Chapter XXV.
The Man with the Bear-Skin Cap.
One evening a raggedly-dressed man, with a swag on his back, abear-skin cap on his head, and a sheath-knife in his belt, came to ourplace and took possession of the barn. Dad ordered him off. The manoffered to fight Dad for the barn. Dad ran in and got the gun. Thenthe man picked up his swag and went away. The incident caused muchtalk for a few days, but we soon forgot all about it; and the man withthe bear-skin cap passed from our minds.
Church service was to be held at our selection. It was the firstoccasion, in fact, that the Gospel had come to disturb the contentedlyirreligious mind of our neighbourhood. Service was to open at 3 p.m.;at break-of-day we had begun to get ready.
Nothing but bustle and hurry. Buttons to be sewn on Dave's shirt;Dad's pants--washed the night before and left on the clothes-line allnight to bleach--lost; Little Bill's to be patched up generally; Mothertrotting out to the clothes-line every minute to see if Joe's coat wasdry. And, what was unusual, Dave, the easy-going, took a notion tospruce himself up. He wandered restlessly from one room to another,robed in a white shirt which was n't starched or ironed, trying hard tofix a collar to it. He had n't worn the turn-out for a couple of years,and, of course, had grown out of it, but this did n't seem to strikehim. He tugged and fumbled till he lost patience; then he sat on thebed and railed at the women, and wished that the shirt and the collar,and the church-service and the parson, were in Heaven. Mother offeredto fasten the collar, but when she took hold of it--forgetting that herhands were covered with dough and things--Dave flew clean off thehandle! And when Sal advised him to wear his coloured shirt, same asDad was going to do, and reminded him that Mary Anderson might n't comeat all, he aimed a pillow at her and knocked Little Bill under thetable, and scattered husks all over the floor. Then he fled to thebarn and refused dinner.
Mid-day, and Dad's pants not found. We searched inside and outside andround about the pig-sty, and the hay-stack, and the cow-yard; and eyedthe cows, and the pet kangaroo, and the draught-horses with suspicion;but saw nothing of the pants. Dad was angry, but had to make the mostof an old pair of Dave's through the legs of which Dad thrust himself alot too far. Mother and Sal said he looked well enough in them, butlaughed when he went outside.
The people commenced to arrive on horseback and in drays. The womenwent on to the verandah with their babies; the men hung round outsideand waited. Some sat under the peach-tree and nibbled sticks andkilled green-heads; others leant against the fence; while a numbergathered round the pig-sty and talked about curing bacon.
The parson came along. All of them stared at him; watched him unsaddlehis horse and hunt round for a place to fasten the beast. Theyregarded the man in the long black coat with awe and wonder.
Everything was now ready, and, when Dad carried in the side-boards ofthe dray and placed them on boxes for seat accommodation, the clergymanawaited his congregation, which had collected at the back-door.Anderson stepped in; the rest followed, timid-looking, and stood roundthe room till the clergyman motioned them to sit. They sat and watchedhim closely.
"We'll now join in singing hymn 499," said the parson, commencing tosing himself. The congregation listened attentively, but did n't joinin. The parson jerked his arms encouragingly at them, which only madethem the more uneasy. They did n't understand. He snapped his armsharder, as he lifted his voice to the rafters; still they only stared.At last Dad thought he saw through him. He bravely stood up and lookedhard at the others. They took the hint and rose clumsily to theirfeet, but just then the hymn closed, and, as no one seemed to knowwhen to sit again, they remained standing.
They were standing when a loud whip-crack sounded close to the house,and a lusty voice roared:
"Wah Tumbler! Wah Tumbler! Gee back, Brandy! Gee back,you----!----!!----!!!"
People smiled. Then a team of bullocks appeared on the road. Thedriver drawled, "Wa-a-a-y!" and the team stopped right in front of thedoor. The driver lifted something weighty from the dray and struggledto the verandah with it and dropped it down. It was a man. Thebullock-driver, of course, did n't know that a religious service wasbeing conducted inside, and the chances are he did n't much care. Heonly saw a number of faces looking out, and talked at them.
"I've a ---- cove here," he said, "that I found lying on the ----plain. Gawd knows what's up with him--I don't. A good square feed isabout what he wants, I reckon." Then he went back for the man's swag.
Dad, after hesitating, rose and went out. The others followed like aflock of sheep; and the "shepherd" brought up the rear. Church wasout. It gathered around the seeming corpse, and stared hard at it. Dadand Dave spoke at the same time.
"Why," they said, "it's the cove with the bear-skin cap!" Sure enoughit was. The clergyman knelt down and felt the man's pulse; then wentand brought a bottle from his valise--he always carried the bottle, hesaid, in case of snake-bite and things like that--and poured some ofthe contents down the man's throat. The colour began to come to theman's face. The clergyman gave him some more, and in a while the manopened his eyes. They rested on Dad, who was bending benignly over him.He seemed to recognise Dad. He stared for some time at him, then saidsomething in a feeble whisper, which the clergyman interpreted--"Hewishes you--" looking at Dad--"to get what's in his swag if he dies."Dad nodded, and his thoughts went sadly back to the day he turned thepoor devil out of the barn.
