Storyteller.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 40, 30 December 1893, Page 13

Storyteller.

A TALE OF OLD BENDIGO

New Year’s Day in 1852 found me in oldr Bendigo. We were then getting gold on a rich surface hill. It was literally sticking to the roots of the grass. One fine Sunday morning X wandered off alone down the creek. Seeing a fine large waterhole, I went in to bathe, got out of my depth, and was nearly drowned. At last I succeeded in catching a limb, which was sticking up above the water. I did not leave that place till I could swim thoroughly ; for I had a look in at the portals of death. I saw all my past life as if in a glass, even to the most minute event which ever happened ; and to this day 1 have to recall some of my early youth through the glimpse I had then when lying in the water drowning.

In 1852 I bought a team of horses and a dray, costing me nearly £3OO, and began to cart to Bendigo. t g-ot nearly £IBO per ton ; and the .first load I capsized before I was a mile from the post-office, in a decidedly bad, blind creek. When I arrived at Bendigo, Black Creek was opening ; and I had to cirive the team over a narrow track between some diggers’ holes on one side, and a Jarg'e waterhole on the other. Halfway over, the bank gave way ; and over we went, loaded dray, four horses, and myself, into the water hole, some Bor 9 ft. deep. I got under the dray somehow, and was rescued at the last moment. Hundreds of willing hands went to work ; and soon the whole lot was again on terra firma, not much the worse for our ducking. I camped one night in the Black Forest, the last one of fifteen drays, when I heard—after I had turned in for the night —a lot of talk, loud and noisy, at the next dray above me. Peeping out between the wheels, I saw seven men, four on horseback, and three on foot; who were demanding the owner of the dray to ‘ shell out ’ what money he had. He replied by saying that he had none, for he always carried a cheque book to pay his way. These men would not believe him, but insisted on his givino- what he had. But they had to be° content wdth a few plugs of tobacco. ‘ How,’ said I, ’ joi* a slap at that ruffian on the horse.’ I thought, of course, they would give me a turn. I had a Colt’s navy, and rested it on the spoke of a wdieel ready, when, lo ! off they "went at a canter. I fired at a venture, and then I was surrounded by about fifty men, wdio had all been stuck up, one -dray after another, fourteen of them by this Black Douglas’s mob. I think they must have managed to get thirty or forty pounds sterling among the lot; and they looked /ery sheepish next morning, to think that fifty men had been robbed by seven armed bushrangers. After that, I always carried my money or gold in the “water keg for safety. I stuck to the carting until it came down from £IBO per ton to £ls, and then gave it up. Talking of robbery, reminds me of one night, on fearful bad roads I turned the horses out while 1 got ready their manger and food for the night. It was dusk ; and I went to hunt them up. I found three; but one was'-missing. I walked round in a widening circle, and at last espied a fellow on the missing one. I ran toward him; and lie made frantic efforts to get the tired horse to gallop, or even trot. But old Jack would not go out of a walk. ‘ Hallo, mate. ThaVs my horse. Jump down.’ My friend was deaf, apparently. O, is that so V Well, I’ll soon have you off !’ Pulling out a pair of holster pistols, I said, ‘How, then, down yoii come, or I fire ! One ! Two ! Three !’ but down became; and then he went, right smart. I sent a bullet over his head, and walked back with my horse.

Many an incident half-forgotton, and covered up in memory, now springs up and demands attention. But 1 must hasten on to the principal

