Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 6/Out of the world - Part 2

OUT OF THE WORLD.

 

PART II.

It took us several weeks to erect our hut, the dimensions of which were about fifteen feet by twelve feet. The framework puzzled us for a time, but that once accomplished, we soon filled in the spaces between each support with wattles in the form of basket-work, and plastered both sides with mud. This mode of building is known in all our southern colonies as "wattle and dab;" and many a very comfortable bush residence is so constructed. They are easily kept water-tight, and young hands take to mud mixing more naturally than to the far more laborious work of splitting slabs. A dozen sheets of bark stripped from the white gum trees at the back of our location, and kept in their places with heavy logs laid on the top, formed an excellent roof.

Our mansion was complete, not that it must be understood to have had four closed sides. It had but three, for we considered it advisable to leave one end entirely open to the weather. I forget now what ostensible reason we had for so doing, but I am inclined to think it was from an ardent desire to lose no more time in setting to work about that important matter of the 100,000l. Such as it was, we had made a home for ourselves, and though it had only three sides, we could boast of having a window, made of wood, in one, and a door, made of basket-work, in another-both of which were capable of being closed and opened, although we had no such thing as a proper hinge within sixty miles of us. To hang the door, we had recourse to two common black bottles, fixing one in the ground with the neck downwards, and the other upright in the beam over the doorway. Into the hollows of the bottoms we inserted the ends of a post, to which was fastened the wickerwork door, and these novel hinges acted admirably. How many times, I wonder, during the progress of the works did we give utterance to the trite saying that "necessity was the mother of invention," but it had a meaning for us!

Of course, so far as our ever turning the window or door to any use was concerned, they might just as well not have existed, for one end of the hut being wall-less, it followed that we neither wanted to open the window for air, nor the door for entrance or exit. But still, as we said, what would society have thought of our house without either door or window?

The legal maxim holds as good in Australia as in the old country, "an Englishman's house is his castle." It may be asked, what on earth there was in our poor but to excite cupidity, and who was there to commit the sin of covetousness, supposing there had been? The value of everything is of course to be measured relatively, and a pair of blankets, a few rusty nails, a double-barrelled gun, or a pound of tea or tobacco, would present as great temptations to the solitary rover in the bush, or to a boat's crew of sealers, as would the contents of a plate-chest in a more settled country. Our hut was visited more than once during our absences; for when it became known we had fresh water, boats used to put in for a supply at long intervals, but we never missed anything more than the good old bush customs warranted. If those who came wanted a pannikin of tea, they made it from our stock, and were as welcome to it as we should have been to theirs under the like circumstances. The hospitality of the Australian bush is a sacred memory to me. How many services have I received and rendered there, thinking little about them at the time, but practically learning the lesson how dependent the good God makes us upon each other, and how much the pleasure of living is enhanced through the practice of small kindnesses, and the thousand gentle amenities which clothe common life with dignity and beauty! In the bush, the first question asked a stranger was not "Who are you?" but "Do you want anything!" or "What can I do for you?" Because I can never hope to experience the like again, I cherish these memories very fondly; and whilst thoroughly appreciating the blessings of English civilisation, I am foolish enough to indulge in the futile wish that we could unite with it more of the heartiness and sincerity which are usually developed by a life in the back-woods.

To proceed with my narrative. When an army of 20,000 men, or two persons only, embark in an adventure—never mind of what description—success is not probable, nay scarcely possible, without a recognised leader, whose plans require to be carried out with heartiness and alacrity. Now, in this case of S—— and me, whose name should stand first in the firm? Who was to be A 1? I had seen considerably more of bush life generally, and knew more of the island and the bay, than S——; but, naturally enough, he was not disposed to fall in with my views invariably. What was to be done? Over our pipes one quiet Sunday morning we talked over the matter, and settled it before it could even assume the form of a difficulty, and this is how we did it. He was to take command for one month, and I the next. But which of us was to have the first spell? We could not toss up for it, neither having a solitary coin, for our fortunes, it will be remembered, were yet to be made-this all occurring shortly after we had finished our building operations. As we wanted fresh meat badly, we decided to shoot for it, and whichever brought home the first black swan was thereupon to assume the sovereignty of the island, whilst the other inhabitant would of course become his loyal and dutiful subject. We drew lots for choice of weapons, and the double-barrel fell to S——.

