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Chapter X I Make Acquaintance with a Horse and a White Girl

It was certainly unfortunate that my first introduction to the society of men of my own race should have occurred on shipboard, and more especially on such a vessel as the Matilda. Captain Grainger was not, I am now convinced, the most profane and brutal man that ever lived, but he certainly appeared so to me at that time. I was familiar with speech that meant death, with beautifully enunciated metaphors which paved the way to the oven and the conversion of one's bones into fish-hooks; but the rough-tongueing, the brutal word-whipping, the savage, unmerited blows, which distinguished life on board ship, filled me with disgust and horror. In all my life, save when my existence was threatened, no hand had been lifted against me in anger. That it should seem expedient to one man to take the life of another—even though that other were myself—appeared natural and reasonable; but this senseless infliction of pain and ignominy, without any object that I could discover, made me feel ashamed of my kind. If this were civilisation, then give me savagery. No doubt my mind exaggerated what I saw. Half the actions that seemed to me sheer brutality were possibly mere horseplay. The oaths which brought the blush of shame to my cheeks were merely an italicising or underlining of speech, bearing no reference to their original meaning. But I can only speak of things as they affected page 126me. Not that I myself received anything but kindness from Captain Grainger and the rough company of the Matilda. On the contrary, whether in the cabin or the fo'c'sle, I was made welcome. Indeed, before I left—for we were delayed two days by heavy seas on the Manukau bar—I had gone through the story of my life several times and made heavy inroads on the history of the Ngatimaniapoto.

"'Ow they ain't eat 'im beats me," said the admiring forecastle.

"That ol' Tee Whater's got 'is eye on 'im," opined an old salt. "'E's savin' of 'im up for Crismiss or such like."

"Now you got away, you stay away," was the advice they tendered me first and last.

I tried my utmost to like these men, and especially Captain Grainger, of whom my father had spoken highly; but 1 drew a breath of relief when I was quit of them all. I could not get accustomed to their violent changes, or apparent changes, of mood. I would be standing beside the captain, listening to his sailor yarns, bowdlerised, no doubt, in respect for my few years, when of a sudden he would roar out, in a voice that brought my heart to my mouth, some such criticism as this: "Get off that gaff there. What the b——y hell are you doing? Call yourself a sailor! Wait till I get you, my man, and I'll teach you. What sort of a damned counter-jumper is that, Mr. Long?"

"Picked him up in Sydney, sir," replies the mate. "Seems willing enough, but I doubt if he knows as much of seamanship as he made out."

"Very good, Mr. Long," says Captain Grainger, stiffly.

"Then, if he falls into the water, you will b——y well pick him out of that too. What the hell things are coming to, when you can't get a decent sailor man out of Sydney Cove, devil knows."

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However, after two days of waiting, we slipped through the smother and let down our anchor in the wide, shallow haven of the Manukau. That our arrival had been anxiously awaited was evidenced by the fleet of canoes that surrounded us as soon as the Matilda swung out on her moorings. I looked eagerly around for some indication of Mr. Brompart, but there was no sign of him among the white men and Maoris in the canoes, and it was not till over an hour later that he arrived in a small boat with a single lug sail and, coming briskly aboard, picked me out with one glint of his queer, near-set eyes.

"Cedric Tregarthen?"

"Yes, sir."

"Not such a savage after all. Come, where are your things? We must make haste if we are to reach Auckland before dark."

I pointed out my trunk, and while he handed it down to a half-caste in the boat, I ran off to say good-bye to my shipmates. It was a surprise to me to find that I was sorry to part with, them, and that they showed concern in parting with me. Captain Grainger suggested that I should run over and see him on his next visit, which would be in six weeks' time, and seemed gratified by my fervent promise to do so.

Yet, as I have said, I was relieved to find myself out of hearing of their rough speech, and very pleasant in my ears, after the lingo of the ship, sounded the cultivated tongue of my new companion. Mr. Brompart spoke in rapid jerks, seldom taking the trouble to finish his sentences, but completing his meaning with sharp movements of the head and a cocking of his queer, shrewd eyes. I judged him to be of alert understanding, for though he put many questions to me during our journey to the capital, he seldom waited the end of my replies, picking up not merely facts but feelings from a few halting words, in a manner page 128that astonished and confused me. Only once was he at fault, and as the occasion had its element of humour, I may set down the manner of it.

