A Fright at Night
"There he is, there he is!" squealed Ducky in the shrillest of trebles
as Rumple started to run along the dusty track up which the wagon was
advancing.
"Oh, you blessed boy, how could you have the heart to give us such a
fright?" cried Sylvia, who had been walking at the side of the wagon and
now rushed forward to fling her arms round Rumple and hug him until he
was nearly smothered.
"I'm awfully sorry, truly I am, but I didn't know anything about it; and
I tell you I just felt bad when I woke up in Mrs. Warner's parlour and
she told me that she had picked me up in the road and thought at first
that I was dead," explained Rumple, with an air of gloomy importance;
for in spite of the sorrow he felt at having given the others so much
anxiety there was a thrill of satisfaction at having figured in such a
fashion. To be picked up for dead had a good sound with it, and might
serve as quite a big incident when he wrote the story of his life.
"Oh, my dear, I will never let you sit upon the rack out of sight again
unless you are tied fast to the seat!" cried Nealie, who by this time
had jumped down from the wagon and was hugging him in place of Sylvia,
who had been pushed aside.
"Or we might tie the frying pan and the tin billy round his neck, and
then there would be such a rattle when he fell that we should be sure to
hear and could pick him up at our leisure," said Rupert. There was a
quiet drawl in his tone which meant that his foot was more painful than
usual; but Nealie had been so occupied with her anxiety on Rumple's
account that she had little time for watching her eldest brother, who
never said a word about himself, however bad he might feel.
"I shall not do such a stupid thing again of course, but it might have
been worse," said Rumple. "This is a jolly place: no end of cows, and a
real separator; you put them in at the top, the milk I mean, not the
cows, and they come out cream one side and milk the other. Mrs. Warner
is jolly too, and oh! what do you think, she is cousin to that Mr.
Melrose who left the ship at Cape Town, and sent the cable to Mr.
Wallis."
By the time Rumple had managed so much of explanation the horse and
wagon had halted outside the cowyard, and Mrs. Warner came rushing out
to greet the arrivals.
"I am really glad to see you; we don't get many visitors in these lonely
places, you know, and so company is always a treat. I am afraid that you
must have been rather scared when you found your brother was missing,
but when he was able to tell us how it all happened we sent off a notice
to be stuck up at the side of the road as soon as possible."
"It was most kind of you to be so thoughtful," said Nealie. "Only the
trouble was that we had found out Rumple was missing, and we had come
back on our tracks, right past the place where the notice was posted,
and we had nearly reached the cutting where they are going to make the
railway. We halted there, because we knew that when we passed that place
before Rumple was with us, and after we had been there about half an
hour a man came riding up from the way we had come, and he asked what
was the matter that we were so down on our luck; so we told him that one
of our brothers was missing, and then he said that he had seen a notice
up at the Four-Mile Corner, that stated a boy had been found lying in
the road, and had been taken to Warner's Farm, in the Holderness Valley,
but he was not hurt."
"I had that bit put to keep you from being scared," said Mrs. Warner,
nodding her head in a vigorous fashion. "I guessed that you would be
feeling pretty bad, and so I just told Tom to put it in big black
letters that the boy wasn't hurt."
"It was most kind of you!" said Nealie, flushing and paling. "I do not
know how I should have had the courage to find my way up here but for
those last words, and I am so very, very grateful to you for being so
kind to Rumple."
"Tcha!" cried Mrs. Warner, making a funny clicking noise with her
tongue. "Come in and have some supper, all of you; though where we can
put seven of you to sleep is more than I can say, for we are pretty full
with our own lot; but we will manage somehow, don't you fret."
"Oh, but, please, we have our own supper things, and we always sleep in
the wagon; that is, we girls sleep in the wagon, and the boys have two
mattresses underneath, so we never have to trouble anyone," said Nealie
hastily.
"What a fine idea!" cried Mrs. Warner, holding up her hands in
astonishment. "It makes you so independent of hotels and that sort of
thing; besides, these wayside houses are not many of them suitable
places for young people to stay at. But you are not going to eat your
own supper when you come to see me, not if I know it. Come along into
the kitchen, all of you, there is plenty to eat, only you have caught us
all in the rough."