"Before we set out," I said, "let us quite understand each other. Whoever wins there is to he no grumbling, and we'll endeavour in any case to carry out each other's wishes with all our hearts."

So we shook hands upon it, and parted, repeating the words "no grumbling," and moved off in opposite directions. In a short time I heard the report of S——'s gun followed by a "cooey,"—a call peculiar to the bush of Australia. Presently seven or eight swans flew over my head. I blazed away at them, producing no effect but the wagging of a tail or two. Turning back towards the hut, I saw S—— advancing with a fine bird over his shoulder.

"Long live the King!" I shouted. S—— for ever!"

"You forget," he replied, "not for over, only for a month."

He was not long in issuing his first command—which was to return and cook the dinner.

"Well, Rex," I said, on commencing operations, "how does your majesty like your taters done?"

His majesty ordered me to bake them as well as the swan. Cutting off the neck close to the body and the legs and wings at the first joints, but otherwise leaving the bird in puris naturalibus, I proceeded to pack it in a coating of good clean mud. That done, it was carefully buried in the I live embers. In about an hour and a half it was raked out of the fire, the case knocked off, to which the feathers and down adhered, leaving the flesh perfectly clean and capitally cooked. The further necessary operations having been performed, in due time the banquet graced the board, or rather the sheet of bark which served us as a table. The bird we dined on would have fetched in the London market—if alive—from 10l. to 15l.

From that day, whoever happened to be in power, we loyally stood by each other. We were alone together some five months in all; and, although not insensible of each other’s weak points, we avoided dragging them into the foreground; and since we quite understood that we did this, because our failings were pretty evenly balanced, requiring and meeting with mutual consideration; that was the very reason, I think, which prevented our ever having an angry word. Ours was no mere sentimental friendship—it came of acts and not words. After what has been already stated, the reader will not be surprised to hear that we kept Sunday in our own unorthodox way. On that day we had to make provision for a supply of fuel or fresh meat; it was then we repaired all that had gone wrong during the previous week, and endeavoured to anticipate the wants of the coming one. Buttons were sewn on, or skewers substituted in their places; clothes were patched and washed, and “dampers” made. After such matters as these had been attended to, we often wandered off to a range of hills about four miles inland, and there spent the remainder of the day. The poet tells us that properly attuned hearts can find

A church in every tree that spreads
Its living roof above our heads.

One great advantage we enjoyed was, that our contemplations were never disturbed by the dinning of unmusical bells, for there were none, nor any formal place of worship, within sixty miles of us.

The time was now come to make our first essay in mangrove burning. We had taken the precaution to lay a clay floor about twelve feet square, which had hardened in the sun, and was quite fit to receive its load of logs. We found the work of cutting the wood, sometimes nearly up to the knees in mud, very trying, and transporting it to the place for burning much more so. The mangrove root is furnished with a series of firm, pointed spikes, thrown out at irregular intervals of from three to six inches, and protruding an inch or two from the mud. My only pair of boots failed under this test, and I put them by, working as best I could barefoot. The logs, which had to be borne ashore on our backs, were so thickly studded with a small shell-fish that they presented a surface which resembled that of a file. Our shoulders and hands were very soon rasped raw, and I fancy, from the experience gained at this time. I can realise something of the torture of being

Scraped to death with oyster-shells
Amongst the Caribees.

Much against our inclination we were forced to give over work, in order that our wounds might have time to heal.

By way of a holiday, we dug a couple of holes in the sand near the well in which to bathe, for to be covered with mud was now our usual state, and the salt water was only available at high tide, and did not cleanse us very thoroughly. These sanitary measures completed, and our hurts partially healed, we proceeded in our work of torture. We found the spikes as sharp as ever, and the shells as pointed, but we persevered. Hitherto the possibility of failure had not found a place in our calculations, but about this time it occurred to us that 100,000l. was a large sum, a very large sum indeed.

