CHAPTER VII
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CHAPTER VII.
DISAPPOINTED so severely on the diggings, I began to think of my old trade of soldiering, and, having good introductions in the north, I took my passage in a coasting steamer, "The Queen," whose commander, Captain Francis, was as jovial and good-hearted a little skipper as ever trod a bridge, and, after touching at Nelson, Wellington and Taranaki, arrived at at the Manukau Heads in safety.
Here, after a few days, I presented my papers, which were pronounced satisfactory by the then War Minister, and I was told that I could place my name at the bottom of the list if I chose (it already contained upwards of 100 names), and take my chance of a commission in the honourable (?) Colonial Army! I declined, feeling at once that my chance was indeed minute. Next day I saw a boy of less than twenty, who was said to have been turned out of the navy, gazetted to a commission a few days after his arrival in the colony, and a short time afterwards he was seen on the march, in command of a detachment of Waikato Militia, drunk, and rolling along the road at the head of his men, arm and arm with a sailor with whom he had chummed. What I say on this matter I say not from any soreness on my part, but from an unprejudiced view of the then existing system of things at the seat of Government. I saw at that time men walking the streets of Auckland, adventurers certainly, and soldiers of fortune,
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but yet men who had served half their lives in half the countries in the world, whose claims were ignored by the money-lending Methodist who had at that time the control of affairs; while the last sweeping of an aristocratic dunghill, or the nephew (as in the case of the child I mentioned above) of a "great Mogul," were he the most worthless and inexperienced character conceivable, would have his claims allowed. The attempt at any denial of these charges would be utterly useless in the face of facts which can be produced, for they are notoriously well known to all who have had a private view "behind the scenes."
I must mention here a trivial incident that becomes interesting at the time I am writing, when the death of Major Von Tempsky in the field has just appeared in the papers. That gallant soldier was at this time in Auckland, holding the rank of Captain, and in the very zenith of his reputation, being deservedly made a lion of; for a more fearless and dashing officer has never served in the Colonial or any other army.
I had gone one day to the War Office, and was waiting in the anteroom for an interview with Mr B------, the Minister. One or two persons had also entered after me; one of them was Captain Von Tempsky. His appearance, though slightly too melodramatic, was wild and picturesque: a rough, blue serge shirt, open at the breast, over which his long black hair fell flowing over his shoulders, clear cut features, which, though seamed and worn with a reckless and hazardous life, were still handsome. In short, he was more like one of Salva-
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tor Rosa's brigands than a commissioned officer in the nineteenth century. He, as well as the rest of us, was waiting till our turns should come to see the Minister. Some time passed without the summons being given.
At length the attendant came to say that Mr. B------ was at leisure. There was an immediate advance of more than one, when Captain Von Tempsky stepped before the rest, with a bow, and asserted his right to enter, his business being of extreme and urgent importance; then turning attention to me, he observed, "And if it were not so, this young gentleman has a claim prior to all of us, having waited the longest for an interview, so I shall beg to waive my right in his favour, if he will permit me." I insisted on his seeing Mr. B------ before me, as his business was of far more importance than my own, and, after a few courteous refusals, gained my point.
About this time I made the acquaintance of one who, like many other of my colonial friends, was a strange anomaly. He had been many things in his time, and was now full private in the 3rd Waikato Regiment of Militia. He had come down to Auckland, on a short leave of absence, to meet a brother who was about to sail for England, to take possession of a legacy of £30,000. This young brother had himself come up from Wellington in the steamer with me, and by him I was introduced to my mad friend, and also to another private of the same regiment who had come down with Duncan. Him, after a short conversation, I found to be the son of a Devonshire vicar, and from the neighbourhood of
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some of my own relatives. With these two mad-caps for my Poins and Bardolph, I dropped a most unprofitable fortnight into the lap of time; then, having received change for my last piece of paper, I began to contemplate a move.
