The Land of the Kangaroo Part 17

"Were the scoundrels ever caught?" inquired Ned.

"Yes, they were eventually caught and hanged," was the reply. "They troubled that region for some time. The inhabitants dared not pursue them, for fear of their vengeance, though all wanted to be rid of them.

Four men came from Melbourne with authority for taking these robbers, dead or alive, and with the promise of a large reward. It was impossible to keep their errand a secret, and none of the people dared give them any a.s.sistance in consequence of their dread of what the bushrangers might do if they heard of it. I know of one instance where these four men applied to a squatter for a night's lodging and supper. He dared not let his family know about the men being there, but lodged them in an out-building, and with his own hands carried the food to them for their supper."

"And did these four men capture the bushranger gang?" queried Harry.

"Not by any means," was the reply. "They were riding one day along the road, when they suddenly found themselves face to face with the bushrangers. A fight followed as a matter of course, and every one of the four was killed. When the corpses were discovered, one of them was found in a kneeling posture, as though he had died in the act of begging for mercy. A ten-pound bank note was found sticking in a wound in his breast, and evidently the bushrangers put it there, to show that in this instance, at least, their object was revenge and not plunder.

"That the bushrangers were a bad lot," continued the gentleman, "no one will deny, but in many instances they showed chivalry and appreciation of bravery. It was rare, indeed, that they ill-treated women or children, and it was also very rarely the case that they committed murder except in self-defense or for revenge. This led a good many sentimental people to regard them rather in the light of dashing heroes than that of downright criminals. You have probably heard of Captain Melville, have you not?" he asked, turning to Harry and Ned.

The youths nodded, and said the name of that famous bushranger was familiar to them.

"Well, it once happened," said their informant, "that Captain Melville had in his power a man whom, of all others, he had most occasion to dread,--an officer of high standing in the police force, at that time engaged in pursuit of the robber, whom he declared he would take alive or dead. This officer was riding one day alone and slightly armed, when he suddenly met Melville with his entire gang. The police uniform readily told the rank of the officer, and it happened that Melville and several of his men were familiar with the officer's face.

"He was immediately surrounded and disarmed; his hands were tied behind his back, and his captives took him triumphantly to their camp. When the camp was reached, the prisoner was bound to a wagon wheel while his captors held a counsel to decide what to do with him. The officer was noted for his courage, and when Melville came near him, he was taunted by his captive for his cowardice in taking him at the time when he was defenseless and alone.

"Melville became angry at the taunt, and, walking towards his prisoner, he placed a loaded revolver at his head and said, 'Say another word and I'll blow your brains out.'

"'You dare not do it,' replied the officer, and he looked with an unflinching eye at the robber.

"Melville's eyes glared, and probably the slightest show of fear on the part of the officer would have provoked a fatal shot.

"Melville held the pistol at the prisoner's head for a few seconds and then lowered it, saying, as he did so, 'You are too brave a man to be shot,' and then he turned and walked away. The officer afterwards managed to escape and reach Melbourne safely. The supposition is that he was a.s.sisted in escaping by one of the bushrangers who was tired of life on the road and desirous of leaving it. The officer was able to promise him immunity from punishment in return for his service in aiding the latter's escape."

"That reminds me of a story I heard not long ago," said Harry.

"A lawyer in Australia was once defending a man whose family antecedents and record were anything but good. Ignoring this, he made a most touching plea about the gray-haired parents in England waiting to celebrate Christmas with their returned wanderer. The jury found the man guilty, however, and the judge, after sentencing him, remarked that the learned counsel would have his wish; the convicted client was going to the same prison where father and mother were already serving sentences.

Their Christmas would be pa.s.sed under the same roof."

Other stories were told during the course of the evening, but we have no room for any more of them. When the last story was given, the youths looked at their watches and were surprised to find the hour so late.

They immediately retired to their room and slept soundly, or at least Ned did. Harry said he was disturbed somewhat by dreams of snakes, bushrangers, unruly cattle, and horses, and of being lost in the bush.