A few minutes sufficed to land us on the beach and transport us and our belongings on to the higher ground, where a number of wooden buildings and some indifferent whares formed all there was in the nature of a settlement. The sun was sinking across the harbour. In the chilly winter air a few fires were blazing, and round them the Maori housewives were busy preparing the evening meal. There was surely nothing alarming in such a scene; nothing in the attitude of these people to daunt one who had stood in front of the Great One in his wrath; yet I took a hasty step backwards and, but that no one set me the example, I should have turned tail and bolted for the boat. The reader may guess for a twelvemonth without lighting on the cause of my alarm.

"What! What!" exclaimed Mr. Brompart. "Left something on——? No? Then what is it? What is it?" and he looked vacantly around him.

I was too proud to explain, and summoning up resolution, I again moved forward. I knew very well that the animals were horses, for had I not pored over pictures of them and other strange creatures for hours together? But truly the creature was both larger and more vigorous than I had imagined. He moved differently, and made a noise through his nose of which no warning had been given me. Also, though these particular animals were at present engaged in eating grass, they tore it up with such terrific energy, and their great teeth gleamed in such a sinister manner between their blubbery black lips, that their selection of such food appeared to me rather a temporary mania than an act in keeping with their great estate.

But Mr. Brompart's keen wits were not long at fault. As we drew nearer and his eye fell on the horses, he half paused page 129and gave me a searching sideways glance. "You can ride, Master Tregarthen?" he asked.

"No, sir. I have never even seen a horse till this moment."

That brought him completely to a standstill, an act in which I gladly followed his example, for as we approached the animals their attitude became extremely threatening, and I could not but reflect on the fact that I was entirely unarmed.

"Never seen a—— Never! Well, well!" and he gave a little screaming ho-ho of a laugh which caused me to dislike him fixedly and for a long time afterwards.

"Neither have I seen a lion or a tiger," said I; "for there are none of these in the Kawhia country."

"No offence, Master Tregarthen," he said quickly, smothering his amusement. "Never seen a lion myself except behind bars in the Tower of London when I was a boy. But we must get to Auckland, and the horses must carry us. You are not afraid, boy? What?"

I was. But I flatter myself that even his keen eyes could discern no sign of it. "Show me how to mount the brute," said I, "and I shall do my best to keep up with you."

"That's the spirit," said Mr. Brompart, approvingly. "We will travel slowly. You had better take the bay."

As he indicated the animal with a gesture, I was able to discover which one he meant, for as yet the fearsome brutes were all alike to me; and presently George, the half-caste, coming along on a nag of his own, with my trunk on the saddle before him, I was assisted to a seat, and we set out on our journey.

No sooner was I ensconced in the saddle, with my feet in the stirrups, than an entire change came over my feelings. Fear gave place to exultation. The mere fact that the monster had suffered me to bestride him sufficed to set me page 130at my ease. His head went down for a last nibble at the 'grass, and with a pull of the reins I brought it up again. He showed impatience and some resistance, but he obeyed. He acknowledged me his master. How I wished that my comrades of the kainga might see me now, a full-blown pakeha on horseback! My fancy showed me the eyes of Puhi-Huia, regarding me with terror and admiration. Whether Mr. Brompart had forgotten my disability or was desirous of getting some amusement out of the occasion I cannot say, but he refrained from making any remark to George, who, seeing us both mounted, set off at a fleet canter, rein hand down, his right steadying my box, and shortly disappeared in the scrub. Waiting for no bidding—at all events from me—our horses dashed off in pursuit, and in a moment we were all thundering along the road.

That moment remains for me still one of the most glorious in life. I feel the sweet chill air in my face as I write; I thrill again to the sense of power and lightness so exultingly commingled; again I am conscious of delight in my ability and prowess. But alas! The hard-trodden road lasted but a little way, and, without warning, my steed changed his step. On the instant I was bumped lifelessly hither and thither, now on the horse's neck, now on his rump. I was conscious of joggling past some other travellers; of the sound of a low, merry laugh. My feet lost the stirrups and, with a final slither that seemed to embrace every part of my steed, from his tail to his ears, I found myself sitting safely and not without a feeling of satisfaction mingling with my humiliation, on the muddy road.

"Oh, I hope you are not hurt!" said a voice in which compassion sought to quell amusement.

I started to my feet, and every feeling of humiliation, indeed, self-consciousness itself, was stricken from me at the wondrous vision on which my eyes rested. I am afraid page 131the reader who has been familiar with amazing things from his birth can never penetrate to the depths of my sensations. In the space of half an hour I was destined to behold for the first time a horse and a white girl. Imagine yourself a youth of fifteen who has beheld neither. How would you act? Would you be in complete possession of all your faculties? able at once to enter into calm conversation—not, perhaps, with the horse, but with the girl? All I know is that I stood and stared, as I have stared at the sunset from Pirongia, or a moonlit glimpse of the Waipa.