Being one day in the neighbourhood of the Club House, I heard that the doctor of the --rd regiment (a detachment of which was then stationed at the Lower Wairoa) was about to sail round to that place in a small boat. Having a cousin in the regiment, I introduced myself to the worthy medico, and was immediately offered a "lift" in his little craft. We had a most merry passage, just arriving in time for the mess in their snug "wharry." Among the officers in the detachment was a big and intensely comical Irishman, whose flirtations with the Maori beauties of the neighbourhood were a source of constant amusement. He thoroughly believed that they understood the richness of his brogue, and would "bother" them as if they were regular Connemara darlings, though to all his overtures their only answer was a volley of gutturals that would have put to the rout the impudence of any but a Paddy.
After a few days thus spent, I proceeded to a place in the neighbourhood, where was stationed part of the Colonial Defence Force, a mounted corps, to the officers of which my cousin had given me letters of introduction. Through the interest of these and my own recommendation as a fair rider, I was before long enrolled as an orderly attached to the gallant C. D. F. 's.
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Of these orderlies (they were twenty-five in number) eleven were born and bred as gentlemen; one was a claimant in an interminable peerage case, pending the settlement of which Private Tracy was content to be the D'Orsay of a colonial troop of cavalry. Another was an Irish lawyer, whose relatives had been eminent in various branches of that profession in their native country for centuries. We employed the best tailor, bootmaker and hatter in the town of Auckland. Our duties consisted in attending stables three times a day, in keeping our revolvers and saddlery bright and clean, our boots without a speck to dim their polish, our breeches neat and in good order, and the broad white bands of our little cavalry caps in a perpetual condition of pipeclay. Beyond this, reading the papers when off duty in the verandah of the neighbouring hotel, criticising the coach passengers that stopped there for refreshment, and flirting with the settlers' daughters, was our sole employment. At the end of six months, the war being for the most part at an end, it was suddenly discovered by Government that the Postal Orderlies, though a highly ornamental body of men, were scarcely indispensable to the wellbeing and safety of the community at large; accordingly, on a pleasant and sunshiny morning, we were quietly discharged from further service, and I dropped at once from the get-up of a spur-clanking trooper into the unpretending garments of a private citizen.
A few days later, I was sitting at a desk in the Commissary-General's office on the Fort Hill, performing
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the duties of an extra clerk attached thereto, with the style and title of lance-sergeant. The pressure of business, which had been the cause of my appointment, however, being shortly withdrawn, I, with others in a like case, was soon pronounced a free man again, that freedom slightly clogged with the loss of three-and-sixpence a day and rations. Things about this time began to wear an unpromising appearance, and were soon at their worst, when, after three days of existence supported solely by five carraway biscuits, a pint of beer, and all the water-cress I could consume from the public gardens, I had serious thoughts of a raid on a beef and ham shop, the proprietor of which had refused me a plate of meat. Affairs when in this state are generally pronounced "sure to mend." I at this juncture received a satisfactory answer from my kind-hearted cousin to whom I had applied for a helping hand. Another week passed away, and I was still as far as ever from obtaining the certainty of three meals a day. I had gone over to Onehunga one afternoon to answer an advertisement for a substitute in the Waikato Militia, which offered as a bonus the munificent sum of £5. When coming away disappointed as usual (for there had been over forty applications for the same thing), I observed one applicant of more refined manner and appearance than the rest walking slowly and despondingly away. Bringing up alongside of him, I hailed him in colonial parlance with the usual salutation, "Well mate, what luck?" His reply was decidedly low-spirited, and our sympathies being mu-
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tually awakened, we soon became confidential, and agreed to join forces.
