MOONLIGHTING. AN AUSTRALIAN SKETCH. (Chamber's Journal.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2066, 3 October 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

MOONLIGHTING. AN AUS TRALIAN SKETCH. (Chamber's Journal.)

Evtlndino for many miles backwards from tbc banks of the Bar won and the Darling arc ?ast scrub*, in winch a few years »go w<re situated the haunts of thousands of wild oattlo or " scrubbirs." When the country in that direction was first settled, odd out tie •trayed away into the busb. In course o' time those bred, and were continually bein? joined by other strays, till at length the settlers found it well worth their while to have f>eriodical gatherings and brandings. By dayight, it would have been hopeless to attempt to get stock out of the denfo sorubs, in some parts of which the sun hardly ever shone, and through which neither man nor horse could penetrate. Tho only way, then, was to watch by moonlight till the cattle came out of the forest, as they were in tho habit of doing every night, to feed in the open country; then, having rrady a mob of tame cattle or " tfoaohes," rush bttwoen the "Fcrubbera" and their retreat, and once " boxed, ' or mixed up with tho " coaches," there was never much difficulty in taking the lot to the stockyard. It was a game that required the mout fearless ridirjg, with plenty of pluck, and the brut horatllcsh obtainable. In thoec days, and even now in some parts, to hold tho reputation of being a first clast scrub-rider is Btill the summit of tho native born Australian stockman's ambition. But as fencing increases moonlighting is almost, except in tho far-out Bcrubs of the " Never-never " country, abandoned, mo&t of the wild cattle having been got in as settlement extended year by year. We ttarted from Eulaloo, a lately taken up block of country, containing about two thousand nqnnro miles, late onesumiuei'd evening, about twenty strong, to master a dense foreet, some twenty miles from headquarter*, and known as the Point Danger Sorub, each man on the brst Btook- horse he could beg, borrow, or "shake;" for stookmen wero not wont to be too particular " out back," and would unhesitatingly take the loan of a neighbour's horse for an expedition like the present one, if their own happened to be knocked up or Bore-backed. We were a rather mixed lot, white, blaok, and half-a-dozen different shades of yellow, these last varying in colour from that of an old saddle to the lighter tint of a ripe lemon, but for that first rate horsemeu — in the open ; funky, as ft rule, in the scrub.

Five or fix bltckfellows, with old " Wallaby " as their " boss," brought up the rear, driving before thorn three hundred bead of quiet cows and bullocks, to act a3 " coaches " to their wild brethrco of tho ecrub*. Each member of the pirty carried a blanket or a greatcoat strapped in front of him ; ss also a quart-pot and a pouch containing " damper," tea, and sngar, plung to the saddle. Beef their was none— wo were going to find that. Two or thren of the men had short riQes at their back 0 , for the purpose of " potting " any oid fcrub bull which might turn "rusty" and charge, as they often 00. Although both the owner of tho run and his super were amongst the mob, recognised leader their was none, for in moonlighting the best men invariably go to the front and lead tho rest, with whom it is optional whether they follow or not ; but a ppirilof emulation, and perhaps, above all, the fear of tho unmerciful charting which falls to the share of the skulker, generally induces every one to do his best. Our oourse for the first four or fire miles lay along the river-flats, where the long rank grass reached over our knee-pads, and ihe giant ooolabars grew thick and high in the soft loamy soil. Soon tho moon rose above the wooded horizon, throwing a weird light over the party as it wound silently along, and casting enormous fantastic shadows amongnt the white trunks of tho swamp gums and oaks that fringe the river, which we could hear rippling over its bed full forty feet below us. Insensibly, I fell to thinking of another band whioh, twenty long years before, had travelled the same track, bound for the fardistant Northern Sea, and whose names are, and ever will be, as household words in our mouths. I saw again in my mind's eye the string of horses and camels