They carried the man inside and placed him on the sofa. But soon hetook a turn. He sank quickly, and in a few moments he was dead. In afew moments more nearly everyone had gone.
"While you are here," Dad said to the clergyman, in a soft voice, "I'llopen the swag." He commenced to unroll it--it was a big blanket--andwhen he got to the end there were his own trousers--the lost ones,nothing more. Dad's eyes met Mother's; Dave's met Sal's; none of themspoke. But the clergyman drew his own conclusions; and on thefollowing Sunday, at Nobby-Nobby, he preached a stirring sermon on thattouching bequest of the man with the bear-skin cap.
Chapter XXVI.
One Christmas.
Three days to Christmas; and how pleased we were! For months we hadlooked forward to it. Kate and Sandy, whom we had only seen once sincethey went on their selection, were to be home. Dave, who was awayshearing for the first time, was coming home too. Norah, who had beenaway for a year teaching school, was home already. Mother said shelooked quite the lady, and Sal envied the fashionable cut of herdresses.
Things were in a fair way at Shingle Hut; rain had fallen andeverything looked its best. The grass along the headlands was almostas tall as the corn; the Bathurst-burr, the Scotch-thistles, and the"stinking Roger" were taller. Grow! Dad never saw the like. Why, thecultivation was n't large enough to hold the melon and pumpkinvines--they travelled into the horse-paddock and climbed up trees andover logs and stumps, and they would have fastened on the horses onlythe horses were fat and fresh and often galloped about. And the stock!Blest if the old cows did n't carry udders like camp-ovens, and had somuch milk that one could track them everywhere they went--they leakedso. The old plough-horses, too--only a few months before dug out ofthe dam with a spade, and slung up between heaven and earth for a week,and fed and prayed for regularly by Dad--actually bolted one day withthe dray because Joe rattled a dish of corn behind them. Even the petkangaroo was nearly jumping out of its skin; and it took the big black"goanna" that used to come after eggs all its time to beat Dad from thebarn to the nearest tree, so fat was it. And such a season forbutterflies and grasshoppers, and grubs and snakes, and native bears!Given an ass, an elephant, and an empty wine-bottle or two, and onemight have thought Noah's ark had been emptied at our selection.
Two days to Christmas. The sun getting low. An old cow and a heiferin the stock-yard. Dad in, admiring them; Mother and Sal squintingthrough the rails; little Bill perched on one of the round posts,nursing the steel and a long knife; Joe running hard from the barn witha plough-rein.
Dad was w
ondering which beast to kill, and expressed a preference forthe heifer. Mother said, "No, kill the cow." Dad inspected the cowagain, and shook his head.
"Well, if you don't she'll only die, if the winter's a hard one; thenyou'll have neither." That settled it. Dad took the rope from Joe,who arrived aglow with heat and excitement, and fixed a running nooseon one end of it. Then--
"Hunt 'em round!" he cried.
Joe threw his hat at them, and chased them round and round the yard.Dad turned slowly in the centre, like a ring-master, his eye on thecow; a coil of rope was in this left hand, and with the right hemeasuredly swung the loop over and over his head for some time. Atlast the cow gave him a chance at her horns, and he let fly. The ropewhizzed across the yard, caught little Bill round the neck, and broughthim down off the post. Dad could hardly believe it. He first stared atBill as he rolled in the yard, then at the cow. Mother wished to knowif he wanted to kill the boy, and Joe giggled and, with a deal ofcourage, assured Dad it was "a fine shot." The cow and the heifer raninto a corner, and switched their tails, and raked skin and hair offeach other with their horns.
"What do you want to be always stuck in the road for?" Dad growled,taking the rope off little Bill's neck. "Go away from herealtogether!" Little Bill went away; so did Mother and Sal--until Dadhad roped the cow, which was n't before he twice lassoed theheifer--once by the fore-leg and once round the flanks. The cowthereupon carried a panel of the yard away, and got out and careereddown the lane, bucking and bellowing till all the cattle of the countrygathered about her.
Dad's blood was up. He was hanging on to the rope, his heels ploughingthe dust, and the cow pulling him about as she liked. The sun wassetting; a beautiful sunset, too, and Mother and Sal were admiring it.
"Did y' never see th' blasted sun go--go down be----" Dad did n'tfinish. He feet slid under a rail, causing him to relax his grip of therope and sprawl in the dust. But when he rose!
"Are y' going t' stand staring there all night?" They were beside therails in an instant, took the end of the rope which he passed to them,put it once round the gallows-post, and pulled-pulled like sailors.Dad hung on close to the cow's head, while Joe kicked her with his barefoot and screwed her tail.
