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diff --git a/old/stnms10.txt b/old/stnms10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5f87ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/stnms10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6234 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Station Amusements, by Lady Barker + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Station Amusements + +Author: Lady Barker + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5992] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 9, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATION AMUSEMENTS *** + + + + +Produced by P J Riddick + + + + + + + +STATION AMUSEMENTS IN NEW ZEALAND + +by + +Lady Barker + + + +Preface. + + +The interest shown by the public in the simple and true account of +every-day life in New Zealand, published by the author three years +ago, has encouraged her to enlarge upon the theme. This volume is +but a continuation of "Station Life," with this difference: that +whereas that little book dwelt somewhat upon practical matters, +these pages are entirely devoted to reminiscences of the idler hours +of a settler's life. + +Many readers have friends and relations out in those beautiful +distant islands, and though her book should possess no wider +interest, the author hopes that these at least will care to know +exactly what sort of life their absent dear ones are leading. One +thing is certain: that few books can ever have afforded so much +pleasure to their authors, or can have appeared more completely to +write themselves, than "Station Life," and this, its sequel. +M. A. B. + + + +Chapter I: A Bush picnic. + + +Since my return to England, two years ago, I have been frequently +asked by my friends and acquaintances, "How did you amuse yourself +up at the station?" I am generally tempted to reply, "We were all +too busy to need amusement;" but when I come to think the matter +over calmly and dispassionately, I find that a great many of our +occupations may be classed under the head of play rather than work. +But that would hardly give a fair idea of our lives there, either. +It would be more correct to say perhaps, that most of our simple +pleasures were composed of a solid layer of usefulness underneath +the froth of fun and frolic. I purpose therefore in these sketches +to describe some of the pursuits which afforded us a keen enjoyment +at the time,--an enjoyment arising from perfect health, simple +tastes, and an exquisite climate. + +It will be as well to begin with the description of one of the +picnics, which were favourite amusements in our home, nestled in a +valley of the Malvern Hills of Canterbury. These hills are of a +very respectable height, and constitute in fact the lowest slopes of +the great Southern Alps, which rise to snow-clad peaks behind them. +Our little wooden homestead stood at the head of a sunny, sheltered +valley, and around it we could see the hills gradually rolling into +downs, which in their turn were smoothed out, some ten or twelve +miles off, into the dead level of the plains. The only drawback to +the picturesque beauty of these lower ranges is the absence of +forest, or as it is called there, bush. Behind the Malvern Hills, +where they begin to rise into steeper ascents, lies many and many a +mile of bush-clad mountain, making deep blue shadows when the +setting sun brings the grand Alpine range into sharp white outline +against the background of dazzling Italian sky. But just here, +where my beloved antipodean home stood, we had no trees whatever, +except those which we had planted ourselves, and whose growth we +watched with eager interest. I dwell a little upon this point, to +try to convey to any one who may glance at these pages, how we all, +--dwellers among tree-less hills as we were,--longed and pined for +the sights and sounds of a "bush." + +Quite out of view from the house or garden, and about seven miles +away, lay a mountain pass, or saddle, over a range, which was +densely wooded, and from whose highest peak we could see a wide +extent of timbered country. Often in our evening rides we have gone +round by that saddle, in spite of a break-neck track and quicksands +and bogs, just to satisfy our constant longing for green leaves, +waving branches, and the twitter of birds. Whenever any wood was +wanted for building a stockyard, or slabbing a well, or making a +post-and-rail fence around a new paddock, we were obliged to take +out a Government license to cut wood in this splendid bush. Armed +with the necessary document the next step was to engage "bushmen," +or woodcutters by profession, who felled and cut the timber into the +proper lengths, and stacked it neatly in a clearing, where it could +get dry and seasoned. These stacks were often placed in such +inaccessible and rocky parts of the steep mountain side, that they +had to be brought down to the flat in rude little sledges, drawn by +a bullock, who required to be trained to the work, and to possess so +steady and equable a disposition as to be indifferent to the +annoyance of great logs of heavy wood dangling and bumping against +his heels as the sledge pursued its uneven way down the bed of a +mountain torrent, in default of a better road. + +Imagine, then, a beautiful day in our early New Zealand autumn. For +a week past, a furious north-westerly gale had been blowing down the +gorges of the Rakaia and the Selwyn, as if it had come out of a +funnel, and sweeping across the great shelterless plains with +irresistible force. We had been close prisoners to the house all +those days, dreading to open a door to go out for wood or water, +lest a terrific blast should rush in and whip the light shingle roof +off. Not an animal could be seen out of doors; they had all taken +shelter on the lee-side of the gorse hedges, which are always +planted round a garden to give the vegetables a chance of coming up. +On the sky-line of the hills could be perceived towards evening, +mobs of sheep feeding with their heads _up_-wind, and travelling to +the high camping-grounds which they always select in preference to a +valley. The yellow tussocks were bending all one way, perfectly +flat to the ground, and the shingle on the gravel walk outside +rattled like hail against the low latticed windows. The uproar from +the gale was indescribable, and the little fragile house swayed and +shook as the furious gusts hurled themselves against it. Inside its +shelter, the pictures were blowing out from the walls, until I +expected them to be shaken off their hooks even in those rooms which +had plank walls lined with papered canvas; whilst in the kitchen, +store-room, etc., whose sides were made of cob, the dust blew in +fine clouds from the pulverized walls, penetrating even to the +dairy, and. settling half an inch thick on my precious cream. At +last, when our skin felt like tightly drawn parchment, and our ears +and eyes had long been filled with powdered earth, the wind dropped +at sunset as suddenly as it had risen five days before. We ventured +out to breathe the dust-laden atmosphere, and to look if the swollen +creeks (swollen because snow-fed) had done or threatened to do any +mischief, and saw on the south-west horizon great fleecy masses of +cloud driving rapidly up before a chill icy breeze. Hurrah, here +comes a sou'-wester! The parched-up earth, the shrivelled leaves, +the dusty grass, all needed the blessed damp air. In an hour it was +upon us. We had barely time to house the cows and horses, to feed +the fowls, and secure them in their own shed, and to light a roaring +coal (or rather lignite, for it is not true coal) fire in the +drawing-room, when, with a few warning splashes, the deluge of cold +rain came steadily down, and we went to sleep to the welcome sound +of its refreshing patter. + +All that I have been describing was the weather of the past week. +Disagreeable as it might have been, it was needed in both its hot +and cold, dry and wet extremes, to make a true New Zealand day. The +furious nor'-wester had blown every fleck of cloud below the +horizon, and dried the air until it was as light as ether. The +"s'utherly buster," on the other hand, had cooled and refreshed +everything in the most delicious way, and a perfect day had come at +last. What words can describe the pleasure it is to inhale such an +atmosphere? One feels as if old age or sickness or even sorrow, +could hardly exist beneath such a spotless vault of blue as +stretched out above our happy heads. I have often been told that +this feeling of intense pleasure on a fine day, which is peculiar to +New Zealand, is really a very low form of animal enjoyment. It may +be so, but I only know that I never stood in the verandah early in +the morning of such a day as I am trying to sketch in pen and ink +now, without feeling the highest spiritual joy, the deepest +thankfulness to the loving Father who had made His beautiful world +so fair, and who would fain lead us through its paths of +pleasantness to a still more glorious, home, which will be free from +the shadows brooding from beneath sin's out-stretched wings over +this one. As I stood in the porch I have often fancied I could +seethe animals and even the poultry expressing in dumb brute +fashion, their joy and gratitude to the God from whom all blessings +flow. + +But to return to the verandah, although we have never left it. +Presently F--- came out, and I said with a sigh, born of deep +content and happiness, "What a day!" "Yes," answered F---: "a +heavenly day indeed: well worth waiting for. I want to go and see +how the men are getting on in the bush. Will you like to come too?" +"Of course I will. What can be more enchanting than the prospect of +spending such sunny hours in that glorious bush?" So after +breakfast I give my few simple orders to the cook, and prepare, to +pack a "Maori kit," or flat basket made of flax, which could be +fastened to my side-saddle, with the preparations for our luncheon. +First some mutton chops had to be trimmed and prepared, all ready to +be cooked when we got there. These were neatly folded up in clean +paper; and a little packet of tea, a few lumps of white sugar, a +tiny wooden contrivance for holding salt and pepper, and a couple of +knives and forks, were added to the parcel. + +So much for the contents of the basket. They needed to be carefully +packed so as not to rattle in any way, or Helen, my pretty bay mare, +would soon have got rid of the luncheon--and me. I wrapped up three +or four large raw potatoes in separate bits of paper, and slipped +them into F---'s pockets when he was looking another way, and then +began the real difficulty of my picnic: how was the little tin +tea-pot and an odd delf cup to be carried? F--- objected to put +them also in his pocket, assuring me that I could make very good tea +by putting my packet of the fragrant leaves into the bushmen's +kettle, and drinking it afterwards out of one of their pannikins. +He tried to bribe me to this latter piece of simplicity by promising +to wash the tin pannikin out for me first. Now I was not dainty or +over particular; I could not have enjoyed my New Zealand life so +thoroughly if I had been either; but I did not like the idea of +using the bushmen's tea equipage. In the first place, the tea never +tastes the same when made in their way, and allowed to boil for a +moment or two after the leaves have been thrown in, before the +kettle is taken off the fire; and in the next place, it is very +difficult to drink tea out of a pannikin; for it becomes so hot +directly we put the scalding liquid into it, that long after the tea +is cool enough to drink, the pannikin still continues too hot to +touch. But I said so pathetically, "You know how wretched I am +without my tea," that F---'s heart relented, and he managed to stow +away the little teapot and the cup. That cup bore a charmed life. +It accompanied me on all my excursions, escaping unbroken; and is, I +believe, in existence now, spending its honoured old age in the +recesses of a cupboard. + +After the luncheon, the next question to be decided is, which of the +dogs are to join the expedition. Hector, of course; he is the +master's colley, and would no more look at a sheep, except in the +way of business, than he would fly. Rose, a little short-haired +terrier, was the most fascinating of dog companions, and I pleaded +hard for her, as she was an especial pet; though there were too many +lambs belonging to a summer lambing (in New Zealand the winter is +the usual lambing season) in the sheltered paddocks beneath the +bush, to make it quite safe for her to be one of the party. She +would not kill or hurt a lamb on any account, but she always +appeared anxious to play with the little creatures; and as her own +spotless coat was as white as theirs, she often managed to get quite +close to a flock of sheep before they perceived that she belonged to +the dreaded race of dogs. When the timid animals found out their +mistake, a regular stampede used to ensue; and it was not supposed +to be good for the health of the old or young sheep to hurry up the +hill-sides in such wild fashion as that in which they rushed away +from Rose's attempts to intrude on their society. Nettle may come, +for he is but a tiny terrier, and so fond of his mistress that he +never strays a yard away from her horse's heels. Brisk, my +beautiful, stupid water-spaniel, is also allowed an outing. He is +perfect to look at, but not having had any educational advantages in +his youth, is an utter fool; amiable, indeed, but not the less a +fool. Garibaldi, another colley, is suffering a long penal sentence +of being tied up to his barrel, on account of divers unlawful chases +after sheep which were not wanted; and dear old Jip, though she +pretends to be very anxious to accompany us; is far too fat and too +rheumatic to keep pace with our long stretching gallop up the +valley. + +At last we were fairly off about eleven o'clock, and an hour's easy +canter, intersected by many "flat-jumps," or rather "water-jumps," +across the numerous creeks, brought unto the foot of the bush-clad +mountain. After that our pace became a very sober one, as the. +track resembled a broken rocky staircase more than a bridle-path. +But such as it was, our sure-footed horses carried us safely up and +down its rugged steeps, without making a single false step. No mule +can be more sure-footed than a New Zealand horse. He will carry his +rider anywhere, if only that rider trusts entirely to him, nor +attempts to guide him in any way. During the last half-hour of our +slow and cat-like climb, we could hear the ring of the bushmen's +axes, and the warning shouts preceding the crashing fall of a Black +Birch. Fallen logs and deep ruts made by the sledges in their +descent, added to the difficulties of the track; and I was so +faint-hearted as to entreat piteously, on more than one occasion, +when Helen paused and shook her head preparatory to climbing over a +barricade, to be "taken off." But F--- had been used to these +dreadful roads for too many years to regard them in the same light +as I did, and would answer carelessly, "Nonsense: you're as safe as +if you were sitting in an arm-chair." All I can say is, it might +have been so, but I did not feel at all like it. + +However, the event proved him to have been right, and we reached the +clearing in safety. Here we dismounted, and led the horses to a +place where they could nibble some grass, and rest in the cool +shade. The saddles and bridles were soon removed, and halters +improvised out of the New Zealand flax, which can be turned to so +many uses. Having provided for the comfort of our faithful animals, +our next step was to look for the bushmen. The spot which we had +reached was their temporary home in the heart of the forest, but +their work was being carried on elsewhere. I could not have told +from which side the regular ringing axe-strokes proceeded, so +confusing were the echoes from the cliffs around us; but after a +moment's silent pause F--- said, "If we follow that track (pointing +to a slightly cleared passage among the trees) we shall come upon +them." So I kilted up my linsey skirt, and hung up my little +jacket, necessary for protection against the evening air, on a bough +out of the wekas' reach, whilst I followed F--- through tangled +creepers, "over brake, over brier," towards the place from whence +the noise of falling trees proceeded. By the time we reached it, +our scratched hands and faces bore traces of the thorny undergrowth +which had barred our way; but all minor discomforts were forgotten +in the picturesque beauty of the spot. Around us lay the +forest-kings, majestic still in their overthrow, whilst substantial +stacks of cut-up and split timber witnessed to the skill and +industry of the stalwart figures before us, who reddened through +their sunburn with surprise and shyness at seeing a lady. They need +not have been afraid of me, for I had long ago made friends with +them, and during the preceeding winter had established a sort of +night-school in my dining-room, for all the hands employed on the +station, and these two men had been amongst my most constant pupils. +One of them, a big Yorkshire-man, was very backward in his +"larning," and though he plodded on diligently, never got beyond the +simplest words in the largest type. Small print puzzled him at +once, and he had a habit of standing or sitting with his back to me +whilst repeating his lessons. Nothing would induce him to face me. +The moment it became his turn to go on with the chapter out of the +Bible, with which we commenced our studies, that instant he turned +his broad shoulders towards me, and I could only, hear the faintest +murmurs issuing from the depths of a great beard. Remonstrance +would have scared my shy pupil away, so I was fain to put up with +his own method of instruction. + +But this is a digression, and I want to make you see with my eyes +the beautiful glimpses of distant country lying around the bold +wooded cliff on which we were standing. The ground fell away from +our feet so completely in some places, that we could see over the +tops of the high trees around us, whilst in others the landscape +appeared framed in an arch of quivering foliage. A noisy little +creek chattered and babbled as it hurried along to join its big +brother down below, and kept a fringe of exquisite ferns, which grew +along its banks, brightly green by its moisture. Each tree, if +taken by itself, was more like an umbrella than anything else to +English eyes, for in these primitive forests, where no kind pruning +hand has ever touched them, they shoot up, straight and branchless, +into the free air above, where they spread a leafy crown out to the +sunbeams. Beneath the dense shade of these matted branches grew a +luxuriant shrubbery, whose every leaf was a marvel of delicate +beauty, and ferns found here a home such as they might seek +elsewhere in vain. Flowers were very rare, and I did not observe +many berries, but these conditions vary in different parts of the +beautiful middle island. + +That was a fair and fertile land stretching out before us, +intersected by the deep banks of the Rakaia, with here and there a +tiny patch of emerald green and a white dot, representing the house +and English grass paddock of a new settler. In the background the +bush-covered mountains rose ever higher and higher in bolder +outline, till they shook off their leafy clothing, and stood out in +steep cliffs and scaurs from the snow-clad glacier region of the +mountain range running from north to south, and forming the back +bone of the island. I may perhaps make you see the yellow, +river-furrowed plains, and the great confusion of rising ground +behind them, but cannot make you see, still less feel, the +atmosphere around, quivering in a summer haze in the valley beneath, +and stirred to the faintest summer wind-sighs as it moved among the +pines and birches overhead. Its lightness was its most striking +peculiarity. You felt as if your lungs could never weary of +inhaling deep breaths of such an air. Warm without oppression, cool +without a chill. I can find nothing but paradoxes to describe it. +As for fatigue, one's muscles might get tired, and need rest, but +the usual depression and weariness attending over-exertion could not +exist in such an atmosphere. One felt like a happy child; pleased +at nothing, content to exist where existence was a pleasure. + +You could not find more favourable specimens of New Zealand +colonists than the two men, Trew and Domville, who stood before us +in their working dress of red flannel shirts and moleskin trousers, +"Cookham" boots and digger's plush hats. Three years before this +day they had landed at Port Lyttleton, with no other capital than +their strong, willing arms, and their sober, sensible heads. Very +different is their appearance to-day from what it was on their +arrival; and the change in their position and circumstances is as +great. Their bodily frames have filled out and developed under the +influence of the healthy climate and abundance of mutton, until they +look ten years younger and twice as strong, and each man owns a +cottage and twenty acres of freehold land, at which he works in +spare time, as well as having more pounds than he ever possessed +pence in the old country, put safely away in the bank. There can be +no doubt about the future of any working man or woman in our New +Zealand colonies. It rests in their own hands, under God's +blessing, and the history of the whole human race shows us that He +always has blessed honest labour and rightly directed efforts to do +our duty in this world. Sobriety and industry are the first +essentials to success. Possessing these moral qualifications, and a +pair of hands, a man may rear up his children in those beautiful +distant lands in ignorance of what hunger; or thirst, or grinding +poverty means. Hitherto the want of places of worship, and schools +for the children, have been a sad drawback to the material +advantages of colonization at the Antipodes; but these blessings are +increasing every day, and the need of them creates the supply. + +The great mistake made in England, next to that of sending out +worthless idle paupers, who have never done a hand's turn for +themselves here, and are still less likely to do it elsewhere, is +for parents and guardians to ship off to New Zealand young men who +have received the up-bringing and education of gentlemen, without a +shilling in their pockets, under the vague idea that something will +turn up for them in a new place. There is nothing which can turn +up, for the machinery of civilization is reduced to the most +primitive scale in these countries; and I have known 500 pounds per +annum regarded as a monstrous salary to be drawn by a hard-worked +official of some twenty years standing and great experience in the +colony. From this we may judge of the chances of remunerative +employment for a raw unfledged youth, with a smattering of classical +learning. At first they simply "loaf" (as it is called there) on +their acquaintances and friends. At the end of six months their +clothes are beginning to look shabby; they feel they _ought_ to do +something, and they make day by day the terrible discovery that +there is nothing for them to do in their own rank of life. Many a +poor clergyman's son, sooner than return to the home which has been +so pinched to furnish forth his passage money and outfit, takes a +shepherd's billet, though he generally makes a very bad shepherd for +the first year or two; or drives bullocks, or perhaps wanders +vaguely over the country, looking for work, and getting food and +lodging indeed, for inhospitality is unknown, but no pay. Sometimes +they go to the diggings, only to find that money is as necessary +there as anywhere, and that they are not fitted to dig in wet holes +for eight or ten hours a day. Often these poor young men go home +again, and it is the best thing they can do, for at least they have +gained some knowledge of life, on its dark as well as its brighter +side. But still oftener, alas, they go hopelessly to the bad, +degenerating into billiard markers, piano players at dancing +saloons, cattle drivers, and their friends probably lose sight of +them. + +Once I was riding with my husband up a lovely gulley, when we heard +the crack of a stockwhip, sounding strangely through the deep +eternal silence of a New Zealand valley, and a turn of the track +showed us a heavy, timber-laden bullock-waggon labouring slowly +along. At the head of the long team sauntered the driver, in the +usual rough-and-ready costume, with his soft plush hat pulled low +over his face, and pulling vigorously at a clay pipe. In spite of +all the outer surroundings, something in the man's walk and dejected +attitude struck my imagination, and I made some remark to my +companion. The sound of my voice reached the bullock-driver's ears; +he looked up, and on seeing a lady, took his pipe out of his mouth, +his hat off his head, and forcing his beasts a little aside, stood +at their head to let us pass. I smiled and nodded, receiving in +return a perfect and profound bow, and the most melancholy glance I +have ever seen in human eyes. "Good gracious, F---," I cried, when +we had passed, "who is that man?" "That is Sir So-and-So's third +son," he replied: "they sent him out here without a shilling, five +years ago, and that is what he has come to: a working man, living +with working men. He looks heart-broken, poor fellow, doesn't he?" +I, acting upon impulse, as any woman would have done, turning back +and rode up to him, finding it very difficult to frame my pity and +sympathy in coherent words. "No thank you, ma'am," was all the +answer I could get, in the most refined, gentlemanly tone of voice: +"I'm very well as I am. I should only have the struggle all over +again if I made any change now. It is the truest kindness to leave +me alone." He would not even shake hands with me; so I rode back; +discomfited, to hear from F--- that he had made many attempts to +befriend him, but without success. "In fact," concluded F---, with +some embarrassment, "he drinks dreadfully, poor fellow. Of course +that is the secret of all his wretchedness, but I believe despair +drove him to it in the first instance." + +I have also known an ex-dragoon officer working as a clerk in an +attorney's office at fifteen shillings a week, who lived like a +mechanic, and yet spake and stepped like his old self; one listened +involuntarily for the clink of the sabre and spur whenever he moved +across the room. + +This has been a terrible digression, almost a social essay in fact; +but I have it so much at heart to dissuade fathers and mothers from +sending their sons so far away without any certainty of employment. +Capitalists, even small ones, do well in New Zealand: the labouring +classes still better; but there is no place yet for the educated +gentleman without money, and with hands unused to and unfit for +manual labour and the downward path is just as smooth and pleasant +at first there, as anywhere else. + +Trew and Domville soon got over their momentary shyness, and +answered my inquiries about their families. Then I had a short talk +with them, but on the principle that it is "ill speaking to a +fasting man," we agreed to adjourn to the clearing, where they had +built a rough log hut for temporary shelter, and have our dinner. +They had provided themselves with some bacon; but were very glad to +accept of F---'s offer of mutton, to be had for the trouble of +fetching it. When we reached the little shanty, Trew produced some +capital bread, he had baked the evening before in a camp-oven; F---'s +pockets were emptied of their load of potatoes, which were put to +roast in the wood embers; rashers of bacon and mutton chops +spluttered and fizzed side-by-side on a monster gridiron with tall +feet, so as to allow it to stand by itself over the clear fire, and +we turned our chops from time to time by means of a fork +extemporized out of a pronged stick. + +Over another fire, a little way to leeward, hung the bushmen's +kettle on an iron tripod, and, so soon as it boiled, my little +teapot was filled before Domville threw in his great fist-full of +tea. I had brought a tiny phial of cream in the pocket of my +saddle, but the men thought it spoiled the flavour of the tea, which +they always drink "_neat_," as they call it. The Temperance Society +could draw many interesting statistics from the amount of hard work +which is done in New Zealand on tea. Now, I am sorry to say, beer +is creeping up to the stations, and is served out at shearing time +and so on; but in the old days all the hard work used to be done on +tea, and tea alone, the men always declaring they worked far better +on it than on beer. "When we have as much good bread and mutton as +we can eat," they would say, "we don't feel to miss the beer we used +to drink in England;" and at the end of a year or two of tea and +water-drinking, their bright eyes and splendid physical condition +showed plainly enough which was the best kind of beverage to work, +and work hard too, upon. + +So there we sat round the fire: F--- with the men, and I, a little +way off, out of the smoke, with the dogs. Overhead, the sunlight +streamed down on the grass which had sprung up, as it always does in +a clearing; the rustle among the lofty tree tops made a delicious +murmur high up in the air; a waft of cool breeze flitted past us +laden with the scent of newly-cut wood (and who does not know that +nice, _clean_ perfume?); innumerable paroquets almost brushed us +with their emerald-green wings, whilst the tamer robin or the dingy +but melodious bell-bird came near to watch the intruders. The sweet +clear whistle of the tui or parson-bird--so called from his glossy +black suit and white wattles curling exactly where a clergy-man's +bands would be,--could be heard at a distance; whilst overhead the +soft cooing of the wild pigeons, and the hoarse croak of the ka-ka +or native parrot, made up the music of the birds' orchestra. Ah, +how delicious it all was,--the Robinson Crusoe feel of the whole +thing; the heavenly air, the fluttering leaves, the birds' chirrups +and whistle, and the foreground of happy, healthy men! + +Rose and I had enough to do, even with Nettle's assistance, in +acting as police to keep off those bold thieves, the wekas, who are +as impudent as they are tame and fearless. In appearance they +resemble exactly a stout hen pheasant, without its long tail; but +they belong to the apterix family, and have no wings, only a tiny +useless pinion at each shoulder, furnished with a claw like a small +fish-hook: what is the use of this claw I was never able to +discover. When startled or hunted, the weka glides, for it can +scarcely be called running, with incredible swiftness and in perfect +silence, to the nearest cover. A tussock, a clump of flax, a tuft +of tall tohi grass, all serve as hiding-places; and, wingless as she +is, the weka can hold her own very well against her enemies, the +dogs. I really believe the great desire of Brisk's life was to +catch a weka. He started many, but used to go sniffing and barking +round the flax bush where it had taken refuge at first, long after +the clever, cunning bird had glided from its shelter to another +cover further off. + +After dinner was over and Domville had brought back the tin plates +and pannikins from the creek where he had washed them up, pipes were +lighted, and a few minutes smoking served to rest and refresh the +men, who had been working since their six o'clock breakfast. The +daylight hours were too precious however to be wasted in smoking. +Trew and Domville would not have had that comfortable nest-egg +standing in their name at the bank in Christchurch, if they had +spent much time over their pipes; so after a very short "spell" they +got up from the fallen log of wood which had served them for a +bench, and suggested that F--- should accompany them back to where +their work lay. "You don't mind being left?" asked F---. "Certainly +not," replied I. "I have got the dogs for company, and a book in my +pocket. I daresay I shall not read much, however, for it is so +beautiful to sit here and watch the changing lights and shadows." + +And so it was, most beautiful and thoroughly delightful. I sat on +the short sweet grass, which springs upon the rich loam of fallen +leaves the moment sunlight is admitted into the heart of a bush. No +one plants it; probably the birds carry the seeds; yet it grows +freely after a clearing has been made. Nature lays down a green +sward directly on the rich virgin mould, and sets to work besides to +cover up the unsightly stems and holes of the fallen timber with +luxuriant tufts of a species of hart's-tongue fern, which grows +almost as freely as an orchid on decayed timber. I was so still and +silent that innumerable forest birds came about me. A wood pigeon +alighted on a branch close by, and sat preening her radiant plumage +in a bath of golden sunlight. The profound stillness was stirred +now and then by a soft sighing breeze which passed over the tree +tops, and made the delicate foliage of the undergrowth around me +quiver and rustle. I had purposely scattered the remains of our +meal in a spot where the birds could see the crumbs, and it was not +long before the clever little creatures availed themselves of the +unexpected feast. So perfectly tame and friendly were they, that I +felt as if I were the intruder, and bound by all the laws of aerial +chivalry to keep the peace. But this was no easy matter where Rose +and Nettle were concerned, for when an imprudent weka appeared on +the sylvan scene, looking around-as if to say, "Who's afraid?" it +was more than I could do to keep the little terriers from giving +chase. Brisk, too, blundered after them, but I had no fear of his +destroying the charm of the day by taking even a weka's life. + +Thus the delicious afternoon wore on, until it was time to boil the +kettle once more, and make a cup of tea before setting out +homewards. The lengthening shadows added fresh tenderness and +beauty to the peaceful scene, and the sky began to paint itself in +its exquisite sunset hues. It has been usual to praise the tints of +tropic skies when the day is declining; but never, in any of my +wanderings to East and West Indies, have I seen such gorgeous +evening colours as those which glorify New Zealand skies. + +A loud coo-ee summoned F--- to tea, and directly afterwards the +horses were re-saddled, the now empty flax basket filled with the +obnoxious teapot and cup, wrapped in many layers of flax leaves, to +prevent their rattling, and we bade good night to the tired bushmen. +We left them at their tea, and I was much struck to observe that +though they looked like men who had done a hard day's work, there +was none of the exhaustion we often see in England depicted on the +labouring man's face. Instead of a hot crowded room, these bushmen +were going to sleep in their log hut, where the fresh pure air could +circulate through every nook and cranny. They had each their pair +of red blankets, one to spread over a heap of freshly cut tussocks, +which formed a delicious elastic mattrass, and the other to serve as +a coverlet. During the day these blankets were always hung outside +on a tree, out of the reach of the most investigating weka. You may +be sure I had not come empty-handed in the way of books and papers, +and my last glance as I rode away rested on Trew opening a number of +_Good Words_ [Note: _Evening Hours_ was not in existence at that +time, or else its pages are just what those simple God-fearing men +would have appreciated and enjoyed. _Good Words_ and the _Leisure +Hour_ used to be their favourite periodicals, and the kindness of +English friends kept me also well supplied with copies of Miss +Marsh's little books, which were read with the deepest and most +eager interest.] with the pleased-expression of a child examining a +packet of toys. + +And so we rode slowly home through the delicious gloaming, with the +evening air cooled to freshness so soon as the sun had sunk below +the great mountains to the west, from behind which he shot up +glorious rays of gold and crimson against the blue ethereal sky, +causing the snowy peaks to look more exquisitely pure from the +background of gorgeous colour. During the flood of sunlight all +day, we had not perceived a single fleck of cloud; but now lovely +pink wreaths, floating in mid-air, betrayed that here and there a +"nursling of the sky" lingered behind the cloud-masses which we +thought had all been blown away yesterday. + +The short twilight hour was over, and the stars were filtering their +soft radiance on our heads by the time we heard the welcoming barks +of the homestead, and saw the glimmer of the lighted lamp in our +sitting-room, shining out of the distant gloom. And so ended, in +supper and a night of deep dreamless sleep, one of the many happy +picnic days of my New Zealand life. + + + +Chapter II: Eel-fishing. + + +One of the greatest drawbacks in an English gentleman's eyes to +living in New Zealand is the want of sport. There is absolutely +none. There used to be a few quails, but they are almost extinct +now; and during four years' residence in very sequestered regions I +only saw one. Wild ducks abound on some of the rivers, but they are +becoming fewer and shyer every year. The beautiful Paradise duck is +gradually retreating to those inland lakes lying at the foot of the +Southern Alps, amid glaciers and boulders which serve as a barrier +to keep back his ruthless foe. Even the heron, once so plentiful on +the lowland rivers, is now seldom seen. As I write these lines a +remorseful recollection comes back upon me of overhanging cliffs, +and of a bend in a swirling river, on whose rapid current a +beautiful wounded heron--its right wing shattered--drifts helplessly +round and round with the eddying water, each circle bringing it +nearer in-shore to our feet. I can see now its bright fearless eye, +full of suffering, but yet unconquered: its slender neck proudly +arched, and bearing up the small graceful head with its coronal or +top-knot raised in defiance, as if to protest to the last against +the cruel shot which had just been fired. I was but a spectator, +having merely wandered that far to look at my eel-lines, yet I felt +as guilty as though my hand had pulled the trigger. Just as the +noble bird drifted to our feet,--for I could not help going down to +the river's edge, where Pepper (our head shepherd) stood, looking +very contrite,--it reared itself half out of the water, with a +hissing noise and threatening bill, resolved to sell its liberty as +dearly as it could; but the effort only spread a brighter shade of +crimson on the waters surface for a brief moment, and then, with +glazing eye and drooping crest, the dying creature turned over on +its side and was borne helpless to our feet. By the time Pepper +extended his arm and drew it in, with the quaint apology, "I'm sorry +I shot yer, old feller! I, am, indeed," the heron was dead; and that +happened to be the only one I ever came across during my mountain +life. Once I saw some beautiful red-shanks flying down the gorge of +the Selwyn, and F--- nearly broke his neck in climbing the crag from +whence one of them rose in alarm at the noise of our horses' feet on +the shingle. There were three eggs in the inaccessible cliff-nest, +and he brought me one, which I tried in vain to hatch under a +sitting duck. Betty would not admit the intruder among her own +eggs, but resolutely pushed it out of her nest twenty times a day, +until at last I was obliged to blow it and send it home to figure in +a little boy's collection far away in Kent. + +I have seen very good blue duck shooting on the Waimakiriri river, +but 50 per cent. of the birds were lost for want of a retriever bold +enough to face that formidable river. Wide as was the beautiful +reach, on whose shore the sportsmen stood, and calmly as the deep +stream seemed to glide beneath its high banks, the wounded birds, +flying low on the water, had hardly dropped when they disappeared, +sucked beneath by the strong current, and whirled past us in less +time than it takes one to write a line. We had retrievers with us +who would face the waves of an inland lake during a nor'-wester, +--which is giving a dog very high praise indeed; but there was no +canine Bayard at hand to brave those treacherous depths, and bring +out our game, so the sport soon ceased; for what was the good of +shooting the beautiful, harmless creatures when we could not make +use of them as food? + +I often accompanied F--- on his eel-fishing expeditions, but more +for the sake of companionship than from any amusement I found in the +sport. I may here confess frankly that I cannot understand anyone +being an inveterate eel-fisher, for of all monotonous pursuits, it +is the most self-repeating in its forms. Even the first time I went +out I found it delightful only in anticipation; and this is the one +midnight excursion which I shall attempt to re-produce for you. + +It had been a broiling midsummer day, too hot to sit in the +verandah, too hot to stroll about the garden, or go for a ride, or +do anything in fact, except bask like a lizard in the warm air. New +Zealand summer weather, however high the thermometer, is quite +different from either tropical or English heat. It is intensely hot +in the sun, but always cool in the shade. I never heard of an +instance of sun-stroke from exposure to the mid-day sun, for there +always was a light air--often scarcely perceptible until you were +well out in the open,--to temper the fierce vertical rays. It +sometimes happened that I found myself obliged, either for business +or pleasure, to take a long ride in the middle of a summer's day, +and my invariable reflection used to be, "It is not nearly so hot +out of doors as one fancies it would be." Then there is none of the +stuffiness so often an accompaniment to our brief summers, bringing +lassitude and debility in its train. The only disadvantage of an +unusually hot season with us was, that our already embrowned +complexions took a deeper shade of bronze; but as we were all +equally sun-burnt there was no one to throw critical stones. + +What surprised me most was the utter absence of damp or miasma. +After a blazing day, instead of hurrying in out of reach of +poisonous vapours as the tropic-dweller must needs do, we could +linger bare-headed, lightly clad, out of doors, listening to the +distant roar of a river, or watching the exquisite tints of the +evening sky. I dwell on this to explain that in almost any other +country there would have been risk in remaining out at night after +such still, hot days. + +On this particular evening, during my first summer in the New +Zealand Malvern Hills, after we had watered my pet flowers near the +house, and speculated a good deal as to whether the mignonette seed +had all been blown out of the ground by the last nor'-wester or not, +F--- said, "I shall go eel-fishing to-night to the creek, down the +flat. Why don't you come too? I am sure you would like it." Now, +I am sorry to say that I am such a thorough gipsy in my tastes that +any pursuit which serves as an excuse for spending hours in the open +air, is full of attraction for me; consequently, I embraced the +proposal with ardour, and set about gathering, under F---'s +directions, what seemed to bid fair to rival the collection of an +old rag-and-bottle merchant. First of all, there was a muster of +every empty tin match-box in the little house; these were to hold +the bait-bits of mutton and worms. Then I was desired to hunt up +all the odds and ends of worsted which lurked in the scrap-basket. +A forage next took place in search of string, but as no parcels were +ever delivered in that sequestered valley, twine became a precious +and rare treasure. In default of any large supply being obtainable, +my lamp and candle-wick material was requisitioned by F--- (who, by +the way, is a perfect Uhlan for getting what he wants, when bent on +a sporting expedition); and lastly, one or two empty flour-sacks +were called for. You will see the use of this heterogeneous +collection