The pile rose higher and higher, and the labour became greater, as the ability to perform it grew less; but after a month's work there stood the evidence of our perseverance, some thirty or forty tons of splendid stuff, all ready to be fired as soon as fine weather set in. Meantime we continued getting more wood together in readiness for a second pile, but impatient to apply the torch to the first. At last the clouds ceased to lour, and there was every promise of a dry week. On a lovely afternoon, when no leaf moved, the air was so still, I mounted the heap, S—— fired it, we gave a cheer, and I was soon enveloped in a thick, blinding, white smoke, out of which I was glad to scramble. We sat down and watched the vapour as it ascended in volumes and gradually spread until it became a great blur in the deep blue sky. On turning in, that night, we congratulated ourselves on having planted our feet on the first step of the ladder which was to lead us to fortune. But alas!

The best-laid plans of men and mice
The best-laid plans ofGang aft a-gley.

The third evening came, the fire was nearly burnt out, and another day would have made all secure, when clouds gathered in the east, the wind blew in angry gusts, and we felt apprehensive that our patience was likely to be put to further trials. These forebodings were not groundless. At midnight a storm broke over our part of the island, and by daybreak all the work of the past month was annihilated, and a soppy and valueless mass of rubbish was all we had to show for it. One of the properties of barilla is to attract moisture, and when once thoroughly wetted during its manufacture, it loses its valuable properties. Breakfast that morning was but a sorry affair, notwithstanding we had an unlimited supply of black swan’s eggs, procured from nests amongst the creeks with which the coast a few miles from us was indented. We put the best face upon the matter; said it was no use grieving over our loss, we must repair it, and as for being beaten by trifles, not we; we would fight it out with Fortune. Fail? nonsense! But we mentioned the hateful word.

Though we lost our labour, we gained experience, and instead of building up heaps of forty tons, made them much smaller, and saved three capitally, realising stuff to the value of perhaps 20l. Here was the first item towards our 100,000l.

By the end of the third month we had stored, say 50l. worth of barilla, and our provisions were getting alarmingly low. There was a little cutter which traded to the bay, making about four trips in the year. These, however, sufficed to supply the wants of the settlers who depended upon her agency. The period of her arrival was overdue, and we looked out for her anxiously. But she did not put in an appearance. When reduced to a pound or two of flour, with our other stores in like ratio, we thought it high time to see about procuring fresh supplies somehow. We arranged for one to run across in the Coffin to J——'s Station, and see if he could not spare us some provisions, to be repaid on the arrival of the cutter. We had several fires going, and as they required constant attention, we drew lots who should remain, and it fell to me.

Our wardrobes were in a most dilapidated state. Out of an old green wrapper S—— had made for himself a sort of blouse, his original flannel jacket having long since been reduced to tatters. His trousers—well, we won't say much about them, excepting that there was more of them left than of mine, which were, moreover, made of pieces of blanketing. But my jacket was unexceptionable. The pockets, it is true, had long since been converted into tinder, but with this exception it was a garment a gentleman might have worn on a dark night without attracting much attention. Our weak point-and it was a weak one—was boots. One of mine was nearly in two pieces, whilst S—— was fain to keep his together with strips of raw hide. Between us, however, we managed to muster two which appeared moderately sound. Unfortunately, they were both for the left foot. The end of the matter was, that I rigged S—— out in my swell jacket and seemingly sound boot, receiving in exchange his green-baize blouse and soleless boot. I thought that three days, at all events, would see him back again, and knew that with ordinary economy the flour remaining would save me from starvation for a longer period. I experienced a queer sensation as I saw my sole companion piloting the boat out of the mangroves, and thought of what it was to be utterly separated from my fellows even for a day or two. How few have ever really experienced the thing! Solitary confinement in a prison cell is not the same. The captive knows that he is visited at stated times, and hears the sounds of human industry about him, and perhaps the cries of children at play. The clocks strike, and the bells toll. These tell him that he is not actually alone. But to be literally cut off from human kind! A terrible thought to most of us, I fancy-perhaps, like many other things, when viewed from a distance, worse in imagination than in fact. I distinctly recollect a feeling of romantic curiosity overcoming my apprehensions as soon as I realised the fact that I was indeed the sole "poor forked animal" on an island some scores of miles in circumference. My readers will recollect Sterne's story of his giving a jackass some macaroons in order to see how he would dispose of them. So I was not altogether sorry to be left alone, that I might ascertain from actual experience what it was like. The divine's curiosity was doomed to disappointment, for the donkey's master "let fall a tremendous blow upon his crupper" just as he had taken the delicacy to his lips; and Fate, my master, let fall a tremendous blow upon mine, and kept me in such a fever that I almost forgot I was alone.

