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

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 246, 17 October 1872, Page 9

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

By William Baldwin.

Chapter VIII. — The New Rush.

When Tom Hungerford and his companions reached Waitahuna that evening, they were accompanied by a number of diggers. The crowd that had started with them from Tuapeka that morning had increased very much at first, and had then fallen off again, afterwards attaining its greatest when about half way, where the number of men present could not have fallen far short of twelye hundred. Up to this point, those who had been detained behind, when the start was made, came hurrying up every minute, swelling the main body; but when the watershed was passed there was a decrease, for reasons which I am about to explain.

When Read and Tom had told everything they knew about this new rush, their statements, we remember, had been received with suspicion ; but a number of those around were now beginning to change their minds. It was beginning to dawn upon them, that, perhaps, after all, the gully spoken of was the right one. They admitted that so far, at all events, the fellows had acted up *o what they said ; that is to say, Read had remained behind where he was, and this other lot had started, and were making their way straight for the very spot they mentioned. There was the gully itself, too, away yonderin the dark shadow. " Yes, that's it, I tell you," said " Cornish Bill " to those around him. • Hadn't that chap Hungerford pointed it out a minute ago to some of the men near bim. " Yorky " was one of the mPn present at the time when he did so, and hadn't " Yorky " just shown it to him, Cornish Bill.

" And its vay belief, do you see, mates," added Cornish Bill, "tbat them ere chaps ain't been a humbugging us after all. Blow me if I don't think they're acting on the square," be continued, looking hard and fierce at a neighbour of his, who had laughed in his face derisively. Others, too, beside Cornish Bill began to think they were acting on the "square." Very likely that wns the right gully they saw, and if it was, why then they ought to push on and have their pick and choice of the ground. Then one party, and then another forged ahead, and there was a regular stampede at last, in which horsemen and footmen joined pellmell. But our friends were not deserted altogether, as they hoped they would be. There were a number of cautious, suspicious old hands in tbat crowd, who were proof against tbis enthusiasm, and stuck all the closer to them, never losing sight of them for* a moment, until the Waitahuni had been reached.

There was not much work done that evening, in the way of prospecting. A great many holes were commenced indeed, but there were not many of them bottomed; for the water was not very easy to manage, and the short midwinter day closed in before people well knew where they were. But tbe following day many of the unfinished boles were bottomed, and many new ones too. In several instances, however, the water was too much, even for tbe old Victorian miners, rushing in upon them them, as if it were rushing through a sieve. Water may be a matter of small concern to your old digger, but it is only so, when he can lay bis hands on bis Californian pump, and, of course, there was no pump of this kind, nor of any other kind either, to be bad at Waitahuna.

Had it not been for the water, I think, it is more than probable this first rush to Waitahuna would not have turned out so unsatisfactory as it did. 3ut whatever may have been tbe cauße, ■Jip. prospects obtained on this occasion werenotatall encouraging, andafeelin;; of dissatisfaction sprang up in consequence amongst the men, finding vent in loud and angry words. They wer© very unreasonable and unjust m their anger, as angry men usually are, abusing Read and Tom in no very measured terms, for ba-ving raised up such false hopes, andjsent them here on this fool's errand. Read, however, was beyond their reach just then, and they could say nothing to him ; but Tom was there, and should be told of his misdeeds. Of course, we know how very unjust this feeling of anger was, and" the men themselves acknowledged afterwards it was unjust; but before they did so, things had looked rather serious, and at one time it seemed certain that Tom would have come in for some'rough handling. The thins: happened in this way. 'He and Tim Dwyer were busy at work cutting a drain around the tent, when some dozen fellows or more came passing by, evidently a lot of low rowdy blackguards, up to all sorts of mischief and rascality, and the greater the mischief and rascality the better. Seeing Tom thus occupied, they began at once to make themselves very disagreeable to him. They were very abusive and very insulting, and he saw they were bent on having a .row, and so he thought it better to be prepared for wbat was coming. He stepped into his tent, : therefore, where bis reyolyer was, and

fastening on the belt around his waist, inside his serge shirt, came back again, feeling more at his ease, now that he knew, if the worst came to the worst, he could lay his hand upon this weapon in a moment. Most men, I suppose, would derive some comfort from the knowledge that they had it in their power to protect themselves, if assailed ,* and, that if they were pushed into a corner, they could send a few of their assailants headlong to Hades, even though, they themselves should have to cross over at the same time. Wbat then ; better go over in company with others, than have the gruff old ferryman all to one's self. But Tom hoped that things would not come to this pass, but if they did, he determined it should be from no fault of his.

