Adventures in Australia

  CHAPTER THREE.

  We spent a pleasant evening with Bracewell, talking over old times andour future prospects. He gave us a great deal of good advice, by whichwe hoped to profit.

  "I am very glad you have come out, old fellows, for I am sure you willsucceed if you stick to work," he observed. "I have not done badly. Ibegan with eight head of cattle, and now I have three hundred; and withforty sheep, which have become upwards of two thousand. I should havehad a larger number had I known more of the business when I commenced,but I have lost many by disease and dingoes, and the natives. You mustmake up your mind to take the rough and smooth together, and not despairthough you happen to get what they call a run of ill-luck--which in ninecases out of ten arises from a man's carelessness. I confess that Ihave sometimes felt my solitude; but yet, with my friends on the shelvesup there, and these faithful animals at my feet, I have had no greatreason to complain. I also remember that I should have been much worseoff in many respects had I remained at home."

  "But what about the blacks and the bushrangers?" asked Guy.

  "The blacks have been troublesome at times, but I have hitherto beenable to keep them at bay," answered Bracewell; "and with regard to thebushrangers, none have ever paid me a visit. The fellows who stuck meup the other day were the first I had the misfortune to fall in with. Iwonder if Vinson recognised me; but I think not, or if he did he keptout of sight. I am grieved to think it was him, as he will certainly,before long, come to an untimely end; for no bushranger ultimatelyescapes, and most of them run but a very short career: they either getshot or die of starvation and sickness in the bush."

  When we talked of continuing our journey the next day, Bracewell wouldnot hear of it.

  "Your relative does not expect you," he observed, "and you will pick upmore useful knowledge on my station than you will on a more extensiverun; besides which I want you to have some hunting with me, to show youthis part of the country."

  Nothing loth, we agreed to Bracewell's proposal. It was not until alate hour, for the bush, that we turned into our bunks in one of theside-rooms, which he told us he kept as his guest-chamber. Bracewellslept in a hammock in the sitting-room, while old Bob occupied the otherroom.

  The first day we spent riding over the run, visiting the cattle andinspecting the sheep. In the evening Bracewell proposed that we shouldgo into the neighbouring wood in search of opossum, whose skins hewished to obtain to make some rugs, which he said he wanted to sleep onwhen camping out or to serve as coverlets in cold weather. His shepherdpossessed a couple of small dogs, famous opossum hunters. The sheephaving been penned, their master was requested to accompany us.

  The Australian opossum is a long-bodied short-legged little animal, witha furry tail by which he can suspend himself on the branches of trees,while it assists him to make rapid progress among them. He is fond ofhiding himself in the holes of decayed trees, out of which it is no easymatter to smoke him. Being a nocturnal animal he is more generallycaptured during the day-time, for the bright light of the sun puzzleshim and he knows not in what direction to make his escape.

  We soon arrived at a large hole in a gum-tree round which the dogs beganbarking, leaving us no doubt that several opossums were ensconcedwithin. Our first care was to collect a quantity of sticks and greenleaves; when, a fire being kindled inside the hole, the smoke began toascend, filling the whole of the cavity, which extended to where theboughs branched off. The moon having risen, we could see almost as wellas in daylight. Before long, three or four little creatures emergedfrom the hole and began to make their way upwards. One, however, almostsuffocated by the smoke, fell to the ground; when the dogs, instantlypouncing upon it, would have torn it to pieces had not their masterpulled them off. Guy shot another, and two more were brought to theground by the sticks which the rest of us hove at them before they hadrecovered their senses, after having been so unexpectedly smoked out oftheir nests.

  We were equally successful with two other trees, round which the dogsgave tongue, and after an hour's hunting we returned carrying ourprizes, which took Bracewell and his shepherd some time to clean.

  "Of course opossum hunting is but tame work, I'll allow," exclaimedBracewell while washing his hands after having cleaned the last of thebeasts; "but as you are both good horsemen and have steady nerves wewill to-morrow go in chase of some wild cattle which have appeared inthe bush not far off. I should not object to kill a couple of them, aswe are in want of fresh meat and I cannot afford to slaughter my sheep.Perhaps on the way we may fall in with a kangaroo, which is sure to giveus good sport."