presently. + +It was of no use starting until the twilight had darkened into a +cloudy, moonless night; so, after our seven o'clock supper, we +adjourned into the verandah to watch F--- make a large round ball, +such as children play with, out of the scraps of worsted with which +I had furnished him. Instead of cutting the wool into lengths, +however, it was left in loops; and I learned that this is done to +afford a firm hold for the sharp needle-like teeth of an inquisitive +eel, who might be tempted to find out if this strange round thing, +floating near his hole, would be good to eat. I was impatient as a +child,--remember it was my first eel-fishing expedition,--and I +thought nine o'clock would never come, for I had been told to go and +dress at that hour; that is to say, I was to change my usual +station-costume, a pretty print gown, for a short linsey skirt, +strong boots and kangaroo-skin gaiters. F---, and our cadet, Mr. +U---, soon appeared, clad in shooting coats instead of their alpaca +costumes, and their trousers stuffed into enormous boots, the upper +leathers of which came beyond their knees. + +"Are we going into the water?" I timidly inquired. + +"Oh, no,--not at all: it is on account of the Spaniards." + +No doubt this sounds very unintelligible to an English reader; but +every colonist who may chance to see my pages will shiver at the +recollection of those vegetable defenders of an unexplored region in +New Zealand. Imagine a gigantic artichoke with slender instead of +broad leaves, set round in dense compact order. They vary, of +course, in size, but in our part of the world four or six feet in +circumference and a couple of feet high was the usual growth to +which they attained, though at the back of the run they were much +larger. Spaniards grow in clusters, or patches, among the tussocks +on the plains, and constitute a most unpleasant feature of the +vegetation of the country. Their leaves are as firm as bayonets, and +taper at the point to the fineness of a needle, but are not nearly +so easily broken as a needle would be. No horse will face them, +preferring a jump at the cost of any exertion, to the risk of a stab +from the cruel points. The least touch of this green bayonet draws +blood, and a fall _into_ a Spaniard is a thing to be remembered all +one's life. Interspersed with the Spaniards are generally clumps of +"wild Irishman," a straggling sturdy bramble, ready to receive and +scratch you well if you attempt to avoid the Spaniard's weapons. +Especially detrimental to riding habits are wild Irishmen; and there +are fragments of mine, of all sorts of materials and colours, +fluttering now on their thorny branches in out-of-the-way places on +our run. It is not surprising, therefore, that we guarded our legs +as well as we could against these foes to flesh and blood. + +"We are rather early," said the gentlemen, as I appeared, ready and +eager to start; "but perhaps it is all the better to enable you to +see the track." They each flung an empty sack over their shoulders, +felt in their pockets to ascertain whether the matches, hooks, boxes +of bait, etc., were all there, and then we set forth. + +At first it appeared as if we had stepped from the brightness of the +drawing-room into utter and pitchy blackness; but after we had +groped for a few steps down the familiar garden path, our eyes +became accustomed to the subdued light of the soft summer night. +Although heavy banks of cloud,--the general precursors of wind,-- +were moving slowly between us and the heavens, the stars shone down +through their rifts, and on the western horizon a faint yellowish +tinge told us that daylight was in no hurry to leave our quiet +valley. The mountain streams or creeks, which water so well the +grassy plains among the Malvern Hills, are not affected to any +considerable extent by dry summer weather. They are snow-fed from +the high ranges, and each nor'-wester restores many a glacier or +avalanche to its original form, and sends it flowing down the steep +sides of yonder distant beautiful mountains to join the creeks, +which, like a tangled skein of silver threads, ensure a good water +supply to the New Zealand sheep-farmer. In the holes, under steep +overhanging banks, the eels love to lurk, hiding from the sun's rays +in cool depths, and coming out at night to feed. There are no fish +whatever in the rivers, and I fear that the labours of the +Acclimatization Society will be thrown away until they can persuade +the streams themselves to remain in their beds like more civilised +waters. At present not a month passes that one does not hear of +some eccentric proceeding on. the part of either rivers or creeks. +Unless the fish are prepared to shift their liquid quarters at a +moment's notice they will find themselves often left high and dry on +the deserted shingle-bed. But eels are proverbially accustomed to +adapt themselves to circumstances, and a fisherman may always count +on getting some if he be patient. + +About a mile down the flat, between very high banks, our principal +creek ran, and to a quiet spot among the flax-bushes we directed our +steps. By the fast-fading light the gentlemen set their lines in +very primitive fashion. On the crumbling, rotten earth the New +Zealand flax, the _Phormium tenax_, loves to grow, and to its long, +ribbon-like leaves the eel-fishers fastened their lines securely, +baiting each alternate hook with mutton and worms. I declared this +was too cockney a method of fishing, and selected a tall slender +flax-stick, the stalk of last year's spike of red honey-filled +blossoms, and to this extempore rod I fastened my line and bait. +When one considers that the old whalers were accustomed to use ropes +made in the rudest fashion, from the fibre of this very plant, in +their deep-sea fishing for very big prey, it is not surprising that +we found it sufficiently strong for our purpose. I picked out, +therefore, a comfortable spot,--that is to say, well in the centre +of a young flax-bush, whose satiny leaves made the most elastic +cushions around me; with my flax-stick held out over what was +supposed to be a favourite haunt of the eels, and with Nettle asleep +at my feet and a warm shawl close to my hand, prepared for my vigil. +"Don't speak or move," were the gentlemen's last words: "the eels +are all eyes and ears at this hour; they can almost hear you +breathe." Each man then took up his position a few hundred yards +away from me, so that I felt, to all intents and purposes, +absolutely alone. I am "free to confess," as our American cousins +say, that it was a very eerie sensation. It was now past ten +o'clock; the darkness was intense, and the silence as deep as the +darkness. + +Hot as the day had been, the night air felt chill, and a heavy dew +began to fall, showing me the wisdom of substituting woollen for +cotton garments. I could see the dim outlines of the high hills, +which shut in our happy valley on all sides, and the smell of the +freshly-turned earth of a paddock near the house, which was in +process of being broken up for English grass, came stealing towards +me on the silent air. The melancholy cry of a bittern, or the +shrill wail of the weka, startled me from time to time, but there +was no other sound to break the eternal silence. + +As I waited and watched, I thought, as every one must surely think, +with strange paradoxical feelings, of one's own utter insignificance +in creation, mingled with the delightful consciousness of our +individual importance in the eyes of the Maker and Father of all. +An atom among worlds, as one feels, sitting there at such an hour +and in such a spot, still we remember with love and pride, that not +a hair of our head falls to the ground unnoticed by an Infinite Love +and an Eternal Providence. The soul tries to fly into the boundless +regions of space and eternity, and to gaze upon other worlds, and +other beings equally the object of the Great Creator's care; but her +mortal wing soon droops and tires, and she is fain to nestle home +again to her Saviour's arms, with the thought, "I am my Beloved's, +and He is mine." That is the only safe beginning and end of all +speculation. It was very solemn and beautiful, that long dark +night,--a pause amid the bustle of every day cares and duties,-- +hours in which one takes counsel with one's own heart, and is still. + +Midnight had come and gone, when the sputter and snap of striking a +match, which sounded almost like a pistol shot amid the profound +silence, told me that one of the sportsmen had been successful. I +got up as softly as possible, wrapped my damp shawl round my still +damper shoulders, and, fastening the flax-stick securely in the +ground, stole along the bank of the creek towards the place where a +blazing tussock, serving as a torch, showed the successful +eel-fisher struggling with his prize. Through the gloom I saw +another weird-looking figure running silently in the same direction; +for the fact was, we were all so cramped and cold, and, weary of +sitting waiting for bites which never came, that we hailed with +delight a break in the monotony of our watch. It did not matter now +how much noise we made (within moderate limits), for the peace of +that portion of the creek was destroyed for the night. Half-a-dozen +eels must have banded themselves together, and made a sudden and +furious dash at the worsted ball, which Mr. U--- had been dangling +in front of their mud hall-door for the last two hours. Just as he +had intended, their long sharp teeth became entangled in the worsted +loops, and although he declared some had broken away and escaped, +three or four good-sized ones remained, struggling frantically. + +It would have been almost impossible for one man to lift such a +weight straight out of the water by a string; and as we came up and +saw Mr. U---'s agitated face in the fantastic flickering light of +the blazing tussock, which he had set on fire as a signal of +distress, I involuntarily thought of the old Joe Miller about the +Tartar: "Why don't you let him go?" "Because he has caught _me._" +It looked just like that. The furious splashing in the water below, +and Mr. U--- grasping his line with desperate valour, but being +gradually drawn nearer to the edge of the steep bank each instant. +"Keep up a good light, but not too much," cried F--- to me, in a +regular stage-whisper, as he rushed to the rescue. So I pulled up +one tussock after another by its roots,--an exertion which resulted +in upsetting me each time,--and lighted one as fast as its +predecessor burned out. They were all rather damp, so they did not +flare away too quickly. By the blaze of my grassy torches I saw F--- +first seize Mr. U--- round the waist and drag him further from the +bank; but the latter called out, "It's my hands,--they have no skin +left: do catch hold, there's a good fellow." So the "good fellow" +did catch hold, but he was too experienced an eel-fisher to try to +lift a couple of dozen pounds weight of eels out of the water by a +perpendicular string; so he tied it to a flax-bush near, and, +stooping down in order to get some leverage over the bank, very soon +drew the ball, with its slimy, wriggling captives, out of the water. +Just as he jerked it far on shore, one or two of the creatures broke +loose and escaped, leaving quite enough to afford a most disgusting +and horrible sight as they were shuffled and poked into the empty +flour-sack. + +The sportsmen were delighted however, and departed to a fresh bend +of the creek, leaving me to find my way back to my original post. +This would have been difficult indeed, had not Nettle remained +behind to guard my gloves, which I had left in his custody. As I +passed, not knowing I was so near the spot, the little dog gave a +low whimper of greeting, sufficient to attract my attention and +guide me to where he was keeping his faithful watch and ward. I +felt for my flax-stick and moved it ever so gently. A sudden jerk +and splash startled me horribly, and warned me that I had disturbed +an eel who was in the act of supping off my bait. In the momentary +surprise I suppose I let go, for certain it is that the next instant +my flax-stick was rapidly towed down the stream. + +Instead of feeling provoked or mortified, it was the greatest relief +to know that my eel-fishing was over for the night, and that now I +had nothing to do except "wait till called for." So I took Nettle +on my lap and tried to abide patiently, but I had not been long +enough in New Zealand to have any confidence in the climate, and as +I felt how damp my clothes were, and recollected with horror my West +Indian experiences of the consequences of exposure to night air and +heavy dew, my mind _would_ dwell gloomily on the prospect of a +fever, at least. It seemed a long and weary while before I +perceived a figure coming towards me; and I am afraid I was both +cross and cold and sleepy by the time we set our faces homewards. +"I have only caught three," said F---. "How many have you got?" +"None, I am happy to say," I answered peevishly, "What could Nettle +and I have done with the horrible things if we had caught any?" + +The walk, or rather the stumble home, proved to be the worst part of +the expedition. Not a ray of starlight had we to guide us,--nothing +but inky blackness around and over us. We tried to make Nettle go +first, intending to follow his lead, and trusting to his keeping the +track; but Nettle's place was at my heels, and neither coaxing nor +scolding would induce him to forego it. A forlorn hope was nothing +to the dangers of each footstep. First one and then the other +volunteered to lead the way, declaring they could find the track. +All this time we were trying to strike the indistinct road among the +tussocks, made by occasional wheels to our house, but the marks, +never very distinct in daylight, became perfect will-o'-the-wisps at +night. If we crossed a sheep-track we joyfully announced that we +had found the way, but only to be undeceived the next moment by +discovering that we were returning to the creek. + +From time to time we fell into and over Spaniards, and what was left +of our clothes and our flesh the wild Irishmen devoured. We must +have got home somehow, or I should not be writing an account of it, +at this moment, but really I hardly know how we reached the house. +I recollect that the next day there was a great demand for +gold-beater's skin, and court-plaster, and that whenever F--- and +Mr. U--- had a spare moment during the ensuing week, they devoted +themselves to performing surgical operations on each other with a +needle; and that I felt very subdued and tired for a day or two. +But there was no question of fever or cold, and I was stared at when +I inquired whether it was not dangerous to be out all night in heavy +dew after a broiling day. + +We had the eels made into a pie by our shepherd, who assured me that +if I entrusted them to my cook she would send me up such an oily +dish that I should never be able to endure an eel again. He +declared that the Maoris, who seem to have rather a horror of +grease, had taught him how to cook both eels and wekas in such a way +as to eliminate every particle of fat from both. I had no +experience of the latter dish, but he certainly kept his word about +the eels, for they were excellent. + + + +Chapter III: Pig-stalking. + + +It was much too hot in summer to go after wild pigs. That was our +winter's amusement, and very good sport it afforded us, besides the +pleasure of knowing that we were really doing good service to the +pastoral interest, by ridding the hills around us of almost the only +enemies which the sheep have. If the squatter goes to look after +his mob of ewes and lambs in the sheltered slopes at the back of his +run, he is pretty nearly certain to find them attended by an old sow +with a dozen babies at her heels. She will follow the sheep +patiently from one camping ground to another, watching for a +new-born and weakly lamb to linger behind the rest, and then she +will seize and devour it. Besides this danger, the presence of pigs +on the run keeps the sheep in an excited state. They have an uneasy +consciousness that their foes are looking after them, and they move +restlessly up and down the hills, not stopping to feed sufficiently +to get fat. If a sheep-farmer thinks his sheep are not in good +condition, one of the first questions he asks his shepherd is, "Are +there any pigs about?" Our run had a good many of these troublesome +visitors on it, especially in the winter, when they would travel +down from the back country to grub up acres on acres of splendid +sheep pasture in search of roots. The only good they do is to dig +up the Spaniards for the sake of their delicious white fibres, and +the fact of their being able to do this will give a better idea of +the toughness of a wild pig's snout than anything else I can say. + +It may be strange to English ears to hear a woman of tolerably +peaceful disposition, and as the advertisements in the _Times_ so +often state, "thoroughly domesticated," aver that she found great +pleasure in going after wild pigs; but the circumstances of the ease +must be taken into consideration before I am condemned. First of +all, it seemed terribly lonely at home if F--- was out with his +rifle all day. Next, there was the temptation to spend those +delicious hours of a New Zealand winter's day, between ten and. +four, out of doors, wandering over hills and exploring new gullies. +And lastly, I had a firm idea that I was taking care of F---. And +so I was in a certain sense, for if his rifle had burst, or any +accident had happened to him, and he had been unable to reach the +homestead, we should never have known where to find him, and days +would probably have passed before every nook and corner of a run +extending over many thousand acres could have been thoroughly +searched. + +I had heard terrible stories of shepherds slipping down and injuring +themselves so that they could not move, and of their dead bodies +being only found after weeks of careful seeking. F--- himself +delighted to terrify me by descriptions of narrow escapes; and, as +the pigs had to be killed, I resolved to follow in the hunter's +train. The sport is conducted exactly like deer stalking, only it +is much harder work, and a huge boar is not so picturesque an object +as a stag of many tines, when you do catch sight of him. There is +just the same accurate knowledge needed of the animal's habits and +customs, and the same untiring patience. It is quite as necessary +to be a good shot, for a grey pig standing under the lee of a +boulder of exactly his own colour is a much more difficult object to +hit from the opposite side of a ravine than a stag; and a wild boar +is every whit as keen of scent and sharp of eye and ear as any +antlered "Monarch of the Glen." + +Imagine then a beautiful winter's morning without wind or rain. +There has been perhaps a sharp frost over-night, but after a couple +of hours of sunshine the air is as warm and bright as midsummer. We +used to be glad enough of a wood fire at breakfast; but after that +meal had been eaten we went into the verandah, open to the +north-east (our warm quarter), which made a delicious winter +parlour, and basked in the blazing sunshine. I used often to bring +out a chair and a table, and work and read there all the morning, +without either hat or jacket. But it sometimes happened that once +or twice a week, on just such a lovely morning, F--- would proclaim +his intention of going out to look for pigs, and, sooner than be +left behind, I nearly always begged to be allowed to come too. +There was no fear of my getting tired or lagging behind; and as I +was willing to make myself generally useful, by carrying the +telescope, a revolver for close quarters, and eke a few sandwiches, +the offer of my company used to be graciously accepted. We could +seldom procure the loan of a good pig-dog, and after one excursion +with a certain dog of the name of "Pincher," I preferred going out +by ourselves. + + On that occasion F--- did not take his rifle, as there was no +chance of getting a long shot at our game; for the dog would surely +bring the pig to bay, and then the hunter must trust to a revolver +or the colonial boar-spear, half a pair of shears (I suppose it +should be called _a shear_) bound firmly on a flax stick by green +flax-leaves. We had heard of pigs having been seen by our +out-station shepherd at the back of the run, and as we were not +encumbered by the heavy rifle, we mounted our horses and rode as far +as we could towards the range where the pigs had been grubbing up +the hill sides in unmolested security for some time past. Five +miles from home the ground became so rough that our horses could go +no further; we therefore jumped off, tied them to a flax-bush, +taking off the saddles in case they broke loose, and proceeded on +foot over the jungly, over-grown saddle. On the other side we came +upon a beautiful gully, with a creek running through it, whose banks +were so densely fringed with scrub that we could not get through to +the stream, which we heard rippling amid the tangled shrubs. If we +could only have reached the water our best plan would have been to +get into it and follow its windings up the ravine; but even Pincher +could hardly squeeze and burrow through the impenetrable fence of +matapo and goi, which were woven together by fibres of a thorny +creeper called "a lawyer" by the shepherds. + + +It was very tantalising, for in less than five minutes we heard +trusty Pincher "speaking" to a boar, and knew that he had baled it +up against a tree, and was calling to us to come and help him. F--- +ran about like a lunatic, calling out; "Coming Pincher: round him +up, good dog!" and so forth; but they were all vain promises, for he +could not get in. I did my best in searching for an opening, and +gave many false hopes of having found one. At last I said, "If I +run up the mountain side, and look down on that mass of scrub, +perhaps I may see some way into it from above." "No: do you stay +here, and see, if the pig breaks cover, which way he goes." Up the +steep hill, therefore, F--- rushed, as swiftly and lightly as one of +his own mountain sheep; and in a minute or two I saw him standing, +revolver in hand, on an overhanging rock, peering anxiously down on +the leafy mass below. + +Pincher and the creek made such a noise between them that I could +not hear what F--- said, and only guessed from his despairing +gestures that there was no trap door visible in the green roof. I +signalled as well as I could that he was to come down directly, for +his-standing-place looked most insecure. Insecure indeed it proved. +As I spoke the great fragment of rock loosely embedded in earth on +the mountain side gave way with a crash, and came tumbling +majestically down on the top of the scrub. As for F---, he +described a series of somersaults in the air, which however +agreeable in themselves, were very trying to the nerves of the +spectatrix below. My first dread was least the rock should crush +him, but to my great joy I saw at once that it was rolling slowly +down the hill, whilst F---'s vigorous bound off it as it gave way, +had carried him well into the middle of the leafy cushion beneath +him, where he presently landed flat on his back! + +I expected every moment to hear the revolver go off, but mercifully +it did not do so; and as his thorny bed was hardly to be endured, +F--- soon kicked himself off it, and before I could realize that he +was unhurt, had scrambled to his feet, and was rushing off, crying +in school-boy glee, "That will fetch him out" That (the rock) +certainly did fetch him (the pig) out in a moment, and Pincher +availed himself of the general confusion to seize hold of his +enemy's hind leg, which he never afterwards let go. The boar kept +snapping and champing his great tusks; but Pincher, even with the +leg in his mouth, was too active to be caught: so as the boar found +that it was both futile and undignified to try to run away with a +dog hanging on his hind-quarters, he tried another plan. Making for +a clump of Ti-ti palms he went to bay, and contrived to take up a +very good defensive position. Pincher would have never given up his +mouthful of leg if F--- had not called him off, for it seemed +impossible to fire the revolver whilst the dog held on. This change +of tactics was much against Pincher's judgment, and he kept rushing +furiously in between F--- and the boar. As for me, I prudently +retired behind a big boulder, on which I could climb if the worst +came to the worst, and called out from time to time, to both dog and +man, "Oh, don't!" + +They did not even hear me, for the din of battle was loud. The pig +dodged about so fast, that although F---'s bullets lodged in the +palm tree at his back, not one struck a vulnerable part, and at last +F---, casting his revolver behind him for me to pick up and reload, +closed with his foe, armed only with the shear-spear. Pincher +considered this too dangerous, and rushed in between them to +distract the boar's attention. Just as F--- aimed a thrust at his +chest,--for it was of no use trying to penetrate his hide,--the boar +lowered his head, caught poor faithful Pincher's exposed flank, and +tore it open with his razor-like tusk; but in the meantime the spear +had gone well home into his brawny chest, exactly beneath the left +shoulder, and his life-blood came gushing out. I was so infuriated +at the sight of Pincher's frightful wound that I felt none of my +usual pity for the victim; and rushing up to F--- with the revolver, +of which only a couple of chambers were loaded, thrust it into his +hand with an entreaty to "kill him quickly." This F--- was quite +willing to do for his own sake, as a wounded boar is about the most +dangerous beast on earth; and although the poor brute kept snapping +at the broken flax-stick sticking in his heart, he fired a steady +shot which brought the pig on his knees, only to roll over dead the +next moment. + +I cannot help pausing to say that I sewed up Pincher's wound then +and there, with some of the contents of my Cambusmore house-wife; +which always accompanied me on my sporting expeditions, and we +carried him between us down to where the horses were fastened. +There I mounted; and F--- lifting the faithful creature on my lap, +we rode slowly home, dipping our handkerchiefs in cold water at +every creek we crossed, and laying them on his poor flank. He was +as patient and brave as possible, and bore his sufferings and +weakness for days afterwards in a way which was a lesson to one, so +grateful and gentle was he. His brave and sensible behaviour met +its due reward in a complete though slow recovery. + +I have only left myself space for one little sketch more; but it +comes so vividly before me that I cannot shut it out. After a long +day's walking, over the hills and vallies, so beautiful beneath our +azure winter-sky, walking which was delightful as an expedition, but +unsuccessful as to sport, we crossed the track of a large boar. We +knew he was old by his being alone, and it was therefore very +certain that he would show fight if we came up with him. Patiently +we followed the track over a low saddle, through a clump of +brushwood menuka, the broken twigs of which showed how large an +animal had just passed by. Here and there a freshly grubbed-up +Spaniard showed where he had paused for a snack; but at length we +dropped down on the river bed, with its wide expanse of shingle, and +there we lost all clue to our game. + +After a little hesitation, F--- decided on climbing a high cliff on +the right bank of the river, and trying to catch a glimpse of him. +The opposite hill-side was gaunt and bare; a southern aspect shut +out the sun in winter, and. for all its rich traces of copper ore, +"Holkam's Head" found no favour in the eyes of either shepherds or +master. Grass would not grow there except in summer, and its gray, +shingly sides were an eye-sore to its owner. We sat down on the +cliff, and looked around carefully. Presently F--- said, in a +breathless whisper of intense delight, "I see him." In vain I +looked and looked, but nothing could my stupid eyes discover. "Lie +down," said F--- to me, just as if I had been a dog. I crouched as +low as possible, whilst F---settled himself comfortably flat on his +stomach, and prepared to take a careful aim at the opposite side of +the hill. + +After what seemed a long time, he pulled his rifle's trigger, and +the flash and crack was followed apparently by one of the gray +boulders opposite leaping up, and then rolling heavily down the +hill. F--- jumped up in triumph crying, "Come along, and don't +forget the revolver." When we had crossed the river, reckless of +getting wet to our waists in icy-cold water, F--- took the revolver +from me and went first; but, after an instant's examination, he +called out, "Dead as a door-nail! come and look at him." So I came, +with great caution, and a more repulsive and disgusting sight cannot +be imagined than the huge carcass of our victim already stiffening +in death. The shot had been a fortunate one, for only an inch away +from the hole the bullet had made his shoulders were regularly +plated with thick horny scales, off which a revolver bullet would +have glanced harmlessly, and he bore marks of having fought many and +many a battle with younger rivals. His huge tusks were notched and +broken, and he had evidently been driven out from among his fellows +as a quarrelsome member of their society. Already the keen-eyed +hawks were hovering above the great monster, and we left him to his +fate in the solitary river gorge, where all was bleak and cold and +gloomy,--a fitting death-place for the fierce old warrior. + + + +Chapter IV: Skating in the back country. + + +I do not believe that even in Canada the skating can be better than +that which was within our reach in the Malvern Hills. Among our +sheltered valleys an sunny slopes the hardest frost only lasted a +few hour after dawn; but twenty-five miles further back, on the +border of the glacier region, the mountain tarns could boast of ice +several feet thick all the winter. We heard rumours of far-inland +lakes, across which heavily-laden bullock-teams could pass in +perfect safety for three months of the year, and we grumbled at the +light film over our own large ponds, which would not bear even my +little terrier's weight after mid-day: and yet it was cold enough at +night, during our short bright winters, to satisfy the most +icy-minded person. I think I have mentioned before that the wooden +houses in New Zealand, especially those roughly put together +up-country, are by no means weather-tight. Disagreeable as this may +be, it is doubtless the reason of the extraordinary immunity from +colds and coughs which we hill-dwellers enjoyed. Living between +walls formed by inch-boards over-lapping each other, and which can +only be made to resemble English rooms by being canvassed and +papered inside, the pure fresh air finds its way in on all sides. A +hot room in winter is an impossibility, in spite of drawn curtains +and blazing fires, therefore the risk of sudden changes of +temperature is avoided. + +Some such theory as this is absolutely necessary to account for the +wonderfully good health enjoyed by all, in the most capricious and +trying climate I have ever come across. When a strong nor'-wester +was howling down the glen, I have seen the pictures on my +drawing-room walls blowing out to an angle of 45 degrees, although +every door and window in the little low wooden structure had been +carefully closed for hours. It has happened to me more than once, +on getting up in the morning, to find my clothes, which had been +laid on a chair beneath my bedroom window overnight, completely +covered by powdered snow, drifting in through the ill-fitting +casement. This same window was within a couple of feet of my bed, +and between me and it was neither curtain nor shelter of any sort. +Of a winter's evening I have often been obliged to wrap myself up in +a big Scotch maud, as I sat, dressed in a high linsey gown, by a +blazing fire, so hard was the frost outside; but by ten o'clock next +morning I would be loitering about the verandah, basking in the +sunshine, and watching the light flecks of cloud-wreaths and veils +floating against an Italian-blue sky. Yet such is the inherent +discontent of the human heart, that instead of rejoicing in this +lovely mid-day sunshine, we actually mourned over the vanished ice +which at daylight had been found, by a much-envied early riser, +strong enough to slide on for half an hour. It seemed almost +impossible to believe that any one had been sliding that morning +within a few feet of where I sat working in a blaze of sunshine, +with my pretty grey and pink Australian parrot pluming itself on the +branch of a silver wattle close by, and "Joey," the tiny monkey from +Panama, sitting on the skirt of my gown, with a piece of its folds +arranged by himself shawl-wise over his glossy black shoulders. If +either of these tropical pets had been left out after four o'clock +that sunny day, they, would have been frozen to death before our +supper time. + +It was just on such a day as this, and in just such a bright mid-day +hour, that a distant neighbour of ours rode up to the garden gate, +leading a pack horse. Outside the saddle-bags, with which this +animal was somewhat heavily laden, could be plainly seen a beautiful +new pair of Oxford skates, glinting in the sunshine; and it must +have been the sight of these beloved implements which called forth +the half-envious remark from one of the gentlemen, "I suppose you +have lots of skating up at your place?" + +"Well, not exactly at my station, but there is a capital lake ten +miles from my house where I am sure of a good day's skating any time +between June and August," answered Mr. C. H---, our newly arrived +guest. + +We all looked at each other. I believe I heaved a deep sigh, and +dropped my thimble, which "Joey" instantly seized, and with a low +chirrup of intense delight, commenced to poke down between the +boards of the verandah. It was too bad of us to give such broad +hints by looks if not by words. Poor Mr. C. H--- was a bachelor in +those days: he had not been at his little out-of-the-way homestead +for some weeks, and was ignorant of its resources in the way of +firing (always an important matter at a station), or even of tea and +mutton. He had no woman-servant, and was totally unprepared for an +incursion of skaters; and yet,--New Zealand fashion,--no sooner did +he perceive that we were all longing and pining for some skating, +than he invited us all most cordially to go up to his back-country +run the very next day, with him, and skate as long as we liked. +This was indeed a delightful prospect, the more especially as it +happened to be only Monday, which gave us plenty of time to be back +again by Sunday, for our weekly service. We made it a rule never to +be away from home on that day, lest any of our distant congregation +should ride their twenty miles or so across country and find us +absent. + +When the host is willing and the guests eager, it does not take long +to arrange a plan, so the next morning found three of us, besides +Mr. C. H--- mounted and ready to start directly after breakfast. I +have often been asked how I managed in those days about toilette +arrangements, when it was impossible to carry any luggage except a +small "swag," closely packed in a waterproof case and fastened on +the same side as the saddle-pocket. First of all I must assure my +lady readers that I prided myself on turning out as neat and natty +as possible at the end of the journey, and yet I rode not only in my +every-day linsey gown, which could be made long or short at +pleasure, but in my crinoline. This was artfully looped up on the +right side and tied by a ribbon, in such a way that when I came out +ready dressed to mount, no one in the world could have guessed that +I had on any _cage_ beneath my short riding habit with a loose tweed +jacket over the body of the dress. Within the "swag" was stowed a +brush and comb, collar, cuffs and handkerchiefs, a little necessary +linen, a pair of shoes, and perhaps a ribbon for my hair if I meant +to be very smart. On this occasion we all found that our skates +occupied a terribly large proportion both of weight and space in our +modest kits, but still we were much too happy to grumble. + +Where could you find a gayer quartette than started at an easy +canter up the valley that fresh bracing morning? From the very +first our faces were turned to the south-west, and before us rose +the magnificent chain of the Southern Alps, with their bold snowy +peaks standing out in a glorious dazzle against the cobalt sky. A +stranger, or colonially speaking, a "new chum," would have thought +we must needs cross that barrier-range before we could penetrate any +distance into the back country, but we knew of long winding vallies +and gullies running up between the giant slopes, which would lead +us, almost without our knowing how high we had climbed, up to the +elevated but sheltered plateau among the back country ranges where +Mr. C. H---'s homestead stood. There was only one steep saddle to +be crossed, and that lay between us and Rockwood, six miles off. It +was the worst part of the journey for the horses, so we had easy +consciences in dismounting and waiting an hour when we reached that +most charming and hospitable of houses. I had just time for one +turn round the beautiful garden, where the flowers and shrubs of old +England grew side by side with the wild and lovely blossoms of our +new island home, when the expected coo-e rang out shrill and clear +from the rose-covered porch. It was but little past mid-day when we +made our second start, and set seriously to work over fifteen miles +of fairly good galloping ground. This distance brought us well up +to the foot of a high range, and the last six miles of the journey +had to be accomplished in single file, and with great care and +discretion, for the track led through bleak desolate vallies, round +the shoulder of abutting spurs, through swamps, and up and down +rocky staircases. Mr. C. H--- and his cob both knew the way well +however, and my bay mare Helen had the cleverest legs and the wisest +as well as prettiest head of her race. If left to herself she +seldom made a mistake, and the few tumbles she and I ever had +together, took place only when she found herself obliged to go my +way instead of her own. We entered the gorges of the high mountains +between us and the west, and soon lost the sun; even the brief +winter twilight faded away more swiftly than usual amid those dark +defiles; and it was pitch dark, though only five o'clock, when we +heard a sudden and welcome clamour of dog voices. + +These deep-mouthed tones invariably constitute the first notes of a +sheep-station's welcome; and a delightful sound it is to the belated +and bewildered traveller, for besides guiding his horse to the right +spot, the noise serves to bring out some one to see who the +traveller may be. On this occasion we heard one man say to the +other, "It's the boss:" so almost before we had time to dismount +from our tired horses (remember they had each carried a heavy "swag" +besides their riders), lights gleamed from the windows of the little +house, and a wood fire sparkled and sputtered on the open hearth. +Mr. C. H--- only just guided me to the door of the sitting-room, +making an apology and injunction together,--"Its very rough I am +afraid: but you can do what you like;"--before he hastened back to +assist his guests in settling their horses comfortably for the +night. Labour used to be so dear and wages so high, especially in +the back country of New Zealand, that the couple of men,--one for +indoor work, to saw wood, milk, cook, sweep, _wash_, etc., and the +other to act as gardener, groom, ploughman, and do all the numerous +odd jobs about a place a hundred miles and more from the nearest +shop,--represented a wage-expenditure of at least 200 pounds a year. +Every gentleman therefore as a matter of course sees to his own +horse when he arrives unexpectedly at a station, and I knew I should +have at least half an hour to myself. + +The first thing to do was to let down my crinoline, for I could only +walk like a crab in it when it was fastened up for riding, kilt up +my linsey gown, take off my hat and jacket, and set to work The +curtains must be drawn close, and the chairs moved out from their +symmetrical positions against the wall; then I made an expedition +into the kitchen, and won the heart of the stalwart cook, who was +already frying chops over the fire, by saying in my best German," I +have come to help you with the tea." Poor man! it was very unfair, +for Mr. C. H--- had told me during our ride that his servitor was a +German, and I had employed the last long hour of the journey in +rubbing up my exceedingly rusty knowledge of that language, and +arranging one or two effective sentences. Poor Karl's surprise and +delight knew no bounds, and he burst forth into a long monologue, to +which I could find no readier answers than smiles and nods, hiding +my inability to follow up my brilliant beginning under the pretence +of being very busy. By the time the gentlemen had stabled and fed +the horses and were ready, Karl and I between us had arranged a +bright cosy little apartment with a capital tea-dinner on the table. +After this meal there were pipes and toddy, and as I could not +retire, like Mrs. Micawber at David Copperfield's supper party, into +the adjoining bedroom and sit by myself in the cold, I made the best +of the somewhat dense clouds of smoke with which I was soon +surrounded, and listened to the fragmentary plans for the next day. +Then we all separated for the night, and in two minutes I was fast +asleep in a little room no bigger than the cabin of a ship, with an +opossum rug on a sofa for my bed and bedding. + +It was cold enough the next morning, I assure you: so cold that it +was difficult to believe the statement that all the gentlemen had +been down at daybreak to bathe in the great lake which spread like +an inland sea before the bay-window of the little sitting room. +This lake, the largest of the mountain chain, never freezes, on +account partly of its great depth, and also because of its sunny +aspect. Our destination lay far inland, and if we meant to have a +good long day's skating we must start at once. Such a perfect day +as it was! I felt half inclined to beg off the first day on the +ice, and to spend my morning wandering along the rata-fringed shores +of Lake Coleridge, with its glorious enclosing of hills which might +fairly be called mountains; but I feared to seem capricious or lazy, +when really my only difficulty was in selecting a pleasure. The sun +had climbed well over the high barriers which lay eastwards, and was +shining brightly down through the quivering blue ether overhead; the +frost sparkled on every broad flax-blade or slender tussock-spine, +as if the silver side of earth were turned outwards that winter +morning. + +No sooner had we mounted (with no "swag" except our skates this +time) than Mr. C. H--- set spurs to his horse, and bounded over the +slip-rail of the paddock before Karl could get it down. We were too +primitive for gates in those parts: they only belonged to the +civilization nearer Christchurch; and I had much ado to prevent my +pony from following his lead, especially as the other gentlemen were +only too delighted to get rid of some of their high spirits by a +jump. However Karl got the top rail down for me, and "Mouse" hopped +over the lower one gaily, overtaking the leader of the expedition in +a very few strides. We could not keep up our rapid pace long; for +the ground became terribly broken and cut up by swamps, quicksands, +blind creeks, and all sorts of snares and pit-falls. Every moment +added to the desolate grandeur of the scene. Bleak hills rose up on +either hand, with still bleaker and higher peaks appearing beyond +them again. An awful silence, unbroken by the familiar cheerful +sound of the sheep calling to each other,--for even the hardy merino +cannot live in these ranges during the winter