"Then come, my sister! come, I pray,
With speed put on your woodland dress."
WORDSWORTH.
Before William had been long at Acacia Creek he began to experience the
impatience of his sister in her incessant promptings to commence his
journey; and, notwithstanding that he knew their house could not be
ready for her reception for some time, he was constrained to submit to
Kate's desire to enter at once upon her probationary visit. Their
arrangements were soon made, and the young lady was not the last who was
ready for the start; her mind was not troubled with a superfluity of
apparel, or an infinity of boxes. We cannot say if she was peculiar to
her sex in this respect, but certain it is she did not hesitate to make
the journey without the legion of packages which are usually the
concomitants of travelling ladies. All her paraphernalia was comfortably
settled on the back of a pack-horse, while her general effects were left
to be forwarded to her brother's station as opportunity offered.
That Kate Ferguson left her father's house without regret we do not
believe; but her mind was so taken up with the thoughts of her domestic
importance, and she was so absorbed with the arrangements in
perspective, that she entirely forgot the fact that she was leaving,
perhaps for ever, her parent's roof; and was about to commence a life
subjected to dangers and inconveniences, which she, even native born
though she was, was totally unacquainted with. With her parents,
however, it was far different; for they had been fully informed by John
what sort of a place it was their daughter was going to. Her father, to
say nothing of the regret which he felt in parting with his child,
experienced some remorse in consigning her to the discomfort of a wild
and unsettled country. At the same time he was convinced she would be
under good protection, and reconciled himself to the separation by the
thought that probably the responsibility of managing the domestic
establishment of her brothers would, in a great measure, prepare her for
a more permanent station in life; and, in fact, rub off the lingering
signs of childhood, and perfect her in a womanly capacity.
The feelings which agitated the breast of her mother, when she parted
with her darling daughter, we cannot pretend to describe. We know that
maternals usually give indications of unbounded grief at parting from
their tender offspring, even upon the consummation of their earthly
happiness. It may possibly arise from grief at the segregation of one
not only made dear by the ties of parental and filial affection, but
from the mutual companionship, reliance, and confidence that exist
between mother and daughter; possibly it may be for the trials and
dangers that beset the young creatures' paths in the commencement of
their independent career; or, there may be an alloy of selfishness in
the feeling. But certain it is, it is one of the mysteries of the female
character; which, though to us inexplicable, we revere; and,
consequently, we sympathize with, and respect the ebullition of Mrs.
Ferguson's grief, as she wept over her charming daughter, when the young
and inexperienced girl was about leaving her protection. Many were her
parental admonitions to Kate for her guidance and good, and numerous her
injunctions to William for her care and preservation. Never was there a
kinder-hearted affectionate parent than this, and never were brother and
sister more fondly attached. The mother knowing this, and confident that
her son William would, if necessary, offer himself a self-immolated
victim, sooner than any evil should happen to his charge, felt little
apprehension for her daughter's safety.
The travelling party, consisting of Kate, her brother, and Mr. Wigton,
were shortly on the road, and journeyed till night without the
occurrence of any event worth recording; until, as darkness closed o'er
the landscape, they entered the town of Warwick, and put up at the
"Bullock's Head." Here William renewed the acquaintance of his old
friend the Warwick Ganymede, "Hopping Dick;" and after recommending to
the especial attention of Mr. Wigton and his sister the artistic display
on the coffee-room walls, the rural combination of beauty and innocence
on the mantelpiece, with their rotund neighbour, the guardian of the
"spills," he gave instructions to the landlord's representative about
their accommodation, and proceeded to the stable to satisfy himself that
his horses were being well looked after; knowing that, unless he did so,
the attention and provender they would receive would be scanty in the
extreme.
On the present occasion, fortunately for our friends, the bovine cranium
was empty, and William was in high spirits. He had had serious
misgivings at the outset of his journey in taking his sister to such a
place, from the scene he had on his previous visit seen enacted in it.