winding slowly along— soldierly Burke and faithful Wills, with Gray and King— all, except the last, to find their graves in the silent, hopeless wilderness. My reverie was interrupted by the scraping across my nose of a branch, as we left the river and struck off into the bush, which was thick enough just here to keep us perpetually ducking, to escape straggling limb«, and inquisitive shrubs of the " wait-a-bit " order. After about a three hours' ride, we halted on the edge of a broad plain, here over a mile wide, lit our pipes, and waited for old Wallaby, who with tho " coaches " soon oame up at & trot. On the epposile side of the plain to whero we stood, jutted out, dark and sombre, Point Danger, so named beoause, a few years before the period of my story, four travellers had there been speared by the blaoks. It was simply a long, thick clump of great belare, stretching out into the open from tho main body of scrub, which extended its broken outlines east and west as far as the eye oould reach. We now left the " ooaohca" feeding quietly along the edge of the yarrans whioh we had just passed through, and as a load bellowing from the belars told us it was feeding-time, we moved towards the bottom end of the plain so as to get a fair start. In a few minutes, from all parts of the scrub, appeared apparently endless strings of cattle deploying on to the plain— all colors, sizes, and ages, from the fierce looking old warrior of the aorubs down to calves of a few dayn' old. Wo had tho wind, and as yet they suspected nothing. Minute after minute passed, and still they came, till we, having hard work to hold in our impatient horses, longed for the signal to bo off. At length the last one seemed to have come out. But we had waited too long. A wary old scrubber had been, for the last minute cr two, snorting, pawing the ground, and muttering hoarsely to himself, and now, with a tremendous bellow, signifying that he knew what was in the wind, he began to btat a retreat, followed by the whole m:>b. "Now, boys, at "cml" And away wo went. The pace was a real cracker and no mistake; and over such ground, too! Riddled with "melon-holes" from eight inches to two feet deep, and covered with dead myall trees, poking up nasty snaggy branches out of the long gra"3, it was a wonder every horse in tho mob wasn't staked. But born and bred on a cattle camp, and broken-in to this Kind of work, tho noble animals seemed to the full as excited as their riders, and fairly flsw over tho dangerous ground. The beid of tho cattlo had in the meantime galloped into the scrub; our tank was to turn them back if pcsible; and I must own that my heart sank towards my bootn for a minute, a?, in company with half-a-dcz^n otheri, I found myself tearirg madly over logs and holes towards tho apparently impenetrable bariier of great trunks, branches, and underwood that loomed black and forbidding boforo u% and through which we .could hour tho beasts crashing. It was not tny firat moonlighting experience by many times, but it was the first in such thick country as this, and there was pome excuse forfeoling a bit nervous. I had been told to " leave it all to your hor?e, only look out for you he-ad ; " but although contiiling in this advice to a certain extent, I did not go so far as to imagine ie c ipnble of taking me clcir through euoh a barricade as the one now fronting rue. However, at it we went, Colonel Percy ridii q gallantly in his long stinup^, as if at the head of his regiment, chaiging graycoated It'ifbiana or du-iky l\indie a . Slap, dash, crubh, and we wire into it, crouching low on our horseu' necks, and for my own part, astoninhed still to find my brains in their proper place. It was truly wonderful, how, going at topspeed in a place that many horsemen would not walk through by daylight, the stockhorees wound round trunks ar.d underneath overhanging limbs, now grszu.g your near knee pad against the bark, now tearing the off side-pleeve out of your coat, but nothing worse. To pull your horso, if you wero fool nnough to try, was, if lucky, only a broken limb ; if tho reverse, to leave your brains on tbe nearest tree. Such a cracking, crashing, bellowiDg, and yelling, it bad not been my lot to hear for many a day, as horses ar.d men strained every nerve to head the excited ca'tle, which, with tho semi darkne°p of the pcrub in