OVER THE FALLS AND OUT ON THE OCEAN (Continued).

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 271, 16 November 1871, Page 2

OVER THE FALLS AND OUT ON THE OCEAN ( Continued).

Scenes tfiere were along the beautiful road which ".recalled^ sad memories too; how my dead wife had watched as eagerly as myself, the progress of thai road whichwas to lead to a new source of 'wealth 'for us, and employment .for many a iamily. How delighted we were when the "music of the saw ' spoke out in that dense primeval forest for the first time a3 it cut the first plank, and how she distributed, with her. own fair hands the customary glass of spirits to each hand present to ",wet" the first , plank cut in the new, mill. How afterwards I. took the little son to hear the shrill scream, and how after his first fright was over he clapped his tiny Lands, and held his little head on one side to listen to the measured "thud thud" of the piston rod/ and watched the steam as it curled away in varied colored wreaths across the river. But bow it was golden sunshine, and all nature seemed alive and active in the balmy air of spring. The cricket's loud hiss reminded one of the falling of water, while the kaka shrieked and sung in the branches above me. A slight but puffy breeze was setting in from the sea and ruffling the surface cf the river that flowed fully 300 feet below me. The road abounded in beautiful scenes. It was cut 8 feet wide around the side of a steep, sloping mountain, clothed with timber and fern, so that the bank on the upper side. was fully 10 feet high, while on the other ; side the precipice' sloped almost perpendicularly down to the i stony bed of the swift Wairba. A' shying horse was certain death, and many a winter's landslip had , delayed' the mill for weeks. Two miles of. this dangerousicuttiDg brought you to a grassy plain (part of, the sheep run) and beyond it began the bush, that'= extended 50 miles to the foot, and half-way up the sides, of the lofty Ben Nevis, that mariners behold seventy 1 miles out at sea, and use 'for a landmark. The narrow road ran sometimes up a slope and sometimes down onei and to -anyone not accustomed to it was specially dangerous. ..Many. a. man,'in former, days had I .driven .along it with his eyes shut and his hands tightly clutching the side rail of the dog-cart. Many a lady I had driven with her eyes open, but more intent in. watching the horse's ears thair admiring' the beautiful views I was pointing out to her with my whip. Once I was nearly over the side myself, and once only, for after that I always made my lady passengers sit on the back . seat. This time I allude to I had with me a young and very timid lady, who, in some imaginary alarm, clutched tightly at the reins, and had I not been driving a very steady old mare that knewthe centre of the road in the darkest night better than. I did, we should have reached the bottom in pieces in less time than it takes to tell it ! As it was,, she pulled; up dead short (a little nearer the edge than was pleasant), and mildly looked round (I never used blinkers j .as much as to say, "Come, I say! Whatcau^you be about ?" I was thinking of this, and Shuddering Has I always did when I looked down, and thought how very, very near I had been,

to death's door, when on reaching the summit of^a'riseJ. beard the chop-chop: of an axe, and saw two' of my favorite bushmen felling a totara tree about 100 ft. high, so as to fall downhill on the slope I was just going to trot down. I saw "the scarf was cut; and the final chops were being delivered which -were to /all it on the road, to wait till the timber carts came up from (he mill, when 1 1 "knew, according to custom, their combined, leading bullocks would haul it out of the roadway. Seeing that I could not get by without jumping over the log if it fell, and being lame of one leg (my hip was put out of joint by a fall in Egypt in the days of my youth) nad not desirous to do this if I could j help if, I sung out to them by name to hold on. Both men looked round, and recognising me, . after instinctively giving one look upwards at the lofty branches to see if the tree was right, threw down their axes and jumped down the bank to welcome me back. I found out that after the tree had been "parbuckled" and hauled clear of the track, it was their intention to return to the mill Ifor dinner, ; so, after a few enquiries after their respective wives and families,, postponing further conversation till afterwards, I prepared to ride down the hill side ahead of me. I left the men clambering up the steep bank 1o finish their work, and trotted past the now severed butt of the totara. I was about 30 yards down the decline when I heard the ominous " crack," " crack," "scrunch-h,"and a roar that betokened that the puffy sea "breeze had caught the upper branches, and made the rest of the bushman's work easy; It little needed the warning shout : " Kide ! Ride !, For your life ! " ' lu'fac'r, I scarcely heard it. Well practised as I was in all\bush craft, at the very first "crack" I drove my solitary spur deep in my horse's side, and with a squeak and a plunge he was off like a racehorse down the hill, and before the ponderous tree had time to measure its length behind me, I was half-way up the other side, exposed to the almost equal danger of losing my life from, a terrified runaway thoroughbred. ' It takes nearly ten seconds for a tree of any size to touch the ground with its topmost branches from the time of the first : crack, but the roar, For remainder of news see fourth page.

