A NIGHT ON THE KOAD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 188, 14 September 1871, Page 5

A NIGHT ON THE KOAD.

Not a night spent beneath the canopy of heaven, sheltered by a kindly tussock, uor in carrying the doctrines of the Communists into practice, a la the late lamented Mr. Morgan of the New South Wales ; nor yet a night's troubled slumber in Pullman's magnificent palace cars, flying along the Pacific Railway; but simply a night passed at a wayside shanty, on one of the much libelled highways of Otago. « Just as as a glorious day was dying, T arrived at an edifice, which advisedly I call a shanty. I will not attempt to describe it, for to minds colonial doth not the word "shanty" itself convey my meaning as clearly as a column of description "i Giving my steed to an individual who looked like the agricultural interest personified, I went inside the bouse. Of course the first thing I stumbled across was a bar temptingly laid out with two seedy looking decanters, and three disreputable tumblers of a bluish yellow tint. A woman, clad in a dress which probably at some remote period of its existence was new, was standing behind the bar, and on my entering smiled, and looked significantly at the decanters. Being travel-hardened, however, the hint had no effect on me, and I proceeded into the parlour followed by the woman. The parlour was an apartment about 10 feet square, furnished elegantly but simply with a small table and two forms and ahalf. The lady, after incidentally remarking that the evenings were cold, inquired if I would like a fire, and upon my answering in the affirmative, proceeded forthwith to make one out of materials which I first thought were peat, but which, immediately on their ignition, my olfactory nerves informed me were the far-famed buffalo chips. Ye gods ! the odour. I smell it now, a hundred miles away. Out came my faithful dhudeen, and I went in against the fire. For full five minutes the contest lasted, and then 1 cried a go, and passed out into the cool evening air. Leaning on a fence, I puffed in silence, and as the smoke curled gracefully around roy classic tile, determined to call the attention of the clergy to the subject of buffalo chips as subversive of morality by inducing profanity. I was now informed tea was ready. This meal was served up in the kitchen, Agricultural Interest (who turned out to be the landlord) doing the honours. The female in the venerable dress (A. I.'s wife) sat opposite, and a mild looking young man, apparently a new chum from his woebegone appearance, on the left of A. 1. , and myself on the right. A few minutes afterwards, a young girl, fearfully and wonderfully attired in a mixture of clean print and soiled silk, took her place at the table. A general air of melancholy seemed to pervade every one present. Tea passed off almost in solemn silence. Once the landlord remarked confidentially, but timidly, that the roads were cut up, and subsided behind his cup of tea. Nobody answered the landlord's observation, and after an interval of about ten minutes, the landlady mysteriously remarked that " Tom was rather late."' Just as we were getting up to go into the buffalo chip polluted parlour, Tom came in— a tall, broad shouldered, black muzzled, and evidently a misanthropic member of the mining fraternity. Scowling round the table, he muttered something about condemned horses, seeming disgusted that he had arrived so late for his " tucker.." Ten minutes after the adjournment of the landlord and my-

Belf into the parlour, Tom appeared with a clay pipe in his mouth, and cutting up some execrable Sydney twist, which he had purchased under the delusive idea that it had been manufactured by a certain Barrett. He flung himself into a chair, and for half an hour was absorbed in apparently gloomy reflections, and enveloped in smoke. Meanwhile the melancholy landlord and myself had charged, and sat puffing in solemn silence. Suddenly A. I. got up and went into the bar, and I was left alone with Tom. After an interval, I inquired if Tom knew anything fresh. That individual started up, shook the ashes out of his pipe, and approaching me, said fiercely,

" Fresh in this quarter. Nothing, except that the d — d country's cooked."

" Ah !" I remarked, " when did that interesting culinary operation occur V

A hateful light shone out of Tom's eyes as he .glared upon me. " Look here, Mister," he growled ; " it's all very well for you to swear in Latin at a fellow because he tells the truth. I tell you the country's cooked, all through the infernal squatters and. storekeepers ; and now the Chinese have put a fresh set on it. Where'd Otago been if it wasn't for the diggers I—a1 — a parcel of burgoo-eating cockatoos and mangy shepherds calling themselves squatters, none of them who ever saw a bob before Gabriels.

