SHORT STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2430, 10 October 1900, Page 58

SHORT STORY.

MRS BARTON'S BATH.

(By John Author Bakey)

(Author of "Stceve Brown's Bunyip," "The Luck of the Native Born," "A Son of the Sea," "In the Great Deep," etc.)

Tataroo was a bachelor station, and before certain events happened a \-ery pleasant place to live on. It is still a- pleasant place, but for at least one, perhaps two, persons not quite so pleasant as it v.as bslore Harry Barton go^ mamed, and I heard that rustling as of dried leaves in the bath, ulso various other matters that 1 am going xo tell you about. Being a bachelor sta--iion, and managed by a man sociable and sond of his kind, the barracks, except for ■i/he accommodation of stray visitors, fell fnto disuse, k and the overseer and the two jackercos not only messed with Barton, but slept as they pleased in any ot i.he numerous rooms in the big house, built by "Cranky" Fitzgerald a score of years ago. Barton himself was a smart, jovial fellow of about twenty-seven or eight, fond of a good horse, good living, and, in moderation, a good brand, of whisky. He was also a very capable manager, and knew better than most men how to make that bast out of a bad job for his partners than an Australian pasioralisl's business to-day chiefly consists in. He was good-locking, too, and many caps i 1 the adjacent township had been set at him, for as, independently of aught else, lie owned a considerable shaie in the station, lie was a capital catch. But so far without avail. And you may be sure that the iest of us who constituted the happy family (%t Tataroo were pleased enough to have it \\o, pretty certain, as we, were, thot should an Eve once cpter into our pastoral Eden things -would not be iikelv to vcmain as comfortable as at present, no matter how gocd she might be. 1 think, though, we all made >un exception in favour of Widow Morris, And hoped that if "the boss" did get '"switched" he ' might choose her. She lived in the township in a pietty cottage, where open doors were always kept for her "boys from lataroo," as she affectionately U3ed to call us. A delicate-looking little woman was the widow — pale face, light blue eyes, good teeth, a rather large nose, so transparent that if you caught it in certain lights you could almost see through it, a firm, .massive chin, and a very decent figure. Nobody seemed to know much about her, except that, apparently, she had enough to live on. Riimoui said that the late Morris -had been a stock and station agent, out Bourke. way, somewhere; and that at one time she had been a governess. However this may have been, she certainlyplayed and sang most divinely ; or, at least, ■we bushmen thought so, as we sprawled •about the place and smoked and drank and -listened whilst she made music for us. At .Show time we were much in evidence; there were several spare rooms put at our disposal — clean, sweet, and cool. And anybody who knows what the average backblock hotel is like on such occasions will appreciate the boon those refuges were to us.

Also, meals were ready at all hours. She wasn't going to let her boys be left to the tender mercies of the "Royal or "Tattersail's," or to any other pub. where Chinese cookery reigned supreme. Of course, after this sort of thing, baskets of fruit and vegetables and prime cuts of beef, when a bea&t was killed, found their way froni Tataroo to the cottage.

For 12 months or so the acquaintance between widow and station ripened, and then, suddenly, ths end came ; and Barton, arriving one day from the town&lnp, rather shamefacedly announced his engage.ment to Mrs Morris, adding, "Of course it won't make any difference to you chaps. In fact you'll bs more comfortable than ever with her to look after tilings. Besides, you see, it's not like having a stranger. Sarah thinks a lot of you already, you know.''

They were married almost at once, and all the single young women in Duck Creek township turned up their noses, and said disparaging things of both bride and bridegroom. As for us, however, we wera resigned and content that the boss should have chosen as he did.

"S'pose,"' as Snape, the overseer, said, "he'd picked on Carry Brown, for instance ! Wouldn't she have given us a time of it? Or that stuck-up grenadier of a girl from the bank — Lottie Collins — who told me at the last winter dance that she always preferred cattlemen for partners, because the;/ didn't smell ' sheepy and had more of a cavalry carriage about 'em.'-" " Yes," chimed in Irvine, the other jackeroo, "I don't think that, an it had to be, apparentty, we could have done belter than get the little widow, although, mind you, boys, small as she is, and jolly, and all (that, y' know, I fancy she'll be boss 0' Tataroo."

