The Dangerous Pass.--The Coupled Travellers.--The Mountain
Labyrinth.--The Emancipation of Ruth's Chickens.--A Combat
_à l'outrance_.--The Ornithorhyncus.--The Forest in the
Mountains.--Singing Birds.--The Laughing Jackass.
Arthur was soon alert, and followed the boys, who led him up the side of
the next high hill and along the ridge for about three hundred yards to
the south west, and then pointed out to him a narrow rent or gorge in
the mountain, lying far below the hill on which they stood; but from
this hill a gradual ascent, formed by fallen rocks, made a rude path to
a narrow shelf or terrace which they now saw far above them, and which
ran along the precipitous side of the rocky wall. Arthur shuddered as he
said, "Is that narrow terrace passable, do you think, Gerald?"
"Oh, yes," answered he; "Hugh and I had a run along it before we woke
you, and it is not half so bad as it looks. We shall manage very well if
we go 'goose-walk;' but I think it would not be safe for two abreast. To
be sure, it is rather confusing to look down into the depths below; but
we must give them all a caution, and I think it would be better to
blindfold Ruth."
"There is nothing for us but to try it," said Arthur. "Let us return to
breakfast before we set out."
"Yes, we might as well reduce the bulk of the kangaroo," said Hugh, "for
it will be awkward to carry it along our pass."
But when the plan was fully arranged, it was judged expedient to cut up
the kangaroo, and only carry away sufficient for another day's
consumption. Even the useful skin was reluctantly abandoned, as Arthur
knew well they must have no unnecessary encumbrance. Ruth could not,
however, be persuaded to leave her pet fowls, but resolutely set out
with her basket on her arm.
Then, after beseeching a blessing on their perilous journey, they
marched forward, and gradually ascending the hills, they reached the
narrow path that skirted the mountain. This natural shelving was
scattered over with loose stones, and occasionally broken away till a
ledge of only about five or six feet was left for them; but the creeping
plants that covered the rock enabled the timid to grasp a kind of
support on one hand, as they moved cautiously along the unequal and
perilous path. Below this terrace yawned a deep gully, that formed the
bed of a stream, which at all seasons washed its sides. This stream was
now shallow, and moved sluggishly; but rugged crags, and torn-up trees,
lying in the bed, showed that raging torrents must pour into it after
the rainy season.
From the interstices of the bush-covered rocks sprang the gray-leaved
gum-tree, the elegant casuarina, and a bright-leaved tree resembling the
box, but lofty and strong. Among these trees parrots and cockatoos
chattered incessantly, and on the gum-trees hundreds of little active
opossums sported with all the playfulness of monkeys; and Mr. Mayburn
was so interested in watching them hang from the branches, suspended by
their curved tail, to rifle the nests of the birds, or feed on the
numerous insects round them, that Arthur, in alarm, stepped back to hold
his father by the arm.
"I tell you what we must do, Arthur," said Gerald; "we must be linked in
couples, as the travellers on the Alps are; then, if one makes a false
step, there's a chance for his mate to draw him up."
"No bad plan, Gerald," answered Arthur; "but we must take care to couple
with judgment. The prudent or brave must take charge of the rash or the
timid. I will take papa; Jack, his unlucky sister; Hugh, Margaret, or,
more correctly, Margaret must take Hugh; Wilkins will take charge of
nurse; and you, the neglected proposer of this wise measure, cannot
profit by it, unless you will submit to be guided by Baldabella, who
seems to trip along with her lively burden unapprehensive of danger."
Hugh preferred to walk unfettered; and Arthur had no fears for the
native woman, whose firm and steady step showed that she had been
accustomed to such rough and scrambling paths.
Arthur, who was the first of the line, now became uneasy, as, on looking
before him, he remarked that, as far as the eye could reach, there
appeared to be no termination to the mountain wilderness. He could have
fancied that a labyrinth of broken, precipitous, lofty, and interminable
rocks shut them completely from the world. It was a bewildering
prospect, and even the strong heart of Arthur almost failed him, and his
head whirled at the sight of such stupendous and uncertain difficulties.
A scream from Ruth recalled him to his immediate duties, and on turning
round he saw her much-valued basket of poultry bound down the precipice
over the bushes, till it rested on a lower ledge, some hundreds of feet
beneath them, where it flew open, and the fowls, uninjured by their
involuntary flight, fluttered from their prison, and began calmly to
peck about for food; while the little bantam cock proclaimed his liberty
by shaking his plumes and uttering his conceited hoarse crow.
