Ben Gunn

“ We breakfasted at the Springs all together, had dinner miles apart, and all met again at the Stirling for supper. Dan and ourselves dined also at the Stirling on damper and “push” and vile-smelling blue-black tea. The damper had been carried in company with some beef and tea, in Dan’s saddle-pouch; the tea was made with the thick, muddy, almost putrid water of the fast-drying water hole, and the “push” was provided by force of circumstances, the pack teams being miles away with the plates, knives, and forks.
Out-bush we take the good with the bad as we find it ”

“ Camp-fire conversations have a trick of coming to an abrupt end without embarrassing any one. As Dan sat looking into the fire, with his thoughts far away in the past, the Măluka began to croon contentedly at “Home, Sweet Home,” and, curled up in the warm, sweet nest of leaves, I listened to the crooning, and, watching the varying expression of Dan’s face, wondered if Mrs. Bob had any idea of the bright memories she had left behind her in the bush. ”

“ The darkness was gone. Ives was sprawled on the after couch, apparently unconscious. Johnny was smiling in his sleep. The Captain was snoring stertorously, and Paresi was curled up like a cat on the floor. The sunlight streamed in through the forward viewports. The manual wheel gleamed on the bulkhead, unbroken.
Hoskins looked at the sleeping crew and shook his head, half-smiling. Then he stepped to the control console and lifted a microphone from its hook. He began to speak softly into it in his gentle, unimpressive voice. He said:
“Reality is what it is, and not what it seems to be. ”

“ Pray God for your own sinful soul, that the devil in me does not wake again."
"Fifteen years is a long nap," said Gunn, carelessly; "what a godsend it 'll be for you to have me by you to remind you of old times! Why, you're looking smug, man; the honest innkeeper to the life! Gad! who's the girl?"
He rose and made a clumsy bow as a girl of eighteen, after a moment's hesitation at the door, crossed over to the innkeeper.
"I'm busy, my dear," said the latter, somewhat sternly.
"Our business," said Gunn, with another bow, "is finished. Is this your daughter, Rog— Mullet?" ”

“ Yes!" cried Mun Bun and Margy and Laddie and Violet.
"Where are we going and what are you going to tell us?" asked Vi, not forgetting, even in all the excitement about the fire, to ask her usual questions. "What are we going to do?"
"Oh, you'll find plenty to do—all six of you—if you come to my seashore place!" laughed Captain Ben. "That's what I came especially to talk about," he went on to Daddy and Mother Bunker. "I want to get out of my mind all thoughts of the great war, and if I can have this happy bunch of children around me it will be the best thing in the world. ”

“ Paresi shook his head. “Johnny was afraid, and fled. Ives was afraid, and fought. There's only one fear that's a real fear, and that's the one that brings you to your breaking point. Any other fear is small potatoes compared with a terror like that. Small enough so no one but me has to worry about it.”
“Why you, then?”
Paresi swatted the first-aid kit as he carried it back to its clamp. “I'm the M. O., remember? Symptoms are my business. Let me watch 'em, Captain. Give me orders, but don't crowd me in my specialty.”
“You're insubordinate, Paresi,” said Anderson, “and you're a great comfort.” ”

“ An icy breath, which seemed to proceed from some invisible person at his side, extinguished each match as he lighted it. At this peculiarly terrifying turn of affairs Mr. Gunn would have left the house and forfeited the amount of his wager, a considerable one, but he was restrained by the fear of ridicule. He steadied himself in the dark with what calmness he could, and waited developments. ”

“ But this man was not to fade quite out of our lives, for deep in that loyal heart the Măluka had been enshrined as “one in ten thousand.”
Chapter 17
The bearer of the chief’s message had also carried out all extra mail for us, and, opening it, we found the usual questions of the South folk.
“Whatever do you do with your time?” they all asked. “The monotony would kill me,” some declared. “Every day must seem the same,” said others: every one agreeing that life out-bush was stagnation, and all marvelling that we did not die of ennui. ”