But we others laughed him to .scorn at the very notion. Bait'on, although as good-natured a man as ever lived, was also one of very firm will, amounting, indeed, almost to obstinacy ; a^so, when j-ou?ed, the possessor of a rather curious temper. Akd the idea that the pliant, easily-pleased little widow could take the hreek-j off such a man and wear them herself tickled us immensely. Still, when the p.iir returned from " the mountains," it was agreed that " the boss wasn't looking any better for his marriage." Nor, for the matter of that, did his partner show to advantage. Quite the reverse, indeed. On his side a curious cowed sort of expression had taken the place of the usually frank raid open one ; even his voice had, it seemed to us, altered and become hesitating and uncertain. As for her, she appeared to have not only assumed an authoritative air and manner of speaking that was altogether new, and that grated on us, but her cold blue eyes looke.d colder and paler than ever, her nose thinner and more more prominent, and the usual smile was absent as with a chilly nod she curtly ordered Snape to take her things out of the buggy and carry them inside.

And very quickly we discovered that not only had Barton found a, master, but the station and ourselves a new and merciless manager into the bargain. If she'd been satisfied with merely putting on side as Mrs Barton of Tataroo, we -wouldn't have minded a bit, in spite of all the free and easy friendliness she had .shown to us in her widowhood, and whilst, as we began to see now, quietly angling for the catch of the district. Nor should we have cared much about being dismissed the house, and sent to the barracks, because, in reality, that was our proper place, and only by Barton's good nature had we been allowed the run of the other. But she wa,sn't satisfied with that, and presently turned her attention to our table, and cut that down till it was about on a par with the men's in the hut. She stopped her husband's modest allowance of whisky, too, and tried to prevent him smoking. Spirits or liquor of any description she wouldn't allow about the place ; and Mary, the housemaid, told us that she used to smell Barton's pockets when, he came homo to find out whether he'd been having a pipe on the run. Also she made him give up his four-in-hand, and drive her about in a little low pon;/ carriage. No more euchre of a night now. She was opposed to games of cards, on principle. Nor did she ever, by any chance, open the new piano. She was too busy spying and scraping to spare time for music. And this was the woman who used to say, when at Duck Creek, "Now, boys, light up and make yourselves comfortable ! ¥011 know where to find the cards, and there's tha cup that cheers on the sideboard, with plenty of s-oda." Good Lord, it seemed incredible i

At meal times, too, she'd come into the barracks on the pretence of " seeing that we were comfortable and had all we wanted. 77 But hei sharp ej'as were everywhere, and ir .she caught sight of an " extra," in the shape of a tin ol jam or a cake on the table, then let storekeeper or cook stand clear. Visitors fiom neighbouring stations she soon settled with very unceremoniously. Even if they arrived after sundown, poor Barton had to send them away again. they went, to return nevermore. A man fond of as good living as was to be got so far out, her hu-'band found his own table restricted to the barest necessaries. And yet, on her visi tc Tataroo, before her marriage, she had been t-Jble to express nothing but praise for the station cookery. Nevei was such a light-about-face conceivable. And the suddenness of it ! " She's a bad, designing, cunning woman,'' said Irvir.e (the storekeeper had just received oiders that if we wanted soap for our rooms- we must buy it ; a!«o that the washing would not be done any more at ths house laundry) " and I wish a snake would bite her." "R-ot," exclaimed -Snape, gloomily, "the snaks. would die of meanness in five minutes."

" Well," replied Irvine, " we could spare some of the beasts. There's been one for a week hunting mice alongside my head between the papei anr 1 the wall. I'd get the beggai out, only Sarah 'd make me pay to have the whple room done up again. Didn't she say yesterday that she wondered how we could live in such a hole, and hint that she'd a great mind 00 have it all papered and painted at our expense." On Barton himself the effect of the yoke