months,--brooded +around us, and the dark mass of a splendid "bush," extending over +many hundred acres, only added to the lonely grandeur of the scene. +We rode almost the whole time in a deep cold shade, for between us +and the warm sun-rays were such lofty mountains that it was only for +a few brief noontide moments he could peep over their steep sides. + +After two hour's riding, at the best pace which we could keep up +through these terrible gorges, a sharp turn of the track brought us +full in view of our destination. I can never forget that first +glimpse of Lake Ida. In the cleft of a huge, gaunt, bare hill, +divided as if by a giant hand, lay a large _black_ sheet of ice. No +ray of sunshine ever struck it from autumn until spring, and it +seemed impossible to imagine our venturing to skate merrily in such +a sombre looking spot. But New-Zealand sheep farmers are not +sentimental I am afraid. Beyond a rapid thought of self- +congratulation that such "cold country" was not on _their_ run, they +did not feel affected by its eternal silence and gloom. The ice +would bear, and what more could skater's heart desire? At the end +of the dark tarn, nearest to the track by which we had approached +it, stood a neat little hut; and judge of my amazement when, as we +rode up to it, a young gentleman, looking as if he was just going +out for a day's deer-stalking, opened the low door and came out to +greet us. Yes, here was one of those strange anomalies peculiar to +the colonies. A young man, fresh from his University, of refined +tastes and cultivated intellect, was leading here the life of a +boor, without companionship or appreciation of any sort. His "mate" +seemed to be a rough West countryman, honest and well meaning +enough, but utterly unsuited to Mr. K---. It was the old story, of +wild unpractical ideas hastily carried out. Mr. K--- had arrived in +New Zealand a couple of years before, with all his worldly wealth,-- +1,000 pounds. Finding this would not go very far in the purchase of +a good sheep-run, and hearing some calculations about the profit to +be derived from breeding cattle, based upon somebody's lucky +speculation, he eagerly caught at one of the many offers showered +upon unfortunate "new chums," and bought the worst and bleakest bit +of one of the worst and bleakest runs in the province. The +remainder of his money was laid out in purchasing stock; and now he +had sat down patiently to await, in his little hut, until such time +as his brilliant expectations would be realized. I may say here +they became fainter and fainter year by year, and at last faded away +altogether; leaving him at the end of three lonely, dreadful years +with exactly half his capital, but double his experience. However +this has nothing to do with my story, except that I can never think +of our skating expedition to that lonely lake, far back among those +terrible hills, without a thrill of compassion for the only living +human being, who dwelt among them. + +It was too cold to dawdle about, however, that day. The frost lay +white and hard upon the ground, and we felt that we were cruel in +leaving our poor horses standing to get chilled whilst we amused +ourselves. Although my beloved Helen was not there, having been +exchanged for the day in favour of Master Mouse, a shaggy pony, +whose paces were as rough as its coat, I begged a red blanket from +Mr. K---, and covered up Helen's stable companion, whose sleek skin +spoke of a milder temperature than that on Lake Ida's "gloomy +shore." Our simple arrangements were soon made. Mr. K--- left +directions to his mate to prepare a repast consisting of tea, bread, +and mutton for us, and, each carrying our skates, we made the best +of our way across the frozen tussocks to the lake. Mr. K--- proved +an admirable guide over its surface, for he was in the habit during +the winter of getting all his firewood out of the opposite "bush," +and bringing it across the lake on sledges drawn by bullocks. We +accused him of having cut up our ice dreadfully by these means; but +he took us to a part of the vast expanse where an unbroken field of +at least ten acres of ice stretched smoothly before us. Here were +no boards marked "DANGEROUS," nor any intimation of the depth of +water beneath. The most timid person could feel no apprehension on +ice which seemed more solid than the earth; so accordingly in a few +moments we had buckled and strapped on our skates, and were skimming +and gliding--and I must add, falling--in all directions. We were +very much out of practice at first, except Mr. K---, who skated +every day, taking short cuts across the lake to track a stray heifer +or explore a blind gully. + +I despair of making my readers see the scene as I saw it, or of +conveying any adequate idea of the intense, the appalling loneliness +of the spot. It really seemed to me as if our voices and laughter, +so far from breaking the deep eternal silence, only brought it out +into stronger relief. On either hand rose up, shear from the waters +edge, a great, barren, shingly mountain; before us loomed a dark +pine forest, whose black shadows crept up until they merged in the +deep _crevasses_ and fissures of the Snowy Range. Behind us +stretched the winding gullies by which we had climbed to this +mountain tarn, and Mr. K---'s little hut and scrap of a garden and +paddock gave the one touch of life, or possibility of life, to this +desolate region. In spite of all scenic wet blankets we tried hard +to be gay, and no one but myself would acknowledge that we found the +lonely grandeur of our "rink" too much for us. We skated away +perseveringly until we were both tired and hungry, when we returned +to Mr. K---'s hut, took a hasty meal, and mounted our chilled +steeds. Mr. C. H--- insisted on bringing poor Mr. K--- back with +us, though he was somewhat reluctant to come, alleging that a few +days spent in the society of his kind made the solitude of his +weather-board hut all the more dreary. The next day and yet the +next we returned to our gloomy skating ground, and when I turned +round in my saddle as we rode away on Friday evening, for a last +look at Lake Ida lying behind us in her winter black numbness, her +aspect seemed more forbidding than ever, for only the bare steep +hill-sides could be seen; the pine forest and white distant +mountains were all blotted and blurred out of sight by a heavy pall +of cloud creeping slowly up. + +"Let us ride fast," cried Mr. K---, "or we shall have a sou'-wester +upon us;" so we galloped home as quickly as we could, over ground +that I don't really believe I could summon courage to walk across, +ever so slowly, to-day,--but then one's nerves and courage are in +very different order out in New Zealand to the low standard which +rules for ladies in England, who "live at home in ease!" Long +before we reached home the storm was pelting us: my little jacket +was like a white board when I took it off, for the sleet and snow +had frozen as it fell. I was wet to the skin, and so numb with cold +I could hardly stand when we reached home at last in the dark and +down-pour. I could only get my things very imperfectly dried, and +had to manage as best I could, but yet no one even thought of making +the inquiry next morning when I came out to breakfast, "Have you +caught cold?" It would have seemed a ridiculous question. + + + +Chapter V: Toboggon-ing. + +I cannot resist the temptation to touch upon one of the winter +amusements which came to us two years later. Yet the word +"amusement" seems out of place, no one in the Province having much +heart to amuse themselves, for the great snow storm of August, 1867, +had just taken place, and we were in the first days of bewilderment +at the calamity which had befallen us all. A week's incessant +snow-fall, accompanied by a fierce and freezing south-west wind, had +not only covered the whole of the mountains from base to brow with +shining white, through which not a single dark rock jutted, but had +drifted on the plains for many feet deep. Gullies had been filled +up by the soft, driving flakes, creeks were bridged over, and for +three weeks and more all communication between the stations and the +various townships was cut off. The full extent of our losses was +unknown to us, and dreary as were our forebodings of misfortune, +none of us guessed that snow to be the winding sheet of half a +million of sheep. The magnificent semi-circle of the Southern Alps +stood out, for a hundred miles from north to south, in appalling +white distinctness, and no one in the whole Colony had ever seen the +splendid range thus free from fleck or flaw. We had done all we +could within working distance, but what was, the use of digging in +drifts thirty feet deep? Amidst, and almost above, the terrible +anxiety about our own individual safety,--for the snow was over the +roof of many of the station-houses,--came the pressing question, +"Where are the sheep?" A profound silence unbroken by bleat of +lamb, or bark of dog, or any sound of life, had reigned for many +days, when a merciful north-westerly gale sprung, up, and releasing +the heavily-laden earth from its white bondage, freed the miserable +remnant of our flocks and herds. At least, I should say, it freed +those sheep which had travelled down to the vallies, driven before +the first pitiless gusts, but we knew that many hundreds, if not +thousands, of wethers must have been surprised and imprisoned far +back among the hills. + +Such knowledge could not be acted upon, however, for no human being +could hope to plunge through the drifts around us. Old shepherds +who had lived on the run for fifteen years, confessed that they did +not know their way fifty yards from the homestead. The vallies were +filled up, so that one gully looked precisely like its fellow; +rocks, scrub, Ti-ti palms, all our local land-marks had disappeared; +not a fence or gate could be seen in all the country side. Here and +there a long wave-like line in the smooth mass would lead us to +suppose that a wire fence lay buried beneath its curves, but we had +no means of knowing for certain. Near the house every shrub and +out-building, every hay-stack or wood-heap, had all been covered up, +and no man might even guess where they lay. + +This had been the terrible state of things, and although the blessed +warm wind had removed our immediate and pressing fear of starvation, +we could not hope to employ ourselves in searching for our missing +sheep for many days to come. None of us had been able to take any +exercise for more than a fortnight, and having done all that could +possibly be done near at hand, F--- set to work to manufacture some +sledges out of old packing-cases. Quite close to the house, a hill +sloped smoothly for about 300 yards, at an angle of 40 degrees; +along its side lay a perfectly level and deep drift, which did not +show any signs of thawing for more than a month, and we resolved to +use this as a natural _Montagne Russe_. The construction of a +suitable sledge was the first difficulty to be surmounted, and many +were the dismal failures and break-neck catastrophes which preceded +what we considered a safe and successful vehicle. Not only was it +immensely difficult to make, without either proper materials or +tools, a sledge which could hold two people (for F--- declared it +was no fun sleighing alone), but his "patent brakes" proved the most +broken of reeds to lean upon when the sledge was dashing down the +steep incline at the rate of a thousand miles an hour. + +We nearly broke our necks more than once, and I look back now with +amazement to our fool-hardiness. How well I remember one +expedition, when F---, who had been hammering away in a shed all the +morning, came to find me sitting in the sun in the verandah, and to +inform me that at last he had perfected a conveyance which would +combine speed with safety. Undaunted by previous mishaps, I sallied +forth, and in company with Mr. U--- and F---, climbed painfully up +the high hill I have mentioned, by some steps which they had cut in +the frozen snow. Without some such help we could not have kept our +footing for a moment, and as long as I live I shall never forget the +sensation of leaving my friendly Alpenstock planted in the snow, and +of seating myself on that frail sledge. Perhaps I ought to describe +it here. A board, about six feet long by one foot broad, with +sheet-iron nailed beneath it, and curved upwards in front; on its +upper surface a couple of battens were fixed, one quite at the +foremost end, and one half-way. That was F---'s new patent sledge, +warranted to go faster down an incline than any other conveyance on +the surface of the earth. I was the wretched "passenger," as he +called me, on more than one occasion, and I will briefly describe my +experiences. "Why did you go?" is a very natural question to arise +in my reader's mind; and sitting here at my writing-table, I feel as +if I must have been a lunatic to venture. But in those delicious +wild days, no enterprise seemed too rash or dangerous to engage in, +from mounting a horse which had never seen or felt the fluttering of +a habit, to embarking on the conveyance I have described above, and +starting down a mountain-side at the risk of a broken neck. + +Well, to return to that terrible moment. I see the whole scene now. +The frail, rude sledge, with its breaks made out of a couple of +standards from a wire fence, connected by a strong iron chain; F--- +seated at the back of the precious contrivance, firmly grasping a +standard in each hand; Mr. U--- clinging desperately to his +Alpen-stock with one hand, whilst with the other he helps me on to +the board; and Nettle, my dear little terrier, standing shivering on +three legs, sniffing distrustfully at the sledge. It is extremely +difficult even to take one's place on a board a dozen inches wide. +My petticoats have to be firmly wrapped around me, and care taken +that no fold projects beyond the sledge, or I should be soon dragged +out of my frail seat. I fix my feet firmly against the batten, and +F--- cries, "Are you ready?" "Oh, not yet!" I gasp, clinging to Mr. +U---'s hand as if I never meant to let it go. "Hold tight!" he +shouts. Now what a mockery this injunction was. I had nothing to +hold on to except my own knees, and I clasped them convulsively. +Mr. U--- says, "You're all right now," and before I can realize that +he has let go my hand, before my courage is half-way up to the +necessary height, we are off. The breaks are slightly depressed for +the first few yards, in order to regulate our pace, and because +there is a tremendously steep pitch just at first. Once we have +safely passed that he tilts up the standards, and our sledge shoots +like a meteor down the perfectly smooth incline. I cannot draw my +breath, we are going at such a pace through the keen air; I give +myself up for lost. We come to another steep pitch near the bottom +of the hill; F--- is laughing to such a degree at me that he does +not put down his breaks soon enough, and loses control of the +sledge. We appear to leap down the dip, and then the sledge turns +first one way and then the other, its zinc prow being sometimes +up-hill and some-times down. It seems wonderful that we keep on the +sledge, for we have no means of holding on except by pressing our +feet against the battens; yet in the grand and final upset at the +bottom of the hill, the sledge is there too, and we find we have +never parted company from it. + +Will any one believe that after such a perilous journey, I could +actually be persuaded to try again? But so it was. At first the +fright (for I was really terrified) used to make me very cross, and +I declared that I was severely hurt, if not "kilt entirely;" but +after I had shaken the snow out of my linsey skirt, and discovered +that beyond the damage to my nerves I was uninjured, F--- was quite +sure to try to persuade me to make another attempt, and I was +equally sure to yield to the temptation. As well as my memory +serves me, we only made one really successful journey, and that was +on an occasion when we kept the breaks down the whole way. But I +never could insure similar precautions being taken again, and we +consequently experienced every variety of mishaps possible to sledge +travellers. I persevered however for some days until the +north-westerly wind, which was blowing softly all the time, began to +lay bare the sharpest points of the rocks, and then I gave in at +once, and would not be a "passenger" any more. It was rather too +much to strike one's head against a jagged fragment of rock, or to +dislocate one's thumb against a concealed stump of a palm tree. Then +the sharp points of the Spaniards began to stick up through the +softening snow, and nothing would induce me to run the risk of +touching their green bayonets. Besides which, the fast-thawing snow +made it very difficult to climb up to the top of our hill, for the +carefully-cut steps had disappeared long ago. So I gave up sledge +journeys on my own account, and used only to look at F--- and +Mr. U--- taking them. + +These two persevered so long as an inch of snow remained on the +hill-side. Some of their adventures were very alarming, and +certainly rather dangerous. One afternoon I had been watching them +for more than an hour, and had seen them go through every variety of +disaster, and capsize with no further effect than increasing their +desire for "one more" trial. On the blind-side of the hill,--that +is to say the side which gets scarcely any sun in winter,--a deep +drift of snow still lingered, filling up a furrow made in former +years by a shingle-slip. Thither the two adventurous climbers +dragged their sledge, and down the steep incline they performed +their perilous descent many a time. I became tired of watching the +board shoot swiftly over the white streak; and I strolled round the +shoulder of the hill, to see if there was any appearance of the +snow-fall lessening in the back country. + +I must have been away about half an hour, and had made the circuit +of the little knoll which projected from the mountain side, +returning to where I expected to find sleigh and sleighers starting +perhaps on just "one more" journey. But no one was there, and a +dozen yards or so from the usual starting-point, the snow was a good +deal ploughed up and stained in large patches by blood. Here was an +alarming spectacle, though the only wonder was that a bad accident +had not occurred before. I saw the sledge, deserted and broken, +near the end of the drift: of the passengers there was neither sign +nor token. I must say I was terribly frightened, but it is useless +in New Zealand to scream or faint; the only thing to do in an +emergency is to _coo-e_; and so, although my heart was thumping +loudly in my ears, and at first I could not produce a sound, I +managed at last, after many attempts, to muster up a loud clear +_coo-e_. There was the usual pause, whilst the last sharp note rang +back from the hill-sides, and vibrated through the clear silent air; +and then, oh, welcome sound! I heard a vigorous answer from our own +flat where the homestead stood. I set off down-hill as fast as I +could, and had the joy, when I turned the slope which had hidden our +little house from my view, to see F--- and Mr. U--- walking about; +but even from that distance I could see that poor Mr. U---'s head +was bandaged up, and as soon as I got near enough to hear, F--- +shouted "I have broken my neck!" adding, "I am very hungry: let us +go in to supper." + +Under the circumstances these words were consolatory; and when I +came to hear the story, this was the way the accident happened. As +I mentioned before, even this drift had thawed till it was soft at +the surface and worn away almost to the rocks. During a rapid +descent the nose of the sledge dipped through the snow, and stopped +dead against a rock. Mr. U--- was instantly buried in the snow, +falling into a young but prickly Spaniard, which assaulted him +grievously; but F--- shot over his head some ten yards, turned a +somersault, and alit on his feet. This sounds a harmless +performance enough, but it requires practice; and F--- declared that +for weeks afterwards his neck felt twisted. The accident must have +looked very ridiculous: the sledge one moment gliding smoothly along +at the rate of forty miles an hour,--the next a dead stop, and F--- +flying through the air over his passenger's head, finishing feet +first plump down in the soft snow. + +Looking back on that time, I can remember how curiously soon the +external traces of the great snow-storm disappeared. For some weeks +after the friendly nor-wester, the air of the whole neighbourhood +was tainted by dead and decaying sheep and lambs; and the wire +fences, stock-yard rails, and every "coign of vantage," had to be +made useful but ghastly by a tapestry of sheep-skins. The only +wonder was that a single sheep had survived a storm severe enough to +kill wild pigs. Great boars, cased in hides an inch thick, had +perished through sheer stress of weather; while thin-skinned +animals, with only a few months growth of fine merino wool on their +backs, had endured it all. It was well known that the actual +destruction of sheep was mainly owing to the two days of heavy rain +which succeeded the snow. Out of a flock of 13,000 of all ages, we +lost, on the lowest calculation, 1,000 grown sheep and nearly 3,000 +lambs; and yet our loss was small by comparison with that of our +neighbours, whose runs were further back among the hill, and less +sheltered than our own. + +Long before midsummer our cloud-shadowed hills were green once more; +and I think I see again their beautiful outlines, their steep sides +planted with semi-tropical palms and grasses, whilst the more +distant peaks are veiled in a sultry haze. During that peculiarly +bright and lovely summer we often ask each other, Could it have been +true that no one knew one mountain from the other, and that hills +had been apparently levelled and vallies filled up by the heaviest +snow-fall ever known. But whilst the words were on our lips, we +could see a group of palm-trees, ten feet high, with their topmost +leaves gnawed to the stump by starving sheep, that must have been +standing on at least seven feet of snow to reach them; and there was +scarcely a creek on the run whose banks were not strewn, for many a +long day, by bare and bleaching bones. + + + +Chapter VI: Buying a run. + + +Like many other people in the world, I have occasionally built +castles in the air, and equally of course they have invariably +tumbled down in due time with a crash This particular castle +however, not only attained to a great elevation in the visionary +builder's eyes, but it covered so vast an area of land, that the +story of its rise and fall deserves to be placed on record, as a +warning to aerial architects and also as a beacon-light to young +colonists. + +This was exactly the way it all happened. The new year of 186- +found us living very quietly and happily on a small compact +sheep-farm, at the foot of the Malvern Hills, in the province of +Canterbury, New Zealand. As runs went, its dimensions were small +indeed; for we only measured it at 12,000 acres, all told. The +great tidal wave of prosperity, which sets once in a while towards +the shores of all colonies, had that year swelled and risen to its +full force; but this we did not know. Borne aloft upon its +unsubstantial crest we could not, from that giddy height, discern +any water-valleys of adversity or clouds of change and storm along +the shining horizon of the new world around us. All our +calculations were based on the assumption that the existing prices +for sheep, wool, cattle, and all farm-produce, would rule for many a +long day; and the delightful part of this royal road to wealth was, +that its travellers need not exert themselves in any way: they had +only to sit still with folded hands whilst their sheep increased, +and it was well known that a flock doubled itself in three short +years. The obvious deduction from this agreeable numerical fact +was, that in an equally short period your agent's payments to your +bank account would also be doubled. In the meantime the drays were +busy carting the wool to the seaports as fast as they could be +loaded, whilst speculative drovers rode all about the country buying +up the fat cattle and wethers from every run. These were wanted to +supply the West Coast Diggings which had just "broken out" (as the +curious phrase goes there), and so was every description of grain +and dairy produce. + +We squatters were not the only inhabitants of this fool's paradise. +The local Government began planning extensive works: railways were +laid out in every direction, bridges planned across rivers, which +proved the despair of engineers; whilst a tunnel, the wonder of the +Southern Hemisphere, was commenced through a range of hills lying +between Port Lyttleton and Christchurch. All this work was +undertaken on a scale of pay which made the poor immigrants who +thronged to the place by every ship, rub their eyes and believe they +must be dreaming, and that they would presently wake up and find +themselves back again in the old country, at the old starvation rate +of wages. Small capitalists, with perhaps only one or two hundred +pounds in the world, bid against each other as purchasers of +quarter-acre sections in the fast-springing townships, or of +fifty-acre lots of arable land in the projected suburbs. +Subscriptions were raised for building a Cathedral in Christchurch; +but so dear was both labour and material, that 7,000 pounds barely +sufficed to lay its foundations. + +The paramount anxiety in men's minds seemed to be to secure land. +Sheep-runs in sheltered accessible parts of the country commanded +enormous prices, and were bought in the most complicated way. The +first comers had taken up vast tracts of land in all directions from +the Government, at an almost nominal rental. This had happened +quite in the dark and remote ages of the history of the colony, at +least ten or twelve years before the date of which I write. As +speculators with plenty of hard cash came down from Australia, these +original tenants sold, as it were, the good-will and stock of their +run at enormous prices; but what always seemed to me so hard was, +that after you had paid any number of thousand pounds for your run, +you might have to buy it all, or at any rate, some portion of it, +over again. Land could only be purchased freehold from the +Government, for 2 pounds an acre; and if a "cockatoo" (i.e., a small +farmer), or a speculator in mines, fancied any part of your +property, he had only to go to the land office, and challenge your +pre-emptive rights. The officials gave you notice of the challenge, +and six weeks' grace in which to raise the money, and buy it +freehold yourself; but few sheep-farmers could afford to pay a good +many hundred pounds unexpectedly to secure even their best "flats" +or vallies. Hence it often happened that large runs in the most +favourable situations were cut up by small investors, "free +selectors" as they are called in Australia, and it used to be rather +absurd the way one grew to distrust any stranger who was descried +riding about the run. The poor man might be looking for a stray +horse, or have lost his way, but we always fancied he must be +"prospecting" for either gold or coals, or else be a "cockatoo" +disguised as a traveller. + +Such was the state of things when my story opens. Shearing was just +over, and we knew to a lamb how rapidly our flocks and herds were +increasing. A succession of mild winters and early genial springs +had got the flock into capital order. The wool had all been sent +off to Christchurch by drays, the sheep were turned out on the +beautiful green hills for ten months of perfect rest and peace; +whilst the dogs, who had barked themselves quite hoarse, were +enabled to desist from their labours in mustering and watching the +yet unshorn mobs on the vallies. Although our run was as well +grassed and watered as any in the province, still it could not +possibly carry more than a certain number of sheep, and to that +total our returns showed that we were rapidly approaching. The most +careful calculations warned us that by next shearing we should +hardly know what to do with our sheep. It is always better to be +under than overstocked, for the merino gets out of condition +immediately, and even the staple of the wool deteriorates if its +wearer be at all crowded on his feeding-grounds. + +"You must take up more country directly," was the invariable formula +of the advice we, comparatively "new chums," received on all sides. +This was easier to say than to do. Turn which ever way we would, +far back beyond our own lovely vallies and green hills, back up to +the bleak region of glaciers, where miles of bush and hundreds of +acres of steep hill-side, formed the _back-est_ of "back country," +every inch of land was taken up. No fear had those distant +Squatters of "cockatoos," or even of miners; for no one came their +way who could possibly help it. Still we should have been +comparatively glad to buy such a run fifty or sixty miles further +back,--at the foot, in fact of the great Southern Alps,--just as a +summer feeding-ground for the least valuable portion of our flock. +But no one was inclined to part with a single acre, and we were +forced to turn our eyes in a totally different direction. + +If my readers will refer to the accompanying map of New Zealand, and +look at the Middle or South Island, they will notice a long seaboard +on the eastern side of the island, stretching SS.W. for many hundred +leagues. It extends beyond the Province of Canterbury to that of +Otago, and embraces some of the most magnificent pastoral land in +the settlement. Not only is the soil rich and productive, but the +climate is rather less windy than with us in the northern portion of +the island; and the capital of Otago (Dunedin) had risen into +comparative position and importance before Christchurch,--was in +short an elder sister of that pretty little town. Most of the +settlers in Otago were Scotchmen, and as there are no better +colonists anywhere, its prosperity had attained to a very +flourishing height. Gold-digging had also broken out at the foot of +the Dunstan range, so that Otago held her head quite as high, if not +higher, than her neighbour Canterbury. Of course all the +first-class pasture-land "down south," as it was called, had been +taken up long before; but we heard rumours of splendid sheep +country, yet unappropriated, far back towards the west coast of +Otago, just where its boundary joined Canterbury. + +With our minds in this state of desire for what poor Mazzini used to +denounce as "territorial aggrandisement," we paid our usual +post-shearing visit to Christchurch. F--- had his agent's accounts +to examine, a nice little surplus of wool-money to receive, and many +other squatting interests to attend to; whilst I had to lay in +chests of tea, barrels of sugar and rice, hundreds of yards of +candle-wick, flower-seeds, reels of cotton, and many other +miscellaneous articles. But through all our pleasant, happy little +bustle ran the constant thought: "What shall we do for more +country?" A day or two before the expiration of the week's leave of +absence which we always gave ourselves, F--- came into my +sitting-room at the hotel, flung down his hat on the table with an +air of triumph, and cried, "I've heard of such a splendid run! One +hundred thousand acres of beautiful sheep-country, and going for a +mere song!" Now I had lived long enough in the world to discover +that one sometimes danced on the wrong foot to the tune of these +"mere songs," so I cautiously inquired, "Where is it?" F--- seemed +a little dashed that the only question which he could not answer +favourably should be the first I asked, and he replied vaguely, +"Well, it is rather a long way off, but I am sure we can manage it." +A little more sifting elicited the fact that this "desirable +investment" stretched along the shores of Lake Wanaka, famous for +its beautiful scenery, and was to be had for what. certainly seemed +a ridiculously small sum;--only a few hundred pounds. "Of course it +has no sheep on it," added F---; "but that is all the better. I'll +burn it this year, and then turn some cattle on it, and after next +shearing we'll have a good mob of sheep to draft out and stock it." +He further added, that he had invited his man of business and the +individual who owned this magnificent property to dine with us that +evening, and that then I should hear all about it And I may truly +say that I _did_ hear about it, for my brain reeled with figures and +calculations. By bedtime I was wondering if we could possibly spend +the enormous fortune which would be quite certain to accrue to us in +a few years if only we could make up our minds to invest the modest +balance at our bankers in this tempting bargain. I remember well +that I found myself wishing we were not going to be _quite_ so rich; +half our promised income would have been ample, I thought. My +anxieties on that score turned out to have been, to say the least, +premature. + +Not to make my story too long, I may briefly say that after making +due allowance for the natural exaggeration of the owner, the run on +Lake Wanaka's shores seemed certainly to offer many attractions. +Besides thousands of acres of beautiful sheltered sheep country, it +was said to possess a magnificent bush, in which sawyers were +already hard at work. Of course all this timber would become our +own, and we were to make so much a year by selling it. "How about +the carriage?" inquired F--- cautiously, having visions of costly +bullock-drays, and teams and drivers at fabulous wages. "Oh, the +lake is your highway," replied the would-be seller, airily; "you +have nothing to do but lash your felled trees together, as they do +in the mahogany-growing countries, and set them afloat on the lake, +they will thus form a natural raft, and cost you little or nothing +to get down to a good market. You know the Dunstan diggings are +just at the foot of the lake, and they haven't a stick there; timber +is very badly wanted in those parts, not only for fuel and building, +but also for slabbing the shafts which the miners sink." + +By the time the coffee was served F--- had made up his mind to buy +the Lake Wanaka run; his business agent urging him strongly not to +hesitate for a moment in securing such a chance. The negotiations +reached thus far without the least hitch, but at this point F--- +said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do: we will start in a day or +two and go straight up to this run and look round it, and if I find +it anything like so good as you both make it out, I'll buy it on the +spot." + +Never did that sociable little word "we" sound so delightful to my +ears! "Then I am to come too," I thought to myself, but I prudently +concealed from the company that I had ever had any misgivings on +that point. However, the company did not concern themselves with my +doubts and fears, for our two guests seemed much taken aback at this +very matter-of-fact proposal of F---'s. "That won't do at all, my +dear fellow," said the owner of the run; "I am going to England by +the next mail steamer, which you know sails next week, and the +reason I am literally giving away my property is that I don't want +any suspense or bother. Take it or leave it, just as you like. +There's Wilkinson and Fairwright and a lot of others all clamouring +for the refusal of it, and I've only waited to see if you really +wanted it before closing with Fairwright. He is walking about with +a cheque all ready filled up in his pocket, and only begging and +praying me to let him have the run on my own terms. Why you might +be weather-bound or kept there for a month, and what shall I do +then? No, its all just as I've told you, and you can call it your +own to-morrow, but I can't possibly wait for you to go and look at +it." No words of mine can give any idea of the tone of scorn in +which our guest pronounced these last three words; as if looking at +an intended purchase was at once the meanest and most absurd thing +in-the world. F--- seemed half ashamed of himself for his proposal, +but still he urged that he never liked to take a leap in the dark, +backing up his opinion by several world-revered adages. "That's all +very fine," chimed in our precious business adviser," but this +transaction can hardly be said to be in the dark; here are the plans +and the Government lease and the transfer deeds, all regular and +ready." With this he produced the plans, and then it was all up +with us. Who does not know the peculiar _smell_ of tracing-paper, +with its suggestions of ownership? When these fresh and crackling +drawings were opened before us they resembled nothing so much as a +veritable paradise. There shone the lake--a brilliant patch of +cobalt blue, bordered by outlines of vivid green pasture and belts +of timber. Here and there, on the outskirts, we read the words, +"proposed township," "building lots," "probable gold fields," "saw +mills." F--- laid his hand down over a large wash of light green +paint and asked," Now what sort of country is this; really and +truly, you know?" "First class sheep country, I give you my word," +replied the owner eagerly, "only wants to be stocked for a year or +two." + +Why need I go on? It was the old, old story of misplaced confidence. +Neither F--- nor I could believe that our friends would wilfully +over-reach us, so it was settled that the first thing next morning +the money should be handed over and the Government lease transferred +to us. We decided that as we were so far on the way to our new +property, we would go and look at it before returning to the Malvern +Hills, and the next few days were very busy ones, as we had to +arrange our small domestic affairs, send up the dray, etc., etc. I +felt rather anxious at the postponement of our return home, for I +had left several "clutches" of eggs on the point of being hatched, +and I had grave misgivings as to the care my expected ducklings and +chickens would receive at the lands of my scatter-brained maid +servants, to say nothing of the dangers besetting them from hawks +and rats. However, small interests must give way to great ones, and +F--- and I were already tasting the cares of proprietorship. Our +friend, the former owner of our new property, sailed for England in +the mail steamer, in high spirits, saying cordially as he shook F---'s +hand at parting, "Well you _have_ got your fortune cut out for you, +and no mistake; I feel half sorry already to think that I've +parted with that run." About two days after his departure, F--- who +had registered his name at the land office as the present tenant of +100,000 acres in the Lake Wanaka district, received a polite request +from official quarters to pay up the annual rent, just due, +amounting to 100 pounds or so. We had effected our brilliant +negotiations about a week too soon it seemed, but that was our own +fault, so we had nothing to do but pay the money with as good a +grace as possible. I am "free to confess" that this second cheque +ran our banker's account very fine indeed, but still in those palmy +days of the past this was no subject of uneasiness to a squatter. +His credit was almost unlimited, and he could always raise as much +money as he liked on an hypothecation of next year's wool. But we +had not come to that yet. The weather was delightful; the customary +week of heavy rain just after our midsummer Christmas, had cooled +the air and laid the dust, besides bringing out a fresh spring-like +green tint over the willows and poplars, and causing even the leaves +of the gums to lose their leather-like look for a few days. + +After much consultation we decided to go by coach as far as Timaru, +and then trust to circumstances to decide our future means of +transport. Not only were we obliged to pay a large sum for our +places but our luggage was charged for by the pound, so we found it +necessary to reduce our kit to the most modest dimensions, and only +to take what was absolutely necessary. The journey was a long and +weary one, the only variety being caused by a strong spice of danger +at each river. At some streams we were transferred bodily to a +large raft-like ferry boat, and so taken across. At others the +passengers and luggage only were put into the boat, the lumbering +coach with its leathern springs left behind, whilst the horses swam +in our wake across the wide and rushing river, to be re-harnessed to +another coach on the opposite shore. The Rakaia, Ashburton, and +Rangitata had been crossed in this way, and we had reached the +Otaio, a smaller river, when we found a new mode of transport +awaiting us. A large dray with a couple of powerful horses was in +readiness, and into this springless vehicle we were unceremoniously +bundled. The empty coach and horses was driven over at another part +of the stream. I shall never forget the jolting: the river must +have been at least a quarter of a mile wide at that reach, and over +its bed of boulders and rocks we bumped In the middle stretched a +long strip of shingle, which seemed as smooth as turf by contrast +with the first half of the river-bed. When we charged into the +water again our driver removed his pipe from his mouth, looked over +his shoulder and remarked, "River's come down since mornin'; best +tuck up your feet, marms all." I can answer for this "marm" tucking +up her feet with great agility, and not a moment too soon either, +for as a light wind was blowing, a playful wave came rippling over +and through the planked floor of the dray, floating all the smaller +parcels about. But no one could speak, we were so jolted: it +literally seemed as if our spines _must_ come through the crown of +our heads, and I expected all my teeth to tumble out. + +In the midst of my fright and suffering, a laugh was jolted out of +me by the absurd behaviour of one of our fellow-passengers. He was +what is called a bush carpenter: i.e., a wandering carpenter, who +travels from station to station, doing any little odd rough jobs +wanted. This man had been working for us some time before, and had +often amused me with his quaint ways. On this occasion he was on +his oppressively good behaviour, and sat quite silent and solemn on +the opposite ledge of the dray. But when for the second time the +water came swirling through our rude conveyance with a force which +threatened to upset it altogether, Dale fumbled in his pocket, as if +he were seeking for a life-belt, produced an enormous pair of green +goggle spectacles, which might have made part of Moses Primrose's +purchases at the fair, and adjusting them on his nose as steadily as +he could, said gravely, "This must be looked to!" He continued to +stare at the wash of water during the remainder of our perilous and +rough transit without vouchsafing any explanation of his meaning, +but after we had safely landed he replaced his spectacles, first in +their huge shagreen case, and next in his pocket, with an air which +seemed to say, "The danger is now over: thanks to my precautions." + +Timaru was reached very late, and the best accommodation at the inn +placed at our disposal. Still, in those distant days there was no +such thing as a private sitting room, and we had all to eat our +supper in the same rough-boarded little apartment. But in all my +varied wanderings in different parts of the world, when the +accidents of travel have thrown me for a time among the class whom +we foolishly speak of as the lower orders, I have never yet had to +complain of the slightest inconvenience or disagreeableness from my +fellow-travellers. On the contrary, I have always received the most +chivalrous politeness at their hands, and have noticed how ready +they were to forego their usual tastes and habits lest they should +cause me any annoyance. I wonder whether fine gentlemen in their +splendid clubs would be quite so willing to spoil the pleasure of +their evening if any accident were to throw an unwelcome lady +amongst them? At all events, they could not be _more_ +self-sacrificing than my friends in fustian jackets have always +proved themselves, and on this particular evening the landlord of +the inn was so amazed at the orders for tea and coffee instead of +the usual "nips" of spirits, that he was constrained to inquire the +reason. A stalwart drover who was sitting opposite to me at the +rude table, murmured from the depths of his great beard, in an +oracular whisper, "The smell of speerits might'nt be agreeble like +to the lady." In vain I protested that I did not mind it in the +least; tea and coffee was the order of the evening, and solemn +silence and good behaviour. No smoking, no songs, no conviviality +of any sort. I would fain have shown my appreciation of their +courtesy by talking to them; but alas, I was one vast ache all over! +Although the road had been a dead level, sixteen hours of jolting +and bumping had reduced me to a limp, black-and-blue creature, with +out a word or a smile. Of course I retired to what was literally a +pallet, and a very hard pallet too, as early as possible, but even +after I had vanished behind the thin wooden partition which formed +my bedroom, the greatest silence and decorum continued to reign +among my fellow-travellers. + + + +Chapter VII: "Buying a run."