An Australian Christmas.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 235, 31 December 1887, Page 3

An Australian Christmas.

BY J. S. BORLASE.

I don't think I should have been tempted to spend last Christmas-day with old Matthew Fallon, the German vigneron, had not the attractions of a promised "roast goose been supplemented by fc those of his little duck of a daughter Gretchen, who chanced to be eighteen on that very day, and whom I hoped to make mv wife before 1884 was ended. Thank heaven she wmy wife, but though I'm about to write a tale of our courting days, I would not for worlds have her read it, lest the horrors which I am going to relate should bring back to her mind so vivid a recollection of the scenes themselves that the reason, which at the time they nearly robbed her of, should again be endangered, and by a mere memory. Behold me then on a burning hot Christ-mas-day, leaving my little weatherboard hut where the thermometer hanging under the shade of the deep verandah marked 99, and clad only in a coloured shirt and trousers (with a clean collar and freely flowing necktie of course), and a broadbrimmed, low-crowned cabbage tree hat that had co&t me a couple of guineas in the little township of Wodonga a week previously, mount a horge that I had paid half-a-crown for on the same occasion — though had he been properly broken in groomed he would have fetched fifty pounds at any fair or bazaar in England —and giving a rifle-like crack with my whip, which was two feet long in the handle and fifteen at least in the thong, head him straight for the ultramarine and violet-hued forest ranges, whose lowest spura were at least a dozen miles away, though the Australian atmosphere made them look not half the distance, and which enabled m& ho 6 ee even the upcurling wreaths of smoke from_the homestead wherein I was to be so hospitably entertained. * Heavens, how still the air was. Such an atmosphere in Italy or Greece would most probably have heralded an earthquake, but in Australia there are happily no earthquakes, either physical or political. Yet still there was something both enervating And depressing in the sharp crackling of the forest leaves in the fierce heat, in the furnacelike glow of the heavens, the quivering of the atmosphere, and the silence of both bird and insect life. When a man happens to be in love, however, and furthermore journeying in the direction of a good dinner, it is his nature to set down as trifles what under different circumstances he might regard as serious diBagreeables, and so I scoured the undulating, tree-dotted plains at a gallop (plains of brown grass that had been changed into hay even whilst ib grew, and trees whose sage gr e I n l ye c K a l f oKage afforded no shade), and the close b£ the hour saw me ascending the ranges towards the convolvuli-covered -cot of my beloved at a more sedate pace, for the rising ground had taken all the spirit out of my grass-fed nag,.and, considering the heat, little wonder. Ten minutes later, however, he was stabled in a little outhouse, and I myself was seated in the verandah with my darling by my side, and a great dish of delicious muscatel grapes and a, long-necked bottle of cawarra wine standing on the table in front of me, for in the hot summer weather Australians may be said to live in their broad, wooden-floored verandahs which are formed by a continuation of the shingled ! roof to an extent of three and sometimes four yards, and supported by a slender pilaster here and there. How. delicious those grapes were, and how cool and refreshing the wine, but of «our»e I had to go an,d see my presumptive fatW-in-law al«,o, whom I found in the little detached kitchen attending to the cooking, which your true German considers to be a man* work, that is if it is to be, properly performed.