On comparing notes as to the state of the funds, we ascertained that our combined resources amounted to exactly eighteenpence. Having now a partner in misfortune, I determined to go up the country and endeavour to obtain work for both of us on one of the farms. Before making a start I contrived to raise one pound by a lucky accident (not worth mentioning), and after a good feed, a good bed, and a good smoke, we took the road with spirits far lighter even than our pockets. A few days found us at Drury, again reduced to about ninepence in ready money, and a small loaf. My companion had with him the remnants of his menage, in the shape of a glossy white blanket. This I began to view with an eye to business, and suggested its immediate sale. My partner agreeing, I straightway carried it on my arm to the nearest store, where, after a quarter of an hour's hard bargaining with the buxom mistress of the establishment, I succeeded in disposing of it for eight shillings. This sum we expended in sufficient flour, tea, and sugar to keep our bodies and souls together for at least a day or two.
On entering the township we had noticed at the side of the road a small thatched hut, of which we now took possession, and while Finnerty mixed the flour in the hut, I borrowed an axe from some brickmakers close by, and went into the bush for firewood. Having cut a sufficient quantity, we "humped" it out of the bush and packed it beside our new home. The weather
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was very cold, and as we had no warm coverings we were obliged to range ourselves close in front of a large fire at which we baked our bread. In this way, travelling the country by day in search of work, and returning at night to our hut, we passed some days while our supplies lasted. During the evenings spent over our pipes, gazing into the red logs in front of us, I drew from Finnerty the circumstances that had brought him to this pass. His history was rather curious. But four months before this time a lieutenant in the 7--th, he had the command of an Imperial Chinese regiment under Major Gordon, and while in that position had seen good service in the field. The only trousers he had left had more than one shot hole in them, good proof of his having smelt powder in their company. Unfortunately fond of the speculative excitement attached to the turf, he had come down with nearly eighteen months' extra salary (£100 per month command allowance) to the Hong Kong races, and had "stood to win" a considerable amount.
As it has happened to many a poor fellow before, he lost beyond all possibility of payment, except by the sale of his commission. On the evening of that day of losses he sat down and "sent in his papers," taking care, however, to state that he did so for the express purpose of settling in New Zealand. This proviso entitled him to the possession of 400 acres within the province of Auckland. His resignation accepted and his debts paid, he came straight to Auckland, his small stock of ready money having been soon exhausted, swallowed
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up by the capacious maw of a colonial lodging-house keeper. He had sought for employment of any description; in this he had utterly failed.
In the middle of one night we were roused by a roaring in our ears, and had only time, the one to snatch his pocket-book (containing the land order referred to) from the thatch, the other his black "dudheen" from the same place, before the hut was a raging furnace. We had kept ourselves too warm that night.
Once more houseless, with only one small cake left, we set out on our travels. With alternate good and bad luck we journeyed on, and in a few days found ourselves back in Auckland. With a feeling of desperation we entered a good hotel and took rooms. After breakfast in the morning we went into the town with the same old object in view. The first place to which the "hard-up" were wont to betake themselves at that hour was the office of the Southern Cross newspaper, in the advertisement sheet of which, pasted up outside, they would seek for a chance of congenial billets. While peering over the heads of the mixed mob there as usual collected, we spied among the "wanted" an advertisement for a substitute in the Waikato Militia. The bonus offered was £20, and as Finnerty had the longest legs I packed him off to the address of the advertiser. Seeing nothing better for myself than the chance of a boatman's place at Wynyard Pier, I was hurrying in that direction, when, on turning the corner of Shortland Crescent, I was met by a worthy sergeant of my acquaintance, who greeted
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me with words of startling effect: "Money, you're the very man I have been hunting for for days; you've come in for a lot of money." The news was true as welcome; the subsidy from home placed me in position. The tide had turned, and after once more arraying myself in decent attire I took ship and went to Christchurch.
On my arrival I went up the country to stay with my old friend Collison, the co-editor of our paper on the voyage out. His father having died shortly before and left him some thousands, he had bought land and settled on it, doing most of the labouring work himself. I found him snugly established in a boarded cabin, with a good shingle roof above, while at a short distance from it were a stable and tool house, with a hut for any men he might have occasion to employ. The inside of his den was a complete little bachelor's hall. Two book-cases filled with books hung on the wall; two neat iron bedsteads, one at each side of the room; with table, wash-stand, chairs, and a few trunks, completed the furniture of the apartment, which I shared with him for three delightful weeks.