their favor, split in all directioj t>, so that at last wo had to make our wny us well as we could out on to the plain, where the darkies had got only nbout Jour hundred head of the tail, rounded up svith the ooache a . Ttiis wa poor work, for there must have been over two thousand head on the plain together. As horseman after horacinau emerged from | the ncrub and gathered together, a consultation was held, in whiuh it was decided to send home the mob we had with three of tho black fellows and some of tbe eoacbo?, then hiwo a spell and % " feed," and try oar luok once more lower down the Bcrub. Firßt shooting and bleeding a young cow, we cut tho rest ciT, and gave the dnikies a start homeward j. Fortunately, water was handy in one of the melon- holeo before referred to, and soon tho horses were unbaddled, backs washed, and hobbled out for an hour or two, to pick the tweet blue grass of tho black soil plains. Tires of myall' wood wore now lit, <iuait pots placed thereon, and hot co.tla mkod ou l , upon which presently wcrecpread great slices at the fresbly killed meat. A fred too Abyssinian to suit a great many people, pr rbaps ; but if they hadlivtd "out back" in Australia, for sometimes months, on but little life than mutton, or beef, and pigweed, they would uot ba apt to be too particular. Hunger is a wondeiful leveller; and Colnnil Percy, refined gentleman as he war, attached hia hn'f-riw, ii'i<K>rcuvered, uuiolung blcnk. with aa much alacrity as the poorest blatkfellow on his xuu could have done.

Not much was said till after supper, midnighttiflin, or whatever else you could call it. But 1 as the last chunk of meat and damper disappeared and pipes were' lit all round, a general overhaul took place. Some of us had ooma off lightly enough ; others were Ecratohed and bruised, and had scarcely s stitch of clothing left on them— a state of things they seemed to regard with pride as a proof of prowress, bantering tb^ir more fortunate bul leas denuded raateo. The super, who had lost his hat, coat, and ono of his riding boots, came in for his share of eh s lT ; as also did tho colonel on account of his long atirrups. " Not but what you rides well for a newchum (the colonel was his employer, and bad lately come out from England and taken up the run)— very well; but you'll have to shorten them sturrup-leathers five or six holes, or else you're bound to get a buster one o' theM days." This was " Slim Jim," the colonel's head-stockman, who went on : " Our country 'orees ain't used to have a man set down in the saddle liko a lump o' lead, as I seen most new chums do. It looks well maybe, upright, an 1 all that, but it ain't well. When I see a man all over the saddlo, 'and 1 ? well down, an' kneps weH up, but close in, mind ye, then I says : " There's a chap as can stick a buck, or a do/on if need be." " Well, Jim," replied Colonel Peroy goodhumouredly, whilst pulling leisurely at his brier-root, " I like my own way best yet. I've always been accu3tomed to it, and never knew it to fail me so far, although moonlighting certainly does require a man to be, as you say, " all over hi 3 Baddlij." But it's not bad fun, for all that." "Eight enough for flic young fellow^, oolonel— their bones knit quickly," put in quiet Mr. TurnbulJ, the super; "but rather too wnrm for men getting on in years like us." " Not a bit, Bir— not a bit of it," returnod the colonel, tugging at hie long gray moustache. "Gad, sir, that spin to-night was tho first ono I've had for many a long day, and it did me good, I can assure you— hope we'll have another one directly." Our attention was now diawn to a dispute between one of our stockmen and a littlo Irishman. The latter wao saying vehemently to the stockman — a young eix-foot " Cornstalk" (or native of New South Wales), who lay full length on the grass, with his head on hid saddle, smiling as his excited mate, who stood over him : "Me not able to ride 1 Listen to that boys 1 Bad luck to ye, what d'ye mane at all ?" "Now, Mickey," answered tho other, "don't get on yer tail. Yer know as well's Ido yer can't ride, an' what's more, yell never learn now. Why, ye've got no 'anda on a 'orse, no more'n a gohanner." Mick was, as some one remarked^ " just jumping " at this last remark, which was olinched by another of the men saying : " Set down, Mickey. What's tho use o' blowing ? Didn't I sco oil " Nutmeg," what the bosa's little kiddy rides, chuck yer clean over his head this very night, when yer was tryin 1 to pull him away from the scrub !" Shouts of laughter hailed this last sally ; for poor Mick, who really v?»s no horseman, was rather given to boasting of his exploits after expeditions liko these. Another start was now made for a plaoe three mi.