"Steady!" said Dad, "that'll about do." Then, turning to the women ashe mounted a rail and held the axe above the cow's head: "Hang onthere now!" They closed their eyes and sat back. The cow was verypatient. Dad extended himself for a great effort, but hesitated. Joecalled out: "L-l-ook out th' axe dud-dud-don't fly and gug-gug-get me,Dad!" Dad glanced quickly at it, and took aim again. Down it came,whish! But the cow moved, and he only grazed her cheek. She bellowedand pulled back, and Mother and Sal groaned and let the rope go. Thecow swung round and charged Joe, who was standing with his mouth open.But only a charge of shot could catch Joe; he mounted the rails like acat and shook his hat at the beast below.
After Dad had nearly brained her with a rail the cow was dragged to thepost again; and this time Dad made no mistake. Down she dropped, and,before she could give her last kick, all of us entered the yard andapproached her boldly. Dad danced about excitedly, asking for the longknife. Nobody knew where it was. "DAMN it, where is it?" he cried,impatiently. Everyone flew round in search of it but Joe. HE wascurious to know if the cow was in milk. Dad noticed him; sprang uponhim; seized him by the shirt collar and swung him round and trailed himthrough the yard, saying: "Find me th' knife; d' y' HEAR?" It seemedto sharpen Joe's memory, for he suddenly remembered having stuck it inone of the rails.
Dad bled the beast, but it was late before he had it skinned anddressed. When the carcase was hoisted to the gallows--and it seemedgruesome enough as it hung there in the pallid light of the moon, withthe night birds dismally wailing like mourners from the lonelytrees--we went home and had supper.
Christmas Eve. Mother and Sal had just finished papering the walls,and we were busy decorating the place with green boughs, when Sandy andKate, in their best clothes--Kate seated behind a well-filledpillow-slip strapped on the front of her saddle; Sandy with the baby infront of him--came jogging along the lane. There was commotion!Everything was thrown aside to receive them. They were surrounded atthe slip-rails, and when they got down--talk about kissing! Dad wasthe only one who escaped. When the hugging commenced he poked his headunder the flap of Kate's saddle and commenced unbuckling the girth.Dad had been at such receptions before. But Sandy took it all meekly.And the baby! (the dear little thing) they scrimmaged about it, andmugged it, and fought for possession of it until Sandy became alarmedand asked them to "Mind!"
Inside they sat and drank tea and talked about things that had happenedand things that had n't happened. Then they got back to the baby anddisagreed on the question of family likeness. Kate thought theyoungster was the dead image of Sandy about the mouth and eyes. Salsaid it had Dad's nose; while Mother was reminded of her dear oldgrandmother every time the infant smiled. Joe ventured to think itresembled Paddy Maloney far more than it did Sandy, and was told to runaway and put the calves in. The child was n't yet christened, and therest of the evening was spent selecting a name for it. Almost everyappellation under the sun was suggested and promptly rejected. Theycould n't hit on a suitable one, and Kate would n't have anything thatwas n't nice, till at last Dad thought of one that pleasedeverybody--"Jim!"
After supper, Kate started playing the concertina, and the Andersonsand Maloneys and several others dropped in. Dad was pleased to seethem; he wished them all a merry Christmas, and they wished him thesame and many of them. Then the table was put outside, and the roomcleared for a dance. The young people took the floor and waltzed, Idare say, for miles--their heads as they whirled around tossing thegreen bushes that dangled from the rafters; while the old people, withbeaming faces, sat admiring them, and swaying their heads about andbeating time to the music by patting the floor with their feet.Someone called out "Faster!" Kate gave it faster. Then to see them andto hear the rattle of the boots upon the floor! You'd think they werebeing carried away in a whirlwind. All but Sal and Paddy Maloney gaveup and leant against the wall, and puffed and mopped their faces andtheir necks with their pocket-handkerchiefs.
Faster still went the music; faster whirled Sal and Paddy Maloney. AndPaddy was on his mettle. He was lifting Sal off her feet. But Katewas showing signs of distress. She leaned forward, jerked her headabout, and tugged desperately at the concertina till both handles leftit. That ended the tussle; and Paddy spread himself on the floor, hisback to the wall, his legs extending to the centre of the room, hischin on his chest, and rested.
Then enjoyment at high tide; another dance proposed; Sal trying hard topersuade Dad to take Mother or Mrs. Maloney up; Dad saying "Tut, tut,tut!"--when in popped Dave, and stood near the door. He had n'tchanged his clothes, and was grease from top to toe. A saddle-strapwas in one hand, his Sunday clothes, tied up in a handkerchief, in theother, and his presence made the room smell just like a woolshed.
"Hello, Dave!" shouted everyone. He said "Well!" and dropped his hatin a corner. No fuss, no kissing, no nothing about Dave. Mother askedif he did n't see Kate and Sandy (both were smiling across the room athim), and he said "Yairs"; then went out to have a wash.
All night they danced--until the cocks crew--until the darkness gaveway to the dawn--until the fowls left the roost and came round thedoor--until it was Christmas Day!
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