GAINING INFORMATION.
Only staying to wash their hands and to put themselves in some slight
degree of order, they entered the large and comfortable room where tea
was waiting for them; it was the largest in the house, and served for
dining and general living room. Mrs. Law and Margaret had finished
their meal before the boys came in, for they could not keep the
manager, old Macleod, waiting. They were standing near the bright
petroleum lamp talking earnestly. Mrs. Law, whose busy hands were never
idle, was knitting a grey worsted stocking for one of the boys. The one
woman servant, Mrs. Beffling by name, whom Mrs. Law kept to help her in
the house was busy at one of the large cupboards at the end of the
room, so that at first Alec could say nothing of what he intended
doing, but directly that tea was over--it did not take them long that
night, for both boys were too excited to eat--and the woman had left
the room, he rose from the table.
"Mother," he began, with that simple directness of speech that was so
characteristic of him, "I have been up at the rocks over the gully, and
have been thinking what we must do. George came and found me out." Here
he half turned and nodded towards his brother, who had moved to the
wide open window, and was looking out into the night. "And I have told
him all about it. We have laid our heads together, and have determined
to go out prospecting to-morrow. You know that when father first bought
Wandaroo he reserved the right of extending the run, at the same price
per mile, towards the north-west. He never prospected the country in
that direction, and since his death we have never done it. If we find
good grass land there, and well-watered country, we might, if the worst
comes to the worst, be able to take up a run there, and in a few years'
time be doing all right again."
All this that Alec said was quite true. He had long wanted to prospect
the country that lay beyond the borders of their own great run, but
although it was the truth it was not the whole of the truth. He said
nothing of their wild dream of finding gold in those far-distant
north-west ranges. As he had said to George, he knew that the thought
of it would alarm their mother, for the native tribes were warlike,
cruel, and unfriendly, and besides this he did not wish to give her any
hope that might fail her at last. Alec spoke in the low tones his voice
always sank to when he was excited, and when he ended his square jaw
was set in a firm, resolute manner that in itself showed the determined
and unconquerable spirit of the young man.
Mrs. Law knew her sons well enough to be sure that when Alec spoke and
looked as he then did he would brook no opposition, and she was a wise
enough woman to have learned that she might lead her high-spirited sons
when she would fail did she try to drive them. In Australia, too, a man
seems to develop earlier than in Europe; and although Alec was only
nineteen, he was always consulted on the management of the run, and his
opinion as an experienced bushman and stock rider attentively listened
to.
"Have you carefully thought of it, Alec?" said Mrs. Law, laying aside
her knitting for a moment, and looking at her son, for the suddenness
of his resolve had somewhat astonished her, as she had never heard
anything of this plan before. "How will the station go on?"
"Yes, mother, I have thought of it all, I think. We are full-handed
just now, for Macleod engaged that extra shepherd that we wanted for
the South Creek station when he was down in Bateman. He will be a good
useful fellow, I think. And Yesslett can act as ration-carrier; he
knows the run well enough by this time."
"How long shall you be away?" asked Mrs. Law.
"Can't say. We shall take flour enough, and tea, and so on, for a month
or so, but we may be longer, so you mustn't be frightened, mother. We
must face the worst, and be prepared for a move if that old brute of a
Crosby turns us out."
"Who shall you take with you?" asked Mrs. Law, managing to repress the
tears that lay so near her poor sorrowful eyes.
"George, and one or two of the black boys."
"Oh, shall you take Geordie?"
"Yes, mother," Margaret interposed; "let George go." She knew well
enough that the brothers would stand by each other to the death, and
that George, young though he was, would be Alec's best protection.
"Do you think that I would let Alec go without me?" said a clear voice
from the window.
And Alec said, "I would sooner take Geordie than any man on the
station. He rides and climbs better than any one of them, and nothing
tires him. And now, mother, good-night. Don't sit up for me; you have
had an anxious, sad day. I am going down to the _gunyahs_" (huts) "to
get a couple of boys to go with us, and to glean as much information as
I can about the country. I shall be back in an hour or two. Good-night,
youngster; good-night, Margaret."
Kissing his mother, he took up his hat from a side table, and without
another word left the room.
