CHAPTER VIII
The Start
"I say that this is just ripping!" cried Rumple joyously.
He was sitting under the tilt of a light wagon with Rupert, the twosmall boys, and Ducky, while Nealie and Sylvia occupied the post ofhonour in front, and guided the steps of the big horse which was to drawthe wagon to Hammerville.
Nealie held reins and whip in quite a professional style, and if she wasnervous she took good care to say nothing about it. She had, beforestarting from the yards of Messrs. Peek & Wallis, ably demonstrated herability to manage a horse by unharnessing this very animal and leadingit into the stable. Then leading it out again she had harnessed it withher own hands, backed it carefully into the shafts, and finished theprocesses of hitching to in a smart and workmanlike manner.
The others wanted to assist her; but as she had to take theresponsibility, and sign the books of the company, she preferred to dothe whole thing herself, although she promised that one or more of themshould always help her at the harnessing and unharnessing when they wereon the journey.
"Yes, it is ripping!" echoed Sylvia. "But do you know, I was simplyshaking with nervousness when Nealie was harnessing, for I was so afraidthat she would make some awful blunder, and that they would refuse tolet us have the horse and wagon, for I knew that I could not have stoodthe test as she did; and then, too, these colonial horses seem to havesuch a good opinion of themselves, and they carry their heads with aswagger that is entirely different from the meek, downtrodden air of theTurpins, and Smilers, and Sharpers of the old country; and their namesare as bumptious as themselves. Fancy a horse being named Rockefeller! Ivote that we call the dear creature Rocky for short. What do you say?"
"Not a bad idea!" cried Nealie, who was flushed and triumphant at havingpassed the test imposed on her by Mr. Wallis before he would allow herto take the responsibility of the horse and wagon. Rupert's lameness hadbeen the bar to his being in charge, and if Nealie, or, failing her,Sylvia, had been unable to harness and unharness without danger tothemselves, then it would have been necessary to send a driver withthem, which would not merely have added to the expense, but would haveimposed a most uncomfortable restraint upon them.
Mr. Wallis had sent a reliable man to see them clear of the city andbeyond the area of the electric trams; then, once out in the country,and provided with a map of the route to be traversed, the driver badethem good morning, and they were absolutely on their own.
"I wonder how far we shall get to-night?" said Rupert, who was in chargeof the map, and had been promptly nicknamed the "route boss" by theothers.
"We ought to get to Kesterton--Mr. Wallis said so," answered Rumple, whohad charge of the provisions, and was at that moment sitting upon thegrub box, which had been thoughtfully filled for the start by Mr.Wallis.
"I don't mind where we get to by night--no, I mean sundown, for that iswhat Australians say--but I do hope it will soon be time to open thegrub box, for I am getting most fearfully hungry, and I expect the horseis hungry too," said Ducky, who was in high feather this morning, andfull of the oddest little jokes, with quips and cranks of all sorts. Shehad kept up a fire of small jokes with Don and Billykins ever since thestart, for she was wildly excited because she was going to see herfather, who of course could not possibly know her until he was told whoshe was.
"You can have food now, and I know there are some lovely sandwiches onthe top of the box, for I saw the woman at the shop pack them into theirplace above those tins of tongue," said Nealie; "but I have had strictorders to feed Rocky only at sunrise, noon, and sundown, and the noonmeal is to be a slight one, and I am going to obey orders."
"How shall we get the horse and wagon back from Hammerville to Sydney?Will it have to be put on the rail?" asked Rumple, who had not heard, orelse had forgotten, the final instructions which had been given to hissister.
"We have to hand it over to the nearest agent of the company, and helives about twenty miles from Hammerville on the nearest point of therailway," replied Nealie.
"Do you mean that the railway does not go nearer than twenty miles fromHammerville?" cried Sylvia. "Why, the place must be quite at the back ofbeyond!"