  Next morning found us all three galloping along through the open forest.We trusted entirely to Bracewell's guidance, for before we had gone amile, I confess I should have had a difficulty in finding my way backagain.

  "We are in luck," cried Bracewell, as in less than half an hour wecaught sight of four head of the wild cattle we were in search of. Aswe approached they began pawing on the ground, sticking out their tailsand looking anything but amiable.

  "They will charge if we don't take care," observed Bracewell. "Shoutand crack your whips, that will make them show us their flanks."

  We had, I should have said, our guns in readiness, and a brace ofpistols in our belts, so that we were well armed for the encounter witha wild bull, who, looking upon human beings and every other animal asenemies, was a dangerous character to engage.

  Bracewell had before instructed us how to act under such ordinarycircumstances as were likely to occur. The cracking of our whips, andour loud shouts, at length frightened the three bulls, and instead ofrunning at us they turned tail and off they went.

  "Tally-ho!" shouted Bracewell, and we made chase.

  Our object was now to overtake them. Bracewell having got up to apowerful red bull, for a few seconds he and the animal kept timetogether; then gaining a little and keeping it on his right side hefired, and the superb beast, with a low bellow, crashed headlong to theground. Pulling up for a moment he galloped after me, as I dashed onclose to another bull I had singled out; but in consequence of a fallentree which would have compelled me to slacken speed, I had ranged up onthe wrong side, so that I could not fire with due effect. Fearinghowever that the bull would escape, I took the best aim I could, fired,and wounded it. The bull, maddened with rage, charged wildly at myhorse.

  "Spur for your life," shouted Bracewell. I did so, for I expected everymoment to see the bull rip open my steed with his powerful horns, and Iknew that if it was gored I might be trampled to death.

  The bull came thundering behind me and actually touched my horse, whichnearly sent me over its head as it kicked out viciously to defenditself. Happily Bracewell was close behind, and coming up presented themuzzle of his pistol at the bull's head. The next moment I was safe.In the meantime Guy had been pursuing a third bull. I had heard himfire twice. I now saw the animal rushing on, with head down, about torun at him. Fortunately a tree was near at hand, round which he managedto guide his horse, when the bull for a moment losing sight of him hewas able to take a steady aim: he fired and the monster rolled over.

  "Nervous work!" exclaimed Bracewell. "You fellows have behavedcapitally, though I really forgot the danger to which you might beexposed, but I am very thankful that no harm has been done. We'll nowride back as hard as we can go, and get the cart to bring in the meatbefore the dingoes or black fellows or the ants have taken possession ofit."

  We agreed that hunting wild cattle was more exciting sport thangalloping after kangaroos, although we fancied that the latter was thefinest amusement to be found in Australia. Not a moment was lost on ourarrival at home in getting the cart under way, and Guy and I undertookto accompany it, but Bracewell could not again leave the station duringthe time that old Bob who drove it, and Toby who went to assist him,were away. As we approached the scene of action, we caught sight of anumber of what at a distance I should have fancied were ordinary dogs--with sharp muzzles, short, erect ears, and bushy tails--hoverin
g roundthe spot.

  "They're dingoes!" cried Guy. "The rascals have already commencedoperations on one of the bulls. We must drive them off or old Bob won'thave much meat to carry home."

  We dashed at the brutes with our riding-whips, which we brought intoactive play. Some well-aimed lashes on their backs made the dingoesturn tail and retreat to a safe distance, where they stood watching theoperation of cutting up one of the animals.

  While we were assisting Bob and Toby to load the cart with the flesh ofthe first bullock, the dingoes made a sudden dash at the carcase of theanimal on which they had before commenced.

  This was more than we could stand.

