Tom Hungerford: A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 240, 5 September 1872, Page 9

Tom Hungerford: A STORY OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OTAGO GOLDFIELDS.

By William Baldwin.

Chapter ll.— Dtoedict.

Tom: Hungerford and Tim escaped from the throng of their fellow-pas-sengers as' soon as possible ', and then made their way, as best they could, in the direction of the Commercial. They had a good deal of luggage to carry, and their movements were consequently somewhat alow. Everybody had to shift for himself in those days. Labor, as a matter of course, was a very scarce commodity just then in the young colony ; and the arms and muscles of , the place were in great demand. Porters were unknown j and even the " loafer" could find some congenial occupation that brought him" in grist to the mill. Njotbing in the way of assistance was to be had for love or, money 5 and it was, therefore, just as well, for our two friends that they did not require any. j They had certainly a good load, but nothing to trouble two young fellows ; and, underordinary circumstances, they would not. have given the matter a moment's thought,, but it was no joke to have to stagger along up to the knees in mud, as they had to do. In such a case, I think, a man would be inclined to grumble ; I know I should, and very likely have growled out a few good round oaths -before I came to the end of the journey, as Tom Hungerford did. If! the truth were known, Tim was not a whit more amiably disposed than his companion ; but you would never for a moment have gathered from his manner that there was anything wrong. He looked as jolly as Mark Tapley himself, and I doubt if Mark would have behaved better under the circumstances, j He threw, out an occasional word of comfort to, Tom as he labored along in his wake; but he occupied himself principally in whistling snatches of his two favorite tunes — the' "Cruiskeen Lawn " and the " Shan van vocht."

At last they stood in front of the hotel, and there they rested awhile. The entrance lay down below them ever so many feßt, indeed the roof was not much above the level of the. road on which they stood ; and many of the houses around were not much better off in this respect.

After resting a little, they tried to make their way down, but the doing so was not quite so easy as one would fancy, for the steps were very steep and very slippery ; and it was. only by dividing the luggage that the feat was accomplished at last. Then they found themselves in a dark, long, and narrow room, with a bar at the further end, surrounded with men dressed in boots, breeches, dirty Panama hats, and jumpers, who were all lounging about drinking, smoking, and talking. The place was full, the landlord said ; but he "would tvy wHafhe could do 7 and returned soon afterwards to sa) he had managed to get them a room: They were then led along a dark, narrow passage, and shown into a small, un wholesome looking den at the further end, some eight feet square at the very most, where they were supposed to stow themselves away for the night. They were both very hungry, but when Tom asked for something to eat, he was informed, in a very emphatic manner, it wanted still two hours of tea-time, and until then he could have nothing supplied him. At last, much to their satisfaction, the gong sounded, and they sat down at one of the two crowded tables, that ran lengthwise along the room. Tom Hungerford was too busy, just at first, with his dinner to pay much attention to anything else ; but as the meal proceeded he had more time to look around him! What struck him most was the tone of conversation, so different was it from anything he expected. He was a new chum, remember, and in the horny handed, rough bearded, seedily dressed individuals he saw around the table, he never expected to find men, of refined tastes and cultivated minds.

• But the refinement and the cultivation were there present, that was quite certain. True, the subjects of conver- . sation were principally sheep and cattle, and the severity of the previous winter — the severest known in . the] colony for many years ; but, now and thep, a passing topic of the day at home cropped up, or some literary or .scientific question was started, and all were discussed with a readiness land a tact that ; could only have resulted from deep reading. Apropos of rthis came a conversation' he heard when he awoke the next morning. " Poluphlasboiep thes thalassegyconstrMe Jack," shouted a great rough voice to a friendin adjoining "room. "Shut up. I don't see! it," punned Jack,' drowsily, and turned round again -to sleep.. "You'll do, old boy,"" guffawed the first speaker, I and Tom could hear Him repeating line, after ?.'me of Homer for thVnext twenty miniiteTaf letfstT ~~ * "~ Ajitefi -te%,;Qur.;fcwo friend strolled, out i to have a look. .at the. place. Princes-street watf then; * as now, the principal thoroughfare of. Dunedin. It was a great mud hole from beginning to end, with* swamps and quag' mires strewn all along it, f thick as blackberries, into- 'which 'a , man might easily tumble, if unwary in his footsteps, and possibly disappear altogether too; and through which bullockHeams

