CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
A WOOLLY PATIENT AND A SCARE.
The man had approached over the soft moss unheard, though Nic had hadwarning of his coming from the cockatoos, which had shrieked out theiralarm notes as he came down from among the sheep.
"Why, Leather, I did not hear you coming," said Nic, half annoyed by theinterruption.
"I suppose not, sir. You were too intent. Don't they bite?"
"No, not a bit," said Nic gruffly; and to himself, "I wish he'd go."
"What are you fishing with, sir?"
"Worms."
"They will only take worms after a flood, when the water's thick."
Then without a word the man walked away, and Nic drew his line sharplyfrom the water.
"Might have told me what bait they would take," muttered the boy."Perhaps he doesn't know. Wish I had brought some paste. I don't care;that's good enough bait for anything. Now, here, some of you--bite."
But they did not, and Nic sat upon a great stone, feeling ratherill-used. He was glad the convict had gone, and at the same time sorry.
"I suppose I answered him very gruffly, and that sent him off," thoughtNic.
"Now, sir. I've caught a few of these."
Nic jumped again, for once more the man had approached in silence.
"Eh! what have you got?"
"Locusts, or grasshoppers, sir. Have you a nice-sized new hook?"
"Oh yes, plenty," cried Nic eagerly, opening a flat box from which theman took one he thought suitable.
The next minute the hook bearing the great worm had been removed and onegood-sized shot only left on the line.
"Now,--sir," said Leather, "these grasshoppers are tender, so drop thebait gently on the surface, right over yonder where the stream comesround that end of the tree root.--Well done. Couldn't be better. Nowbe on the look-out, sir."
The running water carried the great insect several feet into the stillwater before the weight of the shot began to act. Then very slowly itwas drawn down beneath the surface, and they saw it descend anddisappear in the obscurity, the line being slowly drawn after it.
"They won't take that ugly, crooked-legged thing," said Nic. "Why, itwould choke any fish that ever breathed."
"Watch," said Leather quietly. "It takes some time to sink, for youhave only one shot on; but it looks more natural, and it has not yetreached the fish. I think I'd draw in my slack line now, sir, and beready to strike gently."
"No good," said Nic, who, however, took the advice.
"If you do hook one, don't let it run in among the old tree trunks, sir.If you do, the fish is lost. Directly you feel one, strike and lead itto the other end of the pool, and get it out in the shallows, where Ican land it for you."
"Handle it carefully, Leather," said Nic, with a grim smile. "You seeyour grasshoppers are no better than my worms. These fish don'tunderstand biting."
"No, sir, or they wouldn't have taken that locust. Steady, sir, steady.That's a heavy one. Well done; you'll master it. Your tackle'sstrong, and you must get it away from those roots and branches. That'sthe way. I'll go on and wait."
For, quivering with excitement, his pliable rod bent into a bow, and theline running sharply here and there through the water, Nic was followinga fish which had taken the bait with a rush deep down in the pool.
A minute later he had it near the surface, and had drawn it into thestream which ran out of the deep hole, into the shallowest part of whichthe convict had waded, and as soon as line and current had brought itnear enough, he gave one deft scoop with his joined hands and threw itout on to the bank.
"I say! is it true?" cried Nic. "I can't hardly believe it."
"It looks true enough, sir," replied the man. "Shall I take it off thehook?"
"Oh yes, please," cried Nic excitedly. "You've got some more of thosegrasshoppers?"
"Three, sir," said Leather, as he laid the fish at the boy's feet, "andI can soon get some more. You'll find these fish very good eating, butyou must catch a dishful."
"Why, Leather, you seem to know everything about the country."
"I have had a long training, sir. You will know more than I do when youhave been here two or three years. Now, then, throw in again."
"Here, hi! Do you know one of them sheep's falled down into a hole?I'm sure master don't mean you to be wasting all your time out there,and idling about like a schoolboy."
This was yelled hoarsely from some fifty yards away, and Nic saw thathis companion started as if he had been stung.
An angry speech was on Nic's lips at this interruption, but he checkedit, for he knew that he had no right to keep the man from his work.
"Coming directly," he said in loud tones. Then to. Leather: "Stop aminute while I catch another, and then you shall go. You must land itfor me."
Brookes was not kept long waiting, for another fish was hooked andlanded in the same way; but before Leather had scooped it out Brookeswas shouting again furiously.
"Must go, sir," said the convict.
"Stop and I'll come with you," cried Nic, laying down his rod as soon asthe fish was unhooked, and he hurried with the man to where Brookesstood talking, though half he said was inaudible.
"Here, Master Nic," he said, as they approached; "I dunno what yourfather'll say. Here's one of his best sheep o' that new breed down in ahole. You've no business to let that fellow leave his work."
"Where is it?" said Leather anxiously.
"Where is it? Where d'yer s'pose it is?" said Brookes fiercely. "Downin the narrer."
"The sheep were all safe a few minutes ago," said Leather; and he ranoff.
"Oh, yes," said Brookes, in a sneering tone; "'course they were."