The weather was hot and sultry, a leaden hue pervaded the horizon, and what little wind there was, was favourable. S—— had cleared the mangroves, and made an offing of about two miles, when it fell dead calm. The tide was at the full, and the boat scarcely moved; presently gusts of wind ruffled the smooth water, and the growling of distant thunder was heard, mingled with the sighing sound produced by the tremor of the forest leaves. I knew a storm was coming, and I looked to have seen S—— pull for the island. But he appeared unconscious of danger, and when a breeze caught her, the old Coffin bowled merrily away, leaving a streak of foam behind her. She could go if she had canvas, and the adventurous navigator did not mind risking a swim for his life. A vivid flash of forked lightning afforded S—— a warning he could not mistake, and for a moment deprived me of sight. The storm gathered, and the wind veered to all points of the compass. Then it was I saw—I may almost say I felt—a furious blast strike the boat and lay her down, until it appeared as if she could not recover her self. But she righted, and I remember shouting—though, for that matter, I might as well have expected to make myself heard a thousand miles off—"Lower your sail!" The time even for that had past, and there was nothing for it now but to run before the wind or swamp.

Another flash-another-and peals of thunder which crackled like the reports of small-arms mingled with heavy guns, a falling sheet of water, a piercing glance into the murky atmosphere, through which-Heaven be praised!—I could just distinguish the boat fast approaching our clearing. If the wind only held as it then was, S—— would soon be in safety. I clapped my hands with delight, but my joy was of short duration. The roaring of the storm became in a moment terrific; some unseen force was fiercely urging me I knew not whither. I had an impression that I was lifted off the ground. I was in the vortex of a whirl wind. I heard the crashing of great trees about me, and saw their branches and stems twisted into splinters, and a mass of boughs and leaves whirled away over my head far out to sea. All this must have been the work of a minute or two. And the boat? For a second my eye rested on her, and I saw S—— standing as if about to make a plunge. A wave hid him from my sight, and all I could distinguish after was the white sail floating upon its crest, near which was the boat, as I thought, bottom upwards. I remember rushing frantically into the water, as if I could have stretched out a helping hand; but I scarcely knew what I was doing. The effect upon me must have been very like that which travellers have told me they had experienced during an earthquake-a sense of the most complete helplessness, evinced by an inability to do more than rush headlong any where. Recovering my self-control as soon as the elemental war subsided, I left the water, and not the less rapidly from noticing the back-fin of a shark near. Poor S——! I did not like the omen. The boat was still visible now and then, but she was drifting away to the main. Dared I believe my eyes? Was that a human form clinging to her? Yes; there was hope yet. I climbed one of the tallest tea-trees, and tied a blanket to its topmost branch, so that S—— might see I was aware of his perilous position. Hastily seizing my gun and a few useful things which happened to be at hand, such as a little flour, tobacco, &c., I set off for Sandy Point, opposite M——’s station. I ran the greater part of the distance, and reached the Point with bleeding feet and broken shins, for time was too precious to permit me to pick my steps. The three signal fires were soon blazing, but brought no answer. I piled up more wood, but with no better result. Making up my mind to camp on the spot for the night, I went in search of water, and was fortunate enough to find a bit of boggy ground, guided thither by the creaking of frogs and the note of the bell-bird.