■'^(^fech6W" ; for f inileßin.the-bußh,f'iß ; likeiihe of a 68-poander. 7 Away iiyr;terrified' steed, with my no less terrified self; trunks of lofty nadriarchs of the forest flew, by. me as if I were in an express train. We approached the mills." I; could hear that familiar whir-r-r that I had foDdly hoped would hav { c sounded .bo sweetly. A pull .at the reins — I might as. "well try a pull at the deuce. The mill flashes into sight. There, seen in an instant of time, are ihe sheds and . throng of men in and about them. There, the great yertical flashing up and down, just catching the sun's slanting rays like corruscations of lightning ; there, the huge Jogs piled on the skids, waiting their turn to beiir&t " broken down," and afterwards " lipped up;" a last frantic pull at the reins, and then with a loud Bhout for them' to stand clear, I lacked both feet clear of. the stirrups, shut my eyes, and trusted to Providence. In a second I was in the middle of the yard and amongst them- all; and the horse, who knew the mill -.well enough, but had never been beyond it, finding himself in a familiar locality, pulled up short, and over his head I went (of course). Turning a complete somersault, : 'l found myself (luckily) in a large~heap of sawdust, into which I sank ahout three feet, and opened my eyes. To my disgust, I was saluted by a roar of laughter from : about3o men. There stood the horse staring at me, with his head down and his eyeballs almost starting out of his head, there sat I, up to my armpits in sawdust, staring at him; The situation I must confess, was peculiar. I felt glad no photographer was haudy. I got up and shook myself, and felt carefully all clown my limbs — they were right. I looked at my coat— it was decidedly wrong; torn by projecting branches, that in my hurried flight I had taken no heed of, into rags. But what is this ? Blood, from scratches in my face. I must have looked a curious sight. .Any way, no one knew me as yet. My partner came up grinning. "Well, mate, are you hurt ?" " Yes, Westilow," I observed slowly, having now recovered (to a certain extent) the use of my nerves, " and I think that after first trying to kill a fellow. with a stick :1 00 feet long, frightening his best horse out of its wits, and depositing riimseif in a heap of sawdust, it is a Idrpp of. brandy, and not chaff you might offer a friend, on. bis return from the old country."; Need I repeat the rest ? The reader can imagine the scene. Verily, niy .right hand and arm almost ache with the recollection of the wringing they got at that time. . -■';.■• Great was the satisfaction in the abode of Westilow when I announced my intention of spending some weeks up at the mill, for the' purpose of building a canoe, but I noticed covert smiles and a deal of secret rib-nudging, at the idea of "my" building a canoe, amongst some of the old hands. I well knew what they meant. The only canoe they had ever seen was a Maori " dug-out," and: to hollow out one of them would take several men several weeks of good honest labor. I bided my time. Shortly, afterwards a large parcel arrived from town with a Parisian silk dress for Mrs. ,W., and . lots of London toys for her little girls. I then gave one of the timber carters secret instructions early one morning, .acting upon which, when he arrived home in the evening, a 10-gallon keg of ale was found slung under his hind axle, which the men well knew how to turn to account. Haviog thus paved, the way, and prepared them for the great event, I rode down to where the carter had left the Southern Cross, and, leaving my horse in the paddock, my friend and I carried the little vessel down to the water's edge, and I prepared' to embark. .„ I had ridden down in a Crimean shirt and a pair of moleskins and boots. Taking, off my' boots and riocks, I turned my trousers up above my knees, and got in. ; The passage up the river was very tedious, for the snow had not yet < begun to melt on the mountains, and the river was very low. Even what little stream there was was against me, of course.. I suppose I had to get out to drag -her. up the stony heads of falls, and over several hundred yards of shingle bed, fully 100 times* before at last I saw the white smoke from the engine chimney half IV mile: cbefore inc. Putting <wfoat< little^stfenigth I had left intpthe paddle, I ranged - up.', j&o^gside of the little wharf just .as ' tbe sftrUi" scream of, "tike steam V.whibtlei; /referbertftitjg,,, for several' miles. ■^jnto jt^ejiast^es^jofrthd: forest, announced •to the. hungry bushmen that their mid-flay meal awaifd them; Then J had rhy : triump^K^y No boat f:; hkd ; ever before; ascended/he Wairpa, and no one (except the car^iW^o' had /brought her up from 8 on)v|fl8 Southern Cross,, "*\-^b'jßy?./~ttofcf ; Ker-«ouV i of^j ' ; ; :the'^tei '^bse^'grealb ; bra^n^;,r6us^ ■: u^H^Am sales 'in- a: shed,^jc|d one an,d vail* - ; 'i%t^lM engine 1 seemed to be