  "If I was you, sir, I'd give them a lesson they'll not forget," criedBob; and throwing ourselves on our horses, we rode at the savage pack,using the butts of our whips with such good effect that we knocked overupwards of half a dozen before the rest of the pack took to flight. Toprevent their returning, we pursued them as they went off in thedirection of the station, when, firing our pistols, we brought down twoor three more; but we were soon thrown behind by having to pull up andreload, and the pack, keeping wonderfully well together, again managedto distance us. Still, excited by the chase, we kept on, the deaddingoes marking the course we had taken. Our horses, having beensomewhat tired by the chase after the wild cattle and the rides to andfrom the station, did not make as good play as they might otherwise havedone. Neither Guy nor I thought of pulling up, however, while we hadthe chance of killing more of the brutes. At last my horse, stumbling,threw me over his head, and I lost the rein; when finding himself atliberty, away he galloped, showing no inclination to be caught. Ishouted to my brother, who had got some distance on; he heard me, andseeing what had occurred went in chase of my steed, which byoccasionally doubling and then galloping off again, well-nigh tired outhis horse. I ran here and there hoping to catch the animal, but it tookgood care to avoid me. At length however Guy got hold of it, by whichtime, of course, the pack had escaped. We now had to consider what roadwe should take, but when we looked round we found it was a questiondifficult to decide.

  "If we could but come across one of the dead dingoes, we could easilymake our way back to where we left old Bob," observed Guy.

  We felt sure that the last dingo we had killed could not be far off.

  "This is the spot where my horse threw me, and I had just before knockedover a dingo," I said, "I know it by that peculiar-looking gum-tree."

  We rode on, expecting to come upon the dead dingo, but though wesearched about we could nowhere discover it. On and on we went, stillno dingoes could we see, nor could we distinguish the track made by ourhorses' feet. The sky had become overcast, but though we could not seethe sun, we knew that it must be near setting. In a short time theincreasing darkness made us feel somewhat uncomfortable about the chanceof being benighted.

  We cooeyed as loudly as we could in the hope that Bob and Toby wouldhear our voices, but no answer reached us. Had we been riding horsesbelonging to the station, we might have let them select their course andthey would probably have taken us in; but we had mounted our own beasts,which could not be depended on. Still, as long as there was lightsufficient to enable us to avoid knocking our heads against the boughsof trees, we rode on, hoping that we might at length reach the station.At last, however, we agreed that we must make up our minds to spend thenight in the bush, hungry and thirsty as we felt. Next morning wethought we should, at all events, easily find our way. We accordinglydismounted, hobbled our horses, collected materials for a fire, andchoosing a spot free from grass we soon kindled a flame, though itrather mocked us as we had nothing to cook at it. We settled that oneshould keep watch and look after the horses. The poor animals weresuffering from thirst as much as we were, and were continually movingaway to look for water, for without it they showed little inclination tocrop the grass. Had we thought it prudent for both of us to sleep, thenight would have appeared to pass by much more quickly than it did. Iwas very thankful when at length day broke, and we were saluted by themerry call of the laughing-jackass. We did not shoot him, but we killeda couple of parrots, which we quickly roasted to satisfy the gnawings ofhunger, and then mounting our horses made, as we thought, in thedirection of the station. We felt especially vexed with ourselves forlosing our way, and causing Bracewell the anxiety he would naturallyfeel on our account, though he would guess pretty clearly what hadhappened from the report old Bob would give him on his return.

  We had gone some distance, when we caught sight of a fire and a columnof smoke rising, in the morning air.

  "Perhaps that is the camp of some people Bracewell has sent out to lookfor us," said I.

  "It may be that of bushrangers," observed Guy. "It will be prudent, atall events, to approach it cautiously."

  Riding on, we caught sight of a black figure with his back towards us,seated before a small fire at which he was apparently engaged in cookingsomething. His attention absorbed in his occupation, he did not observeus. The delicate morsel he was preparing for his meal was, weafterwards discovered, a large snake. When his ear at length caught thesound of horses' feet, he started up, and seizing the half-roastedsnake, scampered off. Had we not made signs to him that we wished to befriends, he would soon have been out of sight. Seeing, however, that wedid not unsling our rifles, he gained courage and returned to the fire.

  We beckoned to him to continue roasting his snake, and then endeavouredto make him understand that we wanted a guide to conduct us to thestation. He seemed determined not to understand our wishes. However,we waited patiently, hoping that when he had eaten his snake he might bemore inclined to act as our guide. Finding that we had no intention ofmolesting him, he took things leisurely. The snake being roasted, hebegan to stow it away.