Old Matthew was evidently inhis element. : The goose was already set down to roast in j front ot an enormous fire composed of twoloot, long shea oak logs, in company with some wild ducks, and the vigneron was now busy in the manufacture of a gigantic peach pie. It was very evident, despite the friendliness of his greeting, that he didn't want us thero, and as nothing more mortal than a salamander or a fiery dragon could have enjoyed his company amidst such surrounding 3 , I was very glad when I was almost driven forth, and so had a good excuse for returning to the verandah. As Gretchen, in anticipation of my coming, had risen at an early hour and got through all her work, even to the laying of i the dinner table and the adornment of the Christmas tree (for old Matthew would not for untold riches have omitted a single custom of the "Fatherland" on such an anniversary), she had nothing to do but sit and talk with me, so that an hour or more passed delightfully away, and a second might have followed it in like manner but for the sudden apparition of a dirty, dissipated looking fellow, with a blanket and a blackened binbilly strapped to his back, a heavy, untrimmed staff in his hand, a stump of a pipe gripped between his yellow fangs, and a stubbly beard of a fortnight's growth, who suddenly rounding the angle of the verandah brought himself to a halt in front of us with the cool remark ;— " I seem to nose a good dinner, mate. Roast goose ain't it? I guess you won't s*ay no to a tired and weary ovorlander taking a bit and a sup with you on an occasion like the present 1 Am I welcome ? Yea or no !" "I'm not the boss here, my friend, but as there's a bush inn only three miles along the road, I'd advise you to go on till you got to it, and I don't mind standing half a crown towards your dinner there if you're short of funds." I made answer, for I .could see with half an eye that the dirty bushman would be no acquisition to our little family party, for he stank of bad rum already, and there 'was a wild look in 'his eyes and a jerky twitching about his fingers and mouth which hinted plainly that he '•' was within a measurable distance" of an attack of delirium trtmtns, or what is known in Australia by the more forcible name' of The Rorfots !• - • My offer, however, was received with a contemptuous "You're a pretty sort of cove, you are ; a new chum who's got to learn what Australian hospitality • means, that's very plain. Who in this free country would think of turning a houseless stranger from his door on a Christmas-day of all days in the year ? No, I don't suppose you are the boss, and what's more you don't deserve ever to be one neithsr, wherefore I aren't going to take no from your lips." "If I'm not the master here I can soon take you to him. If he asks you to stay all well and good, and if the other way I can then show you the gate " I rejoined, and springing to my feet I took him by the arm and led him towards the kitchen. But when we got there old Matthew Fallon was no more struck with his personal appearance than I had been, and after locking him straight up and down, made answer to his request with a curt : — " We don't want a stranger at our dinner table. If you'll take a draught of ale or wine and a plate of bread and meat and then go your way, you're heartily welcome, and if 3 r ou don't choose to do that you can go without." Instead of accepting the kindly offer, and my again proffered half-a-crown, the fellow began to curse and swear in the most frigntlul manner, finishing up by throwing down his bat and challenging me to fight. Being' the possessor of a hot temper, I knocked him down at this, and then lifting him on to his feet again and fixing his old weather-beaten billycock hat tight down on his head, I conducted him to the garden gate, with all his bounce apparently taken out of him, and gently pushing him therethrough, closed it in his rear and then said : — " If half-a-crown's of any service to you, mate, you are still heartily welcome to it, and the bush inn I told you of is away yonder," and I pointed in the direction in which the shanty was situated. But the man turning round on me gave me a look that I shall never forget to my dying day, and hissed through his clinched teeth : " To the fiend with your d#4y half-crown and with you too. I'm goi»g to travel in the teeth of the wind, I am. Mark that, in the teeth of the wind I say, and if before long, I don't send you skiddering ten times aa fast in a contrary direction my name's not Jim Caldwin. The goose is cooking, but none of you will set teeth in it this Christmas day. No, by heaven that you never shall "—and shaking his fist at me the fellow turned round and shuffled off as fast as he was able. Of course, I laughed at his threat, regarding it a3 tall talk, and nothing more. Besides, I didn't understand his meaning, nor did 1 consider it to be worth guessing ateitl.o". Instead of doing so, I retraced my way to the house, glad to escape from the scorching Uofc wind that had jusfc begun to blow, and 'neath whose influence the green vine leaves had already commenced to curl up at the edge 3, and the purple bunches of grapes to'shrivel and wither. One hour later, we were all three seated around the festive board, poor old Matthew Fallon with a great deal of his usual contented and happy look faded out of his rubicund visage owing to the certain destruction of hia grap© crop, if the hot wind, which was by thisjtime roaring as if belched forth from a thousand fiery furnaces, continued for any length of time longer. He put as good -a face upon the matter as he could, however, and grace having been said he was just on the point of commencing to carve the goose when Gretchen suddenly exclaimed *.—. — " There's something more than a hot wind raging. Look at the colour of the sky. Hark to those crackling sounds. There's a bush fire somewhere." Her face suddenly paled, as well it might with such a wind blowing, and the primeval forest of highly combustible gum and turpentine trees extending right down to their little clearing. Her aspect even more than her words caused me to look around in turn, and directly I beheld the aspect of the sky and a lot of eagle hawks circling around and around in the air, I knew why they had left their nests, and guessed at the deadly peril that was swooping down upon ourselves. ( At the same instant I hit upon the solution of what had before been to me a riddle, the parting threat of the vindictive swagsmom Jim Baldwin, " I'm going to travel in the teeth of the wind, and the goose that's cooking none of you will ever set teeth in." , Full of the most horrible surmises, I dashed out on to the verandah,' but a single glance was sufficient, and '-I sprang back into the room again exclaiming— " We must up and away; that infernal scoundrel has set fire to the bush and the hot wind is driving the conflagration down the ranges directly towards iis at a speed Of at feast twelve miles an hour." , Gretcheh shrieked with, terror, and Matthew, Fallon, dropped the carving knife and fork, exclaiming—. . *' I'm a ruined man ; I shall be burnt oub of house and home,!' .

