himself to +Bob, to do the thing properly while he was about it. + +And there is no doubt he succeeded well. His garden too was all he had +depicted it in his letter home. + +That Archie had succeeded to his heart's content in breaking ties with +the old country was pretty evident, from a letter received by him from +his father about mid-winter. + +"He had noticed for quite a long time," the Squire wrote, "and was +getting more and more convinced, that this England was, agriculturally +speaking, on its last legs. Even American inventions, and American +skill and enterprise, had failed to do much for the lands of Burley. He +had tried everything, but the ground failed to respond. Burley was a +good place for an old retired man who loved to potter around after the +partridges; but for one like himself, still in the prime of his life, it +had lost its charms. Even Archie's mother, he told him, did not see the +advisability of throwing good money after bad, and Uncle Ramsay was of +the same way of thinking. So he had made up his mind to let the place +and come straight away out. He would allow Archie to look out for land +for him, and by-and-bye he would come and take possession. Australia +would henceforth reap the benefit of his genius and example; for he +meant to show Australians a thing or two." + +When Archie read that letter, he came in with a rush to read it to Bob, +Harry, and Sarah. + +"I think your father is right," said Bob. + +"I tell you, Bob, my boy, it isn't father so much as mother. The dear +old mummy speaks and breathes through every line and word of this +epistle. Now I'm off to astonish Elsie and Roup. Come along, Bounder." + +Meanwhile Findlayson became a regular visitor at the farm. + +"_Why_," Archie said to him one evening, as he met him about the outer +boundary of the farm, "why, Findlayson, my boy, you're getting to be a +regular 'sundowner.' Well, Miss Winslow has come, and Craig is with us, +and as I want to show Branson a bit of real Australian sport, you had +better stop with us a fortnight." + +"I'll be delighted. I wish I'd brought my fiddle." + +"We'll send for it if you can't live without it." + +"Not very weel. But I've something to tell you." + +"Well, say on; but you needn't dismount." + +"Yes, I'll speak better down here." + +Findlayson sat up on top of the fence, and at once opened fire by +telling Archie he had fallen in love with Elsie, and had determined to +make her his wife. Archie certainly was taken aback. + +"Why, Findlayson," he said, "you're old enough to be her father." + +"A' the better, man. And look here, I've been squatting for fifteen +years, ever since there was a sheep in the plains almost. I have a nice +little nest egg at the bank, and if your sister doesna care to live in +the Bush we'll tak' a hoose in Sydney. For, O man, man, Elsie is the +bonniest lassie the world e'er saw. She beats the gowan [mountain +daisy]." + +Archie laughed. + +"I must refer you to the lady herself," he said. + +"Of course, man, of course-- + + "'He either fears his fate too much, + Or his deserts are small, + Who dares not put it to the test + To win or lose it all.'" + +So away went Findlayson to put his fate to the test. + +What _he_ said or what _she_ said does not really concern us; but five +minutes after his interview Archie met the honest Scot, and wondrously +crestfallen he looked. + +"She winna hae me," he cried, "but _nil desperandum_, that'll be my +motto till the happy day." + +The next fortnight was in a great measure given up to pleasure and +sport. Both Branson and Bounder received their baptism of fire, though +the great Newfoundland was wondrously exercised in his mind as to what a +kangaroo was, and what it was not. As to the dingoes, he arrived at a +conclusion very speedily. They could beat him at a race, however; but +when Bounder one time got two of them together, he proved to everybody's +satisfaction that there was life in the old dog yet. + +Gentleman Craig never appeared to such excellent advantage anywhere as +in ladies' society. He really led the conversation at the dinner-table, +though not appearing to do so, but rather the reverse, while in the +drawing-room he was the moving spirit. + +He also managed to make Findlayson happy after a way. The Scotchman had +told Craig all his troubles, but Craig brought him his fiddle, on which +he was a really excellent performer. + +"Rouse out, Mr Findlayson, and join the ladies at the piano." + +"But, man," the squatter replied, "my heart's no in it; my heart is +broken. I can play slow music, but when it comes to quick, it goes hard +against the grain." + +Nevertheless, Findlayson took his stand beside the piano, and the ice +thus being broken, he played every night, though it must be confessed, +for truth's sake, he never refused a "cogie" when the bottle came round +his way. Towards ten o'clock Findlayson used, therefore, to become +somewhat sentimental. The gentleman sat up for a wee half hour after +the ladies retired, and sometimes Findlayson would seize his fiddle. + +"Gentlemen," he would say, "here is how I feel." + +Then he would play a lament or a wail with such feeling that even his +listeners would be affected, while sometimes the tears would be +quivering on the performer's eyelashes. + +At the end of the fortnight Findlayson went to Brisbane. He had some +mysterious business to transact, the nature of which he refused to tell +even Archie. But