But the domiciliary selection having a contingency attached to it
similar to that which stultified the choice of that immortal, though, we
fear, mythical individual, yclept Hobson, he had no alternative but to
run the risk of annoyance in this favourite hostel. William, therefore,
was happy at the thought that there would be no fear of molestation;
and, Warwick being the only stage where they would have to quarter at an
inn, he felt no apprehension for his sister's comfort during their
further progress.
Hopping Dick speedily made his appearance to arrange the table for their
repast, while William amused himself by eliciting information from him
of a various nature, by questions put to the fellow as he continued to
hover between the coffee-room and the pantry.
"Have you had any exploits lately, Dick," said he, "similar to that
which I witnessed on the first night I stopped here? You remember when I
mean," continued William, as he remarked the man's abstraction, as if in
thought to what or which exploit he had referred; "I mean when you had
the table smashed."
"By the gent as tried to take his horse over it?" enquired the
salient-gaited waiter.
"Exactly," replied his interlocutor.
"No, sir; we ain't had no more just like that 'un lately, not sich
roarers. I s'pose ye know, sir, that 'ere gent, Mr. Smith, what the
'orse belonged to, is dead?"
"No," replied William, "I do not. Pray, how might that have happened?"
"Why, you see, sir, he stopped here for about a week, for he was
uncommon fond of a spree, and he never reached home after that. His
'orse comed on to the station one day without him, and with the saddle
twisted right round, and hanging under his belly. So ye see, sir, his
people fancied he had got a 'buster' somehow, and went a-search of him,
but couldn't find him nohow. They comed in here then, and found out what
way he took; and, with some black fellows, they, after a while, found
his track, and run it down till they found him as quiet as you please on
the broad of his back, with his head cracked. He was a bit fresh when he
left here, so they thought he might a' been going home, some'ut mad
like, and got a 'spill,' which cook'd him. Howsomdever, he spent his
money like a real gent, and I'm precious sorry he's dead; for he was
uncom'n good to me, and a good 'un for custom to the master; the likes
of him ain't seen every day."
Even grieved as William was to hear of the melancholy and untimely end
of such a man; cut off in the prime of life while in the mad pursuit of
a delirious career, he could not help indulging in a smile at the
strange sophistry of his companion, who imagined that a lavish waste of
substance was the constituted act of a gentleman; and at the selfishness
of the fellow who regretted the death of the man only in so far as it
affected the pocket of himself and his employer. But he reflected it was
the way of the world; clothe the feeling how he would; and he felt no
doubt that perhaps with the solitary exception of a doating parent who
might mourn his death in a far distant land, the man would pass from
this earth without the regret of a mortal; and without leaving the
remembrance of a virtue, or good action, to perpetuate his memory.
"Then, I suppose, Dick," continued William, "you have been quieter
lately, since Mr. Smith was killed."
"Yes, sir, we've been somewhat quieter of late," replied the man; "but
we expect to get a turn again soon. The shearers round the stations will
be done their work shortly, and they'll be in with their cheques. Some
on 'em a' done already; for we had a party in last week of about eight,
and they only went away yesterday."
"And I suppose spent their money too, like real gentleman, eh, Dick?"
said William laughing.
"Why, sir," replied the man, "some on 'em did knock down their pile, and
when they left here they was regularly cleared out."
"And how much had they spent individually do you think?" enquired the
young squatter.
"That I couldn't exactly say," replied the other; "some on 'em knocked
down twenty pounds or so, but some on 'em stuck to their tin, as they
was a going down the country."
"Probably it was the intention of the whole party to go down the country
until they came here; don't you think so, Dick?" asked William.
"Praps it was, sir, but some on 'em had to go back agin to work,"
naively replied the Ganymede.
"But how on earth could one man spend twenty pounds in a week, by
merely drinking?" enquired William.
"Easy enough, sir," replied the fellow; "some of those chaps, when they
get the drink in 'em, will 'shout' for the whole town; and you know it
ain't our buisness to stop 'em; we only sells the grog, and they buy
it."