--continued. + + +Early the next morning we all breakfasted together, and then +separated with most polite adieux. We sallied forth to look for a +couple of riding horses. There were none to be hired, so we had to +buy two good-looking nags for 45 pounds a-piece. Now-a-days the +same horses would not fetch more than 10 pounds and I have been told +that in Australia you can buy a horse for a shilling, but ours in +New Zealand have never sunk lower than a couple of pounds, if they +had any legs at all. It seemed to the horse-dealer quite a +superfluous question when I timidly inquired if my horse had ever +carried a lady. "No: I can't just say as he has, mum, as you see +there aint no ladies in these parts for him to carry. But," he +added magnanimously, "I'll try him with a blanket fust, if you're at +all oneasy about him." We did not start until the next day, as we +had to hunt up side-saddles, and I had to sew a few yards of grey +linsey into a riding-skirt; but by the following day we were all +ready, and our "swags" packed and strapped to the saddles by nine +o'clock. F---'s horse looked a very nice one in every respect; mine +was evidently uneasy in his mind at the strange shape of his saddle, +and I was recommended to mount outside the little enclosure, on a +patch of open ground, where my steed would not be able to brush me +off. The moment I mounted, the "Hermit" as he was called, made for +a dry ditch and tried to lie down, but a sharp cut from a stock-whip +brought him out of it, and then he laid his ears well back and +started for a good gallop, to endeavour to get rid of his strange +rider. However, his head was turned in the right direction; there +were no obstacles in the way, and before he got tired of his pace we +had left Timaru a good many miles behind us. F--- looked +complacently at the "Hermit," and observed, "He'll carry you very +nicely, I think." I could only breathe a sincere hope that he +might. + +It was a beautiful day, warm but not oppressive, and delightfully +calm. Our road lay at first along the sea-shore. Ever since we had +left Christchurch the ground had been almost level, and the road +consisted merely of a track cleared from tussocks. On our left +extended the vast strip known as the Ninety-miles Beach, whilst far +on our right, between us and the west coast, the Southern Alps, rose +in all their might and beauty, sometimes lightly veiled by a summer +haze, at others cutting our Italian-blue sky sharp and clear with +their grand outlines. Our horses were a trifle too fat for good +condition, and we feared to hurry them the first day, so we made an +early halt at Mahiki, only a twenty miles stage; but the next day +they took us on to Waitaki Ferry, past a splendid bush, and so into +the heart of the hill country. + +Between the ranges, beautiful fertile valleys extended; when I say +fertile, I mean that the soil was excellent, and the land +well-grassed. But there was no cultivation. Not a sod had ever been +turned there since the creation of the world, and the whole country +wore the peculiar yellow tinge caught from the tall waving tussocks, +which is the prevailing feature of New Zealand scenery _au naturel_. +Every acre had been "taken up," but as yet the runs were rather +understocked. Our fourth day's ride was the longest,--fifty-five +miles in all, though we halted for a couple of hours at a miserable +accommodation house. Our bivouac that night was close to Lake +Wanaka, at the Molyneux Ferry-house, and there I was kept awake all +night by the attentions of a cat. I never saw such a ridiculous +animal. Prince, for that was his name, took the greatest fancy to +me, or rather to my woollen skirt I suppose, and found a linsey lap +much more comfortable than the corduroy knees on which he took his +usual evening nap. At all events he followed me into my room, which +only boasted of a mattress, stuffed with tussock-grass by the way, +on the floor. Here I should have slept very well after my long +journey, if Prince would have permitted it. In vain I put him out +of the window, not always very gently; he returned in five minutes, +bringing a palpitating, just-caught bird or mouse, which he softly +dropped on my face, and purred loudly with delight at his own +gallantry. Twenty times did I strike a match that night and try to +restore the victims to life; only one recovered sufficiently to be +released, and Prince brought it in again, quite dead, five minutes +later. I shut the little casement window, but the room became so +hot and stuffy, and suspicious fumes of stale beer and tobacco began +to assert their presence, so that I found myself obliged to open it +again. Sometimes the victim's bones were crunched close to my ear, +and I found more than one feather in my hair in the morning. Never +was any one so persecuted by a cat as I was by Prince that weary +night. + +The next day we got to a station known as "Johnson's." It was just +at the head of the lake, and as we arrived tolerably early in the +forenoon we embarked, after the usual station dinner of mutton, tea, +and damper, on Lake Wanaka. Alas for those treacherous blue waters! +We had only a little pair-oared boat, in which I took my place as +coxwain, and after pulling for a mile or two under a blazing sun, +over short chopping waves, with a head-wind, we all became so deadly +sea-sick that we had to turn back! As soon as we had rested and +recovered, a council of war was held as to our movements, and we +decided, in spite of our recent experiences, to turn our horses, who +had done quite enough for the present, out on the run, and so make +our way down the lake by boat. Already F--- was beginning to look +anxious, for he perceived that, even after the head of the lake had +been reached, the wool would cost an enormous sum to cart down to +either Oamaru or Timaru, from whence alone it could be shipped. + +The mile or two of the run which lay along the shore of the lake +showed us frightfully rough country. A dense jungle of tussocks and +thorny bushes choked up the feed, and made it impossible to drive +any animals through it, even supposing that good pasturage lay +beyond. Still we hoped that we might be looking at the worst +portion of our purchase, and deter mined to persevere in the attempt +to penetrate to the furthest end of our new property. Accordingly +we hired a safe old tub of a boat which, though too heavy to pull, +was warranted to sail steadily, and with a couple of men, some cold +mutton, bread, tea, and sugar, started valiantly on our cruise. But +the "blue, unclouded weather," in which we had hitherto basked, was +at an end for the present. We had already enjoyed a longer +succession of calm days than usually falls to the lot of the +travellers in that windy middle island, and it was now quite time +for the imprisoned "nor'-wester" to have his turn over the surface +of the domain. + +Accordingly the first day's sail was against a light, ominously warm +head-wind, and we only made any way at all by keeping up a +complicated system of tacking. The start had not been an early one, +so darkness found us but little advanced on our voyage, and we +passed the night in a rough shanty, on beds of fern-leaves, wrapped +in our red blankets. Tired as we were, none of us could sleep much. +The air was dry and parched; every now and then a sough of the +rising. hot gale swept through our crazy shelter without cooling us, +and warned us to prepare for what was coming. Our only chance of +getting on was to make an early start, for fortunately a true +"nor'-wester" is somewhat of a sluggard. The skies wore their +peculiar chrysoprase green tint, except towards the weather quarter, +where heavy banks of lurid cloud showed that the enemy was +collecting in force. Even the hour of dawn, usually so crisp and +cool, brought no sense of refreshment to our languid limbs, and we +embarked with the direst forebodings. A few miles further up the +lake we reached an out-station hut, built by our host Mr. Johnson +when he first "took up" his country and intended to push his +boundary as far as this. He soon drew in his lines however on +account of the rough nature of the ground. The hut was in a most +picturesque spot, and although deserted, remained still in good +repair. The little scrap of garden ground was a tangle of +gooseberry and currant bushes among which potatoes flourished at +their own sweet will. + +We had only time to beach the boat, that is to say F--- and the two +men did so, whilst I ran backwards and forwards with the blankets +and provisions, before the hurricane was upon us. Henceforth there +was no stirring out of doors until the gale had blown itself out. We +dragged in some driftwood, barricaded the door, and prepared to pass +the time as well as we could. Oh, the fleas in the hut! The ground +was literally alive with them, and their audacity and appetite was +unparalleled. Our boatmen sat tranquilly by the tiny window and +played cribbage incessantly with very dirty cards and a board made +out of a small bar of soap. As for me, I turned an empty box up on +its end, so as to get out of the way of the fleas, and perched +myself on it, finding ample occupation in defending my position from +the attacks of the active little wretches. Sometimes I felt as if I +must rush out into the lake and drown myself and my tormentors +together. It was very bad for everybody. The poor boatmen +doubtless wished to smoke, but were too polite to do anything of the +sort. F--- had nothing whatever to read, except a torn piece of an +old _Times_, at least two years old, which we had brought to wrap up +some of our provisions; whilst I was still more idle and wretched. +Two weary interminable days dragged, or perhaps I should say, blew, +themselves along in this miserable fashion, but at sundown on the +evening of the third day the wind dropped suddenly, and we did not +lose a moment in darting out of our prison and embarking once more. +For the first time since we started we could perceive the grandeur +of the surrounding country; but grand scenery is not necessary nor +indeed desirable in a sheep run. Splendid mountains ran down in +steep spurs to the very shore of the enormous lake. Behind them, +piled in snowy steeps, rose the distant Alps of the Antipodes; great +masses of native bush made dark purple shadows among the clefts of +the hills, whilst the lake rippled in and out of many a graceful bay +and quiet harbour. Not a fleck or film of cloud floated between us +and the serene and darkening sky; a profound, delightful calm +brooded over land and water. Although there was no moon, the stars +served us as lights and compass until two o'clock in the morning, by +which time we had reached the head of the lake (which is thirty-five +miles in length), where we landed, extemporized a tent out of the +boat sail, and turned in for a refreshing flea-less sleep. + +The next day was beautifully still, with a light air from the +opposite point, just sufficient to cool the parched atmosphere; and +we made our way along the head of the lake to a place were a couple +of sawyers were at work. One of them had brought his wife with him, +and her welcome to me was the most touching thing in the world. She +took me entirely under her care, and would hardly let me out of her +sight. I must say it was very nice to be waited on so faithfully, +and I gave myself up to the unaccustomed luxury. All she required +of me in exchange for her incessant toil on my behalf was "news." It +did not matter of what kind, every scrap of intelligence was welcome +to her, and she refused to tell me to what date her "latest advices" +extended. During the three days of our stay in that clearing among +the great pines of the Wanaka Bush, I gave my hostess a complete +abridgment of the history of England--political, social, and moral, +beginning from my earliest recollections. Then we ran over +contemporary foreign affairs, dwelt minutely on every scrap of +colonial news, and finally wound up with a full, true, and +particular account of myself and all my relations and friends. When +I paused for breath she would cease her washing and cooking on my +behalf, and say entreatingly, "Go on now, do!" until I felt quite +desperate. + +All this time whilst I was being "interviewed" nearly to death, F--- +employed himself in making excursions to different parts of the run. +One of the sawyers lent him a miserable half-starved little pony; +and he penetrated to another sawyer's hut, seven miles distant up +the Matukituki river. But no matter whether he turned his steps to +north or south, east or west, he met with the same disheartening +report. There was the ground indeed, but it was perfectly useless. +Not only was there was _no_ pasturage, but if there had been, the +nature of the country would have rendered it valueless, on account +of the way it was overgrown. It would be tedious to explain more +minutely why this was the case. Sufficient must it be to say that +whilst F--- was only too anxious to keep his eyes shut as to the +ground he had alighted on after his leap in the dark, and the +sawyers were equally anxious to induce settlers to come there, and +so bring a market for their labour close to their hand nothing could +make our purchase appear anything except a dead loss. As for the +plans, they were purely imaginary. The blue lake was about the only +part true to nature; and even that should have had a foot-note to +state that it was generally lashed into high, unnavigable waves, by +a chronic nor'-wester. + +No: there was nothing for it but to go home again to the little run +which had seemed such a mere paddock in our eyes, whilst we indulged +in castle-building over 100,000 acres of country. It was of no use +lingering amid such disappointment and discomfort; besides which my +listener, the sawyer's wife, had turned her husband and herself out +of their hut, and were sleeping under a red blanket tent. Poor +woman, she was most anxious to get away; and the lovely sylvan +scene, with the tall trees standing like sentinels over their +prostrate brethren, the wealth of beauteous greenery, springing +through fronds of fern and ground creepers, the bright-winged flight +of paroquets and other bush birds, even the vast expanse of the lake +which stretched almost from their threshold for so many miles, all +would have been gladly exchanged for a dusty high street in any +country town-ship. Her last words were, "Can't you send me a paper +or hany thing printed, mam?" I faithfully promised to do my best, +and carried out my share of the bargain by despatching to her a +large packet of miscellaneous periodicals and newspapers; but +whether she ever received them is more than I can say. + +We were afraid of lingering too long, lest another nor'-wester +should become due; and we therefore started as soon as F--- had +decided that it was of no use exploring our wretched purchase any +further. We had a stiff breeze from the north-west all the way down +the lake; but as it was right a-stern it helped us along to such +good purpose, that one day's sailing before it brought us back to +Mr. Johnson's homestead and comparative civilization. The little +parlour and the tiny bed-room beyond, into which I could only get +access by climbing through a window (for the architect had forgotten +to put a door), appeared like apartments in a spacious palace, so +great was the contrast between their snug comfort and the desolate +misery of our hut life. Of course nothing else was talked of except +our disappointment at our new run; and although Mr. Johnson had +indulged in forebodings, which were only too literally fulfilled, he +had the good taste never to remind us of his prophecies. + "Of all the forms of human woe, + Defend me from that dread, 'I told you so.'" + +After a day's halt and rest we mounted our much refreshed horses, +and set our faces straight across country for Dunedin. This is very +easy to write, but it was not quite so easy to do. We could only +ride for the first fifty-two miles, which we accomplished in two +days. These stages brought us to the foot of the Dunstan Range, and +near the gold-diggings of that name. I would fain have turned aside +to see them, but we had not time. However, we felt the auriferous +influence of the locality; for a perfect stranger came up to us, +whilst we were baiting at another place, called the Kaiwarara +diggings, and offered to buy our horses from us for 30 pounds each, +and also to purchase our saddles and bridles at a fair price. This +was exactly what we wanted, as we had intended to sell them at +Dunedin; and I was no ways disinclined to part with the Hermit; who +retained the sulky, misanthropical temper which had earned him his +name. He was now pronounced "fit to carry a lady," and purchased to +be sold again at the diggings. Whether there were any ladies there +or not I cannot tell. Of course, before parting with our nags we +ascertained that the ubiquitous "Cobb's coach" started from our +resting place for Dunedin next day, and we made the rest of our +journey in one of that well-known line. Its leathern springs, +whilst not so liable to break by sudden jolts, impart a swinging +rocking motion to the body of the vehicle, which is most +disagreeable; but rough and rude as they are, they deserve to be +looked upon with respect as the pioneers of civilization. All over +America, Australia, and now New Zealand, the moment half-a-dozen +passengers are forthcoming, that moment the enterprising firm starts +a coach, and the vehicle runs until it is ousted by a railway. All +previous tracks which I had journeyed over seemed smooth turnpike +roads, compared to that terrible tussocky track which led to +Dunedin. + +But that bright little town was reached at last, the hotel welcomed +us, tired and bruised travellers that we were, and next evening we +started in the _Geelong_ for Port Lyttleton. This little coasting +steamer seemed to touch at every hamlet along the coast, and after +each pause I had to begin afresh my agonies of sea-sickness. There +was no such thing as getting one's sea-legs; for we were seldom more +than a few hours outside, and had no chance of getting used to the +horrible motion. Timaru was reached next day, but we had suffered +so frightfully during the night from a chopping sea and an open. +roadstead, that we went on shore, and entrusted ourselves once more +to the old coach. It seemed better to endure the miseries we knew +of, than to make experiments in wretchedness. So we went through +the old jolting and jumbling until we were dropped at an +accommodation house, fifteen miles from Christchurch, where we slept +that night, and at daylight despatched a messenger to the next +station for our own horses. He had only thirty-five miles to ride, +and about mid-day we started to meet him on hired horses, which we +were very glad to exchange for better nags a stage further on. + +And so we rode quietly home in the gloaming, winding up the lovely, +tranquil valley, at whose head stood our own snug little homestead. +At first we were so glad to be safely at hone again that we scarcely +gave a thought to our fruitless enterprise; but as our bruised +bodies became rested and restored, our hearts began to ache when we +thought of the money we had so rashly flung away in BUYING A RUN. + + + +Chapter VIII: Looking for a congregation. + + +It is to be hoped and expected that such a good understanding has +been established between my readers and myself by this time, that +they will not find the general title of these papers unsuitable to +the heading of this particular chapter. Indeed, I may truly say, +that, looking back upon the many happy memories of my three years +life in that lovely and beloved Middle Island, no pleasures stand +out more vividly than my evening rides up winding gullies or across +low hill-ranges in search of a shepherd's hut, or a _cockatoo's_ +nest. A peculiar brightness seems to rest on those sun-lit peaks of +memory's landscape; and it is but fitting that it should be so, for +other excursions or expeditions used to be undertaken merely for +business or pleasure, but these delicious wanderings were in search +of scattered dwellings whose lonely inhabitants--far removed from +Church privileges for many a long year past--might be bidden, nay, +entreated, to come to us on Sunday afternoons, and attend the +Service we held at home weekly. + +And here I feel constrained to say a word to those whose eyes may +haply rest on my pages, and who may find themselves in the coming +years in perhaps the same position as I did a short time ago. A new +comer to a new country is sure to be discouraged if he or she +(particularly _she_, I fancy) should attempt to revive or introduce +any custom which has been neglected or overlooked. This is +especially the case with religious observances. At every turn one is +met by disheartening warnings. "Oh, the people here are very +different to those in the old country; they would look upon it as +impertinence if you suggested they should come to church." "You +will find a few may come just at first, and then when the novelty +wears off and they have seen all the pretty things in your drawing +room, not a soul will ever come near the place." + +"If even the men don't say something very free and easy to you when +you invite them to your house on Sunday afternoons, you may depend +upon it that after two or three weeks you will not know how to keep +them in order." + +Such, and many more, were the discouraging remarks made when I +consulted my neighbours about my plan for collecting the shepherds +from the surrounding runs, and holding a Church of England Service +every Sunday afternoon at our own little homestead. To my mind, the +distances seemed the greatest obstacle, as many of the men I wanted +to reach lived twenty-five or even thirty miles away, with very +rough country between. I had no fear of impertinence, for it is +unknown to me, and seldom comes, I fancy, unprovoked; whilst with +regard to the novelty wearing off and the men ceasing to attend, +that must be left in God's hands. We could only endeavour to plant +the good seed, and trust to Him to give the increase. It was a +great comfort to me in those early days that F---, who had been many +years in the colony, never joined in the disheartening prophecies I +have alluded to. Although as naturally averse to reading aloud +before strangers as a man who had lived a solitary life would be +sure to be, he promised at once, with a good grace, to read the +Evening Service and a sermon afterwards, and thus smoothed one +difficulty over directly. His advice to me was precisely what I +would fain repeat: "Try, by all means: if you fail you will at least +feel you have made the attempt." May all who try succeed, as we +did! I believe firmly they will, for it is an undertaking on which +God's blessing is sure to rest, and there are no such fertilizing +dews as those which fall from heaven. The mists arising from earth +are only miasmic vapours after all! + +But I fear to linger too long on the end, instead of telling you +about the means. + +It was May when we were fairly settled in our new home at the head +of a hill-encircled valley. With us that month answers to your +November, but fogs are unknown in that breezy Middle Island, and my +first winter in Canterbury was a beautiful season, heralded in by an +exquisite autumn. How crisp the mornings and evenings were, with +ever so light a film of hoar frost, making a splendid sparkle on +every blade of waving tussock-grass! Then in the middle of the day +the delicious warmth of the sun tempted one to linger all day in the +open air, and I never wearied of gazing at the strange purple +shadows cast by a passing cloud; or up, beyond the floating +vapourous wreath, to the heaven of brilliant blue which smiled upon +us. And yet, when I come to think of it, I don't know that I had +much time to spare for glancing at either hills or skies, for we +were just settling ourselves in a new place, and no one knows what +_that_ means unless they have tried it, fifty miles away from the +nearest shop. The yeast alone was a perpetual anxiety to me,--it +would not keep beyond a certain time, and had a tendency to explode +its confining bottles in the middle of the night, so it became +necessary to make it in smaller quantities every ten days or so. If +by any chance I forgot to remind my scatter-brained damsels to +replenish the yeast bottles, they used up the last drop, and then +would come smilingly to me with the remark, "There aint not a drop +o' yeast, about, anywhere, mum." This entailed flap-jacks, or +scones, or soda bread, or some indigestible compound for at least +three days, as it was of no use attempting to make proper bread +until the yeast had worked. Then the well needed to be deepened, a +kitchen garden had to be made, shelter to be provided for the fowls +and pigs; a shed to be put up for coals; a thousand things which +entailed thought and trouble, had to be done. + +It is true these rough jobs were not exactly in my line, but indoors +I was just as busy trying to make big things fit into little spaces +and _vice versa_. We could not afford to take things coolly and do +a little every day, for at that time of year an hour's change in the +wind might have brought a heavy fall of snow, or a sharp frost, or +a; deluge of rain down upon the uncovered and defenceless heads of +our live stock. The poor dear sheep, the source of our income, were +after all the least well-cared for creatures on the Station. A well +grassed and watered run, with sunny vallies for winter feeding, and +green hills for summer pasturage, had been provided by antipodean +Nature for them, and to these advantages we only added some twenty +or twenty-five miles of wire fencing, and then they were left to +themselves, with a couple of shepherds to look after fifteen +thousand sheep all the year round. + +But yet, busy as we were, we found time to look up a congregation. +The very first Sunday afternoon, whilst we were still in the midst +of a chaos of chips and big boxes and straw and empty china-barrels, +our own shepherds came over, by invitation, and the only very near +neighbours we had--a Scotch head-shepherd and his charming young +wife,--and we held a Service in the half-furnished drawing room. +After it was ended we had a long talk with the men, and they +confessed that they had enjoyed it very much, and would like to come +regularly. When questioned as to the feasibility of inducing others +to join, they said that it might be suggested to more than one +distant, lonely hill-shepherd, but his uncontrollable shyness would +probably prevent his attendance. + +"Jim Salter, and Joe Bennett, and a lot more on 'em, would be glad +enow to come, if so be they could feel as how they was truly +wellcombe," said our shepherd, Pepper, who prided himself on the +elegance and correctness of his phraseology. He added, after a +reflective pause, turning bashfully away, "If so be as the lady +would just look round and give 'em a call, they'd be to be persuaded +belike." + +So the scheme was Pepper's after all, you see. But this "looking +round," to which he alluded so airily, meant scrambling rides, +varying from ten to twenty-eight miles in length, over break-neck +country, and this on the slender chance of finding the men in-doors. +Now a New Zealand shepherd almost lives out on the hills, so the +prospect of finding any of our congregation at home was slight +indeed. However, as I said before, F--- stood by me, and although +we neither of us could well spare the time, we agreed to devote two +afternoons every week, so long as the fine open autumn weather, +lasted, to making excursions in search of back-country huts. There +are no roads or finger posts or guides of any sort in those distant +places. When we inquired what was the name of "Mills" shepherd (the +masters are always plain Smith or Jones, and the shepherds Mr.---, +in the colonies) the answer was generally very vague. "Wiry Bill, +we mostly calls 'im; but I think I've heerd say his rightful name +was Mr. Pellet, mum. He's a little chap, as strong as the 'ouse," +explained Pepper, who was an incorrigible cockney, "and he lives +over there," pointing with his thumb to a mountain range behind us. +"He's in one of them blind gullies. You go along the gorge of the +river till you come to a saddle all over fern, and you drop down +that, and follow the best o' three or four tracts till you come to a +swamp." + +Here Pepper paused, in consideration of my face of horror; for if +there was one thing I dreaded more than another in those early days, +it was a swamp. Steep hill sides, wide creeks, honey-combed flats, +all came in, the day's ride,--but a swamp! Ugh! the horrible +treacherous thing, so green and innocent looking, with here and +there a quicksand or a peaty morass, in which, without a moment's +warning, your horse sank up to his withers! It was dreadful, and +when we came to such a place Helen used to stop dead short, prick +her pretty ears well forward, and, trembling with fear and +excitement, put her nose close to the ground, smelling every inch, +before she would place her fore foot down on it, jumping off it like +a goat if it proved insecure. Generally she crossed a swamp, by a +series of bounds in and out of flax bushes; and hopeless indeed +would a morass be without those green cities of refuge! + +Horrible as a large swamp is however to a timid horsewoman, it is +dear to the heart of a cockatoo. He gladly buys a freehold of fifty +acres in the midst of one, burns it, makes a sod fence, sown with +gorse seed a-top, all round his section, drains it in a rough and +ready fashion, and then the splendid fertile soil which has been +waiting for so many thousand years, "brings forth fruit abundantly." +Such enormous fields of wheat and oats and barley as you come upon +sometimes,--with, alas, never a market near enough to enable the +plenteous crop to return sevenfold into its master's bosom! + +I shall not inflict upon you a description of all our rides in +search of members for our congregation. Two, in widely differing +directions, will serve as specimens of such excursions. In +consideration of my new-chumishness, F--- selected a comparatively +easy track for our first ride. And yet, "bad was the best," might +surely be said of that breakneck path. What would an English horse, +or an English lady say, to riding for miles over a slippery winding +ledge on a rocky hill side, where a wall of solid mountain rose up +perpendicularly on the right hand, and on the left a very +respectable sized river hurried over its boulders far beneath the +aerial path; yet this was comparatively a safe track, and presented +but one serious obstacle, over which I was ruthlessly taken. It is +perhaps needless to say we were riding in single file, and equally +unnecessary to state that I was the last; for certainly we should +never have made much progress otherwise. Helen, my bay mare, would +follow her stable companion, on which F--- was mounted, so that was +the way we got on at all. + +A sudden sharp turn showed me what appeared to be a low stone wall +running own the spur of the mountain, right across our track, and I +had already begun to disquiet myself about the possibility of +turning back on such a narrow ledge, when I saw F---'s powerful +black horse, with his ears well forward, and his reins, lying loose +on his neck, make a sort of rush at the obstacle, climb up it as a +cat would, stand for an instant, exactly like a performing goat, +with all four legs drawn closely together under him, and then with a +spring disappear on the other side. "This wall", I thought, "must +be but loosely built, for _Leo_ has displaced some of the stones +from its coping." Helen, pretty dear, hurried after her friend and +leader; and before I had time to realize what she was going to do, +she was balancing herself on the crumbling summit of this stone wall +(which was only the freak of a landslip), and as it proved +impossible to remain there, perched like a bird on a very insecure +branch, nothing remained except to gather herself well together and +jump off. But what a jump! the ground fell sheer away at the foot +of the wall, and left a chasm many feet wide, which the horse could +not see until it had climbed to the top of the wall, and as turning +back was out of the question, the only alternative was to give a +vigorous bound on to the narrow ledge beyond. Terrified as I felt, +I luckily refrained from jerking Helen's head, or attempting to +guide her in any way. The only chance of safety over New Zealand +tracks, or New Zealand creeks, is to leave your horse _entirely_ to +itself. I have seen men who were reckoned good riders in England, +get the most ignominious tumbles from a disregard of this advice. +An up-country horse knows perfectly well the only sound spots in a +swamp; or the only sound part of a creek's banks. If his rider +persists in taking him over the latter, where he himself thinks it +narrowest and safest, he is pretty sure to find the earth rotten and +crumbling, and to pay for his obstinacy by a wetting; whilst in the +case of a swamp the consequences are even more serious, and the +horse often gets badly strained in floundering out of a quagmire. + +But it was not all danger and difficulty, and the many varieties of +scene in the course of a long ride constituted some of its chief +charms. At first, perhaps, after we had left our own fair valley +behind, the track would wind through the gorge of a river, with +lofty mountains rising sheer up from the water side. All here was +sad and grey, and very solemn in its eternal silence, only made more +intense by the ceaseless monotonous roar of the ever-rushing water. +Then we would emerge on acres and acres of softly rolling downs, +higher than the hillocks we call by that name at home, but still +marvellously beautiful in their swelling curves all folding so +softly into each other, and dotted with mobs of sheep, making +pastoral music to a flock-owner's ear. Over this sort of ground we +could canter gaily along, with "Hector," F---'s pet colley, keeping +close to the heels of his master's horse,--for it is the worst of +bad manners in a colley to look at a neighbour's sheep. The +etiquette in passing through a strange run is for the dog to go on +the off side of his master's horse, so that the sheep shall not even +see him; and this piece of courtly politeness Hector always +practised of his own accord. + +A wire fence always proved a very tiresome obstacle, for horses have +a great dread of them, and will not be induced to jump them on any +account. If we could find out where the gate was, well and good; +but as it might be half a dozen miles off, on one side or the other, +we seldom lost time or patience in seeking it. When there was no +help for it, and such a fence had to be crossed, the proceedings +were, always the same. F---dismounted, and unfastened one of his +stirrup leathers; with this he strapped the wires as firmly as +possible together, but if the fence had been lately fresh-strained, +it was sometimes a difficult task. Still he generally made one spot +lower than the rest, and over this he proceeded to adjust his coat +very carefully; he then vaulted lightly over himself, and calling +upon me to aid by sundry flicks on Leo's flank, the horse would be +induced to jump over it. This was always a work of time and +trouble, for Leo hated doing it, and would rather have leaped the +widest winter creek, than jumped the lowest coat-covered wire fence. +Helen had to jump with me on her back, and without any friendly whip +to urge her, but except once, when she caught her hind leg in the +sleeve of the coat which was hanging over the fence, and tore it +completely out, she got over very well. Upon that occasion F--- had +to carry his sleeve in his pocket until we reached the neat little +out-station hut, where Jim Salter lived, and where we were pretty +sure to find a housewife, for shepherds are as handy as sailors with +a needle and thread. + +I shall always believe that some bird of the air had "carried the +matter" to Salter, because not only was he at home, and in his +Sunday clothes, but he had made a cake the evening before, and that +was a very suspicious circumstance. However we pretended not to +imagine that we were expected, and Jim pretended with equal success +to be much surprised at our visit, so both sides were satisfied. +Nothing could be neater than the inside of the little hut; its cob +walls papered with, old Illustrated London News,--not only pictures +but letter-press,--its tiny window as clean as possible, a new +sheep-skin rug laid down before the open fireplace, where a bright +wood fire was sputtering and cracking cheerily, and the inevitable +kettle suspended from a hook half-way up the low chimney. Outside, +the dog-kennels had been newly thatched with tohi grass, the garden +weeded and freshly dug, the chopping-block and camp-oven as clean as +scrubbing could make them. It was too late in the year for fruit, +but Salter's currant, raspberry, and gooseberry bushes gave us a +good idea of how well he must have fared in the summer. The fowls +were just devouring the last of the green-pea shoots, and the +potatoes had been blackened by our first frosts. + +It was all very nice and trim and comfortable, except the +loneliness; that must have been simply awful. It is difficult to +realise how completely cut off from the society of his kind a New +Zealand up-country shepherd is, especially at an out-station like +this. Once in every three months he goes down to the homestead, +borrows the pack horse, and leads it up to his hut, with a quarter's +rations of flour, tea, sugar and salt; of course he provides himself +with mutton and firewood, and his simple wants are thus supplied. +After shearing, about January, his wages are paid, varying from 75 +pounds to 100 pounds a year, according to the locality, and then he +gets a week's leave to go down to the nearest town. If he be a +prudent steady man, as our friend Salter was, he puts his money in +the bank, or lends it out on a freehold mortgage at ten per cent., +only deducting a few pounds from his capital for a suit of clothes, +a couple of pair of Cookham boots for hill walking, and above all, +some new books. + +Without any exception, the shepherds I came across in New Zealand +were all passionately fond of reading; and they were also +well-informed men, who often expressed themselves in excellent, +through superfine, language. Their libraries chiefly consisted of +yellow-covered novels, and out of my visits in search of a +congregation grew a scheme for a book-club to supply something +better in the way of literature, which was afterwards most +successfully carried out. But of this I need not speak here, for we +are still seated inside Salter's hut,--so small in its dimensions +that it could hardly have held another guest. Womanlike, my eyes +were everywhere, and I presently spied out an empty bottle, labelled +"Worcestershire Sauce." + +"Dear me, Salter," I cried, "I had no idea you were so grand as to +have sauces up here: why we hardly ever use them." "Well, mum," +replied Salter, bashfully, and stroking his long black beard to gain +time to select the grandest words he could think of, "it is hardly +to be regarded in the light of happetite, that there bottle, it is +more in the nature of remedies." Then, seeing that I still looked +mystified, he added, "You see, mum, although we gets our 'elth +uncommon well in these salubrious mountings, still a drop of physic +is often handy-like, and in a general way I always purchase myself a +box of Holloway's Pills (of which you do get such a lot for your +money), and also a bottle of pain-killer; but last shearing they was +out o' pain-killer, they said, so they put me up a bottle o' Cain +pepper, and likewise that 'ere condiment, which was werry +efficacious, 'specially towards the end o' the bottle!" "And do you +really mean to say you drank it, Salter?" I inquired with horror. + +"Certainly I do, mum, whenever I felt out o' sorts. It always took +my mind off the loneliness, and cheered me up wonderful, especial if +I hadded a little red pepper to it," said Salter, getting up from +his log of wood and making me a low bow. All this time F--- and I +were seated amicably side by side on poor Salter's red +blanket-covered "bunk," or wooden bedstead, made of empty +flour-sacks nailed between rough poles, and other sacks filled with +tussock grass for a mattress and pillow. + +The word loneliness gave me a good opening to broach the subject of +our Sunday gatherings, and my suspicions of Jim's having been told +of our visit were confirmed by the alacrity with which he said, "I +have much pleasure in accepting your kind invitation, mum, if so be +as I am not intruding." + +"No, indeed Salter," F--- said; "you'd be very welcome, and you +could always turn Judy into the paddock whilst we were having +service." + +Now if there was one thing dearer to Salter's heart than another, it +was his little roan mare Judy: her excellent condition, and jaunty +little hog-mane and tail, testified to her master's loving care. So +it was all happily settled, and after paying a most unfashionably +long visit to the lonely man, we rode away with many a farewell nod +and smile. I may say here that Salter was one of the most regular +of our congregation for more than two years, besides being a member +of the book club. In time, its more sensible volumes utterly +displaced the yellow paper rubbish in his but library, and I never +can forget the poor man's emotion when he came to bid me good-bye. + +At my request he made the rough little pen and ink sketches which +are here given, and as he held my offered hand (not knowing quite +what else to do with it) when I took leave of him after our last +home-service, when my face was set towards England, he could not say +a word. The great burly creature's heart must have been nearly as +big as his body, and he seemed hardly to know that large tears were +rolling down his sunburnt face and losing themselves in his bushy +beard. I tried to be cheerful myself, but he kept repeating, "It is +only natural you should be glad to go, yet it is very rough upon +us." In vain I assured him I was not at all glad to go,--very, very +sorry, in fact: all he would say was, "To England, home and beauty, +in course any one would be pleased to return." I can't tell you +what he meant, and he had no voice to waste on explanations; I only +give poor dear Jim's valedictory sentences as they fell from his +white and trembling lips. + +Very different was Ned Palmer, the most diminutive and wiry of hill +shepherds, with a tongue which seemed never tired, and a good +humoured smile for every one. Ned used to try my gravity sorely by +stepping up to me half a dozen times during the service, to find his +place for him in his Prayer-book, and always saying aloud, "Thank +you kindly, m'm." + + + +Chapter IX: Another shepherd's hut. + + +To get to Ned's hut--which was not nearly so trim or comfortable as +Salter's, and stood out in the midst of a vast plain covered with +waving yellow