"But, please, we must look after Rocky, that is our horse, before we
have our own supper; we always do," said Nealie, feeling as if the
stormy day was going to have a peaceful ending, seeing that they were to
find a supper all ready for them, instead of having to cook it for
themselves.
"Tom will see to your horse, and a fine creature it is too. But Peek &
Wallis always do supply good cattle; we often have their horses out
here. Tom is my eldest, and he is downright smart with horses. Tom, Tom,
come and lend a hand, will you?"
At the sound of his mother's shout Tom came hurrying out from the back
door; but he was so dreadfully shy, when he saw Nealie and Sylvia
standing by the horse, that he was just going to make a bolt for it, and
pretend that he had business in another direction, only just then Nealie
began to unharness the animal, setting about her task with such an air
of being accustomed to it that he suddenly forgot to be awkward and
nervous, walking up to the wagon and saying, in a matter-of-fact tone:
"Here, Miss, I'll look to your animal, and give him his supper and a rub
down, while you go in with Mother and get a feed for yourself."
"You are very kind," said Nealie, "but I will just get his supper corn
from the bottom of the wagon, because you will not know where to find
it, and Mr. Wallis said that a horse could not do heavy draught work on
grass feed."
"I should think not," replied Tom, with such an air of knowing all about
it as made his mother glow with pleasure, for Tom's shyness was a real
trouble to her, she never having been afflicted in that way herself.
"The horse shall have a corn feed, Miss, but it will be our corn and not
yours; that will do for to-morrow or the next day."
"Of course we don't let people feed themselves or their beasts when they
come here!" echoed Mrs. Warner, taking hold of Nealie and forcibly
leading her into the house, while the others trouped after them.
What a crowd they made in the canvas-walled kitchen. And what a supper
they ate, sitting round the table eating scones and butter, with
delicious raspberry jam. Amy, the stylish sister, made a fresh batch of
scones, and cooked them in the oven, while the rosy-cheeked Bella went
walking with her friend, who proved to be a good-looking young farmer,
living farther up the valley.
The girls slept in the wagon that night, but the boys carried their
mattresses into the big hay barn, because it threatened rain, and, as
Mrs. Warner said, it was much easier to keep dry than to dry up after
getting wet.
About midnight the rain came down at a pour; it rained until morning,
when it came down faster than ever, and Mrs. Warner would not hear of
their moving on. She said that Rockefeller certainly could not drag the
wagon through the loose mud of the track, and if they got out to walk
they would all catch bad colds, entailing no end of misery and
discomfort on them all, and the only sensible thing to do was to stay in
the Holderness Valley for another day, and the weather would be sure to
be better to-morrow.
This was such common-sense advice that Nealie was very glad to take it,
although she felt rather embarrassed, because it looked so much like
sponging on the generosity of their kind hostess.
The younger ones were all delighted to stay, and Sylvia entered herself
at once as an apprentice to the dairy business by taking a lesson in
milking, and Mrs. Warner declared that when Bella was married to her
friend who lived higher up the valley, Sylvia could come to the farm and
fill the vacant place, earning her keep, and a good deal more besides.
The boys turned the handle of the separator, and made themselves
generally useful. But Nealie went off in the rain with Mrs. Warner and
Tom for a ride to the butter factory with the cream from the night
before and that of the morning.
Mrs. Warner had guessed shrewdly enough that Nealie had so much
responsibility in an ordinary way as to make the little trip to the
factory quite a holiday jaunt.
Wrapped in a big mackintosh belonging to Amy, Nealie sat on the front
seat of the wagon, between Tom and his mother, and very much enjoying
the novelty of seeing someone else in charge of the horse and wagon.
The factory was a series of surprises, and she came away with her head
in a whirl between cream testers, butter machinery, freezing chambers,
and the final processes of packing for market. It seemed to her that the
world was such a wonderful place, and the things done in it were so much
more wonderful still, that she must belong to the very bottom class of
ignoramuses, because she did not know how to do anything save mother her
sisters and brothers, and she did not realize that this might be the
grandest and cleverest work of all.
