ON THE HERBERT RIVER.
From the glimpses I already had of the settlement, I came to the
conclusion that it was of no use looking for carpenter's work here, so I
went into the most conspicuous house I could see, viz., the hotel, and
asked for a job of any kind. There were three or four men in the bar,
dried-up looking mummies they seemed to me, but very friendly, for they
began at once to mix in the conversation, and after I had told everybody
all round where I came from, how old I was, what I could do, how long I
had been in the country, and a lot more besides, they held a
consultation among themselves, and agreed that my best plan was to go up
on the sugar plantations on the Herbert River. It appeared that the mail
for the plantation was taken up the river once a fortnight from Cardwell
in a common boat, and my new friends, after standing drinks all round,
unsolicited went to the captain about letting me go with him, and pull
an oar in lieu of passage money. They asked me into dinner, as a matter
of course; and who should I see waiting at the table but a German girl,
one of my shipmates. "Happy meeting." Then for two or three more days I
was breaking firewood for a living, and meanwhile it seemed as if I was
the admiration of the whole community, because Cardwell is, and was
then, as well as the Herbert River, a fearful place for fever, and the
whole population was in a constant state of disease. As for me,
Queensland had so far, I believe, rather improved my appearance than
otherwise. Anyhow, it was a case all the day through to answer people
how long I had been in the country; then they would say, "Hah! Europe,
the old country--that must be the best place, after all. Look at his
cheeks!" Then I would be advised to clear out again as fast as I came,
or else in three months I should look like everybody around me. It used
to surprise me very much, but I could not understand it, because the
climate seemed to me excellent; and as everybody seemed so kind, and I
was in the best of health, I only laughed at their sayings. Meanwhile I
had spoken to the man in charge of the mail-boat, and one day at noon I
embarked for the plantations. It was an ordinary rowing boat, and
besides myself it had two other occupants--the captain, who was a
Frenchman; the other an American. They both, on ordinary occasions, each
pulled an oar; but this time, as I was there, the captain took the helm
and I the oar. I pulled away as hard as I could, and did not see much of
where we were going, but by the time it grew dark we were past the mouth
of the river, and in smooth water. We dropped anchor in the middle of
the river, because, as the captain explained to me, if we were to run
ashore an alligator would be sure to try and crawl into the boat. They
had appliances in the boat for boiling water, and after tea they both
sat for a couple of hours spinning alligator yarns. I listened with
great interest and not without fear, because the river was swarming with
the reptiles. The blacks were also at that time so bad that no one dared
to go overland to the plantations, unless in a large company. Here in
the boat we had two loaded rifles and two revolvers, and before we
reached the plantations I saw enough to convince me that it was
necessary to be very careful when we had occasion to go ashore. It was
also considered always necessary for one to keep watch the whole night,
and as I was not sleepy I took the first watch, while the other two laid
themselves down and soon snored lustily. Put there staring out into the
darkness, with the loaded rifle over my knee, could it really be true,
as my two shipmates had just assured me, that I was bound to catch the
fever before three months were over? How did people here do when they
were sick? I had asked that question also, and they had answered it by
asking me if I thought anybody here was running about with a hospital on
his back. And when any one died, it appeared that they rolled the body
in a blanket and threw it in the river for the alligators to do the
rest! These alligators, too, which might at any time upset the boat and
eat us! Would it be my fate to serve as food for one of them? Horrible
thought. But I had heard that evening so much about alligators; how, if
I were at any time to be caught by one I should try to stick my finger
into its eye, and that it would then eject me again; the whole thing
being just as if it were a most natural and common occurrence here for
people to be eaten by these monsters. Then there were the blacks; they
were both savage and numerous, and I had got strict orders to listen
with all my ears for any surprise from them. I had taken great notice
that when boiling the tea my shipmates had been very careful to conceal
the fire.
Bang! crack! went the rifle. Up rushed the Frenchman and the American,
revolvers in hand. I stared at them. They stared at me.
"What is the matter?" whispered the captain.
"I don't know," whispered I; "the gun went off."