floundered along, slowly, sinking well nigh out of sight at times. The roofs rose and fell, too, in an uneven sort of "way. 'One wste oh a level with the ground, the next peeped above it a few feet, and the third was where an ordinary roof ought to be. There was no system, no regularity, in the houses ; nor, for the matter of that, in anything else either. ( Here, one jutted out in front of-itsneighbours, some half-a-dozen feet, or more ; and, 'there, another ran away back, just asv far, behind them. This one faced the street ;* and that one turned its back on it, with sovereign contempt. • Some were built of weatherboards ; some of wattle-and-dab. Then, there were no two alike in shape or size. As they saw it below :hem, from the top of Bell Hill, it was, altogether, about as odd a-looking place as one can well imagine ; or, to use Tim Dwyer's expressive phraseology, "The divil a lie in it, but it bate Banagher." The track they followed wound in and out' amongst great tall flax bushes, th,at drooped above them a foot at least. A little way beyond the bottom of the hill, it crossed a steep, precipitous gully, which they had some difficulty in getting over, and then it curved about the flat, in every direction, towards the Water of Leith. Here the forest began : this, and the lateness of the hour,- warned them to retrace their steps homewards. The sun was just Betting at the time, and tipping Flagstaff with its last rays of purple glory. It was a delicious "evening. The.-c was a feeling of freshness and elasticity in the air, that seemed to brace, up the system, and make a man forget his cares for a time. Like a glass of good champagne, it expanded their hearts with feelings of joyousness and geniality; and they returned all the better for the walk, arriving at the hotel just as darkness was setting in. Bear in mind, I am speaking of Dunedin as it was some twelve or thirteen years ago.

Burke, referring to the then Americafa colonies, speaks of the, marvellous rapidity with which they Bprang from families into communities, from communities into villages, from villages into towns, from towns into populous cities; and we know his words are just as true now as regards the growth of many of the colonies of the present day. In New Zealand, indeed, with its eight or nine would-be capitals, scattered along its thousand and odd miles of seaboard, the change is not so rapid as in some of the Australian colonies ; but even here, with us, the progress is very marked. It is very marked as regards our own chief town, atall events. Think of what Dunedin was, and look at what Dunedin is. It has now its flagged, well-paved, gas-lit streets ; its numerous hotels, many of them well-built, well-kept places of resort, providing every comfort and luxury that can be desired ; its banks, merchants' offices, and private residences, not a fe.w of them tastefully designed and pleasant to the oyo ; its public bUildings, that would be no discredit 'to many a first-class town at home. And it all seems the work of yesterday.

The following day, Tom Hungerford and Tim moved to Tamora House, which was a quieter place to stay at than the hotel, and not so expensive either. Some half-a-dozen other lodgers were staying there at the time, principally squatters, with one or two members of the Provincial Council, which was then sitting. Having nothing better to do, Tom strolled down to the Council one evening to hear what was going oil there. The place and the proceedings, however, were unimpressive and uninstructive to the last degrx c. He had his own ideas as to the appearance of delibeiative bodies, and to bis mind it seemed naturally to follow, in the fitness of things, that those who sat in high places should have about them something of the world's pomp and outward show in their surroundings. But there was certainly no pomp, nor show, nor comfort either, for the matter of that, in the room he entered ; nor did the men who occupied it bear about them, in their looks, anything in the way of statesmanlike dignity. It was about one of the most cheerless, miserable looking rooms he had ever come across, and the sitting there listening to what was going on, for any length of time, the most dreary work imaginable. Tom was soon tired of it, and was preparing to get away, when there came, an interruption to the proceedings that I detained him a little longer. This interruption came from a small, red-haired child at the door. Pushing it half o,pen, and thrusting her unkempt head inside, she called out, in a shrill treble, and the broadest of Scotch accents* "Faither! faither!" There she stopped suddenly. 1 The members all turned round in astonishment, and stared at her ; and the heavy countenance of the Speaker became still more heavy as he frowned ominously upon her from his Speaker's chair. She, was frightened for a moment, and withdrew outside the door. But, after a little, the unkempt head was thrust ;in again,' and the shrill voice trebled out; once- more, "Faither! faither! yotfre a-wanted the noo." Bid ever anybody hear the like of it; the solemn deliberations of state -tcr be interrupted in such a way ! It really was, too bad. The! members evidently thought so, .and glowered -at her, poor little thing ; and the honorable gentleman who was, addressing himself to the question tftb'ttgnirtfo > tVo^nti^'atised

angrily in his. eloquence. Every one looked from the child to Mr. Speaker. He was expected, evidently, to do his duty, and he did it like a man. "Shut that door," he growled out savagely, waveing his hand indignantly at the small delinquent. The red head disappeared from sight with a sudden jerk. Then the orator proceeded. But the little thing was not to be turned from her purpose, even though the heavens should fall, and the wrath of the Provincial Councillors consume her. Opening the door cautiously, the head became visible again, for the third time, and the thin voice, in hysterical accents, exclaimed, "Faither! faither! you're a-wanted the noo. Babbie Bamsay wants his breeks ! " It was too much this even for senatorial gravity. Soars of laughter followed, in which the Speaker joined heartily, though raised at his own expense, for he himself was the " faither."

For the first four or five weeks after his arrival, Tom Hungerford did nothing but " loaf " about town. It was becoming very tiresome to him this sort of life he was living, and he was therefore anxious to find something or another he might turn his hand to, if it were possible. But these kind of somethings, seldom . do turn up readily to one's hand when they are wanted, and were not easy to be had even in those early days. In some respects, though, the time passed by pleasantly enough. He got to know a lot of squatters who happened to be knocking about Dunedin just then; and, take them all in all, they were as nice a lot of young fellows -to be amongst as one would wish — full of spirits, and up to all sorts of fun. The companionship might be pleasant, but I doubt if it did him much good. They were inclined to be rather fast in their ways of life, as was only natural, perhaps, in young men who had been living away beyond the pale of civilisation, in, the far interior, for the past twelve months, or more ; and they led Tom into all ' kinds of temptations. He found himself lounging before bars, all day long, with some of his new companions, smoking and "nobblerising"; nor could he well help himself either.