Forcing a pointed stick into the ground. I found the bottom of the hole gradually filled with water, and first thrusting down some grass as a strainer, I sucked through a reed, and thus satisfied one of the most terrible cravings to which nature can be subjected. I kept the fires going until the evening, and at sundown fired the bush, but still there was no sign from the opposite shore. Clouds of mosquitoes and sand-flies heralded the close of a sad day, and I slept but little. On the following morning I was preparing to return to the hut, when it occurred to me to leave some instructions in writing in a conspicuous place, in case any boat should opportunely touch at the point. A bit of calico lining served my purpose, and with a bit of charred stick I printed on it these words:

Go up the bay. Look for a man and a boat,
Bottom upwards.

Leaving these directions stuck in a split pole, and fixing it firmly in the sand, I departed for home. On getting there, great was my surprise to find several things displaced. The four-posters had been occupied, and from marks in the mud and trimmings of skins lying about, I made out that a party of sealers had camped at my quarters over night. It was clear they had put in for water, for not only the well but our two baths were nearly empty! Here was misfortune upon misfortune. The very fact of my leaving for the point had defeated its own purpose. M—— was evidently from home, and to search for the sealers appeared hopeless. Nevertheless I spent three profitless and weary days in the task, visiting several of the most likely points on the coast. On the fourth morning I found myself again at Sandy Point. No one had been there. Out of the small stock of flour remaining, now reduced to a pannikin full, and which I carried about with me, I doled out about an ounce, with which to render palatable the flesh of a swan I had killed. So long as my powder and shot lasted, I had no fear but that I should find aquatic birds enough to stave off actual starvation, but the desire for vegetable food increased as my means of supplying it became less. The only substitute for this which the island afforded, and that only scantily, was gum from a species of Mimosa. Making the most of the modicum of flour by mixing and boiling in water-a mess known amongst bushmen and inmates of workhouses as “skilligolee,” but to the general public as bill-sticker’s paste—I was pondering on poor S——’s fate, when the measured sound of oars a long way off fell on my ear. Running to the other side of the point, great was my joy to see a whale-boat heading towards me. I fired my gun, and waved my blanket, receiving answers to both signals. The time was now come when I could indulge my appetite without stint, and it did not take me long to dispose of the best part of my flour. I have lately been forcibly reminded of the straits to which I was at that time reduced by reading in poor Wills’s diary—one of the victims of the late mismanaged Australian exploring expedition—that he found the skilly made of nardoo flour, with which the poor natives supplied him, “a most insinuating article,” and confesses that he ate so freely of it, that he could eat no more. Would that he had lived to recount his other experiences!

The copious meal was just finished, when the boat arrived. She proved to be the one of which I had been in search. Her crew readily gave me a passage across, and supplied my other wants with a liberal hand. I found M——’s place deserted, and started at once for J——’s Station, the point to which my friend was bound when the accident befell him. On reaching the mouth of the creek on which the huts stood, great was my surprise and anguish to see the Coffin resting on the mud, with the stump of a mangrove tree through her bottom. Making the best of my way to the stock-keeper’s, I learnt from him that the boat had not capsized as I thought, but that her sail and mast had been wrenched out of her, starting some of her timbers, and that she had become waterlogged. An empty keg in the stern sheets helped to keep her afloat. In this condition S—— had been drifting about two days; and, strange to say, was carried by the tide to the very spot where I had seen the wreck.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

The stockman further informed me that (S—— had left the day before (J—— being away with his other boat) in search of some means by which he might return to the island, and that probably by this time he was there.

It is unnecessary for me to tire the reader’s patience by fully recounting how we again met, and for some months longer continued our battle with Fortune; or how we were eventually worsted, all our bright hopes vanishing with the smoke of our last mangrove fire.

In lieu of dividing 100,000l., my total share of the profits amounted to 8l. 15s. 6d., which just sufficed to furnish me forth for an overland expedition to Gipps Land, in which further adventures befel me.