“ Gunn drew himself up, and regarding him with a satisfied sneer, quitted the room without a word.
Affairs at the "Golden Key" grew steadily worse and worse. Gunn dominated the place, and his vile personality hung over it like a shadow. Appeals to the innkeeper were in vain; his health was breaking fast, and he moodily declined to interfere. Gunn appointed servants of his own choosing-brazen maids and foul-mouthed men. The old patrons ceased to frequent the "Golden Key," and its bedrooms stood empty. The maids scarcely deigned to take an order from Joan, and the men spoke to her familiarly. ”

“ Then he congratulated the Măluka on the size of his missus.
“Gimme the little ’uns,” he said, nearly wringing my hand off in his approval. “You can’t beat ’em for pluck. My missus is one of ’em, and she went bush with me when I’d nothing but a skeeto net and a quart-pot to share with her.” Then, slapping the Măluka vigorously on the back, he told him he’d got some sense left. “You can’t beat the little ’uns,” he declared. “They’re just the very thing.” ”

“ Long before the last waitress was relieved, the carvers were at work, and the company was bubbling over with merriment. “Have some veal, chaps?” the Sanguine Scot said, opening the ball by sticking a carving fork into the great joint, and waving the knife in a general way round the company; then as the gravy sizzed out in a steaming gurgle he added invitingly: “Come on, chaps! This is Veal prime stuff! None of your staggering Bob tack”; and the Măluka and the Dandy bidding against him, to Cheon’s delight, every one “came on” for some of everything ”

“ Catching the hare’s often the best part of the fun.”
Mac’s cheery optimism always carried all before it. Pleasant rides through shady forest-ways seemed a fair recompense for a little delay; and my spirits went up with a bound, to be dashed down again the next moment by Dan.
“We haven’t got to the beginning of things yet,” he interrupted, following up the line of thought the Măluka had at first suggested. “Before any trees are cut down, we’ll have to dig a saw-pit and find a pit-sawyer.” Dan was not a pessimist ”

“ But it had taken so long to persuade the horses that a drink could proceed out of a mixing dish, that it was time to turn in by then; and Dan proceeded to clear a space for a sleeping ground with a tomahawk. “Seems no end to education once you start,” he chuckled, hacking at a stubborn tussock. “Reckon no other woman ever learned to make a bed with a tomahawk.” Then Sambo created a diversion by asking for the loan of a revolver before taking a message to the blacks’ camp. ”

“ The latter did not reply for a moment, and then he looked up at the sky, studied the clouds for a moment before he said:
"I don't want to look on the dark side, but I'm very much afraid we are going to be later getting to Grand View than I thought."
"Why?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Because I think we are going to run into a storm, and that will delay us," said Captain Ben. "The roads are none too good, and with a heavy rain, such as it seems likely we'll have, we can't make very fast time."
"I just love to be in a rain in an auto when the side curtains are up, don't you?" asked Rose of Russ. ”

“ The Măluka shot him a swift, questioning glance; but poor Mac looked so unhappy that we assured him “we’d manage somehow.” Perhaps we could tame one of the flash buck-jumpers, the Măluka suggested. But Mac said it “wouldn’t be as bad as that,” and, making full confession, placed old Roper at our service.
By morning, however, a magnificent chestnut “Flash,” well-broken into the side-saddle, had been conjured up from somewhere by the Creek. But two of the pack-horses had strayed, and by the time they were found the morning had slipped away, and it was too late to start until after dinner. ”

“ Homely enough angels, though, they proved, as angels unaware should prove: one man and two women from “Queensland way,” who had been “inside” for fifteen years, and with them two fine young lads and a wee, toddling baby—all three children born in the bush and leaving it for the first time.
Never before had Cheon had such a company to provide for; but as we moved towards the house in a body—ourselves, the village settlement, and the Măluka’s traveller-guests, with a stockman traveller and the Dandy looking on from the quarters, his hospitable soul rejoiced at the sight ”

“ It is the helplessness of little women that makes them appear “all right” in the eyes of bushmen, helplessness being foreign to snorters.
At breakfast Dan expressed surprise because there was no milk, and the pleasantry being well received, he considered the moment ripe for one of his pet theories.
“She’ll do for this place!” he said, wagging his head wisely. “I’ve been forty years out-bush, and I’ve known eight or ten women in that time, so I ought to know something about it. Anyway, the ones that could see jokes suited best. ”