You were at that time, Helenora, twelve years of age. But why add to your vanity by describing you as at that moment you appeared to me? Let it suffice that your eyes were blue—ah, how blue! and your hair a cloak of gold. Neither of these colours had I so seen before; nor had I beheld a skin like yours, nor lips so dainty and so red, nor—— But I am describing you after all. Let me return to the young lady on horseback, with whom I am entirely unacquainted, and who has merely paused in passing to commiserate with me on my mishap. A peony blush, itself a miracle, has developed on her round cheek; her straight brows show signs of contraction, and her chin—dare I write her nose?—is taking an upward curl.

"This boy is very stupid," said the young lady clearly, and then, for the first time, I noticed her companion.

He was a man of between thirty and forty, young and active-looking, with clear blue eyes. At the moment my gaze rested on him he was laughing at the girl's words, and yet there was about him an air of dignity that impressed and held me and finally drew me to doff my cap.

"You are not accustomed to travelling on horseback, my young friend?" he said good-humouredly, and with a slight inclination of the head in response to my salute.

"No, sir," I replied.

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"And yet I dare promise, Helenora, that in a month's time the young gentleman will be as proficient as yourself," he continued, half turning to the girl, but keeping one partly closed eye on me. "You are a recent emigrant, I suppose."

"No, sir. I was brought here as an infant."

"Indeed? And you have not yet learned to ride?"

Either I was tacitly to allow myself lacking in spirit, or I must again make my ignominious confession. I chose the latter alternative. "I have lived where there were no animals except pigs, sir," I said; "and I had never seen a horse until a few minutes ago."

Helenora laughed in merry surprise, dismissing every shade of annoyance from her face. "And you got on it the moment you saw it?" she said, opening her eyes.

"The moment I saw some one else do it," I corrected.

The gentleman appeared to recognise the distinction, for I saw his blue eyes twinkle. "Where is this benighted country?" he asked. "We must see to it that the variety of their live-stock is increased. Property," he added abstractedly, "that is the secret of civilisation. The first man who possessed himself of a stick started on a path to the stars." He repeated the phrase musingly under his breath, a dreamy smile in his eyes. Then an air of restlessness came over him. "Come, Helen," he said, gently pinching her ear. "We must ride on, my dear." He had apparently forgotten the question he put to me.

At this moment Mr. Brompart, who had ridden after my horse, returned, leading the animal by the bridle. The bend of the road concealed us from him until he was close at hand, and then I saw him pull himself erect and doff his hat to the saddle.

"Good evening, Your Excellency," he said, his head only narrowly falling short of the humility of his hat. "A pleasant evening, Sir George. Your servant, Miss Wylde."

The Governor—for the reader will already have pene-page 133trated to the identity of the stranger—returned the salute somewhat coldly, and for the first time I noticed the square strength of the jaw, which contrasted so strangely with the upper part of the face. I judged that he was not pleased to meet with my companion, with whose name, however, he showed himself acquainted. He looked at the girl and, moving his horse a few paces, sat tapping his boot with his riding-whip.

But Miss Wylde, absorbed in my manœuvres, was by no means disposed to tear herself away until they had been brought to some kind of issue. Once more in possession of my horse, I had, it appeared, attempted to mount him from the wrong side. That such a trivial detail should disturb the equanimity of the animal was incomprehensible to me, and yet I have no doubt it was the last argument necessary to convince my steed that I was a novice in whom no self-respecting animal should place trust. Round and round he went, backing into the other horses and starting under the cuts from Mr. Brompart's whip.

"Now!—Now!" gurgled Helenora. "Oh, what a stupid!"

Her pretty, musical speech disturbed me no whit. My whole attitude towards her was abject. Say what she would, do what she would, no question of right or wrong arose, no question of liking or disliking; she had become in the first instant a principle as fixed as gravitation, a religion once for all determined. And so she remained. But when Mr. Brompart, losing patience, muttered that I was a bucolic dunderhead, then, indeed, hot rage took the place of dogged endeavour. I listened no more to their conflicting instructions, but, taking the matter in my own hands, was almost instantly in the saddle. Moreover, I achieved this result, as Miss Wylde wonderingly remarked, from the wrong side after all.

