The Kangaroo Hunters; Or, Adventures in the Bush

by Clarence Young

  CHAPTER XVII.

  The Dangerous Pass.--The Coupled Travellers.--The MountainLabyrinth.--The Emancipation of Ruth's Chickens.--A Combat_a l'outrance_.--The Ornithorhyncus.--The Forest in theMountains.--Singing Birds.--The Laughing Jackass.

  Arthur was soon alert, and followed the boys, who led him up the side ofthe next high hill and along the ridge for about three hundred yards tothe south west, and then pointed out to him a narrow rent or gorge inthe mountain, lying far below the hill on which they stood; but fromthis hill a gradual ascent, formed by fallen rocks, made a rude path toa narrow shelf or terrace which they now saw far above them, and whichran along the precipitous side of the rocky wall. Arthur shuddered as hesaid, "Is that narrow terrace passable, do you think, Gerald?"

  "Oh, yes," answered he; "Hugh and I had a run along it before we wokeyou, and it is not half so bad as it looks. We shall manage very well ifwe go 'goose-walk;' but I think it would not be safe for two abreast. Tobe sure, it is rather confusing to look down into the depths below; butwe must give them all a caution, and I think it would be better toblindfold Ruth."

  "There is nothing for us but to try it," said Arthur. "Let us return tobreakfast before we set out."

  "Yes, we might as well reduce the bulk of the kangaroo," said Hugh, "forit will be awkward to carry it along our pass."

  But when the plan was fully arranged, it was judged expedient to cut upthe kangaroo, and only carry away sufficient for another day'sconsumption. Even the useful skin was reluctantly abandoned, as Arthurknew well they must have no unnecessary encumbrance. Ruth could not,however, be persuaded to leave her pet fowls, but resolutely set outwith her basket on her arm.

  Then, after beseeching a blessing on their perilous journey, theymarched forward, and gradually ascending the hills, they reached thenarrow path that skirted the mountain. This natural shelving wasscattered over with loose stones, and occasionally broken away till aledge of only about five or six feet was left for them; but the creepingplants that covered the rock enabled the timid to grasp a kind ofsupport on one hand, as they moved cautiously along the unequal andperilous path. Below this terrace yawned a deep gully, that formed thebed of a stream, which at all seasons washed its sides. This stream wasnow shallow, and moved sluggishly; but rugged crags, and torn-up trees,lying in the bed, showed that raging torrents must pour into it afterthe rainy season.

  From the interstices of the bush-covered rocks sprang the gray-leavedgum-tree, the elegant casuarina, and a bright-leaved tree resembling thebox, but lofty and strong. Among these trees parrots and cockatooschattered incessantly, and on the gum-trees hundreds of little activeopossums sported with all the playfulness of monkeys; and Mr. Mayburnwas so interested in watching them hang from the branches, suspended bytheir curved tail, to rifle the nests of the birds, or feed on thenumerous insects round them, that Arthur, in alarm, stepped back to holdhis father by the arm.

  "I tell you what we must do, Arthur," said Gerald; "we must be linked incouples, as the travellers on the Alps are; then, if one makes a falsestep, there's a chance for his mate to draw him up."

  "No bad plan, Gerald," answered Arthur; "but we must take care to couplewith judgment. The prudent or brave must take charge of the rash or thetimid. I will take papa; Jack, his unlucky sister; Hugh, Margaret, or,more correctly, Margaret must take Hugh; Wilkins will take charge ofnurse; and you, the neglected proposer of this wise measure, cannotprofit by it, unless you will submit to be guided by Baldabella, whoseems to trip along with her lively burden unapprehensive of danger."

  Hugh preferred to walk unfettered; and Arthur had no fears for thenative woman, whose firm and steady step showed that she had beenaccustomed to such rough and scrambling paths.

  Arthur, who was the first of the line, now became uneasy, as, on lookingbefore him, he remarked that, as far as the eye could reach, thereappeared to be no termination to the mountain wilderness. He could havefancied that a labyrinth of broken, precipitous, lofty, and interminablerocks shut them completely from the world. It was a bewilderingprospect, and even the strong heart of Arthur almost failed him, and hishead whirled at the sight of such stupendous and uncertain difficulties.

  A scream from Ruth recalled him to his immediate duties, and on turninground he saw her much-valued basket of poultry bound down the precipiceover the bushes, till it rested on a lower ledge, some hundreds of feetbeneath them, where it flew open, and the fowls, uninjured by theirinvoluntary flight, fluttered from their prison, and began calmly topeck about for food; while the little bantam cock proclaimed his libertyby shaking his plumes and uttering his conceited hoarse crow.