u This is no time to think of ruin when life itself is at stake," Irejoihed, "run, man, and saddle your grey mare. I can take up "Grotchen in front of me. Each nag will then bear about equal weight. Go ! Why do you stand still ?" " Because I've lent the mare to a friend and he hasn't returned her yet." His answer unnerved me, fo»* it told me that one of our lives was sped, and even should I yield up to him and his daughter my horse, the grass fed animal could never bear such a double burden, «old Matthew weighing sixteen stone at the least. He must have read my reflections in my eyes for he exclaimed earnestly, " Save my daughter. Have no thought of me. My dead wife is buried in the garden and I've no great wish to leave her." There was no time bo stand disputing the muster. I made a rush for the stable, Gretehen's shrieking protestations ringing in my ears the while, that nothing should induce her to leave her father. "How shall I be able to tear her away from him?" I wondered as I hurried along, bub in less than three minutes I had saddled my horse and brought him round to the front, where, slipping the reins around a verandah pilaster, I again leapt into the room where I had left father and child. They were still thore and sho seemed to be yet entreating him to escape in her stead, but as I neared them the old man released himself from her tenacious clutch by force, and sending her reeling into my arms, exclaimed excitedly, " Kemember, I hold you answerable both to God and to myself for her safety. " He then plucked a pistol out of his coat pocket, thrust the muzzle between his ; teeth and up'against the roof of life, mouth, and pulled the trigger before I was even certain that he grasped anything in his hand. An instant, and his blood and brains wero spattered all over the place, and the question was thus definitely solved as to whom should bo saved and whom left behind. Had not the terrible spectacle caused poor Gretchen to swoon, it is extremely doubtful whether I should have been able to tear her away even then from her father. As it was, however, I whipped her up as 1 might have done a sheaf of wheat, and carried her out through the open door-window, threw her across my horse just as though she had been one, and you may be sure that the next instant I was up on the saddle behind her with no thought in my head except as to how we were to escape. It was a question by no means easy to solve, for the^ conflagration was now within a mile of us,mnd tearing down the ranges at a speed of a dozen miles an hour at the [ very least, and accompanied by a roar compared with whi'ih that of Niagara would, have been a mere whisper. True, the way to my homestead still lay open, and I could see it nestling amidst its patches of Indian corn as I trotted my horse down the hill side, bub I dare not attempt to cross the sea of waving yellow grass that stretched between, for if the sparks that already dropped around us were to ignite that the flames would scour the plain at a speed that neither racehorse nor kangaroo hound could hold its own against for a single mile. It was maddening to think that the wretch who had done this black deed could pursue his route with his face to the wind as leisurely as he chose, for the flames of his creating would nob advance half a mile an hour in thai direction t whilst we had to tear along for dear life with death on the white horse racing almost neck and neck with us. • ' But; it was no good giving way to anger, for a cool head was as necessary under the } circumstances as either a firm hand or a tight grip of the pigskin. The amount of gum and turpentine in the Australian forests, together with the dry, loose bark of the past year which still clings to trunk and branch, and in huge slabs strews the ground all around, render them almost as inflammable as tar barrels, so that so small a thing as the sun shining on a broken bottle has been known to create a conflagration which has blackened and destroyed a track of country as large as an English county. Once clear of the sfcony ground, the trot was changed to a gallop, and none too soon, for the fire had been gaining on us at a rapid rate. Looking back a holocaust of flame marked the spot where the dead vigneron's whetherboard house had stood,, but there was no time for a second glance, for sparks were already falling around us in a blinding shower, ana the aromatic odour of burning gum and peppermint leaves was almost overpowering. Luckily there was little smoke, or we should have been suffocated outright. The conflagration must by this time have been fully twelve miles wide, and no one can imagine the grandeur or the horror of the spectacle. It was ms though countless millions of birds with flame-coloured plumage wero wheeling and fluttering around vast columns of red-hot iron, each a hundred, a hundred and fifty, or two hundred feet in height ; whilst in all directions these Titanic columns were reeling and crashing to earth with a sound like thunder, sending up fountains and cataracts of sparks to an immense height in the dull red sky which seemed to ! glow like a furnace. Dead or dying birds now dropped around us, flying foxes flapped past on thojr great leathery pinions, kangaroos came leaping down the ranges clearing eighteen feet of ground at each onward bound, and more than once I heard the jocund peal of the laughing jackass who, poor foolish bird, possessed not sense enough to perceive the danger which even the snakes wex*e endeavouring to escape from. 1 was so confused by the noise and the heat and the uncertainty as to whether my darling Gretchen was only in a swoon or actually dead, that I knew not in what direction I was riding. Bub ere long hope itself died within me, for my horse commenced to reel beneath its double burden, blood began to tingle its white foam spumes, and the relentless flames were evidently catching us up fast. All seemed red around— the tire was drawing ahead on both sides, it was closing in around us. I felt the skin peeling off my face and hands. But all at once there was a snort, a plunge, and water spurted up and around me. I heard my brave steed's fierce shriek ot joy, and I echoed it as I perceived we were breasting a broad stream and the conviction flashed home to me that it was the Murrumbidgee river and we were saved. We were saved, for we gained the opposite bank in safety, and great was my joy on reaching home by a circuitous route to discover that the fire had nob approached within three miles of my little homestead. ; It was now Grebchen's home also. She recovered her reason there, but even yet she can never look towards the far away blackened ranges without a shudder and a sigh, bo as soon a* I can I mean to change my farm for one in a different district.

A father scolds his son for his numerous errors, "Really, governor, you were once youngs djd you never have a frolic?" •» NeVer," said the, father, with; a, sigh. " When I waa young I had no money, and when? I became rich it wjuu too-late/'-