"Is it badly hurt?"
"Badly hurt? I s'pose so. It'll have to be killed."
He trudged on, muttering surlily, and Nic followed up on to the levelground, where they could see the convict lowering himself down, only hishead and shoulders being visible.
The next minute they were standing at the edge of a narrow rift some sixfeet wide and as many deep--a rift that ran on down into the valley theyhad just quitted, and at the bottom of which lay a sheep bleatingpiteously as Leather bestrode its woolly carcass.
"Why didn't you pull it out instead of coming sneaking after us?" criedNic.
"Eh? What?" cried Brookes, staring. "'Tain't my place to look afterthey sheep. Leatherhead was set to do it, and he goes on neglecting hiswork. Ah! here comes the master. Now we shall see."
For the doctor was coming cantering toward them over the level groundfrom about a quarter of a mile away, and Nic felt vexed and in dread ofwhat was to follow.
"Is it hurt, Leather?" he said.
"Yes, sir, badly--its leg's broken," replied the man; and bending down,he placed his arms round the poor animal, raised it up on to hisshoulder, and began to climb with difficulty out of the rift. As hereached the edge he nearly slipped back.
"Why don't you help?" cried Nic angrily; but Brookes did not stir; andif the boy had not darted forward and got a good pull of the wool, manand sheep would have toppled backward to the bottom.
"Thank you, sir," said the convict. "There's no foothold, and I lost mybalance. One moment. That's it;" and the sheep was rolled off hisshoulder on to the grass.
"What's the matter?" cried the doctor, cantering up, leaping down, andthrowing the reins over his horse's head on to the grass, when thebeautiful animal stood still.
"One o' the best ewes down in that grip. I come and found it just now."
"Yes, but you didn't try to get it out," said Nic.
"It warn't in my charge," growled Brookes.
"How was this, my man?" said the doctor. "You were set to look afterthem."
"Yes, sir," said the convict respectfully. "The sheep were all right aquarter of an hour ago."
"Yes, and they'd ha' been all right now if you'd looked arter them'stead o' wasting your time fishing," growled Brookes. "I'm gladmaster's her
e to know."
"Were you fishing, sir?" said the doctor sternly; but before Leathercould answer Nic cried quickly:
"No, father, he wasn't. He came down to the river to get me a fewbaits. I wanted him there. Why didn't Brookes help the sheep out?"
"Because it was the other man's duty, sir," said the doctor quickly; andLeather gave the boy a sharp look, as much as to say, "Don't speak, sir;you'll make things worse."
"Ah, you needn't signal the young master to take yer part," criedBrookes. "It's true enough; you ain't worth your salt on the station."
"That will do, Brookes," said the doctor.
"Oh, I don't want to say nothing, sir. I was only looking arter yourproperty."
"Tut, tut, tut!" cried the doctor, as he felt the sheep's leg. "One ofmy choicest ewes. The leg's broken. That active sheep couldn't havebroken its leg through falling down there. It would have jumped it likea goat. Why, Leather, the poor brute has been savagely kicked."
"It looks like it, sir," said the convict quietly.
"Why, so it do," chimed in Brookes, as he bent over the helpless sheep.
"Do you know anything of it, sir?" cried the doctor, eyeing the convictkeenly.
The man shook his head.
"It's very strange," said the doctor, looking at Brookes, who took offhis hat, scratched his head, and looked round at the convict, while Nicglanced at Brookes's boots and then at the poor sandal-like shoes theconvict wore, which were evidently a piece of his own work.
"Like me to kill the poor thing out of its misery, sir," said Brookes,"and take off its skin?"
"No," said the doctor shortly.
"Won't be nothin' the matter with the meat, sir."
"Nic," said his father, "jump on the horse and ride home. Ask yourmother to give you a roll of bandage, and bring it back here."
"Yes, father."
"Why, you ain't going to bind that 'ere leg up, are ver?" said Brookes.
"Will you be good enough not to interrupt?" said the doctor. "Here, hi,Nic, my boy. Tell Samson to give you a sack and an axe. You can throwthe sack across the horse."
"Yes, father," cried the boy; and he cantered off, obtained the bandageand sack, and was back in less than an hour, to find that Leather had,under the doctor's directions, cut some pieces of wood from a tree, andwith these for splints the doctor cleverly bandaged the broken leg.
"There, Nic," he said, "I should not do that in a regular way, but thisis a very valuable sheep, brought out to me by one of the last ships.Now one of you cut a good stout pole, say twelve feet long."
Brookes looked at Leather, who caught up the axe and ran off.
While he was gone the doctor opened a part of the bottom of the sack,and cut four slits in the side; and this being done, Nic looked on insurprise while the sack was drawn over the struggling sheep's head, itshead pulled out of the bottom, and the legs put through the four slits.
"Now gather the sack together so that the poor brute cannot struggleout, Brookes," said the doctor; and this was easily effected, as theanimal was upon its side.
Then the doctor made holes and laced up the mouth of the sack securely,all but a few inches; and by this time Leather was back with a stout,neatly trimmed pole.