It was well for me, perhaps, that I was not familiar with the French
language, or else who knows but the Franco-German war might not have
been renewed between myself and the captain. He screamed and laughed and
swore both "Mon Dieu" and "Sacre bleu," and then he assured me that it
was only because I was a German that I was afraid!
The Yankee sat and smoked his pipe, and laughed in a peculiar way; and,
wild and ashamed of myself, I could not help feeling amused at him,
because he laughed, although the grimaces in his face were exactly those
another man would make if he were going to cry. By and by the captain
began to feel calmer, and as I was disposed only to feel angry with
myself for the fear which had caused me to press on the trigger of the
rifle until it went off, we were soon friends again. My watch was over,
and I laid down to sleep, while the two others took their turn to watch
the rest of the night. At break of day we hoisted the anchor and began
to propel the boat again. I never remember anything in nature making the
same impression on me as the scenery around us. The broad river, or
inlet, was dotted all over with beautiful small islands, then on the
mainland the hills seemed to rise to immense heights, covered with the
primeval forest. The sun rose and shone with that splendour that those
who have been in the tropics can alone imagine. Parrots and all other
birds flew about in great numbers, screaming as if with joy.
At sunrise we went ashore on a small island about half an acre in
extent, but verdant with tropical plants, quite a home of summer! Here
we had breakfast and a rest before we started again. How inconceivable
did it seem to me that this climate should be so unhealthy as they said
it was. Anyhow, it seemed to me that to have seen this place would be
justification for saying one had not lived in vain, and if the worst was
to come, death seemed to me to have no terror if one might be buried on
that island. We now started off again, pulling the boat. Shortly after,
the sky became overcast and rain began to pour down. First, we had taken
all our clothes off and covered them up with a piece of canvas. The rain
descended in sheets of water all day, and we had a rare bath all the
time; one was always baling the boat and the other pulling. I can never
forget that weary day. We could not make a fire, we had no shelter, and
scarcely five minutes' rest or interval from pulling. A sort of morose
silence seemed to settle over us all. Long after dark in the evening did
it keep on raining, and I began to wonder where we should put ourselves
that night. As the others said nothing, I did not intend to be the first
to knock under. Still, I was ready to drop as I pulled along in the
pitch darkness, and it made it much worse that I did not know but that I
might have to do it all night. At last the captain took up a horn and
blew a tune on it, and a few minutes later we heard a fearful barking as
of a score of big dogs. We had arrived at the place where the township
of Ingham stands to-day. At that time there was only one solitary house
built on high posts, with plenty of room to walk about underneath. I
understood the house was the joint property of the planters further up
the river, and the place was used as a sort of depot. There was an old
man in charge, the only inhabitant; he lived there all alone, protected
by a score of dogs, the most ferocious-looking beasts I ever saw. It
was also part of his duty to receive and be hospitable to such
travellers as might find their way there. I was told these details while
in the boat, and cautioned not to run the boat ashore before we were
invited, as the dogs for certain would tear me to pieces. We heard the
old fellow cooeing, and shortly after he came down to us. He had a
lantern hung around his neck, and two ferocious-looking dogs were held
in chains by him, striving and tearing to get at us. Some more dogs,
which he said were quiet, but which did not look so, were barking and
straining after us at the landing-place. My shipmates had been there
before, and at last the dogs seemed to know them; but poor I had to
remain by myself in the boat until the old man had got all the dogs
chained again. At last I came ashore. Oh, the joy now of a fire, dry
clothes, a good supper, a glass of grog, and a good bed! A good bed in
the Queensland bush means two saplings stuck through a couple of
flour-bags, with two sticks nailed across at the head and the foot to
keep them apart.
The next evening, after another hard day's pulling, we came to the first
plantation. This seemed quite a large place. I cannot now after so many
years state how many people there were or what they were doing, if ever
I knew it; but let it suffice to say that we were all well received at
supper-time in the single men's hut, where a large crowd of men were
collected. The French man told me I should be sure to get a job as
carpenter from the planter, and that I must demand three pounds sterling
per week and board for my services, nothing less. I slept that night on
the dining-table, as there was no spare bunk; and I remember that night
with great distinctness, on account of what I suffered from mosquitoes.