tussocks,--we had to cross a low range of hills, and +pick our way through nearly a mile of swampy ground on the other +side. The sure-footed horses zig-zagged their way up the steep +hill-side with astonishing ease, availing themselves here and there +of a sheep track, for sheep are the best engineers in the world, and +always hit off the safest and easiest line of country. I did not +feel nervous going _up_ the hill, although we must have appeared, +had there been any one to look at us, more like flies on a wall than +a couple of people on horse back, but when we came to the ridge and +looked down on the descent beneath us, my heart fairly gave way. + +Not a blade of grass, or a leaf of a shrub, was to be seen on all +the steep slope, or rather precipice, for there was very little +slope about it; nothing but grey loose shingle, which the first +hoof-fall of the leading horse invariably sent slipping and sliding, +in a perfect avalanche of rubble, down into the soft bright green +morass beneath. Of all the bad "tracks" I encountered in my +primitive rides, I really believe I suffered more real terror and +anguish on that particular hill-side than on any other. My +companion's conduct too, used to be heartless in the extreme. He +let the reins fall loosely on his horse's neck, merely holding their +extreme ends, settled himself comfortably in his saddle, leaning +well back, and turning round laughingly to me, observed, "Aren't you +coming?" "Oh, not there," I cried in true melo-dramatic tones of +horror; but it was all in vain, F--- merely remarked "You have +nothing to do but fancy you are sitting in an arm-chair at home, you +are quite as safe." "What nonsense," I gasped. "I only wish I +_was_ at home: never, never will I come out riding again." All this +time the leading horse was slowly and carefully edging himself down +hill a few steps to the right, then a few to the left, just as he +thought best, displacing tons of loose stone and even small rocks at +every movement. Helen, nothing daunted, was eager to follow, and +although she quivered with excitement at the noise, echoed back from +the opposite hills, lost no time in preparing to descend. Her first +movement sent such showers of rubble down upon F--- and his horse, +that I really thought the latter would have been knocked off his +legs. "If you _could_ keep a little more to the right, so as to +send the stones clear of me, I should be very grateful," shouted +F---, who was actually near the bottom of the hill already, so sharp +had been the angles of his horse's descent. I felt afraid of +attempting to guide Helen, lest the least check should send us both +head over heels into the quagmire below, and yet it seemed dreadful +to cause the death of one's husband by rolling down cart loads of +stones upon him. It could not have been more than five minutes +before Helen and I stood side by side with Leo, on the only bit of +firm ground at the edge of the morass. I believe I was as white as +my pocket handkerchief; and if fright could turn a person's hair +grey, I had been sufficiently alarmed to make myself eligible for +any quantity of walnut pomade. + +Fortunately the summer had proved rather a dry one, and the swamp +was not so wet as it would have been after a heavy rain-fall. The +horses stepped carefully from flax bushes to "nigger heads" (as the +very old blackened grass stumps are called), resting hardly a moment +anywhere, and avoiding all the most seductive looking spots. I +thought my companion must have gone suddenly mad, when, a hawk +rising up almost from beneath our horses' feet, he flung himself off +his saddle and cried out, "A late hawk's nest, I declare!" And so +it proved, for a little searching in a sheltered and tolerably dry +spot revealed a couple of eggs, precisely like hens' eggs, until +broken, when their delicate pale green inner membrane betrayed their +dangerous origin. It is chiefly owing to this practice of laying in +swamps that the various kinds of hawk increase and thrive as they +do, for if it were possible to get at them, the shepherds would soon +exterminate the sworn foe of their chickens and pigeons. They are +also the great drawback to the introduction of pheasants and +partridges, for the young birds have not a chance in the open +against even a sparrow-hawk. + +Although it is a digression, I must tell you here how, one beautiful +early winter's day, I was standing in the verandah at my own home, +when one of our pigeons, chased by a hawk, flew right into my face +and its pursuer was so close and so heated by the chase, that it +flung itself also with great violence against my head, with a scream +of rage and triumph, hurting me a good deal as it dug its cruel, +armed heel into my cheek. The pigeon had fluttered, stunned and +exhausted to the ground, and, quick as lightning I stooped to pick +it up; so great had been the impetus of the hawk's final charge that +he had never perceived his victim had escaped him. The cunning of +these birds must be seen to be believed. I have often watched a +wary old hawk perched most impudently on the stock-yard rails, +waiting until a rash chicken or duckling should, in spite of its +mother's warning clucks of terror, insist on coming out from under +her sheltering wings. If I took an umbrella, or a croquet mallet, +or a walking stick, and went out, the bird would remain quite +unmoved, even if I held my weapon pointed gun-wise towards him. But +let anyone take a real gun and hold it ever so well hidden behind +their back, and emerge ever so cautiously from the shelter of the +shrubs, my fine gentleman was off directly, mounting out of sight +with a few strokes of his powerful wings, and uttering a shriek of +derision as he departed. Nothing is so rare as a successful shot at +a hawk. + +We consoled ourselves however on this occasion, by reflecting. that +we had annihilated two young hawks before they had commenced their +lives of rapine and robbery, and rode on our way rejoicing, to find +Ned Palmer sitting outside his but door on a log of drift wood, +making, candles. In the more primitive days of the settlement, the +early settlers must have been as badly off for light, during the +long dark winter evenings, as are even now the poorer inhabitants of +Greenland or of Iceland, for their sole substitute for candles +consisted of a pannikin half filled with melted tallow, in which a +piece of cork and an apology for a wick floated. But by my time all +this had long been past and over, and even a back-country shepherd +had a nice tin mould in which he could make a dozen candles of the +purest tallow at a time. + +Ned was just running a slender piece of wood through the loops of +his twisted cotton wicks, so as to keep them above the rim of the +mould, and the strong odour of melted mutton fat was tainting the +lovely fresh air. But New Zealand run-holders have often to put up +with queer smells as well as sights and sounds, therefore we only +complimented Ned on being provident enough to make a good stock of +candles before-hand, for home consumption, during the coming dark +days. After we had dismounted and hobbled our horses with the +stirrup leathers, so that they could move about and nibble the sweet +blue grass growing under each sheltering tussock, I sat down on a +large stone near, and began to tell Ned how often I had watched the +negroes in Jamaica making candles after a similar fashion, only they +use the wax from the wild bee nests instead of tallow, which was a +rare and scarce thing in that part of the world. I described to him +the thick orange-coloured wax candles which used to be the delight +of my childhood, giving out a peculiar perfuming odour after they +had been burning for an hour or two,--an odour made up of honey and +the scent of heavy tropic flowers. + +Ned listened to my little story with much politeness, and then, +feeling it incumbent on him to contribute to the conversation, +remarked, "I never makes candles ma'am without I thinks of +frost-bites." + +"How is that, Palmer?" I asked, laughingly. "What in the world have +they to do with each other?" + +"Well, ma'am, you see it was just in this way. It was afore I come +here, which is quite a lively, sociable place compared to Dodson's +back country out-station, at the foot o' those there ranges beyond. +I give you my word, ma'am, it used always to make me feel as if I +was dead, and living in a lonely eternity. Them clear, bright-blue +_glassers_ (glaciers, he meant, I presume) was awful lonesome, and +as for a human being they never come a-nigh the place. Well as I +was saying, ma'am, one day I finds I had run out o' candles, and as +the long dark evenings (for it was the height o' winter) was bad +enough, even with a dip burning, to show me old Spot's face for +company, I set to work, hot haste, to make some more. It was +bitter, biting cold, you bet, ma'am; and I was hard at work--just +after I had had my bit o' breakfast, before I went out for to look +round my boundary--melting and making my dips, so that they might be +fine and hard for night. I ought praps to mention that Spot used to +get so close to the fire-place, that as often as not, I dropped a +mossel of the hot grease on the dog; and if it touched a thin place +in his coat, he would jump up howling. Well, ma'am, I was pouring a +pannikin full o' biling tallow into the mould, when poor old Spot he +gives a sudden howl and yell, and runs to the door. I paid no +attention to him at the time, for I was so busy; but he went on +leaping up and howling as if he had gone mad. As soon as I could +put down the pannikin out o' my hand, I went to the door meaning to +open it and,--sorry am I to say it,--kick the poor beast out for +making such a row about a drop o' hot grease. But the dog turned +his face round on me, and gave me a look as much as to say, "Make +haste, do; there's a good chap: I ought to be outside there." And +what with the sense shinin' in his eyes, and a curious kind o' sound +outside, I takes down the bar (for the door wouldn't stay shut +otherwise), and looks out. Never until my dyin' day, and not even +then, I expect, shall I forget what the dog and I saw lying on the +ground, which was all white and hard with frost, the sun not having +got over the East range yet. The dog he had more sense and a deal +more pluck than I had, for he knows there aint a moment to be lost; +and he runs up to the flat, tumbled-down heap o' clothes, gets on +its back (for no face could I see), so as to be doing something, and +not losing time, and begins licking. Not very far off there was a +lean horse standing, but he didn't seem to like to come through the +slip-rail o' the paddock fence. + +"In coorse I couldn't stand gaping there all day, so I went and +stooped down to the man, who was lying flat on his face, with his +arms straight out. He wasn't sensibleless (Palmer's favourite word +for senseless), for he opened his eyes, and said, "For God's sake, +mate, take me in." "So I will, mate," I makes reply "and welcome +you are. Can you get on your legs, think you?" With that he groans +awful, and says, "My legs is friz." Well, I looks at his legs, and +sees he was dressed in what had been good moleskins, and high jack +riding-boots, coming up to his knees; but sure enough they was as +hard as a board, and actially, if you'll believe me, ma'am, there +was a rim o' solid hice round the tops of his boots. As for +standing, he couldn't do it: his legs was no more use to him than +they was to me, and he was a tall, high fellow besides. Cold as it +was, I felt hot enough by the time I had lugged that poor man inside +my place, and got him up on my bunk. He could speak, though his +voice was weak as weak could be, and he helped me as well as he +could by catching hold with his arms, but his legs was stone dead. +I had to get the tommy (_anglice_-tomahawk), and _chop_ his boots +off, and that's the gospel truth, ma'am. I broke my knife, first +try, and the axe was too big. He told me, poor fellow, that two +days before, as he was returning from prospecting up towards the +back ranges, his horse got away, and he _couldn't_ catch him. No: +he tried with all his might and main, for in his swag, which was +strapped to the D's of his saddle, was not only his blanket, but his +baccy, and tea, and damper, and a glass o' grog. The curious thing, +too, was that the horse didn't bolt right away, as they generally +do: he jest walked a-head, knowing his master was bound to follow +wherever he led, for in coorse he had hopes to catch him every +moment. That ere brute, he never laid down nor rested,--jest kep +slowly moving on, as if he was a Lunnon street-boy, with a bobby at +his heels. Through creeks and rivers and swamps he led that poor +fellow. His boots got chuck full o' cold water, and when the sun +went down it friz into solid hice; and that misfortnit man he felt +his legs--which was his life, you see, ma'am--gradially dyin' under +him. Yet he was a well-plucked one, if ever there was such a party +on this airth. He told me he had took _five_ mortial hours to come +the last mile, the horse walkin' slowly afore him, and guiding him +like. And how do you think he did it, with two pillars of hice for +legs? Why he lifted up just one leg and then the other with both +his hands, and put them afore him, and took his steps that way." + +Here honest Ned, his eyes glistening, and his ugly little face +glowing with emotion through its coating of sunburn, paused, as if +he did not like to go on. + +I was more touched and interested than I could avoid. showing, and +cried, "Oh, _do_ tell me, Palmer, what became of the poor fellow! +Did he die?" + +Ned cleared his throat, and moved so as to get between me and the +light from the door, as he said huskily, "He came very nigh to it, +ma'am. I never did set eyes on such a decent patient chap as that +man was. I did the very wust thing I could a' done, the town +doctors told me, for I brought him into the hut, instead o' keeping +him outdoors and rubbing his poor black legs with snow. 'Stead o' +that, I wrapped him up warm in my own blankets, after I had chipped +his boots and the hice off of 'em, and I made up a roarin' fire. +Good Lord, how the poor fellow groaned when he begun to get warm! I +gave him a pannikin full o' hot tea, with a drop o' grog in it, and +that seemed to make him awful bad. At last he said, with the sweat +from sheer agony pouring down his face, "Look here, matey: couldn't +you hump me out in the snow again? for it aint nigh so bad to bear +it cold as it is to bear it hot." Not a bad word did he say, ma'am, +and he tried not to give in more nor he could help; but he was clean +druv wild with the hanguish in his legs. + +"Presently I remembers, quite sudden like, that a bush doctor, name +of Tomkins, was likely to be round by Simmons, cos' o' his missus. +So I got on my 'oss in a minnit, and I rides off and fetches him, +for sure enough he was there; and though Simmons' missis wasn't to +say over her troubles, she spoke up from behind the curtain of red +blanket she had put up in her tidy little hut, and bade old Tomkins +go with me. May God bless her and hers for that same, say I! Well, +ma'am, when Tomkins come back with me and saw the poor fellow (he +was fair shoutin' with the pain in his legs by then), he said +nothin' could be done. "They'll mortify by morrow mornin'," says +he, "and then he'll die easy." So with that he goes back with the +first light next day, to Simmons. Sure enough, the poor fellow did +get a bit easier next day, and I felt clear mad to think he was +goin' to die before my very eyes. "Not if I can help it!" I cries, +quite savage like. But he only smiled a patient smile, and said, +"God's will be done, mate. He knows best, and I aint in any pain to +speak of, now." + +"By and bye I hears a rumbling and a creaking, and cracking of +whips; and when I looks out, what do I see but the bullock-dray from +Simmons' coming up the flat. It was the only thing on wheels within +forty mile, and Simmons had brought it his own self to see if we +couldn't manage to get the poor fellow down to the nighest town. I +won't make my yarn no longer than I can help, ma'am, so I'll only +mention that we made a lot o' the strongest mutton broth you ever +tasted; we slung a hammock of red blankets in the dray, and we got +the poor fellow down by evening to a gentleman's station. There +they made us kindly welcome, did all they could for him, and +transhipped the hammock into a pair-horse dray, which went quicker +and was easier. We got on as fast as we could every step of the +way, and by midnight that poor fellow was tucked into a clean bed in +the hospital at Christchurch, with both his legs neatly cut off just +above the knee, for there wasn't a minute to lose." + +I was almost afraid to inquire how the sufferer fared, for Ned's +eyes were fairly swimming with unshed tears; but he smiled brightly, +and said, "The ladies and gentlemen in the town, they set up a +_subscribetion_, and bought the poor chap a first-rate pair o' +wooden legs, and he could even manage to ride about after a bit; and +instead o' wandering about looking for country, or gold, or what +not, he settled down as a carrier, and throve and did well. And I +was thinking, ma'am, as how I'd like to return thanks for that poor +fellow's wonderful recovery, for I've never had a chance of going to +Church since, and its nigh upon two years ago that it happened." + +"So you shall, Ned: so you shall!" we said with one voice. And so +at our first Church gathering at our dear little antipodean home, +F---, who acted as our minister, paused in the beautiful Thanksgiving +Service, after he had read solemnly and slowly the simple words, +"Especially for Thy late mercies vouchsafed to --- ," and Ned Palmer +chimed in with an "Amen,"--misplaced, indeed, but none the less +hearty, and delightful to hear. + + + +Chapter X: Swaggers. + + +Dr. Johnson did not know the somewhat vulgar word which heads this +paper. At least he did not know it as a noun, but gives "swagger: +v.n., to bluster, bully, brag;" but the Slang Dictionary admits it +as a word, springing indeed from the thieves' vocabulary: "one who +carries a swag." Neither of these books however give the least idea +of the true meaning of the expression, which is as fully recognised +as an honest word in both Australia and New Zealand as any other +combination of letters in the English language. A swagger is the +very antithesis then of a swaggerer, for, whereas, the one is full +of pretension and abounds in unjust claims on our notice, the +swagger is humility and civility itself. He knows, poor weary +tramp, that on the favourable impression he makes upon the "boss," +depends his night's lodging and food, as well as a job of work in +the future. We will leave then the ideal swaggerer to some other +biographer who may draw glowing word-pictures of him in all his +jay's splendour, and we will confine ourselves to describing the +real swagger, clad in flannel shirt, moleskin trowsers, and what +were once thick boots, but might now be used as sieves. + +Nothing astonished me so much in my New Zealand Station Life as +these visitors. Even Sir Roger de Coverley himself would have +looked with distrust upon most of our swagger-guests, and yet I +never heard of an instance in our part of the country where the +unhesitating, ungrudging hospitality extended by the rich squatters +to their poorer compatriots was ever abused. I say "in our part," +because unfortunately, wherever gold is discovered, either in quartz +or riverbed, the good old primitive customs and ways die out of +themselves in a few weeks, and each mammon-seeker looks with +distrust on a stranger. Only fifty or sixty miles from us, as the +crow might fly across the snowy range, where an immense Bush clothes +the banks of the Hokitika river right down to its sand-filled mouth +on the West Coast, the great gold diggings broke out seven or eight +years ago, and changed the face of society in that district in a few +days. _There_ a swagger meant a man who might rob or murder you in +your sleep after you had fed and lodged him; or--under the most +favourable circumstances supposing him to be a "milder mannered +man,"--a "fossicker," who would not hesitate to "jump your claim," +or hang about when you are prospecting, to watch how much of the +colour you found, and then go off stealthily to return next day at +the head of a "rush" of a thousand diggers. + +Even before the famous Maungatapu murders in 1866, swaggers were +looked upon with distrust on the West Coast, and after that date +hardly any one travelled in those parts without carrying a small +revolver in his breast-pocket. Nothing is more tantalising than an +allusion to a circumstance which is not well-known; and as I feel +certain that very few of my readers have ever heard of what may be +called the first great crime committed in the Middle Island, a brief +account of that terrible tragedy may not be out of place. Gold of +course was at the bottom of it, but the canvas-bags full of the +glittering flakes were red with blood by the time they reached the +bank at Nelson. The diggings on the West Coast were only two years +old at that date, and although it was not uncommon for prospecting +parties cutting their way, axe in hand, through the thick bush, to +come upon skeletons of men in lonely places, still it might be taken +for granted that these were the remains of early explorers or +travellers who had got lost and starved to death within the green +tangled walls of this impenetrable forest. The scenery of that part +of the Middle Island is far more beautiful than in the agricultural +or pastoral districts. Giant Alps clothed half up their steep sides +with evergreen pines,--whose dark forms end abruptly where snow and +ice begin,--stand out against a pure sky of more than Italian blue, +and only when a cleared saddle is reached can the traveller look +down over the wooded hills and vallies rolling away inland before +him, or turn his eyes sea-ward to the bold coast with its many +rivers, whose wide mouths foam right out to where the great Pacific +waves are heaving under the bright winter sun. + +Such, and yet still more fair must have been the prospect on which +Burgess, Kelly, Levy, and Sullivan's eyes rested one June morning in +the mid-winter of 1866. They were, one and all, originally London +thieves, and had been transported years before to the early penal +settlements of Australia. From thence they had managed, by fair +means and foul, to work their way to other places, and had latterly +been living in the Middle Island, earning what they could by +horse-breaking and divers odd jobs. But your true convict hates +work with a curiously deadly hatred, and these four men agreed to go +and look round them at the new West Coast diggings. They found, +however, that there, as elsewhere, it would be necessary to work +hard, so in disgust at seeing the nuggets and dust which rewarded +the toil of more industrious men, they left Hokitika and reached +Nelson on their way to Picton, the chief town of the adjoining +province of Marlborough. Most of the gold found its way under a +strongly armed escort to the banks in both these towns, but it was +well-known that fortunate diggers occasionally travelled together, +unarmed, and laden with "dust." So safe had been the roads +hitherto, that the commonest precautions were not taken, nor the +least secrecy observed about travellers' movements. + +It was therefore no mystery that four unarmed diggers, carrying a +considerable number of ounces of gold-dust with them, were going to +start from the Canvas-town diggings for Nelson on a certain day, and +the men I have mentioned set out to meet them. One part of their +long journey led them over the Maungatapu range by a saddle, which +in its lowest part is 2,700 feet above the sea-level. The night +before the murder, the victims and their assassins camped out with +only ten miles between them. So lonely and deserted was the rough +mountain track, that the appearance of a poor old man named Battle +alarmed Burgess and his gang dreadfully, and they immediately +murdered him, in order that he should not report having passed them +on the road. Between the commission of this act of precaution and +the arrival of the little band of travellers, no one else was seen. +Burgess appears to have shown some of the qualities of a good +general; for he selected a spot where the only path wound along a +steep side-cutting, less than six feet wide, with an unbroken forest +on the upper, and a mass of tangled bush on the lower side. As the +doomed men approached the murderers sprang out, and each thrusting a +revolver close to their faces, called on them "to hold up their +hands." This is an old bushranger challenge, and is meant to ensure +perfect quiescence on the part of the victim. The travellers +mechanically complied, and in this way were instantly separated, led +to different spots, and ruthlessly shot dead. + +It was all over in a moment: Burgess and his men flung the bodies +down among the tangled bush, and returned to Nelson rejoicing +exceedingly over the simple and easy means by which they had +possessed themselves of several hundred pounds. Of course they +calculated on the usual supine indifference to other people's +affairs, which prevails in busy gold-seeking communities; but in +this instance the public seemed to be suddenly seized by a violent +and inconvenient curiosity to find out what had become of the four +men who were known to have started from Canvas-town two or three +days before. No one ever dreamed of a murder having been committed, +not even when another "swagger" reached Nelson and stated that he +had followed the diggers on the road, only a mile or so behind, had +suddenly lost sight of them at the spot I have mentioned, and had +never been able to overtake them. Instead of leaving the now +excited little town, or keeping quiet, Burgess, Kelly, Levy, and +Sullivan, may truly be said to have become "swaggerers;" for they +loitered about the place, ostentatiously displaying their bags of +gold dust. Unsuspicious as the Nelson people were, they acted upon +a sort of instinct,--that instinct within us which answers so +mysteriously to the cry of blood from the earth,--and arrested these +four men. Still, the matter might have ended there for lack of a +clue, if one of the party, Sullivan, had not suddenly turned +informer, and led the horrified town's-people to the jungle which +concealed the bodies. Here my dreadful story may end; for we need +not follow the course of the trial, which resulted in the complete +conviction of the three other men. I have only dwelt on so horrible +a theme in order to make my readers understand how natural it was +that I should feel nervous, when it became apparent to my +understanding that the custom of the country demanded that you +should ask no questions, but simply tell any travellers who claimed +your hospitality where they were to sleep, and send them in large +supplies of mutton, flour, and tea. + +On one occasion it chanced that F---, our stalwart cadet Mr. A---, +and the man who did odd jobs about the place, were all on the point +of setting out upon some expedition, when a party of four swaggers +made their appearance just at sundown. No true swagger ever appears +earlier, lest he might be politely requested to "move on" to the +next station; whereas if he times his arrival exactly when "the +shades of night are falling fast," no boss could be hard-hearted +enough to point to mist-covered hills and valleys, which are a +net-work of deep creeks and swamps, and desire the wayfarer to go on +further. Once, and only once, did I know of such a thing being done; +but I will not say more about that unfortunate at this moment, for I +want to claim the pity of all my lady readers for the very +unprotected position I am trying to depict. F--- could not +understand my nervousness, and did not reassure me by saying, as he +mounted his horse, "I've told them to sleep in the stable. I am +pretty sure they are run-away sailors, they seem so footsore. +Good-bye! don't expect me until you see me!" + +Now I was a very new chum in those days, and had just heard of the +Maungatapu murders. These guests of mine looked most disreputable, +and were all powerful young men. I do not believe there was a +single lock or bolt or bar on any door in the whole of the little +wooden house: the large plate-chest stood outside in the verandah, +and my dressing-case could have been carried off through the +ever-open bedroom window by an enterprising thief of ten years old. +As for my two maids,--the only human beings within reach,--they were +as perfectly useless on any emergency as if they had been wax dolls. +One of them had the habit of fainting if anything happened, and the +other used to tend her until she revived, when they both sat still +and shrieked. Their nerves had once been tested by a carpenter, who +was employed about the house, and cut his hand badly; on another +occasion by the kitchen chimney which took fire; and that was the +way they behaved each time. So it was useless to look upon their +presence as any safeguard; indeed one of them speedily detected a +fancied likeness to Burgess in one of the poor swaggers, and +shrieked every time she saw him. + +We were indeed three "lone, 'lorn women," all through that weary +night. I could not close my eyes; but laid awake listening to the +weka's shrill call, or the melancholy cry of the bitterns down in +the swamp. With the morning light came hope and courage; and I must +say I felt ashamed of my suspicions when my cook came to announce +that the "swaggers was just agoin' off, and wishful to say good-bye. +They've been and washed up the tin plates and pannikins and spoons +as clean as clean can be; and the one I thought favoured Burgess so +much, mum, he's been and draw'd water from the well, all that we +shall want to-day; and they're very civil, well-spoken chaps, if you +please, mum!" F--- was right in his surmise, I fancy; for there +were plenty of tattooed pictures of anchors and ships on the brawny +bare arms of my departing guests. They seemed much disappointed to +find there was no work to be had on our station; but departed, with +many thanks and blessings, "over the hills and far away." + +Latterly, with increasing civilization and corresponding social +economy, there have been many attempts made by new-fangled managers +of runs, more than by the run-holders themselves, to induce these +swaggers to work for their tucker,--to use pure colonial +phraseology. Several devices have been tried, such as taking away +their swags (_i.e._, their red blankets rolled tightly into a sort +of pack, which they carry on their backs, and derive their name +from), and locking them up until they had chopped a small quantity +of wood, or performed some other trifling domestic duty. But the +swagger will be led, though not driven, and what he often did of his +own accord for the sake of a nod or a smile of thanks from my pretty +maid-servants, he would not do for the hardest words which ever came +out of a boss's mouth. There are also strict rules of honesty +observed among these men, and if one swagger were to purloin the +smallest article from a station which had fed and sheltered him, +every other swagger in all the country side would immediately become +an amateur detective to make the thief give up his spoil. A pair of +old boots was once missing from a neighbouring station, and +suspicion fell upon a swagger. Justice was perhaps somewhat tardy +in this instance, as it rested entirely in the hands of every tramp +who passed that way; but at the end of some months the boots were +found at home, and the innocence of the swaggers, individually and +collectively, triumphantly established. + +The only instance of harshness to a swagger which came under my +notice during three years residence in New Zealand, is the one I +have alluded to above, and contains so much dramatic interest in its +details, that it may not be out of place here. + +Although I have naturally dwelt in these papers more upon our bright +sunny weather, our clear, bracing winter days, and our balmy spring +and autumn evenings, let no intending traveller think that he will +not meet with bad weather at the Antipodes! I can only repeat what +I have said with pen and voice a hundred times before. New Zealand +possesses a very capricious and disagreeable climate: disagreeable +from its constant high winds: but it is perhaps the most singularly +and remarkably healthy place in the world. This must surely arise +from the very gales which I found so trying to my temper, for damp +is a word without meaning; as for mildew or miasma, the generation +who are growing up there will not know the meaning of the words; and +in spite of a warm, bright day often turning at five minutes warning +into a snowy or wet afternoon, colds and coughs are almost unknown. +People who go out there with delicate lungs recover in the most +surprising manner; surprising, because one expects the sudden +changes of temperature, the unavoidable exposure to rain and even +snow, to kill instead of curing invalids. But the practice is very +unlike the theory in this case, and people thrive where they ought +to die. + +During my first winter in Canterbury we had only one week of +_really_ bad weather, but I felt at that time as if I had never +realized before what bad weather meant. A true "sou'-wester" was +blowing from the first to the second Monday in that July, without +one moment's lull. The bitter, furious blast swept down the +mountain gorges, driving sheets of blinding rain in a dense wall +before it. Now and then the rain turned into large snow-flakes, or +the wind rose into such a hurricane that the falling water appeared +to be flashing over the drenched earth without actually touching it. +Indoors we could hardly hear ourselves speak for the noise of the +wind and rain against the shingle roof. It became a service of +danger, almost resembling a forlorn hope, to go out and drag in logs +of wet wood, or draw water from the well,--for, alas, there were no +convenient taps or snug coal-holes in our newly-erected little +wooden house. We husbanded every scrap of mutton, in very different +fashion to our usual reckless consumption, the consumption of a +household which has no butcher's bill to pay; for we knew not when +the shepherd might be able to fight his way through the storm, with +half a sheep packed before him, on sturdy little "Judy's" back. The +creeks rose and poured over their banks in angry yellow floods. +Every morning casualties in the poultry yard had to be reported, and +that week cost me almost as many fowls and ducks as my great +christening party did. The first thing every morning when I opened +my eyes I used to jump up and look out of the different windows with +eager curiosity, to see if there were any signs of a break in the +weather, for I was quite unaccustomed to be pent up like a besieged +prisoner for so many succeeding days. We did not boast of shutters +in those regions, and even blinds were a luxury which were not +wasted in the little hall. Consequently, when my unsatisfactory +wanderings about the silent house--for no one else was up--led me +that dreadful stormy morning into the narrow passage called the +back-hall, I easily saw through its glass-door what seemed to me one +of the most pathetic sights my eyes had ever rested upon. + +Just outside the verandah, which is the invariable addition to New +Zealand houses, stood, bareheaded, a tall, gaunt figure, whose +rain-sodden garments clung closely to its tottering limbs. A more +dismal morning could not well be imagined: the early dawn struggling +to make itself apparent through a downpour of sleet and rain, the +howling wind (which one could almost see as it drove the vapour wall +before it), and the profound solitude and silence of all except the +raging storm. + +At first I thought I must be dreaming, so silent and hopeless stood +that weird figure. My next impulse, without staying to consider my +dishevelled hair and loose wrapper, was to open the door and beckon +the poor man within the shelter of the verandah. When once I had +got him there I did not exactly know what to do with my guest, for +neither fire nor food could be procured quite so early. He crouched +like a stray dog down on the dripping mat outside the door, and +murmured some unintelligible words. In this dilemma I hastened to +wake up poor F---, who found it difficult to understand why I wanted +him to get up at daylight during a "sou'-wester." But I entreated +him to go to the hall door, whilst I flew off to get my lazy maids +out of their warm beds. With all their faults, they did not need +much rousing on that occasion. I suppose I used very forcible words +to convey the misery of the object standing outside, for I know that +Mary was in floods of tears, and had fastened her gown on over her +night-gear, whilst I was still speaking; and the cook had tumbled +out of bed, and was kneeling before the kitchen fire with her eyes +shut, kindling a blaze, apparently, in her sleep. + +As soon as things were in this forward state, I returned to the +verandah, and found our swagger guest drawing a very long breath +after a good nip of pure whisky which F--- had promptly administered +to him. "I'm fair clemmed wi' cold and wet," the swagger said, +still bundled up in his comparatively sheltered corner. "I've been +out on the hills the whole night, and I am deadbeat. Might I stop +here for a bit?" He asked this very doubtfully, for it is quite +against swagger etiquette to demand shelter in the morning. For all +answer he was taken by the shoulder, and helped up. I never shall +forget the poor tramp's deprecating face, as he looked back at me, +whilst he was being led through the pretty little dining-room, with +its bright carpet, on which his clay-clogged boots and dripping +garments left a muddy, as well as a watery track. "All right," I +said, with colonial brevity; and so we escorted our strange guest +through the house into the kitchen, where the ever-ready kettle and +gridiron were busy preparing tea and chops over a blazing fire. Of +course the maids screamed when they saw us, and I do not wonder at +their doing so, for neither F--- nor I looked very respectable, with +huddled on dressing-gowns and towzled hair; whilst our foot-sore, +drenched guest subsided into a chair by the door, covered his +wretched pinched face with two bony hands, and burst into tears. I +certainly never expected to see a swagger cry, and F--- declared the +sight was quite as new to him as to me. However, the poor man's +tears and helplessness gave fresh energy to my maids' treacherous +nerves, and they even suggested dry clothes. Our good-natured +cadet, who at this moment appeared on the scene, was only too happy +to find some outlet for _his_ superfluous benevolence, and hastened +off, to return in a moment or two with an old flannel shirt, dry and +whole, in spite of its faded stripes, a pair of moleskin trousers, +and a huge pair of canvas cricketing shoes. It was no time for +ceremony, so we women retreated for a few minutes into the +store-room, whilst F--- and Mr. A--- made the swagger's toilette, +getting so interested in their task as even to part his dripping +hair out of his eyes. He had no swag, poor fellow, having lost his +roll of red blankets in one of the treacherous bog-holes across the +range. + +That man was exactly like a lost, starving dog. He ate an enormous +breakfast, curled himself upon some empty flour-sacks in a dry +corner of the kitchen, and slept till dinner time; then another +sleep until the supper hour, and so on, the round of he clock. All +this time he never spoke, though we were dying to hear how he had +come into such a plight. The "sou'-wester" still raged furiously +out of doors without a moment's cessation, and we were obliged to +have recourse to the tins of meat kept in the store-room for such an +emergency. The shepherd told us afterwards he had ventured out to +look for some wethers, his own supply being exhausted, but the whole +mob had hidden themselves so cleverly that neither man nor dog could +discover their place of shelter. On the Monday night, exactly a +week after the outbreak of bad weather; the skies showed signs of +having exhausted themselves, and nature began to wear a sulky air, +as if her temper were but slowly recovering herself. The learned in +such matters, however, took a cheerful view of affairs, and declared +the worst to be over,--"for this bout,"--as they cautiously added. + +Whether it was the three days of rest, warmth, and good food which +unlocked the swagger's heart, or not, I do not pretend to decide; +but that evening, over a pipe in the kitchen, he confided to Mr. A--- +that he had been working his way down to the sea-coast from a +station where he had been employed, very far back in the hill +ranges. The "sou'-wester" had overtaken him about twenty miles from +us, but only five from another station, where he had applied towards +the evening for shelter, being even then drenched with rain, and +worn out by struggling through such a tremendous storm. There, for +some reason which I confess did not seem very clear, he had been +refused the unvarying hospitality extended in New Zealand to all +travellers, rich or poor, squatter or swagger, and had been directed +to take a short cut across the hills to our station, which he was +assured could easily be reached in an hour or two more. The track, +a difficult one enough to strike in summer weather, became, indeed, +impossible to discover amid rushing torrents and driving wind and +rain; besides which, as the poor fellow repeated more than once +during his story, "I was fair done up when I set out, for I'd been +travelling all day." Mr. A--- told us what the man had been saying, +before we all went to bed, adding, "He seems an odd, surly kind of +creature, for although he declares he is going away the first thing +to-morrow, if the rain be over, I noticed he never said a word +approaching to thanks." + +The rain was indeed over next morning, and a flood of brilliant +sunshine awoke me "bright and early," as the country people say. It +seemed impossible to stop in bed, so I jumped up, thrust my feet +into slippers, and my arms into a warm dressing-gown, and sallied +forth, opening window after window, so as to let the sunshine into +rooms which not even a week's steady down-pour could render damp. +What a morning it was, and for mid-winter too! No haze, or fog, or +vapour on all the green hills, whose well-washed sides were +glistening in a bright glow of sunlight. For the first time, too, +since the bad weather had set in, was to be heard the incessant +bleat which is music to the ears of a New Zealand sheep-farmer. +White, moving, calling patches on the hillsides told that the sheep +were returning to their favourite pastures, and a mob of horses +could be descried quietly feeding on the sunny flat. + +But I had no eyes for beauties of mountain or sky. I could do +nothing but gaze on the strange figure of the silent swagger, who +knelt yes, positively knelt, on the still wet and shining shingle +which formed an apology for a gravel path up to the back-door of the +little wooden homestead. His appearance was very different to what +it had been three days before. Now his clothes were dry and clean +and mended,--my Irish maids doing; bless their warm hearts! He had +cobbled up his boots himself, and his felt hat, which had quite +recovered from its drenching, lay at his side. The perfect rest and +warmth and good food had filled up his hollow cheeks, but still his +countenance was a curious one; and never, until my dying day, can I +forget the rapture of entreaty on that man's upturned face. It +brings the tears into my own eyes now to recollect its beseeching +expression. I do not think I ever _saw_ prayer before or since. He +did not perceive me, for I had hidden behind a sheltering curtain, +to listen to his strange, earnest petitions; so he could not know +that anybody in the house was stirring, for he knelt at the back, +and all my fussings had taken place in the front, and he could not, +therefore, have been doing anything for effect. + +There, exactly where he had crouched a wretched, way-worn tramp in +pouring rain, he knelt now with the flood of sunshine streaming down +on his uplifted face, whilst he prayed for the welfare and +happiness, individually and collectively, of every living creature +within the house. Then he stood up and lifted his hat from the +ground; but before he replaced it on his head, he turned, with a +gesture which would have made the fortune of any orator,--a gesture +of mingled love and farewell, and solemnly blessed the roof-tree +which had sheltered him in his hour of need. I could not help being +struck by the extraordinarily good language in which he expressed +his fervent desires, and his whole bearing seemed quite different to +that of the silent, half-starved man we had kept in the kitchen +these last three days. I watched him turn and go, noiselessly +closing the garden gate after him, and--shall I confess it?