Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 136 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Es Sa ae eae — = Se ee ee ae es —_ ~~ SP. te > Se a ot Se tre ee ‘ ‘ <= le ele Ce - re ee oat Se. Se = ee oe et oa a -_ SS ee . ~ 10 ‘*And deducted the value of the animals from your wages, eh, mate?’ asked Ralph, ap- parently interested in the matter. “No, they did not; I was paid my wages to the last penny.” ‘‘The devil you were!” they all exclaimed, with surprise. ‘* And what is the name of the old ’possum who came out so strong with the cash?’ ‘« Powell—a kind old gentleman,” ** And so they sent you to the devil?” “e Yes.” ‘‘ Were you long at that station?” ** About a year.” “So much the better; we all row in the same boat. We all have served a year, and are come to have at least one free day, after a twelvemonth’s life like a dog. Iam sure one can’t do less.” “TI should like to enjoy myself a little again,” muttered Miller, gloomily; “but it won’t do—I must go home.” ‘Well, what are you talking about, mate? | There, take another draught; it will set you to | rights, and you will understand better what you have todo. How do you like it?” Miller had taken the glass, emptied it again at one draught, and ordered a bottle of the inn- keeper, to stand treat in his.turn. The carousal now commenced anew. The German—for such they soon perceived him to be by his accent—had to recount everything that had taken place before he left the Rufus. The rest drank freely to bim, and he soon over- came his reserve, and joined in the carousal with the rest. Every fresh bottle, of which the busy M’Pherson was but too eager to draw the cork, increased his excitement. They ordered wine, as brandy got into their heads too quickly; M’Pherson made the proposal _ himself, and brought several bottles of different sorts for his guests to taste—just to look at, as he said. They were, however, scarcely placed before them, ere they were emptied, and the whole company had ‘reached such a degree of wild, boisterous, and drunken merriment, that they pushed the card-table aside, and com- menced dancing. At the beginning of the game, it had been agreed that the winner should invest his gains in liquors, for the benefit of the whole company. The sun was setting, when Bob, striking the table with his huge fist—for, missing his bul- locks, be was obliged to hammer something— exclaimed, with a tremendous oath: “Hallo, mates, we shall never meet again so young as we are now, and I have had quite enough of this common stuff—this brandy and wine. We are just as good as these swells, with their white hand-cases and patent boots, and deserve quite as rich tipple. Whois for’a few bottles of the sparkling ‘swell’s tipple?’ We'll play at bushranger with bottles of cham- e!” ‘Hurrah for the swell’s tipple!” shouted Ralph, whose head already suffered from his copious libations; *‘out with the silver necks, we'll soon twist them!” ““That’s right, my boys,” cried M’Pherson, with a joyous countenance, for now he felt secure of his prey. ‘ We'll soon satisfy you! Here is the battery, and Toby shall bring ” ‘“‘And this, boy, shall do for the first,” shouted Jack, taking out of his pocket a knife, with a corkscrew at one end, and seizing one of the bottles. ‘Now, we'll see what they have got in their bellies. The devil—the cork must be glued in, it is fast as iron.” “Hal ha! ha!” roared Miller, advancing, now fully entering into the wild carousal. Taking one of the bottles, he removed the wire, and said; ‘*‘ That’s rich; he wants to draw the cork of a bottle of champagne with the cork- screw. Here, Jack, look out!” he exclaimed, pointing the bottle at bis head. He then cut the string, and pressed the cork. ‘ Mind your head I say—” ‘* Paff!” the cork came out with a loud noise, and struck Jack’s head, who started back not a little astonished. The uproar became universal. The wine foamed in the glasses brought by a girl, and soon disappeared down the throats of this ever thirsty crew. But the glasses did not hold enough for them, “ Plague on these long- waisted stupid things!” shouted Bob, dashing his into a thousand frag- ments upon the floor, ‘“‘Let us have cups, that we may taste what we are drinking—or, better still, les us have a pail, Mac—hang it, let us have a pail, and we’ll pour the whole lot into it.” The O ‘**That’s the way, my boy, to drink cham- pagne,” shouted M’Pherson, gladly humoring the mad pranks of these wild fellows, With this he fetched a pail which was standing against the house door, and, placing it between them, added, ‘‘ Now, then, let the swells beat that, if they can!” “Curse the swells!” shouted Bob, breaking the neck of one of the bottles against the nearest tree, and pouring the foaming liquid into the pail. “Stop, I say, that won’t do!” cried M*Pher- son, perceiving that the rest were going to follow his example. | ‘‘ Hang it, bottles are not to be had so easily here in the bush. You have already broken a glass, too. Every bottle must ring, that’s a sign it is good. The stuff costs one enough money as it is.” “Go to grass,” cried Ralph; ‘‘how much do you charge a bottle?” **T cannot sell it under ten shillings,” replied the host, with a shrug of the shoulders, at the same time removing as quickly as possible the wire from the rest. ‘Gentlemen who come here are always charged twelve.” “Hang the gentlemen! Let us havea dozen of them, and fire away now at the trees, but not at people’s heads,” said Jack, laughing. The bottles stood close at hand, and were soon uncorked and emptied into the dirty pail. The noisy crew were provided with teacups, which they dipped into the foaming liquor. Hastily they quaffed it, until it even trickled down their beards. “‘Hang this wash!” shouted Mike, amid the general jubilation, ‘it is sour, and cuts one’s inside, If the swells wish to drink such stuff they may, but I won’t.” “F don’t particularly like it either,” said Dick; ‘‘ but the deuce, if it cost so much money it must be good.” “I know how we’ll make it palatable,” shouted Bob. ‘‘ Mac, let us have a few cups of brown sugar and two or three bottles of porter; that will take the acid out of this pre- cious sour stuff.” M’Pherson was glad to do anything so that the liquors were sold. The porter came, and was poured into pails, and sugar was stirred about, and the company, who now relished the drink better, roared and shouted. The sun was just