William had often heard of such practices as these where poor deluded
wretches, after toiling hard to obtain their wages, had no sooner
received a cheque or draft from their employers in settlement of what
was due them, than they would rush to the first public-house; and,
placing their cheque in the hands of the publican, would commence a
course of mad dissipation; merely requesting to be informed when the
money was expended. This had been told him, and also that the victims,
after being kept in a state of delirium for a week or so, had it
intimated to them that their funds were exhausted; that they had been
"shouting" to all the town, or in other words, that they had been
providing drink to all who chose to partake; in which belief they were
compelled to be satisfied and take their departure. Not only twenty, but
often fifty, and even a hundred pounds, he had heard had been embezzled
from men under such circumstances; and though he had never before seen
instances to warrant his belief in such statements, he was now convinced
of the existence of the iniquitous system; for this satellite of the
demon had admitted the fact, and spoken of it as the mere course of
business. William felt disgusted with the cool infamy of the fellow, and
at the magnitude and effrontery of the publican's dishonesty. It was
melancholy for him, as for any sentient creature, to contemplate the
blind infatuation with which bushmen generally squander their money; or,
more properly speaking, allow themselves to be robbed of it. Yet they
are willing victims, while there is neither protection for them, nor
punishment for the men whose criminality is so glaring.
Such were William's thoughts as Mr. Wigton entered the room. To the
clergyman our young friend communicated the conversation he had had with
the waiter; and for sometime, until they were joined by Kate, the two
gentlemen discussed the nature of that evil, which they both lamented;
without being able to clearly define a means for the extrication of the
unfortunate class.
"I can very well see," remarked Mr. Wigton, "the impulse under which
these persons act. They are placed suddenly in possession of money; in
the control of which they have previously had no experience; and,
carried away by the advice, and influenced by the example of associates,
they first learn that extravagance which ends in an improvidence that
leaves them continually without a shilling. If they have any idea of
being saving they are at a loss how to invest their savings; for no
means present themselves; their opportunities of purchasing lands, on
which to settle, are so rare that they hardly believe its possession
within the range of possibility; and they consequently submit to the
decrees of evil. Being without the benefit of good advice, and the
application of sound precepts, they see no other course open to them,
but a reckless expenditure of their hard-earned gains."
"But do you not think, my dear sir," said William, "that some means
could be devised to cultivate a feeling of prudence in these men? can
they not be induced to abandon their suicidal extravagance?"
"Yes, certainly," replied his companion, "means could be adopted; but
unless the matter is taken up by the employers, or our legislators, I
fear nothing will ever be done to ransom the men. Besides, I believe the
squatters consider it to their interest to nourish the practice, as it
keeps the men more dependent upon them. If the employers could be
persuaded to interest themselves on the subject I would hope for better
things. Many plans would be useful, such as the establishment of
savings banks for instance; but the principal, the desideratum in fact,
is the facile procuration of cheap land. A man should be able at any
moment to go to the survey office, or some local agent, and select a
piece of land that would be suitable for agriculture; and be at liberty
at once to take possession, and commence cultivation. Such would be the
best means of ensuring thriftiness; and, until we obtain some such
system, I fear we may labour in vain to induce economy. Not that the
difficulty is insuperable. I have fortunately been the humble instrument
of arresting many poor men from such headlong folly; by first inducing
them to feel a disgust for the filthy and degrading dissipation which
they indulge in. But I have never been able to give any advice in the
disposal of their means, from the fact that I know of no channels into
which to divert them."
At this point, the discussion ceased by the entrance of Kate, and the
trio sat down to their meal, undisturbed by the presence of strangers;
and as the topics of the conversation which ensued, though exceedingly
animated and interesting to the parties engaged in it, are not at all
pertinent to our story, nor would be interesting to our readers, we may
be permitted to draw a veil over the scene, until the conclusion of the
repast.
William had a strong desire to question the strange character who waited
at table; firmly believing him to be an infamous scoundrel, though
gifted in a vicious lore, out of which our young friend had a wish to
extract information. For this purpose, soon after the clearance of the
cloth, he rose from the table, and leaving his sister in the society of
Mr. Wigton, followed Dick into his own regions. Having lit his pipe at
the kitchen fire, he took his seat to wait until Hopping Dick was
sufficiently disengaged to admit of his answering his interrogations.