it was rumoured that a week or two later on, drays +laden with furniture were seen to pass along the tracks on their way to +Findlayson's farm. + +Poor fellow, he was evidently badly hit. He was very much in love +indeed, and, like a drowning man, he clutched at straws. + +The refurnishing of his house was one of these straws. Findlayson was +going to give "a week's fun," as he phrased it. He was determined, +after having seen Archie's new house, that his own should rival and even +outshine it in splendour. And he really was insane enough to believe +that if Elsie only once saw the charming house he owned, with the wild +and beautiful scenery all around it, she would alter her mind, and look +more favourably on his suit. + +In giving way to vain imaginings of this kind, Findlayson was really +ignoring, or forgetting at all events, the sentiments of his own +favourite poet, Burns, as impressed in the following touching lines: + + "It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth, + That bought contentment, peace, or pleasure; + The bands and bliss o' mutual love, + O that's the chiefest warld's treasure!" + +His sister was very straightforward, and at once put her brother down as +a wee bit daft. Perhaps he really was; only the old saying is a true +one: "Those that are in love are like no one else." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was the last month of winter, when early one morning a gay party from +Burley New Farm set out to visit Findlayson, and spend a week or two in +order to "'liven him up," as Harry expressed it. + +Bob was not particularly fond of going much from home--besides, Winslow +and he were planning some extensions--so he stopped on the Station. But +Harry went, and, as before, when going to the kangaroo hunt, Gentleman +Craig was in the cavalcade, and of course Rupert and Elsie. + +It would have been no very difficult matter to have done the journey in +a single day, only Archie was desirous of letting his brother and sister +have a taste of camping out in the Bush. + +They chose the same route as before, and encamped at night in the +self-same place. + +The evening too was spent in much the same way, even to singing and +story-telling, and Craig's lullaby to Baby, when she and Elsie had gone +to their tent. + +Morning dawned at last on forest and plain, and both Harry and the +brothers were early astir. It would have been impossible to remain +asleep much after daybreak, owing to the noise of the birds, including +the occasional ear-splitting clatter of the laughing jackasses. + +Besides, towards morning it had been exceedingly cold. The first thing +that greeted their eyes was a thorough old-fashioned hoar frost, the +like of which Archie had not seen for many a year. Everything gleamed, +white almost as coral. The grass itself was a sight to see, and the +leaves on the trees were edged with lace. But up mounted the sun, and +all was speedily changed. Leaves grew brightly green again, and the +hoar frost was turned into glancing, gleaming, rainbow-coloured drops of +dew. + +The young men ran merrily away to the pool in the creek, and most +effectually scared the ducks. + +The breakfast to-day was a different sort of a meal to the morsel of +stiff damper and corned junk that had been partaken of at last bivouac. +Elsie made the tea, and Etheldene and she presided. The meat pies and +patties were excellent, and everyone was in the highest possible +spirits, and joyously merry. + +Alas! and alas! this was a breakfast no one who sat down to, and who +lives, is ever likely to forget. + +Have you ever, reader, been startled on a bright sunshiny summer's day +by a thunder peal? And have you seen the clouds rapidly bank up after +this and obscure the sky, darkness brooding over the windless landscape, +lighted up every moment by the blinding lightning's flash, and gloom and +danger brooding all round, where but a short half hour ago the birds +carolled in sunlight? Then will you be able, in some measure, to +understand the terribleness of the situation in which an hour or two +after breakfast the party found themselves, and the awful suddenness of +the shock that for a time quite paralysed every member of it. + +They had left the dismal depths of the forest, and were out on the open +pasture land, and nearing Findlayson's house, when Craig and Archie, +riding on in front, came upon the well-known bobtailed collie, who was +the almost constant companion of the squatter. The dog was alive, but +dying. There was a terrible spear-gash in his neck. Craig dismounted +and knelt beside him. The poor brute knew him, wagged his inch-long +tail, licked the hand that caressed him, and almost immediately expired. +Craig immediately rode back to the others. + +"Do not be alarmed, ladies," he said. "But I fear the worst. There is +no smoke in Findlayson's chimney. The black fellows have killed his +dog." + +Though both girls grew pale, there were no other signs of fear +manifested by them. If Young Australia could be brave, so could Old +England. + +The men consulted hurriedly, and it was agreed that while Branson and +Harry waited with the ladies, Archie and Craig should ride on towards +the house. + +Not a sign of life; no, not one. Signs enough of death though, signs +enough of an awful struggle. It was all very plain and simple, though +all very, very sad and dreadful. + +Here in the courtyard lay several dead natives, festering