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

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 247, 24 October 1872, Page 9

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

By William Baldwin.

Chapter IX. — The Fitzherberts.

When making the acquaintance of Heniy Fitzherbert, some few chapters back, possibly you may have forgotten the fact that casual reference was then made to hia father, one Colonel Fitzherbert, a retired officer of the army, who, for reasons stated at the time, purposed following his son to Otago whenever certain domestic matters permitted of his doing so. The matter in question was the completion of the education of his younger children, which, we may presume, had been got over ; at all events, the Colonel and his family had started on their way out, and Henry was now going to town to make arrangements for their reception.

Tom Hungerford had business to transact there too. Atkins, from whom he leased his run, was to meet him there by appointment about the s ile ofsome of those cattle now being depastured upon it "on terms." He had written some time previously to Atkins' about tlie matter, and Atkins had replied by saying he would meet him in Dunedin on the 10th of September, where they could talk the matter over between them.

He offered Atkins fourteen pounds a-piece for a draft of one hundred of the fat stock, and, if his offer were accepted, he made out he would nett between five and six hundred pounds by the transaction — providing, that is to say, that his calculation as to their averaging seven hundred weight all round was anything near the mark. At first, when the matter suggested itself to him, he made up his mind that it would be better for him to have nothing to do with it ; it would be better for him he thought notto enter into a large transaction of this kind when he had not l'eady money by him to pay for his purchase. And, perhaps, in the main he was right. In nine cases out of ten v man is all the better, 1^ think, for resisting the temptation of buying when he has. not by him the wherewithall to pay for his purchase. Ready money payment is always an excellent cheok on the imagination. No doubt there is a tenth case where the buying in this way has its advantages ; but then that tenth cate only goes to prove the rnle. Be this as it may, howev.r, it is very certain that this mode of doing business obtains very largely amongst us in the colonies in our buying and selling. Indeed the temptation of giving and receiving bills, as a medium of exchange, comes so much in our way that we soon cease to look upon it as a temptation at all. The mere signing of one's name across a piece of paper is such an easy matter, and it'd very soon done ; and it's done by everybody around us. Why then, you ask youtself, should you not buy that chesnut horse you had your eye upon for some time, or that nice villa residence you have been hankering after for so long, or that Mount Olympus Station which you have the' offer of? You don't clearly see your way just now, perhaps, as to where the money is to come from to mcct 3 r our engagement; but why should you bother your head about the matter at present, when ) on have such a long time before you to think it over. Even if the worst does come to the worst, why that horse will always fetch his own price; and, in the meantime, ifc will be verr pleasant to have such a handsome, showy animal as he is under you.

That villa residence your are quite sure is a good investment. Things are at their very lowest now, and house property of every description is safe to rise in value before long. And if nothing else turns up before that bill you have to meet falls due, why you must get the bill renewed, that's all. Then what a snug, comfortable house it is, and how proud you feel when your friends call upon you there for the first time.

As to that Mount Olympus Station, with its thirty thousand sheep, for which six, twelve, and eighteen months after date you have promised to pay the owner of Mount Olympus, or his order, the sura of twenty-five thousand pounds, how pleased your are and glad at heart when your friends squeeze your hand and say all manner of complimentary things to you respecting this purchases- of yours. You will have your qualms of conscience, my friend, bye and bye about this purchase, and that spectre care will, yet sit beside your elbow, though you pooh pooti all ugly thoughts tram you now.

You are forced to admit that wool is depressed of late, but you argue that this depression -is only temporary; shrewd man that you arej you clearly foresee there must be a Hse in the market at home when America receives our wool duty free, as she is sure to do before long, and when the anticipation of the coming harvest in England being a good one is realised, and there is no doubt whatsoever but that it will be h good one. Besides, there's the meat preserving ; this must give an increased value to your stock, and enable you to get rid of all your surplus sheep at a good figure. Things are sure to turn out all right somehow or another in the long run.

In this way men comfort themselves with a comfort that is hollow, and lend

an ear to hopes that are delusive ; purchasing things they ought not to purchase thoughtlessly, iind doing so because the payment is distant, and a matter for future consideration.

But there is that exceptional tenth case to which, of course, these remarks do not apply. Hungerford's purchase of those cattle from Atkins might be looked upon, perhaps, as a transaction of this kind ; he himself at all events looked upon it in this light, going over, the calculations again and again carefully, and seeing clearly that he could dispose of the cattle before his acceptances fell due.

