The Black Troopers, and other stories

by Anonymous

'That is the question,' replied the superintendent. 'Lieutenant Walters, I heard, was to reach the Junction, twenty miles up on this side of the river, at sunset to-day; but the blacks are camped not far from the road I must go by, as it is too dark to travel through the bush. I must therefore cross the river here and go up by the other side, and then swim the river again—not a pleasant prospect truly. If I attempt to cross on horseback here, at the punt, the blacks there will instantly suspect the truth; so swim it I must, somewhere in our neighbourhood. Nice, isn't it?'

Finally it was decided that he should cross just below the island, carrying his clothes in a bundle, wrapped in a waterproof coat and placed in a bucket, which he held as he swam. He would then walk to the inn, taking care to approach it from behind, so that the blacks there, who, warned by Harris, had left their fires and were squatted in the verandah, should not hear him. A hundred yards behind the inn was the hut where the punt-man lived. He was to be roused and sent to the house, to tell the innkeeper to quietly saddle his mare, which was kept stabled at night, and bring her to Stevenson, while the man engaged the blacks in talk in the front of the house.

We watched until he had safely swam across and ascended the bank on the other side, and then returned to the hut. As we passed by the kitchen we looked in. Laidlaw, the hut-keeper, was sitting by the fire, and, to do him justice, seemed heartily ashamed of himself, for he did not turn his head as we appeared. His wife had made up a sleeping-place for the poor child whose parents had been so suddenly cut off. The poor thing was overcome by drowsiness, and every now and then would sink into sleep, from which, however, it would almost instantly spring up, screaming out violently that the blacks were coming to kill it, and clinging in the utmost terror to the woman's gown. It had found its way to the bodies of its mother and father behind the hut, and in its endeavours to arouse and awaken them had got covered with blood, which the woman was washing off as we entered, her tears falling plentifully the while; for she was much attached to the two lubras—who helped her in such household work as peeling potatoes, washing dishes, and bringing water, and the like, while their husbands caught fish or (before I came) shot wildfowl with the superintendent's fowling-piece. She was therefore much shocked at what had occurred, and was, moreover, heartily ashamed of her husband's pusillanimity.

We re-entered our hut, thinking that our adventures for that night at least were over—but I was mistaken.

It had been agreed that Harris and I should start an hour before daybreak and ride to a spot fixed upon, there to await the arrival of the superintendent with the troopers; and, having arranged that each of us should take a watch, I threw myself on one of the beds, and slept till two o'clock, when Harris woke me, and I took his place.

For some time I sat by the fire, musing over the different events which had occurred, and in imagination following the superintendent in his night ride up the river. It was about eleven o'clock when he started; and, allowing him an hour to reach the inn and get mounted, he would then have a straight gallop across a large bend of the river for about fifteen miles. He would then have to tether his horse and again swim the stream, as there were no other means of crossing at that spot, and walk a mile through the bush to the station where the troopers were. Allowing him till three o'clock to do this, he would have time to start with them on their errand, and be at the rendezvous fixed on before daybreak, always supposing no accident delayed him. Bobby Peel, we knew, would head for Winyong directly; but both he and the other murderers would certainly calculate upon having at least twenty-four hours undisturbed wherein to escape, during which they would be comparatively safe from the white man's vengeance.

I put some fresh logs on the fire, for the nights were now becoming very cold. The two blacks were lying sprawling by its side on the earthen floor of the hut; while Harris lay just above them on the bed next the chimney. The blaze from the burning wood and the light from the lamp fell strongly on the three sleepers, fully revealing their faces and figures, and I could not help being struck by the different aspect of the physiognomies before me, illustrations as they were of the highest and almost the lowest types of the animal man. For some time my mind wandered in a maze of theories as to the origin of types—effects of climate, food, and other modifying agencies in influencing the development of the genus homo, until all at once I became conscious that my ethnological speculations were rapidly coveying me into the land of dreams; so, jumping up to shake off the drowsiness creeping over me (for I had been shooting all day in the reed-beds), I slung the kettle, to make myself a pot of tea, and then went outside to look at the night.