"They are settlers now, Ruth," cried Gerald, laughing; "the first
colonists--regular squatters. How astonished future travellers will be
when they make the curious discovery: a species of bird remarkably like
_Gallus Barndoorii_. What grand names they will bestow on them! and
write long papers, and puzzle ornithologists."
But the patriarch of this new species was not allowed to squat among the
aborigines with impunity; his triumphant notes were answered by a crow
of defiance in a less familiar tone from a splendid cock pheasant, which
pounced down on the new comer with a furious peck, that the true-trained
English bird, notwithstanding his foreign ancestry, could not brook. The
brave little bantam retaliated boldly, and a furious combat ensued,
causing even the English hens to raise their heads from their pleasant
feast, and appear somewhat interested in the event; while Ruth shrieked,
"He'll kill him! Jack, honey! throw a stone at him! drive him off!
Chuck! chuck!"
But though Ruth's familiar cry failed to separate the combatants _à
l'outrance_, the pleased hens recognized the well-known call, and
responded to it by fluttering and scrambling up the mountain side, to
partake of the scattered grain; and in the fulness of their feast, they
were easily captured, and stowed in separate bags and pouches, till a
new dwelling could be made for them.
Then the little feathered hero below, having vanquished and left his
antagonist for dead, perched for a moment on the pinnacle of a shattered
rock, and crowed triumphantly, as if to defy the whole race of native
birds; after which demonstration, he leisurely followed his female
friends up the steep, to share their feast and their captivity.
Notwithstanding the alarm and delay caused by this accident, there was
something amusing about it that was not without its beneficial effects.
Ruth continued to lament the loss of her basket; but Jack scolded her
seriously for her foolish fears and awkwardness, which were the sole
cause of the loss. He declared the fowls were absolute pests, and wholly
useless in a region where birds and eggs dropped into your hands; but
his remonstrances having produced tears of penitence and promises of
amendment, he relented, and promised to make for her a coop, or cage, of
cane, which would be easier to carry than the basket, and afford more
air to the unfortunate prisoners.
After wandering for two days along their frequently dangerous, and
always difficult, aerial pathway, resting only when they came to some
rocky hollow, they began to pine for a less-hazardous road; and they now
perceived that, with the usual caprice of Australian rivers, the stream
in the narrow bed below them had disappeared, though slender rills
continually fell from the mountains, but subsided into bogs, or formed
pools below. They therefore resolved, if they could safely accomplish
it, to descend to the bed of the river; and endeavor to extricate
themselves from the rocky maze in which they seemed hopelessly involved.
After another day's travelling, they fancied the descent appeared more
practicable than it had yet been since they set out on the shelving
terrace, and it was decided to make the trial. The first step would
decidedly be the most difficult. About twelve feet below them another
shelf of rock projected, wider than that on which they now stood; but
how to reach it was a puzzling question, for the descent was
perpendicular, and quite overgrown with thorny bushes.
"If you will help me, Master Hugh," said Jack, "I think we may manage
it. We must just cut down the bushes into steps like for them that feel
timid."
Employment was the grand need of the active boys, and to clear a passage
as low as they could reach, and then step down on the bushes to work
below, was a pleasant amusement. The stone axes were now found to be
perfectly serviceable, and they soon cut six clearances, each two feet
deep, graduating like a staircase, of which the matted brush formed the
steps, which reached to the lower terrace; and down the staircase the
agitated females were, one after another, assisted, and safely placed on
the broad shelf.
This was a decided victory, and they now saw, to their great
satisfaction, that the lower descent sloped so much, from accumulated
rocks and drift-wood, that by clearing the way with the axes, they
easily reached the comparative security of the muddy bed of the vanished
river. They looked round on the immense walls which inclosed them with
some dismay; then Gerald said,--
"Now, Meggie, we only want the great rains to come on, and then we shall
have some notion of the situation of sinful man in the Deluge."
"I trust, my dear boy," said Mr. Mayburn, "that you do not allude to
that fearful judgment with levity. And surely, Arthur, we are not near
the time of the terrific tropical rains."
"Usually, papa, I believe the heaviest autumnal periodical rains are in
February and March," said Arthur. "We are now in the midst of summer;
still I must confess I have read of continued rains, even at this
season; but I trust we shall be in a safer locality before such trying
weather comes on. We are certainly progressing in the way we wish to go;
but the immense extent of the mountain-range is extraordinary.
Fortunately, we are not in a desert, we are surrounded by plenty, and as
far as we have yet penetrated, ferocious animals seem unknown; and more,
ferocious man rarely encountered. I only fear for your strength, dear
papa, and for that of dear Meggie."