A few days after the arrangement of this business, as he was strolling along Princes-sti'eet, thinking to himself how wonderful were the changes he saw everywhere around him, and how short a time it had taken to bring about these changes, a hand was placed upon his shoulder, and on looking around there was his friend Fitzherbert, and leaning on his arm was a military looking, white haired old gentleman, whom he knew at once must be his father.

" I am very glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hungerford," said Colonel Fitzherbert, as soon as the introduction had been made.

Tom replied by saying he was glad ' to see Colonel Fitzherbert had arrived safely. " My son Henry has often spoken of you," continned the Colonel. "Do you make a long stay in town ?" " I daresay I shall be in for a few days longer. When did you arrive, Colonel Fitzherbert V " We arrived the day before yesterday, and are just now as busy as ever we can be trying to get things to rights in our new quarters. We are in a state of great confusion, but if you don't mind taking us as we are. I shall be glad to see you before you leave town." Tom said he would be very glad to accept the invitation, if his doing so would not be causing any inconvenience. "I can't ask you to dinner, Mr. Hungerford," continued the Colonel, apologetically, " for I really don't know when we shall dine, or what we shall have for dinner. The fact is we just eat and sleep when and how we can ; Lu': if you have nothing better to do and will ome up this evening, I have no doubt we can manage to give you a cup of tea^ind a glass of grog." Tom sioeeptpd the invitation, and then they separated, it being understood they were to meet one another again at half past seven o'clock. "He seems a nice young fellow, Henry," said the father, when they had gone on some little distance. "He's a. first-rate fellow," was the son's rejoinder. " I hope we've ordered everything. Would you mind reading over that list again, Henry, so as to make sure we've forgotten nothing 1 " And then the son read over a long list of odds and ends, and having assured themselves that everything had been ordered, they proceeded homewards. They had not very far to go ; just through the cutting, or where the cutting now is, and past the parsonage a little ; on the opposite • side of the road to the parsonage, was the cottage Henry had engaged for his family. It was a small weatherboard house surrounded, itself and a little patch of ground in front of it, by tall Hobart Town pailings. "Now, then, what's kept you two out so long. I'm sure you've forgotten half the things you went out to get. I know you have." The speaker was a young girl, who, when they entered the room, was busily engaged in dusting the newly arranged furniture. " You're wrong then, Nelly, as you generally are. By George, what a fright you have made of yourself ! " " Not I faith, and I'm sure you don't think anything of the kind, Henry. I think my costume very becoming, and I know I'd make a very pretty housemaid, I can tell you. Besides, if I were a fright, it's very rude of you to tell me so. Isn't it rude of him, papa 1 " "Yes, dear, indeed it is; but I'm afraid his life out here hasn't improved his manners." " I'm sure it hasn't. Do keep those great big ugly hands of yours to yourself, or you'll be breaking those vases," she added, as Fitzherberfc commenced arranging some knick-knacks on the table. ( "Just wait until you're out here awhile, and you'll find you're hands big enough, I can tell you," replied hex brother, desisting from his occupation. " Indeed, then, I shall do nothing of the kind. I have very pretty hands, and I intend that they shall remain pretty too. See." And as she spoke, she held out both her hands, covered with an old pair of gloves. The brother looked at her hands, and from her hands, he looked up to her face with a glance of pride and affection. And, in good sooth, she was a girl that any brother might well be proud of. She was one of those girls that we come across, now and then, in our lives, whom a man intuitively understands, he had hetter not see too often, but continues, nevertheless, to go on seeing as often as possible ; though he is aware, at all times, that in ddiug so, she may come to occupy a s larger portion of his -thoughts than is

good for his comfort, or peace of mind. But she wasn't a flirt, mind, nor one of your forward minxes, either ; though, of course, you understand that, for girls of this sort are not dangerous ; not near so dangerous as they try to persuade themselves, at all events. No; Helen Fitzherbert wasn't one of this sort. On the contrary, she was very natural ; and though by nature, she was very pert, and very saucy, and very outspoken, she, had, at the same time, about her, in her ways, all that softness and pleasantness that give to women their greatest charm. Now, where a pretty girl, like Helen Fitzherbert, is gifted in this way, most men will admit she is dangerous. But I want you to think of her as she is, a dear merry good hearted girl; and to lovelier just as much as I do myself.

Looking at her and her brother, as they stood thei'e together, you could see at a glance that the resemblance between the two was very striking ; so striking that it was almost impossible to mistake the relationship. There was the same brown hair; the same blue eyes ; the same pleasing expression of countenance ; the same regularity of features.