and sweltering +in the noonday sun. Here were the boomerangs and spears that had fallen +from their hands as they dropped never to rise again. Here was the door +battered and splintered and beaten in with tomahawks, and just inside, +in the passage, lay the bodies of Hurricane Bill and poor Findlayson, +hacked about almost beyond recognition. + +In the rooms all was confusion, every place had been ransacked. The +furniture, all new and elegant, smashed and riven; the very piano that +the honest Scot had bought for sake of Elsie had been dissected, and its +keys carried away for ornaments. In an inner room, half-dressed, were +Findlayson's sister and her little Scotch maid, their arms broken, as if +they had held them up to beseech for mercy from the monsters who had +attacked them. Their arms were broken, and their skulls beaten in, +their white night-dresses drenched in blood. There was blood, blood +everywhere--in curdled streams, in great liver-like gouts, and in dark +pools on the floor. In the kitchen were many more bodies of white men +(the shepherds), and of the fiends in human form with whom they had +struggled for their lives. + +It was an awful and sickening sight. + +No need for Craig or Archie to tell the news when they returned to the +others. Their very silence and sadness told the terrible tale. + +Nothing could be done at present, however, in the way of punishing the +murderers, who by this time must be far away in their mountain +fastnesses. + +They must ride back, and at once too, in order to warn the people at +Burley and round about of their great danger. + +So the return journey was commenced at once. On riding through the +forest they had to observe the greatest caution. + +Craig was an old Bushman, and knew the ways of the blacks well. He +trotted on in front. And whenever in any thicket, where an ambush might +possibly be lurking, he saw no sign of bird or beast, he dismounted and, +revolver in hand, examined the place before he permitted the others to +come on. + +They got through the forest and out of the gloom at last, and some hours +afterwards dismounted a long way down the creek to water the horses and +let them browse. As for themselves, no one thought of eating. There +was that feeling of weight at every heart one experiences when first +awakening from some dreadful nightmare. + +They talked about the massacre, as they sat under the shadow of a gum +tree, almost in whispers; and at the slightest unusual noise the men +grasped their revolvers and listened. + +They were just about to resume their journey when the distant sound of +galloping horses fell on their ears. Their own nags neighed. All +sprang to their feet, and next moment some eight or nine men rode into +the clearing. + +Most of them were known to Craig, so he advanced to meet them. + +"Ah! I see you know the worst," said the leader. + +"Yes," said Craig, "we know." + +"We've been to your place. It is all right there with one exception." + +"One exception?" + +"Yes; it's only the kid--Mr Cooper's little daughter, you know." + +"Is she dead?" cried Archie aghast. + +"No, sir; that is, it isn't likely. Mr Cooper's black girl left last +night, and took the child." + +"Good heavens! our little Diana! Poor Bob! He will go raving mad!" + +"He is mad, sir, or all but, already; but we've left some fellows to +defend the station, and taken to the trail as you see." + +"Craig," said Archie, "we must go too." + +"Well," said the first speaker, "the coast is all clear betwixt here and +Burley. Two must return there with the ladies. I advise you to make +your choice, and lose no time." + +It was finally arranged that Branson and one of the newcomers should +form the escort; and so Archie, Harry, and Craig bade the girls a +hurried adieu, and speedily rode away after the men. + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +ON THE WAR TRAIL. + +Twelve men all told to march against a tribe consisting probably of over +a hundred and fifty warriors, armed for the fight, and intoxicated with +their recent success! It was a rash, an almost mad, venture; but they +did not for one moment dream of drawing back. They would trust to their +own superior skill to beat the enemy; trust to that fortune that so +often favours the brave; trusting--many of them I hope--to that merciful +Providence who protects the weak, and who, in our greatest hour of need, +does not refuse to listen to our pleadings. + +They had ridden some little way in silence, when suddenly Archie drew +rein. + +"Halt, men!" he cried. "Halt for a moment and deliberate. Who is to be +the commander of this little force?" + +"Yourself," said Gentleman Craig, lifting his hat. "You are boss of +Burley Farm, and Mr Cooper's dearest friend." + +"Hear, hear!" cried several of the others. + +"Perhaps it is best," said Archie, after a moment's thoughtful pause, +"that I should take the leadership under the circumstances. But, Craig, +I choose you as my second in command, and one whose counsel I will +respect and be guided by." + +"Thank you," said Craig; "and to begin with, I move we go straight back +to Findlayson's farm. We are not too well armed, nor too well +provisioned." + +The proposal was at once adopted, and towards sundown they had once more +reached the outlying pastures. + +They were dismounting to enter, when the half-naked figure of a black +suddenly appeared from behind the storehouse. + +A gun or two was levelled at