by Louis Becke
of what little smokewas arising from the burning logs.
At dawn, as I lay half-awake, I heard a sound that made me jump to mygun--the soft quacking of wild duck in the creek. Stealing cautiouslydown through the fringe of she-oaks, I came to a fine broad pool, in thecentre of which was a small sandbank, whereon stood a black duck witha brood of seven half-fledged ducklings around her, dabbling merrilyamongst the weed and _debris_ of the margin. Of course, no one who_thinks_, unless impelled by sheer hunger, would shoot either anincubating or "just familied" duck, and I laid down my gun with anexclamation of disappointment. But I was soon to be rewarded, fora minute or two later five beautiful black and white Burdekin ducksflashed down through the vista of she-oaks, and settled on the waterless than thirty yards away from me. They lit so closely together thatmy first barrel killed two, and my second dropped one of the others asthey rose. I waded in and brought them ashore.*
* The name "Burdekin" hat been given to these ducks became they are to common on the river of that name. Their wings are pure white and black.
I wonder how many people know how to cook and eat wild duck as theyshould be cooked and eaten--when they are plentiful, and when the manwho shoots them is, in his way, a gourmet, and is yet living away fromcivilisation and restaurants? This is _the_ way. Pluck the feathersoff the breast and body, then cut the breast part out, sprinkle itwith salt, impale it upon a stick--if you have a stick or branch ofany kind--and hold it over a fire of glowing wood coals. If you haveno skewer, then lay the red, luscious-looking flesh upon the coalsthemselves, and listen to it singing and fizzing, as if it wereimpatiently crying out to you to take it up and eat it!
When I returned, the sunrays were piercing through the gum-trees anddissipating a thin mist which hung about the green, winding fringe ofshe-oaks bordering the creek. From the ground, which now felt soft,warm, and springy to my naked foot, there came that sweet earthy smellthat arises when the land has lain for long, long months under a sky ofbrass, and all green things have struggled hard to live. As I drew nearthe hut I saw that the flock of spur-winged plover were still standingor running about the margin of the newly-formed pool. They took not theslightest notice of my approach, and I was careful not to alarm them,knowing that as long as the water remained they would continue to hauntthe vicinity of the pool, and, besides that, I already had three plumpducks, which would last me at least till the following morning.
After breakfast I set out to make a detailed examination of the creekfor a distance of three or four miles towards its source. I was glad tofind some very extensive water-holes at intervals of a few hundred yards,then would come a stretch of sand from bank to bank, for owing to thewant of rain the water had fallen very low, though it was still flowingby percolation through the sand. Yet, in time of flood, the whole of theflat country was submerged, and some of the large gum-trees growing onthe banks held in their forks, thirty-five feet from the ground, greatpiles of dead wood and tangled debris that had been deposited there in agreat flood of two years before.
I was not long in making a very pleasing discovery--all the poolscontained fish, some of which were of good size, for the water was soclear that I could see them swimming about, and I remembered now withsatisfaction that among the stores coming on in the dray was a bundle offishing-tackle which I had bought in Townsville. Bird life all along thecreek was plentiful; but this was to be expected, as the long droughthad naturally driven game of all sort towards the water. I saw two orthree small kangaroos, and everywhere along the margin were bandicootholes, where the little pig-like creatures had been digging for roots.
Two miles from the hut I came across a well-constructed nativefish-weir, and near by found the site of a camp; evidently a party ofblacks had been enjoying themselves quite recently, fishing and cattlekilling, for under some scrub I found the head and foreleg of a youngsteer.
As I walked my horse slowly over the sand under the fringing oaks, Imade the unpleasant discovery that snakes were very plentiful--not onlythe harmless carpet snake, but the deadly brown and black-necked tigervariety; though against this were a corresponding number of iguanas,both of the tree-climbing and water-haunting species. The latter, towhich I shall again allude, is a particularly shuddersome reptile. I hadnever before seen these repulsive creatures, and, indeed, had neverheard of them.
I returned to the hut at noon, and to my surprise found a party ofthirty or more blacks camped under some Leichhardt trees. They seemed afairly healthy lot of savages, and were not alarmed when they saw I wascarrying a gun. I rode quietly up to them, and shook hands with two orthree of the bucks, who spoke a little English. They were, they told me,from the Ravenswood district, which they had left some weeks ago, andwere now travelling towards the Burdekin, hunting as they went.
Some of them came to the hut with me, and I saw at once that they hadnot taken anything of mine, though among other articles I had left on awooden seat outside were several plugs of tobacco. I gave them a plug todivide, and then asked the most voluble of them how many cattle they hadspeared.
"Baal blackfellow spear him cattle," he answered.* "What about thatyoung fellow bullock you been eat longa creek?" I inquired.
* Lit., "We blacks did not spear any cattle."
They assured me that they had not speared the animal, which they hadfound lying at the bottom of a deep gully with a broken leg. Thenknowing it could not live, they had killed and eaten it. I was pleasedto hear this, and have no doubt the poor creatures told the truth.They remained with myself and mate for a month, and proved of greatassistance to us in fencing and other work, and I learnt much valuablebush-craft from these wandering savages, especially of their methods ofhunting and fishing. I shall now give the reader an account of some ofthe happy days my mate and myself spent in this lonely spot.