Several ofßjfjjountry neighbors whom I had not y^KJK& cantered up at the time, and added^^Her 'throng. Wonder was depicted: in Wery; face. Such a boat was a, perfectly new idea to them, and when I announced that as soon as I had built another as near like her as I could, it . was my intention to go right down to Nelson Haven withia mate, at, the. first "fresh " ; in the river, I had no lack of bold fellows volunteering for the trip. Then an animated discussion, arose as to the best sort of wood to build her of. All thoughts of their dinner forgotten, they fell tooth and nail into the comparative merits of totara, red-pine, remu, and .gum ; kouri, too, though it belonged only to the sister island, was brought into discussion, and when, it was nearly time to fall to work again, white-pine, well. steamed, had carried the day. However, so much time had been lost 1 that they all hurried off. to their hasty meals, most of which must have been spoiled by this time, and ere long the inexorable whistle summoned them bask to the scream of the circulars and the clanking of the vertical, while occasionally above all the noise came the labored pant of tbe huge engine, when pressed a little above her usual power, for a few seconds at a time. , However, as I smoked my afternoon pipe amongst them all, I noted that although their hands were busily engaged cutting boards, their minds were in that shed. . " Canoe on the brain " it was evident. At last the lengthened shadows of the lofty trees announced it was nearly " knock-off" time. The distant mountain seen down the valley, at the end of a magnificent avenue of clearing, changed its hues gradually from bright gold to a colder silver, then to grey, and finally, as the setting sun sank behind it, to the darkest purple. Then the inevitable but very unpleasantly-shrill whistle rang out again, and the loud whirr of tbe large sft. circu'ar, subsided into a deep prolonged groan, as if of relief at its labors for the day being finished, and then came the deafening sound of blowing oft steam, after which the noisy mill was silent till 5 o'clock next morning. In the meantime, sure enough, there was the self-elected committee sitting again by the light of a large lantern. Not a copper nail escaped their "gimlet eye.'' Rough but gentle knuckes rapped on the hollowsounding deck. Her pine mast, bamboo yard and boom, calico sail, and brass fittings, all underwent the strictest scrutiny, and even the moveable flooring, the cushion, and the waterproof hatchcover, even to her footboard, nothing escaped them. The verdict was that she was as strong as oak and nails could make her, and as light as it was possible for I any boat to" 1 be, but many of the mill/ hands, who were old salts, shook their 1 heads ominously . when I spoke of the open sea; "River work," said nw cautious advisers, "river work was what BQe ; w as built for, not sea work. Whyl," continued they, " yon could go down /to Nelson, as you propose, by the first flodd, provided you go by day; the fresh Will take you along about 14 knots, and jail you'll have to do ll be to keep clear of them snags, and nasty customers you'll find some of them, mind ye ! The rivei '11 tßke ye out to the sea, and it's a mere matter of a mile or so of .smooth water (always perwiding it aint a blow ng outside, mind ye) till you come to tbe mouth of the haven. Of course you'll watch the turn of the tide, and slip in just on the first of the young flood, giving the old '• ' Fifeshire ' (a huge rock at the entrance) a wide berth, for the flood-tide is apt to set you on to it, and then ance inside, you're right, and mortial tired you'll be; for if it's one, its seven-ijnd-twenty good miles of water this teije l^ boat 'll have to carry you over before d irk: But talk of the .open sea! Avast vith such nonsense-."" So spoke the nau ical authorities, and it was in vain I told t lem of a canoe, just- like mine, eros ing the; English Channel; they spoke of sharks* sunken rocks, surf-bars, sudjden gales of wind, iron boundlee shores, carioes springing a leak at sea and going djwn under us, capsizes under sail, and a waole catalogue of other horrors, enough to dive " a man , nightmare for a week. Ijvas prepared for this, for I had thought carefully over the numerous risks I should haye to encoonter during many a long nightwatch on board the Eleeira^ wnen pacing., the deserted poop . with^SbJ^ first officer, and many a valuable 'bin^aid Ifget from"; him;;dn the ; subject ;of botMi>-saiiing „ and coasting. ;Soc ; X :ilet them, ftike the; engineXat eventide, blow off meir steam; and saitTho more.. . , Even my frpend IVestilow Beenaei'to.think.it would bel top great a risk, ar^d, hinted that I shoujjl^ in \all j probabili^r, find some consideiable. $iffi<sJt]p jn, getting "a cpmpaniop^ , W"^. fe^er, ,fcne &rst 'cqhsjd'erat|ioii Was to ga'phe " tspopnd canoe constructed, and made water - Jit Ig^it ; ?i tii c : res f / v^id ,; ri^lo w ; ", aftqr waMai ;;tiife^tionMt^Uolf^^ their da^^ork was over, and the rem a i\