him at once. + +"Stay," cried Craig. "Do not fire. That is Jacoby, the black stockman, +and one of poor Mr Findlayson's chief men. Ha, Jacoby, advance my lad, +and tell us all you know." + +Jacoby's answer was couched in such unintelligible jargon--a mixture of +Bush-English and broad Scotch--that I will not try the reader's patience +by giving it verbatim. He was terribly excited, and looked heartbroken +with grief. He had but recently come home, having passed "plenty black +fellows" on the road. They had attempted to kill him, but here he was. + +"Could he track them?" + +"Yes, easily. They had gone away _there_." He pointed north and east +as he spoke. + +"This is strange," said Craig. "Men, if what Jacoby tells us be +correct, instead of retreating to their homes in the wilderness, the +blacks are doubling round; and if so, it must be their intention to +commit more of their diabolical deeds, so there is no time to be lost." + +It was determined first to bury their dear friends; and very soon a +grave was dug--a huge rough hole, that was all--and in it the murdered +whites were laid side by side. + +Rupert repeated the burial-service, or as much of it as he could +remember; then the rude grave was filled, and as the earth fell over the +chest of poor old-fashioned Findlayson, and Archie thought of all his +droll and innocent ways, tears trickled over his face that he made no +attempt to hide. + +The men hauled the gates of a paddock off its hinges, and piled wood +upon that, so that the wandering dingoes, with their friends the rooks, +should be baulked in their attempts to gorge upon the dead. + +The blacks had evidently commenced to ransack the stores; but for some +reason or another had gone and left them mostly untouched. + +Here were gunpowder and cartridges in abundance, and many dainty, +easily-carried foods, such as tinned meats and fish, that the unhappy +owner had evidently laid in for his friends. So enough of everything +was packed away in the men's pockets or bags, and they were soon ready +once more for the road. + +The horses must rest, however; for these formed the mainstay of the +little expedition. The men too could not keep on all night without a +pause; so Archie and Craig consulted, and it was agreed to bivouac for a +few hours, then resume the journey when the moon should rise. + +Meanwhile the sun went down behind the dark and distant wooded hills, +that in their strange shapes almost resembled the horizon seen at sea +when the waves are high and stormy. Between the place where Archie and +his brother stood and the light, all was rugged plain and forest land, +but soon the whole assumed a shade of almost blackness, and the nearest +trees stood up weird and spectre-like against the sky's strange hue. +Towards the horizon to-night there was a deep saffron or orange fading +above into a kind of pure grey or opal hue, with over it all a light +blush of red, and hurrying away to the south, impelled by some +air-current not felt below, was a mighty host of little cloudlets of +every colour, from darkest purple to golden-red and crimson. + +There was now and then the bleating of sheep--sheep without a shepherd-- +and a slight tinkle-tinkle, as of a bell. It was in reality the voice +of a strange bird, often to be found in the neighbourhood of creeks and +pools. + +Hardly any other sound at present fell on the ear. By-and-bye the +hurrying clouds got paler, and the orange left the horizon, and stars +began to twinkle in the east. + +"Come out here a little way with me," said Rupert, taking Archie by the +hand. + +When they had gone some little distance, quite out of hearing of the +camp, Rupert spoke: + +"Do you mind kneeling down here," he said, "to pray, Archie?" + +"You good old Rupert, no," was the reply. + +Perhaps no more simple, earnest, or heart-felt prayer was ever breathed +under such circumstances, or in such a place. And not only was Rupert +earnest, but he was confident. He spoke to the great Father as to a +friend whom he had long, long known, and One whom he could trust to do +all for the best. He prayed for protection, he prayed for help for the +speedy restoration of the stolen child, and he even prayed for the tribe +they soon hoped to meet in conflict--prayed that the God who moves in so +mysterious a way to perform His wonders would bless the present +affliction to the white man, and even to the misguided black. + +Oh, what a beautiful religion is ours--the religion of love--the +religion taught by the lips of the mild and gentle Jesus! + +When they rose from their knees they once more looked skywards at the +stars, for they were brightly shining now; then hand-in-hand, as they +had come, the brothers returned to the camp. + +No log fire was lit to-night. The men just lay down to sleep rolled in +their blankets, with their arms close by their saddle pillows, two being +told off to walk sentry in case of a sudden surprise. + +Even the horses were put in an enclosure, lest they might roam too far +away. + +About twelve o'clock Archie awoke from an uneasy dreamful slumber, and +looked about him. His attention was speedily attracted to what seemed a +huge fire blazing luridly behind the hills, and lighting up the haze +above with its gleams. Was the forest on fire again? No; it was only +moonrise over the woods. He awakened Craig, and soon the little camp +was all astir, and ready for the road. Jacoby was to act as guide. No +Indian from the Wild West of America could be a better tracker. + +But even before he started he told Craig the task would be an easy one, +for the black fellows had drunk plenty, and had taken plenty rum with +them. They would not go far, he thought, and there was a probability +that they would meet some of the band returning. Even in the moonlight +Jacoby followed the trail easily and rapidly. + +It took them first straight for the forest that had been burned +recently--a thoughtless deed on the part of the whites, that probably +led to all this sad trouble. + +There was evidence here that the blacks had gone into camp on the very +night of the massacre, and had held a corroboree, which could only have +been a day or two ago. There were the remains of the camp fires and the +trampled ground and broken branches, with no attempt at concealment. +There was a chance that even now they might not be far away, and that +the little band might come up with them ere they had started for the +day. But if they ventured to hope so, they were doomed to +disappointment. + +Morning broke at last lazily over the woods, and with but a brief +interval they followed up the trail, and so on and on all that day, till +far into the afternoon, when for a brief moment only Jacoby found +himself puzzled, having fallen in with another trail leading south and +west from the main track. He soon, however, discovered that the new +trail must be that of some band who had joined the Findlayson farm +raiders. + +It became painfully evident soon after that this was the correct +solution, for, going backwards some little way, Archie found a child's +shoe--one of a crimson pair that Bob had bought in Brisbane for his +little Diana. + +"God help her, poor darling!" said Archie reverently, as he placed the +little shoe in his breast pocket. When he returned he held it up for a +moment before the men, and the scowl of anger that crossed their faces, +and the firmer clutch they took of their weapons, showed it would indeed +be bad for the blacks when they met these rough pioneers face to face. + +At sunset supper was partaken of, and camp once more formed, though no +fire was lit, cold though it might be before morning. + +The men were tired, and were sound asleep almost as soon as they lay +down; but Craig, with the brothers, climbed the ridge of the hill to +look about them soon after it grew dark. + +The camp rested at the entrance of a wild gully, a view of which could +be had, darkling away towards the east, from the hill on which the three +friends now found themselves. + +Presently Rupert spoke. + +"Archie," he said, "in this land of contrarieties does the moon +sometimes rise in the south?" + +"Not quite," replied Archie. + +"Look, then. What is that reflection over yonder?" Craig and Archie +both caught sight of it at the same time. + +"By Saint George and merry England!" Craig cried exultingly, "that is +the camp of the blacks. Now to find Diana's other shoe, and the dear +child herself wearing it. Now for revenge!" + +"Nay," said Rupert, "call it _justice_, Craig." + +"What you will; but let us hurry down." + +They stayed but for a moment more to take their bearings. The fire +gleams pointed to a spot to the south-east, on high ground, and right +above the gully, and they had a background of trees, not the sky. It +was evident then that the enemy was encamped in a little clearing on a +forest tableland; and if they meant to save the child's life--if indeed +she was not already dead--the greatest caution would be necessary. + +They speedily descended, and a consultation being held, it was resolved +to commence operations as soon as the moon should rise; but meanwhile to +creep in the darkness as near to the camp as possible. + +But first Jacoby was sent out to reconnoitre. No cat, no flying +squirrel could glide more noiselessly through an Australian forest than +this faithful fellow. Still he seemed an unconsciously long time gone. +Just as Craig and Archie were getting seriously uneasy the tinkle, +tinkle of the bell-bird was heard. This was the signal agreed upon, and +presently after, Jacoby himself came silently into their midst. + +"The child?" was Archie's first question. + +"Baal mumhill piccaninny, belong a you. Pidney you." + +"The child is safe," said Craig, after asking a few more questions of +this Scotch Myell black. + +"Safe? and they are holding a corroboree and drinking. There is little +time to lose. They may sacrifice the infant at any time." + +Craig struck a light as he spoke, and every man examined his arms. + +"The moon will rise in an hour. Let us go on. Silent as death, men! +Do not overturn a stone or break a twig, or the poor baby's life will be +sacrificed in a moment." + +They now advanced slowly and cautiously, guided by Jacoby, and at length +lay down almost within pistol-shot of the place where the horrid +corroboree was going on. + +Considering the noise--the shrieking, the clashing of arms, the rude +chanting of songs, and awful din, of the dancers and actors in this ugly +drama--to maintain silence might have seemed unnecessary; but these +blacks have ears like wolves, and, in a lull of even half a second, +would be sharp to hear the faintest unusual noise. + +Craig and Archie, however, crept on till they came within sight of the +ceremonies. + +At another time it might have been interesting to watch the hideous +grotesqueness of that awful war-dance, but