How Sir George had brooked the delay, I was too occupied page 134to observe, but he moved off as soon as I had gained my seat, and Mr. Brompart, wasting no further time on his troublesome charge, trotted off to his side. I saw the Governor look quickly behind him, and had Helenora chanced to catch his eye, I make no doubt that much of this story would not have been written. Whether it were that the young lady expected to see me fall off again, or had developed an interest in the boy who had lived so long without seeing a horse, I have never had the courage to ask her, but though, warned by her previous reproof, I kept my own gaze in order, I was aware that her eyes were fixed upon me, and that she continued to watch me silently for several minutes.

"I can never have seen you before, boy?" she said questioningly at last.

I turned to her then, and saw a look in her eyes as though she were puzzled. "No," I replied; "that is quite impossible. I have never been in the white man's country before."

"Sometimes you look like somebody and sometimes you don't," she explained.

"Somebody?"

"That is the curious part of it. I can't remember who it is I am reminded of. It might be only one of my fowls," she continued—possibly my gaze had again grown too persistent—"I am always seeing likenesses to them, and I have a lame blackbird at home who looks so exactly like our vicar that—well, I suppose you could tell them apart. Don't sit so stiffly. You want to be all softened up, so that you can feel every movement of the horse.—You are not like the Bromparts, so it can't be any of them. Is Mr. Brompart your uncle?"

"He is no relation of mine. My father—Mr. Purcell—has put me in his charge while I remain in Auckland."

"Then your name is Purcell?"

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"No. Mr. Purcell is not my father. He took me out of the Te Kuma pa, when it was sacked by Te Waharoa. My own father was killed then. He was the last man to fall, and he killed seven of their greatest chiefs before he died."

Helenora shivered daintily. "Was your mother killed too?" she asked.

"No. I know nothing about my mother. I think she must have died very soon after I was born. Perhaps she was never even in New Zealand; for my father was an Englishman."

Helenora was silent a moment. "You must mind when we come to the good road," she said presently. "Don't let your horse trot, or you will come off again."

"That is how I came to grief," I explained. "I thought, because I could keep on when he was going at full speed, that I had mastered the whole secret. So Euclid was wrong, and the greater doesn't always include the less. Why does he keep moving his ears like that?" The reader must understand that my attention was about equally divided between the girl and the horse.

The gaze which she turned on me was perhaps as searching and long as those for which I had earned reproof. "He is listening to what you are saying about Euclid," she said slowly.

"I am not quite so simple as that, Miss Wylde."

Her blue eyes scanned me doubtfully. "Oh, of course," she said presently; "you heard Mr. Brompart Would it be rude to ask what your name is?"

I was only too delighted to tell her.

She looked at me with slowly widening eyes. "What!" she exclaimed.

"Cedric Tregarthen," I repeated.

A flush, as of excitement, came into her cheeks, and for a moment I thought she would have ridden away and left page 136me, but if she had such an impulse, she did not follow it, but kept her eyes fixed on me, one expression following another in their blue depths. In vain I sought to elicit from her some hint of the nature of the discovery she had evidently made; a shake of the head and a roguish dimple was all she vouchsafed me. Had my name put her on the track of the recollection that had hitherto evaded her? And was I mistaken in thinking that there was one expression almost amounting to defiance which shone in her eyes more often than any other?

"Are you going to live with the Bromparts?" she asked, musingly, presently.

"Yes," I replied. "But you speak of the Bromparts, and so far I know only of one."

"There is a Mrs. Brompart and two girls and some young men," she replied indifferently. "They have a section on the top of the hill above the cemetery, about a mile from Government House."

"Mr. Brompart is a farmer, then?"

"Oh, no!" said the girl. "His sons are supposed to be, I believe, but he is a business man. He does things about the ships," she continued vaguely; "but mostly he has to do with an English land company. We don't like him at Government House because he annoys Sir George. Sometimes His Excellency gets very angry with him. But since you are going to be one of his family, I ought not to have said anything about that."

I assured her that I would respect her confidence. "You are fond of His Excellency?" I suggested.

"Indeed yes," she said fervently. "He is the kindest and cleverest of all men."

I write down her words, for, as you will learn presently, all men were not in accord as to the character of the Governor, and not many hours passed before I heard words spoken of him as full of hatred as hers were of affection.

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"I am afraid I shall have to ride on," she said presently, in a voice that mingled matronly anxiety and childish reluctance. "His Excellency is being annoyed now."

Indeed, for some minutes I had been conscious that all was not quite well in front, and now, in the silence that followed her words, I heard the Governor say: "You are mistaken, Mr. Brompart. If your principals have sold what they did not possess, that is their affair. It is for them to recompense the innocent who have suffered by it, and in no way the concern of the British Government."