  "They are settlers now, Ruth," cried Gerald, laughing; "the firstcolonists--regular squatters. How astonished future travellers will bewhen they make the curious discovery: a species of bird remarkably like_Gallus Barndoorii_. What grand names they will bestow on them! andwrite long papers, and puzzle ornithologists."

  But the patriarch of this new species was not allowed to squat among theaborigines with impunity; his triumphant notes were answered by a crowof defiance in a less familiar tone from a splendid cock pheasant, whichpounced down on the new comer with a furious peck, that the true-trainedEnglish bird, notwithstanding his foreign ancestry, could not brook. Thebrave little bantam retaliated boldly, and a furious combat ensued,causing even the English hens to raise their heads from their pleasantfeast, and appear somewhat interested in the event; while Ruth shrieked,"He'll kill him! Jack, honey! throw a stone at him! drive him off!Chuck! chuck!"

  But though Ruth's familiar cry failed to separate the combatants _al'outrance_, the pleased hens recognized the well-known call, andresponded to it by fluttering and scrambling up the mountain side, topartake of the scattered grain; and in the fulness of their feast, theywere easily captured, and stowed in separate bags and pouches, till anew dwelling could be made for them.

  Then the little feathered hero below, having vanquished and left hisantagonist for dead, perched for a moment on the pinnacle of a shatteredrock, and crowed triumphantly, as if to defy the whole race of nativebirds; after which demonstration, he leisurely followed his femalefriends up the steep, to share their feast and their captivity.

  Notwithstanding the alarm and delay caused by this accident, there wassomething amusing about it that was not without its beneficial effects.Ruth continued to lament the loss of her basket; but Jack scolded herseriously for her foolish fears and awkwardness, which were the solecause of the loss. He declared the fowls were absolute pests, and whollyuseless in a region where birds and eggs dropped into your hands; buthis remonstrances having produced tears of penitence and promises ofamendment, he relented, and promised to make for her a coop, or cage, ofcane, which would be easier to carry than the basket, and afford moreair to the unfortunate prisoners.

  After wandering for two days along their frequently dangerous, andalways difficult, aerial pathway, resting only when they came to somerocky hollow, they began to pine for a less-hazardous road; and they nowperceived that, with the usual caprice of Australian rivers, the streamin the narrow bed below them had disappeared, though slender rillscontinually fell from the mountains, but subsided into bogs, or formedpools below. They therefore resolved, if they could safely accomplishit, to descend to the bed of the river; and endeavor to extricatethemselves from the rocky maze in which they seemed hopelessly involved.

  After another day's travelling, they fancied the descent appeared morepracticable than it had yet been since they set out on the shelvingterrace, and it was decided to make the trial. The first step woulddecidedly be the most difficult. About twelve feet below them anothershelf of rock projected, wider than that on which they now stood; buthow to reach it was a puzzling question, for the descent wasperpendicular, and quite overgrown with thorny bushes.

  "If you will help me, Master Hugh," said Jack, "I think we may manageit. We must just cut down the bushes into steps like for them that feeltimid."

  Employment was the grand need of the active boys, and to clear a pa
ssageas low as they could reach, and then step down on the bushes to workbelow, was a pleasant amusement. The stone axes were now found to beperfectly serviceable, and they soon cut six clearances, each two feetdeep, graduating like a staircase, of which the matted brush formed thesteps, which reached to the lower terrace; and down the staircase theagitated females were, one after another, assisted, and safely placed onthe broad shelf.

  This was a decided victory, and they now saw, to their greatsatisfaction, that the lower descent sloped so much, from accumulatedrocks and drift-wood, that by clearing the way with the axes, theyeasily reached the comparative security of the muddy bed of the vanishedriver. They looked round on the immense walls which inclosed them withsome dismay; then Gerald said,--

  "Now, Meggie, we only want the great rains to come on, and then we shallhave some notion of the situation of sinful man in the Deluge."

  "I trust, my dear boy," said Mr. Mayburn, "that you do not allude tothat fearful judgment with levity. And surely, Arthur, we are not nearthe time of the terrific tropical rains."

  "Usually, papa, I believe the heaviest autumnal periodical rains are inFebruary and March," said Arthur. "We are now in the midst of summer;still I must confess I have read of continued rains, even at thisseason; but I trust we shall be in a safer locality before such tryingweather comes on. We are certainly progressing in the way we wish to go;but the immense extent of the mountain-range is extraordinary.Fortunately, we are not in a desert, we are surrounded by plenty, and asfar as we have yet penetrated, ferocious animals seem unknown; and more,ferocious man rarely encountered. I only fear for your strength, dearpapa, and for that of dear Meggie."

