Splashed, Wet And Tired, And Also, I Must Confess, Very
Cross, Right Thankful Was I To Be Carried Over The
Dirty road and be
safely deposited beneath the wooden portico outside the Post-office.
Our ride to Melbourne cost us
Only half-a-crown a piece, and a shilling
for every parcel. The distance we had come was between two and three
miles.
The non-arrival of the mail-steamer left us now no other care save the
all-important one of procuring food and shelter. Scouts were
accordingly despatched to the best hotels; they returned with long
faces - "full." The second-rate, and in fact every respectable inn and
boarding or lodging-house were tried but with no better success. Here
and there a solitary bed could be obtained, but for our digging party
entire, which consisted of my brother, four shipmates, and myself, no
accommodation could be procured, and we wished, if possible, to
keep together. "It's a case," ejaculated one, casting his eyes to the
slight roof above us as if calculating what sort of night shelter it
would afford. At this moment the two last searchers approached, their
countenances not quite so woe-begone as before. "Well?" exclaimed we
all in chorus, as we surrounded them, too impatient to interrogate at
greater length. Thank Heavens! they had been successful! The
house-keeper of a surgeon, who with his wife had just gone up to Forest
Creek, would receive us to board and lodge for thirty shillings a week
each; but as the accommodation was of the indifferent order, it was not
as yet UNE AFFAIRE ARRANGEE. On farther inquiry, we found the
indifferent accommodation consisted in their being but one small
sleeping-room for the gentlemen, and myself to share the bed and
apartment of the temporary mistress. This was vastly superior to
gipsying in the dirty streets, so we lost no time in securing our new
berths, and ere very long, with appetites undiminished by these petty
anxieties, we did ample justice to the dinner which our really kind
hostess quickly placed before us.
The first night on shore after so long a voyage could scarcely
seem otherwise than strange, one missed the eternal rocking at which so
many grumble on board ship. Dogs (Melbourne is full of them) kept up an
incessant barking; revolvers were cracking in all directions until
daybreak, giving one a pleasant idea of the state of society; and last,
not least, of these annoyances was one unmentionable to ears polite,
which would alone have sufficed to drive sleep away from poor wearied
me. How I envied my companion, as accustomed to these disagreeables,
she slept soundly by my side; but morning at length dawned, and I fell
into a refreshing slumber.
The next few days were busy ones for all, though rather dismal to me,
as I was confined almost entirely within doors, owing to the awful
state of the streets; for in the colonies, at this season of the year,
one may go out prepared for fine weather, with blue sky above, and dry
under foot, and in less than an hour, should a COLONIAL shower come on,
be unable to cross some of the streets without a plank being placed
from the middle of the road to the pathway, or the alternative of
walking in water up to the knees.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 7 of 104
Words from 3118 to 3679
of 53870