The fellow himself seemed to like being drawn into conversation, and
William had therefore little difficulty in inducing him to be
communicative; for by the aid of a stiff glass of grog, or as we would
say, in the parlance of the country, "a ball," Dick's heart was
softened; and he smiled his satisfaction in a sardonic grin, which had
anything but amiability in its expression. Having finished the
satisfying of his own inward man; and commenced the indulgence of adding
his contribution to the general nicotian pregnated atmosphere, while
proceeding about his vocation, he replied to William's various questions
with a wonderful alacrity and volubility, strangely contrasting with the
taciturn moroseness which had appeared to be his usual manner. Warmed
with the genial influence of the spirituous unction, his bosom, if he
was possessed of such a divison of anatomy, was opened to his young
companion; and he not only gave him a perfect outline of his own
history, but a synopsis of that of his master, together with other
particulars, various and heterogeneous. As the reader may desire some
little acquaintance of Dick's career, we will detail it; and, to save
the infliction of that individual's verbosity and jargon, render his
narrative into a more comprehensive vernacular; prefacing it with the
remark, that the adventures of the narrator must not be considered as a
rule, or a characteristic of the inhabitants of the colony. Hopping Dick
was an exception; he was in fact one of the last specimens of a class,
now happily nearly extinct.
Hopping Dick was a "lag" and a "lifer;" or to be more explicit, he was
one of those gentlemen who "leave their country for their country's
good," and whose period of expatriation is for the term of their natural
lives. What was the nature of the offence that caused his transportation
we are unable to say positively, though we can form a pretty shrewd
opinion. By his own account, all the justiciary of England conspired in
unholy league to effect his ruin, and did not rest until they had
accomplished their dread designs. Though we have no doubt he was very
hardly dealt with in the deprivation of his liberty, we strongly
suspect our friend had a predilection for visiting the domiciles of his
fellow citizens, slightly in opposition to their wishes; and dropping in
at most unseasonable hours, by means of some instrumental application of
his own, detrimental to the locks and fastenings of such dwellings. In
addition to this, he sometimes had a playful manner of titulating the
craniums of his friends, so visited, with a toyish sort of article he
was induced to carry on his person for his own vital preservation.
It was on one occasion when he was going to see "his gal" (he said), who
lived in a fashionable locality of London, he had been kept pretty late
with some of his friends (or "pals," as he vulgarly designated them),
and when he got to her house he discovered she had forgotten to leave
the door open for him; but being pretty well acquainted with that
accomplishment of the "force," area scaling, and being supplied with his
own latch-key, he did not think much of her neglect. But, strange to
say, and considerably to the astonishment of Dick, the head of the
family had a strong objection to that individual's visiting his ladye
love; and absolutely mistaking him for a common burglar, seized him,
with _malice prepense_, to hand him over to "the perlice." Dick, under
these circumstances, had no alternative but to knock his assailant down;
but the screaming that was made in the house caused the appearance of
those metropolitan enemies of freedom, the "peelers," who marched him
off in custody. He was tried by a jury of his countrymen, who were so
far biassed by his arch-enemy the judge, as to convict him of burglary,
which resulted in the provision of a free passage for him to the rising
settlement of Botany Bay. Upon his arrival at his destination our
unfortunate friend was drafted to the penal settlement on the Hunter
river; where he remained some time, until he was made over as an
"assigned servant" to a settler in that district.
The master to whom Dick was assigned, like many more in the country,
was one who had received a large grant of land from the government, and
was clearing and putting under cultivation a considerable portion by the
labour of the convicts; who were at that time assigned by the government
to any settler who would undertake to clothe and feed them. Under such a
system, as might be imagined, the convict's apparel was of the meanest
texture, and their food of the coarsest description; and while they were
made to work under the terror of the lash, and the eye of an overseer
(often excelling in barbarous cruelty the vaunted atrocities of the
American slave-drivers), flagellation was the ordeal they were almost
constantly permeating.