They called him a " damned swell cove," and told him they were going to " knock the swellness out of him," and &aid many other things which it was not easy to bear, nor would it be pleasant to repeat ; but he was very patient under it all, and kept his temper for some time, until flesh and blood could no longer stand it.

"Serve him risfht, damn him, if we cut off his blasted ears," said " Hobart Town Jack," a thick set, beetle browed scoundrel, who was the ringleader of the gang, and a noted character in those days. Then Tom boiled over with rage and fury. He had put up with the abuse of these fellows long enough', longer than he aught to have done, be told himself, but he would put up with it no longer.

" What's that you say, you infernal scoundrel." He had thrown down his shovel and bad stepped forward, revolver in hand confronting them, but addressing himself specially to Hobart Town Jack.

And that ruffian, reckless as he was, was taken aback for the moment, by the suddenness of the movement, and by the look of wrathful determination he saw written on the young man's countenance.

" Wbat*s that you say, you infernal scoundrel," asked Tom, but he got no further than that.

" The divil take ye, ye dirty spal' peen; ye low, mane, dirty blagard, and that's what ye are." The speaker was Tim Dwyer, who had in this way burst in upon the proceedings. Tim had hitherto been a silent spectator of what was going on, listening to Hobart Town Jack's abuse, quietly, to all outward appearance, but in reality boiling over with au»er. Hitherto, however, he had managed to restrain his anger, though the effort to do so had well nigh proved too much for him ; but he was very anxious to avoid a row of any sort on Tom Hungerford's account, not ou his own, for the light of battle was in Tim's eye, and pleasant to his heart would it have been, if he himself ouly were concerned, there and then to have laid violent hands upon Hobart Town Jack, or some of bis gang.

" ITolj Virgin, just listen to the murthering villians of the world ! and shure its just that bame they are," he would matter, adding, as some more

offensive epithet than usual caught his

" Whisha thin, and may the divil himself choke ye, before ye spakes another word j and that'B XQJ prayer for ye. May God forgive me for sayjng it, but shure they desarve it, the haythens of the world."

It had been some little consolation to him to express himself in this way, even though it were to himself; but, now that the necessity for action arose, he looked upon the quarrel entirely as his own, and rushed in at once between Tom and his assailants, swinging his pick high above his head.

" Put your ugly mug an inch nearer,, this way," he continued, scowling fiercely at Hobart Town Jack, " and be me sowl I'll make it uglier for ye. I will by the vartue of my oath, or my name ain't Tim Dwyer," he added, bringing down his pick to the level of his chest, and thrusting it slowly backwards and forwards in front of Hobart Town Jack's face.

A crowd had collected by this time, and on the whole, the crowd was inclined to Bide with th© rowdies ,- not going so far as Hobart Town .Tack went, when he talked about cuttiug off people's ear 3, but still inclined to be very rough and very disagreeable.

In the breathing . time, that this interruption of Tim's had given him, Hungerford had the sense to see that the temper of tbe crowd was against him, and this being so, that any quarrelling on his part was out of the question. He did, therefore, perhaps, the best thing he could do under tbe circumstances, he restrained his anger by an effort, and pushing Tim aside, he raised his voice and addressed himself to the crowd. And he did his work pretty well for a young hand, and was successful on the whole ; that is to say, he poured forth his? suppressed wrath in vehement words, and carried the men along with him, and changed the current of their thoughts, making them see at lasb how very unjustly be had been treated in this matter. " The very fact, he told them, that he himself and his companions had cast in their lot for good and all in the gully, ought to be proof positive that he believed in the place. Tes ; he was very successful, and he knew it, for the crowd cheered him aa he finished. He felt quite sure now^ that were Hobart Town Jack to

suggest anything as to the cutting off of bis ears, that worthy would meet with no very friendly reception. But Hobart Town Jack was too old a hand to try anything of the kind, and had wisely made off, himself and his companions, when they saw the turn things were likely to take. And then shortly after the crowd went away too, leaving the tent and the gully ; and from that time for many a-day, our friends and a party of Maoris had the place all to themselves. They got very little gold, however, less even than what they had been getting at Tuapeka.

