第35章 CHAPTER VIII(2)

I feared that our applications would be simultaneous,or that we should have an indecorous scuffle for the book in the Land Office itself.In this case,there would only have remained the unsatisfactory alternative of drawing lots for precedence.There was nothing for it but to go on,and see how matters would turn up.Before midday,and whilst still sixty miles from town,my horse knocked-up completely,and would not go another step.G-'s horse,only two months before,had gone a hundred miles in less than fifteen hours,and was now pitted against mine,which was thoroughly done-up.Rather anticipating this,I had determined on keeping the tracks,thus passing stations where I might have a chance of getting a fresh mount.G-took a short cut,saving fully ten miles in distance,but travelling over a very stony country,with no track.Atrack is a great comfort to a horse.

I shall never forget my relief when,at a station where I had already received great kindness,I obtained the loan of a horse that had been taken up that morning from a three-months'spell.No greater service could,at the time,have been rendered me,and I felt that I had indeed met with a friend in need.

The prospect was now brilliant,save that the Rakaia was said to be very heavily freshed.Fearing I might have to swim for it,I left my watch at M-'s,and went on with the satisfactory reflection that,at any rate,if I could not cross,G-could not do so either.To my delight,however,the river was very low,and I forded it without the smallest difficulty a little before sunset.A few hours afterwards,down it came.I heard that G-was an hour ahead of me,but this was of no consequence.Riding ten miles farther,and now only twenty-five miles from Christ Church,I called at an accommodation-house,and heard that G-was within,so went on,and determined to camp and rest my horse.

The night was again intensely dark,and it soon came on to rain so heavily that there was nothing for it but to start again for the next accommodation-house,twelve miles from town.I slept there a few hours,and by seven o'clock next morning was in Christ Church.So was G-.We could neither of us do anything till the Land Office opened at ten o'clock.At twenty minutes before ten I repaired thither,expecting to find G-in waiting,and anticipating a row.If it came to fists,Ishould get the worst of it--that was a moral certainty--and I really half-feared something of the kind.To my surprise,the office-doors were open--all the rooms were open--and on reaching that in which the application-book was kept,I found it already upon the table.I opened it with trembling fingers,and saw my adversary's name written in bold handwriting,defying me,as it were,to do my worst.

The clock,as the clerk was ready to witness,was twenty minutes before ten.I learnt from him also that G-had written his name down about half an hour.This was all right.My course was to wait till after ten,write my name,and oppose G-'s application as having been entered unduly,and before office-hours.I have no doubt that I should have succeeded in gaining my point in this way,but a much easier victory was in store for me.

Running my eye through the list of names,to my great surprise I saw my own among them.It had been entered by my solicitor,on another matter of business,the previous day,but it stood next BELOW G-'s.G-'s name,then,had clearly been inserted unfairly,out of due order.The whole thing was made clear to the Commissioners of the Waste Lands,and I need not say that I effected my purchase without difficulty.A few weeks afterwards,allowing him for his hut and yard,I bought G-out entirely.

I will now return to the Rangitata.

There is a large flat on either side of it,sloping very gently down to the river-bed proper,which is from one to two miles across.The one flat belongs to me,and that on the north bank to another.The river is very easily crossed,as it flows in a great many channels;in a fresh,therefore,it is still often fordable.We found it exceedingly low,as the preceding cold had frozen up the sources,whilst the nor'-wester that followed was of short duration,and unaccompanied with the hot tropical rain which causes the freshes.The nor'-westers are vulgarly supposed to cause freshes simply by melting the snow upon the back ranges.We,however,and all who live near the great range,and see the nor'-wester while still among the snowy ranges,know for certain that the river does not rise more than two or three inches,nor lose its beautiful milky blue colour,unless the wind be accompanied with rain upon the great range--rain extending sometimes as low down as the commencement of the plains.These rains are warm and heavy,and make the feed beautifully green.

The nor'-westers are a very remarkable feature in the climate of this settlement.They are excessively violent,sometimes shaking the very house;hot,dry,from having already poured out their moisture,and enervating like the Italian sirocco.The fact seems to be,that the nor'-west winds come heated from the tropics,and charged with moisture from the ocean,and this is precipitated by the ice-fields of the mountains in deluges of rain,chiefly on the western side,but occasionally extending some distance to the east.They blow from two or three hours to as many days,and if they last any length of time,are generally succeeded by a sudden change to sou'-west--the cold,rainy,or snowy wind.We catch the nor'-west in full force,but are sheltered from the sou'-west,which,with us,is a quiet wind,accompanied with gentle drizzling but cold rain,and,in the winter,snow.

The nor'-wester is first descried on the river-bed.Through the door of my hut,from which the snowy range is visible,at our early breakfast,Isee a lovely summer's morning,breathlessly quiet,and intensely hot.