Part 3 (2/2)
They could not but agree with him, and expressed a hope that an employment more suited to a person of his education might be found for him.
Craven gave a sickly smile. ”You are young, and think change is easy,”
he said. ”The sapling is quickly bent, but when an old tree has long grown in the same direction, it cannot be straightened again. Supply me with books and tobacco, and, a few years hence, perhaps, a pair of spectacles, and I shall have no desire to quit these wilds.”
”Perhaps you will change your mind,” said James, putting out his hand, which the broken-down gentleman shook warmly.
Many years had pa.s.sed since his palm had pressed that of an equal in intellect and education. It seemed to raise him out of the state of hopeless apathy into which he had fallen.
The hut at headquarters had greatly improved in appearance since it had become the residence of the Gilpins. There were three glazed windows, and it was part.i.tioned off into a bedroom, a sitting-room--where books and papers could be arranged on shelves and kept clean--and a kitchen, which served as dining-room and hall. A good-sized storeroom had been built at the back, with a door opening into the kitchen. They and Sam Green were the only inmates of the building.
It was late at night, the Bible had been read, and family prayers had been offered up--when two or three were gathered together that custom was never departed from in that rude hut in the wilds of Australia-- thanksgivings for past, pet.i.tions for future protection. Sam had thrown himself on his bed in a corner of the hall, and his loud snoring told that he was fast asleep. The brothers had been reading in their sitting-room, and were on the point of retiring to bed, when a slight tap was heard at the window. They thought it was some night bird attracted by the light, and took no notice. A louder tap was heard; Arthur opened the window.
”Wisht! mister, dear; just let me in, for I've something to say to ye,”
said a voice, which he recognised to be Larry Killock's.
”I will let you in by the door, Larry, unless you like to jump through the window,” said Arthur.
”The quickest way's the best,” was the answer, as Larry leaped through the opening, adding, ”shut the shutters, lest any one's eyes should be looking this way.” Larry was out of breath, and looked faint and weary, as if he had come a long distance.
”What brings you here, Larry?” said Arthur, in a tone of anxiety, which it was natural he should feel.
”It's bad news I've to tell yer honours; but if I'd had to lose my life, I'd have come to tell it,” he answered. ”No matter how I found it out, but I did find it out, that the people on the station, just because you have put a stop to their robberies and rogueries, have determined to do away with you. As villains is mostly cowards, there's none of them dares to bell the cat themselves, and so they've engaged some of them black fellows--the thieves of the world--to do the job for them. It was to be done quickly, and I came along, ignorant entirely if I'd be in time or not to save yer honours' lives; but they've not killed you yet, and we'll see if we can't be a match for them.” The Irishman went on to say that the plan proposed was to set fire to the surrounding bush, and that while they ran out, as they naturally would, to stop the flames from approaching their dwelling, by cutting down the surrounding gra.s.s and bushes, they were to be knocked down with boomerangs by the blacks, and their bodies dragged into the fire.
The brothers immediately decided what to do. Waking up Sam and telling him what they had heard, they bade Larry take care of the house and make a good supper; and, reaping-hooks and axes in hand, they sailed out to clear the ground of all fuel capable of bringing the flames up to the hut. Beginning at the back of the building, they worked away energetically, gradually extending their circle till they had cut down and raked away all fuel, almost up to the woods, when they heard Sam's voice calling them--
”Come back, come back! the black fellows are close upon us! I wasn't comfortable in my mind, and went out to listen. I heard them calling to each other, and their dogs barking.”
Although they believed that the bullock-driver's anxiety or fears might somewhat exaggerate the danger, they felt that it was, at all events, prudent to retreat to their hut. All remained quiet: they were beginning to hope that the alarm might be a false one. Arthur again went out, and as, rifle in hand, he was pacing as sentry round the hut, he saw a bright light burst forth above the trees, half a mile or so off to the south-west. He watched it for some minutes; it increased, extending on either hand, the forked points of the flames appearing high above the intervening trees. There could be no doubt that the wood was on fire. Thus far the information obtained by the bullock-driver was correct. There was too much reason, therefore, to fear that their destruction would be attempted by the savages. He hurried into the hut to consult what was best to be done. Their horses were at hand; they might mount them and ride away from the danger; but such a proceeding was not to be thought of. If, however, they were not secured, they would be carried off by the blacks. Arthur and Sam accordingly went out and brought them up to the hut; there was just room for them to stand in the kitchen by removing the table; the door was then closed and barred.
None of the party, however, felt inclined to wait inactive till the conflagration reached their neighbourhood without knowing what progress it was making. There was no window at the back of the hut.
”We will make holes in the roof,” said Arthur; ”we shall be able to see through them what is going on, and if we are besieged in our fortress by the savages, we shall be the better able to defend ourselves and annoy them.”
A stool, placed on the top of the table, enabled them to reach the roof, and by stringing some boards to the rafters, they found convenient standing places. The square holes cut in the s.h.i.+ngles forming the roof gave them a look-out. There was enough in the spectacle they beheld to try the courage of the stoutest hearted. In front of them, that is to say, at the back of the hut, was a narrow neck of forest, which was as yet intact, but above the branches--between the stems which stood out in bold relief--the flames were seen raging furiously, devouring, as they advanced, everything in their course, both to the right and to the left.
Strange sounds, too, were heard: there was the roaring, hissing, and crackling of the fire, and ever and anon a report like that of heavy guns, as some tall tree was riven in two by the intense heat which surrounded it; the air also came like a blast from a furnace, laden with smoke, ashes, and often sparks, which threatened to ignite the dry roof of the building. The danger was increasing, for the flames were advancing towards the confines of the wood nearest them. Now the fire, snake-like, would be seen creeping along the gra.s.s, then catching hold of some bush, which would speedily be wrapped in its deadly embrace; next the lower boughs of the trees would catch, or the dry wood and twigs round the stumps, and upward it would mount triumphant, roaring and crackling--the slighter trees falling prostrate before it; the older and thicker still withstanding its fierce a.s.sault, though left branchless and blackened, with all vitality destroyed.
As yet the hut remained uninjured, though a semicircle of fire raged furiously close to it, and here and there, where a bush still stood, or some tufts of gra.s.s had not been closely cropped, the flames made advances, and, winding along the ground, rose up, flickered, and died.
From the first outbreak of the conflagration various animals had been seen crossing the open ground, as they escaped from the burning forest.
Birds innumerable, of varied plumage, aroused from their roosting places, flew by, some uttering discordant screams of terror, many, with scorched wings, falling dead before they reached the hut. As yet no human beings had been seen.
”I trust that the savages will not venture to attack us,” said James; ”only in the last extremity could I feel justified in firing at them.”
”Arrah! it's but little of that sort of treatment they have received since the white man first put his foot on their sh.o.r.es,” observed Larry.
”I've heard tell of their being shot down by scores at a time, like vermin. Many and many's the black fellow I've seen killed, and no notice taken of it, and no thought by the man who did the deed, any more than if he had fired at a wild beast.”
Arthur interrupted Larry's remarks by exclaiming, ”There they are, though, and in no small numbers too, just coming round the edge of the burning wood to the south-east!”
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