"Had a good night's rest, my boy?"
"Night's rest?" stammered Nic.
"Yes; you have been asleep eight hours, I should say."
Nic stared.
"Like a bath? Do you good. Get a towel, and have a plunge into the
pool. Don't be more than a quarter of an hour gone. Can you swim?"
"Yes, father," said Nic, who felt stiff and shivery; and as he climbed
up under the waggon-cover for the towel, he wished bathing had never
been invented.
Getting down and making for the water-hole, he came upon Brookes, who
was carrying an armful of wood for the fire, and he saluted the boy
with:
"Going to have a dip?"
"Yes."
"Hope you'll like it. Don't ketch me at it."
His face was only dimly seen reflecting the light of the fire; but
recalling what he had seen, Nic could not help feeling that the stock
man did not use water much for outward application.
Half-way to the hole he met the black, who said something
incomprehensible, to which Nic answered with "good morning," and hurried
on to the bank, down in the hollow along which the river ran.
There was a thin, whitish mist just visible over the water, which looked
horribly black and cold, making the boy feel as if he would have given
anything to evade the morning duty.
"Why not shirk it?" he said to himself. "I might wash my face and
hands, and go back."
Hurrying a dozen yards or so to where the bank was lower and the water
not above eight or ten inches beneath, he prepared for a simple wash,
and laid his towel on a bush; but his conscience attacked him, and,
setting his teeth hard, he tore off jacket and vest in a way that was
nothing less than vicious. These he placed on the bush which acted for
a chair back, while the morning air struck chill to the bare skin.
"It's horrid," he thought,--"horrid. How can one go on like this?"
Ugh! how cold the black water looked in that grey dawn, for there was no
sign of the sun, the stars being still faintly visible, and to keep his
teeth from chattering Nic set them so hard that they began to ache.
"Pretty cowardly fool I should have looked if father had asked me at
breakfast if--Bother it all. Why didn't I take off my shoes?"
Nic had got one leg half out of his trousers, but not being so clever as
the black at that crane or stork-like way of standing he overbalanced,
tried to save himself failed, and went down on his side, in which safer
position he dragged out first one and then the other leg.
"Yes; pretty cowardly fellow I should have looked if father had asked me
at breakfast if I enjoyed my swim."
He rose and hung up his trousers on the bush, thrust off shoes and
stockings, and then stood on the bank white and ghostly-looking, gazing
down into the deep, still water overhung by thick bushes, which made it
look still more untempting. For it was big enough--there were two or
three acres--to hold any number of terrible monsters. There might be
water-serpents hidden under those overhanging trees, waiting amongst the
roots ready to seize and pull him down; or huge alligators or crocodiles
might be lurking in the deepest holes. Nic was not learned enough as to
the way in which their teeth fitted between the others or into holes in
the opposing jaws to know which was which. It was enough for him to
remember that they were shaped like the fierce little efts which seized
the worms in ponds at home when he had been out fishing.
The thoughts were horrible, and he stood shivering, and had it been
broad daylight his skin would have been seen becoming covered with tiny
pimples, like the cuticle of the goose plucked, and assuming a reddish,
purply hue.
"Oh," he thought, "if I could only escape this bitter task!" But he was
too determined to attempt that, though he could not help putting off the
task as long as he could; for cold water which looks bad enough at dawn
in a bath in a comfortable dressing-room seems far worse on the banks of
a river; and a hundred times worse when an active brain suggests the
possibility of its containing fierce, hungry reptiles in all their
amphibious horror, watching and waiting, in a land of blacks, for a
tender, well-fed breakfast off a delicate, well-bred white.
"It's of no use," thought Nic. "I must summon up courage and do it.
He'll be waiting breakfast for me, and--Ugh! how cold!"
Nic involuntarily turned his head to gaze in the direction of the trees
where the fire was blazing, uttered a faint cry of surprise and horror,
and turned and dived off the bank into the hole, to feel quite an
electric shock run through him, while the water thundered in his ears,
and he formed a graceful arch in the depths.