The accounts of my wanderings upon the West Coast soon spread far and wide, and amongst others infected by them with a spirit of adventure was a man of wiry constitution and active habits employed in the neighbourhood with a party of surveyors. He offered to give up his situation, and share the chances of my next trip to the diggings. These were situated on the very creek at which we had landed from our "mogueys"
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after our flying voyage down the Teremakau. A few miles above the place we had then worked on there had since been found a good payable gold-field, and to this we were now bound. On our arrival we procured a tent, tools, and tucker, pegged off a claim, and were soon hard at work.
A month passed with varying success, during which we tried more than one piece of ground. The only event worth mentioning during our stay on the Greenstone Creek was the discovery, by two old Buller diggers of my acquaintance, of a huge lump of greenstone, the largest that had yet been found in the islands. We saw it in their claim (which was on a terrace some fifty feet above the creek) the morning after its discovery. The size of the greenstone was from 18 inches to 2 feet in width, and about 2 1/2 feet in height; its surface was smooth as glass, and when struck with a pick or a stone it gave out a metallic ring. It was sold subsequently to the Maories for £10.
At the end of a month we resolved on a change. Accordingly we tossed up one Sunday morning which of the creeks we should make for. The lot fell on one with the arithmetical title of the Six-mile Creek, from which good accounts had been arriving for some time. A mile or two from the beach on the edge of this creek we came the next day on a small flock of storekeepers on the wing for the central point of the diggings some twelve miles up the river. Great news had lately arrived, and a tremendous rush was expected to set in. Naturally wishing to be the first at the scramble, we
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hurried on. By the time we had boiled our billy, at daw-dawn the next morning, outside the future township which we had reached overnight, we were surrounded by an eager mob -- lighting fires, pitching tents, drinking, fighting, cursing, and shouting, all at once. By eleven o'clock, in the heart of a dense and almost untrodden bush, a street had arisen as if created by the magic wand of an enchanter. Swift as the walls of Aladdin's palace, stores, shanties, public-houses, butchers, bakers, and doctors' shops, were to be found on every side; while in the thick of the densely-packed throng that filled the roadway from one end to the other I counted no less than three ring fights, carried on most energetically by both principals and backers. We spent that day and the next in rushing up the branches of the Six-mile, but found every inch of ground occupied. Returning rather despondingly in the evening, we determined to wait no longer amongst the crowd, but to strike out over the head of the range in search of fresh ground. Here we were again disappointed, for what little was worth trying was already taken up. We were returning to the Six-mile, when I heard voices hailing me from the top of a hill above me. Looking up, I saw some Maories, whom I had known on the Buller River, beckoning to me. Seeing there was something in the wind, I coo'ed to my mate and tumbled up the rise as fast as I could. With them I found Bill Everest, who had been one of my party down the old Teremakau. "You're right, old man," said he, as I came up panting; "follow the signs
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through there," pointing to the bush, "and they will take you to Maori Gully."
