"Well, it isn"t from the side I came on it," Norah put in; "I never dreamed of anything being there until I was right on the camp. It did surprise me!"
"And me," said the Hermit drily. "Well that is how I tried to arrange camp, and you could be within a dozen yards of it on any side without imagining that any was near."
"But surely you must have made some sort of a track leading away from it," said Jim, "unless you fly out!"
The Hermit laughed.
"I"ll show you later how I manage that," he said.
The bush grew denser as the little party, led by the Hermit, pushed along, and Jim was somewhat surprised at the easy certainty with which their guide led the way, since there was no sign of a track. Being a silent youth, he held his tongue on the matter; but Wally was not so reserved.
"However d"you find your way along here?" he asked. "I don"t even know whether we"re near the creek or not."
"If we kept still a moment you"d know," the Hermit said. "Listen!" He held up his hand and they all stood still. There came faintly to their ears a musical splash of water.
"There"s a little waterfall just in there," the Hermit said, "nothing much, unless the creek is very low, and then there is a greater drop for the water. So you see we haven"t got far from the creek. How do I know the way? Why, I feel it mostly, and if I couldn"t feel it, there are plenty of landmarks. Every big tree is as good as a signpost once you know the way a bit, and I"ve been along here pretty often, so there"s nothing in it, you see, Wally."
"Do you like the bush, Mr. Hermit?" Norah asked.
The Hermit hesitated.
"Sometimes I hate it, I think, Miss Norah," he said, "when the loneliness of it comes over me, and all the queer sounds of it bother me and keep me awake. Then I realise that I"m really a good way from anywhere, and I get what are familiarly called the blues. However, that"s not at all times, and indeed mostly I love it very much, its great quietness and its beauty; and then it"s so companionable, though perhaps you"re a bit young to understand that. Anyhow, I have my mates, not only old Turpentine, my snake, but others--wallabies that have come to recognise me as harmless, for I never hunt anywhere near home, the laughing jacka.s.ses, two of them, that come and guffaw to me every morning, the pheasants that I watch capering and strutting on the logs hidden in the scrub. Even the plants become friends; there are creepers near my camp that I"ve watched from babyhood, and more than one big tree with which I"ve at least a nodding acquaintance!"
He broke off suddenly.
"Look, there"s a friend of mine!" he said gently. They were crossing a little gully, and a few yards on their right a big wallaby sat staring at them, gravely inquisitive. It certainly would not have been human nature if Jim had not longed for a gun; but the wallaby was evidently quite ignorant of such a thing, and took them all in with his cool stare. At length Wally sneezed violently, whereat the wallaby started, regarded the disturber of his peace with an alarmed air, and finally bounded off into the scrub.
"There you go!" said the Hermit good-humouredly, "scaring my poor beastie out of his wits."
"Couldn"t help it," mumbled Wally.
"No, a sneeze will out, like truth, won"t it?" the Hermit laughed.
"That"s how Miss Norah announced herself to me to-day. I might never have known she was there if she hadn"t obligingly sneezed! I hope.
you"re not getting colds, children!" the Hermit added, with mock concern.
"Not much!" said Wally and Norah in a breath.
"Just after I came here," said the Hermit, "I was pretty short of tucker, and it wasn"t a good time for fishing, so I was dependent on my gun for most of my provisions. So one day, feeling much annoyed after a breakfast of damper and jam, I took the gun and went off to stock up the larder.
"I went a good way without any luck. There didn"t seem anything to shoot in all the bush, though you may be sure I kept my eyes about me. I was beginning to grow disheartened. At length I made my way down to the creek. Just as I got near it, I heard a whirr-r-r over my head, and looking up, I saw a flock of wild duck. They seemed to pause a moment, and then dropped downwards. I couldn"t see where they alighted, but of course I knew it must be in the creek.
"Well, I didn"t pause," said the Hermit. "I just made my way down to the creek as quickly as ever I could, remaining noiseless at the same time.
Ducks are easily scared, and I knew my hopes of dinner were poor if these chaps saw me too soon.
"So I sneaked down. Pretty soon I got a glimpse of the creek, which was very wide at that point, and fringed with weeds. The ducks were calmly swimming on its broad surface, a splendid lot of them, and I can a.s.sure you a very tempting sight to a hungry man.
"However, I didn"t waste time in admiration. I couldn"t very well risk a shot from where I was, it was a bit too far, and the old gun I had wasn"t very brilliant. So I crept along, crawled down a bank, and found myself on a flat that ran to the water"s edge, where reeds, growing thickly, screened me from the ducks" sight.
"That was simple enough. I crawled across this flat, taking no chances, careless of mud, and wet, and sword gra.s.s, which isn"t the nicest thing to crawl among at any time, as you can imagine; it"s absolutely merciless to face and hands."
"And jolly awkward to stalk ducks in," Jim commented, "the rustle would give you away in no time."
The Hermit nodded.
"Yes," he said, "that"s its worst drawback, or was, on this occasion. It certainly did rustle; however, I crept very slowly, and the ducks were kind enough to think I was the wind stirring in the reeds. At any rate, they went on swimming, and feeding quite peacefully. I got a good look at them through the fringe of reeds, and then, like a duffer, although I had a good enough position, I must try and get a better one.
"So I crawled a little farther down the bank, trying to reach a knoll which would give me a fine sight of the game, and at the same time form a convenient rest for my gun. I had almost reached it when the sad thing happened. A tall, spear-like reed, bending over, gently and intrusively tickled my nose, and without the slightest warning, and very greatly to my own amazement, I sneezed violently.
