CHAPTER X
A Fright at Night
"There he is, there he is!" squealed Ducky in the shrillest of treblesas Rumple started to run along the dusty track up which the wagon wasadvancing.
"Oh, you blessed boy, how could you have the heart to give us such afright?" cried Sylvia, who had been walking at the side of the wagon andnow rushed forward to fling her arms round Rumple and hug him until hewas nearly smothered.
"I'm awfully sorry, truly I am, but I didn't know anything about it; andI tell you I just felt bad when I woke up in Mrs. Warner's parlour andshe told me that she had picked me up in the road and thought at firstthat I was dead," explained Rumple, with an air of gloomy importance;for in spite of the sorrow he felt at having given the others so muchanxiety there was a thrill of satisfaction at having figured in such afashion. To be picked up for dead had a good sound with it, and mightserve as quite a big incident when he wrote the story of his life.
"Oh, my dear, I will never let you sit upon the rack out of sight againunless you are tied fast to the seat!" cried Nealie, who by this timehad jumped down from the wagon and was hugging him in place of Sylvia,who had been pushed aside.
"Or we might tie the frying pan and the tin billy round his neck, andthen there would be such a rattle when he fell that we should be sure tohear and could pick him up at our leisure," said Rupert. There was aquiet drawl in his tone which meant that his foot was more painful thanusual; but Nealie had been so occupied with her anxiety on Rumple'saccount that she had little time for watching her eldest brother, whonever said a word about himself, however bad he might feel.
"I shall not do such a stupid thing again of course, but it might havebeen worse," said Rumple. "This is a jolly place: no end of cows, and areal separator; you put them in at the top, the milk I mean, not thecows, and they come out cream one side and milk the other. Mrs. Warneris jolly too, and oh! what do you think, she is cousin to that Mr.Melrose who left the ship at Cape Town, and sent the cable to Mr.Wallis."
By the time Rumple had managed so much of explanation the horse andwagon had halted outside the cowyard, and Mrs. Warner came rushing outto greet the arrivals.
"I am really glad to see you; we don't get many visitors in these lonelyplaces, you know, and so company is always a treat. I am afraid that youmust have been rather scared when you found your brother was missing,but when he was able to tell us how it all happened we sent off a noticeto be stuck up at the side of the road as soon as possible."
"It was most kind of you to be so thoughtful," said Nealie. "Only thetrouble was that we had found out Rumple was missing, and we had comeback on our tracks, right past the place where the notice was posted,and we had nearly reached the cutting where they are going to make therailway. We halted there, because we knew that when we passed that placebefore Rumple was with us, and after we had been there about half anhour a man came riding up from the way we had come, and he asked whatwas the matter that we were so down on our luck; so we told him that oneof our brothers was missing, and then he said that he had seen a noticeup at the Four-Mile Corner, that stated a boy had been found lying inthe road, and had been taken to Warner's Farm, in the Holderness Valley,but he was not hurt."
"I had that bit put to keep you from being scared," said Mrs. Warner,nodding her head in a vigorous fashion. "I guessed that you would befeeling pretty bad, and so I just told Tom to put it in big blackletters that the boy wasn't hurt."
"It was most kind of you!" said Nealie, flushing and paling. "I do notknow how I should have had the courage to find my way up here but forthose last words, and I am so very, very grateful to you for being sokind to Rumple."
"Tcha!" cried Mrs. Warner, making a funny clicking noise with hertongue. "Come in and have some supper, all of you; though where we canput seven of you to sleep is more than I can say, for we are pretty fullwith our own lot; but we will manage somehow, don't you fret."
"Oh, but, please, we have our own supper things, and we always sleep inthe wagon; that is, we girls sleep in the wagon, and the boys have twomattresses underneath, so we never have to trouble anyone," said Nealiehastily.
"What a fine idea!" cried Mrs. Warner, holding up her hands inastonishment. "It makes you so independent of hotels and that sort ofthing; besides, these wayside houses are not many of them suitableplaces for young people to stay at. But you are not going to eat yourown supper when you come to see me, not if I know it. Come along intothe kitchen, all of you, there is plenty to eat, only you have caught usall in the rough."