other thoughts were in their +minds at present--they were looking everywhere for Diana. Presently the +wild, naked, dancing blacks surged backwards, and, asleep in the arms of +a horrid gin, they discovered Bob's darling child. It was well Bob +himself was not here or all would quickly have been lost. All was +nearly lost as it was; for suddenly Archie inadvertently snapped a twig. +In a moment there was silence, except for the barking of a dog. + +Craig raised his voice, and gave vent to a scream so wild and unearthly +that even Archie was startled. + +At once all was confusion among the blacks. Whether they had taken it +for the yell of Bunyip or not may never be known, but they prepared to +fly. The gin carrying Diana threw down the frightened child. A black +raised his arm to brain the little toddler. He fell dead instead. + +Craig's aim had been a steady one. Almost immediately after a volley or +two completed the rout, and the blacks fled yelling into the forest. + +Diana was saved! This was better than revenge; for not a hair of her +bonnie wee head had been injured, so to speak, and she still wore the +one little red-morocco shoe. + +There was not a man there who did not catch that child up in his arms +and kiss her, some giving vent to their feelings in wild words of +thankfulness to God in heaven, while the tears came dripping over their +hardy, sun-browned cheeks. + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +CHEST TO CHEST WITH SAVAGES--HOW IT ALL ENDED. + +No one thought of sleeping again that night. They went back for their +horses, and, as the moon had now risen, commenced the journey in a bee +line, as far as that was possible, towards Burley New Farm. + +They travelled on all night, still under the guidance of Jacoby, who +needed no blazed trees to show in which direction to go. But when +morning came rest became imperative, for the men were beginning to nod +in their saddles, and the horses too seemed to be falling asleep on +their feet, for several had stumbled and thrown their half-senseless +riders. So camp was now formed and breakfast discussed, and almost +immediately all save a sentry went off into sound and dreamless slumber, +Diana lying close to Craig, whom she was very fond of, with her head on +his great shoulder and her fingers firmly entwined in his beard. + +It was hard upon the one poor fellow who had to act as sentry. Do what +he might he could scarcely keep awake, and he was far too tired to +continue walking about. He went and leant his body against a tree, and +in this position, what with the heat of the day, and the drowsy hum of +insects, with the monotonous song of the grasshopper, again and again he +felt himself merging into the land of dreams. Then he would start and +shake himself, and take a turn or two in the sunshine, then go back to +the tree and nod as before. + +The day wore on, the sun got higher and higher, and about noon, just +when the sentry was thinking or rather dreaming of waking the sleepers, +there was a wild shout from a neighbouring thicket, a spear flew past +him and stuck in the tree. Next moment there was a terrible _melee_--a +hand-to-hand fight with savages that lasted for long minutes, but +finally resulted in victory for the squatters. + +But, alas! it was a dearly-bought victory. Three out of the twelve were +dead, and three more, including Gentleman Craig, grievously wounded. + +The rest followed up the blacks for some little way, and more than one +of them bit the dust. Then they returned to help their fellows. + +Craig's was a spear wound through the side, none the less dangerous in +that hardly a drop of blood was lost externally. + +They drew the killed in under a tree, and having bound up the wounds of +the others, and partly carrying them or helping them along, they resumed +the march. + +All that day they dragged themselves along, and it was far into the +early hours of morning ere they reached the boundaries of Burley New +Farm. + +The moon was shining, though not very brightly, light fleecy clouds were +driving rapidly across the sky, so they could see the lights in both the +old house and in the lower windows of Archie's own dwelling. They fired +guns and coo-ee-ed, and presently Bob and Winslow rushed out to bid them +welcome. + +Diana went bounding away to meet him. + +"Oh, daddy, daddy!" she exclaimed, "what a time we've been having! but +mind, daddy, it wasn't all fun." + +Bob could not speak for the life of him. He just staggered in with the +child in his arms and handed her over to Sarah; but I leave the reader +to imagine the state of Sarah's feelings now. + +Poor Craig was borne in and put to bed in Archie's guest room, and there +he lay for weeks. + +Bob himself had gone to Brisbane to import a surgeon, regardless of +expense; but it was probably more owing to the tender nursing of Elsie +than anything else that Craig was able at length to crawl out and +breathe the balmy, flower-scented air in the verandah. + +One afternoon, many weeks after this, Craig was lying on a bank, under +the shade of a tree, in a beautiful part of the forest, all in whitest +bloom, and Elsie was seated near him. + +There had been silence for some time, and the girl was quietly reading. + +"I wonder," said Craig at last; "if my life is really worth the care +that you and all the good people here have lavished on me?" + +"How can you speak thus?" said Elsie, letting her book drop in her