  "I wonder he doesn't offer us some, though I'm not inclined to eat it,"I observed.

  "He is a perfect savage, and has no wish to part with his dainty fare,"replied Guy.

  We thought that the fellow would soon come to an end of the meal, andthat then he would pack up the rest of the snake and carry it with him.To our surprise he did not stop until he had swallowed the whole of it,and when we again made signs to him that we wanted him to guide us, hestroked his stomach and signified that he should prefer sleeping by theside of his fire.

  Guy at length, losing patience, gave a flourish with his stock whip,when an idea seemed suddenly to strike the black, and getting up he madesigns to us to follow him. We naturally supposed that he intended tolead us to the station, and rode after him without hesitation. We hadnot gone far, however, when a cooee reached our ears. We replied, andpresently, looking round in the direction from whence the sound came, wesaw Bracewell galloping towards us, followed by Toby.

  "I am thankful that I found you sooner than I expected," he said."Where do you think you were going?"

  "To the station," answered Guy.

  "You were riding, however, in an opposite direction," said our friend.

  "The black we fell in with, undertook to guide us," I remarked.

  "The rascal had no intention of taking you to my station. He wouldprobably have led you into the midst of a gang of his own people who, Ihave had notice, are encamped in the neighbourhood, and had they foundyou unprepared they might have speared you for the sake of your horsesand clothes. The fellow you fell in with was probably one of theirscouts who had been sent forward to ascertain what we were about.Should they have found us off our guard, they might have robbed the hutsand carried off some of our cattle and sheep."

  While Bracewell was speaking, I looked round and found that the blackfellow had disappeared. This strongly corroborated the account ourfriend had given us.

  As we were suffering greatly from thirst, we were anxious to get back assoon as possible. We had, we found, gone at least ten miles out of ourway. Bracewell had, however, with the aid of Toby, traced us. Thoughour horses were tired, their eagerness to obtain water made them exertthemselves, and they did not take long to cover th
e ground. Mostthankful we were when we reached the stream close to the station, wherewe and they could take a good draught of the refreshing fluid.

  We then, by our friend's advice--while old Bob was preparing dinner--turned into our bunks and managed to get a sound snooze, awaking muchrefreshed.

  Next morning we had completely recovered from the fatigues we had gonethrough, and we now felt that we ought to continue our journey to MrStrong's.

  "But I don't like you two fellows, with only Toby, to travel through thebush, with a chance of falling in with hostile blacks or those rascallybushrangers, who would only be too glad to stick you up and revengethemselves for your setting me free," said Bracewell. "I have givennotice to the police that the latter gentlemen are abroad, and beforelong, clever as they may think themselves, they will be run to earth;but the blacks are far more difficult customers to deal with--they arehere, there, and everywhere. One only knows where they have been whenthe cattle are found speared, or the hut-keeper murdered, or the sheepdriven off. I should like to accompany you myself, but I cannot atpresent leave my station. However, if you will wait for a couple ofdays longer I will ride part of the way with you, and in the meantime wewill try to ascertain the whereabouts of the mob of blacks, and I shallbe able to judge whether the road will be safe for you to travel."

  The two days passed by pleasantly enough, during which we rode round thestation with Bracewell, to assist him in examining his sheep and to helpin the various duties of a squatter's life.

  Meantime, Toby and another native were sent out to ascertain what hadbecome of the mob of blacks reported to be in the neighbourhood. Theycame back saying that, although they had come upon their tracks, thenatives had moved away westward, and that we were not likely to fall inwith them. We again, accordingly, told our host that we must go.

  "Well, if you must, you must; and according to my promise I intend toride part of the way with you," he answered. "I wish however that youcould do without your baggage, and we would see how fast we could getover the ground; but as you have to take that, we must be content with asteady pace, and I'll make play on my way back so as to be at home againby night."

  As there was a moon in the sky, and Bracewell knew every inch of theground, we were in our saddles long before day-break, carrying with usour breakfast and kettle in which the tea could easily be made at thecamp-fire.