As he passed the bachelors' hut on his way to the paddock, he noticed
that one of the hands, a man named Keggs, whom they had only engaged a
short time before, was leaning against the door-post smoking a short
black pipe. He was not a prepossessing person, for his face, which was
of an unwholesome pink, was deeply marked with small-pox, and his
pale-coloured shifty eyes were inflamed-looking and unshaded by any
eye-lashes. Alec had not liked the appearance of the man, but, thinking
it a shame to be prejudiced by mere looks, he had engaged him, and, not
knowing his capabilities, had employed him about the head station. He
had several times noticed him prying into things with which he had no
concern, but thinking the man was inquisitive he had said nothing. Alec
observed that Keggs glanced keenly at him as he passed the hut, and
turning round some little time afterwards he could see, by the light of
the moon, that the man had followed him for a short distance to watch
where he was going. When Keggs saw that he was observed, he turned and
shrank back to the shadow of the hut.
Stepping out with the free, springy stride that speaks of perfect
health and muscular strength, Alec reached, in about half an hour, the
squalid _gunyahs_ that formed the camp of a few native families that
were allowed to remain on the run. One or two naked, bushy-haired
fellows were crouching over the hot embers of a wood fire, on which
they were cooking great lumps of kangaroo or wallaby flesh. They sprang
up in alarm and seized their heavy _nullah-nullahs_ (clubs), which lay
by their sides, when they heard Alec's quick footstep, which they did
from a great distance, and in an instant were prepared for defence. But
they knew Alec's voice directly he called out, and putting down their
weapons they advanced to meet him. They aroused the old _gin_, Ippai,
from her sleep, when Alec told them who it was he wished to see, and a
moment afterwards she joined them at the fire, still wrapped in the
opossum rug she had been lying in.
Sitting down on a log by the side of the fire, Alec was for the next
hour deep in talk with the natives. They readily answered his
questions, but it was difficult for him to arrive at the facts of the
case, as the Australian aborigines have an entire disregard for the
truth, and say anything that first enters their poor childish brains,
and anything that they think will please their questioner. It was only
by going over the same ground time after time, and with different
members of the party, that Alec succeeded in sifting out the truth from
what they told him.
At last, when the Southern Cross was high in the sky, he thought that
he could learn nothing more from them, and rose to go. He arranged that
two young men, Prince Tom and Murri, fine specimens of the aboriginal
black native, should accompany him. He knew them both as excellent
guides and hunters, and, knowing their love of sport and wandering, he
felt sure that they would keep their promise of being up at the head
station before sunrise.
The night was very dark when he left the camp, for the moon had set,
but he knew every inch of that part of the run, and could have found
his way about with his eyes shut. The hard, dry earth was covered in
all directions with sheep tracks, which looked like paths, and which
would have puzzled any stranger; but Alec bore straight along over the
little dry watercourse that intersected his route in one place, and
through the strips of scrub that lay between him and the house. He was
thinking too deeply to notice the plaintive cry, like the wail of a
child, of the little native bear in the great trees of the gully, or
the howls of the dingoes that every now and then disturbed so weirdly
the silence of the night. He saw the dim outlines of the horses move
away into the darkness as he came across the paddock, and he could hear
the quick sound of their cropping, but everything else was still.
As Alec lightly vaulted over the gate between the paddock and the yard,
he violently struck against a man who was standing in the shadow of the
cart-shed, and who had evidently stationed himself there to watch
Alec's movements.
"What are you doing here?" said Alec, angrily, for his temper was not
absolutely angelic, and it annoyed him beyond measure to be watched in
this manner.
"I ain't a doin' nothink," answered Keggs, for it was he.
"And that is what you are generally doing all day long, Keggs," said
Alec, sharply; "so that you can always find time to spy after me and
pry into our affairs. What I do, or what any one at the house does, is
no business of yours, and I'll not stand your interference. I tell you
plainly if I catch you at it again you go."
"I seed yer goin' towards the native camp, and I on'y wanted to know if
you'd heerd anythink o' them missin' sheep."
"Yes, I have been to the camp, but what I did there is no business of
yours," said Alec, haughtily, as he turned on his heel and walked to
the house.
"Oh!" muttered the man to himself as Alec disappeared, "ain't it no
bisnis of mine? Well, I've foun' out what I wanted to know. You hev'
been to the camp, and I'll soon get out o' them niggers what you went
for, my fine master," and knocking the ashes out of his dirty pipe he
entered the hut.
The house was quite dark and quiet when Alec reached it, for a
Queensland household, that is up before sunrise and works heartily all
day, is generally ready to go to bed by nine or ten o'clock. Alec
walked along the verandah till he reached the room that he and George
occupied in common, and entering at the wide open window he found the
match-box and struck a light.