"Fear not for us, Arthur," answered Margaret; "you know I am naturally
strong; and God has given renewed life and health to dear papa. His
delight in these new and varied scenes of Nature makes every toil light
to him. Observe him now, pausing and contemplating something at yon
large pond; let us join him. Now, papa! what is the new discovery?"
"Wonderful, my children," said he. "Behold this marvellous new creature.
Undoubtedly it must be the _Ornithorhyncus paradoxus_, the duck-billed
Platypus, which I should have recognized, from the numerous sketches I
have seen; and my warmest hopes are fulfilled in the happiness of really
looking on the rare animal in its native wilds."
"Is't a duck, think ye, Miss Marget?" asked Ruth, with a kind of awe.
"Has a duck four legs, Ruth?" asked Gerald. "Has it fur on its back,
and a broad finny tail? No, Ruth, this is not a strange fowl, but a
strange beast."
"Nevertheless," said Mr. Mayburn, "there are irreconcilable
circumstances in such a decision. This animal, if we rank it among the
mammalia, belongs to no order yet named, but stands alone. Quadruped it
is, certainly; web-footed, certainly; ovo-viviparous, certainly, as the
eggs are hatched before birth, and the young then suckled, like the
mammalia. Feeding on worms and grubs, like the duck; sleeping rolled up,
like the hedgehog; playful as the monkey, and harmless as the dove;--we
cannot but look with astonishment and admiration on this remarkable
caprice of Nature."
"They're ugly beasts, that I'll say," was Jenny's remark, "and not half
so good as a duck for such as us; but I'se warrant them poor heathens
eat 'em as we would a roast goose."
Leaving the platypus, which they now saw at every pool as they
proceeded, they walked on till the ravine gradually became wider, but
the mountain-line still spread on each side. Soon after, the pools
disappeared, and rich grass supplied their place. Wild and wonderful was
now their daily journey, for before them lay immense untrodden forests,
inclosed between lofty cliffs, which rose to the clouds, and the
travellers felt inspired with awe as they looked round on the majesty of
Nature.
Yet the softer features of loveliness were not absent; every step was on
some beautiful, usually some quite new, plant, and the lofty forest
trees were of species now first seen, and were garlanded round with
flowering creepers of the most brilliant dyes; while the rich perfume
of the jasmine, and the heliotrope-like odor of the golden-blossomed
acacia filled the air. Bright _orchidæ_, unnamed and unknown, masses of
ferns of unexampled beauty, were scattered round this vast conservatory
of nature; and amidst all this profusion, thousands of birds whistled,
chattered, warbled, and uttered the startling foreign notes which assure
you that you are in a strange land.
There was the sweet-voiced bell-bird, a pretty little creature, whose
notes ring with a silver sound; there was the pert pied bird, which
might seem really a magpie, if it were not tailless, which has a low
flute-like song, swelling like the organ; whence it is named by the
colonists the organ-magpie; and as each strain of these warblers died
away, the loud, hoarse, derisive notes of a curious bird, resembling
none of the known species of the world, seemed to ridicule the musical
performers.
"No doubt, papa," said Hugh, "this must be the 'laughing jackass,' of
which we have read an account. Do you hear the regular 'Ha! ha! ha!'
from which he derives his name, and which sounds so strangely when
mingled with the notes of the warblers? But now he has roused all the
cockatoos and parrots, who are screaming their jargon above all other
sounds."
"Just listen, Hugh," said Gerald, "those jackass birds are surely
blowing a penny trumpet. Did you ever hear such a noise--laughing,
braying, trumpeting? you might fancy you were at a country fair. How
Ruth does stare! I say, Ruth, what do you think of them?"
"Will they be Christians, Master Gerald?" asked the trembling girl.
"Hopeless heathens, Ruth," answered the wild boy; "feathered donkeys,
flying punches, instinctive mocking-birds, repeating sounds which they
have never heard. See, papa, there is one of the jolly fellows, perched
on yon gum-tree. What a monstrous beak he has!"
"I contemplate the bird with great interest, my boy," answered Mr.
Mayburn. "It has been classed with the Halcyons by naturalists, and
named _Dacelo gigantea_; yet, in its social habits, and flexible and apt
organs of voice, it seems rather to resemble the jay. It is somewhat
remarkable that amidst the gorgeously-attired birds that surround it,
this rarely-gifted bird wears a garb so simple and unadorned. You
observe that it frequents the gum-tree, and its sombre plumage,
assimilating so happily with the gray foliage of the tree, is at once a
protection and a distinction. How rejoiced I should be, my dear boy, if
we could make a complete collection of these rare creatures; but the
difficulties of transporting them safely in our journey are
insurmountable."