Had she tried to do so, I doubt very much if she could have succeeded in making herself look more piquant and roguish than she looked now, with that handkerchief of hers tied around her head to keep off the dust from her hair, and that natty white apron, and her dress tucked up, showing her pretty small feet and well shaped ankles. Yes ; she was right when she said the costume was becoming, and that it did not make a fright of her.

" If Bertha comes in, and finds me wasting my time in this way, talking with you, Henry, she'll box my ears for me."

"Where's Bertha, Nelly?" asked the father.

" She's in your room, papa ; she and George and Frank."

George and Frank were the two younger sons.

" Here, Henry," said the Colonel, " perhaps, you wouldn't mind finishing the hanging of this picture for me." - I want to go in and see how they're getting on in my room. "By the bye, dear," he added, turning round to his

daughter, " I almost forgot to tell you we're to have a visitor to-night Henry's friend, Mr. Hungerford, is coming up to drink tea with us." " Mr. Hnngerford . coming up this evening ! Goodness grackms me. Hen y, how could you ask him when you know the state we're in. Well he'll have to sit on your lap, that's one comfoit, for there's no other place for him to sit on." " If you must blame anybody, Nelly, blame the governor, for he asked him. Look hero, acnshla machree, " tell me if this picthur is hanging straight fore ninst ye, as my friend Tim Dwyer would say." '-<" " A little more to the left — there ; that's right. And who may your friend, Tim Dwyer be?" she asked, laughing. "Who's Tim Dwyer? Why, Hungerford's faithful henchman, to be sure. If you were to lay your little finger upon Hungerford, Tim Dwyer would knock you down quick ; aye, even you Miss." " I'm sure I shan't touch him with my little finge»\ Indeed, I begin to dislike this Mr. Hungerford very much, for. I think, you like him better than you do me ; and I won't have 3 r ou like anybody better than me, until you get a wife of your own. There." And she put her ■ arms vound her brother's neck, and kissed him. Just then the door opened. " Has papa told you, Bertha?" " Told me what, dear," asked Bertha.

Bertha Fitzherbert was Colonel Fitzherbert's eldest daughter, but not his eldest child. There was a brother older than she, now a Captain in the Artillery : and, between her and Nelly, came our friend Henry ; and after Nelly came three other children, all boys, t'.ie youngest a midshipman in the Navy, and the others, now in the colony with their family.

The management of the household had devolved on Bertha, and of late years she had had a good deal of care and anxijty. Ever since her mother's death, some five years previously, when she found herself mistress of her father's house, the burthen of her daily life had been heavy, heavier than usually falls to the lot of young girls of her age, more especially in the early days of that Bad bereavement. She had, however, since then, filled the dead mother's place ; not with the mother's gentle love, "and kindly instincts, indeed, fov that is what is permitted to no one to do, but with quietness, with tact, and without repining.

At first, after her grief had subsided, and the responsibility of her position began to dawn upon her day by day, and she came fully to understand how very difficult were the duties she had to perform, she thought she must sink beneath the weight. But she bore herself bravely through it all, though the strain on her young miod was not good for her, making her more staid and thoughtful than befitted her five and twenty years.

" Told me what, dear," she asked her sister.

" Why, that he and Henry have been asking Mr. Hungerford U|» to tea to-night, and everything in this horrid state of confusion."

" Papa did mention it to me just now ; but, I daresay, Mr. Hungerford is not very particular." " That he's not, by Q-eorge," put in Henry.

But there was very little in that room which a more critical person than Tom Hungerford could have found fault with. There are men, as we all know, who possess this critical turn of mmd — men to whom that primrose by the river's brim is something more than a yellow flower ; who take in, intuitively, at a passing glance, the several shades of its yellowness Nothing escapes the eye of men like these. With the critical eye of M. Worth, the man milliner, they will scan every little detail of your wife's dress, and note all the minute tag ends appertaining to your daughter's toilette. In the comprehensiveness of their great minds they grasp the pattern of your carpet ; they make a mental entry of that spec of dust on your window, and the arrangement of your vases is stamped indelibly on their memories. They are the detectives of our social life, who have their eye upon you, as it were ; and whilst they are chatting with you, a,re inwardly noting down the colour of your hair, and the cast in your eye. Now, Tom was not gifteel with this critical turn of mind. He saw that the primrose was a pretty yellow flower ; but he neither saw, nor did he seek to'see, anything more about it. The primrose by tjie river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, Anrl it was nothing more.

