From Squire to Squatter Part 38

Here was soup that an epicure would not have despised, fish to tempt a dying man, besides game of different kinds, pies, and last, if not least, steak of kangaroo.

The soup itself was made from the tail of the kangaroo, and I know nothing more wholesome and nourishing, though some may think it a little strong.

While the white folks were having dinner indoors, the black fellows were doing ample justice to theirs _al fresco_, only they had their own _cuisine_ and _menu_, of which the least said the better.

"You're sure, Mr Craig, you winna tak' a wee drappie?"

If the honest squatter put this question once in the course of the evening, he put it twenty times.

"No, really," said Craig at last; "I will not tak' a wee drappie. I've sworn off; I have, really. Besides, your wife has made me some delightful tea."

"Weel, man, tak' a wee drappie in your last cup. It'll cheer ye up."

"Take down your fiddle, Findlayson, and play a rattling strathspey or reel, that'll cheer me up more wholesomely than any amount of 'wee drappies.'"

"Come out o' doors then."

It was cool now out there in Findlayson's garden--it was a real garden too. His garden and his fiddle were Findlayson's two fads; and that he was master of both, their present surroundings of fern and flower, and delicious scent of wattle-blossom, and the charming strains that floated from the corner where the squatter stood were proof enough. The fiddle in his hands talked and sang, now bold or merrily, now in sad and wailing notes that brought tears to even Archie's eyes. Then, at a suggestion of Craig's, Etheldene's sweet young voice was raised in song, and this was only the beginning of the concert. Conversation filled up the gaps, so that the evening pa.s.sed away all too soon.

Just as Findlayson had concluded that plaintive and feeling air "Auld Robin Gray," a little black girl came stealthily, silently up to Etheldene, and placed a little creature like a rabbit in her lap, uttering a few words of Bush-English, which seemed to Archie's ear utterly devoid of sense. Then the black girl ran; she went away to her own camp to tell her people that the white folks were holding a corroboree.

The gift was a motherless kangaroo, that at once commenced to make itself at home by hiding its innocent head under Etheldene's arm.

The party soon after broke up for the night, and next day but one, early in the morning, the return journey was commenced, and finished that night; but the sun had gone down, and the moon was shining high and full over the forest, before they once more reached the clearing.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

A NEW ARRIVAL.

Winslow made months of a stay in the Bush, and his services were of great value to the young squatters. The improvements he suggested were many and various, and he was careful to see them carried out.

Dams were made, and huge reservoirs were dug; for, as Winslow said, their trials were all before them, and a droughty season might mean financial ruin to them.

"Nevertheless," he added one day, addressing Bob, "I feel sure of you; and to prove this I don't mind knocking down a cheque or two to the tune of a thou or three or five if you want them.

"I'll take bank interest," he added, "not a penny more."

Bob thanked him, and consulted the others that evening. True, Archie's aristocratic pride popped up every now and then, but it was kept well under by the others.

"Besides, don't you see, Johnnie," said Harry, "this isn't a gift.

Winslow is a business man, and he knows well what he is about."

"And," added Bob, "the fencing isn't finished yet. We have all those workmen's mouths to fill, and the sooner the work is done the better."

"Then the sheep are to come in a year or so, and it all runs away with money, Johnnie. Our fortunes are to be made. There is money on the ground to be gathered up, and all that Winslow proposes is holding the candle to us till we fill our pockets."

"It is very kind of him," said Archie, "but--"

"Well," said Bob, "I know where your 'huts' will end if you are not careful. You will give offence to Mr Winslow, and he'll just turn on his heel and never see us again."

"Do you think so?"

"Think so? Yes, Archie, I'm sure of it. A better-hearted man doesn't live, rough and all as he is; and he has set his mind to doing the right thing for us all for your sake, lad, and so I say, think twice before you throw cold water over that big, warm heart of his."

"Well," said Archie, "when you put it in that light, I can see matters clearly. I wouldn't offend my good old Uncle Ramsay's friend for all the world. I'm sorry I ever appeared bluff with him. So you can let him do as he pleases."

And so Winslow did to a great extent.

Nor do I blame Bob and Harry for accepting his friendly a.s.sistance.

Better far to be beholden to a private individual, who is both earnest and sincere, than to a money-lending company, who will charge double interest, and make you feel that your soul is not your own.

Better still, I grant you, to wait and work and plod; but this life is almost too short for much waiting, and after all, one half of the world hangs on to the skirts of the other half, and that other half is all the more evenly balanced in consequence.

I would not, however, have my young readers misunderstand me. What I maintain is this, that although a poor man cannot leave this country in the expectation that anybody or any company will be found to advance the needful to set him up in the business of a squatter, still, when he has worked hard for a time, beginning at the lowermost ring of the ladder, and saved enough to get a selection, and a few cattle and sheep, then, if he needs a.s.sistance to heave ahead a bit, he will--if everything is right and square--have no difficulty in finding it.

So things went cheerily on at Burley New Farm. And at last Winslow and Etheldene took their departure, promising to come again.

"So far, lads," said Winslow, as he mounted his horse, "there hasn't been a hitch nowheres. But mind keep two hands at the wheel."

Mr Winslow's grammar was not of the best, and his sentences generally had a smack of the briny about them, which, however, did not detract from their graphicness.

"Tip us your flippers, boys," he added, "and let us be off. But I'm just as happy as if I were a father to the lot of you."

Gentleman Craig shook hands with Mr Winslow. He had already helped Etheldene into her saddle.

Archie was standing by her, the bridle of his own nag Tell thrown carelessly over his arm; for good-byes were being said quite a mile from the farm.

"I'll count the days, Etheldene, till you come again," said Archie.

"The place will not seem the same without you."

Craig stood respectfully aside till Archie had bade her adieu, then, with his broad hat down by his side, he advanced. He took her hand and kissed it.

"Good-bye, Baby," he said.

There were tears in Etheldene's eyes as she rode away. Big Winslow took off his hat, waved it over his head, and gave voice to a splendid specimen of a British cheer, which, I daresay, relieved his feelings as much as it startled the lories. The "boys" were not slow in returning that cheer. Then away rode the Winslows, and presently the grey-stemmed gum trees swallowed them up.

Two whole years pa.s.sed by. So quickly, too, because they had not been idle years. Quite the reverse of that, for every day brought its own duties with it, and there was always something new to be thought about or done.

One event had taken place which, in Bob's eyes, eclipsed all the others--a little baby squatter saw the light of day. But I should not have used the word eclipsed. Little "Putty-face," as Harry most irreverently called her, did not eclipse anything; on the contrary, everything grew brighter on her arrival, and she was hailed queen of the station. The news spread abroad like wildfire, and people came from far and near to look at the wee thing, just as if a baby had never been born in the Bush before.

Findlayson dug the child with his forefinger in the cheek, and nodded and "a-goo-ed" to it, and it smiled back, and s...o...b..red and grinned and jumped. Findlayson then declared it to be the wisest "wee vision o' a thing the warld ever saw." Sarah was delighted, so was the nurse--a young sonsy Scotch la.s.s brought to the station on purpose to attend to baby.

"But," said Findlayson, "what about bapt.e.e.zin' the blessed wee vision."

"Oh," said Bob, "I've thought of that! Craig and I are going to Brisbane with stock, and we'll import a parson."

It so happened that a young missionary was on his way to spread the glad tidings among the blacks, and it did not need much coaxing on Bob's part to get him to make a detour, and spend a week at Burley New Farm. So this was the imported parson.