The next morning I saw the planter, and asked him for a job as
carpenter. "Yes," said he; I was the very man he wanted. He intended to
build a house of split timber; I might give him a price. He would order
a couple of horses, and we would ride out to look for timber, and if I
liked the trees, so much the better. This was a thing I did not then
understand anything about, and I told him so. "Never mind," said he, "I
will find you something; you can make me a waggon." I told him waggons
were not in my line. "What is in your line, then?" inquired he.
I understood the carpentry needed in brick-building, or at least part of
it, and I could make joinery of sawn timber.
"Very well; when he wanted a brick building, or joinery made of sawn
timber, he would send for me."
Then he walked off in a bad humour, and I had to go back to the boat to
tell my shipmates how I had fared. That same day, at dinner-time, we
arrived at the next plantation. I was by this time in very low spirits,
because I did not know what was to become of me. Everybody seemed to
have an errand and something to do except myself, and I did not see how
and when my services would be called into requisition; but my two
shipmates kept telling me it was my own fault, and that I should take
anything I could get to do. So I would, but what was it I could do?
Anyhow, they kept telling me that here was the only likely place left,
and I there _must_ get a job. I must say I could do anything. After I
had dined, the Frenchman kept poking at me and pointing out to me the
planter, telling me I must ask for a job. So I mustered up courage and
went up and spoke to him. "What can you do?" "Anything." "Can you cook?"
"Do you mean making dinners?" "Yes." "No, I cannot do that." "Can you
split fencing stuff?" "No." "Can you make brick?" "No." "Can you chip?"
"What is that?" "Kill weeds with a hoe." "I never did it before." "I am
afraid it is difficult to find you a job. You say you can do anything:
what is it you can do?"
I was again quite crestfallen as I said, "I do not think I can do
_any_thing." "Well, then, I cannot find you anything to do." With that
he went his way, and I came back to where the Frenchman sat, and I had
to tell him once more of my hard fate. At this he began to swear in
French like one demented, and asked me had I never told the planter I
was a carpenter. "No." "Mon Dieu! oh, Mon Dieu, was any one like this
infant!" Then he ran after the planter and spoke to him, and soon they
both came back. The planter then said he had been told I was a
carpenter, and that he was prepared to find work for me at that trade,
but that he would prefer me to go into the boat to the next plantation,
as he knew his neighbour was much in want of me. If I did not get on
there he would employ me as I came back. What a relief I felt,
especially as I understood they did not expect me to build houses out of
growing trees! The next evening we passed the place where I was told I
could get work, but it was on the other side of the river. A man stood
down by the water's edge hailing the boat. He sang out to us if we
thought it possible he might get a carpenter in Cardwell. It was music
in my ears. The Frenchman cried back: "We have one on the boat." The man
on shore replied he wanted one to make boxes, tables, and the like. I
was ready to jump out of the boat with anxiety, but I had to content
myself, as my shipmates would not let me off before the return journey,
and so I had to ply the oar until, far out into the night, we arrived at
the furthest point of our journey, viz., the Native Police camp.
I may say a few words about this establishment. Round about in
Queensland, on the furthest outskirts of settlements, some official will
be stationed in charge of half a dozen aboriginals, trained in the use
of the rifle and amenable to discipline. It is the duty of this
official, with the assistance of his troopers, to fill the aborigines
with terror, and to use such means to that end as his own judgment may
dictate. White men to hunt the blacks with would be useless, as they
could never track them through the jungle, and would no doubt also be
too squeamish to fight the natives with their own weapons. But the
blacks themselves delight in being cruel to their own kind. Often while
I was on the Herbert, would I see them coming past, like regular
bloodhounds, quite naked, with their rifle in their hand and a belt
around their waist containing ammunition and the large scrub knife.
Their bodies would be smeared over with grease, so as to be slippery to
the touch. They would then be out on an expedition. It no doubt requires
all the authority their officer can command at such times to temper the
wind to the shorn lamb. As the district becomes settled the aboriginals
grow quiet, and the native police camp will then be shifted further on.
