[Editor: This is section 5 of “Barcroft Boake: A Memoir ”, by A. G. Stephens, published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
[From Adaminaby to Trangie]
From Adaminaby to Trangie is roughly 300 miles; and Boake, who knew nothing of the country, had to find his road as he went. With him travelled young Boyd (affectionately called ‘Boydie’), who had been his associate under Mr. Commins. Each had only one horse; and a letter to a friend at Rosedale, dated from Mullah in September, 1888, gives some idea of the difficulties of the journey.
… We left Ann’s Vale two Sundays after we left you. It was a great ‘chuck-in’ for us stopping there: it did our horses a lot of good. In fact, if it had not been for that we would never have seen Trangie. Besides, Boydie an d I were both getting full of travelling: it is not much of a lark, I can assure you.
We got on very well after we left Burrowa, till we got to Molong, where we were going to turn off to go to Dubbo. I knew there must be some shorter road, but did not know where to find it out. Just by the merest chance I went into a baker’s for some bread, and happened to ask the man; and, by good luck, he told us he had been up here and knew all the country. So he directed us how to go a back road which cut off a day’s journey; but the country was awfully dry — not a blade of grass — and our last day before getting to Narromine we rode the whole day and never saw a blade the whole twenty miles — nothing but the bare ground covered with leaves.
To crown all, we pushed on to get to Narromine for a camp, and got there just at dark, having to turn out at the first place we came to — and in the morning our horses were gone! Well, I sent Boydie one way to enquire if they had gone back through the town, and I went the other way. I walked from eight o’clock till eleven; came back and saw Boydie; no news. I started straight away again and walked till three o’clock, when I came home and had some dinner; and, by Jove! wasn’t I tired! Well, I had a rest till four, and started again, and did not get back till eight o’clock. It took me two hours to come the last two miles. I was never so knocked up in my life. I did not seem to care whether I ever got back. I felt I would have gladly died straight away. Besides, I felt so miserable. To get on so well till just within twenty miles of our destination, and then to meet with a knock like that! If you could have seen me crawling along, hardly able to drag one foot after another, I am sure you would have pitied me. I can assure you I pitied myself.
Well, next day I started out again, but I was so stiff it was misery to walk. Boydie went out to Trangie by rail to see if he could get the loan of a horse from C——. This was on Wednesday. I was just mooching back with some water for tea when I met Boydie with a smile all over his face, and he told me he had not been able to get a horse, but had heard of ours — they had been seen seven miles back on the road we had come, and were going straight away.
Well, we could not get a horse high or low, so the lad started after them on foot. He did not start till after dark, and got five miles on the road, and turned back. He had my heavy boots on, and they blistered his feet, so he took them off and footed it back barefoot. By George! he was about full of it when he got back.
The next day I started at daylight, and, as luck would have it, found them just where Boydie had turned back. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw them feeding up towards me. I fetched them back quick, and we packed up and shook the dust of Narromine off our feet; and I hope I never set eyes on it again…
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 178-179
Editor’s notes:
by George = an exclamatory oath; from the tradition of avoiding blasphemy and the misuse of sacred words, by substituting words with the same initial letter (exclamatory oaths that use such a substitution for “God” include “by George”, “good golly”, “oh my gosh”, “good gracious me”, and “good grief”)
by Jove = an exclamatory oath, denoting excitement or surprise; the phrase was a way of saying “by God” without blaspheming (“Jove” is an alternate name for Jupiter; in Roman mythology, Jupiter was king of the gods, as well as the god of sky and thunder)
crown all = (also rendered as: crown it all) regarding the last and often worst thing in a series of bad, terrible, unfavourable, or unfortunate events (similar to “beat all”, “cap it all”, “top it all off”, “top it off”); (although less common, “crown all” can also refer to positive events) regarding the last and often best thing in a series of favourable, fortunate, good, or great events
full of it = sick of it, tired of it (used when someone has had enough of an unfavourable or unfortunate situation); distinct from the modern phrase “full of it”, used to refer to someone who is lying or whose information, opinion, or utterances should not be believed nor given any credence (e.g. “You’re full of it!”, being a shortened version of “You’re full of shit!” or “You’re full of crap!”)
high or low = to go to great lengths to achieve or obtain something; to search all over the place for something (similar to “high and low”, e.g. “We looked high and low”)
knock = a hard blow, a misfortune, a setback; a negative or harsh criticism; a negative criticism of a petty or trivial nature
knocked up = exhausted, very tired (distinct from “knocked up”, referring to a woman who has become pregnant)
Leave a Reply