--my +heart has always felt light whenever I think of that swagger's +blessing. When we all met at breakfast I had to take his part, and +tell of the scene I had witnessed; for everybody was inclined to +blame him for having stolen away, scarcely without saying good-bye, +or expressing a word of thanks for the kindness he had received. +But I knew better. + +From the sublime to the ridiculous we all know the step is but +short, especially in the human mind; and to my tender mood succeeds +the recollection of an absurd panic we once suffered from, about +swaggers. Exaggerated stories had reached us, brought by timid fat +men on horseback, with bulky pocket-books, who came to buy our +wethers for the Hokitika market, of "sticking up" having broken out +on the west land. I fear my expressions are often unintelligible to +an English reader, but in this instance I will explain. "Sticking +up" is merely a concise colonial rendering of "Your money or your +life," and was originally employed by Australian bushrangers, those +terrible freebooters whose ranks used to be always recruited from +escaped convicts. Fortunately we had no community of that class, +only a few prisoners kept in a little ricketty wooden house in +Christchurch, from which an enterprising baby might easily have +escaped. I dare say as we get more civilized out there, we shall +build ourselves handsome prisons and penitentiaries; but in those +early days a story was current of a certain jailor who let all his +captives out on some festal occasion, using the tremendous threat, +that whoever had not returned by eight o'clock should be "_locked +out!_" + +But to return to that particular winter evening. We had been +telling each other stories which we had heard or read of bushranging +exploits, until we were all as nervous as possible. Ghosts, or even +burglar stories, are nothing to the horror of a true bushranger +story, and F--- had made himself particularly ghastly and +disagreeable by giving a minute account of an adventure which had +been told to him by one of the survivors. + +We listened, with the wind howling outside, to F---'s horrid +second-hand story, of how one fine day up country, eight or ten +men,--station hands,--were "stuck up" by one solitary bushranger, +armed to the teeth. He tied them up one by one, and seated them all +on a bench in the sun, and deliberately fired at and wounded the +youngest of the party; then, seized with compunction, he unbound one +of the captives, and stood over him, revolver in hand, whilst he +saddled and mounted a horse, to go for a doctor to set the poor +boy's broken leg. Before the messenger had gone "a league, a +league, but barely twa',"--the freebooter recollected that he might +bring somebody else back with him besides the doctor, and flinging +himself across his horse, rode after the affrighted man, and coolly +shot him dead. I really don't know how the story ended: I believe +everybody perished; but at this juncture I declared it to be +impossible to sit up any longer to listen to such tragedies, and +went to bed. + +Exactly at midnight,--the proper hour for ghosts; burglars, and +bushrangers, and such "small deer" to be about, everybody was +awakened simultaneously by a loud irregular knocking, which sounded +with hollow reverberations all through the wooden house. +"Bushrangers!" we all thought, every one of us; for although +burglars may not usually knock at hall-doors in England, it is by no +means uncommon for their bolder brethren to do so at the other end +of the world. It is such a comfort to me now, looking back on that +scene to remember that our stalwart cadet was as frightened as +anybody. _He_ stood six feet one in his stockings, and was a match +for any two in the country side, and yet, I am happy to think, he +was as bad as any one. As for me, to say that my heart became like +water and my knees like soft wax, is to express in mild words my +state of abject terror. There was no need to inquire what the maids +thought, for smothered shrieks, louder and louder as each peal of +knocks vibrated through the little house, proclaimed sufficiently +their sentiments on the subject. + +Dear me, how ridiculous it all must have been! In one corner of the +ceiling of our bedroom was a little trap-door which opened into an +attic adjoining that where the big cadet slept. Now whilst F--- was +hurriedly taking down his double-barrelled gun from its bracket just +below this aperture, and I held the candlestick with so shaky a hand +that the extinguisher clattered like a castanet, this door was +slowly lifted up, and a large white face, with dishevelled stubbly +hair and wide-open blue eyes, looked down through the cobwebs, +saying in a husky whisper, "Could you let me have a rifle, or any +thing?" This was our gallant cadet, who had no idea of presenting +himself at a disadvantage before the foe. I had desperately seized +a revolver, but F--- declared that if I persisted in carrying it I +certainly should go first, as he did not wish to be shot in the +back. + +We held a hurried council of war,--Mr. A--- assisting through the +trap door, and the maids breathing suggestions through the +partition-planks,--but the difficulty consisted in determining at +which door the knocking was going on. Some said one, and some +another (for there were many modes of egress from the tiny +dwelling); but at last F--- cried decidedly, "We must try them all +in succession," and shouldering his gun, with the revolver sticking +in the girdle of his dressing-gown, sallied valiantly forth. I +don't know what became of Mr. A---: I believe he took up a position +with the rifle pointing downwards; the maids retreated beneath their +blankets, and I (too frightened to stay behind) followed closely, +armed with an Indian boar-spear. F--- flung the hall door wide +open, and called out, "Who's there?" but no one answered. The +silence was intense, and so was the cold; therefore we returned +speedily indoors to consult. "It must be at the back door," I +urged; adding, "that is the short cut down the valley, where +bushrangers would be most likely to come." "Bushrangers, you silly +child!" laughed F---. "It's most likely a belated swagger, or else +somebody who is playing us a trick." However as he spoke a +succession of fierce and loud knocks resounded through the whole +house. "It must be at the kitchen door," F--- said. "Come along, +and stand well behind me when I open the door." + +But we never opened the door; for on our way through the kitchen, +with its high-pitched and unceiled roof,--a very cavern for echoes,-- +we discovered the source of the noise, and of our fright. Within a +large wooden packing-case lay a poor little lamb, and its dying +throes had wakened us all up, as it kicked expiring kicks violently +against the side of the box. It was my doing bringing it indoors, +for I never _could_ find it in my heart to leave a lamb out on the +hills if we came across a dead ewe with her baby bleating desolately +and running round her body. F--- always said, "You cannot rear a +merino lamb indoors; the poor little thing will only die all the +same in a day or two;" and then I am sorry to say he added in an +unfeeling manner, "They are not worth much now," as if that could +make any difference! I had brought this, as I had brought scores of +others, home in my arms from a long distance off; fed it out of a +baby's bottle, rubbed it dry, and put it to sleep in a warm bed of +hay at the bottom of this very box. They had all died quietly, +after a day or two, in spite of my devotion and nursing, but this +little foundling kicked herself out of the world with as much noise +as would have sufficed to summon a garrison to surrender. It is all +very well to laugh at it now, but we were, five valiant souls in +all, as thoroughly frightened at the time as we could well be. + +The only real harm a swagger did me was to carry off one of my best +maidservants as his wife, but as he had 300 pounds in the bank at +Christchurch, and was only travelling about looking for work, and +they have lived in great peace and prosperity ever since, I suppose +I ought not to complain. This swagger was employed in deepening our +well, and Mary was always going to see how he was getting on, so he +used to make love to her, looking up from the bottom of a deep +shaft, and shouting compliments to her from a depth of sixty feet. +What really won her Irish heart, though, was his calmly putting a +rival, a shepherd, into a water-butt. She could not resist that, so +they were married, and are doing well. + +Let no one despise swaggers. They are merely travelling workmen, +and would pay for their lodging if it was the custom to do so. I am +told that even now they are fast becoming things of the past; for +one could not "swagger" by railroad, and most of our beautiful happy +vallies will soon have a line of rails laid down throughout its +green and peaceful length. + + + +Chapter X: Changing servants. + + +To the eyes of an English housewife the title of this chapter must +appear a very bad joke indeed, and the amusement what the immortal +Mrs. Poyser would call "a poor tale." Far be it from me to make +light of the misery of a tolerably good servant coming to you after +three months' service, just as you were beginning to feel settled +and comfortable, and announcing with a smile that she was going to +be married; or, with a flood of tears, that she found it "lonesome." +Either of these two contingencies was pretty sure to arise at least +four times a year on a station. + +At first I determined to do all I could to make their new home so +attractive to my two handmaidens that they would not wish to leave +it directly. In one of Wilkie Collins' books an upholsterer is +represented as saying that if you want to domesticate a woman, you +should surround her with bird's-eye maple and chintz. That must +have been exactly my idea, for the two rooms which I prepared for my +maidservants were small, indeed, yet exquisitely pretty. Of course +I should not have been so foolish as to buy any of the unnecessary +and dainty fittings with which they were decorated, but as all the +furniture and belongings of an English house, a good deal larger +than our station home, had been taken out to it, there were sundry +toilet tables, etc., whose destination would have been a loft over +the stable, if I had not used them for my maids. + + +I had seen and chosen two very respectable young women in +Christchurch, one as a cook, and the other as a housemaid. The +cook, Euphemia by name, was a tall, fat, flabby woman, with a pasty +complexion, but a nice expression of face, and better manners than +usual. She turned out to be very good natured, perfectly ignorant +though willing to learn, and was much admired by the neighbouring +_cockatoos_, or small farmers. Lois the housemaid, was the smallest +and skimpiest and most angular girl I ever beheld. At first I +regarded her with deep compassion, imagining that she was about +fifteen years of age, and had been cruelly ill-treated and starved. +How she divined what was passing in my mind I cannot tell, but +during our first interview she suddenly fired up, and informed me +that she was twenty-two years old, that she was the seventh child of +a seventh child, and therefore absolutely certain to achieve some +wonderful piece of good luck; and furthermore, that she had been +much admired in her own part of the country, and was universally +allowed to be "the flower of the province." This statement, +delivered with great volubility and defiant jerkiness of manner, +rather took my breath away; but it was a case of "Hobson's choice" +just then about servants, and as I was assured she was a respectable +girl, I closed with her terms (25 pounds a year and all found) on +the spot. The fat pale cook was to get 35 pounds. Now-a-days I +hear that wages are somewhat lower, but the sums I have named were +the average figures of six or seven years ago, especially +"up-country." + +Here I feel impelled to repeat the substance of what I have stated +elsewhere,--that these rough, queer servants were, as a general +rule, perfectly honest, and of irreproachable morals, besides +working, in their own curious fashion, desperately hard. Our family +was an exceptionally small one, and the "place" was considered +"light, you bet," but even then it seemed to me as if both my +domestics worked very hard. In the first place there was the +washing; two days severe work, under difficulties which they thought +nothing of. All the clothes had to be taken to a boiler fixed in +the side of a hill, for the convenience of the creek, and washed and +rinsed under a blazing sun (for of course it never was attempted on +a wet day) and amid clouds of sand-flies. Not until evening was +this really hard day's work over, and the various garments +fluttering in the breeze up a valley behind the house. The chances +were strongly in favour of a tremendous nor'-wester coming down this +said valley during the night, and in that case there would not be a +sign next morning of any of the clothes. Heavy things, such as +sheets or table cloths, might be safely looked for under lee of the +nearest gorse hedge, but it would be impossible even to guess where +the lighter and more diaphanous articles had been whisked to. A +week afterwards the shepherds used to bring in stray cuffs and +collars, and upon one occasion "Judy," the calf, was discovered in a +paddock hard by, breakfasting off my best pocket handkerchiefs with +an excellent appetite. Of course everything was dirty, and needed +to be washed over again. We had a mangle, which greatly simplified +matters on the second day, but it used not to be uncommon on +back-country stations to get up the fine things with a flat stone, +heated in the wood ashes, for an iron. After the washing operations +had been brought to a more or less successful ending, there came the +yeast making and the baking, followed by the brewing of sugar beer, +preserves had to be made, bacon cured, all sorts of things to be +done, besides the daily duties of scrubbing and cleaning, and +cooking at all hours for stray visitors or "swaggers." + +But I am overcome with contrition at perceiving into what a +digression I have wandered; having strayed from my maids' rooms to +their duties. They arrived as usual on a dray late in the evening, +tired and wearied enough, poor souls. In those early days I had not +yet plucked up courage to try my hand in the kitchen, and our meals +had been left to the charge of F---, who, whatever he may be in +other relations of life, is a vile cook; and our good-natured cadet +Mr. U---, who was exceedingly willing, but profoundly ignorant of +the elements of cookery. For fear of being tempted into another +digression, I will briefly state that during that week I lived in a +chronic state of hunger and heartburn, and sought forgetfulness from +repeated attacks of indigestion, by decorating my servants' rooms. +They opened into each other, and it would have been hard to find two +prettier little nests. Each had its shining brass bedstead with +chintz hangings, its muslin-draped toilette table, and its daintily +curtained window, besides a pretty carpet. I can remember now the +sort of dazed look with which Euphemia regarded a room such as she +had never seen; whilst Lois considered it to be an instalment of her +good luck, and proceeded to contemplate her sharp and elfish +countenance in her looking-glass, pronouncing it as her opinion that +she wanted more colour. That she certainly did, and she might have +added, more flesh and youthfulness, while she was about it. +However, they were greatly delighted, and Euphemia who was of a +grateful and affectionate disposition, actually thanked me, for +having with my own hands arranged such pretty rooms for them. + +This was a very good beginning. They were both hard-working, civil +girls, and got on very well together, leaving me plenty of leisure +to attend to the quantities of necessary arrangements which have to +be made when you are settling yourself for good, fifty miles from a +shop, and on a spot where no other human being has ever lived +before. F--- congratulated myself in private on my exceptional good +luck, and attributed it partly to my having followed the +Upholsterer's advice in that book of Mr. Wilkie Collins. But as it +turned out, F--- was dwelling in a fool's paradise. In vain had it +been pointed out to me that a certain stalwart north countryman, +whose shyness could only be equalled by his appetite, had been a +most regular attendant for some weeks past at our Sunday evening +services, accepting the offer of tea in the kitchen, afterwards, +with great alacrity. I scouted these insinuations, appealing to the +general sense of the public as to whether Moffatt had _ever_ been +known to refuse a meal anywhere, or under any circumstances, and +declaring that, if he was "courting," it was being done in solemn +silence, for never a sound filtered through the thin wooden planks +between the kitchen and the dining room, except the clatter of a +vigorously plied knife and fork, for Moffatt's teas always included +a shoulder of mutton. + +But I was wrong and others were right. Early in October, our second +spring month, I chanced to get up betimes one delicious, calm +morning, a morning when it seemed a new and exquisite pleasure to +open each window in succession, and fill one's lungs with a deep, +deep breath of that heavenly atmosphere, at once so fresh and so +pure. + +Quiet as the little homestead lay, nestled among the hills, there +were too many morning noises stirring among the animals for any one +to feel lonely or dull, I should have thought. From a distance came +a regular, monotonous, lowing sound. That was "Hetty," the pretty +little yellow Alderney, announcing from the swamps that she and her +two female friends were quite ready to be milked. Their calves +answered them dutifully from the English grass paddock, and between +the two I could see Mr. U---'s tall figure stalking down the flat +with his cattle dog at his heels, and hear his merry whistle +shrilling through the silent air. Then all the ducks and fowls +about the place were inquiring, in noisy cackle, how long it would +be before breakfast was ready, whilst "Helen's" whinneying made me +turn my head to see her, with a mob of horses at her heels, coming +over the nearest ridge on the chance of a stray carrot or two going +begging. All the chained-up dogs were pulling at the staples of +their fastenings, and entreating by short, joyous barks, to be +allowed just one good frisk and roll in the sparkling dewy grass +around. But even I, universal spoiler of animals that I am, was +obliged to harden my heart against their noisy appeals; for quite +close to the stable, on the nearest hill-side, an immense mob of +sheep and young lambs were feeding. That steep incline had been +burnt six weeks before, and was now as green as the clover field at +its base, affording a delicious pasturage to these nursing mothers +and their frisky infants. I think I see and hear it all now. The +moving white patches on the hill-side, the incessant calling and +answering, the racing and chasing among the curly little merino +lambs, and above all the fair earth the clear vault of an almost +cloudless sky bent itself in a deep blue dome. Just over the +eastern hills the first long lances of the sun lay in bright shafts +of silver sheen on the dew-laden tussocks, and that peculiar morning +fragrance rose up from the moist ground, which is as much the reward +of the early riser as the early worm is of the bird. + +Was it a morning for low spirits or sobs and sighs? Surely not; and +yet as I turned the handle of the kitchen door those melancholy +sounds struck my ear. I had intended to make my entrance with a +propitiatory smile, suitable to such a glorious morning, proceed to +pay my damsels a graceful compliment on their somewhat unusual early +rising, and wind up with a request for a cup of tea. But all these +friendly purposes went out of my head when I beheld Euphemia seated +on the rude wooden settle, with its chopped tussock mattrass, which +had been covered with a bright cotton damask, and was now called +respectfully, "the kitchen sofa." Her arm was round Lois's waist, +and she had drawn that young lady's shock head of red curls down on +her capacious bosom. Both were crying as if their hearts would +break, and startled as I felt to see these floods of tears, it +struck me how incongruous their attitude looked against the +background of the large window through which all nature looked so +smiling and sparkling. The kettle was singing on the fire, +everything seemed bright and snug and comfortable indoors. "What in +the world has happened?" I gasped, really frightened. + +"Nothing, mem: its only them sheep," sobbed Euphemia, "calling like. +They always makes me cry. Your tea 'll be ready directly, mem" +(this last with a deep sigh.) + +"Is it possible you are crying about that?" I inquired. "Yes, mem, +yes," said Euphemia, in heart-broken accents, clasping Lois, who was +positively howling, closer to her sympathetic heart. "Its terrible +to hear 'em. They keeps calling and answering each other, and that +makes us think of our home and friends." Now both these women had +starved as factory "hands" all their lives, and I used to feel much +more inclined to cry when they told me, all unconscious of the +pathos, stories of their baby work and hardships. Certainly they +had never seen a sheep until they came to New Zealand, and as they +had particularly mentioned the silence which used to reign supreme +at the manufactory during work hours, I could not trace the +connection between a dingy, smoky, factory, and a bright spring +morning in this delightful valley. "What nonsense!" I cried, half +laughing and half angry. "You can't be in earnest. Why you must +both be ill: let me give you each a good dose of medicine." I said +this encouragingly, for there was nothing in the world Euphemia +liked so much as good substantial physic, and the only thing I ever +needed to keep locked up from her was the medicine drawer. + +Euphemia seemed touched and grateful, and her face brightened up +directly, but Lois looked up with her frightful little face more +ugly than usual, as she said, spitefully, "Physic won't make them +nasty sheep hold their tongues. I'm sure _this_ isn't the place for +me to find my luck, so I'd rather go, if you please, mem. I've +prospected-up every one o' them gullies and never seen the colour +yet, so it ain't any good my stopping." + +This was quite a fresh light thrown upon the purpose of Lois's long +lonely rambles. She used to be off and away, over the hills +whenever she had finished her daily work, and I encouraged her +rambles, thinking the fresh air and exercise must do her a world of +good. Never had I guessed that the sordid little puss was turning +over every stone in the creek in her search for the shining flakes. + +"Why did you think you should find gold here?" I asked. + +"Because they do say it lies in all these mountain streams," she +answered sullenly; "and I'm always dreaming of nuggets. Not that a +girl with my face and figure wants 'dust' to set her off, however. +But if its all the same to you, mem, I'd rather leave when Euphemia +does." + +"Are _you_ going, then?" I inquired, turning reproachfully to my +pale-faced cook, who actually coloured a little as she answered, +"Well, mem, you see Moffatt says he's got his window frames in now, +and he'll glass them the very first chance, and I think it'll be +more company for me on Saddler's Flat. So if you'll please to send +me down in the dray, I should be obliged." + +Here was a pretty upset, and I went about my poultry-feeding with a +heavy heart. How was I to get fresh servants, and above all, what +was I to do for cooking during the week they were away? These +questions fortunately settled themselves in rather an unexpected +manner. I heard of a very nice willing girl who was particularly +anxious to come up as housemaid, to my part of the world, on +condition that I should also engage as cook her sister, who was +leaving a place on the opposite side of a range of high hills to the +south. I shall only briefly say that all inquiries about these +damsels proved satisfactory, and I could see Euphemia and Lois +depart, with tolerable equanimity. The former wept, and begged for +a box of Cockles' pills; but Lois tossed her elfish head, and gave +me to understand that she had never been properly admired or +appreciated whilst in my service. + + + +Chapter XII: Culinary troubles. + + +I want to lodge a formal complaint against all cookery books. They +are not the least use in the world, until you know how to cook! and +then you can do without them. Somebody ought to write a cookery +book which would tell an unhappy beginner whether the water in which +she proposes to put her potatoes is to be hot or cold; how long such +water is to boil; how she is to know whether the potatoes are done +enough; how to dry them after they have boiled, and similar things, +which make all the difference in the world. + +To speak like Mr. Brooke for a moment. "Rice now: I have dabbled in +that a good deal myself, and found it wouldn't do at all." + +Of course in time, and after many failures, I did learn to boil a +potato which would not disgrace me, and to bake bread, besides in +time attaining to puddings and cakes, of which I don't mind +confessing I was modestly proud. It used to be a study, I am told, +to watch my face when a cake had turned out as it ought. Gratified +vanity at the lavish encomiums bestowed on it, and horrified dismay +at the rapidity with which a good sized cake disappeared down the +throats of the company, warred together in the most artless fashion. +The reflection would arise that it was almost a pity it should be +eaten up so very fast; yet was it not a fine thing to be able to +make such a cake! and oh, would the next be equally good? + +One lesson I leaned in my New Zealand kitchen,--and that was not to +be too hard on the point of breakages; for no one knows, unless from +personal experience, how true was the Irish cook's apology for +breaking a dish, when she said that it let go of her hand. I +declare that I used, at last, to regard my plates and dishes, cups +and saucers, yea, even the pudding basons, not as so much china and +delf, but as troublesome imps, possessed with an insane desire to +dash themselves madly on the kitchen floor upon the least +provocation. Every woman knows what a slippery thing to hold is a +baby in its tub. I am in a position to pronounce that wet plates +and dishes are far more difficult to keep hold of. They have a way +of leaping out of your fingers, which must be felt to be believed. +After my first week in my kitchen I used to wonder, not at the +breakages, but at anything remaining unbroken. + +My maids had a very ingenious method of disposing of the fragments +of their pottery misfortunes. At the back of the house an open +patch of ground, thickly covered with an under-growth of native +grass, and the usual large proportion of sheltering tussocks +stretched away to the foot of the nearest hill. This was burned +every second year or so, and when the fire had passed away the sight +it revealed was certainly very curious. Beneath each tussock had +lain concealed a small heap of broken china, which must have been +placed there in the dead of the night. The delinquents had +evidently been at the pains to perfect their work of destruction by +reducing the china articles in question, to the smallest imaginable +fragments, for fear of a protruding corner betraying the clever +_cache_; and the contrast afforded to the blackened ground on which +they lay, by the gay patches of tiny fragments huddled together, was +droll indeed. That was the moment for recognising the remains of a +favourite jug or plate, or even a beloved tea-cup. There they were +all laid in neat little heaps, and the best of it was that the +existing cook always declared loudly her astonishment at the base +ingenuity of such conduct, although I could not fail to recognise +many a plate or dish which had disappeared from the land of the +living during her reign. + +All housekeepers will sympathise with my feelings at seeing an +amateur scullion, who had distinguished himself greatly in the +Balaklava charge, but who appeared to have no idea that boiling +water would scald his fingers,--drop the top plate of a pile which +he had placed in a tub before him. In spite of my entreaties to be +allowed to "wash-up" myself, he gallantly declared that he could do +it beautifully, and that the great thing was to have the water very +hot. In pursuance of this theory he poured the contents of a kettle +of boiling water over his plates, plunged his hand in, and dropped +the top plate, with a shriek of dismay, on those beneath it. Out of +consideration for that well-meaning emigrant's feelings, I abstain +from publishing the list of the killed and wounded, briefly stating +that he might almost as well have fired a shot among my poor plates. +A perfect fountain of water and chips and bits of china flew up into +the air, and I really believe that hardly one plate remained +uncracked. So much for one's friends. I must candidly state that +although the servants broke a good deal, we destroyed twice as much +amongst us during the week which must needs elapse between their +departure and, the arrival of the new ones. + +Shall I ever forget the guilty pallor which overspread the bronzed +and bearded countenance of one of my guests, who particularly wished +to dust the drawing-room ornaments, when on hearing a slight crash I +came into the room and found him picking up the remains of a china +shepherdess? Considering everything, I kept my temper remarkably +well, merely observing that he had better go into the verandah and +sit down with a book and his pipe, and send Joey in to help me. +Joey was a little black monkey from Panama, who had to be provided +with broken bits of delf or china in order that he might amuse +himself by breaking them ingeniously into smaller fragments. + +But the real object of this chapter was to relate some of my own +private misfortunes in the cooking line. Once, when Alice S--- was +staying with me and we had no servants, she and I undertook to bake +a very infantine and unweaned pig. It was all properly arranged for +us, and, making up a good fire, we proceeded to cook the little +monster. + +Hours passed by; all the rest of the dinner got itself properly +cooked at the right time, but the pig presented exactly the same +appearance at dewy eve as it had done in the early morn. We looked +rather crest-fallen at its pale condition when one o'clock struck, +but I said cheerfully, "Oh, I daresay it will be ready by supper!" +But it was not: not a bit of it. Of course we searched in those +delusive cookery books, but they only told us what sauces to serve +with a roasted pig, or how to garnish it, entering minutely into a +disquisition upon whether a lemon or an orange had better be stuck +into its mouth. We wanted to know how to cook it, and why it would +not get itself baked. About an hour before supper-time I grew +desperate at the anticipation of the "chaff" Alice and I would +certainly have to undergo if this detestable animal could not be +produced in a sufficiently cooked state by evening. We took it out +of the oven and contemplated it with silence and dismay. Fair as +ever did that pig appear, and as if it had no present intention of +being cooked at all. A sudden idea came into our heads at the same +moment, but it was Alice who first whispered, "Let us cut off its +head." "Yes," I cried; "I am sure that prevents its roasting or +baking, or whatever it is." So we got out the big carving knife and +cut off the piggy's head. Far be it from me to offer any solution +of the theory why the head should have interfered with the baking +process, but all I know is, that, like the old woman in the nursery +song, everything began to go right, and we got our supper that +night. + +Has anybody ever reflected on how difficult it must be to get a +chimney swept without ever a sweep or even a brush? Luckily our +chimneys were short and wide, and we used a good deal of wood; so in +three years the kitchen chimney only needed to be cleansed twice. +The first time it was cleared of soot by the simple process of being +set on fire, but as a light nor'-wester was blowing, the risk to the +wooden roof became very great and could only be met by spreading wet +blankets over the shingles. We had a very narrow escape of losing +our little wooden house, and it was fortunate it happened just at +the men's dinner hour when there was plenty of help close at hand. +However great my satisfaction at feeling that at last my chimney had +been thoroughly swept, there was evidently too much risk about the +performance to admit of its being repeated, so about a year +afterwards I asked an "old chum" what I was to do with my chimney. +"Sweep it with a furze-bush, to be sure," she replied. I mentioned +this primitive receipt at home, and the idea was carried out a day +or two later by one man mounting on the roof of the house whilst +another remained in the kitchen; the individual on the roof threw +down a rope to the one below, who fastened a large furze-bush in the +middle, they each held an end of this rope, and so pulled it up and +down the chimney until the man below was as black as any veritable +sweep, and had to betake himself, clothes and all, to a neighbouring +creek. As for the kitchen, its state cannot be better described +than in my Irish cook's words, who cried, "Did mortial man ever see +sich a ridiklous mess? Arrah, why couldn't ye let it be thin?" But +for all that she set bravely to work and got everything clean and +nice once more, merely stipulating that the next time we were going +to sweep chimney we should let her know beforehand, that she might +go somewhere "right away." + +I feel, however, that in all these reminiscences I am straying +widely from the point which was before my mind when I began this +chapter, and that is the delusiveness of a cookery book. No book +which I have ever seen tells you, for instance, how to boil rice +properly. They all insist that the grains must be white and dry and +separate, but they omit to describe the process by which these +results can be attained. They tell you what you are to do with your +rice after it is boiled, but not how to boil it. The fact is, I +suppose, that the people who write such books began so early to be +cooks themselves, that they forget there ever was a time when such +simple things were unknown to them. + +Even when I had, after many failures, mastered the art of boiling +rice, and. also of making an excellent curry,--for which +accomplishment I was indebted to the practical teaching of a +neighbour,--there used still to be misfortunes in store for me. One +of these caused me such a bitter disappointment that I have never +quite forgotten it. This was the manner of it. We were without +servants. My readers must not suppose that such was our chronic +condition, but when you come to change your servants three or four +times a year, and have to "do" for yourself each time during the +week which must elapse before the arrival of new ones, there is an +ample margin for every possible domestic misadventure. If any doubt +me, let them try for themselves. + +On this special occasion, which proved to be nearly the last, my +mind was easy, for the simple reason that I was now independent of +cookery books. I had puzzled out all the elementary parts of the +science for myself, and had no misgivings on the subject of potatoes +or even peas. So confident was I, and vain, that I volunteered to +make a curry for breakfast. Such a savoury curry as it was, and it +turned out to be all that the heart of a hungry man could desire; so +did the rice: I really felt proud of that rice; each grain kept +itself duly apart from its fellow, and was as soft and white and +plump as possible. Everything went well, and I had plenty of +assistants to carry in the substantial breakfast as fast as it was +ready: the coffee, toast, all the other things had gone in; even the +curry had been borne off amid many compliments, and now it only +remained for me to dish up the rice. + +Imagine the scene. The bright pretty kitchen, with its large window +through which you could see the green hills around dotted with +sheep; the creek chattering along just outside, whilst close to the +back door loitered a crowd of fowls and ducks on the chance of fate +sending them something extra to eat. Beneath the large window, and +just in front of it, stood a large deal table, and it used to be my +custom to transfer the contents of the saucepans to the dishes at +that convenient place. Well, I emptied the rice into its dish, and +gazed fondly at it for a moment: any cook might have been proud of +that beautiful heap of snow-white grains. I had boiled a great +quantity, more than necessary it seemed, for although the dish was +piled up almost as high as it would hold, some rice yet remained in +the saucepan. + +Oh, that I had been content to leave it there! But no: with a +certain spasmodic frugality which has often been my bane, I shook +the saucepan vehemently, in order to dislodge some more of its +contents into my already full dish. As I did so, my treacherous +wrist, strained by the weight of the saucepan, gave way, and with +the rapidity of a conjurer's trick I found the great black saucepan +seated,--yes, that is the only word for it,--seated in the midst of +my heap of rice, which was now covered by fine black powder from its +sooty outside. All the rice was utterly and completely spoiled. I +don't believe that five clean grains were left in the dish There +was nothing for it but to leave it to get cold and then throw it all +out for the fowls, who don't mind _riz au noir_ it seems. Although +I feel more than half ashamed to confess it, I am by no means sure I +did not retire into the store-room and shed a tear over the fate of +that rice. Everybody else laughed, but I was dreadfully mortified +and vexed. + + + +Chapter XIII: Amateur Servants. + + +I flattered myself on a certain occasion that I had made some very +artful arrangements to provide the family with something to eat +during the servants' absence. I had been lamenting the week of +experiments in food which would be sure to ensue so soon as the dray +should leave, in the hearing of a gallant young ex-dragoon, who had +come out to New Zealand to try and see if one could gratify tastes, +requiring, say a thousand a year to provide for, on an income of 120 +pounds. He was just finding out that it was quite as difficult to +manage this in the Southern as in the Northern Hemisphere, but his +hearty cheery manner, and enormous stock of hope, kept him up for +some time. + +"I'll come and cook for you," he cried. "I can cook like a bird. +But I can't wash up. No, no: it burns too much. If you can get +somebody to wash up, I'll cook. And just look here: it would be +very nice if we could have some music after dinner. You've got a +piano, haven't you? That's right. Well, now, don't you ask that +pretty Miss A---, who has just come out from England, to come and +stop with you, and then we could have some music?" + +"Where did you learn to cook?" I inquired, suspiciously; for F--- +had also assured me _he_ could cook, and this had upset my +confidence. + +"On the west coast; to be sure! Ask Vere, and Williams and Taylor, +and everybody, if they _ever_ tasted such pies as I used to make +them." My countenance must have still looked rather doubtful, +because I well remember sundry verbal testimonials of capability +being produced; and as I was still very ignorant of the rudiments of +the science of cookery, I shrank from assuming the whole +responsibility of the family meals. So the household was arranged +in this way:--Captain George, head cook; Mr. U---, scullery-maid; +Miss A---, housemaid; myself, lady-superintendent; Mr. Forsyth (a +young naval officer), butler. On the principle of giving honour to +whom honour is due, this gallant lieutenant deserves special mention +for the way he cleaned glass. He did not pay much attention to his +silver, but his glass would have passed muster at a club. The only +drawback was the immense time he took over each glass, and the way +he followed either Miss A--- or me all about the house, holding a +tumbler in one hand, and a long, clean glass-cloth in the other, +calling upon us to admire the polish of the crystal. To clean two +tumblers would be a good day's work for him. From Monday to +Saturday (when the dray returned), this state of things went on. Of +course I had taken the precaution of having a good supply of bread +made beforehand, besides cakes and biscuits, tarts and pies; +everything to save trouble. But it was not of much use, for, +alleging that they were working so hard, the young men, F--- at +their head, though I was always telling him he was married and ought +to know better, set to work and ate up everything immediately, as +completely as if they had been locusts. And then, they were all so +dreadfully wild and unmanageable! Mine was by far the hardest task +of all, the keeping them in any sort of order. For instance, +Captain George declared one day, that if there was one thing he did +better than another, it was to make jam. Consequently a fatigue +party was ordered out to gather strawberries, and, after more than +half had been eaten on the way to the house, a stewpan was filled. +I had to do most of the skimming, as Captain George wanted to +practice a duet with Miss A---. I may as well mention here that we +never had any opportunity of seeing how the jam kept, because the +smell pervaded the whole house to such an extent, that, declaring +they felt like schoolboys again, the gentlemen fell on my half dozen +pots of preserves in a body, carried them off, and ate them all up +then and there, announcing afterwards, there had just been a pot +a-piece. + +It was really a dreadful time, although we got well cooked _plats_, +for Captain George wasted quite as much as he used. The pigs fed +sumptuously that week on his failures, in sauces, minces; puddings, +and what not. He had insisted on our making him a paper cap and a +linen apron, or rather a dozen linen aprons, for he was perpetually +blackening his apron and casting it aside. Then, he used suddenly +to cease to take any interest in his occupation, and, seating +himself sideways on the kitchen dresser, begin to whistle through a +whole opera, or repeat pages of poetry. I tried the experiment of +banishing Miss A--- from the kitchen during cooking hours, but a few +bars played on the piano were quite enough to distract my cook from +his work. My only quiet time was the afternoon, when about four +o'clock, my amateur servants all went out for a ride, and left me in +peace for a couple of hours. I had enough to do during that short +time to tidy up; to collect the scattered books and music, and +prepare the tea-supper, for which they came back in tearing spirits, +and frantically hungry, between seven and eight o'clock. After this +meal had been cleared away, and Mr. U--- and I had washed up (the +others declaring they were too tired to stir), we all used to +adjourn to the verandah. It happened to be an exceptionally _still_ +week, no dry, hot