The Gilpins and their Fortunes: A Story of Early Days in Australia, Page 2

  CHAPTER TWO.

  A dray, similar in construction to that used by brewers in England, butdrawn by oxen, and laden with all sorts of stores, such as are requiredon an Australian farm--tea, carpenters' tools and agriculturalimplements, groceries and casks of liquor, clothing and furniture--wasmaking its way towards the north-east from Sydney. There was thebullock-driver in charge, with his chum, a newly hired hand, and SamGreen, who walked or sat on the dray; while the two Gilpins rodealongside on horses, provided by Mr Prentiss. They were dressed morein the Australian style than when they landed, and in a way much bettersuited to the climate. The road had been excellent for a hundred milesor more, with numerous villages near it, and a large proportion ofhouses of entertainment, so that they had no want of accommodation whenthey halted. They had now for some time left the high-road, and thoughthere were inns, and occasionally villages, and farms, and stockstations, they had sometimes to depend on their own resources, and tobivouac in the bush. This the young immigrants found by far thepleasantest part of their journey. The oxen were turned loose to grazeat leisure; sticks were collected, and a fire lighted for boiling thetea-kettle and cooking the damper. The old hands troubled themselvesvery little about their night's lodging; they, like Sam Green, weresatisfied with the bare ground under the dray if it threatened rain, oranywhere near it if the weather was fine. A small tent had beenprovided by Mr Prentiss, which, with some ticking filled with drygrass, gave the Gilpins a luxurious lodging for the night. They couldscarcely go to sleep on turning in for their first real night in thebush, from the novelty of the scene and the prospects opening up tothem. Before dawn they both started up, awoke by the strangest and mostdiscordant sounds.

  "What can it be?" cried James.

  "An attack of the blacks," said Arthur, rubbing his eyes. "But no!Listen! They are birds, I verily believe; but the strangest birds Iever heard."

  He was right: there was the hideous, unearthly cry of thelaughing-jackass, called often the bushman's clock; the screaming cry ofthousands of parrots flying here and there through the forest; there wasthe cackle of the wattle-bird, the clear notes of the magpie, and theconfused chattering of thousands of leather-heads; while many otherbirds added their notes to the discordant chorus, and speedily banishedsleep from the eyes of their hearers. The stockmen started to theirfeet, and hurried off to bring in the oxen and horses; a fire waslighted, tea boiled, breakfast discussed with considerable rapidity;and, before the sun was up, the party had recommenced their journeyalong the dusty dray-track--for as yet it deserved that name rather thana road. The scenery was varied, and often very beautiful when viewedunder a clear blue sky and bright sun. The beds of streams werefrequently passed, but they were either dry altogether, or occasionalholes only with water in them could be seen here and there along thecourse, or, if nowhere dry, they were easily forded. The Irishbullock-driver, Larry Killock, told Sam that, in the rainy season, thesewere often foaming torrents, rushing on with terrific noise, andsweeping away everything they meet.

  "Many a poor fellow has been drowned in trying to cross on horsebackwhere, perhaps, he went over with dry feet a few days before," saidLarry.

  "That's after the snow melts," observed Sam.

  "Snow! man alive! It's a small matter of snow comes down from the skyin this beautiful country, except, now and then, on the top of the BlueMountains out there; though, as for frosts, it's cold enough on the highground in July and August, when the south wind blows, to make a fellowblow his fingers to keep them warm, and to think a blazing fire and ablanket pleasant companions."

  Sam thought that Larry was quizzing him, but still he did not like toaccuse him directly. "It's a strange country this, then, muster, I'mthinking," he remarked cautiously.

  "Strange! It is a strange country, faith!" answered Larry. "It issummer here when, by all dacent rules, it should be winter; the southwind is cold, and the north blazing hot. There are creatures with fourlegs which have ducks' heads; and birds, with long legs and no wings, astall as horses; while some of the animals stow their young away in a bagin front of them, instead of letting them follow properly at theirheels, as pigs and ducks and hens do in the old country. The trees shedtheir bark instead of their leaves; and it's only just surprising to methat the people walk on their feet instead of their heads, and that thesun thinks fit to rise in the east instead of the west; and it's oftenwhen I wake in the mornin' that I look out expecting to see that he'sgrown tired of his old ways, and changed to suit the other things in theland."