All day it rained without a single stop, and far into the second night
as well. But the morning broke without a cloud, the sun shone out bright
and glorious, and all nature rejoiced because of the rain.
A start was made directly after breakfast, all the family of Warners
crowding to the cowyard gate, to see the travellers start.
Putting Rupert and Ducky up in the wagon to ride, the other five walked
the two miles and more to the Four-Mile Corner, because the Holderness
Valley track was so soft from the rain. Even with this lightening of the
load it was an anxious progress in places, and when they got stuck in a
hollow they had to put their shoulders to the wheel and assist strength
of collar by strength of arm.
But Rockefeller had been well fed at the farm, and he had had a good
rest also, and, being in prime condition, made short work of the heavy
track, landing them safe and sound on the main road.
Rumple's misadventure had let them in for quite a long delay, but it had
also secured them a shelter when they most needed it, and so, as Nealie
said, the balance was about even.
That day's journey was without incident, and so was the next. Then came
Sunday, when they did not travel at all, but remained in camp all day,
giving themselves and the horse a rest, and singing hymns as they sat
under the trees in the shade. So far there had mostly been trees dotted
here and there by the wayside, but on Monday morning the way grew wilder
and rougher, they were getting out in the back country, and all round
there was nothing to be seen save rolling downs and broad sheep
paddocks, while the road stretched shadeless and glaring for miles on
miles before them, and every step stirred blinding clouds of dust.
"This rather takes the gilt off the gingerbread," said Rupert, as he sat
under the wagon tilt fanning himself with his hat and choking with dust.
Vast herds of cattle, being driven down to the coast to be turned into
chilled beef for exportation, had been passing them all day, and these
droves materially added to their sufferings because of the amount of
dust that was raised. There was danger for Rocky, too, from the long,
sharp horns of the cattle, as they pressed closely round the wagon in
passing, and as a measure of precaution Nealie turned the wagon right
round every time she saw a great drove approaching, by which means the
back of the wagon had the chief impact.
Camping that night was not a very cheerful business. There was only a
scanty supply of water available, food supplies were also running short,
and there was a cold wind blowing, which one of the drovers had told
them was going to be a "southerly buster", only, luckily for their
present peace of mind, the seven did not as yet understand the true
significance of the term.
The shortness of food was owing to their having expected to reach a
certain point of the journey where fresh supplies could be procured. But
they had been held up so many times that afternoon by the passing of
cattle that they were five or six miles from the place where they had
intended to stop when sundown came.
"Never mind being short to-night; we will have a good feed when we reach
Ford to-morrow to make up for it," said Nealie cheerfully. Her money was
holding out so much better than she had expected, thanks to the kindness
of Mrs. Warner, that she was feeling quite easy in her mind about food
supplies just at present.
"We will turn in directly we have eaten all there is for supper, before
it has time to evaporate and leave us hungry again," said Rumple, who
could always forget his woes in sleep.
"That is a downright jolly idea!" cried Sylvia, stretching her arms
above her head in a sleepy fashion. The long days in the open air made
her most fearfully hungry and tired, while to-day had certainly been the
most fatiguing that they had had since leaving Sydney.
They were sitting round a fire made mainly of grass, to eat their
supper, for no wood was procurable in the district in which that night's
camp was made. There were, indeed, a few stunted sandalwood bushes and
some odd clumps of spinifex; but these were so difficult to cut that
they had preferred to manage with a bundle of wood which had been
gathered some days ago and slung on to the back of the wagon for use in
an emergency like this, and when the wood had dwindled to a bank of
red-hot embers they had piled grass upon it, and so kept the fire going
while supper was in progress, because the wind was so cold.
For the first time since they had started on their travels they were
glad to go to their rest wrapped up in rugs and coats. Even then the
boys under the wagon were so cold that Don suggested they should all lie
very close together on one mattress, while the other was used as a top
covering; and this arrangement made them so comfortable and warm that
they were all fast asleep until they were suddenly aroused by a terrific
screaming from the wagon. Then, when they started up, still drowsy with
their heavy slumber, they were promptly knocked down and trampled in the
dust.