crops and bullocks, the young squatters had donewonderfully well, and were really on a fair way to wealth.
"Now, Archie Broadbent," said Winslow that night, "I am going to put youon to a good thing or two. You are a gentleman, and have a gentleman'seducation. You have brains, and can do a bit of speculation; and it isjust here where brains come in."
Winslow then unfolded his proposals, which were of such an inviting kindthat Archie at once saw his way to benefit by them. He thanked Winslowover and over again for all he had done for him, and merely stipulatedthat in this case he should be allowed to share his plans with Bob andHarry.
To this, of course, Winslow made no objection.
"As to thanking me for having given ye a tip or two," said Winslow,"don't flatter yourself it is for your sake. It is all to the memory ofthe days I spent as steward at sea with your good old uncle. Did yousend him back his fifty pounds?"
"I did, and interest with it."
"That is right. That is proper pride."
Archie and the Winslows spent a whole fortnight in Brisbane, and theywent away promising that ere long they would once more visit thestation.
The touch of Etheldene's soft hand lingered long in Archie's. The lastlook from her bonnie eyes haunted him even in his dreams, as well as inhis waking thoughts. The former he could not command, so they playedhim all kinds of pranks. But over his thoughts he still had sway; andwhenever he found himself thinking much about Etheldene's beauty, orwinning ways, or soft, sweet voice, he always ended up by saying tohimself, "What a love of a little wife she will make for Rupert!"
One day, while Archie was taking a farewell walk along Queen Street,glancing in here and there at the windows, and now and then entering tobuy something pretty for Sarah, something red--dazzling--for her blackservant-maid, and toys for Di, he received a slap on the back that madehim think for a moment a kangaroo had kicked him.
"What!" he cried, "Captain Vesey?"
"Ay, lad, didn't I say we would meet again?"
"Well, wonders will never cease! Where have you been? and what have youbeen doing?"
"Why I've gone in for trade a bit. I've been among the South SeaIslands, shipping blacks for the interior here; and, to tell you thetruth, my boy, I am pretty well sick of the job from all I've seen. Itis more like buying slaves, and that is the honest truth."
"And I suppose you are going to give it up?" The captain laughed--alaugh that Archie did not quite like.
"Yes," he said, "I'll give it up after--another turn or two. But comeand have something cooling, the weather is quite summery already. Whata great man you have grown! When I saw you first you were just a--"
"A hobbledehoy?"
"Something like that--very lime-juicy, but very ardent and sanguine. Isay, you didn't find the streets of Sydney paved with gold, eh?"
"Not quite," replied Archie, laughing as he thought of all his miseryand struggles in the capital of New South Wales.
"But," he added, "though I did not find the streets paved with gold, Ifound the genuine ore on a housetop, or near it, in a girl calledSarah."
"What, Archie Broadbent, you don't mean to say you're married?"
"No; but Bob is."
"What Bob? Here, waiter, bring us drinks--the best and coolest you havein the house. Now, lad, you've got to begin at the beginning of yourstory, and run right through to the end. Spin it off like a man. I'llput my legs on a chair, smoke, and listen."
So Archie did as he was told, and very much interested was CaptainVesey.
"And now, captain, you must promise to run down, and see us all in theBush. We're a jolly nice family party, I can assure you."
"I promise, my boy, right heartily. I hope to be back in Brisbane insix months. Expect to see me then."
They dined together, and spent the evening talking of old times, andplanning all that they would do when they met.
Next day they parted.
The end of this spring was remarkable for floods. Never before had ourheroes seen such storms of rain, often accompanied with thunder andlightning. Archie happened to be out in the forest when it first cameon.
It had been a hot, still, sulphurous morning, which caused even the petkangaroo to lie panting on his side. Then a wind came puffing androaring through the trees in uncertain gusts, shaking the hangingcurtains of climbing plants, rustling and rasping among the sidelongleaved giant gums, tearing down tree ferns and lovely orchids, andscattering the scented bloom of the wattle in every direction.