lap, +and looking into his face with those clear, blue eyes of hers. + +"If you only knew all my sad, sinful story, you would not wonder that I +speak thus." + +"Tell me your story: may I not hear it?" + +"It is so long and, pardon me, so melancholy." + +"Never mind, I will listen attentively." + +Then Craig commenced. He told her all the strange history of his early +demon-haunted life, about his recklessness, about his struggles and his +final victory over self. He told her he verily did believe that his +mother's spirit was near him that night in the forest when he made the +vow which Providence in His mercy had enabled him to keep. + +Yes, it was a long story. The sun had gone down ere he had finished, a +crescent moon had appeared in the southern sky, and stars had come out. +There was sweetness and beauty everywhere. There was calm in Craig's +soul now. For he had told Elsie something besides. He had told her +that he had loved her from the first moment he had seen her, and he had +asked her in simple language to become his wife--to be his guardian +angel. + +That same evening, when Archie came out into the garden, he found Elsie +still sitting by Craig's couch, but her hand was clasped in his. + +Then Archie knew all, and a great, big sigh of relief escaped him, for +until this very moment he had been of opinion that Craig loved +Etheldene. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +In course of a few months Squire Broadbent was as good as his word. He +came out to the new land to give the Australians the benefit of his +genius in the farming way; to teach Young Australia a thing or two it +had not known before; so at least _he_ thought. + +With him came Mrs Broadbent, and even Uncle Ramsay, and the day of +their arrival at Brisbane was surely a red-letter day in the annals of +that thriving and prosperous place. + +Strange to say, however, none of the squatters from the Bush, none of +the speculating men, nor anybody else apparently, were very much +inclined to be lectured about their own country, and the right and wrong +way of doing things, by a Squire from the old country, who had never +been here before. Some of them were even rude enough to laugh in his +face, but the Squire was not offended a bit. He was on far too good +terms with himself for that, and too sure that he was in the right in +all he said. He told some of these Bush farmers that if _they_ did not +choose to learn a wrinkle or two from him _he_ was not the loser, with +much more to the same purpose, all of which had about the same effect on +his hearers that rain has on a duck's back. + +To use a rather hackneyed phrase, Squire Broadbent had the courage of +his convictions. + +He settled quietly down at Burley New Farm, and commenced to study +Bush-life in all its bearings. It soon began to dawn upon him that +Australia was getting to be a great country, that she had a great future +before her, and that he--Squire Broadbent--would be connected with it. +He was in no great hurry to invest, though eventually he would. It +would be better to wait and watch. There was room enough and to spare +for all at Archie's house, and that all included honest Uncle Ramsay of +course. He and Winslow resumed acquaintance, and in the blunt, +straightforward ways of the man even Squire Broadbent found a deal to +admire and even to marvel at. + +"He is a clever man," said the Squire to his brother; "a clever man and +a far-seeing. He gets a wonderful grasp of financial matters in a +moment. Depend upon it, brother, he is the right metal, and it is upon +solid stones like him that the future greatness of a nation should be +founded." + +Uncle Ramsay said he himself did not know much about it. He knew more +about ships, and was quite content to settle down at Brisbane, and keep +a morsel of a 20-tonner. That was his ambition. + +What a delight it was for Archie to have them all round his +breakfast-table in the green parlour at Burley New Form, or seated out +in the verandah all so homelike and happy. + +His dear old mummy too, with her innocent womanly ways, delighted with +all she saw, yet half afraid of almost everything--half afraid the +monster gum trees would fall upon her when out in the forest; half +afraid to put her feet firmly to the ground when walking, but gathering +up her skirts gingerly, and thinking every withered branch was a snake; +half afraid the howling dingoes would come down in force at night, as +wild wolves do on Russian wastes, and kill and eat everybody; half +afraid of the most ordinary good-natured-looking black fellow; half +afraid of even the pet kangaroo when he hopped round and held up his +chin to have his old-fashioned neck stroked; half afraid--but happy, so +happy nevertheless, because she had all she loved around her. + +Gentleman Craig was most deferential and attentive to Mrs Broadbent, +and she could not help admiring him--indeed, no one could--and quite +approved of Elsie's choice; though, mother-like, she thought the girl +far too young to marry yet, as the song says. + +However, they were not to be married yet quite. There was a year to +elapse, and a busy one it was. First and foremost, Craig took the +unfortunate Findlayson's farm. But the old steading was allowed to go +to decay, and some one told me the other day that there is now a genuine +ghost, said to be seen on moonlight nights, wandering round the ruined +pile. Anyhow, its associations were