Dick had not been long with his new master before he discovered the
nature of the tyranny to which he would be subjected. His first taste of
his penal life was on an occasion when he complained to the overseer of
the nature of the tools with which he was working. Such flagrant
presumption could not, of course, be tolerated; the overseer reported
him to the master; the master laid a charge of insubordination against
him before the magistrate, and he was forthwith visited with the due
punishment of the law, in the shape of fifty lashes; after which, with
his body bleeding and lacerated, he was sent back to his work.
It is impossible to picture, with sufficient force, the horrors and
atrocities of the penal times. We do not consider ourselves adequate to
the task of exposure and condemnation; but, though we do not approve a
life of ease and comfort accorded to condemned felons, we unhesitatingly
affirm, that in most, if not all cases, the cruel treatment which the
convicts underwent, instead of having a penitential influence, only
served to harden them in their iniquities; and while they frequently
became perfectly callous to the infliction of punishment, they were
debased to the incarnation of fiends, merely wanting in the opportunity
to perpetrate the most atrocious villanies in retribution.
If Dick had ever entertained any disposition of a reformatory nature, it
was entirely dissipated by his early experience. He only waited the
auspicious moment when he could follow the steps of hundreds of others
who had been similarly situated, but had escaped to become
"bush-rangers," and the terror of the country. An opportunity was not
long in presenting itself; and he, with a party of six as desperate
ruffians as himself, contrived to elude the vigilance of their masters,
and get into the bush. Their sufferings and privations were extreme;
little short of the hateful servitude from which they fled; but they
preferred anything, even death itself, rather than return to a
repetition of their bondage. Their escape, however, was soon detected,
and they were pursued by a small company of military; who succeeded in
surprising them in the mountains, and upon their attempting to escape,
fired upon them. In this recontre two of the convicts were killed, and
three others were wounded. Of these, Dick was one, for he received a
shot in the knee from which he never thoroughly recovered; while the
muscular contraction that ensued, from the want of surgical treatment,
caused the deformity which gave rise to his appellation.
When he was retaken and brought back to the settlement, he was thrown
back again upon the government, and put into the "chain-gang," where he
worked in irons with the other incorrigibles. From this, after a while,
he was transferred to a quarry party, and again made over to a settler
as an assigned servant. His treatment from this master was even more
tyrannical than he had experienced before; for the most imaginary
offence, and frequently for no offence at all, but just at the caprice
of the master, he was treated to various applications of the lash, and
restricted allowances of his miserable rations. His slavery was the most
abject, his misery the most consummate, and his degradation the most
venal and depraved: he was the image of the man without the mental
spark; the human being in semblance, but the brute in reality.
The character of Dick's employer was well known; and hardened as all
were by the repetition of scenes that would have made the heart of a
novice sicken, most, even of the officials, looked upon him as too harsh
and cruel, though none attempted to check his insatiable inhumanity. A
circumstance, however, transpired, which speedily brought this state of
things to a crisis. Dick had only returned one day from the "triangle,"
with his body lacerated by the punishment he had been undergoing, when
he was ordered by his master to instantly resume his labour, while he
taunted him and laughed at his emaciated appearance. The heat of the sun
was oppressive, and Dick, though he had borne unflinchingly the
infliction of the lash, was sick at heart, and debilitated by the loss
of blood. All his evil passions were aroused within him; and it was
only with an unwilling hand and suppressed oath of threatened vengeance
that he resumed his work; while his tormentor continued to goad him with
a recollection of his past and present misery, and a prospect of fresh
torture. The unfeeling wretch continued his banter until human nature
could bear it no longer, and with the spade which he held in his hand,
Dick clove the skull of his inordinate persecutor. He never attempted to
escape from the fate which he knew awaited him; but permitted himself to
be led quietly to that confinement which he was aware would only
terminate with the close of his life. He remained in durance for some
months or so, during which his master hovered between life and death;
who, when he was sufficiently recovered to be enabled to move about, was
gratified by having the unfortunate criminal brought to justice.