They wasted a good deal of their time over a deep hole from which they expected great things, talking to themselves of making their pile, there and then, when they came to the bottom ; but when they did bottom it, they got very little worth speaking of. It W&S a kind of natural basin, this bole, some • ten or twelve feet deep perhaps, lying close to the spot where Bead had struck upon that first prospect of his, but lower down the creek a little ; and the creek ran through it, dropping in gently in a small waterfall, and rip>pling quietly out again at the other end.

They thought, naturally enough I think, that whatever treasure had been swept down into this basin during the lapse of countless ages, was still there in tbe bottom, ready to their hands ; but they were doomed tto disappointment as persons generally are, in nine cases out of ten, who apply any theory of this kind, or of any other kind either for the matter of that, to gold digging. After working away very hard for a fortnight, and getting rid of the water, they reached the boctom at last, but what was their disgust to find there, not the pounds weight they expected, but just an ounce and a half.

Still they stuck to the gully some four or five weeks longer, but as day after day of weary disappointment passed by they lost all hearb at last, and prepared to leave tbe place for good and all. And so, when the first week of September had set in and their earnings had dwindled down to fifteen shillings a day each, they started away, Tim Dwyer and young Lindsay, going on to the station to muster the cattle, and lorn Hu'i«>erford and Henry Fitzberbert proceeding to Dunedin.

Holloway's Ointment. — Throat Affections. — All the varieties of these distressing complaints maybe readily and effectively treated by rubbing this Ointment twice a day upon the neck and chest, and supporting the strength by suitable nourishment. By this simple means, ulcerated and relaxed throat, irritation of the windpipe, quinsey, and all glandular enlargements will have their progress arrested, and the destruction they have caused repaired. Hoiloway's ointment is tbe most trustworthy remedy for all internal and external throat ailments, and may be safely and effectively employed in every case, without regard to season, sex, age, or constitution. It is highly exalted for its ready cures of spasmodic coughs, chronic hoaronic hoarseness, and all disagreeable discharges from the throat and nose.

A northern, contemporary -writing- of the high charge for telegraphing in the colonies compared with those in England, says : — In London, the rate for Press messages sent between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. is one shilling for every hundred words ; in Victoria, it is 4s 3d ; and in New Zealand, 3s 6d. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that newspaper proprietors in the colony are agitating for a reduction. The disproportion between the charges in the old country and the new is far too great. Taking a case quoted by tbe " Leader," that of the "Glasgow Herald;" Mr. Scudmore informs us that tbat journal sometimes takes 11,000 words of a Parliamentary debate in one message, at a cost of only £5 10s, while the same message in New Zealand would have cost, at the rates now charged, £22.

The "Loafer in the Street," writing in the Canterbury "Press," says New Zealand is Gouaposed of three islands. Stewart Island produces oysters. The North Island produces political crises, and natives who flare up. Tbe Middle Island is inhabited by a fine race of people, who eat the oysters, and coniribute freely towards the crises and expenses of tbe aboriginal flares up. The whole lot is called the Britain of of the Southern Seas. It is the finest country on the face of the earth at present.

The question of ostrich farming is being discussed by many of the Australian papers. The feathers are literally worth their weight in gold, the price being £44 per lb. ; single feathers bringing from 15s to £1 each. As the birds may be plucked almost every eight months, it is evident that the speculation must be a profitable one. The " Australasian " of the 14th ult. contains a Ions? and interesting report on the suitability of Victoria, for the purpose of farming these birds, by Dr. Atherstone, the well known naturalist at the Cape. From' his statements we should judge that there are many parts of the North Island of New Zealand which would be quite applicable for the purposes of carrying on so lucrative a business. The best green crop for the birds is lucerne, and on this and lib per diem of Indian corn to each bird, they are said to thrive amazingly.