"But, please, we must look after Rocky, that is our horse, before wehave our own supper; we always do," said Nealie, feeling as if thestormy day was going to have a peaceful ending, seeing that they were tofind a supper all ready for them, instead of having to cook it forthemselves.
"Tom will see to your horse, and a fine creature it is too. But Peek &Wallis always do supply good cattle; we often have their horses outhere. Tom is my eldest, and he is downright smart with horses. Tom, Tom,come and lend a hand, will you?"
At the sound of his mother's shout Tom came hurrying out from the backdoor; but he was so dreadfully shy, when he saw Nealie and Sylviastanding by the horse, that he was just going to make a bolt for it, andpretend that he had business in another direction, only just then Nealiebegan to unharness the animal, setting about her task with such an airof being accustomed to it that he suddenly forgot to be awkward andnervous, walking up to the wagon and saying, in a matter-of-fact tone:"Here, Miss, I'll look to your animal, and give him his supper and a rubdown, while you go in with Mother and get a feed for yourself."
"You are very kind," said Nealie, "but I will just get his supper cornfrom the bottom of the wagon, because you will not know where to findit, and Mr. Wallis said that a horse could not do heavy draught work ongrass feed."
"I should think not," replied Tom, with such an air of knowing all aboutit as made his mother glow with pleasure, for Tom's shyness was a realtrouble to her, she never having been afflicted in that way herself."The horse shall have a corn feed, Miss, but it will be our corn and notyours; that will do for to-morrow or the next day."
"Of course we don't let people feed themselves or their beasts when theycome here!" echoed Mrs. Warner, taking hold of Nealie and forciblyleading her into the house, while the others trouped after them.
What a crowd they made in the canvas-walled kitchen. And what a supperthey ate, sitting round the table eating scones and butter, withdelicious raspberry jam. Amy, the stylish sister, made a fresh batch ofscones, and cooked them in the oven, while the rosy-cheeked Bella wentwalking with her friend, who proved to be a good-looking young farmer,living farther up the valley.
The girls slept in the wagon that night, but the boys carried theirmattresses into the big hay barn, because it threatened rain, and, asMrs. Warner said, it was much easier to keep dry than to dry up aftergetting wet.
About midnight the rain came down at a pour; it rained until morning,when it came down faster than ever, and Mrs. Warner would not hear oftheir moving on. She said that Rockefeller certainly could not drag thewagon through the loose mud of the track, and if they got out to walkthey would all catch bad colds, entailing no end of misery anddiscomfort on them all, and the only sensible thing to do was to stay inthe Holderness Valley for another day, and the weather would be sure tobe better to-morrow.
This was such common-sense advice that Nealie was very glad to take it,although she felt rather embarrassed, because it looked so much likesponging on the generosity of their kind hostess.
The younger ones were all delighted to stay, and Sylvia entered herselfat once as an apprentice to the dairy business by taking a lesson inmilking, and Mrs. Warner declared that when Bella was married to herfriend who lived higher up the valley, Sylvia could come to the farm andfill the vacant place, earning her keep, and a good deal more besides.
The boys turned the handle of the separator, and made themselvesgenerally useful. But Nealie went off in the rain with Mrs. Warner andTom for a ride
to the butter factory with the cream from the nightbefore and that of the morning.
Mrs. Warner had guessed shrewdly enough that Nealie had so muchresponsibility in an ordinary way as to make the little trip to thefactory quite a holiday jaunt.
Wrapped in a big mackintosh belonging to Amy, Nealie sat on the frontseat of the wagon, between Tom and his mother, and very much enjoyingthe novelty of seeing someone else in charge of the horse and wagon.
The factory was a series of surprises, and she came away with her headin a whirl between cream testers, butter machinery, freezing chambers,and the final processes of packing for market. It seemed to her that theworld was such a wonderful place, and the things done in it were so muchmore wonderful still, that she must belong to the very bottom class ofignoramuses, because she did not know how to do anything save mother hersisters and brothers, and she did not realize that this might be thegrandest and cleverest work of all.