  Sam, who could appreciate an English style of joke, was unable to makeout whether or not the Irishman was in earnest; but he thought it wiseto wait till he could learn the truth from his young friends, when theycamped in the evening.

  "It's only just come out, ye are?" asked Larry.

  Sam told him all about himself, as he had told Sykes, expecting an equalamount of communicativeness in return. "You've been some time in thecountry, master, I'm thinking? How did you come out?"

  Larry looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. "Faith, that's just asacret between myself and them who knows all about it," he answered,with a laugh. "It's my belief that the big-wigs across the fish-pondhad just an idea of the mighty great value I'd be to the country, andsent me out free of all charge to myself and family intirely."

  The scenery improved as the travellers advanced, and contrastedfavourably with the dusty, stony, and worn-out region through which theyhad passed nearer the capital.

  "Horrible farming!" observed James; "if such were practised in Englanduniversally, the whole country would become a desert in a few years."

  Sometimes they passed through scenery like that of a park in England,with open green pastures sprinkled with clumps of trees; some deservingthe names of woods, others consisting but of a few trees. The greaternumber were _Eucalypti_ the evergreen gum, and stringy-bark trees; buton the banks of streams and on the hillsides, and sometimes in rich,alluvial valleys, such as are found in the northern hemisphere and inless sunny climes, were to be seen flowers, of great size and beauty,such as flourish only in greenhouses in England; while a great varietyof the orchis tribe, and geraniums, both large and small, were found ingreat profusion. The trees, the names of many of which were given byLarry, bore little or no resemblance to those of the same name at home.Among the most common were the box, wattle, and cherry; but undoubtedlythe most prominent everywhere in the landscape were the old gum trees,and the huge iron stringy-bark trees, which, now with shattered andweird appearance, had braved the fierce storms of winter and the hotblasts of summer for centuries. Many strange birds flew by overhead,and still stranger wild animals started up from beneath some shelteringbush, and ran off along the fresh glades, all reminding the new-comershow far distant they were from the home of their childhood.

  The old settled district had been left far behind before the animal theymost wished to see started up near them. He was a large creature, fullfive feet in height as he sat upright under the scant shade of avenerable gum tree, contemplating apparently the scene before him. Hislong tail was stretched out on the ground behind him--an importantsupport, and his little fore-paws tucked up in front. James and Arthurwere ahead of their party, and so quietly had their horses trod over thesoft ground that he did not appear to have heard them. They possessedguns, parting gifts from Mr Prentiss; but, not being required as ameans of defence or offence, they had been left in the dray. Thekangaroo ("an old man" Larry called him) at length, hearing a sound,turned his mild, intelligent countenance towards them, and as he did soinstantly gave a spring forward, startling them by its suddenness andthe extent of ground it cleared. Away he went, moving with similarsprings, at a rate fleet as that of the deer. In vain Larry and the menwith the dray shouted and ran after him with their guns. He was out ofrange before they could lift them to their shoulders. Larry said thatpossibly a mob might be come upon before long. In another hour or so,as they were travelling along a somewhat stony ridge, a large number ofcreatures
were seen in the fertile valley below them. Some were lyingstretched at length on their sides, some were frisking about, round andover each other, and others were sitting up, sedately watching the rest.

  "Hurra, now! There's the mob I told you of!" shouted Larry. "If we hadbut the dogs and the master's rifle, we'd have more kangaroo steaks forsupper than we'd eat in a week."