event of my life’s history for the past thirty year.:. I may say that I made sufficient cash to get a farm. I went to the north coast of Tasmania. I worked hard for two years among, the scrub, put up a good house, and got my folks comfortably.settled. I paid over £3O per ton for seed potatoes in Melbourne; and when I had cleared — and what we called cleared was the scrub and all under’ 2ft. through cut down, leaving all stumps and all large timber standing, the trees rung, the logs piled up and burnt —Men acres and put the seed in-; —with a hoe, no ploughing was possible the wallabies ate a lot. But still the crop would give 16 tons to the acre, I sent 15 tons to Melbourne, which cost 25s per ton freight, and charges beside; and the price realised was £2 10s per ton. I got disgusted, and left the spuds in the ground, and went to work at the saw mill. One trip to the heads is deeply engraved in my memory. I had engaged a young man at the farm to work at splitting, as I had some magnificent timber trees 200 ft. and 300 ft. high, straight as a ship’s mast, and from 10ft to 15ft through. With this man, Charley, I set down the river with a punt load; and when we arrived at the mouth of the river it was so dark that we could not see the jetty ; and, to add to our trouble, Charley managed to break the only two poles we had, so that we were at the mercy of the tide, sweeping out to sea, to be dashed against the rocks and then eaten by the sharks. Such was the pleasant prospect. Charley urged me to save myself, saying, ‘ I can’t swim. Good-bye, God bless you for all all your kindness to me, I am a ‘ bolter ’ ; and you might have got into trouble over me.’ I threw off my topcoat, seized the rope which lay coiled up, and sprang into 20ft. of ice-cold water, rushing-furiously to the sea. I swam as for life or death, and puddly succeeded in reaching a pole, or post, which was stuck in the middle of the river. I did not know of it till I swam against it. I made fast the rope, and saved the load, and my man Ctharley. ~ A short time after this I had a fight for life ; and my opponent was a large black snake, Bft 6in long, I jumped into a cutting 12ft long by 3ft wide alongside the mill ; and, presently, ‘ his honour ’ sought shelter from the other men ,in the same cutting. At it we went. I had a piece of batten 2ft long ; and we had a stand-up fight for nearly five minutes. I got one blow on his neck ; and he slipped over between some weather boards, an opening of 2ft wide left all along the side of the mill. The fireman dropped the spade, and ran. I sprang over, and slid down, caught the reptite by the tail, and flung his head against the bed log of the engine. This was the biggest fight I ever had. I longed for the sunny clime of Victoria, and soon I landed on her shores. I went to business in Melbourne, and paid £3O per week for ' rent for a shop in Bourke street, opposite to the post office, £l6 for ! another higher up, and £7 10s for a j third. And here I met my fate ; at ' least I thought so then. But I must \ begin a new chapter to tell of her. i

Chaptkr 11. A female form divinfc Ah, you’ll say, I thought it was some girl or other he fell in love with. Hay, hut dear reader, gentle reader, it was not a common, everyday girl. I was always very gallant to the soft se*x. Perhaps-1 inherit it from my dear old dad. Peace be to his ashes. I thought 1 knew what a nice girl was, but Bella Brown was always above the ordinary run of ‘divinities.’ Shall I describe her ? Ah ! Ho. I could not paint the snowy brow, the pearly teeth, the ruby lip, the wealth of golden hair which swept in flowing waves, through which the sunbeams played hide and seek, down below the slender waist. Air! I leave it and simply say ‘I loved her.’ She was the daughter, the only one, of a pedagogue who lived a few miles out of town. I loved her, I courted

her. Many a chat I had with the old map for the sake of ‘ courting the the lassie.’ Many an argument he and I had on politics, pietry, theology, Ac. Ip Melbourne, ait that time, lived a foreigner named Joe Cremona. He was an admirer 'of B. 8., and I was very jealous. Joseph was a sout, strong-built man of 35 years, with an aim like a sledge-hammer, and a black, shiny, curly head of hair. Well, I got tired of Melbourne, and resolved to “go back to my mountain homeotherwise ‘ the diggings.’ So Joe and I, along with two more, made up a party; and both of ns bidding good-bye to B, B„ we started with merry hearts for old Bendmo. We had many a chat about her, and we agreed not to quarrel over her, but that he should win her who could. She wrote to one of us at a time, always with regards, &c., to the other one. Time passed on ; and it was some six months from the time we had seen her in Melbourne, when she suddenly appeared before us while we were at’ work one lovely morning in Ironbark Gully. Her father had thrown up the school teaching, and was very sick with gold fever; and so he had arrived the night before, and was camped quite near to us. Well, we lost no time in renewing our acquaintance ; but I think poor Joe was the most eager in his endeavours to win her love. Now came an event which decided the matter. We had been in the tent all day until about 2 p.m. It had been raining heavily ; and for days previously there had been a heavy downpour ; so that all work was stopped, and now the water bad rushed down olf the ranges ; each tributary gully adding its quota of boiling, rushing, red water, which soon played sad havoc with our claims, sweeping - into the holes. Soon the gully was a broad sheet of foaming water, save where some heap of washdirt or pipeclay stood, like an island amid the ocean current. ‘ Let ns go to the gully, mate, and see what it looks like,’ said Joe. ‘ Well, I don’t mind if we do,’ replied I, ‘ but I reckon we have lost all our tools in the claim, though I wouldn’t mind that if we can only find the claim ao-ain. I fear we shall have to shift an awful lot of mullock to get the ground in ship-shape for working again ; and I could see the gold sticking all round the drive where 1 got that 6oz nugget.’ ‘Hallo, there’s Bella.’ And sure enough there she was, looking spruce and lovely. ‘Ah !’ said Joe, ‘ 1 hope she won’t slip in. See ! She is going for water.’