The heavens were overcast with dense masses of clouds, and a light breeze blew from the southward, the damp feel of which indicated that the long-expected winter rains would not much longer be withheld from the parched-up country. After pacing up and down in front of the hut for some time, I turned to re-enter it, when all at once I heard one of the horses in the paddock neigh. Under ordinary circumstances this of itself would have signified nothing; but we were obliged to be constantly on the alert against the horse thieves, who often cleared out all the animals on several stations in a single night, and swept away with them over the borders and into the neighbouring colonies by routes known only to themselves, and where pursuit was in general utterly vain. As we had several valuable horses in our lot, I listened for some time, and, after giving a look at my charge, and ascertaining that both still slept soundly, I walked down to where they were grazing.

The paddock extended for nearly a mile up and down the river, and our huts were situated inside its fence and about in the centre. I found most of the animals a few hundred yards off, grazing quietly enough; but as I stood near one of them again neighed, and upon putting my ear to the ground I thought I heard a distant sound, which seemed to come from across the river. I went down to the bank and again listened. Sometimes it would die away, but presently it arose more strongly, until I plainly made it out to be the rushing gallop of either horses or cattle, my bush experience being then too slight to enable me to distinguish which. I concluded it must be the latter, as the sounds came from the island, which was some miles in length, being a broad, rolling plain, everywhere surrounded by deep water, and occupied exclusively by cattle, which, as they could not escape, had no one to look after them. It was not possible that any horsemen could be there by accident; for even our own stockman had to swim his horse over when Stevenson wished to muster the herd. Perhaps (I thought) the blacks who had made that night's murderous onslaught were still there, and the cattle on the island had been startled by them; for cattle have the greatest aversion to blacks, scenting them at a great distance and fleeing from their vicinity. Sometimes they will rush at the natives, charging them with great fury. Poor Leichardt relates, in the account of his most wonderful journey from Brisbane to Port Essington, that, having killed and eaten all their cattle but one, a bullock named Redman, to which they had become much attached for his patience and docility, the party was reduced to the very verge of starvation. For weeks they lived on boiled hide alone, and a very scanty allowance of that. Still, none could endure the thought of killing the faithful Redman, who had travelled with them for fifteen months through the wilderness, led by a rope passed through a ring in his nose. And the party did succeed in taking the animal into their destination, though at the cost of great suffering to themselves. In the last month or two of their journey, the explorers fell in with numerous tribes of blacks, who treated the white men with great kindness. Some of these tribes numbered five or six hundred souls. Whenever Redman, however, caught sight of them, it was with the utmost difficulty that he could be restrained. He would break away from his leader and charge the blacks with the utmost fury. 'Had the natives been hostile,' says Leichardt, 'Redman would have protected us and routed them all. I have seen three hundred men flee from his rush, for they were terribly afraid of him.'

All at once the sounds ceased, and for some minutes I heard nothing; but as my eye wandered over the river banks, suddenly I caught sight of objects moving on the island, and a short inspection convinced me that they were horses, and I fancied that they were mounted. I crouched down, to avoid being seen, but of that there was not much fear, as the shade of the rising ground behind me effectually concealed me. It was now darker than in the earlier part of the night, and the river was a hundred yards across, so that it was only when they passed along the summit of the bank and against the lighter background of the sky that I could distinguish them. They stopped opposite where I was, and at the only spot for many miles (except at the punt) where animals could descend and ascend to and from the water, the banks of the Murray being exceedingly precipitous. By this I felt convinced they were horse-stealers, and men, moreover, well acquainted with the locality, for they could not have passed down the river behind the inn, because the scrub, impenetrable at night, approached so close to the house that it would necessitate their passing within earshot. Higher up the river they could not cross without getting involved in a network of ana branches, impossible to ford in the dark. They were therefore obliged to cross at our paddock, and doubtless had the felonious intention of picking up our horses on their way.