death of parker—royal mail robbed by a cat—meet with accident crossing river.

during our absence a sad occurrence took place, which i will record here. a mr. parks, a government surveyor, and well-to-do sheep farmer on the ashburton, had been engaged during the previous year in making surveys on the rakia and ashburton, and on his staff was a young man named parker. this lad was another instance of the ideas some home people entertain, that for a youngster without intellect, energy, or application sufficient to obtain him entrance to a profession in england, the colonies are the proper place. in their opinion he must get on there, or at any rate, he will be got rid of. the latter may be true enough, but as regards the former, the proofs are few indeed.

parker was a weak, good natured, feckless lad, about eighteen or twenty years of age, and the only thing he appeared to be able to make anything of was playing the fiddle. wherever he went his violin accompanied him. while fiddling he was happy, but it was pitiful to watch him trying to work at or take an interest in any employment which he could neither appreciate nor understand.

the survey party had proceeded up the gorge of the rakia, and were absent about a fortnight, when mr. parks, requiring to send back to his station for some instrument he had forgotten, and parker being the least useful hand on the survey, he decided to send him. the distance was twenty miles, and the route was across the open plain leading for a part of the way along the river. he was to go on foot, and put up the first night at grey's station, about half-way.

between the camp and grey's the path led along the bank of the rakia, which was here very steep, upwards of a hundred feet perpendicularly above the riverbed, and occasionally subject to landslips.

a week passed without the return of parker, and mr. parks, getting concerned for the lad's safety, despatched a messenger for information, when it was found that parker had not appeared either at grey's, or his own station, and[pg 95] for another week inquiries were made for him in every direction in vain.

at about the end of the second week from the date of parker leaving the survey camp, a shepherd of grey's, happening to descend into the rakia river bed in search of some wandering sheep, came upon a roll of red blankets lying at the foot of a landslip. going up, he found it to contain the body of a man half decomposed, and being eaten by rats. upon the ground alongside was a pocket-book containing writing and a pencil.

the shepherd, taking the pocket-book, returned speedily to grey's. upon examination the book was found to contain a diary of five days, written by the unfortunate parker, before he died of starvation, thirst, and a broken leg, at the foot of the landslip.

from the entries it appeared that he had been fiddling along (in his usual absent manner, no doubt) very close to the edge of the rakia bank, when a portion of it gave way under his feet, and he fell sliding and tumbling until he reached the bottom on a bed of shingle, his leg broken, and his body bruised and shattered. he succeeded in loosening the swag of blankets he had strapped on his back, wrapped them round him and lay down, occasionally calling, and always hoping against hope that some one would discover him. it was a vain hope, poor chap—not twice in a year's space was a human being seen on that wild river bed. he lived for five days in the agonies of hunger, thirst and despair, not even a drop of water could he reach, although the river ran within twenty yards of him, and at last death mercifully put an end to his misery.

i now returned to work, continuing at the same time the study of my books, which i kept at the ashburton, to fit me for the duties of surveyor and contractor. i was deriving a good return from my sheep and could add yearly to their number. during the remainder of the summer and autumn i worked steadily at bush work, hut-building and run-fencing, and when the winter set in i rigged up a hut in the forest, where i lived alone and earned a good return for my time in felling and cutting-up firewood for which i received from the squatters—i think—ten shillings a cord, 9 ft. by 4 ft. by 4 ft. the ashburton valley road had been greatly improved, and the weekly mail which hitherto ran between christchurch and dunedin was now made bi-weekly, and the stations on the ashburton and rangitata gorges arranged[pg 96] for a regular postman on horseback to fetch the mail from the ashburton immediately on arrival, in lieu of the old plan of having it conveyed from one station to another by private messengers.

i recollect a ridiculous accident which happened to one of these mail carriers, who had been despatched to fetch mails across the plains. i do not think i mentioned that there were numbers of wild cats to be met with all over the country. they were not indigenous, but domestic animals or their descendants gone wild, and with their wild existence they engendered a considerable addition of strength and fierceness. the shepherd's dog was the natural enemy of these animals.