  We had performed some ten or twelve miles before sunrise, enjoying thecool fresh air of early morning, and fresh it is even in Australiabefore the burning sun gains his power over the world.

  We camped near a water-hole, from which we obtained all the fluid werequired for our morning's meal. We had again mounted and were goinground on the opposite side, when Bracewell exclaimed--"The blacks havebeen here. See, here are the remains of their fire still smouldering.They cannot have left it very long. We must keep a look-out for themwhen passing any spot from which they may hurl their lances should theybe badly disposed; not that that is likely to be the case, and theycertainly will not venture to attack us in the open."

  Toby, who had examined the ground, gave it as his opinion that they hadgone away to the northwards and that, being probably on a huntingexpedition, they would be too intent on attacking their game to annoyus. Toby was right, and in about half an hour, just as we reached thetop of a slight ridge or elevation which had before hidden them fromview, we caught sight of several dusky figures, each holding in his handa throwing-stick with a long spear attached to it. One of them hadfixed to his left arm a shield of boughs which concealed his body as hecrept towards a group of kangaroos feeding in the grassy bottom. As thehunters did not perceive us and we had time, we stood still watchingthem.

  The throwing or throw-stick, is to serve the purpose of a sling forcasting the spear. A heavy flat piece of wood, between two and threefeet long, has at one end a slight hollow into which the end of thespear is fitted while at the other is a heavy weight, thus assisting thehunter in the act of throwing the spear. Except a small fillet of grassthe natives wore not a particle of clothing, though there were severalscarifications on their bodies; and what sailors call a spritsail-yardrun through their nostrils which added to the ferocity of theirappearance.

  As we wanted to see how they would proceed, we kept as much as possiblebehind the ridge, and as the wind came from the kangaroos to us, we werenot discovered by the animals. All this time the hunters were creepingforward, concealing themselves among the shrubs and trees until they gotnear enough to the game to hurl their spears with effect.

  One fellow crept forward, holding his shield of boughs, until it seemedto us that he was almost close up to the kangaroos. Then his spear flewfrom his throwing-stick with so tremendous a force that the animal wasalmost pinned to the ground. Not a spear missed, and almost at the samemoment three kangaroos were killed. Three others hopped away, but werepursued by the nimble-footed hunters, who using their throwing-sticks asclubs, despatched the animals with reiterated blows on the head.

  Not until the hunt was over did we show ourselves, when we astonishedthe savages standing over their slain game. Fixing their spears intheir sticks they threatened to launch them against us should we attemptto deprive them of their prizes. On seeing this we directed Toby to saythat we had no intention of interfering with them. Whether or not theyunderstood him, however, we could not tell, for they stood withoutaltering their position, and not wishing to have an encounter with themwhich must have ended in bloodshed, we made a wide circuit beyond thereach of their weapons. When we looked back we saw them joined by alarge number of their fellows who were employed in dragging off thebodies of the kangaroos.

  "I am afraid you will be in some danger from them on your return," Iobserved to Bracewell.

  "No fear of that," he answered. "They will be too busy in gorgingthemselves with the flesh of the kangaroos; besides they will not be onthe look-out for me, and a well-mounted man, provided he doesn't comeunexpectedly on a mob, need have no fear of them. My rifle can carryfarther than their throwing-sticks, a fact of which they are wellaware."

  We soon lost sight of the blacks, and after riding on several milesfurther, our friend told us that he must bid us farewell, promising,however, to ride over to Mr Strong's station, should he find he couldleave home, to see how we were getting on. "And remember," he added, "Ishall be glad if one or both of you can join me, should you not findyourselves comfortable at your relative's; and if he has moved on, as heintended doing, to another station, come back if you think fit at once;though probably, if he expects you, he will have left word that you maybe forwarded on to him. He has, I understand, a large family, but as wehave never met I cannot give you a description of them. I need not warnyou to keep as good a watch at night as you have hitherto done, and toavoid either blacks or suspicious looking white men, though I do notmean to say that you are to look upon every traveller you meet with as abushranger."

  We having again thanked Bracewell for his advice and the hospitality hehad shown us, he turned his horse's head towards his home, and weproceeded on our journey.