lr> had voluntarily put on his shoulders was to convert him irom the cheery, sociable, smart fellow that everybody knew and liked into a dour, silent, smileless man -who never spoke without throwing a backwaid look over his shoulder, and whose hair was already beginning to be plentifully streaked with grey. And that- he bitterly hated his wife no one could doubt for a moment who watched the expression in his eye when her sharp voice called him, and he slouched obediently off, no matter what was in hand, like an unwilling clog going up to his master for a thrashing. Still, he never rebelled, outwardly at least. And the general impression was that he never would, so thoroughly did she hold him in subjection. -To us or to his men he never opened his lips more than was absolutely necessary. But he brooded, and it was not difficult to divine what occupied his thoughts as he stood .sometimes at the race-gate with a moody frown on his brow and let everything run straight on end, oblivious to earmarks, "stragglers," or aught else. Now, close to the house bathroom, near the end of the verandah, grew a very fine fig tree, whose fruit Sarah had strictly forbidden anyone but herself to touch. In common with other garden produce, as well as that of the poultry yard and dairy, she sold all the fruit. And these figs, especially, being a very choice kind, and very large, she sent to the capital and got a high price j"or. Being, however, very fond of figs, I had of late been accusiomed to make midnight raids upon these particular specimens. Evidently Sarah had mr-sed «omc, for phe had hung a large placard en the trunk 01 the tree stating that "Any person found stealing these fig* will be instantly dismissed from the station, whether belonging to house, bdrracks, or hut." But I was willing to take my chance of that; and one breathlessly hot night found me crouching under the sweeping bought, ready to make an ascent into a favourite fork' near which some of the finest fruit grew. I had thought the hoiise-folk had gone to bed, all was so quiet, and no sign of. lamplight through the window?. As I paused a moment, with my head against the board wall of the bathroom, I heard a curious noise inside the little .structure, for all the world as if some of the dc-ad fig leaves had got into the long mptal tub and were being whirled and rustled about the bottom of it. And this continued without intermission. There wasn't a breath of air; and as I was wondering what the cause of the peculiar sounds might be, I suddenly heard a well-known voice that put all thoughts or them out of my head. I shrill, imperious voice that said loudly and angrily — "Henry, I can't sleep. Put some water in the bath for me. This shall be my lasl summer here, remember. In future we go to the mountains during the hot weather. I'm getting worn to a shadow. Now, are you filling that bath?' 7

There was a muttered answer, and presently 1 saw Barton come out in his pyjamas, and carrying; a lamp. He entered the bathroom, and I heard him utter a sharp oath of astonishment. Then there? Avas a pauf.e. Then the sound of water ruslrng from both taps at once into ths deep zinc tubs-.

"Only about half full,"' commanded hii wife presently. "Shall I leave the lamp in the room?" asked Barton in a voice I should never have recognised as his — so hoarse and slinky was it.

"No, no," she replied irritably, "the water will be hot enough without having a lire in the place. Why didn't you lieht a candle instead of that big lamp? What a useless creature you 91 c ! There, turn the water off, do, and get away to bed ; I'll

manage now. And, seeing that my chance of figs that night was but small, with those quick ears about, I crawled around the opposite corner and made off towards the barracks, hearing, as 1 went, the bathroon door viciously slammed and bolted.

I had crossed the yard, and was just stepping on to cur own verandah, when there rang through the close and sultry air a succession of the most terrible shrieks, sharp, piercing, agonised. From their chains, came the yapping and howling of a score of frightened dogs. Men in the huts, awakened from sleep, shouted and ran. But above all the din that cleft the night still lose those awful cries.

Snape and Irvine rushed out, neaily tumbling 'over me, where I stood shivering hot chough the air was, and a&king frantically was h fire, or murder, or what? Then, almo&t without knowing it, I found myself one of a crowd around the bathroom, jusL in time to see the door fly open and a naked woman dart out in the light flung across the verandah from a lamp on the di'avringroom table and fall prostrate, moaning feebly, whilst the men scattered right and left with shouts and oaths as they caught sight of two great black soiakes coiled one around each of her arms, and burying their fangs again and again into the white flesh. At that moment Barton (who, it seems, finding sleep impossible, had been for a a troll) ran up, and after surveying the scene a second, rushed in, and gripping a snake by the nock just as it tinned to strike him, tore its coils away by main force from the arm they encircled, and with a flip broke its back, and threw ie into the bathroom. Then, seizing the other one, he served it the same way, and whilst the men finished the reptiles with .sticks he caught up his wife and carried her inside, hurling behind him orders that a buggy should be got ready; but she died before the buggy had covered half the distance to Duck Cieek. I'rom shock as much as from snakebite, the doctor said. The district sympathised discreetly, and shook its head and remarked, "Sad affair." But, privately, men whispered to each other. "Dashed good riddance. She was killing him. Poor Harry '11 be his old self -again now." But ho never was. A silent, sad, subdued man, apparently thinking of nothing but his work, and casting no second glance at any woman. Was it that- terrible 12 months under the harrow of the widow that wrecked the life of him? Perhaps it was. I am his overseer now Snajpe's gone*, and

looking forward in due course to the managership, but never in my wildest fancies, do I ever ask myself whether Barton saw anything wrong with the bath that night, years ago, when he turned the water .on. Nor, though almost innocent of nerves, could all the wealth of Ty^on induce me to have a hath at Tataroo after sundown. Also, I hate to wake in the darkness and hear leaves rustling in odd corners. — Australasian Pastoralists' Review.