"If I was amazed, what were the ducks! The sneeze was so unmistakably human, so unspeakably violent. There was one wild whirr of wings, and my ducks scrambled off the placid surface of the water like things possessed. I threw up my gun and fired wildly; there was no time for deliberate taking of aim, with the birds already half over the ti-tree at the other side."
"Did you get any?" Jim asked.
"One duck," said the Hermit sadly. "And even for him I had to swim; he obligingly chose a watery grave just to spite me, I believe. He wasn"t much of a duck either. After I had stripped and swum for him, dressed again, prepared the duck, cooked him, and finally sat down to dinner, there was so little of him that he only amounted to half a meal, and was tough at that!"
"So was your luck," observed Wally.
"Uncommonly tough," agreed the Hermit. "However, these things are the fortunes of war, and one has to put up with them, grin, and play the game. It"s surprising how much tougher things look if you once begin to grumble. I"ve had so much bad luck in the bush that I"ve really got quite used to it."
"How"s that?" asked Harry.
"Why," said the Hermit, "if it wasn"t one thing, it was mostly another.
I beg your pardon, Miss Norah, let me help you over this log. I"ve had my tucker stolen again and again, several times by birds, twice by swaggies, and once by a couple of black fellows pilgrimaging through the bush I don"t know whither. They happened on my camp, and helped themselves; I reckoned myself very lucky that they only took food, though I"ve no doubt they would have taken more if I hadn"t arrived on the scene in the nick of time and scared them almost out of their wits."
"How did you do that?" asked Norah; "tell us about it, Mr. Hermit!"
The Hermit smiled down at Norah"s eager face.
"Oh, that"s hardly a yarn, Miss Norah," he said, his eyes twinkling in a way that made them look astonishingly young, despite his white hair and his wrinkles. "That was only a small happening, though it capped a day of bad luck. I had been busy in camp all the morning cooking, and had laid in quite a supply of tucker, for me. I"d cooked some wild duck, and roasted a hare, boiled a most splendid plum-duff and finally baked a big damper, and I can tell you I was patting myself on the back because I need not do any more cooking for nearly a week, unless it were fish--I"m not a cook by nature, and pretty often go hungry rather than prepare a meal.
"After dinner I thought I"d go down to the creek and try my luck--it was a perfect day for fishing, still and grey. So I dug some worms--and broke my spade in doing so--and started off.
"The promise of the day held good. I went to my favourite spot, and the fish just rushed me--the worms must have been very tempting, or else the fish larder was scantily supplied. At any rate, they bit splendidly, and soon I grew fastidious, and was picking out and throwing back any that weren"t quite large enough. I fished from the old log over the creek, and soon had a pile of fish, and grew tired of the sport. I was sleepy, too, through hanging over the fire all the morning. I kept on fishing mechanically, but it was little more than holding my bait in the water, and I began nodding and dozing, leaning back on the broad old log.
"I didn"t think I had really gone to sleep, though I suppose I must have done so, because I dreamed a kind of half-waking dream. In it I saw a snake that crept and crept nearer and nearer to me until I could see its wicked eyes gleaming, and though I tried to get away, I could not. It came on and on until it was quite near, and I was feeling highly uncomfortable in my dream. At last I made a great effort, flung out my hand towards a stick, and, with a yell, woke up, to realise that I had struck something cold, and clammy, and wet. What it was I couldn"t be certain for an instant, until I heard a dull splash, and then I knew. I had swept my whole string of fish into the water below!
"Oh, yes, I said things--who wouldn"t? I was too disgusted to fish any more, and the nightmare having thoroughly roused me, I gathered up my tackle and made tracks for home, feeling considerably annoyed with myself.
"You must know I"ve a private entrance into my camp. It"s a track no one would suspect of being a track, and by its aid I can approach noiselessly. I"ve got into a habit of always sneaking back to camp--just in case anyone should be there. This afternoon I came along quietly, more from force of habit than from any real idea of looking out for intruders. But half-way along it a sound pulled me up suddenly. It was the sound of a voice.
"When you haven"t heard anyone speak for a good many months, the human voice has quite a startling effect upon you--or even the human sneeze, Miss Norah!" added the Hermit, with a twinkle. "I stopped short and listened with all my might. Presently the voice came again, low and guttural, and I knew it for a native"s.
"The conviction didn"t fill me with joy, as you may imagine. I stole forward, until by peeping through the bushes I gained a view of the camp--and was rewarded with the spectacle of two blacks--ill-favoured brutes they were, too--quite at home, one in the act of stuffing my cherished roast hare into a dirty bag, the other just taking a huge bite out of my damper!
"The sight, as you may imagine, didn"t fill me with joy. From the bulges in my black visitors" bag I gathered that the ducks had preceded the hare; and even as I looked, the gentleman with the damper relaxed his well-meant efforts, and thrust it, too, into the bag. Then they put down the bag and dived into the tent, and I heard rustlings and low-toned remarks that breathed satisfaction. I reckoned it was time to step in.
"Luckily, my gun was outside the tent--indeed I never leave it inside, but have a special hiding-place for it under a handy log, for fear of stray marauders overhauling my possessions. A gun is a pretty tempting thing to most men, and since my duck-shooting failure I had treated myself to a new double-barrel--a beauty.
"I crept to the log, drew out both guns, and then retired to the bushes--a little uncertain, to tell the truth, what to do, for I hadn"t any particular wish to murder my dusky callers; and at the same time, had to remember that they were two to one, and would be unhampered by any feeling of chivalry, if we did come to blows. I made up my mind to try to scare them--and suddenly I raised the most horrible, terrifying, unearthly yell I could think of, and at the same time fired both barrels of one gun quickly in the air!