Evidently the disturbance was not serious, as he was out at an early hour with Ned to investigate the place and learn the peculiarities of an up-country station in Australia. Here is what he wrote concerning what he saw and heard before the announcement of breakfast:--

"The sights and sounds were not altogether unlike those of a farm in New England, but there were many more of them, in consequence of the greater size of the station. A farm in New England covering two or three hundred acres of ground would be considered a large one. This station covers an area ten miles square, or one hundred square miles. They have five thousand head of cattle upon it and more than one hundred horses. Most of the cattle, in fact, nearly all of them, are fully half wild. The domesticated ones comprise a few yokes of oxen and a small herd of milch cows, and even the cows are nowhere near as tame as the same animals would be in New England. We went out to the milking yard and witnessed the operation of milking three or four cows which had been driven in from the paddock. Not one of the creatures would stand quietly to be milked, as a well-mannered cow should do, and each one had to be driven, led, or pulled into a frame or cage something like the frame in which oxen are shod. When the cow was thoroughly secured in this way, with one fore leg tied up so that she could not lift either of her hind legs, the milkmaid, who was a big, rough-looking man, proceeded to milk the animal. When the operation was concluded, another cow was brought up and put through the same process.

"I asked if they had any cows that would stand peaceably and submit to the milking process. They answered me that they had such cows occasionally, but not often; and the man with whom I talked seemed to be rather proud of the circ.u.mstance, that Australian cows were more high-spirited than American ones.

"The stockmen had had their breakfast and were about starting for their daily rounds. Some fifty or sixty horses had been driven in from a paddock and enclosed in a yard large enough for five times their number.

A man went into the yard to select his horse for the day's riding, and having singled out the animal, he made several ineffectual attempts to capture him. When he approached the group, it divided and started off for a different part of the yard. Then the man was joined by another, and the horses at once concluded that it was time for their fun to cease. They submitted quietly to being bridled and saddled, and one after another they were led out of the yard as soon as this operation was complete.

"One of the stockmen remarked that he would like to see one of us youngsters go in there and get a horse.

"I replied that I had heard too many stories of the character of Australian horses to induce me to make the attempt.

"You are very wise not to do so," he answered. "They would have fun with you by the hour, and then you would not be able to lay hands on one of them. Whenever we get a new chum that is a green hand, we have a jolly time seeing him work. He goes inside with one of the black boys, and between them they manage to get a horse off into a corner. Then the new chum takes his bridle over his arm and approaches the horse, talking to him all the time. Australian horses don't understand that sort of thing, and you might as well talk to the surf on the sea-coast as to one of them. Just as the new chum gets up to within about four feet of the horse's neck, the beast spins around on his hind legs, and is off like a shot. He kicks and prances, and sometimes he lies down and rolls, and all the time he is saying to himself, 'What a jolly time I am having.'

"Then the new chum and the black fellow try it on again, and with the same result. All the old hands sit around the fence and have a good laugh, and we let the new chum keep at it until our sides are sore.

After awhile we agree that we have had enough of it, and then we turn in and catch the horse and saddle him in about half no time.

"But there is more fun to come," continued the stockman, "and that is when the new chum tries to ride. He gets into the saddle, and just as he gets fairly seated the horse begins to buck-jump. Perhaps you don't know what buck-jumping is?"

"I have heard of it," I said. "In fact, I have seen what was said to be a very good performance of it, and that was in Buffalo Bill's show."

"How high up in the air did the horses throw the fellows in the show?"

"Oh, a little ways," I answered; "enough to pitch them out of the saddles and bring them to the ground."

"Oh, nonsense," said the stockman; "you wait till you see an Australian horse send a new chum up into the air. I've seen a fellow tossed up so high that he didn't look bigger than a dog. He must have gone up fifty feet, at least, and he came down astraddle of the horse again."

The man said this with all possible gravity, but I thought I could see a twinkle at the corner of his eye. I smiled politely, as I did not want to contradict him, and, at the same time, did not wish him to believe that I swallowed his preposterous story.

"Some of our horses," he continued, "will stand still and allow themselves to be saddled, and then they will take a long breath, swell themselves up with air, burst the girths, and throw the saddle up at least twenty feet above them, and all this in one motion."

"Seems to me, I have heard of something of the kind in America," I remarked. "As I remember the story, they first fed the horse with self-raising flour, and then gave him a pail of water to drink."

The man stood silent for a moment, and then said, "You'll do, youngster; you ought to stay in Australia."