on the occasion to which i refer, the messenger, an old irish servant of mr. rowley's, was riding quietly on one of the station hacks, a horse called "old dan," a noted buckjumper in his day. heavy saddle bags with the posts were suspended on either side, in addition to various packages tied on fore and aft. suddenly pat's dog put up a cat and went away in full chase. the plain was quite open, with no trees or shrubs nearer than the river bed, half a mile distant. the cat finding herself hard pressed, and despairing of reaching the river-bed before the dog would catch her, spied old dan with paddy and the post thereupon, and conceived that her only chance of safety lay in mounting too. no sooner thought than done. she doubled, sprang on old dan's tail and fastened her claws in his hinder parts. dan not approving of such treatment, set to bucking. first pat went off, then the saddle bags and parcels, followed by puss. old dan finding himself free, ran for his life, the cat after him, and the dog after the cat, leaving poor pat on the ground to watch the trio as they disappeared from sight.

pat and his mail-bag dislodged by a cat

pat and his mail-bag dislodged by a cat.

pat had over ten miles to travel and carry the bags and parcels as best he could, and return the next day for the saddle. the story of how the cat robbed h.m. mail was long laughed over on the ashburton, and paddy was unmercifully chaffed for his part in the performance.

i was busily employed till late in the following autumn finishing the works i had in hand, and lived a portion of the time at glent hills, mr. rowley's hill station, where i had a considerable contract for wire fencing with which mr. rowley was dividing up into extensive sections the wide valley in which lay the lakes emma and clearwater.

glent hills station

glent hills station.

during the summer i joined once again in the general mustering, and lived on the mountain sides for days and [pg 97]nights together. it was here i contrived to catch some cold which caused a singing like the bleating of sheep in my right ear, and for which i subjected myself to the very doubtful advice and care of old "blue gum bill," the shepherd who was for the time being my comrade. "blue gum" was a "lag," that is, a ticket-of-leave convict, from australia. one of his hands, i forget which, had been amputated, and in lieu thereof he had affixed a stump of blue gum wood, with an iron hook inserted at the end. as is not unusual in such cases, "blue gum" could do more with this iron hook than many men could accomplish with a hand. he was a character in his way, and whatever may have been the cause of his enforced exile from the old country many years before, he was now a most exemplary old fellow, for whom i entertained a great respect and liking.

he said he could cure my ear, into which he assured me some small animal had entered, and it would be necessary, in the first place to kill it, when the noise would naturally cease. he made me lie down with my bleating ear uppermost, and proceeded to fill it with as much strong tobacco juice as it would hold. this operation he repeated several times, and appeared greatly disappointed on my complaining that the animal still continued musical. the ear troubled me for a long time, and eventually the hearing became impaired. whether the fact that i never more than half recovered my hearing in that ear, and that for many years it has been almost completely deaf, is due to "blue gum's" doctoring or not, is scarcely worth entering into now.

when the winter had really set in, i started to pay a visit (my last it turned out) to my friends in mesopotamia. on arriving at the rangitata i met the wool drays on their return journey from christchurch, waiting while one of the men was on horseback seeking for a ford, in which occupation he asked my assistance. the river was a little swollen and discoloured, and the course of the main stream had been altered during the flood. while seeking a fording place i unluckily got into a quicksand, and in an instant i was under the mare, while she was plunging on her side in deep water. i had released my feet from the stirrups upon entering, and was free thus far. i had hold of the tether rope round her neck, and presently we were both out, and as i thought safely. i mounted again, and after getting the drays safely over, i rode on to the station. here, on putting my foot to the ground i found i could not stand, and from a[pg 98] queer feeling about the left knee, it was apparent that i had been kicked while under the plunging mare. for nigh three weeks i was unable to walk, and to this day i feel the effect of that kick.

i was, perforce, obliged now to keep quiet, and was not over-sorry, for the quarters were comfortable, and i was with my friends, and had leisure to read and work. our evenings by the fire were very enjoyable, and many a story and song went round, or butler would play while we smoked.

one evening, i recollect, he told us a very remarkable ghost story, the best authenticated, as he said, he had ever heard, and to those who entertain the belief that the spirits of the departed have power to revisit this earth for the accomplishment of any special purpose, the story will be interesting.