The "nobbier" was then, as now, an institution of the country. Then, as now, friends never met or parted without " shouting " ; and no bargain was ever looked upon as complete unless ratified by a " drink." As to refusing, the thing was out of the question, unless, indeed, you wanted to insult a man. It was the custom of the place, and we know " What custom wills in all things must we do it." There were exceptions, of course, but they were very few. There were a few men, even then, who set their faces against this pernicious habit, but they were men who had around them all the soft influences of home, and were blessed with the companionship of gently-nurturod women — not the restless, energetic, hot-blooded youngmanhood, amongst whom he found himself.

There was a good deal of gambling going on too, and he was sometimes drawn into it, whether he would or no. Altogether, it was an indolent, unprofitable kind of life, and he knew it ; and he told himself, more than once, it behoved him to get away from the place as quickly as possible. He had two or three pressing invitations to go up country given him, and he made up his mind he would accept one of them, and start off at once.

The day before he intended starting, a friend of his, named Whitney, came into the room where he was sitting alone.

" I've had most infernal luck lately," he began, after he had carefully closed the door, and sat down. " After you left last night I was let in pretty heavy." " I'm very sorry to hear it. I noticed lately you've been losing a good deal. I'm thoroughly sick of the place myself, and I'm thinking of going up with Hornsby to-morrow for three or four weeks. You'd better start too and come along with us as far as our roads lie together." " It's too . late, my dear fellow," answered Whitney. " I wish to heavens," he continued, " I'd never come near this infernal hole. And yet, what's one to do ? Take my own case, for example. I've been knocking about up-country for the last thirteen months, with scarcely a soul to speak to, and sometimes not enough to eat. Why, just before I came down to town, I was snowed-up there in that place of mine, and for two months I had nothing to eat but corned beef and a few pounds of flour. Now, you know, after leading that sort of life, a fellow fancies he's a right to enjoy himself, and have a bit of a " spree " when, he comes to town and gets among a lot of fellows he knows again. But I've gone too far this time ; and the fact and the matter is, Hungerford, I must clear out altogether. I thought, perhaps, my interest in the station might suit you, and so I came up to speak to you about it/ • "Well, I L don't know," said Tom, slowly, after .he had paused for a minute to think the matter over. "Of course, it would depend altogether on the price you want. But isn't there any chance of your being able to pull through? -It seems such a pity for you| to sell out now, after you've got over the difficulty of starting the place." "I muj&jb. sell, old fellow. The station belongs to Atkins, butl have a

lease of it for five years. I have got six hundred head of cattle of his running there, for; which he pays me ten shillings a piece a year, and I get a fourth of the increase given in. In eighteen mouths from this, he must put on two thousand ewes, and I am to give him two shillings wool-money and forty per cent, increase, and at the end of the time he pays me for improvements. I have got some stock of my own too on the place. You can have the whole thing for a thousand pounds, if you like, and I'm sure it will pay you well at that."

" I'll think the matter over, Whitney, and I'll give you an answer tomorrow morning." Tom did think the matter over, carefuily, and' the more he thought of it the more desirable did it seem that he should close with the offer. It was a good bargain : there was no doubt about that, as far at least as he could gather from the facts as they had been laid before him. As far as means were concerned, he saw his way to the making of the purchase. Then it would enable him to give up the kind of life he was leading, and provide Tim and himself with occupation and a home. And in this way it was settled that he should purchase the place, if, upon looking at it, he found it suited him.

Extraordinary efficacy of Jlolloway's Pills in the cure of dropsy. — The wife of Mr. W. Gardner, of Hanging Houghton, had been most dreadfully afflicted with dropsy — so bad, that she was confined to her bed, and lapped three times in the course of a few months. She had recourse to Holloway's Pills, and by steady perseverance and strict adherence to the system laid down in the printed instructions, the disease was conquered, and for eighteen months past there as been no accumulation of water. She can walk about with the greatest ease and comfort, and is daily gaining flesh and strength. , On the island" of Borneo has been found~ a certain race of creatures, of which kindred varieties have been discovered in the Philippine Islands, Terra del Fuego, and in South America. They walked usually almost erect on two legs, and in that attitude measure about four feet in height. They are dark, wrinkled, and hairy. They construct no habitations, form no families, scarcely associate together, sleep in caves and trees, feed on snakes and vermin, on auts, eggs, and on each other. They cannot be tamed or forced to any labor, and are hunted and shot among the trees like the great gorilla, of which they are a stunted copy. When captured alive one finds with surprise that their uncouth jabbering sounds like articulate language. They turn up a human face to gaze at their captors, and females show instincts of modesty ; and in fine, these wretched beings are men and women.

A simple mode of avoiding the spread of small-pox has been discovered in Alabama. They let the patient die safely by himself, hire a negro to bury him, and shoot the negro as soon as the interment is finished.