“ The innkeeper turned and regarded him.
"Send me in some supper," said Gunn; "the best you have, and plenty of it, and have a room prepared. The best."
The door closed silently, and was opened a little later by the dubious George coming in to set a bountiful repast. Gunn, after cursing him for his slowness and awkwardness, drew his chair to the table and made the meal of one seldom able to satisfy his hunger. He finished at last, and after sitting for some time smoking, with his legs sprawled on the fender, rang for a candle and demanded to be shown to his room. ”

“ As Brown acknowledged this reference to himself, by stirring the circle of hairs that expressed his sentiments to the world, Dan further proved the expansiveness of the Măluka’s simile.
“You might have noticed,” he went on, “that when a dog does own a tail he generally manages to keep it out of the fight somehow.” (In marriage as Dan had known it, strong men had stood between their women and the sharp cuffs and blows of life; “keeping her out of the fight somehow.”) ”

“ Anderson said quickly, "Nick doesn't want us to eat just now."
"Thanks," muttered Paresi in vicious irony.
"He's the doctor," said Ives good-naturedly. "But don't put it off too long, huh? This furnace needs stoking." He fisted his huge chest.
"Well, this is encouraging," said Paresi.
"It certainly is," said the Captain. "Maybe the breaking point is just the point of impact. After that the rebound, hm?"
Paresi shook his head. "Breaking means breaking. Sometimes things just don't break."
"Got to pass," said a voice. Johnny, the pilot, was stirring.
"Ha!" Anderson's voice was exultant. ”

“ In the construction of this addition and all the incidental work that such changes entail as well as in the erection of a parochial house Father Gunn found plenty to do during his declining years in Cedar Rapids. He was not a man given to material building, as much as to the upbuilding of spiritual conditions in the hearts of his people. He was active and energetic even to his dying day. He was in sympathy with his charge and lived in the heart of his congregation, not above them. He was a thorough christian gentleman, and a man of honor. ”

“ Before the mustered horses were drafted out, every one at the homestead, blacks, whites, and Chinese, went up to the stockyard to “have a look at them.”
Dan was in one of his superior moods. “Let’s see if she knows anything about horses,” he said condescendingly, as the Quiet Stockman opened the mob up a little to show the animals to better advantage. “Show us your fancy in this lot, missus.” “Certainly,” I said, affecting particular knowledge of the subject, and Jack wheeled with a quick, questioning look, suddenly aware that, after all, a woman might be only a fellow-man ”

“ Never knew her miss one, and never knew anybody suit the bush like she did.” And, as we packed up and set out for the last lap of our journey he was still ambling about his theory. “Yes,” he said, “you can dodge most things out bush; but you can’t dodge jokes for long. They’ll run you down sooner or later”; adding with a chuckle, “Never heard of one running Mrs. Bob down, though. She always tripped ’em up before they could get to her.” Then finding the missus had thrown away a “good cup of tea just because a few flies had got into it,” he became grave. ”

“ Brown came running out on the porch. She seemed much excited, and was waving her hands in the air as Norah had waved hers the time the Bunker chimney caught fire.
"Wait a minute!" she called to Captain Ben and Mr. Bunker.
"What's the matter?" asked the children's father. "Have you found the missing Tad?"
"No. But some of my things are missing, too!" exclaimed the farmer's wife. "I left a box of my jewelry on the table at the head of my bed. Now it's gone—my box of jewelry is gone!" ”

“ He crossed the room lightly, and standing before the unconscious woman, inspected her closely and raised her in the chair. Her head fell limply over the arm.
“Dead?” inquired Mullet, in a fearful whisper.
“Drugged,” said Gunn, shortly. “Now speak up, and be lively.”
The innkeeper’s eyes again travelled in the direction of the nurse.
“The men,” he whispered; “the servants.”
“Dead drunk and asleep,” said Gunn, biting the words. “The last day would hardly rouse them. Now will you speak, damn you!”
“I must—take care—of Joan,” said the father.
Gunn shook his clenched hand at him. ”