In those days the laws against the convicts were very summary; short
work was made of those with whom the rulers experienced much trouble;
and in a case like this, where a prisoner attempted the life of a free
settler, his doom was fixed before he was placed at the bar; nothing but
his life could expiate for such a crime. Dick well knew this, and also
that if there were any mitigating circumstances, his master would spare
no trouble in securing his execution; he was not therefore at all
surprised that he was sentenced to the extreme rigour of the law.
However, death appeared to the miserable culprit only a release from his
bodily suffering; and he hailed its consummation with more delight than
he had experienced in any of his earthly pursuits; but his sufferings
were not yet at an end. His execution was fixed; notwithstanding that
some slight effort was made to save him by some persons more humane than
their compeers, and who knew the character of the victim's persecutor;
and he was led away to the final scene of his drama. Before the
adjustment of the hempen order he was enlivened by the brutal taunts and
lampoons of his master; who, forgetful of his own narrow escape from
the grave, jested, with an unparalleled coarseness, on the fate awaiting
the condemned wretch before him.
The signal was given; the bolt was withdrawn; and Dick, with the hoarse
laugh of his master ringing in his ears, was launched into the air, if
not into eternity. But by some gross mismanagement the culprit's feet
came in contact with the ground; while his ears continued to be assailed
with the blaspheming raillery of the man, who was equally deserving of
such a fate. In this position the unfortunate wretch remained, until a
hole was dug to make his suspension complete; and he was again launched
forth; though with no better success. The authorities were by this time
felt to be in a fix; but the victim was not to escape, at least, so said
the master; who with an oath, volunteered to finish the work himself.
Carrying his offer into execution, he mounted the rope that suspended
the criminal, and added his weight by standing on the man's shoulders,
to effect a dislocation, or strangulation. But he was again frustrated;
for the rope, which had done service on many similar occasions, gave way
under the additional weight; and both were precipitated into the pit,
amidst the oaths and imprecations of the one, and the groans and
lamentations of the other.
The body of the half strangled man was then removed; while fresh
exertions were made to obtain his reprieve; this time with a better
result; and, notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of the master,
Dick's life was spared; though it was only to undergo the horrors of a
stricter servitude. This he bore for some three years; and if by that
time, he was not reformed, he was certainly subdued; while his apparent
docility, being construed into reformation, had the effect of causing a
relaxation of the rigid discipline under which he had been placed. He
was relieved from the irons in which he worked, and was permitted the
use of his limbs with more freedom; while the use nht psoe hwi cfirt h
tth em (after he was transferred to the new settlement of Moreton Bay),
was to escape into the bush. For years nothing further was heard of him;
and, by those who troubled themselves to bestow a thought upon him, he
was supposed to have perished. But, after the abandonment of the
settlement as a penal depot, when it was thrown open to the public, a
report was brought in that, in a distant part of the country, a white
man was living with the blacks in perfect nudity; and, from his long
exposure to the sun, almost of a colour with his companions. He was said
to be robust looking, but with a malformation by which one of his legs
was longer than the other. The description answered to the escaped
convict, Dick; and, the circumstances having been communicated to the
government, a party was sent in quest of him. After some trouble he was
discovered, and brought into the settlement; but the results of his past
life with the blacks were, that he had entirely forgotten his mother
tongue, and had acquired new ways and sympathies that long deterred him
from assimilating to those of the whites. Considering his many and
peculiar vicissitudes, a remission of the penalty to which he was liable
was obtained from the Crown; and a perpetual ticket-of-leave was granted
him, provided that he remained in the district of Moreton Bay.
Such then was the career of this character related by himself to
William, as the latter sat listening to him; and though his sufferings
had been fearful, and his escapes miraculous, the catalogue of his
trials was only a counterpart of hundreds or thousands of his fellows
who had either died under their servitude, or become scourges to the
country. Numerous are the instances of the atrocious barbarities of a
system, which for iniquity had no parallel; but it is not our object to
enlarge on the dismal subject; and, as we may have occasion to revert to
it again, for the present we will dismiss it from our thoughts.