  "Fear not for us, Arthur," answered Margaret; "you know I am naturallystrong; and God has given renewed life and health to dear papa. Hisdelight in these new and varied scenes of Nature makes every toil lightto him. Observe him now, pausing and contemplating something at yonlarge pond; let us join him. Now, papa! what is the new discovery?"

  "Wonderful, my children," said he. "Behold this marvellous new creature.Undoubtedly it must be the _Ornithorhyncus paradoxus_, the duck-billedPlatypus, which I should have recognized, from the numerous sketches Ihave seen; and my warmest hopes are fulfilled in the happiness of reallylooking on the rare animal in its native wilds."

  "Is't a duck, think ye, Miss Marget?" asked Ruth, with a kind of awe.

  "Has a duck four legs, Ruth?" asked Gerald. "Has it fur on its back,and a broad finny tail? No, Ruth, this is not a strange fowl, but astrange beast."

  "Nevertheless," said Mr. Mayburn, "there are irreconcilablecircumstances in such a decision. This animal, if we rank it among themammalia, belongs to no order yet named, but stands alone. Quadruped itis, certainly; web-footed, certainly; ovo-viviparous, certainly, as theeggs are hatched before birth, and the young then suckled, like themammalia. Feeding on worms and grubs, like the duck; sleeping rolled up,like the hedgehog; playful as the monkey, and harmless as the dove;--wecannot but look with astonishment and admiration on this remarkablecaprice of Nature."

  "They're ugly beasts, that I'll say," was Jenny's remark, "and not halfso good as a duck for such as us; but I'se warrant them poor heathenseat 'em as we would a roast goose."

  Leaving the platypus, which they now saw at every pool as theyproceeded, they walked on till the ravine gradually became wider, butthe mountain-line still spread on each side. Soon after, the poolsdisappeared, and rich grass supplied their place. Wild and wonderful wasnow their daily journey, for before them lay immense untrodden forests,inclosed between lofty cliffs, which rose to the clouds, and thetravellers felt inspired with awe as they looked round on the majesty ofNature.

  Yet the softer features of loveliness were not absent; every step was onsome beautiful, usually some quite new, plant, and the lofty foresttrees were of species now first seen, and were garlanded round withflowering creepers of the most brilliant dyes; while the rich perfumeof the jasmine, and the heliotrope-like odor of the golden-blossomedacacia filled the air. Bright _orchidae_, unnamed and unknown, masses offerns of unexampled beauty, were scattered round this vast conservatoryof nature; and amidst all this profusion, thousands of birds whistled,chattered, warbled, and uttered the startling foreign notes which assureyou that you are in a strange land.

  There was the sweet-voiced bell-bird, a pretty little creature, whosenotes ring with a silver sound; there was the pert pied bird, whichmight seem really a magpie, if it were not tailless, which has a lowflute-like song, swelling like the organ; whence it is named by thecolonists the organ-magpie; and as each strain of these warblers diedaway, the loud, hoarse, derisive notes of a curious bird, resemblingnone of the known species of the world, seemed to ridicule the musicalperformers.

  "No doubt, papa," said Hugh, "this must be the 'laughing jackass,' ofwhich we have read an account. Do you hear the regular 'Ha! ha! ha!'from which he derives his name, and which sounds so strangely whenmingled with the notes of the warblers? But now he has roused all thecockatoos and parrots, who are screaming their jargon above all othersounds."

  "Just listen, Hugh," said Gerald, "those jackass birds are surelyblowing a penny trumpet. Did you ever hear such a noise--laughing,braying, trumpeting? you might fancy you were at a country fair. HowRuth does stare! I say, Ruth, what do you think of them?"

  "Will they be Christians, Master Gerald?" asked the trembling girl.

  "Hopeless heathens, Ruth," answered the wild boy; "feathered donkeys,flying punches, instinctive mocking-birds, repeating sounds which theyhave never heard. See, papa, there is one of the jolly fellows, perchedon yon gum-tree. What a monstrous beak he has!"

  "I contemplate the bird with great interest, my boy," answered Mr.Mayburn. "It has been classed with the Halcyons by naturalists, andnamed _Dacelo gigantea_; yet, in its social habits, and flexible and aptorgans of voice, it seems rather to resemble the jay. It is somewhatremarkable that amidst the gorgeously-attired birds that surround it,this rarely-gifted bird wears a garb so simple and unadorned. Youobserve that it frequents the gum-tree, and its sombre plumage,assimilating so happily with the gray foliage of the tree, is at once aprotection and a distinction. How rejoiced I should be, my dear boy, ifwe could make a complete collection of these rare creatures; but thedifficulties of transporting them safely in our journey areinsurmountable."