All day it rained without a single stop, and far into the second nightas well. But the morning broke without a cloud, the sun shone out brightand glorious, and all nature rejoiced because of the rain.
A start was made directly after breakfast, all the family of Warnerscrowding to the cowyard gate, to see the travellers start.
Putting Rupert and Ducky up in the wagon to ride, the other five walkedthe two miles and more to the Four-Mile Corner, because the HoldernessValley track was so soft from the rain. Even with this lightening of theload it was an anxious progress in places, and when they got stuck in ahollow they had to put their shoulders to the wheel and assist strengthof collar by strength of arm.
But Rockefeller had been well fed at the farm, and he had had a goodrest also, and, being in prime condition, made short work of the heavytrack, landing them safe and sound on the main road.
Rumple's misadventure had let them in for quite a long delay, but it hadalso secured them a shelter when they most needed it, and so, as Nealiesaid, the balance was about even.
That day's journey was without incident, and so was the next. Then cameSunday, when they did not travel at all, but remained in camp all day,giving themselves and the horse a rest, and singing hymns as they satunder the trees in the shade. So far there had mostly been trees dottedhere and there by the wayside, but on Monday morning the way grew wilderand rougher, they were getting out in the back country, and all roundthere was nothing to be seen save rolling downs and broad sheeppaddocks, while the road stretched shadeless and glaring for miles onmiles before them, and every step stirred blinding clouds of dust.
"This rather takes the gilt off the gingerbread," said Rupert, as he satunder the wagon tilt fanning himself with his hat and choking with dust.
Vast herds of cattle, being driven down to the coast to be turned intochilled beef for exportation, had been passing them all day, and thesedroves materially added to their sufferings because of the amount ofdust that was raised. There was danger for Rocky, too, from the long,sharp horns of the cattle, as they pressed closely round the wagon inpassing, and as a measure of precaution Nealie turned the wagon rightround every time she saw a great drove approaching, by which means theback of the wagon had the chief impact.
Camping that night was not a very cheerful business. There was only ascanty supply of water available, food supplies were also running short,and there was a cold wind blowing, which one of the drovers had toldthem was going to be a "southerly buster", only, luckily for theirpresent peace of mind, the seven did not as yet understand the truesignificance of the term.
The shortness of food was owing to their having expected to reach acertain point of the journey where fresh supplies could be procured. Butthey had been held up so many times that afternoon by the passing ofcattle that they were five or six miles from the place where they hadintended to stop when sundown came.
"Never mind being short to-night; we will have a good feed when we reachFord to-morrow to make up for it," said Nealie cheerfully. Her money washolding out so much better than she had expected, thanks to the kindnessof Mrs. Warner, that she was feeling quite easy in her mind about foodsupplies just at present.
"We will turn in directly we have eaten all there is for supper, beforeit has time to evaporate and leave us hungry again," said Rumple, whocould always forget his woes in sleep.
"That is a downright jolly idea!" cried Sylvia, stretching her armsabove her head in a sleepy fashion. The long days in the open air madeher most fearfully hungry and tired, while to-day had certainly been themost fatiguing that they had had since leaving Sydney.
They were sitting round a fire made mainly of grass, to eat theirsupper, for no wood was procurable in the district in which that night'scamp was made. There were, indeed, a few stunted sandalwood bushes andsome odd clumps of spinifex; but these were so difficult to cut thatthey had preferred to manage with a bundle of wood which had beengathered some days ago and slung on to the back of the wagon for use inan emergency like this, and when the wood had dwindled to a bank ofred-hot embers they had piled grass upon it, and so kept the fire goingwhile supper was in progress, because the wind was so cold.
For the first time since they had started on their travels they wereglad to go to their rest wrapped up in rugs and coats. Even then theboys under the wagon were so cold that Don suggested they should all lievery close together on one mattress, while the other was used as a topcovering; and this arrangement made them so comfortable and warm thatthey were all fast asleep until they were suddenly aroused by a terrificscreaming from the wagon. Then, when they started up, still drowsy withtheir heavy slumber, they were promptly knocked down and trampled in thedust.