  He could scarcely restrain himself from leaving his bullocks and givingchase; he made a start indeed, but checked himself in time, seeing thatthe probable result would have been the upsetting of his dray and thedestruction of most of its cargo. The young Gilpins with Sam foundtheir way down the hill, hoping to ride down one of them; but the quickscent and keen eyes of the animals discovered their approach, and in aninstant all were up on their feet and tails ready for a start--themothers picking up the young joeys and putting them into their pouches--and off went the entire herd down the valley, springing along in themost curious fashion, till they were out of sight.

  Sam Green's open eyes of astonishment were very amusing. "Well! Ialways did think that animals had four legs, and there they go just twoand a tail, a-skipping like grasshoppers over the ground. Well, well,well!" he continued ejaculating till they disappeared. "There they go;there they go! There's nothing I won't believe after that!"

  Their adventures as they travelled on were to be singularly few, theythought. Now a dingo or wild dog, now a toombat or opossum, made itsappearance, and created matter of interest and inquiry. One evening,after they had camped on the borders of a wide plain, containing finesheep-runs, which they were to cross the next day, the brothers led ontheir horses to find better feed than appeared near at hand; and, havingtethered them, they sat down to talk over the future, and to communewith themselves. Their heads had been resting on their hands for sometime, when Arthur, looking up, saw a creature approaching from adistance. That it was an emu they guessed at once. They sat still,afraid of frightening it away. It stalked leisurely on towards theirhorses, not noticing them. Its head seemed fully six feet from theground, at the end of a long neck; its legs were thick, to support itsfat, tub-shaped body, of a brownish-black colour. Reaching the horses,it stopped, made a curious noise, which sounded like "Boo!" in theirfaces, and which caused them to start back. James and Arthur, thinkingthat their steeds would have broken their tethers, jumped up, when theemu, having satisfied his curiosity, turned round and trotted off, at apace which showed that he had no fear of being pursued.

  Towards the close of the day the travellers, after crossing an elevateddown, saw before them a silvery stream running through a wide valleytowards the east, its banks fringed by a variety of trees; while not farfrom them, amid a grove of fruit trees, appeared a prettydwelling-house, with a verandah running round it, and near at hand,barns, sheds, stables, and other outhouses. A closer inspection showedthem that there were carpenters' and blacksmiths shops; indeed, it was acomplete farm establishment on a large scale.

  As riding on, in advance of the dray, they reached the door, a stout,hearty-looking old gentleman came out to meet them, and welcomed them inthe most cordial manner. Their horses were quickly unsaddled and turnedinto a paddock, and they themselves conducted into the house, andintroduced to the members of the family as late arrivals from the oldcountry. All welcomed them; and they were soon seated at a well-coveredsupper-table, surrounded by the various inmates of the house. The youngstrangers were surprised to find that the letter of introduction theybrought had not been read, and that the kindness they were receiving wasquite independent of anything that might be said in their favour. Itwas not till the next day that the old Mr Prentiss alluded to it. "Wereceived you, young gentlemen, as strangers," he remarked; "but I littlethought how much I owed you for saving from injury, if not death, thoseso dear to me."

  James and Arthur Gilpin agreed that their "lines had fallen to them inpleasant places." They were treated as members of the family, and, whatwas of the greatest consequence to them as intending settlers, they wereshown all the operations taking place on the farm. As they gavediligent attention to everything they saw, they rapidly acquired asufficient knowledge of agriculture and of the management of sheep andcattle, as practised in Australia, to enable them, with their previousexperience as farmers in England, to commence farming on their ownaccount.

  While, however, they were in search of a station to suit them, MrPrentiss received an application to find a gentleman capable of takingthe management of a sheep and cattle farm, about a hundred and fiftymiles off. "Quite in our neighbourhood, as we measure distances in thiscountry," he remarked. He proposed to the young Gilpins that theyshould accept the post. "You will be allowed to keep a proportion ofsheep and cattle on your own account, and receive wages for lookingafter those of your employer, so that you will gain in both ways. Youwill find also an established system by which, if it prove a good one,time and labour may be saved. I would gladly find you employment, butthis will be far more to your advantage. It was hoped, I believe, thatone of my own sons would take it."

  The brothers at once agreed to accept the offer.