Out popped his head directly, yards away from where he had taken his
header, and he began to swim with a calm, vigorous stroke right away for
the middle, gazing sideways the while and muttering to himself as he saw
that the object which had startled him, shamefaced, into seeking the
protection of the water, had walked close to the edge, taken up his
favourite, crane-like attitude, and was watching him swim, with his lips
drawn from his teeth and displaying them in a broad grin.
It was something after the fashion of a conjuring trick. One moment a
white figure had stood there in the dawning day; the next there was a
loud splash, the white figure had disappeared, and a black one stood in
its place, not in the least ashamed, though almost as nude as Nic. For
the black had followed, stood watching, and studied with great enjoyment
the appearance of one of his white masters wearing the natural garb
which he himself generally affected.
There were neither crocodiles, alligators, nor serpents in the water
now, so far as Nic's fancy was concerned. After the first plunge his
whole nature had awakened to a sense of vigorous vitality. The sharp
touch of the electric water sent thrill after thrill of energy through
him, and he swam half across the river-hole, and turned back feeling as
active as an eel.
"Here, who's to get out and dress with that fellow staring at me?"
thought Nic, as he neared the black. "I shall have to stop in till he
goes. Hi! you, sir! Be off!"
The black's grin ceased, and he turned and fled, while Nic sprang out,
had a vigorous rub, began to glow, and then dressed, to run back to the
waggon as hard as he could go, finishing off his head the while.
Five minutes after his short hair had obeyed the comb, he made for the
fire, where a pleasant odour saluted his nostrils, and he felt that he
must have made a mistake or been deceived.
But no: it was a fact. Brookes and Leather had been busy. Hot bread
was waiting, and crisp, brown slices of bacon were fizzling in the pan.
"Ready?" said the doctor; and then the boy started, for these words
followed: "Have a good swim?"
"Yes, father--glorious."
"Water cold?"
"Yes; but I'm all of a glow now."
"Take your tea."
Nic took the big tin mug.
"Damper?"
"Oh no, father; I had a thorough good rub."
"I said damper."
"Yes, father, I know. Only my hair--just a little."
"He dunno what you mean, sir," said Brookes with a chuckle, as he waited
to take the men's share of the breakfast away.
"Oh, I see," said the doctor, laughing. "Have some hot bread with your
bacon, Nic? We call this cake damper."
Nic did not mind what they called it, and he took his portion and his
rasher of hot bacon, and he repeated the action with the greatest of
pleasure, sipping at intervals from the milkless contents of his big tin
mug without once regretting the absence of milk or cream.
Memorandum. Ride for many hours over the luxuriant downs on a clear
day, when the air is laden with the health-giving odours of the gum
trees, lie down tired out, and sleep with your slumber appearing to last
one minute, but enduring for eight hours; lastly, have a plunge in a
clear water-hole, and after a brief swim a tremendous rub, and you will
be ready to perform as satisfactorily over the _al fresco_ breakfast and
do it as much justice as Dominic Braydon.
"A little more, Nic?" said his father.
"Yes, please."
Nic said that twice; and a little while after, as a recollection came
suddenly back:
"I say, father, are there any crocodiles or dangerous things in these
rivers?"
"If there were, do you think I should have sent you to bathe?" was the
reply.
"Oh no, of course."
"There are plenty, I believe, up north, where the rivers are always open
right to the sea; but never here."
"But fish, father?"
"Oh yes, there are fish, principally what they call here the black-fish.
You'll have to try for them by-and-by."
"Very big?" asked Nic, who was thinking of his bath.
"Oh no; small fish, but delicious eating. Now then, any more?"
"No, thanks, father."
"Then go and feed the dogs. We start in a quarter of an hour. One
moment. Do you feel very stiff?"
"Stiff?--well, yes, a little, father."
"Not very bad, then. How do you feel about a trot to-day?"
"I'll--I'll try, father. Look--look!"
The boy jumped up in his excitement, for there was a whirring of wings,
a burst of screaming, and a flock of birds flew over their heads, with
the plumage looking in the morning light as white as snow.
"Cockatoos?" cried Nic wildly.
"Yes," said his father, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm over what was
one of the commonest sights to him. "I have seen them before. Now
then, breakfast for our prisoners. I shall be glad when we can let
those dogs run free."