The room was the boys' own den, and presented a very boy-like
appearance. The walls were of the hardwood slabs of which the house was
built, and on them were nailed several pictures from the illustrated
papers that had struck the lads' fancy. Besides the two small
bedsteads, a couple of rough chairs, and a sort of compound washing and
dressing-table, there was no furniture, but on a rough shelf that ran
along one wall, and about the room in different places, was strewn a
variety of articles that spoke of the habits of the occupants. On the
two chests which held the boys' very limited wardrobe lay an old saddle
in need of repairs, and a heap of odd straps and old bridles; in one
corner of the room lay a pile of rusty bits, old stirrup irons, and
horse-shoes; and from a nail on the door hung a great unfinished stock
whip which George was plaiting.
Geordie was fast asleep when Alec came in, but he was a light sleeper,
and sat up broad awake, but blinking in the candle light, before his
brother had said a word.
"Well, Alec, what news?"
"Hush, don't speak so loud! Margaret's window is open as well as ours,
and she may overhear us," said Alec, seating himself on the edge of
Geordie's bed, and speaking in a voice that was low but with an excited
tremor in it that betrayed the emotion that he felt. "The best of news.
I believe we shall find the gold, though the labour will be enormous
and the danger great."
"But neither of us minds that. Forewarned is forearmed, and we will be
prepared. Did old Ippai remember the nugget?"
"She is not likely to readily forget it, considering that Black Harry
nearly beat her head in when he lost it in a deep water-hole on the
creek where he was spearing fish. She and Moolong, that white-haired
old native down at the camp, both say that it came from the head of a
great valley which they call Whanga. They say it lies in the midst of
the mountains that are beyond the ranges we can see from the Yarrun
station. You know that Stevens, that shepherd we once had, said that he
had seen great blue-peaked mountains from the ranges when he went into
them searching for that missing flock we never found. Don't you
remember?"
"Yes; and we thought he had never been to the ranges at all, and was
only 'blowing.'"
"It seems he wasn't, for all of them down at the _gunyahs_" (huts)
"tell me the same story. It is rather difficult to make out their
meaning, as you know, but, as far as I can understand, they say that
Black Harry found the nugget in a sort of deep hole in the basin of a
waterfall at the end of this Whanga valley."
"Did they tell you if Black Harry said there were any more?" asked
George, in an eager whisper.
"I asked them that, and old Moolong said Harry told them that there was
no more, but that he believed it was a lie, and that he only had said
so that he might be the only one with such an ornament. If he had found
more he would have had to distribute them among the tribe, as you know,
and he did not want any one else to have such a necklace."
"There _is_ more. I feel sure that there is more. Why should there be
only one piece?" said George, seizing hold of Alec's arm with his
burning hand. "Can we find the place though? Oh! Alec, it is too
terrible to think that the gold which can save Wandaroo is lying there
and we unable to find it."
"But we can!" said Alec, in a thrilling whisper. "Murri, one of the two
black boys I have engaged to go with us, went there once with a party
of their tribe when he was quite a little chap. You know they never
forget the road to a place they have once been to. He can take us to it
straight enough if he will."
"Did that party find gold there?"
"No; a huge waterfall was pouring over the rocks, and the hole in which
Black Harry had found the nugget was a foaming pool. They did not look
anywhere else. They did not know the value that white men set upon
gold; the nugget--'the heavy stone,' as they call it--was only a
curious ornament to them, so they did not wait till the wet season was
over, when probably the stream would be dried up."
"There hasn't been rain for months," said George meditatively, as
though to himself.
"Not down here, but there may have been thunderstorms among the
mountains. Don't let us set our hearts too much upon finding it."
"But I have."
"And so have I," confessed Alec, with a little dry, nervous laugh.
Poor lads! the gold fever was on them.
"Hasn't Murri or any of them ever been since?" asked Geordie,
anxiously.
"No; they say that the _myalls_" (the wild and savage aborigines)
"are very numerous and fierce about there, and that they are their
deadly enemies."
"We must go well armed," said George, in a matter-of-fact voice, and as
calmly as though he were a man of forty. "And now, Alec, old boy, put
the dip out and tumble in. It is late, and we have an awful lot to do
to-morrow before we start."
In a few minutes silence fell upon the room, and after tossing about
restlessly for a short time the sound of regular and deep breathing
from the boys' beds told that they were lost in the strange, dim land
of dreams.