While I was on the Herbert I never saw any other blacks besides the
police, although the blacks were about then in great numbers. We often
saw their tracks, but they never showed themselves unless when they
could not help it.
We arrived at the police camp about two or three o'clock in the morning,
and were received at the landing-place by two of the troopers, who stood
there without saying a word, as if they were watching for us. They were
black as the night itself, and as I never saw them until I was out of
the boat, I fairly ran against them. One of them had a pipe in his
mouth, and the only thing that indicated his presence was a glowing bit
of coal he had stuck into it. The other one, as I already stated, I ran
against, and I was quite startled as I looked into his gleaming eyes and
as I stretched out my hands felt his greasy cold flesh! So I sang out,
"Hi! vot name? Where you sit down?" that being the usual greeting to a
blackfellow, but although none of them spoke a sentence, I was reassured
in the next moment, as I saw a gentlemanly young man, dressed in a
pyjamas, coming down to greet us. This was their officer, and as he led
us towards the house I thought that it must be a cruel life for any
white man to lead alone in such a place with nobody but a lot of howling
savages to exchange a thought with. I do not think the whole clearing
was more than half an acre in extent. In the middle of it stood a house
built on posts eight feet high. It contained two rooms. This was where
the officer lived. In the yard, or whatever you liked to call the
clearing, was a fire, and around it sat or lay all these black troopers.
Australian blacks will not sleep in a house if they can possibly avoid
it, so this was their regular camping-place. A more wild and desolate
spot than this looked to me, with all these naked savages lying in the
yard, and with weapons piled about both outside and inside the house,
cannot be conceived.
The next day, on our return journey, I parted company with my two
fellow-travellers, and went ashore at ---- plantation, where I got a
job as carpenter for two pounds ten shillings per week and my board.
This was a place which scarcely could be called a plantation yet, as it
was only just formed. The owner and his family lived there in a large
slab-house, erected on wooden piles ten or twelve feet out of the
ground. There were also a few outbuildings, but any real work was not
going on, only one man, a bullock driver, being engaged on the premises.
My "boss" told me, though, that he expected a hundred Kanakas shortly
from the South Sea Islands, and that he wanted me to fit up bunks for
them, put together tables, troughs for making bread in, furniture for
his own house, and such like. I perceived a few thousand feet of sawn
cedar lying about, and there and then I started work to astonish the
natives. I never worked with greater perseverance than then. The tools
were in a fearful condition, but I soon got them into some shape. Then I
rigged up a bench and made a sunshade out in the yard, where the young
lady could see me working, and then it began to rain tables, sofas,
chairs, and bunks, so much that I am not afraid to say that I quickly
became a favourite. I found out here that I was more capable than I
myself thought, because I even made a first-rate boat, in which I had
the pleasure of rowing about the river with Mr. ----'s daughter, and in
which she and her father afterwards travelled to Cardwell. Miss ---- had
been with her parents on the Herbert for a year, and shortly after I
arrived on the scene she went to a boarding-school in Sydney. On his
return journey from Cardwell Mr. ---- brought home a servant girl, who
proved to be the German girl I already have mentioned as having seen in
Cardwell. I relate this matter not because I took any particular
interest in this girl, but because I have by and by to write about what
happened to all of us.
My "boss" was in my eyes a regular hero, or Nimrod, if you like. I went
out shooting with him both morning and evening, and all Sunday as well,
and became after a while quite a good shot. But one thing troubled Mr.
----; it was this: that although alligators were a daily terror, he had
never yet been able to shoot one. When we went out shooting he had
always a rifle with him, loaded with ball, and we would crawl about some
fearful places and follow the tracks of alligators, but still we had no
luck. As for me, I professed to be very sorry too, that we did not run
right up against one. I had great faith in Mr. ----, and I do not think
he had any suspicion that I was really afraid; still I always drew a
sigh of relief when we came home from one of our expeditions. There is
so much boasting going on in Queensland about alligators, that it is
next to a proverb here when one is telling an untrue tale to say that it
is "an alligator yarn," and I am, therefore, almost ashamed to write
about it. Still alligators are a reality, and up there we knew it. On
the river-bank, in front of the house was a spring, from which we got
the water supply for the house but so nervous were we that no one dared
to go to it without the utmost precaution. Every morning Mr. ---- would
come and ask the bullock driver and me if we were prepared to fetch
water. Then he would get his rifle and take up a position on the
river-bank from which he could overlook the surroundings, while we went
down to carry up a supply of water.
