They had had a breakdown on the way out from town, and what with this and the scorching heat of the day, had been much tried. However, they were very good tempered, and seemed to consider the whole business as a kind of picnic—a holiday in the country. The contractor, Mr. Scott, who was also the principal carpenter, was a huge man, very capable, as we soon found, and a splendid workman. He had brought his wife with him, to serve the two-fold purpose of a change of air for her, and a satisfactory cook for himself and his men! They had also their two little children with them and Mr. Scott’s dog. Four more carpenters arrived with them; the plumbers, plasterers, and painters, were to follow later, when their work would be wanted.
The whole first day was spent in putting up the temporary houses needed for the little settlement. They were going to make themselves quite comfortable, though it was all done with extraordinary quickness. There was a “cookhouse” as they called it, which was the most ambitious building of all the settlement, and we thought it showed Mr. Scott’s good sense, and promised well for the undertaking, that he provided so royally for the men’s comfort in this particular. The cookhouse had one good-sized dining-room, with a long table down the middle, and a bench on each side; out of this was the kitchen, with two beautiful gasoline cooking stoves, containing large ovens and all the newest American contrivances. A nice cool cupboard or larder opened out of the kitchen, and was made with walls of wire gauze to let the air in freely and keep out the flies. The tent put up for Mr. Scott and his family was quite a work of art; nicely floored and with walls of wood about four feet high, to keep out draughts, the rest of the walls and roof being of canvas. They had it comfortably furnished, and seemed at once quite at home there.
The tents for the men were simpler, but satisfactory. By evening all their preparations were made, and when the lights were lit all over the little settlement, we were strongly reminded of the “Buffalo Bill” shows we had been to at home.
By early morning the men were hard at work, laying the mud sills of the house; and now began an exciting time for us, for these wooden houses are built so quickly, and American carpenters are such clever workmen, that it is most interesting to watch them. They were all good humouredly amused at the plans of our house, and said they had never put down such an irregular and unexpected outline of a house. Now, too, we proved the very great advantage it was to us to be at hand during the building; in this way several mistakes, which would have caused loss of time and vexation, were corrected at once, and some very decided improvements on the original plan were carried out.
Meanwhile our life in the barn was very dusty and hot. The coloured lady had unfortunately taken a great dislike to me, and though she did her work, she was so brutal in her manner, and scowled at me so savagely, that, half in earnest and half in jest, I made an arrangement with my husband and the boys that I should never be left alone with her after dark. In appearance she might have been first cousin to the gorilla, with his large, protruding mouth and big teeth. On Sundays, she would go off hunting for wild bees’ nests, an occupation which seemed to be an absorbing passion with her. At such times, she would wear a very dilapidated print gown, her feet were thrust into men’s boots, her head was covered with a red cotton sun bonnet, and she carried in her hand a tall, heavy stick; and as she came striding along, over the rough hill-side, with a peculiar movement of the hips, like a wild animal, and waving her great club, she looked like some man-eating aboriginal! One day, when her manner had become quite unbearable, I arranged with my husband that I would speak to her before him, for I did not dare tackle her alone. I hoped at least to find out what provoked her specially aggressive manner to me; for she made some slight attempt at friendliness to my husband and the boys. We got no satisfaction however; all she would say, standing meanwhile outside the open barn door, and shouting in her deep bass voice, was, “What does the woman want? I didn’t insult the woman!” We felt it was hopeless, and as the quarters were so rough that few good servants would have put up with them, we decided to bear with our gorilla and her angry mutterings till the house was built. But I was quite determined that whatever happened, she should not set foot in the house, even if I failed to find anyone else.
She much preferred to work with the ranch man, at any outdoor labour, however heavy, rather than do so-called woman’s work. Especially she loved managing the horses, and we could hear her big guffaw out on the ranch, where she would try with the rest to trick or compel Dan, who was giving more and more trouble, into doing his work. All the workmen had some never-failing plan to coerce him, but each in turn was beaten by Dan’s obstinacy, and his readiness to spend all day fighting out the question as to his way or theirs. Poor Dan! before long we discovered what was really amiss with him: he was going blind, and was in a constant state of irritation and excitement at not being able to see. No doubt the two young men who sold him to us, had known that this was coming on (though his eyes betrayed no sign of it), and were glad to be rid of him. Eventually we gave him away, and got a pair of young greys, giving the other horse Joe in part payment for them. Dan has been our only dead loss; all the other animals have turned out particularly well.
“Poll,” the little Indian pony for Tip, the younger boy, is quite a character. She finds a trail through the most hopeless-looking bush, without a moment’s hesitation, is as surefooted as a goat on the steep rocky hill-sides, and has no vice about her. So that Tip, who was far from strong when first we came here, has become a very good rider, without accidents or trouble of any kind. He gallops her, bare-backed, up and down the steep hills around us at full speed, sitting on the reins and playing an accordion, waving it about over his head, and making her fly with excitement. Then there is Jennie, a pretty mare belonging to Larry, the elder boy. She is very nervous and high strung, fond of polo, and racing, and good at both, but never quite satisfied to go along on any quiet, everyday business. Ben is a strong, heavy ranch horse, dutiful and hardworking; Rex and Dick, the greys, are general favourites. They were only four years old when we bought them, and they needed always close watching, for they were full of spirits; but now they are more sober, and do their part bravely. Dickie is “the gentleman,” and rarely does much ranch work, but trots the buggy for miles and miles about the country.
By this time, all was going forward wonderfully quickly with the building of the house. The carpenters and workmen enjoyed their trip in the country, and indeed Mrs. Scott prepared such comfortable meals for them in the cookhouse, that I fancy these alone would have reconciled them to a much worse lot. She was very proud of her cooking, and used often to show me her pies, and roasts, and biscuits, etc., as I passed to and fro.
She was rather a grand lady too, and felt very virtuous about working so hard at this job for her husband, but she told me privately that, though he made no show of praising her for doing so well, he always “came down handsome” after any such time, and that this one would probably mean a silk dress for her! So though she grumbled in an ostentatious way at times to me, when he was within hearing, she was really very cheerful and helpful.
Nowadays, when I see our Chinaman, in his clean white jacket, wandering about, carrying a basket in his hand, and returning presently with it full of beautiful tomatoes, we think gratefully of Mrs. Scott and the cookhouse; for the odd bits she threw from her door in those days, came up very shortly in fruitful vines, and by this time they have distributed themselves all over the ranch.