of far too terrible a character for +Craig to think of building near it. + +He chose the site for his house and outbuildings near the creek and the +spot where they had bivouacked before the murder was discovered. It was +near here too that Craig had made his firm resolve to be a free man-- +made it and kept it. The spot was charmingly beautiful too; and as his +district included a large portion of the forest, he commenced clearing +that, but in so scientific and tasteful a manner that it looked, when +finished, like a noble park. + +During this year Squire Broadbent also became a squatter. From Squire +to Squatter may sound to some like a come-down in life; but really +Broadbent did not think so. + +He managed to buy out a station immediately adjoining Archie's, and when +he had got fairly established thereon he told his brother Ramsay that +fifteen years had tumbled off his shoulders all in a lump--fifteen years +of care and trouble, fifteen years of struggle to keep his head above +water, and live up to his squiredom. + +"I'm more contented now by far and away," he told his wife, "than I was +in the busy, boastful days before the fire at Burley Old Farm; so, you +see, it doesn't take much in this world to make a man happy." + +Rupert did not turn squatter, but missionary. It was a great treat for +him to have Etheldene to ride with him away out into the bush whenever +he heard a tribe had settled down anywhere for a time. Etheldene knew +all their ways, and between the two of them they no doubt did much good. + +It is owing to such earnest men as Rupert that so great a change has +come over the black population, and that so many of them, even as I +write, sit humbly at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind. +To quote the words of a recent writer: "The war-paints and weapons for +fights are seen no more, the awful heathen corroborees have ceased, the +females are treated with kindness, and the lamentable cries, accompanied +by bodily injuries, when death occurred, have given place to Christian +sorrow and quiet tears for their departed friends." + +It came to pass one day that Etheldene and Archie, towards the end of +the year, found themselves riding alone, through scrub and over plain, +just as they were that day they were lost. The conversation turned +round to Rupert's mission. + +"What a dear, good, young man your brother is, Archie!" said the girl. + +"Do you really love him?" + +"As a brother, yes." + +"Etheldene, have him for a brother, will you?" + +The rich blood mounted to her cheeks and brow. She cast one half-shy, +half-joyful look at Archie, and simply murmured, "Yes." + +It was all over in a moment then. Etheldene struck her horse lightly +across the crest with the handle of her stock whip, and next minute both +horses were galloping as if for dear life. + +When Archie told Rupert how things had turned out, he only smiled in his +quiet manner. + +"It is a queer way of wooing," he said; "but then you were always a +queer fellow, Archie, and Etheldene is a regular Bush baby, as Craig +calls her. Oh, I knew long ago she loved you!" + +At the year's end then both Elsie and Etheldene were married, and +married, too, at the same church in Sydney from which Bob led Sarah, his +blushing bride. It might not have been quite so wild and daft a +wedding, but it was a very happy one nevertheless. + +No one was more free in blessing the wedded couples than old Kate. Yes, +old as she was, she had determined not to be left alone in England. + +We know how Bob spent his honeymoon. How were the new young folks to +spend theirs? Oh, it was all arranged beforehand! And on the very +morning of the double marriage they embarked--Harry and Bob going with +them for a holiday--on board Captain Vesey's pretty yacht, and sailed +away for England. Etheldene's dream of romance was about to become a +reality; she was not only to visit the land of chivalry, but with Archie +her husband and hero by her side. + +The yacht hung off and on the shore all day, as if reluctant to leave +the land; but towards evening a breeze sprang up from the west, the +sails filled, and away she went, dancing and curtseying over the water +like a thing of life. + +The sunset was bewitchingly beautiful; the green of the land was changed +to a purple haze, that softened and beautified its every outline; the +cloudless sky was clear and deep; that is, it gave you the idea you +could see so far into and through it. There was a flush of saffron +along the horizon; above it was of an opal tint, with here and there a +tender shade of crimson--only a suspicion of this colour, no more; and +apparently close at hand, in the east, were long-drawn cloudlets of +richest red and gold. + +Etheldene looked up in her husband's face. + +"Shall we have such a sky as that to greet our arrival on English +shores?" she said. + +Archie drew her closer to his side. + +"I'm not quite sure about the sky," he replied, shaking his head and +smiling, "but we'll have a hearty English welcome." + +And so they had. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's From Squire to Squatter, by Gordon Stables + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM SQUIRE TO SQUATTER *** + +***** This file should be named 38277.txt or 38277.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/7/38277/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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