[Illustration: AN ALLIGATOR POOL.]
And now I will relate an alligator story, although I have been much
tempted to pass it over for the reason already stated. One day after
dinner Mr. ---- came to me much excited, and told me that an alligator
had taken one of the working bullocks which had been lying down a few
hundred yards from the house, in broad daylight too. We then went down
to see about it, and there were the tracks of the bullock and the
alligator. It showed plainly that the alligator must have taken the
bullock in the hind-quarters and have dragged it along, because the
earth was regularly ploughed up where the bullock had been holding back
with its head and forelegs; it had been dragged right down to the
river's edge and then killed and partly eaten. As we ran the tracks
down, we saw the alligator by the bullock, but it dropped like a stone
into the water on our approach. Mr. ---- turned to me with sparkling
eyes. "Now is our chance," cried he; "to-night and to-morrow night it
will come again and eat of the bullock. Then we can shoot it." Was it
not fun? Anyhow I said I would make one of the shooting party, and then
he began to unfold our plan of campaign. To begin with he thought it
best to delay till the next evening as the alligator would then be sure
to be more quiet. We were to take up a concealed position to windward of
the bullock's carcass, and await the arrival of the monster. And so the
next evening came, and after tea, while it was yet light, Mr. ---- came
and asked me if I was ready. "Yes," cried I. I was ready, and in a very
ferocious spirit besides! Well, then, we would get the weapons. The two
rifles were loaded, and each of us had a six-chambered revolver as well.
As for me, I stuck a butcher's knife in my belt also, as a last
resource, but Mr. ---- laughed at me for doing it and assured me that
before I could find use for that I should be in the alligator's stomach.
Then we went, Mr. ---- first and I close behind. The river-bank nearest
the water was very steep for about thirty yards, then there was a gentle
slope for another twenty yards or so, and on that slope the carcass of
the bullock was now lying. We were very careful to have the wind against
us, as the alligator is very shy as a rule, and Mr. ---- said it would
be sure to clear off if it could smell us. Then we lay down behind some
bushes in a most overpowering smell from the bullock; but what will one
not do for glory? It was agreed between us that we should both fire at
the same moment, and that Mr. ---- should give the signal. We were lying
flat on the ground, and one of Mr. ----'s legs was touching me, and it
was further agreed that I was not on any account to fire before he with
his leg pressed mine in a certain way. Then I was to fire into the mouth
of the alligator, while he at the same moment would try to send a ball
through its eye. We were lying in this position nearly up to midnight,
when we heard some heavy body come creeping up the hill, but still out
of sight. Now and then the noise would cease for a minute or two, then
it would come on again, until at last we saw the dark mass of the
alligator come crawling up to the bullock and begin to tear at it. I was
not a bit nervous, because I could see it quite distinctly, but I was
very impatient for the signal to fire which did not come, and I dared
not move round sufficiently to look at Mr. ---- either. The alligator
was turning this way and that way. Now, I thought, is the time. Still no
signal. Then it turned right round, and at one time I thought its tail
was going to sweep us away. Just when our chance was best we heard
another alligator coming crawling up the bank. It was at that moment
quite impossible to fire according to the position in which the first
alligator was lying, but as it was moving about rapidly I thought it
best in any case to ignore as well as I could the presence of the second
alligator, which we could not yet see. At last the first one began to
snap its jaws in that peculiar way which only one who has seen a live
alligator knows. Then came the signal. Bang! went the rifles. The beast
never moved a muscle. It was quite dead, and we could hear the other
alligator tearing and rolling down into the water again. Mr. ---- got up
and wiped his face. "I was afraid of you getting excited," said he. I
admitted I was thankful the sport was over, and without giving ourselves
time to measure the reptile we decamped out of the smell as fast as we
could. It was fairly overpowering, and it took the best part of a bottle
of Scotch whiskey, which the "boss" introduced, to make me believe that
it was possible to go through such adventure and still live.