nor'-westers, nor cold, wet sou'-westers, and it +was perfectly delicious to sit out in the verandah and rest, after +the labours of the day, in our cane easy-chairs. The balmy air was +so soft and fresh, and the intense silence all around so profound. +Unfortunately there was a full moon. I say "unfortunately," because +the flood of pale light suggested to these dreadful young men the +feasibility of having what they called a "servant's ball." In vain +I declared that the housekeeper was never expected to dance. "Oh, +yes! "laughed Captain George. "I've often danced with a +housekeeper, and very jolly it was too. Come along! F---, _make_ +her dance." And I was forced to gallopade up and down that verandah +till I felt half dead with fatigue. The boards had a tremendous +spring, and the verandah (built by F---, by the way), was very wide +and roomy, so it made an excellent ball-room. As for the trifling +difficulty about music, that was supplied by Captain George and Mr. +U--- whistling in turn, time being kept by clapping the top and +bottom of my silver butter dish together, cymbal-wise. Oh, dear! +It takes my breath away now even to think of those evenings! I see +Alice A--- flitting about in her white dress and fern-leaf wreath, +dancing like the slender sylph she really was, but never can I +forget the odd effect of the gentlemen's feet! No one had their +dress boots up at the station, and as Alice and I firmly declined to +dance with anybody who wore "Cookham" boots (great heavy things with +nails in the soles), they had no other course open to them except to +wear their smart slippers. There were slippers of purple velvet, +embroidered with gold; others of blue kid, delicately traced in +crimson lines; foxes heads stared at us in startling perspective +from a scarlet ground; or black jim-crow figures disported +themselves on orange tent-stitch. Then these slippers were all more +or less of an easy fit, and had a way of flying out on the lawn +suddenly, startling my dear dog Nettle out of his first sleep. + +Ah, well! that may be an absurd bit of one's life to look back upon, +but its days were bright and innocent enough. Health was so perfect +that the mere sensation of being alive became happiness, and all the +noise of the eager, bustling, pushing world, seemed shut away by +those steep hills which folded our quiet valley in their green arms. +People have often said to me since, "Surely you would not like to +have lived there for ever?" Perhaps not. I can only say that three +years of that calm, idyllic life, held no weary hour for me, and I +am quite sure that quiet time was a great blessing to me in many +ways. First of all, in health, for a person must be in a very bad +way indeed for New Zealand air not to do them a world of good; next, +in teaching me, amid a great deal of fun and laughter, sundry useful +accomplishments, not easily learned in our luxurious civilization; +and, lastly, those few years of seclusion from the turmoil of life +brought leisure to think out one's own thoughts, and to sift them +from other peoples' ideas. Under such circumstances, it is hard if +"the unregarded river of our life," as Matthew Arnold so finely call +it be not perceived, for one then + + "--- Becomes aware of his life's flow + And bears its winding murmur, and be sees + The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze; + And there arrives a lull in the hot race, + Wherein he doth for ever chase + That flying and elusive shadow, rest." + +One good effect of my sufferings with a house full of unruly +volunteers, was that during the brief stay (only two months), of my +next cook, I set to work assiduously to learn as many kitchen +mysteries as she could teach me, and so became independent of +Captain George or F---, or any other amateur, good, bad, or +indifferent. + +Nothing could be more extraordinary than the way in which the two +affectionate sisters, mentioned [earlier] and who succeeded Euphemia +and Lois, quarrelled. They were very unlike each other in +appearance, and one fruitful source of bickering arose from their +respective styles of beauty. Not only did they wrangle and rave at +each other all the day long, during every moment of their spare +time, but after they had gone to bed, we could hear them quite +plainly calling out to each other from their different rooms. If I +begged them to be quiet, there might be silence for a moment, but it +would shortly be broken by Maria, calling out, "I say, Dinah, don't +you go for to wear green, my girl. I only tell you friendly, but +you're a deal too yellow for that. It suits _me_, 'cause I'm so +fresh and rosy, but you never _will_ have my 'plexion, not if you +live to be eighty. Good night. I thought I'd just mention it while +I remembered." This used to aggravate Dinah dreadfully, and she +would retaliate by repeating some complimentary speech of Old Ben's, +or Long Tom's, the stockman, and then there would be no peace for an +hour. + +Their successors were Clarissa and Eunice. Eunice wept sore for a +whole month, over her sweeping and cleaning. To this day I have not +the dimmest idea _why_. She gave me warning, amid floods of tears, +directly she arrived, though I could not make out any other tangible +complaint than that "the dray had jolted as never was;" and to +Clarissa, I gave warning the first day I came into the kitchen. + +She received me seated on the kitchen table, swinging her legs, +which did not nearly touch the floor. She had carefully arranged +her position so as to turn her back towards me, and she went on +picking her teeth with a hair-pin. I stood aghast at this specimen +of colonial manners, which was the more astonishing as I knew the +girl had lived in the service of a gentleman's family in the North +of England for some time before she sailed. + +"Dear me, Clarissa," I cried, "is that the way you behaved at +Colonel St. John's?" + +Clarissa looked at me very coolly over her shoulder (I must mention +she was a very pretty girl, blue-eyed and rosy-cheeked, but with +_such_ a temper!) and, giving her plump shoulders a little shrug, +said, "No, in course not: _they_ was gentlefolks, they was." + +I confess I felt rather nettled at this, and yet it was difficult to +be angry with a girl who looked like a grown up and very pretty +baby. I restrained my feelings and said, "Well, I should like you +to behave here as you did there. Suppose you get off the table and +come and look what we can find in the store room." + +"I _have_ looked round," she declared: "there 'aint much to be +seen." My patience began to run short, and I said very firmly, "You +must get off the table directly, Clarissa, and stand and speak +properly; or I shall send you down to Christchurch again." I +suppose that was exactly what the damsel wished, for she made no +movement; whereat I said in great wrath, "Very well, then you shall +leave at the end of a month." And so she did, having bullied +everybody out of their lives during that time. + +Whilst we are on the subject of manners, it may not be out of place +to relate a little episode of my early days "up country." I think I +have alluded [in "Station Life in New Zealand"] to our book club; +but I don't know that it has been explained that I used to change +the books on Sunday afternoon, after our little evening service. It +would have been impossible to induce the men to come from an immense +distance twice a week, and it was therefore necessary that they +should be able to get a fresh book after service. Nothing could +have been better than the behaviour of my little congregation: they +made it a point of giving no trouble whatever with their horses or +dogs, and they were so afraid of being supposed to come for what +they could get, that I had some difficulty in inducing those who +travelled from a distance to have a cup of tea in the kitchen before +they mounted, to set off on their long solitary ride homewards. +They were also exceedingly quiet and well-behaved; for if even a +dozen men or more were standing outside in fine weather, or waiting +within the kitchen if it were wet or windy, not a sound could be +heard. If they spoke to each other, it was in the lowest whisper, +and they would no more have thought of lighting their pipes anywhere +near the house than they would of flying. + +This innate tact and true gentlemanly feeling which struck me so +much in the labouring man as he appears in New Zealand, made the +lapse of good manners, to which I am coming, all the more +remarkable. Of course they never touched their hats to me: they +would make me a bow or take their hats _off_, but they never touched +them. I have often seen a hand raised involuntarily to the soft +felt hat, which every one wears there, but the mechanical action +would be arrested by the recollection of the first article of the +old colonial creed, "Jack is as good as his master." I never minded +this in the least, and got so completely out of the habit of +expecting any salutations, that it seemed quite odd to me to receive +them again on my return. No, what I objected to was, that when I +used to go into my kitchen, about ten minutes or so after the +service had been concluded, with the list of club books in my hand, +not a single man rose from his seat. They seemed to make it a point +to sit down somewhere; on a table or window seat if all the chairs +were occupied, but at all events not to be found standing. They +would bend their heads and blush, and glance shyly at each other for +encouragement as I came in, but no one got up, or took his hat off. +This went on for a few weeks, until I felt sure that this curious +behaviour did not spring from forgetfulness, or inattention. When I +mentioned my grievance in the drawing-room to the gentlemen, I only +got laughed at for my pains, and I was asked what else I expected? +To this question used to be added sundry anecdotes of earlier +colonial life, intended to reconcile me to the manners of these +later days. I remember particularly a legend of a man cook, who was +said to have walked into the sitting-room of the station where the +master was practising tunes on an accordion, and exclaimed, "Now, +look here, boss, if you don't leave off that there noise, which +perwents me gettin' a wink o' sleep, I'll clear out o' this, sharp, +to-morrow mornin'. So now yer know," and with that remark he +returned to his bunk. + +At last I was goaded to declare I felt sure that the men only +behaved in that way from crass ignorance, and that if they knew how +much my feelings were hurt, they would alter their manners directly. +This opinion was received with such incredulity that I felt roused +to declare I should try the experiment next Sunday afternoon. The +only warning which at all daunted me was the assurance that I should +affront my congregation and scare them away. It was the dread of +this which made my heart beat so fast, and my hands turn so cold as +I opened the kitchen-door the next Sunday afternoon. There were +exactly the same attitudes, every body perfectly civil and +respectful, but every body seated. Luckily my courage rose at the +right moment, and I came forward as usual with a smile, and said, +"Look here, my men, there is one little thing I want to ask you. Do +you know that it is not the custom anywhere, in any civilized +country, for gentlemen to remain seated and covered when a lady +comes into the room? If I were to go into a room in England, where +the Prince of Wales, or any of the finest gentlemen of the land were +sitting, just as you are now, they would all get up, the Prince +first, most likely, and they would certainly take off their hats! +Now why can't you all do the same, here?" + +The effect of my little speech was magical. Pepper glanced at +McQuhair, Moffatt crimsoned and nudged McKenzie, Wiry Ben slipped +off the window-seat and shyed his hat across the kitchen, whilst +Long Tom, the bullock-driver, "thanked me kindly for mentioning of +it;" and every body got up directly and took their hats off. I felt +immensely proud of my success, and hastened the moment of my return +to the drawing room, where I announced my triumph. I repeated my +little speech as concisely as possible; but, alas, it was not nearly +so well received as it had been in the kitchen! "Have you ever gone +to see a London club?" one person inquired. "Ah: I thought not! I +don't know about the Prince, because he always _does_ do the +prettiest things at the right moment, but I doubt very much about +all the others. I fear you have made a very wild assertion to get +your own way." I need hardly say I sulked at that incredulous +individual for many days but he always stuck firmly to his own +opinion. However, my men never required another hint. They came +just as regularly as usual to church, and we all lived happily ever +after. + +I feel that my chapter should end here; but any record of my New +Zealand servants would be incomplete without mention of my "bearded +cook." Every body thinks, when I say this, that I am going to tell +them about a man, but it is nothing of the sort. Isabella Lyon, in +spite of her pronounced beard, was a very fine woman; exceedingly +good-humoured looking and fresh-coloured, with most amiable +prepossessing manners. She had not long arrived, and had been at +once snapped up for an hotel, but she applied for my place, saying +she wished for quiet and a country life. Could any thing be more +propitious? I thought, like Lois, that my luck, so long in turning, +was improving, and that at last I was to have a cook who knew her +business. And so she did, thoroughly and delightfully. For one +brief fortnight we lived on dainties. Never could I have believed +that such a variety of dishes could have been produced out of +mutton. In fact we seemed to have everything at table except the +staple dish. Unlike the cook who actually sent me in a roast +shoulder of mutton for breakfast one morning, Isabella prided +herself on eliminating the monotonous animal from her bills of fare. +Certainly she was rather heavy on the sauces, etc., and I was trying +to pluck up courage to remonstrate, as it would not be easy or cheap +to replace them before a certain time of year. And then she was so +clean, so smiling, and so good-tempered. She seemed to treat us all +as if we were a parcel of children for whom she was never weary of +preparing surprises. As for me, I felt miserable if any shepherd or +well-to-do handsome young bachelor cockatoo came near the place, +dreading lest the wretch should have designs on my cook's heart and +hand. I rejoiced in her beard, and would not have had her without +it for worlds, as I selfishly hoped it might stand in her +matrimonial path. + +This Arcadian state of kitchen affairs went on for exactly a +fortnight. One evening, at the end of that time, we had been out +riding, and returned as usual very hungry. "What are we going to +have for supper?" inquired F---. I told him what had been ordered; +but when that meal made its appearance, lo, there was not a single +dish which I had named! The things were not exactly nasty, but they +were queer. For instance, pears are not usually stewed in gravy; +but they were by no means bad, and we took it for granted it was +something quite new. The housemaid, Sarah, looked very nervous and +scared, and glanced at me from time to time with a very wistful +look; but I was so delightfully tired and sleepy--one never seemed +to get beyond the pleasant stage of those sensations--that I did not +ask any questions. + +Next morning, when we came out to breakfast, imagine my astonishment +at seeing a tureen of half cold soup on the table, and nothing else! +I could hardly believe my eyes, and hastened to the kitchen to +explain that this was rather too much of a novelty in the +gastronomic line. If I live to be a hundred years old, I shall +never forget the sight--at once terrible and absurd--which met my +eyes. Before the kitchen fire stood Isabella, having evidently +slept in her clothes all night. She looked wretched and bloated, +and quite curiously dirty, as black as if she had been up the +chimney; and even I could see that, early as was the hour, she was +hopelessly drunk. Between both of her nerveless, black hands, she +held a poker, with which she struck, from time to time, a feeble +blow on a piled-up heap of plates, which she persisted in +considering a lump of coal. The fire was nearly out, but she +hastened to assure me that if she could only break this lump of coal +it would soon burn up. Need I say that I rescued my plates at once, +and marched the bearded one off to her own apartment. + +Oh, how dimmed its dainty freshness had become since even yesterday! +Sarah was summoned, and confessed that she had known last night that +"Hisabella" had gone on the "burst," having bought, for some +fabulous sum, a bottle of rum from a passing swagger. It was all +very dreadful, and worst of all was the scene of tears and penitence +I had to endure when the rum was finished. The dray, however, +relieved me of the incubus of her presence; and that was the only +instance of drunkenness I came across among my domestic changes and +chances. + + + +Chapter XIV: Our pets. + + +One of the first things which struck me when I came to know a little +more about the feelings and ways of my neighbours in the Malvern +Hills, was the good understanding which existed between man and +beast. I am afraid I must except the poor sheep, for I never heard +them spoken of with affection, nor do I consider that they were the +objects of any special humanity even on their owners' parts. This +must surely arise from their enormous numbers. "How can you be fond +of thousands of anything?" said a shepherd once to me, in answer to +some sentimental inquiry of mine respecting his feelings towards his +flock. That is the fact. There were too many sheep in our "happy +Arcadia" for any body to value or pet them. On a large scale they +were looked after carefully. Water, and sheltered feed, and +undisturbed camping grounds, all these good things were provided for +them, and in return they were expected to yield a large percentage +of lambs and a good "clip." Even the touching patience of the poor +animals beneath the shears, or amid the dust and noise of the yards, +was generally despised as stupidity. + +Far different is the feeling of the New Zealander, whether he be +squatter or cockatoo, towards his horse and his dog. They are the +faithful friends, and often the only companions of the lonely man. +Of course there will soon be no "lonely men" anywhere, but a few +years ago there were plenty of unwilling Robinson Crusoes in the +Middle Island; and whenever I came upon one of these pastoral +hermits, I was sure to find a dog or a horse, a cat, or even a hen, +established as "mate" to some poor solitary, from whom all human +companionship was shut out by mountain, rock, or river. + +"Are you not _very_ lonely here?" was often my first instinctive +question, as I have dismounted at the door of a shepherd's hut in +the back country, and listened to the eternal roar of the river +which formed his boundary, or the still more oppressive silence +which seemed to have reigned ever since the creation. + +"Well, mum, it aint very lively; but I've got Topsy (producing a +black kitten from his pocket), and there's the dogs, and I shall +have some fowls next year, p'raps." + +But my object in beginning this chapter was not to enter into a +disquisition on other people's pets, with which after all one can +have but a distant acquaintance, but to introduce some of my own +especial favourites to those kind and sympathetic readers who take +pleasure in hearing of my own somewhat solitary existence in that +distant land. I am quite ready to acknowledge that I never +thoroughly comprehended the individuality of animals, even of fowls +and ducks, until I lived up at the Station. Perhaps, like their +masters, they really get to possess more independence of character +under those free and easy skies; for where would you meet with such +a worldly and selfish cat as "Sandy," or so fastidious and +intelligent a smooth terrier as "Rose"? Sandy was an old bachelor +of a sleek appearance, red in colour, but with a good deal of white +shirt-front and wristbands, as to the get-up of which he was most +particular. It was easy to imagine Sandy sitting in a club window; +and I am _sure_ he had a slight tendency to gout and reading French +novels. Sandy's selfishness was quite open and above-board. He +liked you very much until somebody else came whom he liked better, +and then he would desert his oldest friend without hesitation. I +don't suppose the wildest young colley-pup ever dreamed of chasing +or worrying Sandy, who would not have stirred from his warm corner +by the fire for Snarleyow himself. Every now and then Sandy must +have felt alarmed about his health or his figure, for he ate less, +and walked gravely and sulkily up and down the verandah for hours, +but as soon as he considered himself out of danger, he relapsed into +all his self-indulgent ways. No one ventured to offer Sandy +anything but the choicest meats, and he was wont to sit up and beg +like a dog for a savoury tit-bit. But he would revenge himself on +you afterwards for the humiliation, you might be sure. + +What always appeared to me so odd, was that in spite of his known +and unblushing selfishness, Sandy used to be a great favourite, and +we all vied with each other for the honour of his notice. Now why +was this? If boundless time and space were at our disposal, we +might go deeply into the question and work it out, but as the +dimensions of this volume are not elastic, the impending social +essay shall be postponed, and we will confine ourselves to a brief +description of Sandy's outer cat. He was of a pure breed, far +removed from the long-legged, lanky race of ordinary station-cats, +who from time to time disappeared into the bush and contracted +alliances with the still more degraded specimens of their class who +had long been wild among the scrub. No: Sandy came of "pur sang," +and held his small square head erect, with a haughty carriage as +beseemed his ancestry. His fur was really beautiful, a sort of +tortoiseshell red, the lighter stripes repeating exactly the +different golden tints of a fashionable chignon. In early youth, +though it is difficult to imagine Sandy ever a playful kitten, his +tail had been curtailed to the length of three inches, and this +short, flexible stump gave an air of great decision to Sandy's +movements. But his chief peculiarity, and I must add, attraction, +in my opinion, was the perfume of his sleek coat. When Sandy +condescended to take his evening doze on my linsey lap, I never +smelt anything so strange and so agreeable as the odour of his fur, +specially that on the top of his head. It was like the most +delicate musk, but without any of the sickly smell common to that +scent. I believe Sandy knew of this personal peculiarity, and felt +proud of it. + +A far more unselfish and agreeable personage was Rose, the white +terrier, whose name often finds a loving place in these pages. She +and Sandy dwelt together in peace and amity, although the little +doggie never could have felt any affection for her selfish +companion. Rose's nerves were of a delicate and high-strung order, +and there was nothing she hated so much as uproarious noise. Every +now and then it chanced that during a few days of wet or windy +weather, our little house had been filled by passing guests: +gentlemen who had called in to ask for supper and a bed, intending +to go on next day. In a country where inns or accommodation-houses +are fifty miles apart, this is a common incident, and it sometimes +happens that the resources of station hospitality are taxed to the +utmost in this way. I have known our own little wooden box to be so +closely packed, that besides a guest on each sofa in the +drawing-room, there would be another on a sort of portable couch in +the dining-room. This was after the spare room had been filled to +the utmost. A delicate "new chum," who required to be pampered, had +retired to rest on the hard kitchen sofa described elsewhere; whilst +a couple of sturdy travellers were sleeping soundly in the saddle +room. After that, there could be nothing for the last comer except +a shake-down in red blankets. + +It _always_ happened I observed that everybody arrived together. +For weeks we would be alone. I lived once for eight months without +seeing a lady; and then, some fine evening, half a dozen +acquaintances would "turn up,"--there really is no other word for +it. Well, on these occasions, when, instead of departing next +morning, our impromptu guests have sometimes been forced to wait +until such time as the rain or the wind should cease; their pent-up +animal spirits became often too much for them, and they would feel +an irresistible impulse to get rid of some of their superfluous +health and strength by violent exercise. I set my face at once +against "athletic sports" or "feats of strength" being performed in +my little drawing-room, although they were always very anxious to +secure me for the solitary spectator; and I forget who hit upon the +happy thought of turning the empty wool-shed into a temporary +gymnasium. There these wild boys--for, in spite of stalwart frames +and bushy beards, the Southern Colonist's heart keeps very fresh and +young--used to adjourn, and hop and leap, wrestle and box, fence and +spar, to their active young limbs' content. They seemed very happy, +and loud were the joyous shouts and peals of laughter over the +failures; but after seeing the performance once or twice, I +generally became tired and bored, and used to slip away to the house +and my quiet corner by the fire. Rose considered it her duty to +remain at her master's heels as long as possible, but after a time +she too would creep back to silence and warmth, though she never +deserted her post until the noise grew altogether too much for her +nerves; and then, with a despairing whimper, sometimes swelling to a +howl, poor little Rose would tuck her tail between her legs, and +dash out, through the storm, to seek shelter and quiet with me. + +Whenever Rose appeared thus suddenly in my quiet retreat, I felt +sure some greater uproar than usual was going on down at the +wool-shed, and, more than once, on inquiry, I found Rose's nerves +must have been tried to the utmost before she turned and fled. + +As for the intelligence of sheep-dogs, a volume could be written on +the facts concerning them, and a still more entertaining book on the +fictions, for a New Zealand shepherd will always consider it a point +of honour to cap his neighbour's anecdote of _his_ dog's sagacity, +by a yet stronger proof of canine intelligence. I shall only, +briefly allude to one dog, whose history will probably be placed in +the colonial archives,--a colley, who knows his master's brand; and +who will, when the sheep get boxed, that is mixed together, pick +out; with unfailing accuracy, all the bleating members of his own +flock from amid the confused, terrified mass. As for the patience +of a good dog in crossing sheep over a river, I have witnessed that +myself, and been forced to draw conclusions very much in favour of +the dog over the human beings who were directing the operation. +Some dogs again, who are perfectly helpless with sheep, are +unrivalled with cattle, and I have stood on the edge of a swamp more +than once, and seen a dog go after a couple of milch cows, and fetch +them out of a herd of bullocks, returning for the second "milky +mother" after the first had been brought right up within reach of +the stockman's lash. + +Then among my horse friends was a certain Suffolk "Punch," who had +been christened the "Artful Dodger," from his trick of +counterfeiting lameness the moment he was put in the shafts of a +dray. That is to say if the dray was loaded; so long as it was +empty, or the load was light, the "Dodger" stepped out gaily, but if +he found the dray at all heavy, he affected to fall dead lame. The +old strain of staunch blood was too strong in his veins to allow him +to refuse or jib, or stand still. Oh, no! The "Dodger" arranged a +compromise with his conscience, and though he pulled manfully, he +resorted to this lazy subterfuge. More than once with a "new chum" +it had succeeded to perfection, and the "Dodger" found himself back +again in his stable with a rack of hay before him, whilst his +deluded owner or driver was running all over the place to find a +substitute in the shafts. If I had not seen it myself, I could not +have believed it. In order to induce the "Dodger" to act his part +thoroughly, a drayman was appointed whom the horse had never seen, +and therefore imagined could be easily imposed upon. The moment the +signal was given to start, the "Dodger," after a glance round, which +plainly said, "I wonder if I may try it upon you," took a step +forward and almost fell down, so desperate was his lameness. The +driver, who was well instructed in his part, ran round, and lifted +up one sturdy bay leg after the other, with every appearance of the +deepest concern. This encouraged the "Dodger," who uttered a groan, +but still seemed determined to do his best, and limped and stumbled +a yard or two further on. I confess it seemed impossible to believe +the horse to be quite sound, and if it had depended on me, the +"Dodger" would instantly have been unharnessed and put back in his +stable. But the moment had come to unmask him. His master stepped +forward, and pulling first one cunning ear, on the alert for every +word, and then the other; cried, "It wont do, sir! step out +directly, and don't let us have any nonsense." The "Dodger" groaned +again, this time from his heart probably, shook himself, and, +leaning well forward in his big collar, stepped out without a +murmur. The lameness had disappeared by magic, nor was there even +the slightest return of it until he saw a new driver, and considered +it safe to try his oft-successful "dodge" once more. + +Very different was "Star," poor, wilful, beauty, whose name and fate +will long be remembered among the green hills, where her short life +was passed. Born and bred on the station, she was the pride and joy +of her owner's heart. Slender without being weedy, compact without +clumsiness, her small head well set on her graceful neck, and her +fine legs, with their sinews like steel, she attracted the envy of +all the neighbouring squatters. "What will you take for that little +grey filly when she is broken?" was a constant question. "She's not +for sale," her owner used to answer. "I'll break her myself, and +make her as gentle as a dog, and she'll do for my wife when I get +one." But this proved a castle in the air, so far as Star was +concerned. The wife was not so mythical. In due time _she_ appeared +in that sheltered valley, and, standing at the head of a mound +marked by a stake whereon a star was rudely carved, heard the story +of the poor creature's fate. From the first week of her life, Star +(so-called from a black, five-pointed mark on her forehead), showed +signs of possessing a strange wild nature. Unlike her sire or dam, +she evidently had a violent temper,--and not to put too fine a point +on it,--was as vicious a grey mare as ever flung up her heels in a +New Zealand valley. + +When her second birthday was passed, Star's education commenced. +The process called "gentling," was a complete misnomer for the +series of buck jumps, of bites and kicks, with which the young lady +received the slightest attempt to touch her. She had a horrible +habit also of shrieking, really almost like a human being in a +frantic rage; she would rush at you with a wild scream of fury, and +after striking at you with her front hoofs, would wheel round like +lightning, and dash her hind legs in your face. The stoutest +stockman declined to have anything whatever to do with Star; the +most experienced breaker "declined her, with thanks;" generally +adding a long bill for repairs of rack and manger, and breaking +tackle, and not unfrequently a hospital report of maimed and wounded +stablemen. Amateur horsemen of celebrity arrived at the station to +look at the beautiful fiend, and departed, saying they would rather +not have anything to say to her. At last, she was given over in +despair, to lead her own free life, never having endured the +indignity of bit or bridle for more than two minutes. + +Months passed away, and Star and her tantrums had been nearly +forgotten, when one mild winter evening the stockman came in to +report that,--wonder of wonders,--Star was standing meekly outside, +whinnying, and as "quiet as a dog." Her master went out to find the +man's report exact: Star walked straight up to him, and rubbed her +soft nose confidingly against his sleeve. The mystery explained +itself at a glance: she was on the point of having her first foal, +and, with some strange and pathetic instinct, she bethought herself +of the kind hands whose caresses she had so often rejected, and came +straight to them for help and succour. Her shy and touching +advances were warmly responded to, and in a few minutes the poor +beast was safely housed in the warm shed which then represented the +present row of neat stables long since on that very spot. A warm +mash was eagerly swallowed, and the good-hearted stockman +volunteered to remain up until all should be happily over; but his +courage failed him at the sight of her horrible sufferings, and in +the early dawn he came to rouse up his master, and beg him to come +and see if anything more could be done. There lay Star, all her +fierce spirit quenched, with an appealing look in her large black +eyes, which seemed positively human in their capacity for expressing +suffering. It was many hours before a dead foal was born, and there +is no doubt that if she had been out on the bleak hills, the poor +exhausted young mother must have perished from weakness. She +appeared to understand thoroughly the motive of all that was being +done for her, and submitted with patience to all the remedies. +Gradually, but slowly, her strength returned; and, alas, her evil +nature, tamed by anguish, returned also! Day by day she became +shyer of even the hand which had fed and succoured her; and, as this +is a true chronicle, it must be stated that the very first use Mrs. +Star made of her convalescence was, to kick her nurse on the leg, +break her halter into fragments, and gallop off to the hills with a +loud neigh of defiance. Whenever the topic of feminine ingratitude +came on the carpet at that station, this, which Star had done, used +always to be told as an instance in point. + +Two years later, exactly the same thing happened again. The dreaded +hour of suffering found the wayward beauty once more under the roof +which had sheltered her in her former time of trial, and once more +she rested her head in penitence and appeal against her owner's +shoulder. Who could bear malice in the presence of such dreadful +pain? Not Star's owner, certainly. Besides the home resources, a +man on horseback was sent off to fetch a famous veterinary who +chanced to be staying at a neighbouring station, and they both +returned before Star's worst sufferings began. All that skill and +experience could do was done that night; but the morning light found +the poor little grey mare dying from exhaustion, with another dead +foal lying by her side. She only lived a few hours later, in spite +of stimulants and the utmost care, and died gently and peacefully, +with those human hands whose lightest touch she had so flouted, +ministering tenderly to her great needs. The stockman had become so +fond of the wayward beauty, in spite of her ingratitude, that the +only solace he could find for his regret at her early death, lay in +digging a deep grave for her, and carving the emblem of her pretty +name on the rude stake which still marks the spot. + +No account of station pets would be complete without a brief +allusion to my numerous and unsuccessful attempts to rear merino +lambs in the house. It never was of any use advising me to leave +the poor little creatures out on the bleak hill-side, if, in the +course of my rambles after ferns or creepers, I came upon a dead ewe +with her half-starved baby running round and round her. How could I +turn my back on the little orphan, who, instead of bounding off up +the steep hill, used to run confidingly up to me, and poke its black +muzzle into my hand, as if it would say, "Here is a friend at last"? +And then merino lambs are so much prettier than any I have seen in +England. Their snow-white wool is as tightly screwed up in small +curls as any Astracan fleece, and from being of so much more active +a race, they are smaller and more compact than English lambs, and +not so awkward and leggy. A merino lamb of a couple of hours old is +far better fitted to take care of itself up a mountain than a +civilized and helpless lamb of a month old, besides these latter +being so weak about the knees always. I only mention this, not out +of any desire to "blow" about our sheep, but because I want to +account for my tender-heartedness on the subject of desolate +orphans. The ewes scarcely ever died of disease, unless by a rare +chance it happened to be a very old lady whose constitution gave way +at last before a severe winter. We oftenest found that the dead +mother was a fine fat young ewe; who had slipped up on a hill-side +and could not recover herself, but had died of exhaustion and +fatigue from her violent efforts to kick herself up again. If we +chanced to be in time to rescue her by the simple process of setting +her on her legs again, it would be all right, but sometimes the poor +creature had been cold and stiff for hours before we found her, and +her lamb had bleated itself hoarse and hungry, and was as tame as a +pet dog. Now _who_ could turn away from a little helpless thing +like that, who positively leaped into your arms and cuddled itself +up in delight, sucking vigorously away at your glove, or anything +handy? Not I, for one,--though I might as well have left it alone, +so far as its ultimate fate was concerned; but I always hoped for +better luck next time, and carried it off in my arms. + +The first thing to be do be on arrival at home, was to give the +starving little creature a good meal out of a tea-pot, and the next, +to put it to sleep in a box of hay in a warm corner of the kitchen. +What always seemed to me so extraordinary, was that the lambs, one +and all, preserved the most cheerful demeanour, ate and drank and +slept well,--and yet died within a month. Some lingered until quite +four weeks had passed, others succumbed to my treatment in a week. +I varied their food, mixing oatmeal with the milk; some I fed often, +others seldom; to some I gave sugar in the milk, others had new +milk. There was abundance of grass just outside the house for them +to eat, if they could. Some did mumble feebly at it, I remember, +but the mortality continued uninterrupted. It must have been very +ridiculous to a visitor, to see my dear little snowy pets going down +on their front knees before me, and wagging their long tails +furiously the moment the tea-pot was brought out. They were far too +sensible to do this if my hands were empty. Gentle, affectionate +little creatures, they used to be wonderfully well-behaved, though +now and then they would wander through the verandah, and so into my +bedroom, where the drapery of my dressing-table afforded them +endless amusement and occupation. They gnawed and sucked all my +"daisy" fringe, until the first thing that had to be done when a +lamb arrived at the house, was to take off muslins and fringes from +that, the only trimmed table in the house. + +Often and often, of a cold night (for we must remember that New +Zealand lambing used always to come off in winter), we would all +become suddenly aware of a strong smell of burning pervading the +whole house; which, on being traced to its source, was often found +to proceed from the rosette of wool on the forehead of a chilly +lamb. The creature drew nearer and nearer to the genial warmth of +the kitchen fire, until at last it used to lean its brow pensively +against the red hot bars. Hence arose the powerful odour gradually +filling the whole of the little wooden house. Of course I used to +rush to the rescue, and draw my bewildered pet away from the fatal +warmth, but not until it had usually singed the wool off down to the +bone, and there was often a bad burn on its forehead as well. But +still, in spite of stupidity and an insatiable appetite, I always +grieved very sincerely for each of my orphan lambs as it in turn +sank into its early grave. I used to be well laughed at for +attaching any sentiment to an animal which had sunk so disgracefully +low in the money-market as a New Zealand lamb, but the abundant +supply of my little pets never made it easier for me to lose the +particular one which I had set my heart on rearing. It certainly +did afford me some comfort to hear that merino lambs had always been +difficult, if not impossible to bring up, like so many "pups," by +hand; and among all the statistics I carefully collected, I could +only find one well-authenticated instance of a foundling having been +reared indoors. My informant tried to comfort me by tales of the +tyranny that stout and tame sheep exercised over the household which +had sheltered it, but I fear that the stories of its delightful +impudence only made me more anxious to succeed in my own +baby-farming experiments among the lambs. + + + +Chapter XV: A feathered pet. + + +No record of those dear, distant days would be complete without a +short memoir of "Kitty." She was only a grey Dorking hen, but no +heroine in fact or fiction, no Lady Rachel Russell or _Fleurange,_ +ever exceeded Kitty in unswerving devotion to a beloved object, or +rather objects. + +To see Kitty was to admire her, at least as I saw her one beautiful +spring evening in a grassy paddock on the banks of the Horarata. We +had ridden over there to visit our kind and friendly neighbours, the +C---'s; we had enjoyed a delicious cup of tea in the +passion-flower-covered verandah, which looked on the whole range, +from East to West, of the glorious Southern Alps, their shining +white summits sharply cut against our own peculiarly beautiful sky; +we had strolled round the charming, unformal garden, on either +sloping side of a wide creek, and had admired, with just a tinge of +envy, the fruits and flowers, the standard apple and rose trees, the +tangle of fern and creepers, the wealth of the old and new worlds +heaped together in floral profusion; we had done all this, I say, +and very pleasant we had found it. Now we were trying to say +goodbye: not so easy a task, let me tell you, when there are so many +temptations to linger, and when you are greatly pressed to stay. +The last device of our hospitable hostess to keep us consisted in +offering to show me her poultry-yard. Now I was a young beginner in +that line myself, and tormented my ducks and fowls to death by my +incessant care: at least that is the conclusion I have arrived at +since; but at that time, I considered it as necessary to look after +them as if they had been so many children. The consequence was,--as +I pathetically complained to Mrs. C---, that my hens sat furiously +for a week, and then took to lingering outside, where perpetual +feeding was going on, until their eggs grew cold; that my ducks +neglected their offspring and allowed the rats to decimate them, and +that every variety of epidemic and misfortune assailed in turns my +unhappy poultry yard. Kind Mrs. C--- listened as gravely as she +could, hinting _very_ gently, that perhaps I took too much trouble +about them; then, fearing least she might have wounded my feelings, +she hastened to suggest that I should try the introduction of a +different breed. + +As a preliminary step to this reformation, she offered to bestow +upon me one of her best Dorking hens. It was too tempting an offer +to be refused, and I forthwith bestowed my affections on a beautiful +grey pullet, whose dignified carriage and speckled exterior bespoke +her high lineage. "That's Kitty," said Mrs. C---. "I am so glad you +fancy her; she is one of my nicest young hens. We'll catch her for +you in a moment." I must pause