CHAPTER XV.

EXPERIENCES AT A CATTLE STATION--A KANGAROO HUNT.

"They breed good horses in Australia," continued Harry in his journal.

"As a general thing, however, the horses of this part of the world are vicious, and it is no wonder, when we consider that they are harshly treated all their lives, and very rarely hear a kind word. The owner of the cattle run gave orders that the gentlest animals should be reserved for the visitors to ride, and I have no doubt that they were so reserved. We found them anything but gentle, from our point of view, but managed to get through the day without being thrown out of the saddles.

They danced and pirouetted more than was to our liking when we first mounted, and it was only after we had ridden several miles that their behavior was what might be called quiet.

"The process of breaking horses to the saddle here is interesting, though it is rough and cruel. The horses are kept all together in a large paddock; some of them already broken, and some that have never known saddle, bridle, or halter. Every morning they are driven up by the black boys. Selections are made of the animals required for the day's riding, and then the remainder are turned loose into the paddock again.

The daily visit to the paddock accustoms the younger horses to the presence of men, so that they are not altogether wild when they are taken in hand for breaking.

"There is a cla.s.s of men going about the country whose business it is to break horses at so much a head; usually two pounds, or ten dollars. The whole herd is driven into the yard, and then the horse breaker proceeds to his work. With the aid of two or three black fellows he la.s.soos a horse and puts a strong halter on him. Then, while the black fellows hold the animal, he is saddled and bridled, and the breaker gets on his back. The halter is gathered up around the horse's neck, and at the word of command the black fellows jump away from him.

"Then begins a lively performance of bucking and jumping, the rider all the time clinging to the saddle with his knees. Sometimes the horse tries to lie down and roll in order to free himself from his inc.u.mbrance; he succeeds occasionally, but as a general thing he does not. Even should he manage to shake off his ride, the latter is on the creature's back again before he gets fairly on his feet, and then the kicking and jumping are renewed. The rider keeps at the horse until he has subdued him and ridden him several times around the yard; possibly he may take a spin out into the paddock and back again, but he does not always do so. The great point is to conquer at the first riding, and a good horse-breaker never stops until he has done so.

"After this lesson is over the horse is left with the saddle on his back, and it is not taken off until he is turned into the paddock at night. The next day he receives another lesson of the same sort, and after a few days of this kind of training he is p.r.o.nounced properly broken, and fit 'for a lady to ride.' I shouldn't want any lady of my acquaintance to venture on the back of such an animal.

"I mustn't forget a trick that these horse-breakers have, and that is, of getting on the back of a bucking steed, placing a half-crown piece between each thigh and the saddle, and allowing the animal to go through all the performance she chooses to, without once displacing the coins.

Exactly the same thing is done by the rough riders of our western States and Territories, with the difference that they use half dollars instead of half crowns.

"We found the morning air around the station very agreeable. A gentle breeze was blowing, and we caught the odor of the fragrant eucalyptus mingled with that of the numerous flowers which ornamented and brightened the grounds near by. We could hear the notes of several birds, and louder than all the rest of their voices was that of the laughing jacka.s.s, which has already been described. One of these birds perched on the fence of the yard where the men were catching horses, and Ned and I approached within twenty feet of him before he flew away.

Before doing so he treated us to a very jolly laugh, and both of us laughed, too, in concert with him.

"Breakfast was announced, and we went in to enjoy it. We had oatmeal, mutton chops, and ham and eggs, with plenty of bread and b.u.t.ter, and honey. I looked around the table for coffee, but saw none. There was a large pot of tea, and Ned and I took it without a word of objection, though we would have preferred coffee. We were already aware that coffee is but little used in the country districts of Australia, tea being the almost universal beverage, for the reason that it is more stimulating than coffee and better for a steady diet. It is carried about and prepared much more easily than coffee, and this, no doubt, is one cause of its popularity. In the old days of placer mining, every miner carried at his waist a 'billy,' or tin cup for drinking purposes, and he regarded a billy of tea as a very important part of any meal. At the present day, a goodly proportion of sundowners and other Australian pedestrians carry billies at their waist belts and treasure them with great care."

We will listen to Ned as he tells the story of their ride among the cattle.