‘ I say, Joe, if she should slip in, would you rush in after her t ‘ You’d better believe it, mate.’

‘ All ! ’ said I, in a jocular way, ‘ and then you would claim her as yours, ‘and I wouldn’t stand the ghost of a chance.’ ‘Right you are, old man ; and I think in the circumstances you would he the man to say ‘Take her, mate. You have won iier.” ‘Well, I believe I should. But you don’t think I would stand here gaping at you saving her, and not lend a hand.’ ‘By Jupiter,’ said Joe, we shall have a race for it, and the man who saves her shall have her.’ ‘Ha! ha ! you talk as if she was in the water. Well, I’ll agree to your terms, and he who pulls her out shall have her. And then we both broke out into a hearty laugh at our foolish talk. Miss B. was on the opposite side of the gully from us, in the act of dipping a bucket of water, when, heaving us laugh out so loudly, she looked up, as she rose, and, seeing ns opposite, she beckoned 1o us with her hand, knowing full well we could not cross the rushing torrent. ‘ Ah, my goodness ! she’ll be in.’ Ho ! she has recovered.’ This from Joe. But she had hot recovered ; for, the bank beino- of wet mullock, gave way as fast as she put a foot on it; and, with one loud, long piercing scream, she fell backward into the boiling flood of waters. ‘How, Joe, remember the bargain.’ And oft' I shot down the side of the gully, with Joe after me. I was the better runner of the two. So I soon got about 50 yards ahead. One look into the foaming waters :

and I saw her lovely long hair floating, and her sweet face upturned. Then she sank. One plunge, and I was breasting the current, waiting for her to rise ; but I had miscalculated the current, and when she rose it was some 100 yards below. I turned, and followed; and I put out all my power to try and overtake her. . . Meantime the banks of the gully were crowded with men, who cheered me on. I could see dozens of men running with ropes in their hands, trying to throw one to the drowning girl. I was now within twenty yards of her. I gave vent to a cry as I found that I could not move faster. She sank. I looked round ; and now I saw perched on one of the heap of islands a man with a rope in his hand. I got to where she went down. I dived. I could not see through the muddy water. I came up again. Then she was not five yards ahead. I grasped her hair with one hand, and beat the air with the other, for I was exhausted and faint. I felt something strike me on the head and voices shout ‘ grasp the rope! Hold on to it ! Hold on to it like grim death, mate.’ And I knew the voice to be Joe’s. He dragged me to the spot on which he stood. Then, taking the limp drowned form from me, he pulled her out of the flood. We got to the side of the gully by means of ropes, and two or three men who came to our help. J was carried to my tent, and attended to by a few ministering angels in the shape of women. My first inquiry was for Bella ; and the reply was in Joe’s voice, “ She’ll be all right, mate. I pulled her out. You remember our bargain.’ ‘ All right, old chum,’ I answered. ‘ You saved her life, and mine, too. She is yours. May God bless you both ! ’ When she had fully recovered we went to see her; and then we told her of our bargain ; and Joe claimed to have pulled her out. ‘So you see, Bella dear, I must give you up to him.’ ‘ Oh, dear me ! What shall I do ? I wish I could marry .both of you.’ But Joe married her; and many a hearty laugh we had over our bargain. * 4 =» ' * Six years after the event, related above 1 was in the S andhurst cemetery one Sunday, laying flowers on the grave of one whom I had Jloved better than my life. Two short years before she was my happy bride. And now. ... I looked up, to see at an adjoining grave, a lady, in black, weeping ... It was Bella. She had lost him. ... I could not speak. I could only wonder, and say, ‘ Thy will be done.’ . . . Bella is sitting by my side while I am writing this, making a pair of knickerbockers for our little Jack, and she says ‘ Don’t put my name in that tale, dear.’ But it’s too late now.— From the Sydney T. and C. Journal.