I had heard a vague whisper of a "find" called by this name during the morning; but, as these things are always kept a profound secret, I had despaired of learning the situation. Into the bush I dashed without a word, and for some miles, alternately losing and finding the "spoor," in the shape of trodden undergrowth and broken twigs, arrived late in the evening at the foot of a spur, at a spot overhanging the creek of which I was in search. On looking over the edge of the ravine I saw below me the faces of several that I had known on the Greenstone. They had evidently arrived but a very short time, and were shouldering their swags after descending the ugly-looking drop between us. By letting our swags fall with a run, and throw our tools after them, we were enabled to make a breakneck descent into the creek below; and an hour afterwards were crowing over our luck at being among the favoured few destined to make their "piles" in Maori Gully. Alas for the vanity of human expectations and the patchy character of New Zealand gold-fields! our claim proved a "duffer." No less than fifteen shafts did we sink in the terrace and creek within the limits of our claim, but found a prospect of nothing sufficient to encourage us in working it. Disgusted with our bad fortune, we resolved to separate, I myself taking the remainder of our provisions, and with one mate going out for a fortnight's prospecting. At the end of that time, finding no encouragement, I returned to the Six-
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mile township, resolving to take the first job I came across. I had not been in the place many hours before I was appointed assistant to a baker, with a salary of £ 4 a week, my board, and as many meat-pies and as much hop-beer as I could contrive to consume. My duties must have slightly differed, I conceive, from those attached to the same office in this country. I had to keep two large ovens constantly supplied with firewood, which I had to fall, split, and carry out of the bush. Besides this, I brought the water, necessary for the large quantity of bread which my employer supplied to the community of storekeepers and diggers, from the creek. Chopping the beef for pies, making hop-beer, and cooking our meals, besides taking my turn in the shop, occupied what little remained of my day. Night was devoted to playing euchre, cribbage or all-fours, or to yelling convivial choruses and dancing to the tune of a stray fiddle. A month slipped away, and my "boss" found his business so increase as to enable him to establish branch bakeries on other creeks in the neighbourhood. This requiring additional capital, he took to himself a partner for the management of the Six-mile trade. Not liking this change in the administration, I gave up office, merely remarking, what was afterwards verified, that the new manager would require two hands to do my work.
I next turned my attention to chimney-building, and contracted with a neighbouring storekeeper to erect him a wide and substantial fire-place, the chimney included, 9 feet in height, for £5. I employed an assist-
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ant at £1 a-day, and in two days we finished the chimney. Home readers must not picture to themselves a solid brick edifice such as is generally associated with their ideas of a chimney. The apparatus that I employed in its construction was simple in the extreme; it consisted solely of from twenty to thirty straight limbs 12 feet long, a few hand-barrow loads of large stones, and a few buckets full of mud. A bullock's hide stretched round the top made the sides sufficiently air-tight to allow of a clear vent. My first undertaking having succeeded beyond my expectations, I had orders soon for as many chimneys as I could erect, and as I seldom cleared less than two pounds per day I considered it a lucrative profession. Other competitors, however, starting in the business, I had to turn my attention to something else. The stores and public-houses having been put upon uneven ground, I contracted also to level the floors in their interior, and subsequently laid down gravel thereon. This also for a time was a paying game; but before many weeks demand for labour of this description began to fail, and consequently for some days I was thrown out of work. At this time the road from the beach up to the township, a distance of twelve miles, passing, as it did, the whole way through heavy bush and thick undergrowth, and crossing and re-crossing the creek-bed every hundred yards, was in a condition perfectly inconceivable to those who have not been to a great rush on the West Coast Diggings in New Zealand. Roots of all sizes, torn and mangled when small into a sort of maccaroni
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squash, and when large remaining a dead hindrance to both horses and man, caused the mud ploughed by cattle and pack-horses to assume the appearance of a torrent; so bad was it that the whole distance was marked by the bones of dead animals. The price given for the package of stores was £3 per hundred for the twelve miles, and I suddenly bethought me of the possibility of making myself into a very profitable pack-horse.
Turning into the nearest store accordingly, I called for a nobbler, and asked the storeman, while he bittered the decoction, what he would give a man for bringing the various articles he required.
He stared on hearing my question, and said, "Why, you're never going to make a beast of burden of yourself, mate, are you?"
I replied that I would make any sort of "beast" of myself if the remuneration were only sufficient.
He said, "Well, old man, you bring me the goods, and I'll pay you the same as the hosses."
"Done," said I. "What are you wanting up most at this time?"
"Well," said the storekeeper, "I've had a run on my picks, so you can bring as many of them as you like, though they're not a lively lot to carry about, and I should fancy would give a man a crick in the back. There's a little keg of rum waiting for me down at the beach, so you can make up a load the best way you can."