to mention here, that it struck me +as being very odd in New Zealand the way in which _every_ creature +has a name, excepting always the poor sheep. If one sees a cock +strutting proudly outside a shepherd's door; you are sure to hear it +is either Nelson or Wellington; every hen has a pet name, and +answers to it; so have the ducks and geese,--at least, up-country; +of course, dogs, horses, cows and bullocks, each rejoice in the most +inflated appellations, but I don't remember ever hearing ducks and +fowls answer to their names in any other country. + +But this is only by the way. I gratefully and gladly accepted the +transfer of the fair Kitty, and only wondered how I was to convey +her to her new home, fifteen miles away. Kitty was soon caught, and +carried off into the house to be packed up for her first ride. +Accustomed as I am to ridiculous things happening to me, still I +never felt in so absurd a position as when, having mounted "Helen," +who seemed in a particularly playful mood after a good feed of oats, +Kitty was handed to me neatly tied up in a pillow-case with her +tufted head protruding from a hole in the seam at the side. +Although very anxious to carry her home immediately, my heart died +within me at the prospect of a long gallop on a skittish mare with a +plump Dorking hen tied up in a bag on my lap. + +There was no help for it, however, and I tried to put my bravest +face on the matter. The difficulties commenced at the very point of +departure, for it is not easy to say farewell cordially with your +hands full of reins, whip, and poultry. But it proved comparatively +easy going whilst we only cantered over the plains. It was not +until the first creek had been reached, that I really perceived what +lay before me. Helen distrusted the contents of the bag, and kept +trying to look round and see what it contained; and her fears of +something uncanny might well have been confirmed when she took off +at her first flat jump. Kitty screamed, or shrieked, or whatever +name best expresses her discordant and piercing yells. I more than +suspect I shrieked too, partly at the difficulty of keeping both +Kitty and Helen in any sort of order, and partly at my own +insecurity. No sooner had Helen landed on the other side, than she +fled homewards as if a tin kettle were tied to her tail. The speed +at which we dashed through the fragrant summer air completely took +away Kitty's breath, and the poor creature appeared more dead than +alive by the time I dismounted, trembling myself in every limb for +her safety as well as my own, at the garden gate. + +However, next morning brought a renewed delight in existence to both +Kitty and me, and our night's sleep had made us forget our agitation +and peril. After breakfast I introduced her to the poultry yard, +and she adapted herself to her new home with a tact and good humour +most edifying to behold. Months passed away. Kitty had made +herself a nest in a place, the selection of which did equal honour +to her head and heart, and she gladdened my eyes one fine morning by +appearing with a lovely brood of chicks around her. Who so proud as +the young mother? She exhibited them to me, and after I had duly +admired them, used to carry them off to a nursery of her own, which +she had established among the tussocks just outside the stable door. +Mrs. C--- had impressed upon me that Kitty could be safely trusted +to manage her own affairs. No fear of her dragging her fluffy +babies out among the wet grass too early in the morning, or losing +them among the flax bushes on the hill-side. No: Kitty came of a +race who were model mothers, and was to be left to take care of +herself and her chickens. + +About a week after Kitty had first shown me her large, small family, +a friend of ours arrived unexpectedly to stop the night. Next +morning, when he was going away, he apologised for asking leave to +mount at the stables, saying his led horse was so vicious, and the +one he was riding so gay, that it was quite possible their legs +might find themselves within the verandah, or do some mischief to +the young shrubs which were the pride and joy of my heart. This +gentleman rode beautifully, and I used to like to see the courage +and patience with which he always conquered the most unruly horse. + +"We will come up to the stable and see you mount," I cried, seizing +my hat. Of course every one followed my lead, and it was to the +sound of mingled jeers and compliments that poor Mr. T--- mounted +his fiery steed, and seized hold of the leading rein of his +pack-horse. But this animal had no intention of taking his +departure with propriety or tranquillity: he pranced and shied, +flinging out his heels as he wildly danced round to every point of +the compass, in a circle. Gradually he drew Mr. T--- and his +chestnut a dozen yards away from the stable, and it was just then +that I perceived poor Kitty sitting close under a tussock. It +chanced to be the hour for the chickens' siesta, and they were all +folded away beneath her ample brooding wings. Perhaps the danger +had come too near to be avoided before I perceived it, but at all +events my loud shriek of warning was too late to save the pretty +crouching head from the flourish of the pack-horse's glancing heels. +Swift indeed was the blow; for scarcely ten seconds could have +passed between my first glimpse of poor Kitty's bright black eye +looking out, with such mortal terror in its expression, from beneath +the yellow tuft of grass, and my seeing the horse's heel lay her +head right open. The brave little mother never dreamed of saving +herself at the cost of her nestlings. She crouched as low as +possible, and when the horse had jumped over her I flew to see if +she had escaped. No. There lay my pretty pet, with her wings still +outspread and her chickens unhurt. But she seemed dead: her head +had been actually cut clean open, and I never expected that she +would have lived a moment. Yet she did. I took her at once to the +well hard by, and bound up her split head with my pocket +handkerchief, keeping it well wetted with cold water. Later on I +put forth all the surgical art I possessed, and dressed the wound in +the most scientific manner, nursing poor Kitty tenderly in the +kitchen, and feeding her with my own hands every two hours. She was +for a long time incapable of feeding herself and; even when all +danger was over, required most careful nursing. However, the end of +the story is that, she recovered entirely her bodily health, but her +poor little brain remained clouded for ever. She never took any +more notice of her chickens, who had to be brought up by hand, and +she never mixed again with the society of the poultry-yard. At +night she roosted apart in the coalshed, and she never seemed to +hear my voice or distinguish me from others, though she was +perfectly tame to everybody. Kitty's end was very tragical. She +grew exceedingly fat, and at last, one time when we were all snowed +up and could not afford to be sentimental, my cook laid hold of poor +Kitty, who was moping in her usual corner, and converted her into a +savoury stew without telling me, until I had actually dined off her. +I was very angry; but Eliza only repeated by way of consolation, +"She had no wits, only flesh, consequently she was better in my +stew-pot nor anywhere else, mum, if you'll only look at it calm +like." But it was very hard to be made to eat one's patient, +especially when I was so proud of the way her poor head had healed. + +If anybody wanted to teaze me, they suggested that I had omitted to +replace my dear Kitty's brains before closing that cruel wound in +her skull. + + + +Chapter XVI: Doctoring without a diploma. + + +So many reminiscences come crowding into my mind,--some grave and +others gay,--as I sit down to write these final chapters, that I +hardly know where to begin. + +The most clamorous of the fast-thronging memories, the one which +pushes its way most vividly to the front, is of a little amateur +doctoring of mine; and as my patient luckily did not die of my +remedies, I need not fear that I shall be asked for my diploma. + +Shearing was just over; over only that very evening in fact. We had +been leading a sort of uncomfortable picnic life at the home station +for more than ten days, and had returned to our own pretty little +home up the valley, late on Saturday night, in time for the +supper-dinner I have so often described. It was my doing, that +fortnight's picnic at the home station, and I may as well candidly +confess it was a mistake; although, made, like most mistakes in +life, with good intentions. Our partner had gone to England, our +manager had just left us to set up sheep-farming on his own account, +and all the responsibility of shearing a good many thousand sheep +devolved on F---. And not only the shearing; the flock had to be +carefully draughted, the ewes, wethers, and hoggets, to be branded, +ear-marked, and turned out on their several ranges; the wethers for +home consumption, which consisted of a good-sized flock of many +hundred sheep, turned into the home-paddock,--an enclosure of some +five or six hundred acres,--and various other minute details to be +seen to; the wool to be sent down to Christchurch, and the stores +brought up by the return drays. + +My motives for the plan I formed for us to go over, bag and baggage, +to the home station, the evening before the shearing began, and live +there till it was over, were varied. We will put the most unselfish +first, for the sake of appearances. I knew it would be very hard +work for poor F--- all that time, and I thought it would add to his +fatigue if he had to go backwards and forwards to his own house +every day, getting up at five in the morning and returning late at +night, besides having no comfortable meals. The next motive was +that I wanted very much to see the whole process of shearing, and +all the rest of it, myself; and as it turned out, though I little +dreamed of it at the time, this proved to be my only chance. Every +body tried to dissuade me from carrying out the scheme, by urging +that I should be very uncomfortable; but I did not care in the least +for that, and insisted on being allowed at all events to see how I +liked it. + +Accordingly one evening we set forth: such a ridiculous cavalcade. +I would not hear of riding, for it was only a short two miles walk; +and as we did not start until after our last meal, the sun had +dipped behind Flag-pole's tall peak, and nearly the whole of our +happy valley lay in deep, cool shadow. Besides which, it looked +more like the real thing to walk, and that was half the battle with +me. The "real thing" in this case, though I did not stop to explain +it to myself, must have meant emigrants, Mormons, soldiers on the +march, what you will; any thing which expresses all one's belongings +being packed into a little cart, with a huge tin bath secured on the +top of all. Such a miscellaneous assortment of dry goods as that +cart held! A couple of mattresses (for my courage failed me at the +idea of sleeping on chopped tussocks for a fortnight), a couple of +folding-up arm-chairs, though, as it turned out, one would have been +enough, for poor F--- never sat down from the time he got up until +he went to bed again; a large hamper of provisions, some books, our +clothes, and various little matters which were indispensable if one +had to live in an empty house for a fortnight. I had sent my two +maids over one morning a few days before, with pails and mops and +brushes, and they had given the couple of rooms which we were to +inhabit, a thorough good cleaning and scouring, so my mind was easy +on that point. It would not have answered, for many reasons, to +have encumbered ourselves with these damsels during our stay at the +home station. In the first place, there was really no accommodation +for them; in the next, it would have entailed more luggage than the +little cart could hold; and, finally, we should have been obliged to +leave them behind at the last moment: for only the evening before we +started, a couple of friends arrived, in true New Zealand fashion, +from Christchurch, to pay us a month's visit. It was too late to +alter our plans then, so we told them to, make themselves thoroughly +at home, and took our departure next day in the way I have alluded +to. + +We had plenty of escort as far as the first swamp. When that +treacherous and well-known spot had been reached, everybody suddenly +remembered that they had forgotten something or the other which +obliged them to return directly, so our farewells had to be +exchanged from the centre of a flax bush. The cart meanwhile was +nearly out of sight, so wide a _detour_ had its driver been forced +to make in order to find a place sound enough to bear its weight. +But we caught it up again after we had happily crossed the quagmire +which used always to be my bug-bear, and in due time we made our +appearance, in the gloaming, at the tiny house belonging to the home +station. Early as was the hour, not later than half-past eight, the +place lay silent and still under the balmy summer haze. All the +shearers were fast asleep in the men's hut, whilst every available +nook and corner was filled with the spare hands; the musterers, +branders, yard-keepers, and many others, whose duties were +less-defined. Far down the flat we could dimly discern a white +patch,--the fleecy outlines of the large mob destined to fill the +skillions at day-break to-morrow morning; and, although we could not +see them distinctly, close by, watchful and vigilant all through +that and many subsequent summer nights, Pepper and his two beautiful +colleys kept watch and ward over the sheep. + +Writing in the heavy atmosphere of this vast London world, I look +back upon that, and such evenings as that, with a desperate craving +to breathe once more he delicious air unsoiled by human lungs, and +stirred into fresh fragrance by every summer sigh of those distant +New Zealand valleys. No wonder people were always well in such a +pure, clear, light atmosphere. I try to feel again in fancy the +exquisite enjoyment of merely drawing a deep breath, the thrilling +sensation of health and strength it sent tingling down to your +finger ends. No fleck or film of vapour or miasma could be seen or +smelt, though the day had been burning hot, and, as I have said, +there were plenty of creeks and swamps hard by. Damp is unknown in +those valleys, and we might have lingered bareheaded even after the +heavy dew began to fall, without risk of cold, or fever, or any +other ailment. But we could not afford to linger a moment out of +doors that lovely tempting evening. F--- and the driver of the +cart, who had some important part to take in the morrow's +proceedings (I forget exactly what), soon tossed out my little +stores, which looked very insignificant as they lay in a heap in the +verandah, and departed to see that all was in train for next day's +work. I had no time to enjoy the evening's soft beauty: the beds +had to be made; clothes to be unpacked and hung up; stores must be +arranged on the shelves in the sitting-room,--for the house only +consisted of two small rooms in front, with a wide verandah, and a +sort of lean-to at the back, which was divided into a small kitchen +and store-room. This last was empty. I confess I thought rather +regretfully of my pretty, comfortable, English-looking bed-room at +the other house, with its curtains and carpet, its wardrobes and +looking-glasses, when I found myself surveying the scene of my +completed labours. Two station _bunks_,--i.e., wooden bed-frames of +the simplest and rudest construction, with a sacking bottom,--a +couple of empty boxes, one for a dressing-table and the other for a +wash-stand, a tin basin and a bucket of water, being the +paraphernalia of the latter, whilst some nails behind the door +served to hang our clothes on, such was my station bedroom and all +my own doing too! Certainly it looked uncomfortable enough to +satisfy any one, but I would not have complained of it for the +world, lest I might have been ordered home directly. + +Hard as was my bed that night, I slept soundly, and it appeared only +five minutes before I heard a tremendous noise outside the verandah. +The bleating of hundreds of sheep announced that the mob were slowly +advancing, before a perfect army of men and dogs, up to the sheep +yards. What a din they all made! F--- was wide awake, and up in a +moment. I, anxious to show _why_ I had insisted on coming over, got +up too, and made my way into the little kitchen, where I found a +charming surprise awaiting me in the shape of some faggots of +neatly-stacked wood, cut into exactly, the right lengths for the +American stove; and also a heap of dry Menuka bushes, which make the +best touchwood for lighting fires in the whole world. The tiny +kitchen and stove were both scrupulously clean, and so were my three +saucepans and kettle. This had been, of course, my maids' doing, +but the fuel was a delicate little attention on Pepper's part. How +he blushed and grinned with delight when I thanked him before all +his mates! This was indeed station-life made easy! It did not take +two minutes to light my fire, and in five more I had a delicious cup +of tea and some bread-and-butter all ready for F---. It was nearly +cold, however, by the time I could catch him and make him drink it. +Of course, being a man, instead of saying, "Thank you," or anything +of that sort, he merely remarked, "What nonsense!" but equally of +course, he was very glad to get it, and ate and drank it all up, +returning instantly to his shed. + +After this little episode, I set to work to unpack a little, and +make the sitting-room look the least bit more home-like; then I laid +the cloth for breakfast, put out the pie and potted meat, etc. (no +words can say how heartily tired of pies we both were before the +week was over), and arranged everything for breakfast. Then I +waylaid one of the numerous stray "hands" which hang about a station +at shearing time, and got him to fetch me a couple of buckets of +water as far as the verandah. These I conveyed myself into the +little sleeping-room, and finished my toilette at my leisure: +tidying it all up afterwards. I wonder if any one has any idea what +hot work it is making a bed? So hot, in fact, that I resolved in +future to be wise enough to finish all these domestic occupations +before I had my bath. The worst of getting up so early proved to be +that by nine o'clock I was very tired, and had nothing else to do +for the remainder of the long, noisy day. As for the meals, they +were wretchedly unsociable; for F--- only came in to snatch a +mouthful or two, standing, and it was of little use trying to make +things comfortable for him. I must confess here, what I would not +acknowledge at the time, that I found it a very long and dull visit. +My husband never had time to speak to me, and when he did, it was +only about sheep. I grew weary of living on cold meat, for it was +really too hot to cook; and my servants used to send me over, every +second day, cold fowls or pies; besides, one seemed to live in a +whirl and confusion of dust, and bleating, and barking. After the +day's work was fairly over, F--- used to rush in, seize a big +bath-towel, cry "I am off for a bathe in the creek," and only return +in time for supper and bed. The weather was all that a sheep-farmer +could desire. Bright, sunny, and clear, one lovely summer day +followed another; hot, almost to tropical warmth, without any risk +or fear of sun-stroke or head-ache, and a delicious lightness in the +atmosphere all the time, which merged into a cool bracing air the +moment the sun had slowly travelled behind the high hills to the +westward. + +But all these details, though necessary to make you understand what +I had been doing, are not the story itself, so to that we will hurry +on. The shearing was over; Saturday evening had come, as welcome to +poor imprisoned me as to any one, and the great work of the New +Zealand year had been most successfully accomplished. F--- was in +such good humour that he even deigned to admit that his own comfort +had been somewhat increased by my living at the home station, so I +felt quite rewarded for my many dreary hours. The shearers had been +paid, and were even then picking their way over the hills in little +groups of two and three; some, I grieve to say, bound for the +nearest accommodation-house or wayside inn, and others for the next +station, across the river, where the skillions were full, and +waiting for them to begin on Monday morning. Only half-a-dozen +people, instead of thirty, were left at our place, and there would +not even have been so many if it had not been thought well to keep a +few there until the bale-loft was empty. Generally it was arranged +for the wool-drays to follow each other every two days with a load +down to Christchurch; for the greatest risk a sheep-farmer runs is +from his shed taking fire whilst it is full of bales of wool. This +had happened often enough in the colony, and even in our +neighbourhood, to make us more and more careful every year; and, as +I have said, amongst our precautions, was that of keeping as little +wool as possible in the shed. Most flock-owners waited until the +shearing should be quite over before they carted the wool away; but +in that case, a spark from a pipe, a match carelessly dropped in a +tussock outside, when a nor'-wester was blowing,--and the slight +wooden building would be blazing like a torch, and your year's +income vanishing in the smoke! + +Even at the last moment, when the cart had already started +homewards, with the tin bath balanced once more on the top of the +mattresses and boxes; when the house was empty, and I was waiting, +my hat and jacket on, and flax-stick in hand, eager to set out, a +doubt arose about the expediency of our return home. Some +accidental delay had prevented the dray from arriving in time to +start for Christchurch with the last load, and between two and three +hundred pounds worth of wool still remained in the shed,--packed and +labelled indeed, but neither insured nor protected from the risk of +fire in any way. F--- was very loath to leave them there; but, +yielding to my entreaties, he called Pepper, the head shepherd, and +solemnly gave the wool-shed and its contents over into his charge, +with many and many a caution about fire. Pepper was as trustworthy +and steady a shepherd as any in the colony, and promised to "keep +his weather-eye open," as he phrased it, in nautical slang picked up +from some run-away sailor. + +All the way home F--- said from time to time, anxiously, "I wish the +shed was empty;" but I cheered him up, and told him he was +over-tired and unreasonably nervous, and so forth, but with a great +longing myself for Monday morning to come, and for the dray to take +its load and start. I need not dwell on how delicious it was to +return home, where everything seemed so comfortable and nice, and +the bed felt especially soft and welcome to tired limbs. Early were +our hours, you may be sure, and we slept the sleep of the +hard-worked until between two and three o'clock the next morning. +Then we were roused up by some one knocking loudly against our wide- +open latticed window. + +I was the first to hear the noise, and cried, "Who's there? what is +it?" all in a breath. + +"The wool-shed on fire," murmured F---, in a tone of agonized +conviction. + +"It's you that's wanted, please mum, this moment, over at the home +station!" I heard Pepper say, in impatient tones. + +"It's the wool-shed," repeated F---, more than half asleep, and with +only room for that one idea in his dreamy mind. + +"Nonsense!" I cried, jumping out of bed. "I should not be wanted if +the wool-shed were on fire. Don't you hear Pepper say he wants me?" + +"All right, then," said F---, actually turning over and proposing to +go to sleep again. But there was no more sleep for either of us +that night. Whilst I hastily put on my riding-habit, Pepper told +me, through the window; an incoherent tale of some one being at the +point of death, and wanting me to cure him, and the master to bring +over pen and ink, to make a will, and dying speeches and cold +shivers, all mixed up together in a tangle of words. F--- took some +minutes to understand that it was Fenwick, a gigantic Yorkshireman, +who had been seized with what Pepper would call the "choleraics," +and who, in spite of having swallowed all the mustard and rum and +"pain-killer" left on the premises, grew worse and worse every +moment. "He's dying, safe enough," concluded Pepper, "but he's main +anxious to see you, mum, and the master; and he wants a Bible +brought to swear him, and he's powerful uneasy to make his will." I +knew quite as little of medicine as my husband did of law, but of +course we decided instantly that we ought both to go and see what +could be done in any way to relieve either the body or mind of the +sufferer. + +We said to each other while we were hastily dressing, "How shall we +ever catch the horses? They have all been turned out, of course, as +no one thought they would be wanted until Monday; and who knows +where they have gone to?--miles away, perhaps; and it's pitch dark." +Judge, then, of our delighted surprise, when, on going out into the +verandah, preparatory to starting off to look for our steeds, we +found them standing at the gate, ready saddled and bridled. It +seemed like magic, but the good fairies in this case had been the +two guests to whom I have alluded as having arrived just as we were +starting for our picnic life. They were both "old chums," and +understood the situation instantly. Whilst we were questioning +Pepper (you can hear every word all over a New Zealand house), they +had jumped up, huddled on their clothes, and gone over the brow of +the hill to look for the horses. By great good fortune the whole +mob was found quietly camping in the sheltered valley full of sweet +grass, on its further side. To walk up to my pretty bay mare Helen, +and lay hold of her mane, and then, vaulting on her back, ride the +rest of the mob back into the stockyard, was, even in the deep +darkness of a midsummer night, no difficult task for eyes so +practised to catching horses under all circumstances. So here was +one obstacle suddenly smoothed, and as I hastily collected my few +simple remedies, consisting chiefly of flannel, chlorodyne, and +brandy, I could only trust and pray that poor Fenwick's case might +not be so desperate as Pepper represented it. + +To our impatience, the difficult track, with its swamps and holes, +its creeks to be jumped, and morasses to be avoided, seemed long +indeed; but to judge from the continued profound darkness,--that +inky blackness of the sky which is the immediate forerunner of +daylight,--the dawn could not be far off. How well I remember the +whole scene! F--- tied his white handkerchief on his arm, that +Helen and I might have a faint speck of light by which to guide +ourselves. Pepper rode close to me, pouring into my ears dismal +predictions of Fenwick's end; whilst I, amid all my anxiety, could +only think of the dangers of the track, and whether, in the pitchy +darkness, we should ever get to the home station. The dew fell so +heavily that more than once I thought it must be raining, but those +were only wind-clouds brooding in the great dark vault above us. +More welcome than ever sounded the bark of the dogs, which told us +we had reached the end of our stumbling ride; and the moment their +tongues woke up the silence, a lantern showed a ray of light to +guide us to the hut door. + +I jumped off my horse instantly, and went in. At first I thought my +patient was dead, for he lay, rigid and grey, in his bunk. At a +glance I perceived that nothing could really be done to help him +whilst he was lying on a high shelf, almost out of my reach, in a +small hut filled with bewildered men, who kept offering him from +time to time a "pull" at a particularly good pipe, having previously +poured all the grog they could muster down his throat, or rather +over his pillow (his saddle performed that duty by night), for he +had been unable to swallow for some hours. I remembered that there +were the bedsteads we had used at the house, and also some firewood +still left in the kitchen. Explaining to Pepper how he was to wrap +poor Fenwick in every available blanket in the place, and carry him +across the open space into the parlour, I hastily ran on before, got +some one to help me to drag one of the light frames into the +sitting-room, laced it before the fireplace, and then made up a good +blazing fire on the open hearth. By the time the dry wood was +crackling and sparkling out its cheery welcome, my patient arrived, +and was laid down, blankets and all, on the rude little bedstead, +before the blaze. By its fitful and uncertain light I proceeded to +examine the enormous frame stretched so helplessly before me, +feeling half afraid to touch him at all. F--- was very trying as an +assistant, for he looked on without making any suggestions, and only +said from time to time, "Take care: the man is dead." To my +inexperienced eyes he indeed seemed past all human help. His skin +was icy cold, and as wet as if he had been lying out in the dew. No +flutter of pulse, nor sign of breath, could my trembling efforts +discover; but I fancied there was the least little sign of pulsation +about his heart. Of course I had not the vaguest notion of what was +the matter with the man, for all Pepper could tell me was that +"Fenwick's been powerful bad, you bet." This does not sound a +minute diagnosis to go on, and the only remedies which presented +themselves to my mind were those I had studied as being useful for +the recovery of drowned persons. So to work I set, as if the poor +fellow had just been fished out of the creek; and whenever any one +wanted to teaze me afterwards they would declare I had insisted on +Fenwick's being held up by his heels. But of course that was all +nonsense. What I did really do was this, and a doctor in +Christchurch, whom I afterwards consulted as to my treatment, +assured me, laughingly, that it was "capital." + +I made Pepper and another man both rub the cold clammy body, as hard +as they could with mustard and hot flannel. I got some bottles +filled with hot water (for it did not take five minutes to boil the +kettle) and placed to his icy-cold feet and under his arms, then I +mixed a little very strong and hot brandy and water, to which I +added a few drops of chlorodyne, and gave him a teaspoonful every +five minutes. For the first half-hour there was no sign of life to +be detected, and the same horrible bluish pallor made poor Fenwick's +really handsome face look ghastly in the flickering light. My two +assistants were getting exhausted, and Pepper had more than once +murmured, with the recollection of the past fortnight's work strong +upon him, "Spell, oh!" or else "Shears!" [Note: the shearer's demand +for a few minutes rest] whilst his companion inquired pathetically, +"What was the use of flaying a dead man?" To these hints I paid no +attention, though my damp riding habit was steaming from the heat of +the fire and I felt dreadfully tired; for certainly there seemed to +my eyes a healthier tinge stealing over the rigid features, and it +could not be my fancy which detected a stronger effort to swallow +the last spoonful of brandy. + +I need not go into the details of my jumbled-up remedies; probably I +should bring upon myself serious remonstrances from the Royal Humane +Society, if my treatment of that unhappy man were made public. It +is enough to say that I "exhibited" mustard by the pound and brandy +by the quart, that I roasted him first on one side and then on the +other, that his true skin was rubbed off, that I chlorodyned him +until he slept for nearly a week, and that when he finally recovered +he declared he felt "as if he'd been dead:" "And no wonder," as +Pepper always remarked. The only clue I could get to the cause of +his illness was a shy confession, about a week afterwards, that he +had eaten a few mushrooms. Fenwick's idea of a few of anything was +generally a liberal notion. I questioned him narrowly as to what he +had had for supper the night he was taken ill, and this was his bill +of fare:-- + +"Well, you see, mum, I wasn't rightly hungry: it must have been them +gripses coming on. So I only had a shoulder (of mutton, _bien +entendu_; when Fenwick had really a good appetite he regarded +anything less than a whole leg of a sheep as an insult) that night, +half-a-dozen slap jacks, and a trifle of mushrooms." "How big were +the mushrooms?" I asked. "Oh, they was rather fine ones, mum, I +won't deny: they might have been the bigness of a plate." Now even +supposing them to have been perfectly wholesome, a few dozen +mushrooms of that size, eaten half raw with a whole shoulder of +mutton, are quite enough to my ignorant mind to account for so +severe a fit of the "choleraics." + + + +Chapter XVII: Odds and ends. + + +My nerves had hardly recovered the shock of having the care of such +a huge patient thrust on me; for, seriously speaking, Fenwick took a +good deal of nursing and attention before he got well again, when we +had another night alarm. Our beautiful summer weather was breaking +up; high nor'-westers had blown down the gorges for days, and now a +cold wet gale was coming up in heavy banks of fleecy clouds from the +sou'-west. Everything looked cold and wretched out of doors, but +the sheep-farmers were thankful and pleased. Their "mobs" could +find excellent shelter for themselves, for it takes _very_ bad +weather to hurt a Merino sheep, and the creeks had been running +rather low. "We shall have a splendid autumn after this is over," +said all the squatters gleefully, "with lots of feed: there's +Tyler's creek coming down beautifully." + +So I was fain to be content, though my fowls looked draggled and +wretched, and my pet patch of mignonette became a miniature desert, +its fragrance being all blown and rain-beaten away. Good fires of +lignite and wood made the house cheery, and we went to bed, hoping +for fine weather next day. In the middle of the night everyone was +awakened by a tremendous, echoing noise outside, whilst the frail +wooden house vibrated perceptibly. It could not be caused by the +wind: for, although the rain kept pouring steadily down, the furious +sou'-west gusts had long ago been beaten into a sullen silence by +the descending torrents. For a moment, and half-awake, an old +tropical reminiscence floated through my sleepy, startled mind: "Can +it be an earthquake?" I dreamily wondered. But, no earthquake of my +acquaintance was ever yet so resounding and noisy, for all its +crumbling horror: yet, the house was certainly shaking. "What is +it? What are you doing?" rang in shouts through the little +dwelling, as its dwellers came thronging, one after another, to our +door. Frightened as I was, I can perfectly remember how indignant I +felt, when it became clear to my mind that they all thought _we_ +were making such an uproar. How could we do it, if even we had +wished to get out of our warm beds, and create a disturbance on such +a wild night. + + +"Good gracious! the house is coming down," I cried, as a fresh +shudder ran through the slight framework of, our little wooden home. +"Pray go out, and see what is the matter." Thus urged, F--- opened +a casement on the sheltered side,--if any side could be said to be +sheltered in such weather,--and cautiously put his head out. I +peered over his shoulder, and never can I forget the ridiculous +sight which met our eyes. There, dripping and forlorn, huddled +together under the wide roof of our summer parlour, as the verandah +used to be often called, the whole mob of horses had gathered +themselves. The garden gate chanced to have been left open, and, +evidently under old Jack's' guidance, they had all walked into the +verandah, wandered disconsolately up and down its boarded floor, and +after partaking of a slight refreshment in the shape of my best +creepers, had proceeded to make themselves at home by rubbing their +wet sides against the pillars and the wooden sides of the house +itself. + +No wonder the noise had aroused us all. Ironshod hoofs clattering +up and down a boarded verandah is riot a silent performance; and +Jack was so cool and impudent about it, positively refusing to stir +from the sheltered corner by the silver-pheasants' aviary, which he +had chosen for himself. The other horses evidently felt they were +intruders, and were glad enough, on the flapping of a handkerchief, +to hurry out of their impromptu stables, making the best of their +way through the narrow garden gate, and so out upon the bleak hills +again. But Jack's conduct was very trying; he found himself +perfectly comfortable, and evidently intended to remain so; neither +for wishing nor coaxing, for fair words nor foul, would he stir. It +seemed so horrid to have to dress and go out in such a downpour of +rain, that we weakly deliberated on the expediency of letting the +cunning old stock-horse remain; but fortunately, at that moment he +began to scratch his ear with his hind foot, waking up a thousand +echoes against the side of the house as he did so, and making the +pictures dance again on the canvas and paper walls. "This will +never do," cried we all, desperately: "he sure must be taken to the +stable or he'll come back again." That was exactly what Jack meant +and wanted: so to the stable he went, under poor shivering Mr. U---'s +guidance, and the old rogue spent a dry, warm night under its roof. + +It was the more absurd Jack pretending to be afraid of a wet night, +when he had walked many and many a weary mile over the rough +mountain passes towards the West-Coast, with a heavy pack on his +back and in all sorts of weather. A tradition existed in our +neighbourhood that Jack had once been met crossing the Amuri Downs +with a small barrel-organ, an American cooking stove, and a sow with +a litter of young ones, all packed on his back, "and stepping out +bravely under them all," as my informant added. But I cannot vouch +for the truth of the items of this load. Jack's fame as a +stock-horse, as well as a pack-horse, stood high in the Malvern +Hills, but his conduct in the shafts was eccentric, to say the least +of it. He could not bear to be guided by his driver, and was always +squinting over his blinkers in the most ridiculous manner. If he +perceived a mob of cattle or horses on a distant flat, he would set +off to have a look at them and determine whether they were strangers +or friends, dragging the gig after him "over bank, bush, and scaur." + +Once when we were in great despair for a cart-horse, Jack was +elected to the post, but long before we had come to the journey's +end we regretted our choice. It was during the first summer of my +life in the Malvern Hills, and whilst the nor'-westers were still +steadily setting their breezy faces against such a new fangled idea +as a lawn. I had wearied of sowing grass seed at, a guinea a bag, +long before those extremely rude zephyrs got tired of blowing it all +out of the ground. There was my beautiful set of croquet, fresh +from Jacques, lying idle in its box in the verandah, and there was +my charming friend, Alice S---, longing for a game of croquet. When +pretty young ladies wish for anything very much, and the house is +full of gentlemen, it goes hard, but that they get the desire of +their innocent hearts. So it was in this case. One fine afternoon +Alice wandered into the verandah and peeped for the hundredth time +into the box. "What beautiful things," she sighed, "and how hard it +is we can't have a game." "I know a patch of self-sown grass," sang +one of the party, "whereon we might play a game." "Where: oh, +where?" we asked, in eager chorus. "About two miles from this, near +a deserted shepherd's hut; it is as thick and soft as green velvet, +and the sheep keep it quite short." "Is the ground level?" we +inquired. "As flat as this table," was the satisfactory answer. + +Of course we wanted to start immediately, but how were we to get the +croquet things there, to say nothing of the delightful excuse for +tea out of doors which immediately presented itself to my +ever-thirsty mind. A dray was suggested (carriages we had none; +there being no roads for them if we had possessed such vehicles); +but alas, and alas! the proper dray and driver and horse were all +away, on an expedition up a distant gulley getting out some +brush-wood for fires. "There's Jack," some one said, doubtfully. +He had never even drawn a dray in his life, so far as we knew, but +at the same time we felt sure that when once Jack understood what +was required of him, he would do his best to help us to get to our +croquet ground. So we flew off to our different duties. Alice to +see that the balls, hoops, and mallets were all right in numbers and +colours, &c.; I to pack a large open basket with the materials for +my favourite form of dissipation--an out-door tea; and the gentlemen +to catch Jack and harness him into the cart. + +Peals of laughter announced the setting forth of the expedition; and +no wonder! Inside the dray, which was a very light and crazy old +affair, was seated Alice on an empty flour-sack; by her side I +crouched on an old sugar bag, one of my arms keeping tight hold of +my beloved tea-basket with its jingling contents, whilst the other +was desperately clutching at the side of the dray. On a board +across the front three gentlemen were perched, each wanting to +drive, exactly like so many small children in a goat carriage, and +like them, one holding the reins, the other the whip, and the third +giving good advice. In the shafts stood poor shaggy old Jack, +looking over his blinkers as much as to say, "What do you want me to +do now?" Our good humoured and stalwart cadet Mr. U---, walked +backwards, holding out a carrot and calling Jack to come and eat it. + +In this extraordinary fashion we proceeded down the flat for two or +three hundred yards, one carrot succeeding the other in Jack's jaws +rapidly. Mr. U--- was just beginning to say "Look here: don't you +think we ought to take turns at this?" when Jack caught sight of a +creek right before him. He only knew of one way of crossing such +obstacles, and that was to jump them. No one calculated on the +sudden rush and high bound into the air with which he triumphantly +cleared the water; knocking Mr. U--- over, and scattering his three +drivers like summer leaves on the track. As for Alice and me, the +inside passengers, we found the sensation of jumping a creek in a +dray most unpleasant. All the croquet balls leapt wildly up into +the air to fall like a wooden hailstorm around us. The mallets and +hoops bruised us from our head to our feet; and the contents of my +basket were utterly ruined. Not only had my tea-cups and saucers +come together in one grand smash, but the kettle broke the bottle of +cream, which in its turn absorbed all the sugar. Jack looked coolly +round at us with an air of mild satisfaction, as if he thought he +had done something very clever, whilst our shrieks were rending the +air. + +What a merry, light-hearted time of one's life was that! We all had +to work hard, and our amusements were so simple and Arcadian that I +often wonder if they really did amuse us so much as we thought they +did at the moment. Let all New Zealanders who doubt this, look into +those perhaps closed chapters of their lives, and as memory turns +over the leaves one by one, and pictures like the sketches I try to +reproduce in pen and ink, grow into distinctness out of the dim +past, it will indeed "surprise me very much," if they do not say, as +I do,--my pleasant task ended,--"Ah, those were happy days indeed!" + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Station Amusements, by Lady Barker + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATION AMUSEMENTS *** + +This file should be named stnms10.txt or stnms10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, stnms11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, stnms10a.txt + +Produced by P J Riddick + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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