  "Wait, sir," replied Gerald, "till we catch our quaggas; then Jack willmake us a wagon, which we can convert into a menagerie, filled withcurious animals, and drawn by our own beasts."

  "The quagga is not a native of Australia, Gerald," replied Mr. Mayburn;"nor does the country, happily, produce any of the large and fiercequadrupeds. We must not dare to think of any vehicle for travelling; yetmany hundred miles separate us from the useful animals of our dearfriends the Deverells; and my heart fails me when I reflect on theimprobability of our ever reaching them."

  Margaret sighed as she said, "And I too, dear papa, cannot help manyidle wishes that we were come to open plains, and more direct paths.These lovely wilds of Nature, forests and mountains, are very charming;but they seem too romantic and unreal to be satisfactory. If we were tokeep a journal, and publish it hereafter, we should, I fear, beridiculed for inventing fairy tales."

  "In truth, Margaret," answered her father, "fairy tales were notoriginally mere inventions of the imagination. They were the offspringof the experience of observing travellers over lovely untrodden wildslike these. And what are the miraculous transformations they describebut such as might really happen--the ingenious contrivances of man whendestitute of all the resources of civilized life? Has not Jacktransformed a flint-stone into an axe? and have we not cups and plateswhich were once the abodes of the shell-fish? Difficulties originatemiraculous efforts, and man is indebted to the good fairies, Necessityand Ingenuity, for many of his comforts."

  "Very true, dear papa," said Arthur; "and the fairy Necessity now callson us peremptorily to escape from these forests, where I have twiceduring this day heard the _coo-ee_ of the natives, though at aconsider
able distance before us. I have been for some time anxiouslyexamining the south side of the gorge for any outlet which may enable usto turn away from their haunts."

  They had been making their way for some hours along the southernextremity of the forest, still hemmed in by the high rocks, when Gerald,creeping into a narrow cleft, declared that he had found a tunnel, andcalled on Hugh to assist him in exploring it. Fearful that they shouldbewilder themselves in the recesses of the mountains, Arthur proposedthat all the party should enter the opening, which was a cavern of greatheight and space, where they might remain till he and his brotherspenetrated further into the rocks. They lighted some dry branches fortorches, and set out, satisfied that the rest would be in safety in thissecure retreat.

  The boys found this tunnel descend gradually: sometimes it was narrowand low, sometimes wide and encumbered with fallen fragments of rock;still, it was airy, and they were able to pass on, till they concludedthey must have walked half a mile. They were then so desponding thatthey thought of turning back, but at length a glimmering of lightsatisfied them that there must be another outlet, and they took courageto proceed, till they reached a matted thicket of brushwood throughwhich they forced their way, and then had the pleasure of seeing the skyabove their heads, though they were still in a very narrow gully. Itseemed to be the dry bed of a rivulet, choked up with stones and torn-upbushes. Before them rose another line of bush-covered mountains, but notso lofty or precipitous as those they had left behind.

  "Is it worth while," said Hugh, "to drag the whole party through thatgloomy subterranean passage, to bring them into this glen, which seemsperfectly barren and lifeless? I am of opinion that we were better inour old forest."

  "Wait for my decision," said Gerald, springing up the side of theopposite mountains, regardless of the rending of his light blouse, andhis scratched hands; and before long he stood on the summit.

  "This will do for us capitally," he cried out. "Wide plains below, butan awkward step down to them. Jack will have to cut a staircase again."

  This account of the country satisfied Arthur, and they hastened back atonce to relieve the anxiety of their friends, whom they found in a stateof great alarm. The cries of the savages had gradually approached sonear to them, that Margaret induced Wilkins and Jack to close theopening by which they had entered with a large piece of rock. Then theyhad heard voices close to the rocks, and Baldabella, who was now able tospeak many English words, said--"Many bad black fellows! much bad! seewhite man foot-walk.--Black fellow come--slow, slow--catch all--eatmaster--eat miss--eat old Jin--eat Nakinna--all! all!"

  It was with much difficulty they restrained the cries of Ruth, when shecomprehended that she was in danger of being eaten; and though Mr.Mayburn doubted and disputed the existence of cannibalism in Australia,Wilkins and Jack succeeded in inducing the whole family to move on inthe track of the pioneers, rather than risk the danger of discovery atthe mouth of the cave.