"But, Your Excellency," replied Mr. Brompart, hastily, "surely possession is a necessary part of the agreement to purchase. As I have already explained to Your Excellency——"

"I must go," said the voice of Helenora beside me. "Hold your horse tight or he will follow me. I am sorry I called you stupid."

"Why did you?" I asked quickly, as she gathered up her reins.

The colour came again into her cheek as she looked at me. "Because I thought you were rude. You stared at me so."

"But there was a reason for that," I said, "and I should like to tell it you."

She nodded, regarding me with a mingling of doubt and curiosity.

"Because," I said significantly, "a horse is not the only new thing I have seen to-day. If I stared at you, no doubt 1 also stared at the horse."

"I am the first girl you have ever seen?" she said, wonderingly.

"The first white girl."

"Oh, Maoris!" Her red lips curled disdainfully. Then the wonder returned. "How funny and incredible that seems," she observed, regarding me with speculative eyes.

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"It accounts for my staring," I summed up.

The sound of Sir George's voice, cold and incisive, floated back to us, and she pulled her horse to attention. The haze of speculation in her eyes had changed into a gleam of shy roguery. "What did you think of the—horse?" she asked, and, waiting no reply, cantered away.

I saw her ride up alongside the Governor, heard the sound of her voice and his reply, and watched them start off at a canter, leaving Mr. Brompart to look impatiently behind at my more plodding efforts at horsemanship. But his distemper, if I had rightly judged his looks, was gone when I reached him, and he accosted me cheerily with, "Well, Master Tregarthen, you and your steed are becoming on better terms with one another—what?"

"When I get accustomed to the ways of the animal, Mr. Brompart——" I began.

"Just so, just so," said he. "Rome was not built in a day. And what think you of the beautiful Miss Wylde?"

There was a ring of spite in the tone he gave to the adjective, which would have silenced me even if I had felt disposed to reveal my feelings. I contented myself with remarking that she had been extremely civil to a stranger.

"Yes," he said grudgingly, and then—as though I had given expression to my inmost thoughts—" she is beautiful, and so is her mother, Lady Dora Wylde." He mouthed the words as though in mockery. "But do not exalt yourself on the casual civilities of Government House. Like as not the young lady will have entirely forgotten the meeting on your next encounter. Did she ask your name?"

I answered him in the affirmative.

He seemed surprised at that. "It is a well-sounding name," said he; "such as might belong to a gentleman."

"It did," I told him.

"Surely," he agreed, with a grimace. "Yet it may be page 139expedient to conceal the upbringing of the gentleman's——eh? To have lived in a Maori village, Master Tregarthen, is hardly a recommendation to the highest circles—you understand me. If Mrs. Brompart or the girls are to introduce you at Government House, as my esteemed client Mr. Purcell desires, you will perceive that reticence —eh? What?"

"I am afraid your advice comes too late, Mr. Brompart," I replied, in no great good-humour. "I have already divulged the humble facts of my origin, and so, if your surmise is correct, I have saved Mrs. Brompart from suffering any humiliation on my account."

He interrupted me in his usual fashion ere I was half way through, but I was resolved to speak, even if I was not to be heard, and therefore continued doggedly and in a loud voice to the completion of what I had to say.

He made no remark, but urged his horse to a trot, and, as mine followed suit and the whole of my attention was immediately required to keep my balance, I suppose he may be considered to have got the advantage in the little difference between us.

I had scarcely recovered myself by an affectionate embrace of my steed's neck, when two young men came galloping up from behind through the sticky mud.

"'lo, Brompart!" one of them shouted without drawing rein. "His Excellency on ahead?"

My companion gave a gesture of assent and gazed after the retreating horsemen with a sour face. "Mr. Hee-Haw and Sir Gregory Addlepate," he remarked.

"Those are surely not their names," I objected.

"No, but their natures," said he, with his brief, screaming laugh. "The Governor's aide-de-camps, Sir Gregory Applethwaite and Mr. Wylde. Yes, Master Tregarthen, her step-brother."

The thought had occurred to me, but I had made no page 140motion to put the question. There was something almost uncanny in such intuition.

By this time darkness had fallen, but we were not far from our destination. From the higher ground we had gained, I could already see the pale gleam of Waitemata—"the Glittering Water"—and on the near bank a few dim and scattered lights, which I guessed to be all that the night left unconcealed of the white men's city.