"Do you see what I mean?" said the doctor.
"Yes, sir," replied the convict, and he slipped the pole through thesack above the sheep's back, leaving about four feet out at each end.
"Now, Brookes, take the other end," said the doctor; "lift together, andget the pole on your shoulders, both of you."
"What, and carry that lame sheep home?" said Brookes.
"Yes; and its legs must not touch the ground."
"But hadn't you better let us chuck it across the back of the horse?"
"No. Now, together. Lift," cried the doctor; and as this was done thesheep gave a dismal bleat, and hung from the pole, with its head andlegs out,--a ridiculous-looking object, which made Nic smile, butBrookes's face made the smile expand, so soured and puckered did itbecome, for the sheep was heavy, the farm buildings were some distanceaway, and the sun was coming down hot as the two men strode away,Leather looking heavy and stern, but apparently ready to undertake anyamount of work.
"You can ride, Nic," said the doctor, as the boy fetched up the horse.
"But my fishing-rod and line, father?"
"Where are they?"
"Down yonder, by one of the pools."
"Oh, then you must go that way home."
"Yes, father, and I have two fish."
"Well done."
"I say, father, I feel sure that Leather did not kick that sheep."
"Who did then?" said the doctor.
"I don't like to say, father."
"That is suggesting your belief that it was Brookes, a man whom I havealways found to work well in my interests, Nic. He has no spite againstme."
"Do you think the other man has?"
"I don't know, boy. There, go on your way, and I'll go home. One word,Nic. I want you to enjoy yourself, but I cannot have my men taken awayfrom their work, mind that."
The doctor cantered after the men bearing the sheep, and as Nic stoodfor a few minutes watching them, he heard the sheep give a piteous baa,as if protesting against its treatment, after which the men halted andchanged shoulders.
Nic was too far off to see the expression of the men's faces, but hefelt pretty certain that Brookes's was anything but pleasant, and hefelt glad.
"I believe he did that out of spite against Leather," thought Nic, "soas to make it seem as if it was through neglect. I don't know, though,a man could hardly be such a brute."
Nic descended into the little valley once more, and made his way alongby the stream to the pool where he had left his rod.
"There's one more locust," he said to himself; "and I'll try and catchanother fish. Three will make a much better show. I dare say one wouldbite directly;" and determined to spend a few minutes in adding to hisbrace, he hurried on, thinking how beautiful the great, dense clump oftrees on the other side of the stream appeared, many of them droopinggracefully over the water.
"The beauty of a place like this is," he thought, "that you can leavethings about and there is no one to take them."
He smiled as he picked up his rod, drew the line through his fingers,and baited the hook with the great insect ready to cast right over intothe stream so that the locust might be washed naturally into the sunlitpool.
"Now, if I can catch another as big as the--Hullo! where are thosefish?"
Nic did not cast the locust, but stared hard at the spot where the fishhad been laid down upon some fern leaves; but though the latter werestill glistening with slime, the prizes were gone.
"They must have flopped their way back into the water," said Nic tohimself; "they went that way because it was all on a slope. Well, ofall the tiresome nuisances I ever knew, this is about the worst. Iwouldn't have lost those fish for anything. They must have flopped toand fro down here and over that soft place."
Nic's thoughts stood still. The soft place he alluded to was close downto the shallow where Leather had waded in, and the water which haddripped from his legs lay upon the herbage and soft, dank, moist earth;but there was something else--footprints! Not Leather's, made by broadshoe-soles, but newly impressed marks with wide-spreading toes, the bigtoe in each case being rather thumb-like in its separation from theothers.
For some two or three minutes Nic did not stir, but bent down staring atthose footprints. Then he glanced sharply over the shallows at thethick foliage, fully expecting to see a spear come flying at him.
"That's the way my fish went," he muttered as he turned and fled,feeling a sudden check the next minute, as if some one had seized therod which hung over his shoulder, and a thrill of fear ran through himas he turned sharply round, when snap went the line, and he saw that thehook and locust were sticking in an overhanging bough, and about a yardof the line was hanging down.
That was enough to drive away some of his f
ear, but not all.
"One can't fight blacks with fishing-rods," muttered the boy as he againbegan to run, and he made his way homeward more quickly than he hadcome, and did not pause once to look back, though if he had it wasdoubtful whether he would have seen the cunning black face peering fromout of the wattle scrub, watching him as he ran in and out through thetrees, and then disappearing as soon as Nic was out of sight.
The fugitive did not pause till he reached home bathed in perspiration,just as his father rode slowly in side by side with the laden men, theyhaving taken a shorter cut while he had followed the wanderings of thestream.
"Ah, Nic," cried his father, "you shouldn't run and overheat yourselflike that, boy. Now, men, carry the poor beast into the stable and restthe pole on the rails; its hoofs will then be about five inches from theground.--What?"
"Blackfellows, father," said Nic, as soon as he could get his breath; "Isaw their footmarks, and they have carried off my fish."
First in the Field: A Story of New South Wales Page 22