"That is just about where it is, my dear; and if you thought that it wasgoing to be a second Sydney, why, you are in for a pretty bigdisappointment, I am afraid," said Rupert, who was still poring over themap. "Hammerville is a mining place, although it is not quite clear tome yet what kind of mining is done there, and it seems to have sprunginto existence within the last six or seven years. This Gazetteer affairsays that it is a very healthy place, and bound to develop into a cityof the first importance; only, so far as I can see, it is not very bigyet, though doubtless it will receive a mighty impetus of growth when ithas the honour of sheltering us. Only I don't mean to stay there verylong;" and as he spoke Rupert folded up the map, putting it in hispocket with a satisfied slap, then sat looking out between the shouldersof Nealie and Sylvia, a happy smile curving his lips.
Life had taken on a new aspect for him since the real truth of hisfather's story had been made known to him, and already he had made uphis mind that he was going to be a doctor, if by hard work he could passthe preliminary tests and win a scholarship that would let him climb theladder of learning without expense to his father. Mr. Wallis had toldhim the way to set about obtaining his heart's desire, and it would notbe a little thing which would turn him back, now that he knew there hadbeen no real dishonour in his father's professional downfall. While theothers ate sandwiches, and chattered like magpies about what they woulddo when the night camp was made, Rupert sat absorbed in day-dreams,building castles in the air, and making up his mind as to how he wouldgo to work in good earnest directly Hammerville was reached.
The horse was good and fresh, the road was plain before them, and Nealieforged ahead so intent on her business that she paid little heed toRupert's silence or the noisy chatter of the others.
The day was very hot, and they rested the horse for two hours in themiddle of the day, unharnessing the big creature, and washing his facewith as much care as if he had been a human being; then, after he hadhad the regulation amount of water, he was tied to a tree and fed, afterwhich the seven had a merry meal from that well-filled grub box and sometea from a real billy, which they boiled over a fire of sticks that hadbeen gathered by Don and Billykins.
The suburbs of Sydney extend so far that they could not be said to befree of them yet; there were pleasant villas with ornamental grounds anda riotous wealth of flowers dotted here and there along the road. Greatstretches of land were under vegetable cultivation, and the seven hadbeen vastly interested to see Chinamen with long pigtails hanging downtheir backs walking up and down between rows of potatoes, peas, andcauliflowers, letting in water from the irrigation channels, and turningit this way or that with the twist of a naked foot.
The noonday halt was on a patch of ground just off the road, whichlooked like private land with the fence broken down; but no one came tocomplain of their resting there, while there was water and shade, andthe spot seemed to be made on purpose for their requirements.
"What a jolly place this would have been for the night camp! I doubt ifwe shall find a spot so suitable when evening comes. What a pity wecannot stay here!" said Sylvia regretfully; the heat had made her lazy,and it did not seem worth while to go farther and to fare worse whenthey had such a lovely spot to rest in.
"We ought to do twenty miles a day at the very least, and we have notdone more than ten as yet, so we must push on a little farther," repliedNealie, standing up and stretching her arms above her head. Quiteprivately she was saying to herself that she would love to camp justthen and there, for between sightseeing and excitement she was feelingrather worn out. But it did not take much arithmetic to know that ifthey only went ten miles in a day's journey they would be nearly a monthon the road, and at that rate their money would certainly not hold out,for there were seven of them to feed, and even the horse would costmoney for food later on, as the animal
would need corn or oatmeal tokeep it in good form for drawing the wagon.
So she resolutely put away the temptation to camp at that mostconvenient spot, and, calling Rumple to help her harness, she set aboutthe preparations for a start.
The zest of travel had gone from all of them, however, and they wentforward in languid silence, while the heat and the dust seemed literallyto choke them. Then came a long hill, which appeared to stretch formiles in front of them.
"I am going to walk for a time," said Nealie, as she sprang down andwent to the head of the horse, and the others tumbled out also, exceptRupert and Ducky, and they trailed along in the little shade cast by theside of the wagon, and declared that it was less tiring to walk in thedust than to be cooped up under the tilt of the wagon.