setting, as a horseman appeared in sight, traveling from the east straight for the house. The wind carried the sounds of the revelry of the drunken set to his ears; he sud- denly stopped and listened several minutes to the bacchanalian shouts. Once he appeared in- clined to ride round the place. He even tried to turn his horse’s head toward the bush, but the animal, obedient as it usually was, pricked up its ears, and gave a low and longing neigh. ‘“‘ Poor brute,” said the stranger, patting his animal’s neck and bending over it; ‘‘ you have carried me well, and I can easif¥Y imagine that you want something more than the few blades of grass you plucked in the bush. Come, my old fellow, we will both turn in, and if—but no matter. They will give us a little. time, I hope, to rest,” Giving his neighing horse the rein, the traveler rode quickly up to the .house, not without having first carefully examined the carousing group before it. On approaching he seemed to pay no further attention to them, but merely nodded at those who greeted him. He led his horse behind the house, still keep- ing in the saddle, and waiting for the host, in, order to learn from him what accommodation he had to offer. M’Pherson was some time in making his ap- pearance. The revelers, whose attention the horseman had attracted, indulged in all sorts of suppositions respecting the stranger, what he could want at the inn, and his destination. ‘‘ Just mind, Mike,” said Bob, ‘‘ that’s one of these police spies, sneaking and poking about over the country. Ishouldn’t be in the least astonished if he were to come and count how many bottles we have had.” M’Pherson seemed to entertain exactly the same fear, for as soon as the traveler disap- peared behind the house, he carried all the empty bottles he could lay hold of in-doors, where the women quickly stowed them away. He also invented an excuse for the present carousal, as he had no license to sell brandy, and a search on his premises would bave been most disagreeabie to him. On this point he was soon set at rest, and he per- ceived that he had nothing to fear from his visitor. All he wanted was a good feed for his horse, and a morsel, with a bottle of wine tlaw Hunter. —+--—-— for himself. He asked the host to let him have some quiet corner in his house, or at least some place away from the drunkards. M’Pherson, delighted at being relieved from considerable fear, promised everything. The horse received a plentiful feed of oats in the bollowed trunk of a tree. M’Pherson watered it himself, and the women in the mean time laid the cloth for the stranger, who naturally had to be content with such fare as the boisterous company outside had left. He ate his meal in silence, and the workmen felt hurt that he should keep aloof from them, and swore that he was to all appearance, too proud to eat and drink at the same table with them. ** Hang the puffed-up swell!” said Jack. ‘Is that the way to come into a but, and not even speak a word to the guests assembled? I wish the meat may choke him, and the wine turn to poison.” ‘* Leave him alone,” growled Mike. ‘ After all, there is no doing anything with such swells, and they only sneak from one station to the other, carryinge the news. Hurrah, boys, the bush is ours, Hang these nonsensi- cal fellows, and let every one that has a fine coat upon his back be—” “Stop, Mike,” muttered Ralph; “then I must take mine off, for I only got it this morn- ing from our worthy host—hang—hang bim— he cheated me.” ‘‘Never mind, keep it on,” growled Mike, who notwithstanding the enormous quantity of drink he had poured down his throat, was still almost perfectly sober, or at least cool. ‘‘ We don’t suspect you of being a gentleman, my boy, and now pluck up your neighbor from under the table, and put him on his stumps again. He was partly the cause of our having this sour stuff; and I’ll be hanged if he sha’n’t help to finish it.” “Miller, who was not accustomed to such indulgence, had already fallen down insensible. He was roused again by the cries and laughter of the rest, and had to begin anew. Unable to stand it any longer, he slipped away behind a bush, to get a nap for an hour or so. The rest paid no further attention to him; and, ob- served only by M’Pherson, he just reached" a quiet place, when the sound of a horse’s hoofs brought him to himself, and he looked up. A horseman stopped before him, and looked at him for a few seconds, with a shake of his head. iP “Hallo, mister!” cried the drunken fellow, with great difficulty; ‘‘ are you—hic—are you going already? We have here—hic—some fine company, only—hic—gentlemen shepherds and hut-keepers; but—hic—hic—herrid sour champagne. [ll be hanged—” He staggered under the bush, looked round once more with his lack-luster eyes, as if seeking for some one, and then fell back, to sleep away his inebria- tion, The horseman was M’Donald, continuing his flight upon his well-fed horse. He looked for some time at the man lying before him, lost in meditation; then pressed the flanks of his faithful animal, and soon disappeared in the twilight of the evening. CHAPTER VI. THE GERMAN SETTLEMENT. CiLosE to Adelaide, bordering upon the capi- tal of South Australia, the houses almost touching, or ane at least within sight of each qther, lay a small town, inbabited principally by Germans, and called Saaldorf. Its out- ward character was English; and the better sort of houses resembled English cottages in cleanliness and neatness of appearance; while others, with their tasteless, variegated colors, reminded one of the old home of their occu- pants. Everything, however, was in order. The hedges and railings were kept up in the best style; the streets were clean; the windows brilliant. Small groups of fat-cheeked, healthy-looking children romped and played outside, looking somewhat more untidy than the buildings. The type of the. German peasant youth, with their round chubby faces, could be plainly recognized in the majority of them. This small place consisted perhaps of from thirty to thirty-five houses, with two churches, and as many inns, or “ hotels.” It was distin- guished from the English towns of South Aus- tralia, inasmuch as it contained no jsil, usually the center of all towns in New South Wales. The land in the vicinity was also occupied chiefly by Germans; and the want of all such artisans and tradesmen had first allured a SE at a NET 6 a com choo ac en