"Wait, sir," replied Gerald, "till we catch our quaggas; then Jack will
make us a wagon, which we can convert into a menagerie, filled with
curious animals, and drawn by our own beasts."
"The quagga is not a native of Australia, Gerald," replied Mr. Mayburn;
"nor does the country, happily, produce any of the large and fierce
quadrupeds. We must not dare to think of any vehicle for travelling; yet
many hundred miles separate us from the useful animals of our dear
friends the Deverells; and my heart fails me when I reflect on the
improbability of our ever reaching them."
Margaret sighed as she said, "And I too, dear papa, cannot help many
idle wishes that we were come to open plains, and more direct paths.
These lovely wilds of Nature, forests and mountains, are very charming;
but they seem too romantic and unreal to be satisfactory. If we were to
keep a journal, and publish it hereafter, we should, I fear, be
ridiculed for inventing fairy tales."
"In truth, Margaret," answered her father, "fairy tales were not
originally mere inventions of the imagination. They were the offspring
of the experience of observing travellers over lovely untrodden wilds
like these. And what are the miraculous transformations they describe
but such as might really happen--the ingenious contrivances of man when
destitute of all the resources of civilized life? Has not Jack
transformed a flint-stone into an axe? and have we not cups and plates
which were once the abodes of the shell-fish? Difficulties originate
miraculous efforts, and man is indebted to the good fairies, Necessity
and Ingenuity, for many of his comforts."
"Very true, dear papa," said Arthur; "and the fairy Necessity now calls
on us peremptorily to escape from these forests, where I have twice
during this day heard the _coo-ee_ of the natives, though at a
considerable distance before us. I have been for some time anxiously
examining the south side of the gorge for any outlet which may enable us
to turn away from their haunts."
They had been making their way for some hours along the southern
extremity of the forest, still hemmed in by the high rocks, when Gerald,
creeping into a narrow cleft, declared that he had found a tunnel, and
called on Hugh to assist him in exploring it. Fearful that they should
bewilder themselves in the recesses of the mountains, Arthur proposed
that all the party should enter the opening, which was a cavern of great
height and space, where they might remain till he and his brothers
penetrated further into the rocks. They lighted some dry branches for
torches, and set out, satisfied that the rest would be in safety in this
secure retreat.
The boys found this tunnel descend gradually: sometimes it was narrow
and low, sometimes wide and encumbered with fallen fragments of rock;
still, it was airy, and they were able to pass on, till they concluded
they must have walked half a mile. They were then so desponding that
they thought of turning back, but at length a glimmering of light
satisfied them that there must be another outlet, and they took courage
to proceed, till they reached a matted thicket of brushwood through
which they forced their way, and then had the pleasure of seeing the sky
above their heads, though they were still in a very narrow gully. It
seemed to be the dry bed of a rivulet, choked up with stones and torn-up
bushes. Before them rose another line of bush-covered mountains, but not
so lofty or precipitous as those they had left behind.
"Is it worth while," said Hugh, "to drag the whole party through that
gloomy subterranean passage, to bring them into this glen, which seems
perfectly barren and lifeless? I am of opinion that we were better in
our old forest."
"Wait for my decision," said Gerald, springing up the side of the
opposite mountains, regardless of the rending of his light blouse, and
his scratched hands; and before long he stood on the summit.
"This will do for us capitally," he cried out. "Wide plains below, but
an awkward step down to them. Jack will have to cut a staircase again."
This account of the country satisfied Arthur, and they hastened back at
once to relieve the anxiety of their friends, whom they found in a state
of great alarm. The cries of the savages had gradually approached so
near to them, that Margaret induced Wilkins and Jack to close the
opening by which they had entered with a large piece of rock. Then they
had heard voices close to the rocks, and Baldabella, who was now able to
speak many English words, said--"Many bad black fellows! much bad! see
white man foot-walk.--Black fellow come--slow, slow--catch all--eat
master--eat miss--eat old Jin--eat Nakinna--all! all!"
It was with much difficulty they restrained the cries of Ruth, when she
comprehended that she was in danger of being eaten; and though Mr.
Mayburn doubted and disputed the existence of cannibalism in Australia,
Wilkins and Jack succeeded in inducing the whole family to move on in
the track of the pioneers, rather than risk the danger of discovery at
the mouth of the cave.