With the wind came the clouds, and a darkness that could be felt.
Then down died the fitful breeze, and loud and long roared and rattledthe thunder, while the blinding lightning seemed everywhere. It rusheddown the darkness in rivers like blood, it glanced and glimmered on thepools of water, and zigzagged through the trees. From the awfulhurtling of the thunder one would have thought every trunk and stem werebeing rent and riven in pieces.
Tell--the horse--seemed uneasy, so Archie made for home. The rain hadcome on long before he reached the creek, but the stream was stillfordable.
But see! He is but half-way across when, in the interval between thethunder peals, he can hear a steady rumbling roar away up the creek andgulley, but coming closer and closer every moment.
On, on, on, good Tell! Splash through that stream quicker than ever youwent before, or far down the country to-morrow morning two swollencorpses will be seen floating on the floods!
Bewildered by the dashing rain, and the mist that rose on every side,Archie and his trusty steed had but reached high ground when down camethe bore.
A terrible sight, though but dimly seen. Fully five feet high, itseemed to carry everything before it. Alas! for flocks and herds.Archie could see white bodies and black, tumbling and trundling along inthe rolling "spate."
The floods continued for days. And when they abated then losses couldbe reckoned. Though dead cattle and sheep now lay in dozens about theflat lands near the creek, only a small percentage of them belonged toBurley.
Higher up Findlayson had suffered, and many wild cattle helped to swellthe death bill.
But it was bad enough.
However, our young squatters were not the men to sit down to cry overspilt milk.
The damage was repaired, and the broken dams were made new again. Andthese last were sadly wanted before the summer went past. For it wasunusually hot, the sun rising in a cloudless sky, blazing down all daysteadily, and setting without even a ray being intercepted by a cloud.
Bush fires were not now infrequent. While travelling in a distant partof the selection, far to the west, in company with Craig, whom he hadcome to visit, they were witnesses to a fire of this sort that hadcaught a distant forest. Neither pen nor pencil could do justice tosuch a scene. Luckily it was separated from the Burley estate by a deepravine. One of the strangest sights in connection with it was the wildstampede of the panic-stricken kangaroos and bush horses.
To work in the fields was now to work indeed. Bob's complexion andArchie's were "improved" to a kind of brick-red hue, and even Harry gotwondrously tanned.
There was certainly a great saving in clothes that year, for exceptinglight, broad-brimmed hats, and shirts and trousers, nothing else wasworn by the men.
But the gardens were cool in the evening, in spite of the midday glareof the sun, and it was delightful to sit out in the open for an hour ortwo and think and talk of the old country; while the rich perfume offlowers hung warm in the air, and the holy stars shimmered and blinkedin the dark blue of the sky.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
"I'LL WRITE A LETTER HOME."
The summer wore away, autumn came, the harvest was made good, and inspite of the drought it turned out well; for the paddocks chosen foragricultural produce seldom lacked moisture, lying as they did on thelow lands near the creek, and on rich ground reclaimed from the scrub.
Our Bushmen were congratulating themselves on the success of theirfarming; for the banking account of all three
was building itself, so tospeak, slowly, but surely.
Archie was now quite as wealthy as either of his companions; for hisspeculations, instigated by his friend Winslow, had turned out well; sohis stock had increased tenfold, and he had taken more pasture to thewestward and north, near where Bob's and Harry's sheep now were; forCraig's advice had been acted on.
None too soon though; for early in the winter an old shepherd arrived inhaste at the homesteading to report an outbreak of inflammatory catarrhamong the flocks still left on the lower pastures.
The events that quickly followed put Archie in mind of the "dark days"at Burley Old Farm, when fat beasts were dying in twos and threes dayafter day. Sheep affected with this strange ailment lived but a day ortwo, and the only thing to do was to kill them on the very firstsymptoms of the ailment