I found the keg awkward enough, but the picks were
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altogether too lively to carry far. After working the skin off the small of my back I left them half way, and completed my journey with the rum cask. Next day, in place of wood and iron, I shouldered a 50 lb. bag of flour, and did the distance comfortably, earning thereby thirty shillings. I continued to carry from 50 to 70 lbs. for some days, always increasing little by little the weight of my load. As this was the first time such a thing had been attempted on those diggings, I had to undergo a tremendous fire of "Joes" from every chum I passed. The word "Joe" expresses the derision usually bestowed on new chums on the diggings, or any man acting, or dressing, or speaking in any way considered as outre by the diggers themselves. "He laughs who wins," and, as I knew many who thus jeered were glad to get a pound a day by even harder work than I was doing for double the money, I could afford to laugh with them. After three weeks' practice, having become known as "Charley the Packer," I had plenty of orders to carry up every description of store; from tea and gin-cases to soap and salt fish; and seldom after that did I shoulder less than 100 lbs. Times getting dull about the Six-mile, I was joined one by one by many others, several of whom had been among the first to "Joe" me at the beginning. Never having strained myself beyond my powers, I did not feel any ill effects from the heavy labour I underwent, though 100 lbs. was a weight which very few cared to attempt on such a track. Two men who had taken to this means of gaining their livelihood fell
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victims of their ambition, for, instead of commencing with the calf and ending with the bull as I had done, they staggered under the full weight of 100 lb. bags of flour, sugar, etc., till their strength gave way and their coffins had to be prepared for them. A day or two after the demise of one of these poor fellows, I took a bag of flour to Charlie McLeod, the storekeeper, who, being a carpenter by trade, did duty when required as an undertaker.
As I dropped my load inside the door, Charlie looked up from his hammering, and, eyeing it where it lay, said, pointing to his work: "Thought one was enough, but I guess I'll want your measure, old hoss, before long;" and he believed it too.
The novelty of this occupation, however, soon ceased, and I left my quarters at Mo' Thomas's (a distinguished member of the P. R.), where I had been staying for some weeks, and determined to try the effect of change of air on the sea coast. Accordingly, I, with my blankets, made my appearance in the streets of Hokitika, a town then in its infancy. While remaining here a day or two I heard that Dr. H---------, the provincial conchologist, required some one or two, with a knowledge of the bush and West Coast travelling, to accompany him on a tour of inspection over the diggings. The wages offered were trifling, but as I was curious to see what equivalent was obtained by Government for the £1,500 a year which constituted his salary, I hitched on. We were three in party besides the doctor, one being a Maori who carried the blankets, clothes, and
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entire paraphanalia of the worthy savant, together with his own swag. For the short time during which I accompanied this gentleman, I cannot affirm that he was other than liberal in his conduct, but I confess our first day's dinner struck me as too much on the "do the boys" principle to be a pleasant precedent to our future condition. On arrival at old Mo's shanty, my late abode, which lay in our road, it was about dinner time. This I suggested to Dr. H---------, who accordingly directed that the billy should be put on the fire in Mo's shanty, "and," said he, pulling out a two-shilling piece, "as we use his fire we may as well buy our provisions for our dinner from him; this will get a box of sardines, which will be more than enough for our small party." I could not help laughing as I described to Mo the grand air with which our German "boss" tendered the price of two nobblers for the purchase of four men's dinners. The doctor's mode of travelling was by no means laborious. Well clothed and booted, with a cigar in his mouth, he toddled, or rather rolled, along with a pompous air, stopping occasionally to inspect the washing of a dish, or to turn over the gravel heaps of stuff with the end of his stick. A fortnight of this sort of thing satisfied me with regard to the onerous responsibilities devolving on so important a personage as the provincial conchologist, and I returned to Christchurch, narrowly escaping being snowed up on the dividing range by the way.