It had for a long time been the wish of Mrs. ---- and the children to
visit their nearest neighbour, who, however, lived some fourteen miles
away. One evening preparations were made for the whole family to start
at daybreak next morning on the bullock dray. It was quite a perilous
journey for a lady and children to undertake, as the track was through
the dense jungle most of the way, and through grass eight feet high at
other places, and swamps, creeks, and gullies had to be crossed. Mr.
---- told me that he could not possibly be back before the next night,
and that he entrusted everything at home to my care while he was away,
the girl included, and that I might take a holiday until they came back,
so that I on no account left the premises. He also advised me that as it
was possible I might have a surprise from the blacks I had better sleep
for the night up in the house, which, as I have already stated, stood on
high piles, and was only accessible by means of a narrow staircase. The
next morning, then, they all went away, the bullock driver and all the
dogs included. Twelve bullocks pulled the dray, into which a lot of
bed-clothes were piled. There sat the lady and the children. Mr. ----
was on horseback, armed with his rifle and revolvers. The driver cracked
his long whip and all the dogs barked and jumped about. I stood by
seeing them off and feeling quite important too, as I was the garrison
left to defend the home until the travellers should return. About
dinner-time that same day two travellers came in a boat from one of the
plantations and asked to speak to Mr. ----. This was rather remarkable,
as we scarcely ever saw any other people than the boatmen when they
brought the mail, and occasionally the black trackers from the police
camp, but I told them that Mr. ---- and the whole family had left that
morning in the bullock dray. They seemed surprised.
"All of them, did you say?"
"Yes," replied I.
"It means good-bye," said they both. "You will never see any of them
again; they have cleared off."
I was surprised and incredulous. My friends seemed quite sure.
"And what did he say to you when they left?" inquired one.
"He told me I need not work until he came back, but that I must not
leave the premises. He also said that he entrusted everything to my
care."
"My word," said they, "it is a nasty trust. Why, the blacks will be sure
to rush the place one of these days, perhaps to-night, for they are
certain to have seen the others going away."
Then they began to commiserate with me on what was to become of myself
and the girl, as we were sure to fall into the hands of the blacks, and
they offered to take us both away in the boat with them. But I could not
see it in that way. I knew that in all probability we should have no
visitors for ten or eleven days until the mailman came. But where was I
to go? I had now a good deal of money coming to me. Who was to pay me?
Besides, it might only be all nonsense. Still the responsibility seemed
great. I took the girl aside and asked her if she liked to go in the
boat and leave me. She began to cry, and said she would rather stay, and
did not like the fellows. If there is anything that could ever make me
desperate it is to see a woman cry. So I began to give the two strangers
the cold shoulder, and to show them that I had a rifle, six
fowling-pieces, a revolver, and any amount of ammunition, and that I
would, if it was necessary, defend the place against all the blacks in
the district, but neither the girl nor I would budge out of the place
before we were paid, and that, moreover, we did not believe that the
"boss" had cleared off, but that he would be back the next evening.
After these fellows were gone I held a council of war with the girl. We
turned and twisted probabilities for or against, were they coming back
or were they not? Evening came and we sat up in the blockhouse and dared
not go to bed. Wherever I moved there the girl was after me. I had all
the guns standing loaded alongside me, but we dared not light a lamp for
fear of attracting the blacks. We sat whispering and listening. Every
time the wind would rustle the leaves in the garden the girl made a grab
at me and cried, "There they are! There they are!"