I saw Tom was waxing wroth, and thinking it best to propitiate him, 1 enquired if he would take something. "Of course he would," and seemingly lest I should repent of my invitation, he immediately shouted for the landlord. That individual, sadly smiling, appeared, and two whiskys were soon produced and swallowed. Tom rather softened down a bit after the whisky, and informed me that things had gone badly with him, and that he was occupied at present as generally use Jess about the house for 10s a week and tucker. He held very decided opinions on almost every subject. Storekeepers and publicans, as well as members of Parliament, residents in Dunedin, clergymen, and Government officials, he classed under the head of loafers, squatters, and farmers, mean unprincipled robbers — all living upon the unfortunate miner. He went in for the abolition of gold duty, Warden's Court fees,, Chinamen, and duties on goods consumed by miners ; also, for Government subsidising prospectors, and storekeepers and publicans being compelled to give unlimited credit to miners. Tn Tom's opinion, gold mining was the only pursuit under heaven worthy of being followed, and that if that branch of industry ceased, the whole world would be plunged into a state of abject poverty if it did not come to an end altogether. As a matter of course, he knew of a fabulously rich quartz reef cropping out of the surface ; also, some rich alluvial ground, but he could not develope them because the storekeepers were so blind to thoir own interests as not to give him about £150 to buy tools, provisions, &c, for the pur pose of getting out the gold. "And yet," he said plaintively, " I've always supported them well. I never took no sanguinary money out of the country. Whenever T got a twenty ponnd note, I knocked it down like a man — giving 'em all a turn. Yes, sir, T've spent thousands amongst the business people, and see what I've come to — wood and water joey at a shanty." The reflection almost overcome him, but a judicious administration of a spirit, purporting to be Stewart's, brought him to himself again. At this juncture the mild new chum, followed by the landlord and his lady, joined us. Tom was now loquacious, and favoured us with a sketch of his career in the colonies. He had, according to his own account, spent five years in California, five at Bendigo, six at Ballarat, four at Castlemaine, three at Inglewood, one at the Snowy River, five at Gabriels Gully, two at the Lachlan, thz-ee at the Dunstan, four on the Shotover, two and a-half at the West Coast, two in Queensland, and about two in his present place of abode. This, added to the few various periods during which he had been in that picturesque but uncomfortable position vulgarly termed " up a tree," made a total of 50 years he had spent on the goldfields since their discovery in 1849. Truly he was an extraordinary man. After some more silence, the new chum proposed that we should play euchre, to which Tom and the landlord agreed, and I was invited to join the game. A pack of cards was produced, and we sat down and played for nips.

Hail to thee euchre, pearl of games ! Let devotees of scientific whist sneer at, and votaries of precarious poker despise thee. Thou canst laugh at all their pretensions, for art thou not the chosen of the people ? Wherever the foot of civilisations plants itself, thou are there also. In the great city, and in the lonely cabin by the nameless creek, thou art to be found. Millions nightly surround thy throne and pay thee homage. When on the deep sea or solid land would resourceless man do without thee, oh Euchre ? Tell me not of laurelled conqueror's pride, nor of the joy that fills the heart when a fair maiden consents to face a parson under your protection. The gifted poet who remarked that The greatest bliss the tonge of man can tell, Is to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye comes

name, was evidently ignorant of euchre. The acme of earthly bliss is to hold the two bowers and the ace when your opponent orders you up. Then a 'calm and holy joy enters into the" heart, and the countenance ia irradiated with smiles of almost supernal -benignity, and when you take the third trick, your happiness is beyond utterance. Yes, euchre is the game, par excellence. It is easily learnt, and does not require much study to play. And then how easy it is for a skilful player, should luck be against him, to judiciously correct Fortune's fickleness. I consider euchre ought to be -taught in achoolSj and. I recommend the General Assembly, while they have the Education Bill before them, to consider this matter. The illustrious exile of Chiselhurst might also advantageously take a hand, its soothing effects are marvellous. Under its influence he would forget the time when he swayed the fierce democracy of France, and those stormy months preceding Sedan ; forget, perhaps, to plot for a renewal of his Empire. I seriously recommend the Republicans of the ex-Em-peror, not familiar with the game, to dispatch a trusty emissary to teach him.

Once he took .an interest in the game, the Republic would be safe — so far a 1 * he was concerned.

We played with varying success for two or three hours, the nips comiog in fast and furious. The landlady, who was interested in the game, informed us after every hand what mistakes we (in her opinion) had made, and reciting its rules, some compiled by herself from extensive experience ; others, the result of other people's observations.

All things come to an end. We all grew extremely friendly, Tom evincing a particular partiality for me. When, however, he enquired if I was a shoeblack ho knew in former days, I got up and left the table and retired into my room, afterwards into bed. Tom, who occupied the same room, followed, and soon we were snoring in the sweet sleep that whisky bestows on poor humanity. P. Tenax.