Just at first, however, as he entered the room and was made acquainted with the several members of the family, he was too shy and uncomfortable to observe anything. Men, and especially young men, who have lived up country for any length of time, generally have this feeling of shyness ' about them when they first find themselves in the presence of ladies. And they are aware of the fact— aware that the semi-civilisation and semi-isolation in which their lives have been passed, have taken from them much of that softness and smoothness of mannerg which are so pleasing to women, and, accordingly, they shun the society of ladies when in town, or a, v , best submit to it as an unpleasant inHiction.

Tom Hungerford, as I have just said, had this feeling of shyness about him when he first found himself in the room with the Miss Fitzherberts ; but the feeling soon wore off in the attention he was called upon to give to the conversation going on around him, and iv which he had to bear his own share.

" I should certainly never have come to Otago," said Colonel Fitzherbert, " had I known anything about the finding of this goldfield. I have been quartered in many parts of the world in my time, but I have never known any place equal to Dunedin for expense and discomfort."

" No doubt it must be a very expensive place to live in just now, and very disagreeable too, especially for ladies,", replied Hungerford.

" Disagreeable ! Why actually we can't get a female servant. My daughters" have to do most of the household work themselves, and they would have to do it all but that fortunately we get a woman, who came out in the ship with UvS, to do the washing, and sometimes- the cooking."

" But we don t mind it, papa. Indeed, we think it great fun ; at least I do," put in Nelly. •' You see, Mr. Hunserford," she added, smilino\. as

she addressed Tom, " my sister does all the work, and I look after her ,- and of course it's good fun for in:." ' Tom laughed, and thought he would not mind how hard the work was he had to do, if she were by to look after him as he was doing it.

" She's only joking, Mr. Hungerford," added the elder sister, " and does much more than she ought to do. But I hope, in a few days, we'll manage to get a servant."

" I'm sure I hope we shall, my dear," said her father ; •' and then as to the expeuse. Just fancy my having to pay a hundred and fifty pounds a year for a miserable place like this ; and, I'm told, we may consider ourselves fortunate in having got a house at all at any price." "You just may then," rejoined Henry, " for it was by mere chance I happened to drop across it."

" The expense is more than I cau stand with my limited income," continued the Colonel. " 1 intend, however, to buy a run as soon as I can, and live on it. Do you know of any for sale just now, Mr. Hungerford? " "Yes,'" replied Trtm, after a few 'moment's consideration, " there's a nice |>ieee or country now for sale. You know the place, Fitzherbert," addressing Henry, "better than I do. It's that back run of O'Neil and Nicholson's, next to mine. I met O'Neil to-day, and he told me they intended selling."

" I know the country well, and have been pretty well over it all. It's firstrate couutry."

'" What would be about the price of it?"

"Well, Colonel "Fitzherbert, the way things are going now, it ought to be worth about eight thousand five hundred pounds. There are fifty thousand acres in it, I think, and they are worth about two shillings an acre, that's five thousand pounds ; and, as well as I remeinb r, he said thej^ had two thousand ewes on it, and they ought to be worth thirty-five shillings

a-piece. But I've an engagement with O'Neil to-morrow, and, if you like, I'll casually find out everything [ can about it."

" Thank ymi, if it's not giving yon too much trouble, I'll feel very mm-!) obliged to you if you will. Of course, I need scarcely siy it will be a great consideration to me to get a place as near town as I can."

"No doubt it would be pleasanter for you, if you make up your mind to live on a station, to be near town ; bnt I'm afraid wherever you go the discomforts will be too great for the ladies. There's one objection, however, to buying country near town, and that is that it's sure to be thrown into hundreds before long." "We intend to enjoy station life very much, Mr. Hungerford," said Nelly. " We've been talking of nothing else since we left England but the fun we're going to have on the station ; so I warn you, you'll find it very hard to disabuse our mind». I'm going to have a horse of my own, and turu stockman."

Then Tom took his departure, promising to find out all particulars from O'Neil, and to come up the following evening with the news. And as he strolled along homewards, smoking bis pipe, be felt very happy, and thought what a pleasant evening it had been altogether : and Nelly Fitzherbert, what a jolly girl she was — so pretty and full of fun.

Then he began to speculate upon the pleasures in store for him if he could Becure for neighbors such a nice family as this was ; and then his ; peculations branched off in other directions, and the future was looking bright and fair, when he was brought back to the present by a party of friends he happened to fall across in the street.