At last I induced her to go to her room, and then I dozed off myself,
and did not wake up before it was broad daylight. The first thing we did
that morning on coming downstairs was to look for tracks from the
blacks, to see if they had been about. I was not a very good tracker
then, but we found what proved to our entire satisfaction that the
aboriginals had been about in great numbers. This terrified the girl
completely, and she upbraided me for having slept during the night, and
implored me not to do so again; also she wished she had gone with the
strangers the day before; and then she began praying in great excitement
that it might not be her fate to fall into the hands of savages. Of
course all this had its influence on me, and as the day went on we
completely discarded the possibility of our employers returning, and
only thought of how best to protect ourselves from the blacks. I made up
my mind, therefore, that the time had now arrived for me to show myself
great and brave, and at all events to sell my life dearly. Good
generalship, however, was likely, thought I, to do more for me than
bravery unassisted by judgment, and for that reason I began to think how
to act so as to be prepared for the worst. I knew this much, that the
greatest danger from a surprise would be about sunrise. But as I was
alone I could see that it would be impossible for me to defend the whole
property. I must therefore retire to the main house, which, standing
isolated and on high piles, would offer a good fortification. But if I
had to abandon the outhouses, they would then fall into the hands of the
enemy and he would be enriched by all there was to be found in them. I
must, therefore, while I had time, carry everything I could up to the
house, and, perhaps, it would be better to burn the outhouses down
afterwards, so that they might not serve as a hiding-place for the
blacks. I would see about that, but my first duty was to carry
everything upstairs, and at all events commenced. No sooner said than
done. The girl and I carried everything we could lay our hands on,
upstairs. I also carried up water enough to last us for a fortnight or
more, three large tubsful. All the firewood that was lying handy I also
humped up, although there was no fireplace upstairs; but I wanted to do
all I could, and in my energy I could not be still.
In this way the day passed and evening came again. As no one had
returned what hope we might have had was now dead, and as for me I felt
like a glorious Spartan, quite certain that the blacks would come and
that I should let daylight through every one of them. All my guns, of
course, were loaded, and I was showing them off to the girl, explaining
to her that it was my intention, after having defended the door as long
as I could, to retire from room to room and keep up the war all the
time. But she was nevertheless timid, and I feared much that she should,
by taking hold of me, which indeed she did all the time, prevent me from
firing, and I asked her, therefore, again to retire to her room. She
implored me to let her stay with me, and said she did not mind so that
we might die together. Then she began to hug me. What new and unexpected
horror was this? Was this a man-trap, or what? Was there not trouble
enough already? Surely, thought I, if ever a man needed a stimulant to
keep up his pluck, I am that man. Happy thought! I knew where the "boss"
kept his whiskey. I went to the cupboard and took a long, deep pull at
the bottle. "Dearest Amelia," cried I, "remember that in the time of our
glorious forefathers it was the duty of the Danish maidens to hand the
cup to the warriors, both before they went to battle and when they came
home. Do now! Let me. Oblige me to drink of this bottle. It is only
schnapps. Do! That is right. Here is luck! And death and destruction to
our enemies! And now retire to your room. Good-night. Nothing shall harm
you. Barricade the door from the inside. Let me lock it from the
outside. And now," cried I, "I make it impossible for anyone to get near
you. Here goes the key."
With that, having turned the key twice in the lock after her, I threw it
out of the window as far as I could! I felt then as bloodthirsty as any
savage. Why did these blacks not come? The only thing that puzzled me,
as I traversed the house from one shutter to another, was what I should
do if they came underneath the house. They might then fire the building.
No, they should not. I would have them yet. I would take the two-inch
augur and bore holes all over the floor, so that I might shoot through.
I was soon boring away making holes for a long time right and left, when
the girl whispered, "What are you doing?"
"I am boring holes," cried I, "in the floor to shoot through. Shall I
bore a hole in your door? Then you could kill half a dozen with a
revolver. If you have a mind, I will."
"Oh, there they are!" cried the girl.
"Ha, where? Come on!"
"Stop, you fool, it is the master and the missis. Don't you hear the
whip? Let me out."
"Master and missis? I cannot let you out. I have thrown the key away."