*.-; away, called "Jack Smith's Lookout." Why, I know not. The lookout was an immense tree, belonging to that species of eucalyptus known hi " apple-tree " by bushmen in all parts of the colony, and standing quite alone in the middle of an open spaor, rather smaller than the scene of our first exploits, and which was known as the Basin. Tho moon was still riding high in the heavens, as we cautiously came down against the wind, and were delighted to ccc the plain covered with cattle ; so thick, indeed, they seemed that the "Lookout" appeared to bo growing out of their close, steadily feeding ranks. There must ha^e been at least twelve or fourteen hundred head, amongst whioh we recognised many who had before given as the slip. " Now, kernel I" whippered Slim Jim, " we got 'em. See 1 the coaches is boxed a'ready." And Jin was right, but not till after some hard galloping. About five hundred bead got into tho scrub ; but we met them and drove them back on to the plain, and just at this time an accident happened. Colonel Peroy, mounted on an old stock horse, had galloped to hcfi'l a roan bullock, which was making back. S' cm n r the oolonel was gaining on him, tho boast suddenly dodged short ; the oolonel's horse, as in duty bound, followed suit ; but his unfortunate rider was not " in it," and U-jw o\er old " lUtaplan'a" head, much to that good stfed's diFgust. " Ah h" said Jim, aa wp pulled the old gentleman's arm in agiin, and bandaged the bark splint"? with a torn shirt, "that oomes o' long stuirups 1 " Our intention had been to have stayed out another night ; but now we mustered up our captivea and started lo drive thorn stationwait's. Imagine tho gr.^at Auntralian moon, bfginning to grow a little pale now, shining down through tho trees on a tossing sea of horned hauls, btllowing with wgo, crashing and trampling through tho thick underwood ; then on a aardy patch raising clouds of duet, through which darted hither and thither wildlooking horacmen, waking the parrots and kookaburras from their morning sleep with the incopsant pistol-like oraoks of their stockwhips, whilst kangaroos and wallabies leapt, thud, thud, through the sciub. The oolonel had been aivised to take a black boy and get home as fast as he could ; but he insisted on staying with us, saying his arm, which wns only dislocated, was quite comfortable. So the noUy procession passed on through the eaily morning, over myall plaina and belts of pinea, through yarran clumps and along the river flats once more, till at la^t, just as the fierce, red-looking December sun came peeping over tho bald hill at the back of Eulaloo, the great slip-rails wen* taken down, and the cattle— by this time a little quietened— ushered into the yard among their fellow prisoners, there to await druftuig and branding, whilst all hands retired for a well-earned bath and eleep. So ended one moonlight expedition. But euch hauls as we made, that night aie rare indeed now; and I have known the stockmen, after being out for four or fivo nights to return withoutu solitary hoof. Point Danger sorub is long ago fenoed off ; and in place of the loud bellow of the old bciubber, is now heard tho thump, thump of tho upluter's maul and wedges.

A rr.isoxpn, who had been convicted at leart a do/sen times, was placed at the bur. " Your honor, I should like to have my case po«tpoued for a week •, my lawyer is ill." " Bufc you wero oaptuud with your hand in this gentleman's pocket 1 What can your counsol say in your defence ? " " Precisely so, your worship; that is what I am so cunoui to know."

A certain city auctioneer, whose wittici'ina in tho lcstrum are much relished by the frequcutera of the auction rcart, was dining with some kindred spirits. After dinner, he was demounting on the auoicnt origin of the calling of an auctioneer, and wound up his re-nnrl-.H by noK-rving -'that sales by auction must htt\d taken place in the Cities of the I'lain, for was it not the fact that one Lot was withdrawn I "