"We ought to be looking for a camping place soon, for of course we shallbe rather longer getting things into shape on the first night," saidNealie, and then Rumple and Sylvia begged to be allowed to go forwardand find a place which seemed suitable for the purpose, and on theirpromising not to leave the road, Nealie said they might go.
The way still led upward, and between the trees they could still getglimpses of the waters of the wide harbour, although a few miles fartheron the road would turn inland, and then they would have to bid goodbyeto the sea.
Billykins trudged along by the side of Nealie, doing valiant things inthe matter of leading the horse, but Don trotted on just in front,looking for a camping ground, which he found presently in a littlehollow by the side of the road, not far from a house, where water couldbe begged for themselves, and also for the horse: a great conveniencethis, because they seemed to have left the region of little roadsidestreams, and they had seen no water since noon.
"I wonder why Sylvia and Rumple do not come back. Do you think that theycan have lost their way?" Nealie asked Rupert, when he came to help herunharness the horse, after the wagon had been drawn into position at theside of the road.
"If they have, they will soon find it again when they turn round to comeback," said Rupert in a casual tone; but secretly he was very muchworried because they had not come back, and would promptly have gone insearch of them if his foot had not ached so much as to make walking outof the question.
Don, Billykins, and Ducky worked very hard at getting supper ready, buteveryone was more or less anxious, and no one really enjoyed things,until, just as they were going to sit down to supper without them, thewanderers appeared. They were very tired, and dreadfully shamefaced athaving stayed away so long that all the burden of supper preparationswas thrown on the others.
"We don't mind that; only we were so worried because you were away solong," replied Nealie, who had been looking rather white and worn, butwho was smiling now that the worry was at an end.
The night was delightfully fine, and they grew very merry as they satround the supper fire. It really seemed a shame to turn in; but, mindfulof the early start which would have to be made next morning, Nealie saidthey really must go to bed.
It was one thing to talk of turning in and quite another to do it,however. The three girls were going to sleep on the floor of the wagon,but when the mattress was unrolled there seemed no room at all, and somuch twisting and turning was necessary, before there was room for thethree of them to lie down, that a good part of the night was taken up ingetting comfortable; indeed they might not have been able to sleep atall if it had not been for Sylvia's brilliant idea of lying in what shecalled the head and toe position; that is to say, her head and Nealie'sfeet shared the same end of the mattress, while Ducky, being so manysizes smaller, was accommodated somewhere about the middle.
Down below, the boys had more room and less comfort. A tarpaulin spreadover the shafts of the wagon made a sort of tent in front, there wasmore sailcloth draped round the wheels and the back part of the wagon,while a waterproof sheet spread on the ground served as a sort of flooron which to spread two mattresses. But, as Rumple said, it was veryhard, and it was a night or two before they were really comfortable.
The novelty of the thing kept them from complaining, however, and therewas not one of the seven who would have changed their quarters for themost comfortable bed that was ever invented. It was great fun to lielistening to Rocky munching alongside, and to fall asleep with theout-of-door feeling, and the stars looking in from the rift in thecanvas covering.
But it was still greater fun to wake next morning, to wash in a bucket,and then to hurry round, getting breakfast in the crisp, fresh air ofthe early morning. It was going to be tremendously hot later on, sobreakfast was hurried over, and the start made before the cool breeze ofthe sunrising had entirely died away.
It was the real start this morning, for the road turned inland from thesea, and there was not one of the seven who did not feel as if they weresaying goodbye to an old friend when the last gleam of blue water washid from sight, and the hills, clothed with olive-green foliage, boundedthe horizon.
EARLY MORNING IN CAMP]
But it was not in their nature to be sad for very long, so ten minuteslater their laughter was ringing out once more, and they set their facestowards the unknown with the cheerful determination to make the best ofthings which always marked their doings.
Rumple had retired to the rack at the back of the wagon, because hewished for quiet in which to write a poem to celebrate the occasion, andthe others forgot all about him until they drew under the shade of agrove of trees for the noonday halt, when, to their extremeconsternation, it was found that Rumple was missing.