Then it dawned on me what a fearful ass I must presently appear. It is
impossible for me to keep on with the particulars. I could not find the
key again and let the girl out. The floor was spoiled, the house upside
down. I should have been game to have fought his Satanic Majesty
himself, but to face the contempt of the "boss" and good, kind Mrs. ----
was terrible. So I talked through the door at the girl and told her to
say, if any one made inquiries for me, that I was not at home. With that
I decamped, and did not present myself before the next midday. After a
while the matter was only referred to as a joke.
I should have liked very much to have been able to write a detailed
account of the whole twelve months I spent at this place. I am quite
sure that if truly written, much of it would prove interesting to people
who never were so far north, but I must of necessity pass quickly over
many things of which I should have liked to write more fully, or else I
shall never come to the end of my travels. Suffice it, therefore, to say
that the Kanakas arrived in great numbers; that the "boss" and I went to
Cardwell on horseback to fetch them; that a lot of white men were also
brought together on the plantation; that I was overseer, or "nigger
driver," over part of the Kanakas for some time; that I, during the
twelve months, gained a good deal of colonial experience: learned to
ride, drive bullocks, split fencing stuff, &c., also how to build
slab-houses, as they are called--that is, to go into the bush, and with
the help of a few tools, single-handed, to make a good house out of the
growing trees. All this I learned, more or less, and then when I had
been there about twelve months I caught the fever. This fever is, I
believe, peculiar to certain parts of North Queensland; it is not
deadly, but very common, indeed my impression is that there was not a
man on the Herbert River who had not got it more or less. It comes with
shivering of cold, followed by thirst and utter exhaustion, once a day
or once every second day. Most people are able to work all the time they
have it until they feel the "shakes" coming over them. Then perforce
they must lie down, but they generally get up to their work again after
the prostration which follows is over. With me it was different. A
couple of weeks of it made me so weak that when I felt myself strongest
I could only stagger about with the help of a big stick. I had built a
carpenter's shop, and my room was off that. Then I would lie down of an
evening on the bed, with bed-clothes piled on me enough to smother one,
and still the gasping and the "shakes" would gradually commence. The
very marrow in one's bones seemed frozen, while the teeth would rattle
in the head, and the breath would come and go with fearful quickness.
After a couple of hours of this, heat and prostration would follow,
coupled with terrible thirst. Of course there was no hospital, and there
was no one to hand one a drink. When I properly understood the matter, I
would always place my wash-basin in the bed, filled with water, so that
when the time came I could lean over and drink, because I was too weak
to lift a billy can or a pint pot off the floor. But when I upset this
basin, which happened once, my sufferings were intense. I remember on
two or three occasions when I had no water how I tried to get out of
bed, how I fell and lay on the floor for hours, then crept on my hands
and knees out around the shed to where a bench stood with a tub of water
on. There I would sit or lie over the water for hours and drink. Such a
matter as this excites no sympathy in a place like that. There were now
a lot of other men, and most of them had a touch of the fever as well.
If I had slept among other men I have no doubt some one would have given
me a drink, but to ask any one to sit up with me, or disturb their
night's rest on that account, would have been asking too much, I fear.
Then when I had been alone before the new hands arrived, I had shared
pot-luck with my employer and his family, but now it seemed as if one
was only lost in a crowd. I had nothing to eat but half-putrid corned
beef and bread, served on a dirty tin plate, tea of the cheapest sort,
boiled in a bucket, and sweetened with dirty black sugar, was my fare
too. How could any sick person eat or drink such stuff? As I write now
it seems to me it is enough to cause a strong man to die of slow
starvation, and yet it is the ordinary average diet put before working
men all over the Queensland bush twenty-one times a week. One day Mrs.
---- came down and asked me very sympathetically how I was getting on.
So I showed her my plate with my dinner on, covered with flies as it
was, and very unappetizing indeed, and upbraided her and her husband for
serving such rations. "Dear me, how shocking! None of the other men
complained. Was the meat bad?" Then she assured me I should have
anything I wished for, and for the last few days I was there I was
constantly invited to their own table, although I scarcely could eat
anything even there. But I thought I had been there long enough, and
when the mailman came in his boat I took a friendly leave of my employer
and his family, and was assisted down into the boat. I had with me then
my cheque for a hundred pounds sterling, and another for seven or eight
pounds.